The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Friends is open for business.

The second daughter, who has three children, sat in front of the door with her feet up, greeting guests. She had a very good plan: as long as there were few guests, the thirty days would pass quickly.

As for her older sister, Chen An'an, she was constantly busy, both inside and outside the house.

She also lived in an urban village for a period of time, back when she and her father ran a restaurant together.

It's been three or four years already; time really flies.

The urban villages only start to bustle with people around 6 p.m.

Most of them work in factories, while a small portion work for other companies and organizations.

Just like his sister, Xiaoshan Chenlu sat at the door with his feet up, acting like a daydreaming prodigy.

Soon, five or six guests arrived.

One of the girls was quite pretty. The group was all wearing the same work uniforms, so you could tell they all worked at the same factory.

"Little sister, do you still have any tables left?"

It's empty inside. Are you asking this because you want me to answer "yes" or "yes"?

Erpiya said, "Can I answer no?"

"Of course not, if your place doesn't have any guests, the food must taste pretty bad."

"How can you say it's just average if you haven't even tried it?"

"Alright, this restaurant is being a little more polite. It's on me today, everyone eat whatever you like."

Chen An'an came over to greet them. It was obvious from the situation that a boy was pursuing that girl.

It's only at times like this that people in the factory don't care much about money and just order whatever they want.

When guests arrive, Erpiya also has to go and entertain them.

These people all started working right after graduating from junior high school. They are not old, but they have changed many different jobs.

The happiest time of day is probably when I get off work, play some games, and then have some beer and barbecue with two friends.

Since it was the first day of opening, there weren't many customers yet, and they closed early, so they only managed to serve three or four tables.

It was a particularly relaxing day.

Although Erpiya is easygoing, she still finds life a bit tough.

Thirty days, just getting through each day as it comes.

Time flew by and it was almost the end of June. Their Old Friends Barbecue Restaurant had been open for almost a week, and for some reason, business was getting better and better.

From three or four tables a day before, now there are eleven or twelve tables a day.

The lamb skewers are almost smoking, and they're still not finished.

Left with no other choice, Erpiya could only call her mistress Chen Lu to join her for a meal.

"Sister, how much longer are we going to run this stunt?"

"What? I've been doing this for 10 minutes, and you can't even handle it after just one hour?"

The second daughter tricked her brother without any pretense, and the third daughter, Chen Lu, scratched his head, feeling that something was off.

He couldn't say it.

"I'm so tired, can I take a break?"

"Rest? What rest? Didn't you just rest for two minutes half an hour ago?"

The siblings sat there like unhappy little child laborers, skewering skewers.

After Chen Pingsheng arrived, Er Yatou hurriedly said, "Dad, I've been working for over a week now, can I take a day off?"

"Sure, one day off can extend the break to three days, it's up to you whether you want it or not."

"I don't want to."

Erpiya plopped down, wishing she could make a phone call to summon the employees of the three major companies and have them help her skewer the food.

"Don't complain, you can't even stand it after just one week."

She can definitely handle it; she just really wants to go and have fun.

Chen Pingsheng came out for a smoke. His business wasn't actually that good; it only peaked around 10 PM. Unfortunately, he was already closed by then.

His wife, Song Yanxi, also came over that evening, saying that the blind date Tang Jing arranged for Song Wu was alright.

He is a down-to-earth person, and his family is well-off; both his parents are rural teachers.

His sister-in-law herself didn't say she was dissatisfied, nor did she say she was satisfied.

The general idea is to get to know each other first and see how things go.

Song Yanxi came here not only to talk about her sister's situation, but also to see if her three children could adapt.

Many children from wealthy families are also arranged to work summer jobs.

Their family was no exception, but his wife brought up another matter.

"Chen Fan got divorced again. Does this mean he has to arrange to remarry?"

"Let's arrange it."

Chen Fan is really something else; he's been cheated on several times in his marriages. His situation is just an unavoidable special circumstance.

Basically, he'll have to remarry every two or three years, and the cost of getting a new wife is around three or four million.

No one really wants to have a child with him, for fear of having another child with a congenital intellectual disability.

This small amount of money is nothing to their family.

That evening, he went to talk to Chen Fan, basically telling him to find a new wife.

Since I can't find a reliable woman, I might as well spend a little more money to buy a beautiful wife.

This is no different from buying a wife; he's just spending five or six million to marry her and have her stay with him for a few years.

Once someone else cheats on you, you can change wives.

Two more days have passed, and we'll have to take a holiday whether we want to or not.

News of the outbreak has spread from their urban village; someone who returned from their hometown was infected.

As soon as the news came out, Er Yatou ran super fast. Although the street had not announced that the shops would be closed, there were very few people out shopping.

Moreover, banners have been put up at that factory, and they're inspecting it every day.

This is life under the influence of illness—both helpless and with no other options.

The small business owners on the street all looked worried; this thing, once it arrives, will definitely take some time to deal with.

It could take anywhere from a week to half a month.

Although this area is a village within the city, it is still Shanghai, and the rent is not low.

Since no one would come even if the door was open, Chen Pingsheng simply closed it.

Not to mention his family, countless stores of the entire Tengying Group are affected every day.

On the surface, the illness seems to be over once it passes, but in reality, the drop in housing prices is a hundred times more troublesome than the illness itself.

Er Ya Tou got her wish and went to one of the three major companies, while Chen An An, with her father's consent, opened a Douyin account where she played the erhu.

I spend most of my time playing the erhu on my rooftop and chatting with netizens.

She only agreed to reopen Douyin after she assured her father that she wouldn't become a big star and wouldn't tell anyone about her family situation.

There's nothing we can do about it. After getting sick, there are many places we can't go to, so it's safer to stay at home as much as possible.

Fortunately, their house is big enough to meet all their needs, and most of their relatives live there.

Many shops in the urban villages are facing shutdowns, as are many small factories.

After Chen Pingsheng went to the group, Tang Jing reported to him that the disease was showing a trend of spreading to a wider area.

The general idea is that things are going back and forth in many places.

It's common for physical stores to open and close repeatedly.

It's also an extremely troublesome thing.

(End of this chapter)