Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 815 The Secret to Long-Term Victory
December 20th, the second day of the eleventh lunar month, Thursday.

Shanghai, a small Western-style building.

A taxi stopped in front of the gate. Chen Fan got out of the car, ignoring the departing taxi. He didn't even carry his backpack; he just held it in his hand and took out his keys to open the door.

As the courtyard gate opened, two griffins, their dark brown plumage sang overhead and swooped down, landing on the camphor tree, which was still covered in green leaves. Their eyes stared straight at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan was also a little stunned.

Where did these two gyrfalcons come from?

Do people in Shanghai keep these things?

He stepped through the small iron gate, closed it behind him, and suddenly his eyes lit up – he remembered!

These were the two little darlings that Zhou Zhengdong and his group bought from a hunting team in Northeast China when he accompanied them to pay respects to their ancestors. They were later taken to the United States by them.

So... Zhou Yali is here?

Just then, the door of the villa was opened, and Zhou Yali, dressed in a rabbit-themed pajamas, appeared at the door.

When she saw Chen Fan, she was so happy that she opened her arms and ran over, "Brother, I missed you so much!"

Chen Fan was helplessly hugged by her, and managed a weak smile, "When did you arrive?"

Zhou Yali released him, took two steps back, and frowned deeply. "Little brother, you don't seem very welcoming to me?"

Chen Fan shook his head seriously, "No, how could that be? Welcome, a warm welcome."

Zhou Yali blinked. "You mispronounced it. It's 'lie' (烈), not 'lei' (泪). You really need to practice your Mandarin more."

Chen Fan nodded blankly, "Yes, we need to practice."

Then quickly changed the subject, "Where did you buy this dress? It looks quite nice."

Zhou Yali took the backpack from his hand, turned around and walked into the house. "What do you mean by 'bought'? Your Lili made it herself. I found out about it yesterday and it was requisitioned."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he wondered to himself, no wonder it looked familiar, it turned out he had seen the design drawings before.

Jiang Lili only made two sets of this outfit, one for each of the two sisters. He originally wanted to play the game of "eagle catching rabbit," but alas, now it's all over.

Zhou Yali was dressed as a bunny, hopping around with her ears twitching on her head. She's 21 years old and still playing the role of a little bunny, so childish.

Once inside, the charcoal fire in the fireplace was burning brightly. She tossed her backpack onto the sofa, turned to Chen Fan, and said, "You said the day before yesterday that you'd come over if it stopped snowing these days, so the water heater has been running the whole time. Go take a shower first. Lili and Tiantian won't be back until after school this afternoon."

Because it had been snowing heavily in Jiangnan for the past few days, Chen Fan wasn't sure when he could take off, so he didn't ask them to pick him up, only saying that he would come over as soon as he could fly.

Fortunately, it didn't snow in the provincial capital this morning. Chen Fan called the airport to confirm that there was a plane coming to Shanghai, then promptly packed his things and left, arriving in Shanghai today.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yali also arrived, seemingly even earlier than him.

Thinking of this, he immediately asked, "When did you arrive?"

Zhou Yali kicked off her slippers, sat cross-legged on the rocking chair closest to the fireplace, her whole body nestled inside the bearskin, swaying back and forth.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, she turned her head and smiled, "I arrived the day before yesterday. I left right after calling you, first to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Shanghai. If it weren't for the snow, I was planning to go to the provincial capital to find you."

Chen Fan took off his coat and draped it over his arm, picked up his backpack and walked upstairs. "I'm going to take a shower first, we'll talk later."

Zhou Yali looked at his back and pouted, "I told you to go wash up, but you insisted on chatting. Now that I'm chatting with you, you want to go wash up again. What's wrong with you?"

Then, thinking about what he was going to tell his younger brother, he swayed his head smugly, his body rocking back and forth in the recliner, happier than a rabbit that had eaten some vegetables.

Men usually shower quickly, but Chen Fan is an exception.

More than half an hour later, he slowly walked downstairs wearing a Jiang Lili brand handmade thin cotton-padded pajamas.

He made himself a cup of tea, walked to the sofa, sat down, crossed his legs, lit a cigarette, and then looked at Zhou Yali, who was staring blankly with her head up, and said, "You guys don't have Christmas break this early, do you?"

Zhou Yali's eyes were vacant, and she didn't want to look at him. "You're so slow."

Chen Fan rummaged through the coffee table drawer and pulled out a small wooden box. Inside were several jade cigarette holders. He chose one, put it in his mouth, wiped it with a handkerchief, and chuckled, "It'll be cleaner if you take your time. Hey, winter break is almost here, why are you coming over now instead of waiting for it? Are you not going to have winter break?"

Zhou Yali remained completely still, but suddenly raised her head, staring at him with icy eyes, "Why do I hear happiness in your words?"

Chen Fan immediately straightened his expression and sternly corrected him, "Illusion, absolutely an illusion. What I meant was that I was filled with regret."

He shook his head and sighed, "Although Lili and I have confirmed our relationship, we are not married yet. We still need to avoid suspicion a little during the Chinese New Year."

Zhou Yali rolled her eyes slightly, finally sitting up with her arms around the armrests of the chair. She looked at him curiously and asked, "Brother, do universities here not prohibit marriage?"

Chen Fan blinked. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Zhou Yali's eyes widened. "So, in another month, you and Lili can get your marriage certificate?"

Chen Fan rolled his eyes twice. "Uh, in principle, it's possible."

Oh right, today is the second day of the eleventh lunar month. On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, I will officially turn 20 years old (parentheses: the age registered on my household registration).

According to the current Marriage Law, it is indeed permissible to obtain a marriage certificate.

After ten years of simple and modest revolutionary marriages, weddings are now showing signs of becoming lively again.

For example, Zhang Wenliang and Yang Xingxiu held a very grand wedding last year, setting up dozens of tables at each of their homes and drinking two large vats of wine.

If he were to hold a wedding...?
At this moment, Zhou Yali also became excited, clasping her hands tightly, her eyes full of anticipation, "If you're going to have a wedding, you can't be hasty, my parents have to come back to officiate."

She suddenly lifted the bearskin, stood up, and spun around. "Where is the wedding venue?"

Suddenly turning to Chen Fan, she pointed at him and said, "How about we put it in the manor villa on Huashan Road? It's big enough there, with three buildings and twenty acres of land. The main building can be the wedding home, and the two annexes can serve as reception buildings..."

Before he could finish speaking, he frowned and shook his head. "No, no, Shanghai is nice, but your master and friends aren't here. How about... leaving them in Beijing?"

She teleported to Chen Fan's side and sat down, grabbing his arm and saying, "Last time we went to see the Ningjun Prince's Mansion, didn't that manager say that all the basic construction and overall renovation could be completed by the end of this year? The rest are just some minor details."

"How about this? We'll call him today and have all the houses cleaned up first, then clear out the main building, Yin'an Hall. The rest doesn't matter; we'll hold the wedding there. What do you think?"

Chen Fan had a jade cigarette holder dangling from his mouth, the cigarette still smoking, and a steaming bowl of hot Maojian tea in his hand, the tea leaves bobbing up and down in the hot water as the steam rose.

An eerie silence fell over the room. Zhou Yali stared at him, her eyes wide. "You don't want to?"

His eyes widened as he spoke, "Don't you want to marry Lili?"

Then she jumped up suddenly, pointed at him, and said, "You don't want to take responsibility, do you?"

After a full three seconds, Chen Fan finally took the cigarette holder out of his mouth, exhaled a puff of smoke, and flicked off the ash before saying irritably, "What nonsense! I'm definitely getting married, but my household registration is still in Lujiawan, so I can only get the marriage certificate there."

And also…

He took another drag of his cigarette and continued, "I don't plan on having a big wedding. At most, we'll have a few tables at Yunhu Wangjianglou and Lujiawan."

"Lujiawan is the main venue, primarily for entertaining members of the brigade; we can't let people think they've become ungrateful just because they've made it big. Yunhu Wangjianglou will be for entertaining acquaintances from Yunhu City, especially friends from the Jiang family; that should be enough."

Zhou Yali sat down next to him and asked, "What about the masters?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "My masters are easy to talk to. They already sent their gifts. I'll just tell them I'll visit them after the New Year. There's no need to go through all that trouble."

They're not young anymore, so we should save ourselves some effort; the thought is what counts.

As for the others, giving each of them a bag of candy later will be enough.

He turned to look at Zhou Yali and said seriously, "It's impossible to be all-encompassing. Otherwise, if you really count them, which place wouldn't you have a lot of acquaintances in? No matter where they are, you could set up dozens of tables. There's really no need for that."

Zhou Yali disagreed, saying, "It's just a few dozen tables in one place. How many can there be in total? If you're worried about being called extravagant, you can just hold the wedding behind closed doors and not accept any gifts."
With your current wealth, setting up dozens of tables, or even hundreds in one place, would be a piece of cake; it's not worth mentioning at all.

Chen Fan looked at her with a half-smile, "Miss Zhou, you're getting quite arrogant."

Zhou Yali pouted at him, "If you knew how much money you made this year, you'd be even more arrogant than me."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes. "Three volumes of 'Legend of the Dragon Knight' have been published, and one volume of 'Saint Seiya' has been published. The total royalties for the four books combined seem to be at most thirty million US dollars. How come you're saying it's even higher?"

In the United States, a novel that earns more than a million dollars in royalties is considered the work of a successful bestselling author. Chen Fan's novels are bestsellers in Europe and America, and even in parts of Asia. Even without counting the cut from Qianfan Publishing House, the royalties from one book are more than eight million dollars.

Series books are the most effective at driving sales of similar books, so the average sales of these books are almost the same. Even though "Saint Seiya" uses Chen Fan's real name, which is not as famous as Versailles Augustus, it is still considered a top-tier novel in its genre, so its sales are naturally similar.

Based on the calculation that each novel is divided into two volumes and each volume is priced at $4, a set of books is $8. Chen Fan receives a 20% royalty, which means he can earn $1.6 for every set of books sold.

If each novel sells an average of over 500 million copies, then his income would be $800 million.

Four novels, totaling $3200 million, is perfectly reasonable.

Of course, this doesn't include the revenue from Qianfan Publishing House; Chen Fan was too lazy to calculate that part and simply left it to Zhou Yali to handle.

Seeing the confusion on Chen Fan's face, Zhou Yali, who had been holding back for a long time, finally felt relieved. She raised her head triumphantly and said with a smile, "Normally, your royalty income is indeed only more than 3500 million US dollars, but you forgot that you said last year that you would use this money to invest and increase its value, so as not to be taxed by the IRS for nothing."

Chen Fan was even more confused upon hearing this. "That's right. This portion of the royalties is mainly used to invest in Apple and Microsoft. I remember my uncle has already completed all the formalities, but it didn't cost much money."

Both Apple and Microsoft, which is still in its infancy, are not short of money. Some American investors who focus on emerging industries have long regarded these two companies as easy targets. If it weren't for Zhou Zhengdong's position as legal counsel for the Foreign Trade Office, he probably wouldn't have been able to secure an investment share.

Nevertheless, the share he would receive would not be much, only a few million dollars.

As for the remaining money, he asked Zhou Yali to find a few investment advisors and entrust them to invest.

Thinking of this, Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at her and asked, "Could it be other investment returns?"

Seeing that Chen Fan had finally gotten to the point, Zhou Yali smugly kicked off her slippers, sat cross-legged on the sofa, and said to him, "This year, our investment advisor made a very correct investment. Under his guidance, our returns have increased by such a huge amount!"

Chen Fan stared wide-eyed as she held out a hand. "Five times?"

Without even needing to calculate, the result was clear: "One hundred and fifty million US dollars?!"

Zhou Yali nodded first, then shook her head, "You only calculated your own money, but forgot to calculate Qianfan Publishing House's money. The total revenue from both sides is this much!"

The palm was still the same palm, but one finger had retracted.

Chen Fan's pupils contracted slightly. "Four hundred million... US dollars?"

Zhou Yali nodded vigorously, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with a smug look on her face. "How about that? Isn't that amazing!"

Chen Fan stared at her blankly for a long while before asking, "How did he do that?"

Although bank interest rates are currently above 10%, and even the Federal Reserve intends to raise rates to 19% to combat rising inflation, generally speaking, in the current financial market, an annual return of 30% is considered excellent, and achieving over 50% demonstrates the potential to become a star fund manager.

Several times the return?

It's not impossible, but unless there's an exceptionally hot market, the difficulty is practically insurmountable.

It's 1979 this year, what kind of super hot market could the US possibly have?
The gold price rally that began after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 71?

Or was it the collapse of the dollar monetary system caused by the two oil crises, or the excessive inflation of the dollar caused by excessive money printing?

However, although these can yield several times the return, they were not achieved within this year.

Is this year's market going to be amazing?
Just then, Chen Fan suddenly thought of a possibility, and his gaze froze instantly.

The next second, Zhou Yali happily revealed the answer: "The price of silver has surged eightfold from less than $6 per ounce at the beginning of the year, and it has now stabilized above $45. Michael, oh, that's our investment manager, told me that by the end of the year, or at the latest by the beginning of next year, the price of silver futures will definitely stabilize above $50."

Our funds were invested when the price of silver rose to $10 per ounce. We didn't use leverage at first, but after the price doubled, I authorized him to use the profits to increase leverage.

Through several high-leverage operations, we were able to achieve returns far exceeding those of conventional operations, earning over $4 million.

Zhou Yali was exceptionally excited at this moment. She laughed and said, "I didn't tell Daddy and Mommy about this beforehand, just so I could tell you first after we got back to China. How about that? Isn't it a wonderful surprise and unexpected delight?!"

Chen Fan looked at her with a face full of emotion and nodded slightly. "It was indeed a pleasant surprise and quite unexpected. However, Comrade Zhou Yali, do you know what the secret to long-term success in the financial market is?"

Zhou Yali paused for a moment, blinked, and looked at him, asking, "The secret to enduring success? What is it?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Only four words!"

Zhou Yali raised an eyebrow slightly, "Which four words?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Make your money and run!"

(End of this chapter)