CHAPTER 254: CHAPTER 144 GUILT

Han Lie lifted his arm to check his watch and sighed. Being an outstanding man really keeps me busy...

Later, I’ll have to deal with Panzi. Tonight, I might spend some time with Wang Tianqing. Tomorrow, I’ll accompany Pan Ge to a trade show, and in the afternoon, I might get a chance to deal with Xi Luting. The day after, I’ll need to soothe Chen Yanfei... And that isn’t even everything. Ding Yu needs a beating, right? Ding Xiang needs some research, right? ’The Overbearing CEO Falls for Me’ isn’t even finished yet! The new book... Forget it! Damn it, the client base is almost stable; why bother writing a stupid novel! Come on, repeat after me: Writing novels is a dead end! Especially urban ones—not even dogs write those... PTOOEY! Anyone who writes them is a dog!

Han Lie forcefully squeezed out an hour, typing away until 5:00 a.m., when he received a call from Pan Ge.

"Why do you keep wanting to freeload at my place?" she started, launching a personal attack Han Lie felt he couldn’t tolerate.

"Then shall I tell our dad that you don’t want me to come?"

Pan Ge believed Han Lie would absolutely dare to say it, but she wasn’t intimidated at all. "Fine," she retorted, "then I’ll tell my mom you forced yourself on me—this and that..."

"Which ’this and that’?" Han Lie feigned ignorance. "Come on, elaborate."

"Shut up and come downstairs!"

Pan Ge gave in. It’s an absolute truth: those who care about face can never beat those who don’t.

The two of them, acting affectionately close, returned to Pan Ge’s home. Once inside, they again put some distance between themselves. Pan Ge was, to some extent, deceiving herself. Han Lie, on the other hand, was quietly keeping his options open. Little Pan lacks experience; she’ll definitely botch this.

Dinner was ordinary. The father-in-law and son-in-law enjoyed drinking together, and Zhao Anni found herself liking Han Lie more and more as she watched him. She could clearly see the affection in her daughter’s eyes, which greatly eased her mind. As long as it’s not Xi Luting, any man will do! And since Han Lie got along so well with Old Pan, she thought Little Han was quite good indeed.

After dinner, they started drinking tea. Panzi humbly asked a series of questions that were quite difficult to answer, some very broad and others delving into specific operational details.

For instance, "I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, and I study hard. So why am I not seeing results?"

Good grief, Han Lie felt a headache coming on. Is Panzi still clinging to this idea? You really have no clue, do you...

Since their relationship was closer than before, Han Lie spoke more frankly, sharing some hard truths.

"Uncle Pan, to be honest, successful old-school businessmen like you, regardless of their underlying personalities, generally don’t achieve real success in stock trading."

"What?" Panzi’s eyes widened. "Is there any basis for that? Why?"

Sipping his tea, Han Lie slowly and pointedly laid out the issues.

"You managed to survive that brutish era and expand your business step by step, which must have involved intense competition. In this process, you made countless decisions. Most of them were correct; otherwise, you would have been eliminated long ago. So, all those who survived are big winners who kept on winning, right?

"Precisely because of that, your past experiences have cultivated strong self-confidence, leading you to trust your own judgment too much. This is beneficial for running a company because your experience and the support of your decision-making team are enough to sustain that firm confidence.

"But the problem is, in the secondary market, you lack that experience and the correct knowledge. Consequently, that overly resolute, power-holder personality actually becomes a huge impediment. You might get lucky and guess right once or twice, but you can’t keep being right forever.

"Lacking professional knowledge and skills inevitably leads to more mistakes than successes, and overconfident players will undoubtedly be taught a lesson by the market. Young people can learn slowly. But do you have the time, energy, and patience? Clearly, no.

"What you perceive as effort isn’t actually wholehearted commitment, nor is it pointed in the right direction. Therefore, the standard approach for wealthy individuals is to find reliable private equity firms. At your level, you could cooperate directly with banks. Why bother getting personally involved?"

Pan Shengwu frowned, deep in thought, his expression very serious. Han Lie’s points were so precise and sharp, his argument incredibly persuasive.

Pan Shengwu mentally reviewed all the friends he knew, analyzing their characteristics and stock trading records. He finally realized a fact: anyone who had fought their way up and gained a certain amount of power, whether in business or within the government system, lost money in stock trading. The higher their position, the poorer their performance. Conversely, those involved in the arts, those coasting in sinecures, or those with a tranquil disposition who didn’t care much about money, often performed remarkably well.

The core reason, he now understood, could be summarized as ’cognitive biases.’ The more successful a person is on their chosen path, the stronger these biases become. That’s why so many elites, tycoons, and scholars from various industries are fleeced like lambs the moment they enter the stock market. It’s never been an issue of intelligence, but rather a misalignment of confidence and ability.

"Amazing!" Pan Shengwu slapped his thigh hard. "Little Han, you’ve truly gotten to the root of the problem!"

Panzi was thrilled, raising his teacup to clink it with Han Lie’s. "Come, come, let’s drink to that! Truly, listening to your insights is more valuable than ten years of study!"

Zhao Anni came out with a fruit platter, smiling as she asked, "Well now, Mr. Han, has Old Pan finally seen the light, thanks to you?"

Han Lie looked helpless. "Auntie Zhao..."

"Haha, I’m praising you!" Zhao Anni laughed heartily, peeling a jelly orange for Han Lie. "Here, have some fruit. It’ll help with the alcohol."

She was enthusiastic, and Old Pan even more so.