He had already learned from his own daughter that this boy came from an average family—his parents were just ordinary wage earners, and they lived in the countryside. By all accounts, a boy like this, upon entering their home and seeing such luxurious and magnificent decor, would surely show some sign of unease.

Charles Foster naturally had no idea that William Brooks was someone who had lived a previous life and had seen even more extravagant decorations than this. Not to mention, just think of the lobbies of those five-star hotels—aren’t they all just as splendid and grand?

“Are you William Brooks? Come, come, have a seat.”

Charles Foster stood up, a kindly smile on his face, and William Brooks responded politely, “Hello, Uncle.”

“Would you like something to drink? We have other beverages at home as well.”

Charles Foster asked with a smile, and William Brooks replied cheerfully, “Tea is fine.”

“Oh, not many young people like to drink tea these days. Take my precious daughter, for example—she’s always drinking that milk tea and cola.”

“Dad, just talk, don’t drag me into it.”

Mary Foster didn’t sit down but headed toward the stairs. Since the air conditioning was on at home, she wanted to go change clothes. At that moment, she turned back and glared at her dad in annoyance.

“Uncle, you misunderstood. I don’t particularly like tea either. I just felt like having something hot right now.”

William Brooks explained with a smile, and this answer made Charles Foster pause for a moment, then he looked at him with a meaningful gaze.

“This kid isn’t simple.”

That was Charles Foster’s thought at the moment, because William Brooks’s behavior had once again exceeded his expectations.

Normally, whether to make a good impression or to get closer, people would say they liked tea. But this kid answered so honestly—he was showing his attitude.

Not trying to impress, not trying to please, which means: I don’t need anything from you.

Charles Foster realized that the tricks he’d prepared for this boy were useless. So he dropped the pretense and got straight to the point:

“William Brooks, thank you for your reminder to my daughter last time. It saved me quite a bit of money in the stock market. This time, I asked my daughter to invite you over, first to thank you in person, and second, to ask you a few questions.”

William Brooks put down his teacup, knowing the main topic was coming. For Charles Foster, the losses in the stock market at this point weren’t enough to really hurt him. He would be grateful, but not so much as to invite him home—there must be another reason.

Thinking of this, William Brooks didn’t hold back and said directly, “Uncle Sun, I understand what you mean. I can tell you that the stock market will keep falling. As for where this information comes from, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

Laying all the cards on the table, William Brooks felt there was no point in beating around the bush with Charles Foster.

I know what you want to know, so I’ll tell you now: the stock market will keep dropping. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, and don’t try to probe me further.

Charles Foster’s eye twitched—he knew he hadn’t misjudged; this kid was even more cunning than he’d thought.

“Since you say so, William Brooks, I won’t ask more. I just want to know, is this information reliable?”

“Uncle Sun, who can really be sure about stocks? I’m not a hundred percent certain either. With your family’s wealth, you don’t need to rely on the stock market to make this bit of money.” William Brooks spread his hands, looking helpless.

“Sure enough, a kid who won’t shoot until he sees the rabbit.” Charles Foster muttered to himself, but his face broke into a smile. He leaned forward slightly, eyes fixed on William Brooks, and said slowly, “What if I want to short the market?”

William Brooks was startled—he was shocked by Charles Foster’s idea. Although he didn’t know much about stocks, he’d heard friends mention terms like short selling, which meant betting the market would fall. For those who shorted, a bear market was like a bull market.

But on second thought, William Brooks felt this was impossible. At this time, the country was extremely sensitive—anyone who tried to short the A-shares market was courting disaster. Such behavior would never be allowed.

Thinking of this, William Brooks shook his head.

“Haha, looks like you really do know stocks, William Brooks. That’s right, you can’t short the market right now. The policy hasn’t come down yet, and the margin trading system will probably take another year or two.”

Charles Foster laughed heartily, thinking he’d discovered William Brooks’s secret, while William Brooks could only smile wryly inside.

He didn’t know much about the stock market. The only reason he thought you couldn’t short A-shares was because he figured the authorities would be watching closely. Doing that now would be like committing a crime in broad daylight—going against the country, the risk was too high.

But William Brooks didn’t bother to correct Charles Foster’s misunderstanding. In fact, it was even better this way—the other party would assume he had some stock market expert behind him, and he was just learning a bit from them.

“William Brooks, to thank you for your reminder last time, here’s a little token of appreciation.”

Charles Foster took an envelope from under the tea table. William Brooks glanced at it and knew it contained about a hundred thousand yuan. Of course, he also knew that Charles Foster was willing to give this amount because of his performance just now.