The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

The dramatic collapse of Hot TV.

It caught the business world off guard. How can one describe the impact of the sudden collapse of such a business myth?
Over the years, tens of thousands of retail investors who bought popular stocks have seen their shares become worthless overnight.

Among them are office workers who work diligently every day, saving every penny to invest their meager salary in stocks.

There are also all sorts of retired elderly people, and countless people sitting on buses, desperately watching stock market charts.

The promise of returning to China next week has resulted in millions of retail investors being left heartbroken and the stock market experiencing a complete collapse.

Chen Pingsheng stayed in Hong Kong until January 20th before returning to Shanghai.

The main reason he came back was because the older kids were all on holiday, and it was almost the end of the year again, so he should go back to his hometown.

In addition, the private jet, purchased for 700 million yuan, has also arrived in Shanghai.

Wait for him to inspect it.

The ultra-luxury, customized private jet, originally designed to carry 173 passengers, was modified to carry only 19 after a series of modifications.

The Ji Zhan is 35 meters long and 12 meters high, with a maximum speed of 1012 kilometers per hour.

It can fly at an altitude of 12500 meters and has a range of 13000 kilometers.

It features the same starry sky ceiling as Rolls-Royce, the iconic cloud sofa, and the floating bed.

Sitting here feels like being on a cloud.

This aircraft was only released last year, and its level of intelligence is beyond imagination.

It's an absolutely luxurious villa that flies in the air.

It is also currently the world's most valuable private jet, with a starting price of US$91 million and annual maintenance costs of no less than RMB30 million.

Like superyachts, they require a huge amount of money to maintain every year after purchase.

The group's annual meeting was still held in Shanghai, and Chen Pingsheng only attended via video.

After the annual meeting ends, it will be a few more days before the New Year holiday.

Their family will also be staying in Wangcun for a while.

Chen An'an had already packed her things and was eager to board her father's newly bought big airplane.

As for his younger sister Chen Qi and Jiang Peiyao, they had also arrived long ago, waiting to fly home with him.

"Dad, has the flight home application been finalized yet?"

"Alright, we can set off for Shacheng at five o'clock this afternoon."

For a private plane to take off, it must first apply for a flight route and obtain approval before it can officially take off from the airport where it is docked.

"Won't it only take two hours to get there?"

"Pretty much. We're only going home for a week this time. We'll be going back to Shanghai for Chinese New Year."

Okay... Even though it's only for a short week, I'm still very happy.

Just like last year, Chen Pingsheng chose to go back early and then return during the Spring Festival.

There are still many things to do at the group. Huayi's stock price has been soaring towards 20 billion due to the influence of popular TV shows.

In addition, he has been cashing out his 20% stake in Tencent Entertainment.

This sale of shares is expected to generate 160 billion yuan, which, combined with the cash he currently holds, will be available for sale.

It's almost 180 billion, and he has a big use for this money.

In addition, Snack Run achieved its goal of opening 10,000 retail stores this year, most of which were franchises.

Once the year-end is over, it can basically go public.

He could also choose to cash out his initial shares in Deer Antler Coffee.

At the beginning of 17, he will undoubtedly have an unimaginable amount of money.

How to spend this money wisely is an art in itself.

He has a lot to do and won't stay in his hometown for too long.

Having a super private jet makes it quite convenient for the whole family to travel back to their hometown.

Not much preparation is needed.

As for his pregnant wife, Song Yanxi, she just needs to be a little careful.

It wasn't until 4 p.m. that the family boarded four Rolls-Royces and headed to Shanghai Airport.

After going through all the necessary procedures, I boarded the plane directly.

The luxurious amenities on the plane are beyond imagination, including the same starry sky ceiling, space chairs, and three private rooms where you can sleep comfortably.

It has everything you could need, including a large TV, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

It was also staffed with two dedicated flight attendants, a captain, and a first officer.

Chen An'an happily found a space chair and lay down, while the little girl naturally wiggled her little bottom and sat with her sister.

Jiang Peiyao's eyes were filled with shock. Her brother-in-law's family not only had a super luxurious fleet of cars on the ground.

Even in the sky, she knew that there was a helicopter worth over 200 million yuan parked in Guangzhou.

That one is suitable for domestic flights, this one can fly all over the world.

"Dad, have a cup of coffee and some melon seeds and peanuts, so our family can still have a lively time in heaven!"

"Alright, that's enough. Go back to your seat and sit down. We're about to take off."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Even the best airplane is just for making travel more convenient. After the New Year, your father will also be traveling all over the world."

Okay... that's what I said, but sitting on a private jet is still an amazing experience.

It's just a novelty; once she gets used to it, it'll be just another thing.

Song Yanxi even told the little girl to fasten her seatbelt, her ears were still ringing the moment the plane took off.

The push-back feeling was also very strong, and I was still a little nervous, whether I said it or not.

Once the large aircraft was flying smoothly in the air, the feeling of tension basically disappeared.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, the journey home can be quite a pleasant one.

The younger sister, Chen Qi, brought her child along.

It was quite lively when the whole family went back this year.

Along the way, Chen An'an looked at the big white clouds outside and thought they looked like Sun Wukong's somersault cloud.

He suddenly looks like the Bull Demon King again, which is really something else.

In just two hours, they flew from Shanghai to the skies above Shacheng.

By the time the plane was about to land, the entire city was brightly lit.

A thick blanket of snow fell in Shacheng.

Transportation isn't very convenient, but the night view under the snow-covered landscape is uniquely beautiful.

Under the flashing neon lights, the street seemed to exude its own unique romantic moment.

The plane taxied across the runway and landed smoothly at 7 p.m.

After the family disembarked from the plane, a Coaster bus took them away from the airport and directly to the parking lot.

The black Jetta that Chen Pingsheng bought for over eight million yuan is parked here, with four other luxury cars parked next to it.

Wangcun is not too far from Shacheng, so they still chose to drive home themselves.

That's the advantage of being rich; you can have the most considerate service everywhere you go.

This applies from the moment you board the computer to the moment you disembark.

Because the roads were difficult to navigate, snowplows were even specially arranged ahead.

This is Chen Pingsheng's journey back to his hometown.

Even though Hu Lin had always known that his brother-in-law was incredibly wealthy, he was still amazed when he came back with him.

The only thing missing from this display of force was the police escort.

This was a result of deliberately keeping a low profile; he didn't even inform the town about his return.

No one reported it to the county government, otherwise even the deputy mayor would have been waiting here.

Or they would immediately send their secretary to pick him up and take him to the municipal government or even the provincial government as a guest.

It is worth noting that Chen Pingsheng's largest public welfare project for supporting agriculture, Tengnong Livestock, has its headquarters in Shacheng.

To date, investments have reached 3 billion, benefiting 100,000 households.

When such a prominent entrepreneur returns to a village, it wouldn't be surprising if the county or city provided the highest level of hospitality.

After all, Chen Pingsheng himself said that he would invest up to 10 billion yuan in Tengnong Fresh within three years.

By then, it will be able to directly change the local environment and drive rapid income growth for millions of people.

This will also raise local consumption levels, which is normal, since high income is a prerequisite for consumption.

Wangcun is no longer the neglected village it once was.

It boasts the best village primary school in the county, as well as a village clinic, and even its own small park.

In addition, it also has its own Teng Hui Department Store shopping plaza.

In just three years, it has achieved a qualitative improvement in education, healthcare, and the consumer environment.

There are no more muddy roads in the village; they have all become wide and comfortable highways.

Even on major roads, there are urban infrastructures such as ground lights and neon lights.

If you want to know why it has developed so quickly, it's best not to ask.

The reason is that a great entrepreneur emerged from this place.

He's the village chief's son; other people become village chiefs to make money.

When Chen's father became the village chief, he was always taking money from his son.

If Chen Pingsheng hadn't funded these things like ground lights, anyone who approved the grant would have been cursed to death by the people from other villages.

Wangcun has become the envy of the surrounding villages, mainly because Chen Pingsheng single-handedly changed the living environment here.

They spared no effort in making significant contributions to the development of their hometown.

As for the Chen family, they have already connected their villas into one area, located in the center of the village in a pretty good location. In front of it is a huge artificial lake that they developed themselves, and inside there are all kinds of garden villas.

Almost every member of the Chen family owns a villa with a garden there.

This was also funded and constructed by Chen Pingsheng.

A fleet of luxury cars returned to their hometown; with such a grand display, no one else could compare.

The Chen family called people to shovel snow on the road early in the morning to ensure the convoy could return smoothly.

Their cars aren't parked at the entrance, but rather in a huge, self-built parking lot.

Rural areas may lack many things, but they certainly have plenty of vacant land. In a few years, it might even be necessary to get approval to build your own house in the village.

The main reason for this is to encourage rural residents to buy houses in the city.

They've really spared no effort in developing the real estate market.

Chen Pingsheng never commented on such matters, because it was meaningless.

He also brought many gifts home, such as Moutai liquor and Guojiao 1573, which are the drinks his grandfather and his family love to drink.

Life in my rural hometown was still quite peaceful, until the opening of the Tenghuo Department Store Plaza.

More and more young people are also returning to the village, mainly because Tenghuo Department Store has many of the entertainment facilities found in the city.

It has everything from cinemas, bars, billiard halls, game arcades, tea rooms, restaurants, and clothing shopping centers.

Opening such a super shopping plaza in a rural area would definitely result in a loss.

However, it can genuinely improve the consumption environment within a ten-kilometer radius.

Besides making money, a lack of a good consumption environment is also a reason why young people cannot be retained.

Chen Pingsheng is doing his best to build the ideal new countryside in his mind.

By 8 p.m., many families had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep.

They would only chat late into the night after their sons and daughters who worked away from home had returned.

Today, the Chen family is different; they've even built five fire pits in the villa complex.

Every Lunar New Year, the whole family gathers together to burn a large charcoal fire; that's what gives us the feeling and atmosphere of returning home.

Grandpa and Grandma gathered here chatting, warming their hands by the fire, while some melon seeds and peanuts were prepared nearby.

And a cup of clear tea brewed from Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao.

My third aunt was very welcoming, mainly because her son Chen Fan was doing quite well in Shanghai.

“Pingsheng, why don’t you stay until the New Year? Several relatives in the village are getting married. If they find out you’re back, they’ll definitely ask you to be their witness.”

"I can't stay for too long, I'll probably have to go back in four or five days."

Chen Pingsheng said, “I come back every year. Who’s getting married? If I hadn’t left yet, I would definitely go and join in the fun.”

"Your cousin is getting married."

Third Aunt said, "He married a city girl. I heard from his parents that the bride price was only 15 yuan, but the city girl gave him a BMW 8 Series in return."

To be honest, it's an undeniable fact that bride prices are getting higher and higher these days.

In most cases, rural women demand high dowries for their daughters' marriages, while men marrying city girls don't ask for much in return.

"That's great. It's a skill to be able to marry a city wife."

"Who says otherwise? But it's all thanks to you. That city girl only agreed to marry into the family after she heard that you owned Boiling Sheep."

Chen Pingsheng was quite understanding.

These relatives of mine live pretty much the same way every year.

In the past, even the smallest, most trivial matters could lead to a huge argument.

It's fine now.

Those Chen family members who didn't like studying were usually sent to learn cooking at Boiling Sheep, while the slightly more promising ones went to Shanghai to receive family business start-up funds.

Many of them have already squandered their initial two million yuan.

The most outrageous thing was his cousin, who was in his mid-twenties. After getting two million, he didn't start a business at all, but instead spent his days partying and indulging in pleasure at bars.

I won't say I paid for everything, but I spent that whole month in bars anyway.

He acted as if he were a rich young master who could squander money at will.

After he spent the two million, he immediately applied again.

Everyone has four chances, even if he's sitting in his Shanghai headquarters and constantly swinging his legs, he looks like a good-for-nothing street urchin.

In the end, it was his wife who intervened and kicked him out of the Shanghai headquarters.

Then he went back to sponging off his parents.

Many people no longer have the extravagant spending spree they used to have in bars.

Sudden wealth presents the first hurdle that is not entrepreneurial success.

Instead, it's about resisting the desire for money, that is, the pleasure of spending money.

His approach is rather extreme; he uses the money for revenge spending, wanting to sleep with two bar girls a day.

After running out of money, they shamelessly went door-to-door begging, and even threw a tantrum at the headquarters in Shanghai without any regard for their reputation.

His wife happened to see him and, without saying a word, had the security guards chase him away.

They stated that they did not have such relatives.

He stayed in Shanghai for a few more days, using all sorts of excuses to borrow money from people.

After returning, he seemed to have lost his soul, and he looked down on a monthly salary of two or three thousand.

He keeps talking about how he was in Shanghai during that time.

If he hadn't taken that two million, he might have been able to work honestly and earn money for the rest of his life.

After receiving this money and experiencing the ultimate pleasure of spending it, it's impossible to go back to the way things were before.

His parents back home are now worried sick about him.

No one dared to blame Chen Pingsheng, because everyone knew him; he was definitely rich.

They are indeed easy to talk to, but if you try to be unreasonable or argumentative...

Even a single glance from you could have unbearable consequences.

It's not just relatives who are experiencing frequent problems with family business funds.

Tengnong Livestock, which has been dedicated to poverty alleviation, has also fallen into a major dispute due to some issues.

The main reason is that there is a large village in Wang County, where Tengnong Livestock had just contracted land from others for a rent of 8,000 yuan.

That was joy and happiness.

Behind them was a local family with a prominent surname, who saw that the crabs raised in their rented-out fishponds were of high quality and fetching high prices.

They actually proposed raising the rent to 15,000 yuan per year. They rented out three small fish ponds, so that would be 45,000 yuan per year.

Tengnong Livestock had already increased its rent by about ten times the market price, so it was naturally impossible for them to agree to this situation.

They even asked people from the village to talk to them, but it was no use at all.

Even the Liu family took out the crabs they raised and sold them themselves, saying it was to subsidize his rent.

After the incident blew up, not a single person in the entire village spoke ill of the Liu family.

They all kept to themselves, ignoring everything.

It seems they all want to wait until he has reached an agreement before they take advantage of the situation to ask for an exorbitant price.

Raise the rent from 8,000 to 15,000 per year.

The matter was not resolved after the village chief, the village party secretary, and the town government had all tried to resolve it.

Eventually, the matter reached Chen Pingsheng's ears.

His approach was remarkably simple: a wave of his hand.

They withdrew all of the more than ten million yuan that had already been invested in that village.

They unilaterally terminated all lease agreements, and Tengnong Livestock completely withdrew from that village.

We don't want the money and land that were wasted.

When the news came out, everyone in the village panicked.

Perhaps in their view, having made money from their own land and already invested so much money, it's impossible to just waste it like that.

Even if we can't agree on 15,000, 12,000 will do.

Most people in the village thought so, so they were happy that the Liu family was making a big fuss about it.

It can only be said that these people seriously underestimated the capabilities of large corporations.

Chen Pingsheng would rather forgo the more than ten million yuan invested in that village than satisfy the endless greed of these villagers.

Not only did they stop going to that village, but the entire town was also abandoned by Tengnong Livestock.

The town officials simply resorted to delaying tactics when dealing with this matter.

Let you argue first, and then we'll mediate when things get really bad.

They've always had this irresponsible and perfunctory attitude.

Now that Tengnong Livestock has completely withdrawn from that town, people from other villages in the town are completely outraged and have gone to the town to cause trouble.

The deputy mayor in charge of the matter was dismissed from his post by the county government.

The town mayor was also given a severe warning.

When the newly arrived deputy mayor tried to retain Tengnong Livestock, he couldn't even see a single person in charge.

To put it bluntly, what they are doing is a public welfare project, a project that brings great help to the local area.

If you don't rely on government resources to make money, why do you need to ask for favors?

Ultimately, it's because the group headquarters has absolute power that it doesn't need to deliberately curry favor with the leaders of smaller localities.

Not to mention going up to the dinner table to offer a toast.

After this incident, the Liu family, who had led the trouble in the village, became the black sheep of the town.

The kind of thing that would make anyone spit out their drink.

Unfortunately, Chen Pingsheng's toughness lies in the fact that once he makes a decision, he will never turn back.

This is also an indirect warning to all future partners: don't even think about causing trouble again.

He can easily throw away more than ten million, but those villagers cannot live without the annual land rent of eight thousand.

That's the difference between the two.

Only they themselves would think that Tengnong has invested so much in breeding, and they wouldn't give it up for no reason.

To hold such a view is to greatly underestimate his strength.

Let alone ten million, even if it were a hundred million or a billion, he wouldn't make the slightest concession on matters of principle.

This is his bottom line: maintain good intentions and persist in using ruthless methods.

Approach the world with kindness, but establish yourself in it with absolute means.

(End of this chapter)