Wang Qiqi got off the train again, traveling light. Although she still looked a bit disheveled, it was far better than the scene she had originally envisioned—arriving at the dorms laden with baggage. "Are we staying in a hotel again?"

Zhu Lina shook her head. "No, we're going straight to the new house today." Zhu Lina figured there was no point in a hotel now that the apartment was finished.

Shi Man froze. "We don't have to clean the place, do we?" Shi Man felt like she might faint. After an entire night on the train, hearing such unwelcoming news immediately upon arrival was too much. She couldn't believe Zhu Lina would treat her this way.

"Someone has already started cleaning this morning. We just need to drop off our luggage and then go buy essentials." Zhu Lina hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address for their new home. Even taking two buses would have been exhausting; it was better to take a cab, get settled, and rest up, knowing moving into a new place was going to be a process.

Hearing that someone was already cleaning put Shi Man’s complaints to rest. However, at that moment, Shi Man forgot one crucial detail: the furniture hadn't been moved in yet.

Wang Qiqi closed her eyes in the back seat. "Oh, right, Lina, did you buy the furniture?" Wang Qiqi asked casually. She wasn't worried about her own room; she wouldn't need to buy a single piece for it. But Lina’s and Shi Man’s rooms were completely empty shells.

"The furniture is bought. My mom picked it up last time she visited Beijing," Zhu Lina recalled, realizing she hadn't addressed Shi Man’s implied concern. "But Xiao Man, don't worry. For your room, Mom only bought a bed, a nightstand, and a large wardrobe. Nothing else. My room is the same. The living room has a sofa set and a coffee table, and the dining room has a dining set. That’s it."

Shi Man had been dreaming of picking out a princess-style bed, only to have that fantasy instantly shattered. She took several deep breaths and forced herself to comply. "Thank you, Auntie." Honestly, Shi Man didn't want to thank Zhu Lina’s mother; this was undermining her chance to take charge of the decorating.

"Don't worry, if you don't like it, you can always buy new things," Zhu Lina said with a touch of helplessness. "What I meant was, when we get there, don't worry about not having a bed to sleep on."

The moment Shi Man stepped into the new apartment, her first action was to rush to her room. Seeing the furniture inside, she was stunned into silence. She had to admit, "Lina, I’m actually quite satisfied with the furniture your mom chose." Shi Man knew that if she had insisted on a princess bed, it wouldn't have fit in the room's size anyway. All she really wanted was the experience of browsing furniture stores and seeing a princess bed. But the bed Zhu Lina’s mother bought turned out to be the exact model Shi Man had seen in a magazine—and it looked expensive, too. "I hope I haven't caused your mother too much expense."

"It’s good that you like it." Zhu Lina remembered how surprised she had been when her mother told her the furniture was already purchased. Her mother had assured her that Shi Man and Wang Qiqi would be pleasantly surprised, saying she had consulted many sales associates who all recommended these styles for young people. This relieved Zhu Lina; she had worried the salespeople might have been deceiving her mother, but it seemed very few people could trick her mom.

Wang Qiqi, filled with nervous anticipation, slowly pushed open her door. Frankly, she had no idea how her room would turn out, especially since the contractor had mentioned he could only do his best.

As the door creaked open, Wang Qiqi surveyed the room. She really wanted to let out a yell. Even with just a cursory look, Wang Qiqi was immensely satisfied overall.

To accommodate the raised platform (di Tai), the heating unit had been moved higher. On the wall opposite the door, the craftsman had built a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe. This meant the bottom section was for bedding, and the two upper racks held clothes for all four seasons. The only missing storage was for socks and undergarments, but Wang Qiqi had already decided where those would go.

The wardrobe was seamlessly integrated with the platform. Stepping past the door led directly to the di Tai. Although there were no handles, the carpenter had thoughtfully used hemp rope on every lid closure, making them easy to open without strain. The ropes were set into grooves so that when lying on the platform, no one would feel any protruding mechanism. Wang Qiqi tested lifting all the platform covers; they opened effortlessly. Based on the width of the door, Wang Qiqi had asked the craftsman to build a bookcase connected to the shelving unit, allowing legs to rest on the floor, effectively turning the platform into a bench that could seat two side-by-side.

After finishing her tour of her own room, Shi Man remembered Wang Qiqi's discussion with the carpenter about how to arrange her space. She wondered if he could achieve the look Wang Qiqi wanted. But as soon as she stepped into Wang Qiqi’s room, Shi Man gasped aloud.

Although Wang Qiqi’s room was the smallest of the three, Shi Man now perceived it as the most spacious. There was a wardrobe on one side, and parallel to the door was a desk integrated with a bookshelf, with the rest of the space being the di Tai.

"Qiqi, what are you planning to store under your platform? I'm worried I won't have enough space for my clothes..." Shi Man was quite eager about Wang Qiqi's platform setup, especially since Qiqi's wardrobe extended to the ceiling, meaning it could hold significantly more than hers.

Wang Qiqi’s eyes darted around. "No space for clothes? When my luggage arrives, I'll see if there's any room left." However, Wang Qiqi estimated there wouldn't be much space available for Shi Man.

"Forget it," Shi Man understood instantly. It seemed she still couldn't afford to buy clothes recklessly. "Lina, should we go out and shop now?"

Zhu Lina let out a breath. "We have no bedding, no mats, no pillows. We absolutely have to shop. Let's look at everything else we need and try to get it all done in one trip."

The ideal was wonderful, but reality was a disaster. The three of them made three separate trips before they managed to purchase roughly seven-tenths of what they needed; some other items would have to wait until tomorrow.

"We still haven't bought anything for the kitchen. But Qiqi, do you think we need bowls and chopsticks?" Shi Man asked, sprawled out on the sofa, enjoying the air conditioning while holding the shopping list.

"It's necessary. In winter, if none of us want to go out, we can have hot pot, or we can make our own desserts," Wang Qiqi explained. She knew they wouldn't be doing extensive cooking here, but simple meals were manageable. "Compared to the unclean food from outside, or the breakfasts that have been 'spatially relocated,' I’d rather make some congee and steamed buns myself."

Shi Man sighed contentedly. "I'll leave that task entirely to you, Qiqi." She definitely wasn't going to do any of that herself, though she knew Qiqi would handle it even if she hadn't volunteered.

Wang Qiqi knew they wouldn't lift a finger for cooking duties. "Lina, have you finalized the expense list?"

Zhu Lina nodded. "I've recorded all the shared expenses. Actually, Qiqi, I think I should cover the cost of the tableware."

"You’ve already provided so much—letting us live in such a nice place for free without charging rent. Xiao Man and I should have covered these costs, but since we’re splitting everything three ways, these items must be divided too," Wang Qiqi waved off Zhu Lina’s offer. "I plan to open an account tomorrow." Wang Qiqi had been considering for a few days whether she should tell Lina and Shi Man about her stock trading plans, as it wasn't something she could hide from them forever.

Open an account? Shi Man assumed Wang Qiqi meant opening a bank account. "I need to go too. I need to open a local bank account here anyway; it'll be easier for my parents to transfer money to me." Shi Man raised her hand immediately.

"I'm planning to open an account at a brokerage firm," Wang Qiqi clarified. Although she had already transferred all her fixed deposits into her bank card, she realized that withdrawing money in a different city incurred rather high fees. She needed to compare whether it was more cost-effective to transfer the money to her Beijing card in one lump sum or to withdraw it in cash. Unfortunately, current bank cards weren't linked to securities accounts; otherwise, she wouldn't have lost any money through online transactions.

Open an account at a brokerage firm? Shi Man scrambled up from the sofa and leaned over the backrest, staring intently at Wang Qiqi. "Qiqi, you plan to trade stocks?" Although Wang Qiqi was studying finance and would learn about the stock market, her speed in adopting this new role was astonishing. "But my uncles have been trading, and they said they made quite a bit of money. My mom has been seriously considering it."

"The market carries risk. Even though the current trend is good, you never know when it might dip," Zhu Lina set down her documents and studied Wang Qiqi for a long moment before letting out a sigh when she saw the determined look on her face. "Our family’s first big fortune came from my father trading in subscription warrants, then converting those warrants into stocks—we made a lot. If my mother hadn't insisted on doing other things, and if we had waited for the stocks to climb higher, as my father intended, our family probably wouldn't be where we are today." While the old man still traded stocks now, the fluctuations weren't huge; he wasn't as greedy anymore. As for the stock market, if someone without mental fortitude, especially someone greedy, jumps in, they can easily get trapped. Even though many people say the current market is a major bull run, there's an increasing factor of artificial inflation.

Wang Qiqi looked at their worried expressions, sat down, and rested her head on Shi Man's lap. "Actually, I've been researching all summer. The current market is still a viable entry point. I want to take a gamble. If I win this bet, my future will be excellent. Moreover, I don't think the current market will collapse so easily. How many people are involved in stocks right now? When everyone is talking about the market, when everyone wants to get rich through stocks—that's when you should leave, because the market is about to crash." Even though the market became sluggish after the year 2000, it rallied again within a few years, surging to six thousand points before beginning a steady decline to below two thousand. Before Wang Qiqi’s rebirth, the market was still struggling around the two-thousand-point mark. Housing prices had dropped but wouldn't return to their year 2000 levels.

[The Carefree Double Life] In public, she is a top university student and a moderately famous online author. In private, she is a psychic strategist serving the Empire, and the future daughter-in-law of the Empire’s First Family. (To be continued)