The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

The days passed by and National Day arrived.

Many young men and women in the community were already on holiday. Chen Pingsheng got up early to buy steamed buns and saw Mo Yao, a sporty beauty, jogging in tight yoga pants.

Beside her was a middle-aged man walking his dog on a leash, constantly babbling.

Chen Pingsheng knew this woman; she lived downstairs from him. She was quite good-looking and had a good figure. She was a senior white-collar worker at a company.

I rented a house here with two female colleagues.

"Hey pretty girl, how about we add each other on WeChat and grab lunch together?"

If you want to have many girlfriends, the prerequisite is to be thick-skinned and immediately ask for the WeChat of any pretty girl you see.

Speaking up is half the battle; not speaking up means you have no chance at all.

People who do this kind of thing are usually not rich.

For example, this middle-aged man's shoes are clearly branded LV, as are his trousers.

Everyone knows LV, but if you think it's really expensive, you're wrong. There are tons of high-quality fakes online.

Chen Pingsheng was carrying groceries and wasn't planning to interfere, but then the chattering man ran up to him and said:
"Hey pretty girl, don't let my age fool you. Men only learn to take care of women when they get older. If you find someone like this who only knows how to go grocery shopping all day, where's the romance in that!"

The dog barked twice in agreement.

Mo Yao clearly knew Chen Pingsheng; she was often approached like this, so it wasn't surprising at all.

"Old Chen...why didn't I see you bring Xiao Lu along?"

"He's still sleeping. I came out to buy some things to make him breakfast. You have quite a few suitors, huh? This guy's LV shoes are pretty nice, did he buy them for hundreds of dollars a pair?"

Upon hearing Chen Pingsheng say that a pair of LV bags only cost a few hundred yuan, the man immediately became furious:

"You bumpkin, LV doesn't come in for a few hundred, I bought this for over thirty thousand!"

"Oh...it costs over 30,000 yuan and it's still peeling and the paint is chipping. The quality isn't very good!"

"That's normal. Domestically produced hip-hop luxury brands are so stupid, they cost hundreds of thousands and they fall apart in three days."

Chen Pingsheng: "..."

"Second Idiot Luxury Brand"—isn't that the trendy luxury brand that Erpiya (a nickname for a woman) was involved in?
If you think it's bad, it's because you're not its target audience.

That's how Erpiya understands it, anyway.

"Alright, alright, with your fake clothes, you might be able to fool some young girls, but Mo Yao makes over 20,000 a month. How could an unemployed bum like you possibly fool her?"

How did you know I'm unemployed?

"If you weren't unemployed, would you dress up in flashy clothes every day and go out to chat up pretty girls?"

He wasn't truly unemployed; he just did some shady things, and his income depended on luck.

Most of his energy was actually focused on picking up girls.

Chen Pingsheng had seen him like this not just once or twice, but many times.

Mo Yao smiled and said, "Brother Chen, you really helped me a lot by exposing him directly this time."

"This guy tricked two girls from out of town last time, both around seventeen or eighteen years old. You definitely won't fall for it. Even if I don't warn him, he'll just keep trying to fool you a couple more times."

"It was a bit of a hassle, but I should thank you. How about I treat you to dinner?"

"There's no need for a meal; I need to take my son to the park later."

He always helps his neighbors out of their time, and Old Chen, a kind-hearted citizen, has a very good reputation in this regard.

As for the guy who had just left, he ran into a young girl from out of town who was looking for relatives, and immediately asked her for her WeChat.

Young girls these days are not like they used to be; they start dating much earlier.

Whether there are feelings involved or it's a one-time service, there won't be any psychological burden.

That bastard always manages to scam seven or eight people a month.

Of course... it may be a scam, but the cost is still quite high.

These days, it's unrealistic to expect a meal at any of these trendy restaurants to cost less than five or six hundred yuan.

When Chen Pingsheng brought breakfast home, Chen Lu had already gotten up and finished washing up.

He still looked sleepy; youth is great, he can sleep for more than ten hours a day.

The older you get, the shorter your sleep duration tends to be.

"Your sister and the others are coming soon, so hurry up and eat your breakfast!"

"Is my older sister coming too? Which older sister?"

"Your eldest sister, Er Yatou, went to Chengdu to have fun by herself."

Well... Chen Lu was quite happy to hear that it was his older sister who came to see him.

Compared to my second sister's unreliable goods, my eldest sister is clearly much better.

An'an came with her blind date this time.

Her blind date was personally introduced by Chen Pingsheng; he came from a very good family.

Three generations have been in business, and many second-generation members are involved in politics.

By his generation, the family had grown into a large and prosperous family.

After Chen Pingsheng selected a few, An'an picked him out and found him to be quite good after getting to know him.

Both now own their own companies, both graduated from university in China, and have traveled to most parts of the world.

Their spending habits are not low, which means they have a lot in common to talk about.

Wealthy people have a wide variety of choices when looking for a partner.

The most important thing is to find someone with similar values ​​and beliefs.

In other words, you need to be able to have a good conversation.

Undoubtedly, An'an is quite satisfied with this kind of partner.

At least it won't be like in college, where people would ask her, "Is this how rich people spend their money?"
The two are only in the initial stages of getting to know each other, and they will need to explore things further on their own.

An'an was generally satisfied with the trip, otherwise she wouldn't have brought him to see him.

Chen Pingsheng took Chen Lu to the park to exercise. The father and son did morning exercises together until An'an introduced her to a potential partner.

They attracted a lot of attention because they were driving an Aston Martin DBX convertible.

Chen Lu was quite happy to see An An, "Big sister!"

"Uncle Chen."

An'an's boyfriend is named Sun Siming, who is 26 years old and currently manages a pharmaceutical company.

Their family is also very wealthy and powerful.

Chen Pingsheng simply nodded slightly, then pulled An'an aside and asked, "So, you've fallen for him?"

"I wouldn't say I like them, I just feel like I can spend more time with them."

"That's good. You don't need to rush. You can take your time to look around."

An An nodded and even exercised with them.

Chen Pingsheng wasn't very enthusiastic about Sun Siming, always feeling that he had stolen away his beloved eldest daughter.

There's nothing I can do; when a daughter grows up, she has to get married.

Neither Chen Pingsheng nor Song Yanxi agree with their daughters or sons engaging in late marriage and late childbirth.

A girl must get married before the age of twenty-five.

Missing this time means missing the golden period for marriage.

Since it was he who introduced him, Chen Pingsheng felt relatively more at ease.

The background check was also conducted in great detail.

The Sun family is a typical example of a large and powerful family with numerous assets.

Its debt is as high as four or five hundred billion.

High debt is not terrible; what is most terrible is insolvency.

Sun Jiaguang's pharmaceutical group alone has a market value of nearly 400 billion yuan, not to mention his many other core industries.

Overall, their debt ratio is still very low compared to their total assets.

And Sun Siming is also the core heir of their Sun family, with a status equivalent to that of Chen Lu.

He has an older sister who married a young man who held a high-ranking official position.

Among the elders of the Sun family, two had marriage partners who were both ministerial-level officials. Such a position was definitely deeply entrenched.

A marriage alliance between the two families would be beneficial to both.

At least the Sun family was very satisfied with An'an when they learned that Chen Pingsheng was going to choose a suitable partner for her.

The old man from the Sun family personally brought Sun Siming to see him.

Love stories in wealthy families are actually quite simple and unpretentious.

Look at family background first, then feelings.

After getting to know An'an, I felt she was quite nice, so we came to Shenzhen together.

Chen Pingsheng is currently living the life of a semi-retired elderly person, in the stage of health preservation and raising children.

At noon, Chen Pingsheng invited them to a small Hunan restaurant downstairs for lunch.

The food here is pretty good, but the hygiene is a bit lacking. That's actually quite normal, considering their low prices.

"You two take a look and see what you like to eat. It's on me, order whatever you like!"

"Master Chen, a Baisha cigarette, please."

The boss and he both knew each other, and Chen Pingsheng would often bring Chen Lu here for a meal.

They naturally became familiar with each other after a while.

"I won't smoke in front of my daughter, but I can have a bottle of Shaoyang rice wine."

"This is your daughter? She's so beautiful."

"Of course! She inherited my genes, how could she not be beautiful?"

"Master Chen is blessed with a son and a daughter, which makes a perfect family."

"Hehe, I also have a second daughter. She's on vacation and has gone out to play. I'll bring her over for dinner another day."

"Alright... Chef Chen, then I won't bother you any longer. I'll go cook a few dishes for you first."

Many of these small restaurants nowadays are run by husband and wife.

Even if you work diligently your whole life, you can still buy a small apartment of fifty or sixty square meters in a place like Shenzhen and settle down.

By noon, the Hunan restaurant was bustling with activity.

Because they were sitting against the wall, their location was pretty good, and soon a lot of people they knew came, including Mo Yao, who had helped them before.

She's already twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and she's hardly ever dated, let alone gotten married.

The two exchanged brief greetings; she had brought a colleague along for the meal.

"Dad...you've been living too simply here, haven't you?"

"Isn't simplicity good? Simplicity is the true essence of life."

Chen Pingsheng said, "You don't understand at your age. You'll gradually understand when you have children and your own family. It's just that your mother is busy with her own health business right now. Otherwise, a more ordinary life would be really nice."

Okay... Anyway, An'an doesn't understand her dad. She always thought he moved to Shenzhen to live an ordinary life because he wanted to take care of Chen Lu.

Surprisingly, he now quite enjoys this ordinary life.

Perhaps in a few years, Chen Pingsheng might want to find an ordinary job.

The greatest happiness in life is to spend the first half of your life studying and making money, and then live the second half however you want, right?

Retiring at forty might be a bit too early.

Retiring at 46 is definitely the best choice for him.

If he doesn't retire soon, the entire group will soon be developing a personality cult, with his will as the core of everything.

This is actually a core negative factor hindering the group's normal development.

People should retire when they reach a certain age. If they are reluctant to relinquish the power they hold in the group, they will only suffer a great backlash from their greed for power.

With his current mindset, he can't teach An'an.

This is something that comes with age and the clear understanding gained from life experience.

It cannot be taught, nor can it be imparted.

The wind rises from the smallest thing, wanders through the bustling world, and finally returns to the ordinary, untouched by the dust of the world.

Feel the tranquility of time and the simple joys of life in the ordinary moments.

This is the true meaning of being both detached from and engaged with the world.

Chen Lu is still young, and An An is just beginning to experience love and family life.

They still have a long way to go.

As for his wife, that career-obsessed woman is still running around everywhere; it's unbelievable.

After the meal was finished, Chen Pingsheng invited An'an and the others to sit in his small house for a while.

An'an probably knew that her father wanted to talk to Sun Siming about something alone, and he probably wanted to know about his specific views on life and values.
An'an went to find her younger brother Chen Lu to see if he was still being influenced by Su Xiaoxi alone.

She hadn't seen Su Xiaoxi for many years and didn't know how she was doing.

An'an thought for a moment and decided to take her younger brother Chen Lu next door to find Su Xiaoxi.

Su Xiaoxi's mother went to work, leaving her alone at home. While at home, she had to do more than just study.

She also had to earn money herself, and the way she did it was simple: copying text on the line. She had beautiful handwriting.

You can earn around 120 yuan a day doing this kind of work.

She has to use her holidays to earn money, unlike Chen Lu who can go out and play with his father.

Upon hearing the knock, Su Xiaoxi quickly went to open the door.

Then she saw Chen Lu and his sister. An An looked around.

"Sister An'an?"

"It's rare that you still recognize me."

"I will never forget how amazing Sister An'an was before."

Aren't you going to invite us in for a seat?

"Hmm...come in, come in, my house is still a bit messy!"

It's not actually messy, it's just that the decoration is very simple. It's an old house, and it can't compare to the house next door at all.

That's natural; otherwise, Chen Pingsheng's millions of yuan in renovation fees would have been wasted.

"Xiao Xi, where's your mom?"

"She went to work."

"Oh!" An'an simply asked, and even if Su Xiaoxi brought up the tea, she definitely wouldn't drink it.

Because she would never drink from a cup that someone else had used.

Su Xiaoxi was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Chen Lu helped her out and suggested that his sister help Xiaoxi's family buy the small house.

If Xiaoxi's family had saved a few thousand yuan in rent each month, they wouldn't be in such a difficult situation.

She no longer needs to work so hard to earn money by copying words.

This amount of money was nothing to An'an, but she couldn't figure out her father's plans.

Chen Lu and Su Xiaoxi's mother is a clear opponent in the family.

The younger aunt, Chen Qi, remained silent, while the older aunt, Chen Yao, also opposed the idea.

Grandma Peng Ying had always lived in the countryside and had no idea about this.

It's easy to help Su Xiaoxi's family buy a house, but the difficult part is how to keep her mother from getting angry.

An An is ultimately kind-hearted, and perhaps she just wanted to help her younger brother.

She quietly bought the house and then made up an excuse to reduce the rent by more than half.

In Guangdong, the easiest reason to find is undoubtedly feng shui.

Such a large three-bedroom apartment has only dropped from eight thousand a month to two thousand a month.

Su's mother was naturally pleased, but Su Xiaoxi was very suspicious.

Why did the feng shui of their place become problematic after Sister Chen Lu came to visit?

The rent has been reduced by more than half, so it seems like Sister Chen Lu bought the small house.

(End of this chapter)