The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

The three girls were both surprised and happy to receive a gift from their uncle for no apparent reason!

Chen Pingsheng didn't stay with them for long; he went to Taiyi Villa to stay that night, and many other guests came during that time.

They are all relatively unknown but extremely wealthy individuals from Guangdong.

The truly wealthy are generally very low-key and would never publicize their wealth for the sake of fame.

It's unlikely that someone like that would become extremely wealthy.

On the other side, Chen An'an went to a snack bar. Since there were so many things to do, she wanted to take things one step at a time at her own pace.

For someone who is not short of money, stock price fluctuations are temporary, and she doesn't need to pay attention to them.

The real core issue is maintaining a good customer reputation, which means the service quality of those tens of thousands of offline stores.

As long as this aspect is maintained well, the stock price that has fallen will eventually rise again.

She wasn't in a hurry.

Time flies, and another half month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Pingsheng received news from Tong Zhelan about a Chinese short-selling fund she was leading the establishment of.

It encountered strong resistance from overseas retail investors, turning what was originally a sure-fire short-selling battle into a major confrontation.

Now it's hanging in the balance.

Short-selling funds and retail investors are inherently opposed, and Tong Zhelan never fights a battle he cannot win.

I just didn't expect to encounter such a strong coordinated attack this time.

Several major retail investor organizations took the lead, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of retail investors to buy in at the same time.

Tong Zhelan has encountered tremendous difficulties and may even suffer a one-time loss of over 10 billion US dollars.

This is no small sum. As explained before, short selling involves taking on unlimited risks with limited potential gains.

The risks involved are simply incomprehensible to outsiders; similar incidents have occurred before.

This time, however, it happened to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, headed by Tong Zelan.

This proves that even the wisest person can make a mistake.

Tong Zhelan called Chen Pingsheng, hoping to borrow four billion US dollars from him.

Chen Pingsheng quickly made a comeback; he had previously made a lot of money by following Tong Zhelan in short selling.

We originally intended to invite him to share the risk, but he couldn't attend the overseas meeting because of family matters. Unexpectedly, this directly avoided a loss of several billion US dollars.

The game they played together couldn't possibly be small.

They often mobilize hundreds of billions of US dollars.

It can only be said that the stock market is risky, and no one can remain successful forever.

Tong Zhelan has clearly suffered a major setback this time; even if she loses all of her savings accumulated over the years, it might not be enough.

Chen Pingsheng became slightly more cautious and decided that he should avoid doing things like gambling with unlimited risks for limited profits in the future.

Tong Zhelan originally thought it would be a favorable game, but who knew it would turn into such an unbelievable situation.

She herself was attacked by a group of retail investors that day.

In fact, they've already been acting as market manipulators in the stock market.

When the house wins, retail investors will naturally lose; that's perfectly normal.

Fortunately, Tong Zhelan has enough blood in her veins, so it just takes a while for her to recover.

His standard for lending money has always been to lend to those in urgent need, not to those who are poor.

For him, being poor means having more loans than assets.

Someone like Lao Xu, worth hundreds of billions, has debts that are all nonsense. It's impossible to borrow money from him.

Even if Tong Yanglan loses over 10 billion US dollars this time, she still has substantial assets of no less than 20 billion US dollars.

Of course you can borrow it.

After returning to Shanghai, Chen Pingsheng attended several economic forums hosted by the local government.

He always sat in the main seat, and the conversation mainly revolved around future industry trends and improvements to the offline market.

In its early years, the rise of the internet had a significant impact on the real economy to some extent.

With the rise of short videos, live-streaming e-commerce has become the best entrepreneurial path for the younger generation.

The offline physical economy is entering a further downturn, except for well-known shopping malls and the main bustling streets of cities.

Those remaining physical stores are lucky if they don't lose money, not to mention the real estate market is still in a slump.

Numerous industries have been affected, and the core task of local governments remains to protect employment and stabilize development.

Xiao Ya, who has been transferred to Hangzhou, came to see him, also wanting to ask about the next steps in the post-real estate era.

Chen Pingsheng still adheres to his long-held belief that while boosting the technology industry, we must not forget to support basic service industries.

Basic service industries are the cornerstone of future employment, and this sector absolutely cannot be damaged.

Of course, the core of developing the technology industry is to grasp the future and focus on enterprises' independent research and development.

Enterprises engage in independent research and development to avoid remaining in the low-end OEM industry. No matter how well the products they produce sell, most of the profits will still be taken by those advanced technology industries abroad.

Focusing on independent research and development means focusing on core productivity. As for the service industry, that's even easier to understand. Food delivery, catering, and the most basic necessities like clothing, housing, and transportation can all be included in the service industry. How to develop this sector is the biggest test of capabilities.

Only by developing these basic industries can we maximize the income of ordinary people. If these sectors cannot be improved, most people will still not be able to enjoy high salaries and benefits.

When it comes to examples of the best-performing service industry, it's hard to ignore Donglai Department Store.

That is, a typical example of taking the service industry to its extreme. If more such enterprises appear in a region or throughout the country, it will have a very good driving effect.

With more companies like this, the pronouncements of many pseudo-experts and even wealthy individuals can be subtly refuted. It's a long and arduous road ahead.

Doing things well is never an easy task, let alone in her current position. As for Xiao Ya's career plan, it is very clear. How far she can go in the future depends on both her family's support and her own abilities.

Chen Pingsheng would naturally be generous with his support, so Xiao Ya will most likely be able to reach a certain level in the future.

He himself had a very high opinion of Xiao Ya, mainly because her performance in the past few years had not disappointed Chen Pingsheng, and in some ways had even far exceeded his expectations.

This naturally led Chen Pingsheng to increase his support for Xiao Ya. If no unexpected circumstances arise, Xiao Ya should be able to make further progress soon, probably without needing five years. What she will do next will be carefully arranged by her family. It can be said that the next step is the most crucial one for Xiao Ya.

If she does well, there will be no major difficulties in the future. If she doesn't do well, she may end up completely where she is now. It all depends on her own efforts. Chen Pingsheng has done his best.

After he finished his business here, Chen Pingsheng went to Hong Kong.

The main reason is that Tong Zhelan and the others have all returned here and are discussing how to make up for the losses from this short selling.

Some suggested going all out on something even bigger, while others disagreed.

The main reason is that gamblers have too much of a gambler's mentality.

Even for people like them, making money in business isn't always guaranteed.

If you lose, you'll gamble with even more money, which will only accelerate your slide into the abyss.

It was obvious that Chen Pingsheng disagreed.

He even thought this idea was very dangerous and completely unnecessary.

I guess everyone has their own opinion.

Everyone here is wealthy, and it's difficult to reach a consensus on anything. (End of Chapter)