13 Short Financial Stories:

1. Venture Capital
An impoverished scholar in ancient times went to the capital to take the imperial exam. On the way, he took shelter from the rain and was noticed by a young lady. The lady discovered the scholar was very talented, so she took some silver from her pocket and offered herself to him. The next day, the lady tearfully saw the scholar off: "If you pass the exam, don’t forget me." After the scholar left, the lady asked her maid to record the scholar’s name in the register. The maid said: "This is already the fiftieth scholar!" The lady said: "No matter what, one of them will pass."

2. Financing
The scholar asked his servant to write down the names of the young ladies he met along the way, sighing: "This is the ninety-ninth one!"

3. Bubble
The servant asked the scholar: "Sir, since you left home three years ago, you’ve slept with over ninety women. We’ve been traveling back and forth on the way to the capital. Aren’t you going to take the exam?" The scholar replied: "Taking the exam to become a high official is also for money and women, isn’t it? Having over ninety passionate women, what’s the point of rushing to take the exam?"

4. Hedging
After arriving in the capital, the scholar used one-tenth of his silver to have his servant go to the city’s casino and bet that he would not pass the exam.

5. Going Public
The scholar was noticed by a princess, who exempted him from the exam and directly recruited him.

6. P2P
After recruiting his consort, the scholar was unable to fulfill his promises to the over ninety women he had previously courted. Their early investments were lost entirely, all gone.

7. Rights Protection
The young lady learned of the scholar’s rise to fame and, knowing her early investments had been lost, went to the capital to protest loudly.

8. Delisting
The capital was in chaos. The emperor, upon learning this, was furious, dismissed the scholar, and beheaded him at Wumen Gate.

9. Shell Company
Three months later, Scholar No. 43 passed the imperial exam and became a top scholar. He came to claim his reward, dressed in fine robes, with drums and music filling the air—an extravagant display of wealth and honor. Unexpectedly, Scholar No. 25 became the top scholar, returned home to visit relatives, and came to propose marriage. Two scholars argued fiercely, causing a commotion. The young lady, seeing the situation was lost, committed suicide by hanging herself from the southeast branch of a tree. Later, her maid corrected the situation, performed a deep flower test, and built a pavilion in the rear garden named Venture Capital, where incense was burned on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, sighing deeply.

10. Secretary of the Board
The servant sighed again: "Should we reveal the names of these young ladies?"

11. FA
Actually, all of this was a scheme set up by the young lady’s maid. She collected introduction fees from a hundred scholars, and the maid was listed on the New Third Board.

12. Lottery for New Shares
After passing the imperial exam, a hundred young ladies came to visit. However, since he couldn’t marry too many, he had to decide by drawing lots.

13. Insider Trading
The young lady bribed the chief and deputy examiners to invest in scholars who had passed the jinshi exam but whose rankings had not yet been announced by the emperor.