The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

The marriage negotiations are almost complete.

According to his wife, she still hopes that Song Wu can follow in her footsteps after retiring from the entertainment industry.

She's very familiar with running a high-end beauty and wellness brand, so it wouldn't be bad for her to create another brand.

Chen Pingsheng shook his head, "You're being too unrealistic. Not to mention the increased competition in the beauty industry in recent years, the high-end market itself can't be mastered overnight, especially since it's a technology industry."

Technology industries such as food and beverage, beauty, and cosmetics are fraught with too much uncertainty.

The potential for future growth is actually quite limited.

Chen Pingsheng didn't quite agree with his sister-in-law going into this kind of industry, as she lacked the necessary inherent qualities.

She didn't study cosmetology, so why would she go and work in high-end cosmetology?

17 was very different from 13. Back then, beauticians could easily earn hundreds of thousands or even nearly ten million a year by carrying two fake instruments to negotiate cooperation with beauty salons.

This is no exaggeration.

As for now, not to mention that there are already countless people doing this, customers have also become smarter.

Be very wary of these so-called "equipment" services offered by beauty salons.

Song Wu has never studied cosmetology. It would be better to give her two families' businesses, Shuiyunjian and make her work in high-end cosmetology.

Like his sister Chen Qi, he can earn tens of millions a year without doing anything.

Song Yanxi asked him, "Then what do you think she can do?"

"Of course we should follow the times and get involved in the influencer economy!"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Short videos are incredibly popular right now. Many celebrities earn less than those big internet celebrities who consistently sell products. Moreover, this industry is just emerging and there are still plenty of opportunities in the future. She herself has been a celebrity before, so an internet celebrity management company is the most suitable for her."

Song Yanxi tilted her head and thought about it, and it seemed to make a lot of sense. Her husband was indeed smart.

"Why didn't you say so when you already had an opinion? Why did you make me speak up here!"

"Isn't this showing full respect for your opinion?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Who knew your opinion would be so unreliable? Don't think that just because our family runs Shuiyunjian well, high-end beauty is so easy. Don't you see how much we spend on training our beauticians every year?"

This is true.

Song Yanxi did not refute this, saying that among her husband's startups, Xin Teng Live was the fastest rising.

Secondly, there's Tengyou Media.

The scale has already grown, but we haven't reached the point of cashing out yet.

From this perspective, starting a business through short videos is indeed the most suitable option for her sister.

none of them.

“Setting up an influencer management company doesn’t require much money. You’ve made quite a bit of money over the years, so take 50 million and give it a try!”

Chen Pingsheng merely pointed out a path; there was no need to provide him with too many resources.

Song Wu has been in the entertainment industry for many years, so she's quite familiar with short videos.

Just bring in the entertainment industry's methods.

In addition, both of them are already quite famous, with millions of fans.

Even with all that, making money through short videos is still a breeze. Putting aside everything else, it's definitely more lucrative than being a celebrity.

Song Wu has lost her temper now.

She should obediently follow her brother-in-law's arrangements. Only in this way, if she fails, she will have her brother-in-law to back her up.

I'm not afraid at all.

Yang Changwen was somewhat disappointed. He had thought that marrying into the family would allow him to take over a large company and start as the CEO.

That would be so glamorous.

His current situation is actually not much different from marrying into another family.

Who knew he'd still have to start from scratch? That's not what he expected.

Chen Pingsheng could tell what he meant just by looking into his eyes, so he didn't bother to comment.

A third-rate actor comes here and wants to take over a big company. Who does he think he is?!
Why should others listen to his arrangements?

I waved him away. Many young people are like this, all talk and no action. They can't change this bad habit without experiencing the harsh realities of society.

He really didn't think highly of the woman his sister-in-law had chosen.

It's a pity she likes it herself.

Some things women simply can't resist, like how Samsung's eldest daughter was willing to marry even a security guard.

After they finished talking, Song Shuiqing tried to sneak in from outside. Chen Pingsheng thought she looked like a thief, with a shifty look on her face.

"Song Shuiqing, what are you doing?"

"Brother-in-law, I wanted to give you a little update on something."

"If there's anything wrong, come in and say it! What are you doing hiding outside like this!"

Song Shuiqing chuckled, "I was just afraid my brother-in-law would be too busy, so I didn't dare bother him. Brother-in-law, I heard you bought another Premier League club overseas?"

"You knew all this!"

"I only found out from the news, you know. It said it's Tenghui Capital holding the controlling stake, and the boss is Chinese. I guessed it was you right away. Brother-in-law, you're truly brilliant and extraordinary now. My admiration for you is like a surging river..."

"Stop, stop, stop..."

Chen Pingsheng quickly stopped her, "Have you slept with Big Fart for a few nights? How come you're starting to have foam in your mouth like her?"

"How did you know?"

Song Yanxi couldn't stand it anymore and told her to get to the point. Song Shuiqing immediately began to honestly recount what had happened during this period.

After receiving two million yuan in startup funding, she immediately went to Hangzhou to learn how to sell clothing through live streaming from Yao Anni.

It has to be said that her brother-in-law, this old classmate, really has some skills in the fashion industry.

After receiving 100 million yuan in investment from Chen Pingsheng, he closed all his physical stores and turned to live-streaming e-commerce in the short video field.

Several top livestreamers have been cultivated on major platforms such as Kuaishou and Taobao.

She then took matters into her own hands, and her monthly sales alone reached one or two hundred million.

It ranks among the top five in the entire domestic apparel live-streaming sales sector.

If you add in the streamers under her management, she could easily earn tens of millions a month.

She wasn't too sure of the exact figure, but it wouldn't be less than fifty million.

Song Shuiqing followed in her footsteps and learned from her, and later established her own clothing sales company.

She and her two older cousins ​​invested six million yuan, but still didn't make much of a splash.

The main problem is that we haven't cultivated any major online influencers, and these influencers themselves lack sufficient professional knowledge in the fashion industry.

It's incredibly frustrating to see a warehouse full of goods that can't be sold.

This is the complete opposite of the grand occasion on Yao Anni's side.

After listening to her explanation, Chen Pingsheng was so amused by her stupidity that he almost cried.

“I’m telling you, Shuiqing, do you guys have any brains? Yao Anni dares to hoard goods to sell because she has 100 million yuan in funds that I gave her, as well as two big internet celebrities that I transferred over.”

"When there is no shortage of sales, stockpiling goods directly can allow her to further reduce costs and thus gain a channel advantage."

"You don't have any top-tier internet celebrities, you don't have much capital, and you don't have many followers. You only have six million yuan to stockpile goods."

"Isn't this just waiting for those clothes to become outdated products and become a huge waste at home?"

Song Shuiqing immediately understood, patted her head with a look of annoyance, "I told them I should have come to ask my brother-in-law for his opinion earlier, but they insisted that you were too busy, and that asking about such a small matter was just to avoid taking up my brother-in-law's time."

"Alright, it's not a big deal."

Chen Pingsheng said, "You must remember that the essence of short videos is people. You need to cultivate people who can make money before you can consider the final monetization issue. If you rent a warehouse to sell goods before you've even cultivated the right people, what's the difference between short videos and picking up money?"

“Go to the family trust and get another two million. Don’t make this kind of low-level mistake again.”

That's how entrepreneurship is; one wrong move and all your hard work can be wasted.

Seeing others making good money makes people think they can too.

This is the biggest illusion in life.

Yao Anni is able to earn this money because she has accumulated ten years of entrepreneurial experience in the clothing industry.

She is a female academic achiever, received 100 million yuan in funding from him, and also gained direct support from Xin Teng's live streaming platform.

All of these factors combined are what allow her to easily earn 50 to 60 million every month.

Song Shuiqing has nothing yet, but she wants to copy other people's path to success. It would be outrageous if she didn't fail.

It's no exaggeration to say that if she were an ordinary person...

If you go in with six million, you'll at most come out with just a pair of shorts.

Song Shuiqing was also extremely annoyed. She didn't dare tell her cousin about it, for fear of being scolded.

There was a news story online about a wife who was scammed out of tens of millions of yuan.

She cried and begged people not to tell her husband, saying that she could just go back to her parents' house and cry it out.

This is probably a similar situation.

Starting a business with insufficient funds offers extremely low margins for error.

This is the real reason why ordinary people are increasingly discouraged from starting their own businesses in this era.

A small mistake could wipe out all the money you've painstakingly saved over three to five years.

For ordinary people, losing money is more than just losing money.

His wife and children may remarry.

Song Shuiqing is different; she has a family foundation to back her up.

Even if she makes a few big mistakes, as long as she seizes an opportunity, she can make back all the money she lost, with interest.

Short videos offer this benefit.

The younger generation from the Chen and Song families who went out to start businesses have also encountered numerous problems, and none of them have shown any signs of success so far.

Even the smallest success was not achieved.

The rise of this family is still a long and arduous journey.

In the afternoon, Chang Fu came over again.

I heard he bought a Premier League club and he's incredibly excited.

Everyone dreams of playing football, but unfortunately, domestic football in China is just too bad.

Chang Fu was also thinking of going abroad to watch the Premier League play in September this year.

Betting on sports is very popular abroad, so he'll definitely gamble a lot when he goes there.

Thinking about it this way, Chen Pingsheng still felt that buying Ding Ding into his team was the more reliable option.

Once the Premier League starts, he might as well bet on his own team to win; he might even make a few hundred million.

"Hey Chen, how about we old buddies grab a couple of drinks at a bar tonight?"

"also."

He rarely goes to places like that, and going there occasionally is harmless.

However, going to those kinds of places without beautiful women to accompany you isn't very interesting.

Chang Fu only decided to go out and have some fun after seeing his wife Yang Qian go to Hong Kong.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Chen An'an, the big-breasted kid, came home from school.

She is currently in the second semester of third grade and will be in fourth grade in September.

My grades haven't improved, but my hobbies and interests have improved quite a bit.

If she wants to attend a prestigious university in China in the future, we'll have to get her enrolled as a student with special talents.

"Dad, have you missed me?"

I won't think about you at all.

Chen An'an put down her big schoolbag. As soon as her sister came back, the little girl would inevitably follow her around.

"Tch, Dad clearly misses me a lot, but he won't admit it."

Chen Pingsheng was too lazy to pay attention to her. As long as he ignored her, she would obediently go to the backyard to practice a set of Mantis Boxing first, and then play the erhu for a while.

Finally, teach the little one to recite the poem backwards.

Such a child prodigy, but she's made him so stupid.

There's hardly anything to spend money on at home now, and even his wife, Song Yanxi, exclaimed that they have so much money they can't possibly spend it all. Chen Pingsheng laughed at her, saying that since they have so much money they can't spend it all, they should go and buy some commercial real estate in Hong Kong.

The thing felt solid in her hand, and Song Yanxi actually believed it. She then instructed her private secretary in Hong Kong to prepare to buy land on the Peak and build a luxury villa.

The villas on the hilltop in Hong Kong all come with land, and you can also demolish the house and rebuild it yourself.

With the more than 4 billion yuan she had earned from Huang Zhongshi, she planned to buy a large plot of land.

Then spend billions to build several super villas.

This idea is good; the only downside is that it's expensive.

Chen Pingsheng also discovered that his wife was incredibly quick to spend money; she would find every possible way to spend any funds she had that exceeded two billion.

Either buy a house or buy land.

They've already bought two universities worth billions, so it's understandable that they'd spend billions more to buy hilltop land in Hong Kong.

But it's already 2017, and the prime locations on the Peak of Hong Kong have long been snapped up by those wealthy families.

Even if she had money, it would be difficult for her to buy the best seats.

After his trip to Manhattan, Chen Pingsheng no longer had much intention of using his money to buy commercial real estate.

The main reason is that the family already has enough business assets.

They can make a net profit of over a billion yuan every year just from collecting rent, what more could they ask for?

Even if Chen An'an and her sister aren't very reliable when they grow up, they can still live off the rent for the rest of their lives.

Furthermore, the country's core strategy is still to upgrade the technology sector, so he needs to work hard in this area.

According to Chen Pingsheng, he still hopes that his wife will focus on innovation in medical aesthetic instruments.

Currently, most of the effective medical aesthetic devices available in China are imported from abroad.

They not only charge for the equipment, but also for all sorts of cooperation fees.

After a year, you can simply earn money passively; that's the benefit of having core technology.

This kind of thing won't be accomplished in a year, nor will it have a significant effect in two or three years.

But someone has to do it, otherwise how can we upgrade our industries?

Without core technologies, the majority of the so-called domestic market will be earned by foreign giants.

It's like a mobile phone; the operating system is Android, and the chip is Qualcomm.

Every mobile phone sold is equivalent to paying a usage fee to foreign countries.

How can we upgrade our industries like this?

In this situation, if the country doesn't support Huawei, who will it support?

Song Yanxi never expected him to make such a suggestion; she needs to think about it more carefully.

You can't make a decision all at once.

That evening, Chen Pingsheng said that Chang Fu had invited him to go drinking.

Song Yanxi told him to go and come back early, and the little brat ran out with a clever look on his face and asked him if he could take her with him.

Chen Pingsheng agreed, but the price was that he wouldn't get his allowance next month.

The big kid ran off in a huff. What a joke! I only went out for one day, and he wants to deduct a month's allowance from my allowance.

I'm not going!
There are still many bars in Shanghai, and Sap culture is very popular here.

What does that mean?

They'd rather eat less or nothing at all than not buy themselves a full set of designer clothes.

Among them, Tony the hairdresser and those ordinary office workers were the most exaggerated.

Despite earning less than 10,000 yuan a month, some people still buy LV bags, Gucci belts, or entry-level Omega watches.

You see them dressed smartly, but their pockets are empty.

There are many such people in bars, with colorful lights and music playing loudly.

On stage, there were also five or six tall and beautiful women wearing bikinis, dancing an incredibly exaggerated hip-swaying dance.

These beauties aren't cheap; you'd need at least a few thousand to take them out.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as those who are good-looking.

Others keep them as mistresses, and they keep gigolos in return.

Isn't this promoting the domestic economic cycle?

Changfu booked the largest table, with a minimum spend starting at 20,000.

Gao Hu was also here. These married men also need to relax occasionally.

Not only Gao Hu was there, but Zhang Tao also came over.

No wonder Changfu came to the bar for a party.

"Old Chen, come and sit down."

The DJ's voice was so loud that Changfu had to shout for him to hear some of the sounds.

This guy also brought four or five internet celebrity beauties with him.

Among them are Qiao Mei, Fu Tuan, Rabbit Teeth, Liu Siyao, etc.

Chen Pingsheng sat in the middle and first ordered several bottles of the most expensive cognac.

I didn't look at the exact price per bottle, but it must cost at least one or two hundred thousand.

The online celebrity community is quite open-minded; their innocent image is just for the average person.

If they're truly capable, they'll play the game in a way that's more extravagant than anyone else.

Chen Pingsheng was simply drinking and chatting with a few old buddies. His wife was pregnant, so it would be too much for him to hang out with internet celebrities at a time like this.

Liu Siyao is very ethereal online, but in reality, she's less than a 90% like that.

Compared to Shen Wanning in the trainee competition, Yang Xiaoxiao is still far behind.

All I can say is that the beauty filters online are really powerful.

Not to mention comparing her to her cousin Jiang Peiyao, who's a big name in the entertainment industry.

They're all employees who make money for him, yet he still only drinks a couple of glasses as a symbolic gesture.

However, something unexpected happened: he actually saw his innocent and harmless little cousin, Jiang Peiyao, in the crowd.

She was also wearing a small mask and dancing with two girls, swaying her hips.

Isn't that Shen Wanning and Yang Fenghuang?
Chen Pingsheng went to find them. Jiang Peiyao rarely comes to bars. Today, she only came out to have some fun with her colleagues because the first trainee competition had ended.

That's right, all of them have signed with Tencent Entertainment.

Those who were eliminated went to Xin Teng Live.

Someone patted her on the shoulder from behind, and Jiang Peiyao was instinctively a little surprised. When she turned around, she was pleasantly surprised.

"Oh...brother-in-law!"

What are you doing at the bar?

He had to lean close to her ear to make her hear him, and Jiang Peiyao's ears turned red instantly.

It's like a little girl who's suddenly caught by an adult doing something naughty.

“Brother-in-law, Xiaoxiao said we wanted to celebrate, so we came to the bar.”

"Oh." Yang Xiaoxiao was also the daughter of Lao Yang in his CEO training class, so she should call him Uncle Chen.

He was born into a wealthy family and had a very wild childhood.

As for Yang Fenghuang, she was scratching her head, completely at a loss.

Chen Pingsheng let them play by themselves; he wasn't trying to bother them intentionally.

Jiang Peiyao dared not continue her crazy behavior and sat obediently behind him.

Chen Pingsheng still didn't really like these kinds of occasions; even having a chat was a struggle.

I'm past the age where I like going to bars.

With his departure, almost everyone else will also be leaving.

He also planned to go outside to find a quiet bar, where it wouldn't be too noisy and he could chat peacefully.

As soon as they came out, a man chased after them and handed them his business card.

The business card wasn't handed to him, but to his younger cousin Jiang Peiyao who was standing behind him.

"Miss, this is our boss's business card. He'd like to invite you to stay for a drink."

Jiang Peiyao kept her head down so low, couldn't she see her brother-in-law over there?
I already rejected him twice at the bar, how could he still chase after me?

Chen Pingsheng took the business card. Goodness, it was someone in the same industry, also working in the new energy sector.

"Has your boss finished building Youxia Motors yet?" Chen Pingsheng threw the business card back at him without any politeness.

The man was embarrassed. He didn't know Chen Pingsheng; his boss simply thought Jiang Peiyao was pretty and wanted to treat him to a couple of drinks.

The girls in the bar rarely manage to refuse his boss.

When he turned to go inside, the owner upstairs was Wesley from Youxia New Energy.

Speaking of Ranger Motors, it's quite a peculiar brand.
In 2014, the founder successfully secured 3 million yuan in funding with advanced concepts and impressive PowerPoint presentations, and assembled a team of fewer than 100 people to begin his car manufacturing career.

The history of car manufacturing predates Chen Pingsheng's by more than two years.

This is also the originator of PPT presentations for new energy vehicle manufacturing in China, and its slogans are louder than anyone else's.

We want to be the Tesla of China.

Various exquisite concept cars are emerging one after another, but they all only exist on PowerPoint presentations.

Aside from the inability to achieve mass production, it's already unbeatable on the PPT.

In just a few years, it has raised nearly 10 billion yuan in funding.

The car's difficult production did not hinder the founder's success in the business world at all.

Unfortunately, he encountered Chen Pingsheng, who actually invested tens of billions to build cars, unlike Chen Pingsheng who only presented cars through PowerPoint presentations.

There's no need to be polite.

Chen Pingsheng and his group found another quiet, top-notch bar.

This time, instead of bikini-clad ladies dancing provocatively on stage, a short-haired beauty who sang quite well was on stage.

He looked to be in his early twenties, and he had a guitarist and a drummer with him.

Ordering a few beers and inviting a couple of old friends to a place like this is what people their age should be doing.

The naive little cousin obediently poured him a drink, saying, "Brother-in-law, I'm going to get you drunk!"

"Give me a break with your alcohol tolerance!"

Chen Pingsheng was a heavy drinker when he was young, but he drank much less after he got married.

Jiang Peiyao snorted, "Brother-in-law, don't look down on me. I can drink two and a half bottles of beer now, and I can down two ounces of liquor."

Chen Pingsheng tapped her on the head, "Drinking isn't a good thing, and you're getting all smug about it."

The light flick didn't hurt much, but Jiang Peiyao covered her head and grimaced.

"Old Chen, what's the situation with that wandering knight?" Chang Fu didn't know much about new energy, so he just asked out of curiosity.

"It's nothing."

Chen Pingsheng said, "The country is now vigorously supporting the new energy industry. In the past two years, more than three or four hundred new energy vehicle manufacturers have emerged in China. There are only 25 car companies in the world that have been around for a century. You can tell how exaggerated this number is."

"That's just how the business environment is in our country. Everyone likes to follow trends. Once something becomes popular, a whole bunch of people rush in. Unfortunately, most of them don't have the ability to build cars. The idea of ​​building cars is just to seek better financing or simply to defraud subsidies."

There is something for everyone.

Anyway, these days, one or two big companies come up with the idea of ​​building cars every day, so it's really not surprising.

"It's already rolled up like this before it's even started?"

"Who said it wasn't?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Don't worry, time is the best weapon. Those car manufacturers that only exist in PowerPoint presentations are destined to be eliminated. In the next five or ten years, China can only accommodate three or four new energy vehicle factories at most."

In other words, 99% of them need to be eliminated overall.

Chang Fu thought it was quite exaggerated, after all, this kind of thing often requires an investment of tens of billions.

So much money was poured in, only to turn into a bubble; the cruelty of the market is evident!
(End of this chapter)