Since he had taken the job, Fang Qingye began considering the modeling work.
But the immediate problem was the lack of reference books at hand. This involved financial mathematics, requiring theoretical knowledge in areas like the Binomial Options Pricing Model, Cointegration Theory, and Volatility Model.
He searched online for a while but only found fragmented information that wasn’t very useful.
Forget it, he’d check the bookstore tomorrow to see if there were any relevant books.
Putting aside his work, Fang Qingye opened a game and played a round of Warcraft before washing up and going to bed.
The next day at work, after lunch, Fang Qingye rode his scooter first to the Xinhua Bookstore near the Telecom Building, then visited two private bookstores, only to be greatly disappointed.
Aside from middle and high school tutoring materials, the rest were all literary books. The private bookstores were mostly filled with bestsellers by authors like Han Han and Guo Jingming, along with some printed versions of web novels.
Well, Nanxin County didn’t have a single university – why would they sell books belonging to the advanced mathematics category?
It seemed he would have to go to Jinghai, or major cities like Huijing or Shencheng to purchase them.
Fang Qingye suddenly remembered that when he visited Xia He’s place yesterday, he saw many finance and economics books on her bookshelf. Were there any about financial mathematics?
Thinking of this, Fang Qingye pulled out his phone while riding his scooter and dialed Xia He’s number.
The call connected quickly, and Xia He’s pleasant voice came through.
“Xiao Fang, what’s up?”
“Yes, senior. Do you have any books on financial mathematics? I’d like to take a look.”
“Oh? Getting interested in what we studied in school? How about this – come to my place after work this afternoon and pick them out yourself. But come early, it’s weekend and I need to drive back to Huijing.”
“Okay, I’ll come right after work.”
After work that afternoon, Fang Qingye rode his scooter straight to North Pearl, knocked on Xia He’s door, and saw her packing luggage in the living room.
“Xiao Fang, go ahead and look for yourself,” Xia He said.
Fang Qingye acknowledged and went to the study, carefully examining the bookshelf.
There were indeed many finance and economics books, mostly about macroeconomics, corporate management, and commercial bank operations. Practical books like financial mathematics were rare. After browsing for a while, Fang Qingye finally selected “Security Analysis” as a barely suitable option.
Noticing Fang Qingye’s situation, Xia He laughed from the living room: “No suitable ones? How about this – I’ll bring you a couple from Huijing this time?”
Fang Qingye thought for a moment before responding.
“That would be great, senior. Please get me the two-volume ‘Stochastic Calculus for Finance’ by American author S.E. Shreve, and ‘Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Finance’ by Australian scholar E. Platen.”
“Oh Xiao Fang, these are quite advanced theories in financial mathematics. Not only does our branch not use them, even Jinghai branch doesn’t. The securities analysis department at the provincial level deals with some of this, but it’s mainly needed by securities analysts at major investment banks in Shencheng.” Here, Xia He paused.
“Xiao Fang?”
“What is it, senior?”
“You’re not thinking about resigning and going to Shencheng, are you?” Xia He asked.
“Of course not. Our bank has such good benefits and relatively easy work. Why would I go to Shencheng? It’s exhausting there.” Fang Qingye immediately denied.
“It is indeed exhausting. I have a graduate school classmate who now works as a market operations analyst at J.P. Morgan in Shanghai. She often complains to me on QQ, saying her boss doesn’t treat her like a human being—more like livestock—though the pay is really high, far beyond what we can compare to,” Xia He said.
“So, I don’t want to become livestock.”
Hearing Fang Qingye say this, Xia He burst into laughter, shaking with mirth.
After selecting his books, Fang Qingye bid farewell and left. Returning home, he finished dinner and began reading in his bedroom.
It was a book co-authored by American scholars Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, hailed as the bible for investors. It mainly covered fixed-value investment, income statement analysis, factors affecting common stock valuation, and the divergence between price and value.
It was a foundational text in financial economics, but it still fell short of what he needed. He figured he’d skim through it for now, as he had nothing else to do anyway.
The next day was the weekend, and Fang Qingye didn’t go out to have fun, spending most of his time at home. He read and searched for information online, but after a long while, he still hadn’t made much headway.
He wasn’t in a hurry, though. After all, building a model wasn’t something that could be done in a day or two. Once Xia He brought back those two or three books and he had the right tools, things would speed up.
Should he go out and have some fun tomorrow?
Staying cooped up at home during such beautiful spring weather would be a waste of time.
Just as Fang Qingye was pondering where to go tomorrow, his phone rang. Seeing it was Song Da Hai calling, he answered.
“Yezi, want to go out and have fun tomorrow?” Song Da Hai asked over the phone.
“Heh, I was just about to ask you the same thing. Where do you suggest we go?” Fang Qingye replied lazily from his bed.
“Let’s go hike Wolf Mountain. Jiang Chen invited us.”
Jiang Chen?
Fang Qingye naturally knew him—they were high school classmates. Jiang Chen had graduated from Jinghai University and now worked at the county statistics bureau.
“Jiang Chen said he invited two female classmates, Shao Jing and Wang Simin, and asked me to join. I thought I’d drag you along too. We can drive there and maybe have a barbecue or something.”
“Alright, then come pick me up,” Fang Qingye agreed.
“Great, I’ll be at your place at 9 a.m. sharp. Oh, and Yezi, can you invite Chen Meimei too?” Song Da Hai suddenly added.
“Da Hai, do you really have a thing for her?” Fang Qingye retorted.
“Heh, don’t overthink it. We’re just short on girls… If you don’t invite Chen Meimei, inviting another girl would work too!”
Fang Qingye thought it over. He knew Shao Jing and Wang Simin, of course, but aside from them, he wasn’t particularly close with any other female classmates. As for at the bank, he was only really friendly with Chen Meimei.
“Alright then, I’ll give it a try,” Fang Qingye agreed.
He always felt that Song Da Hai had a thing for Chen Meimei.
“OK, message me on QQ once you’ve confirmed.”
After hanging up, Fang Qingye dialed Chen Meimei’s number. Soon, her gentle voice came through the phone.
“Fang Qingye, is there something you need?”
“It’s like this: we’re planning to hike Wolf Mountain tomorrow and would like to invite you to join us.” Fang Qingye briefly explained the situation.
On the other end, Chen Meimei hesitated. “Fang Qingye, I’m not really familiar with your other classmates.”
“No worries, I’ll be there. And so will my buddy Song Da Hai from the Chengguan team—you’ve met him before. We’re all around the same age, and with such lovely spring weather, it’s perfect for hiking and enjoying the outdoors.”
“Alright then. Do I need to prepare anything?” Chen Meimei agreed.
“You don’t need to bring anything, just get your own stuff ready. My buddy and I will pick you up at your place around nine something.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow morning.”
“See you tomorrow morning.”
After confirming with Chen Meimei, Fang Qingye logged into QQ and left Song Da Hai a message saying everything was settled.
The reply came instantly: “Ok!”