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Chapter 123 Graduation Defense, All Chapters Reverted

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Wudong Road Campus.

The approaching defense day made all the students extremely nervous, as this was their last on-campus test before graduation.

Many majors do not have final exams in the fourth year, while only a few majors still have required courses and exam subjects.

Inside the defense classroom, Xu Jiafeng, who had successfully lost over ten kilograms, put on a shirt, applied hair wax, and walked onto the defense platform.

Because it was summer and the weather was hot, there was no air conditioning in the classroom, only fans. Xu Jiafeng could clearly see the sweaty handprints left on the podium by the previous person's defense.

"Dear teachers and fellow students, good afternoon. I am Xu Jiafeng, the candidate. My thesis was written under the guidance of Professor Tian Yunliang and is entitled 'Analysis of the Problems and Countermeasures in my country's Financial Investment Environment'."

"So today's thesis defense will also be divided into three parts according to the timeline of my thesis writing."

Perhaps because he was too nervous, he even forgot to switch the presentation slides.

"Cough-cough-"

Wang Xingbang coughed twice.

Someone interrupted him, and someone gave him a look. Xu Jiafeng suddenly realized what was happening and quickly clicked the mouse on the desktop to switch to the next page.

After briefly explaining the content of the graduation thesis, the students immediately proceeded to the defense, which was a nightmare for them.

"You just mentioned that my country's financial investment has shown a trend of diversified investment entities, including governments, enterprises, individuals and various financial institutions. Could you elaborate on that?"

"Forehead…"

Xu Jiafeng was instantly stumped.

He copied...

No, it's about drawing inspiration from predecessors. How should we proceed?

"Diversification means... it means investing in gold, stocks, bonds..."

"sorry!"

Xu Jiafeng bowed and apologized directly.

The ultimate strategy for your thesis defense: apologize if you encounter a question you don't know the answer to, and a professor will likely offer assistance.

As expected, Wang Xingbang, who was sitting in the audience, couldn't stand it anymore and said, "You have to listen carefully in class to learn about investment methods such as stocks, bonds, funds, futures, and foreign exchange."

"Yes Yes Yes…"

"I apologize, teachers."

After repeated apologies and humbly seeking advice, Xu Jiafeng passed his graduation defense without any major incident.

His hands, too, left sweat marks on the podium.

……

One by one, students came up to the stage. When the name "He Jing" was announced, He Jing, dressed in a white shirt and a pleated long skirt, walked into the classroom with a gentle and graceful demeanor and looked confidently at the mentors.

Upon seeing that it was He Jing, Professors Wang Xingbang, Yang Junfeng, and others who had been "rescuing" her breathed a sigh of relief.

Other students might cause them worry, but He Jing doesn't need to worry at all.

He Jing plugged her USB drive into the computer, then took out a tissue and wiped away the traces left by several people on the podium.

During her defense, Xu Jiafeng, who had just stepped out of the defense classroom, was covered in sweat and looked at his three roommates, saying, "Damn, I almost died in there. They kept asking me questions I couldn't understand."

"Seriously? Is it that difficult?"

Wang Liu panicked immediately.

"Can I defend my thesis online? I want to go back." Chen Chuan was even more hesitant, not daring to meet the teacher's sharp gaze.

Zhang Yang, standing to the side, remained very calm. He said that his graduation defense was nothing to be afraid of; he just had to apologize profusely.

Of course.

This is from his perspective.

Other investment students were trembling with fear.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Can you believe how sincere my apology is?"

"Didn't you ever consider standing up to the professor? Sorry? Even if I fail my defense, I will never say sorry!"

"Look, look, that's how confident people are after their defense!"

"It's like being a pilot. When you pull up your pants, you're all tough. But if you delete all the study materials on your D drive, you'll behave."

"You can mess with me, but if you touch my study materials, you'd better watch out or I'll get you!"

While everyone was discussing, He Jing walked out with a smile on her face. She glanced at Zhang Yang and then went straight to her three roommates.

"Is it difficult, Sister Jing?"

"Did the teacher give you a hard time?"

"Wow, Jing-jie, that was fast!"

Xu Zhiruo, Lan Sisi, and Wei Yunshi were chattering incessantly, and their panic was palpable.

He Jing tossed her hair and smiled, "Just do your best. With the teacher's help, just apologize if you encounter something you don't know."

"But I'm still nervous."

Xu Zhiruo rubbed her hands together.

Today, she still wore her hair in a single ponytail, and like He Jing, she was wearing a white shirt, giving off the feeling of a child wearing an adult's clothes.

"It's okay, believe in yourself."

He Jing comforted her.

As if on cue, the teacher who came to notify her called out "Xu Zhiruo's" name, making the already flustered Xu Zhiruo even more uneasy, and she kept repeating the rules of defense in her mind.

"Answer without arguing, apologize profusely."

"Answer without arguing, apologize profusely."

"Answer without arguing, apologize profusely."

……

The defense lasted until the afternoon. As long as the students apologized, they generally passed the defense, and no students failed.

As evening approached, when the teacher called out "Zhang Yang's" name, Chen Chuan, who had just passed his defense and was covered in sweat, looked at Zhang Yang and said, "Go for it, dorm leader! Make those old men cry."

"Based on the dorm leader's knowledge, I feel I can leave the defense committee speechless."

"The dormitory head is the best!"

With his roommates' flattery, Zhang Yang walked into the defense classroom.

He glanced at the professors in the classroom; there were eight in total, and he recognized two of them. Their eyes were all fixed on Zhang Yang, scrutinizing him closely. The fact that Bao Xingwei had stayed for several days for him, that the deans of finance from Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan, and Shanghai Jiao Tong Universities had praised him, and that Academician Peng Ge had mentioned him at the Lujiazui Economic Forum, meant they had decided not to give him any more leeway.

After setting up the projector, Zhang Yang introduced himself: "Respected judges and fellow students, I am Zhang Yang, majoring in investment. My thesis is titled 'Financial Investment and Risk Management in the New Era,' and it was completed under the guidance of Professor Tian Yunliang."

"First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my teachers for their long-term guidance, and I would also like to thank all the reviewers for taking the time out of their busy schedules to review my thesis proposal defense."

After giving a brief opening statement, Zhang Yang calmly and unhurriedly described the content of his research topic: "Now I will give a brief presentation on the topic selection, research content and methods, the innovative points of the research, the expected research results, and the time schedule."

"Let's start by talking about the topic selection and why we chose 2008 as the background of the paper."

"We all know that the economy fluctuates linearly, just like an investment candlestick chart, with ups and downs, rises and falls. 2008 was a special time point, as it was at the turning point of the fifth Kondratiev wave."

How do you determine if it's an inflection point?

"It's very simple. Let's first look at the trend chart of the first four Kondratiev wave cycles."

Zhang Yang pressed the remote control, and his thesis presentation slides appeared on the screen.

"The first Kondratiev wave cycle was dominated by the textile industry and steam engine technology. The world economy was led by Britain, and the period of prosperity was from 1782 to 1802. In these short 20 years, Britain's total output increased rapidly, the problem of food and clothing was initially solved, and mankind entered the industrial age, which is also known as the first industrial revolution."

"With prosperity comes recession. The recession of the first Kondratiev wave lasted from 1815 to 1825. After the Industrial Revolution, there was a general overcapacity, which led to an imbalance in industrial linkages and a turning point in the British economy."

"The economy was in a prolonged depression from 1825 to 1836 until the advent of steel and railway technology. In 1840, Britain entered a period of frenzied railway construction, with a large number of railway companies being established and lines being approved, allowing the economy to slowly recover."

Zhang Yang paused briefly before continuing, "This is a complete Kondratiev wave cycle, which includes periods of prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery."

“Looking back at the previous four Kondratiev waves, we can see that each economic boom was built on the elimination of old technologies and the rise of new technologies.”

What is the tide of the new era?

The answer has been revealed.

"That was in 1991, when information technology officially entered commercial operation. In less than 20 years, we have enjoyed the networking of games, videos, and information. In the context of the new era, traditional industries will be eliminated, while new finance combined with the Internet will stand out in this wave."

……

Zhang Yang spoke each word with force and conviction, so powerful that the professors in the audience had almost forgotten they were in the middle of a defense.

It wasn't until Zhang Yang mentioned "iPhone 3G" and "smart terminals" that they couldn't help but marvel at how fast the world was developing.

When it came time for the defense, the professors looked at each other and hesitated for a while before one of them finally asked a question.

"Just now, Zhang Yang, you mentioned the Kondratiev wave and mobile smart terminals, but I still don't understand which area you are referring to as 'new finance'."

Zhang Yang, standing on the stage, thought for a moment and asked, "I wonder if the professors have heard of Bitcoin?"

Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin?

"Old Wang, do you know?"

"not sure."

The professors looked at each other in bewilderment, and even Wang Xingbang was stunned, completely unable to understand what Zhang Yang was saying.

Since it was beyond the scope of the paper, Zhang Yang directly opened the browser on the computer on the podium and searched for news related to Bitcoin.

When they saw the words "virtual currency," the professors were even more dumbfounded.

"On November 1, 2008, a person named Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' on a cryptography forum, which introduced the concept of Bitcoin."

"On January 3rd of this year, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block of Bitcoin, the 'genesis block,' and received 50 Bitcoins."

Why is Bitcoin considered the new finance?

“Because traditional currencies are linked to national sovereign credit and physical assets, they can be unilaterally controlled, but Bitcoin achieves decentralization by using a distributed ledger, where transactions are jointly verified and recorded by nodes in the network.”

Zhang Yang paused again, his gaze sweeping over the professors and students present, and calmly said, "Bitcoin is just one part of the new finance. In the future, there will be more finance based on information technology. This is a financial revolution."

"I have concluded my speech."

"Thank you, judges."

As Zhang Yang bowed in thanks, the professors were still pondering what "Bitcoin" was. Wang Xingbang even silently made a note of it, planning to ask Bao Xingwei about it when he had the chance.

After a long silence, no professors asked any more questions, because they simply did not understand the new finance, which was an unknown area of ​​finance.

"Passed...Passed."

"I agree to award Zhang Yang a bachelor's degree."

"I have no opinion."

With a unanimous vote, Zhang Yang successfully obtained his bachelor's degree, the most important certificate for undergraduate students.

……

As Zhang Yang defended his thesis and received his degree, Liao Guopei, far away in Sanya, watched the mass sell-off of H1N1 flu-related stocks and couldn't help but shudder, saying with lingering fear:

"Damn it, luckily I left fast, otherwise I would have been worse off than a prostitute, losing all my property!"

Last Wednesday, he followed Zhang Yang and sold off his entire stake in Jianfeng Group. If he had been as reluctant to sell as other speculative investors, he probably wouldn't be able to afford "Yacht Babes" now.

While he was complaining, Lin Guangchang sent him a message of greeting.

[Stock Trading to Support the Family]: It's crashing! Everything is falling, but heavyweight stocks are recovering. Who exactly is Joker? Could he be some young master from a wealthy family in Beijing?
[Zen City Shadowless Kick]: You ask me? Who should I ask? Didn't he say he's in Shanghai? Why don't you just meet him?

[Stock Trading to Support the Family]: That seems to be true. I'll ask him to take a look later.

[Zen City Shadowless Kick]: Remember to bring two girls. You know how hot-blooded young men are, let alone anything else.

Upon seeing Liao Guopei's message, Lin Guangchang immediately understood its meaning and replied, "I understand, I understand. Shanghai has no shortage of women, especially beautiful women."

In rural areas or county towns, beautiful women are extremely rare.

Because many people who go to university basically don't return to work in the county town, it's a brain drain situation, unless they take the civil service exam or get a government job, but most of them stay in the city.

Shanghai is a well-known prosperous city, not only an economic hub but also a place that countless people aspire to settle down in.

With college students flocking to major cities across the country, the abundance of beautiful women in these cities can be described as overwhelming.

Socializing, you know.

Naturally, members of the opposite sex would be involved.

Liao Guopei understood, and Lin Guangchang understood too.

……

While the two were discussing and planning to make their plans public, many stock investors who had heavily invested in H1N1 influenza stocks were already in despair. However, Li Daxiao, who has always advocated value investing, couldn't hide his smile and posted a video on Weibo.

[Comrades and friends, the H1N1 flu concept stocks have all collapsed. Stocks like Jianfeng Group, Hualan Biological, and Da'an Gene are all hitting their daily limit down. This tells us that investing, like life, requires a down-to-earth approach. Buy good stocks, be a good person, and you will be rewarded. It's not too late for prodigals to turn back; don't miss this opportunity.]
As soon as the video was released, the comment section exploded.

[Niu Niu Snacks]: I was wrong, Teacher Da Xiao. I shouldn't have chased hot stocks and abandoned value blue chips. From now on, I will definitely buy good stocks, be a good person, and be rewarded!

[Invincible Meow Meow Fist]: I didn't have a choice before, but now I just want to be a student of Xiao, buy good stocks, be a good person, and get good rewards!

[Stock Trading Graduate Student]: I question Teacher Da Xiao, I agree with Teacher Da Xiao, I admire Teacher Da Xiao. Teacher Da Xiao, you are my guiding light on the road to stock trading. I will immediately buy back value blue chips!
(End of this chapter)