The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

It's the last day of April.

Chen Pingsheng moved his family to Shanghai.

Busy until evening, he and his secretary Zhang Wanyi, who had also not eaten yet, prepared to go to the Bund to eat some local delicacies.

Tomorrow is Gao Hu's wedding day in Beijing, and a large number of relatives have come, but he didn't go to join in the fun.

Tonight, after midnight, the movie "The Richest Man in Xihong City," invested by Tencent Entertainment, will be released.

This film was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year, and it is definitely Tencent Pictures' most profitable film to date.

In the past, he might have looked forward to it.

It's not so bad now, after all, we just got over 10 billion and spent over 8 billion of it casually, so we're no longer excited about small goals of a few hundred million.

Shanghai is still very prosperous, and the Bund area is particularly lively.

Countless young people from all over the country come here to enjoy the night view of the Bund.

Soon after, Jiang Peiyao arrived, and the three of them strolled along the Bund.

"Brother-in-law, are you going back to the capital again tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'll be living in Shanghai most of the time from now on, and your cousin also wants to settle down here."

The capital city is a great place in every way, except that I don't feel very safe there.

Chen Pingsheng didn't even mention this to his younger cousin.

"That's great! I can go to my brother-in-law's house for meals every day from now on."

Jiang Peiyao was very happy and even smiled, revealing two cute little tiger teeth.

"You eat so well every day that you're almost too good for photos."

People with great figures in real life may appear a little chubby in front of the camera.

The ideal weight for female celebrities is around 90 pounds.

"I'm so worried. I want to eat well but I don't want to gain weight."

Jiang Peiyao blinked her long eyelashes and asked him, "Brother-in-law, can Tencent Entertainment's stock price still rise to over 40 billion?"

"Of course you can."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Why are you asking this? You didn't put all your secret savings into stocks, did you?"

"It's just over a million. I don't have many expenses. I just like to eat some snacks every day. I bought it when the market value dropped to over 20 billion. Many of our trainees bought it too."

"Keep it; it might just appreciate to the point where you can afford a small house later."

Chen Pingsheng reminded her, "Investing in stocks is risky. You don't earn money easily, so don't jump in lightly."

"I know, I only buy my own company's stock."

Jiang Peiyao chuckled.

After walking for a while, Chen Pingsheng called her to his house.

His 1.2 million yuan penthouse has the best view of the Huangpu River at night.

Sitting on that big balcony, reclining in a rocking chair, with a cup of Wuyishan Da Hong Pao tea beside me, life is quite pleasant.

Jiang Peiyao brewed him some tea, and thinking about how her brother-in-law would be staying in Shanghai for an extended period next month, she was filled with joy.

The next day, Chen Pingsheng took a plane back to Beijing early in the morning.

The May Day holiday is here, and Gao Hu's wedding is being held in Beijing. As one of the groomsmen, he has to be there.

The wedding was quite grand, especially with so many guests.

It was bustling with people coming and going.

It wasn't until three or four in the afternoon that he had time to go and meet up with Chang Fu and Zhang Tao.

"Old Chen, I heard you're moving to Shanghai. Why so suddenly?"

Zhang Tao, who was also a groomsman, asked, "It's not exactly sudden, but it's just that we've reached this stage, and there are some things we need to think about in advance."

"Which aspect are you referring to exactly? I don't understand."

"You just need to focus on selling fruit, of course you don't need to know too much."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Think about it. Over the past few years, we have made a lot of money thanks to Tencent Entertainment's traffic. But in terms of social influence or contribution, it is pitifully small. We have only improved the treatment of our employees within our own group."

Isn't that how everyone does it?

Zhang Tao asked him in confusion, wondering why this guy was starting to think about these questions when he himself hadn't figured it out.

Chen Pingsheng explained, "What you said about everyone doing this was in the 1990s, when society had just begun its reform and opening up, and businessmen were needed to lead the charge. The times are different now; this era is about industrial upgrading."

"To put it bluntly, the reason why we businessmen can make money is mainly because we depend on this land. When you leave this land, you are nothing."

Do you know why new energy sources have become so popular in the last two years?

Zhang Tao replied, "It's simply because the market is large and the future profit margin is high."

"What you're saying is just one small aspect."

Chen Pingsheng said, "The reason why new energy is so popular is mainly because it involves the most crucial part of the country's economic reform, namely industrial upgrading."

"Think about it, what has driven the domestic economy over the years? It's mainly real estate. Since real estate was designated as a pillar industry in 1998, housing prices have been rising for a full eighteen years."

"The country cannot rely on real estate to support the economy indefinitely. The situation in China's real estate market is similar to that of the 1990s. The real estate bubble evaporated 90% of housing prices in a short period of time, and many people jumped off buildings."

"Back then, many experts said that the economy of Xiaoxing would regress by at least twenty years, and might even be unable to recover. But look at Xiaoxing now. To put it bluntly, even without housing prices, it is still the world's strongest country in the home appliance and automobile industries."

"It is precisely because of these factors that our lives have been able to recover quickly from the collapse in housing prices."

"In our country, from the early years of reform and opening up to the present, the real estate industry has benefited the most. Other industries were just OEM manufacturers for foreign companies in the early days, and were at the very bottom."

"Later in the 1990s, the concept of exchanging market access for technology was proposed, and industrial upgrading was carried out slowly and with great difficulty. Now look at the new energy sector today."

"Automobiles are undoubtedly the world's number one consumer product, and nothing can compare with them. In the field of gasoline-powered vehicles, foreign countries have been leading for too many years, and we simply cannot surpass them."

“But new energy is different. It is a completely new track, and our country has the most complete supply chain. It can be said that the new energy track is not only another world-class opportunity after smartphones, but also related to national strategy, that is, the direction of industrial upgrading.”

"A car is not just a simple tool that runs on the road. It involves thousands of parts. If you add all these things together, you can imagine how big the industry chain is."

"You're not thinking of getting into the new energy industry too, are you?"

Chang Fu asked him with some surprise, "They have always been rooted and growing in the traditional track. In this field, there are few competitors. Is it necessary to go into a track that is completely unfamiliar to them?"
"Whether you want to do it or not is one thing, whether you want to do it or not is another."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Ever since Chu Qiuyan's university speech, I have been reflecting on why my Tengying Group is still so fragile today. Just because Chu Qiuyan said at the university that she would not hire college students with backgrounds or family connections, the stock prices of the entire group's listed companies collapsed. Even though our operating performance far exceeded market expectations, it was to no avail."

"Later I gradually figured it out. To put it bluntly, the main reason why this happened is because I personally don't have a very high background, and there are no big shots behind me."

"Secondly, looking at our entire Tencent Group, it has not made any significant contributions or special significance to society or even the country."

"We think we are already very rich and powerful, but in the eyes of the capital market or some people, we are still very fragile and vulnerable."

"Therefore, I must think about how to change this situation, that is, to increase the group's influence in society, or to increase my personal influence in society. The best way is undoubtedly to participate in the national-level industrial upgrading."

It was very unexpected.

Zhang Tao never expected that Chen Pingsheng, who used to sell durians with him on the street, would now be pondering such questions.

Chang Fu was the same.

All he ever thought about was making money. He didn't really consider what would happen after he made the money.

Chen Pingsheng, however, showed him through his actions.

After making money, you must keep up with the times.

Or, to become a small part of driving progress in our times.

Only in this way can the group be at peace, and only then can he himself be at peace.

Chen Pingsheng plans to raise 20 billion yuan within the next two months.

New energy projects officially commenced. (End of Chapter)