I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

“Then let’s go find manufacturers you don’t know,” Jiang Xinhai said, hugging his arm tightly. “I’ll go with you!”

Chen Ya stared at her sparkling face until it turned slightly red.

"What?" Jiang Xinhai stubbornly puffed out his chest. "Why are you looking at me now? You'll have plenty of time to look later. Let's hurry up and find the manufacturer!"

After saying that, she turned her head, took Chen Ya's hand with her soft hand, held it tightly, and ran forward.

This day was an extremely special day for both Chen Ya and Jiang Xinhai.

Chen Ya always planned things out before acting, and he had never acted like this before, wandering around the streets like a headless fly, grabbing people and asking if there were any factories that could make CDs.

Jiang Xinhai was the same; because she would attract attention when she walked on the street, she had never run on the street in such a conspicuous way before.

She's like a little wolfhound now, running wildly in the streets, sniffing everything she sees.

Chen Ya struggled for a long time before finally managing to get the mask onto Jiang Xinhai, who was charging forward like a pig.

While asking people along the way, and going up to any office buildings he saw, Jiang Xinhai kept making phone calls to acquaintances, asking if they knew anyone in the manufacturing industry.

Although the two had different ideas and each had their own work to do, their hands remained tightly clasped together amidst the surging crowd.

...After making more than a dozen phone calls and asking dozens of unrelated passersby, both of them were exhausted, covered in sweat, and had dry mouths.

Finally, Chen Ya sat down on the steps, leaning on his knees and panting heavily.

"No, searching randomly like this is useless; it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"If we keep searching, we'll eventually find some clues," Jiang Xinhai said, standing behind Chen Ya.

Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes and tugged at the back of Chen Ya's clothes.

"what happened?"

Is a CD the same as a CD (optical disc)?

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Making CDs that accompany early childhood education and supplementary teaching materials is essentially the same as CDs, right?"

"Yes, so what?"

Jiang Xinhai tore a flyer off the wall and handed it to Chen Ya.

Chen Ya glanced at it; the flyer was printed in bright colors, and it was full of promotional slogans for educational supplementary books and early childhood education CDs.

He had a flash of inspiration, found the phone number at the bottom, and dialed the number.

A CD is just a disc; its essence remains unchanged.

If they can make educational DVDs, they can definitely make CD albums too.

...After chatting with the short, chubby boss named Zhou Peng, it was already late at night.

The two of them were so hungry that their stomachs were growling.

Zhou Peng is a nice guy, quite honest. When he saw Jiang Xinhai, he was so scared that he almost burst into tears.

Upon hearing the purpose of their visit, he nervously rubbed his hands together—after all, he had never made a music album before.

After studying it with Chen Ya for a long time, he finally came to the conclusion that the music album was actually no different from the English conversation CD he had made before.

With that, he gained confidence, the boss gained confidence, and the cooperation went very smoothly.

Chen Ya ordered 50 album CDs from this small business owner at a lower price than before.

This time, Chen Ya was smarter. Before seeing the CD, he stayed at Zhou Peng's factory the whole time and wouldn't leave until he saw the album.

Time flies.

Soon, the calendar was torn to September 10th.

As the owners of the various record stores in the city yawned and pushed up their roller shutters with shovels, this day was no different from any other.

If there's any difference, it's that last night, the copy of Jiang Xinhai's new album "Encounter" that I ordered was delivered overnight and placed on the shelf.

Jiang Xinhai's portrait was printed on the CD cover, which was pleasing to the eye, so many shop owners chose to place it in a prominent position in their stores.

For fans who have heard "Courage," today is a long-awaited day.

For Chen Ya and Jiang Xinhai, today was the day of their exam.

Chapter 144 Mean Regression (Two Chapters Combined)

"Do you sell 'Encounter' in this store?"

"They're on the second shelf on the left ahead."

"Oh, thank you."

The man adjusted his hat, picked out a Jiangxinhai cigarette from the middle of a neat row on the shelf, and tossed it to the shopkeeper to pay.

"30 yuan."

As the man paid, he glanced around, then casually leaned over the counter and whispered, "Hey, how's this deal?"

"Just got these in, how much will they sell?" the boss said. "You're the first one."

"Oh."

A deep sense of disappointment appeared on the man's face.

He walked out of the store with the album in his hand and met up with Jiang Xinhai, who was squatting on the street corner.

This mysterious fellow is Chen Ya, who is currently taking an exam.

"How are the sales?" Jiang Xinhai stood up, his eyes sparkling, and patted his wrinkled clothes.

"Not good." Chen Ya's voice was filled with exhaustion.

"After all, it's only the first day, only a morning has passed, and this is still a small shop, so it's normal that it can't sell any special items yet."

Jiang Xinhai offered this reassurance, even though she herself was unsure.

And no sooner had she finished speaking than a passerby turned and went into the music store.

Before Chen Ya could see it, Jiang Xinhai pulled Chen Ya aside and said:

"Let's go, let's go take a look at the city gate."

"Chengmenkou" is not the entrance to a city gate. The city walls of this city were demolished long ago. Chengmenkou is just a place name.

This place has the largest audio-visual store in the city.

This is a museum of music, a cradle of musicians. No matter how niche or obscure a singer or band is, no matter what album they are, whether they are avant-garde or experimental, you can find them here.

Whether an album sells well or not ultimately depends on this.

It wasn't that the two were bored; they had simply done everything they could, and they couldn't care less about publicity or quality control.

Moreover, even if they wanted to do something else, they couldn't. Both Chen Ya and Jiang Xinhai's bank cards had pitifully low balances left, and at this moment, both bank cards were nestled in Chen Ya's pocket, sharing the same plight.

So they simply disguised themselves and went to the entrance of the audio store, pretending to be customers, to monitor album sales.

They spent another afternoon squatting at the city gate, but couldn't figure out anything. The shop assistants were very wary, and they couldn't get any information out of them. So the two of them went to the KFC next door for dinner.

Chen Ya rummaged through his wallet and said, "I never thought I'd miss Crazy Thursday so much."

"What Crazy Thursday?" Jiang Xinhai asked, a Coke straw dangling from his lips.

"It's nothing," Chen Ya said, having finished rummaging through his tattered wallet, his face clouded with worry. "I can't afford KFC anymore."

In Jiang Xinhai's worldview, she was still a rich woman, and KFC was just an affordable fast food restaurant, so she remained unmoved.

"How much money do I have left in my card?" Jiang Xinhai asked.

"Let me see."

He looked down for a moment, then looked up and said gently, "There's still 13.82 yuan left."

"what?!"

Jiang Xinhai slammed his hand on the table with a "smack," his bright eyes widening: "How come there's only so little left?"

"I just paid the water and electricity bills yesterday," Chen Ya said. "And didn't I buy a suit a few days ago?"

Jiang Xinhai said dejectedly, "It was a mistake to entrust the money to you."

"You can't blame me entirely, can you? Who takes that long to shower every day? I don't even know how I used up 20 tons of water last month."

Jiang Xinhai blushed and said, "You absolutely can't blame me, that showerhead had such low water pressure! The fact that you can wash so quickly only proves that you're a stinky person!"

"The only reason I smell bad is because your smelly feet step on the sofa every day, which is why I have your foot odor."

"My feet don't smell!"

At this point, both of them felt a little embarrassed. Jiang Xinhai picked up his cola and gulped it down in a muffled voice.

Zhou Peng called, and when Chen Ya answered, he said that the initial 20 CDs had been completed and asked if they wanted to continue making the remaining 30.

"Go ahead and do it, why not?" Chen Ya said. "Hurry up and do it, otherwise the production capacity will definitely be insufficient later on."

Zhou Peng said, "It's so close, but we haven't even rolled out the first 20 units yet. There are still quite a few sitting in the warehouse. I think we should stop for now. If they're not sold out, I can refund your money..."

"Refund what? No refund. You get all 50 sets done, not a single one less," Chen Ya said through gritted teeth, his voice filled with fierce determination.

Zhou Peng stammered, "It seems the sales on the first day weren't very good, and several channels even called to cancel..."

“Those are all conspiracies by hostile forces. The quality of the song is excellent. Keep going, don’t stop,” Chen Ya said.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xinhai tossed it onto the table: "Yingzi is being sarcastic again."

"what did she say?"

"She said that some people just like to talk about sales figures, so this time let the sales figures prove everything... I don't want to say the rest, it's a bit disgusting."

Chen Ya rubbed his face and sat down in a chair. A waiter came over and asked if he wanted to finish the dishes on the table. He waved his hand and said he would go clean up other people's dishes first.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the streetlights, and suddenly all the lights in the shop turned on at once, and the sound of customers calling out numbers wafted out along with the aroma of freshly roasted whole chickens.

Suddenly it became very quiet.

Jiang Xinhai said, "Chen Ya, I've been thinking about it."

He looked like he was in a daze. She nudged his arm and said, "Listen to me, listen to me. I just thought about it, and it doesn't necessarily have to be singing, or rather, it doesn't necessarily have to be singing on stage."

Her long eyelashes fluttered twice, like a black elf: "What I like is the feeling of singing. These three months of creating with you have made me happy enough. I am already very satisfied and do not need to reward myself with another success."

So, don't feel pressured.

After saying that, Jiang Xinhai immediately added, "But that's not what I was thinking."

"What I was thinking just now was that I don't have to sing for everyone."

"I'd be content if I sang this just for you."

After he finished speaking, there was another silence. Except for Jiang Xinhai, who could hear the rush of blood to his ears.

She had never said anything so bold before, but judging from Chen Ya's expression, he showed no excitement whatsoever.

Just as she began to regret confessing her feelings too soon, Chen Ya suddenly spoke up:

"Xinhai, do you know that there's a mean reversion theorem in the investment world?"

"Huh?" Jiang Xinhai was caught off guard; she didn't understand why she was being asked this.

“Buying stocks is like walking a dog. Sometimes the dog runs ahead, and sometimes the person runs ahead,” Chen Ya said. “Because stock prices cannot reflect the value of a company in real time.”

Jiang Xinhai didn't understand what this had to do with what she was saying.

"But if we look at the bigger picture, we'll see where the company's value lies, and its stock price will fluctuate around that golden line that represents its intrinsic value. Eventually, all the price movements will return to that equilibrium point."

"Investing is like this, and so is life. Everyone's life has its highs and lows."

"But the brilliance will eventually come to an end, and the trough will eventually be overcome. In the end, all the value will return to its original form."

“This time our enemy is very powerful. They have more resources, a better reputation, and stronger connections. They dominate half of the music scene.”

"What about next time? Our enemies might be even stronger. They might have countless traffic, fanatical fans, manipulate the charts at will, and even have their own people among the award judges."

“There might come a day when we lose to these guys.”

"But not today."

"I am not foolishly confident in myself, but I believe in the axiom of mean reversion."

"And axioms do not need to be proven."