The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chen Lu has been living an ordinary life for three years.

If he continues like this, he'll truly become an ordinary person.

Chen Pingsheng redecorated him, but the father and son still hadn't moved to their small house.

There's no need for that. There are only two people in the house, and it would be too big to be cozy or difficult to manage.

If no one helps, it can take one or two hours to finish cleaning.

Moreover, the higher the housing prices, the smaller the average living space per person will be.

In a location like Hong Kong, a thousand square feet is considered a luxury home, but in reality, it's only about a hundred square meters.

Chen Lu was very happy to take the women's watch that his father had bought and give it to Su Xiaoxi.

Su Xiaoxi cried bitterly; this was the first time she had received a gift personally from Chen Lu's father.

This meant a lot to her.

The two chatted downstairs for quite a while before coming up. Su Xiaoxi simply couldn't afford such an expensive watch now.

If you pair that with the cheap clothes she's wearing, even a Richard Mille bag worth over a million dollars would look like a cheap, mass-produced item costing a few hundred dollars.

Whether a watch is real or fake depends entirely on the first impression a stranger has.

The people who get out of the Rolls-Royce are all real, even if they're fake.

If someone can only visit their mother by bus like she is now, then they are undoubtedly a fake.

After Chen Lu changed his clothes, apart from Su Xiaoxi and Shen Xi, who knew his identity, no one else at the school knew him.

Most of his classmates asked him where he bought such a fake outfit, and to be honest... it actually looks pretty good.

Shen Xi is a very sensible girl, even though she was forced by Song Yanxi to transfer to the same school as him.

Over time, Chen Lu gradually developed feelings for her.

It's just that this feeling of affection is difficult to detect in one's not-so-complex mind, and one doesn't express it.

Time flies, and it's already late January.

With the year-end approaching and winter vacation beginning, Chen Pingsheng took Chen Lu back to Shanghai.

His wife, Song Yanxi, also had a rare month-long vacation, and their eldest daughter, Chen An'an, wouldn't be back until a few days before the Lunar New Year.

Chen Xinyi, a high school senior, chose to spend her winter break traveling at sea for a month with her older sister on the Youth Cruise and a number of wealthy classmates.
Only the three members of their family are left to spend the winter vacation together.

Chen Lu has quite a few friends in Shanghai, including Chang Fu's son, Chang Dalin, who is about the same age as him.

Chang Dalin is still a bit chubby. After his father, Chang Fu, started to let loose, the kid followed suit.

Besides him, there's also his aunt Chen Qi's child, Hu Qilin, who is about the same age as him.

The three of them have always had a good relationship.

Returning to Shanghai early this time will also allow us to get together more easily.

As for Gao Hu's son, Gao Feng, who is about the same age as them...

He doesn't usually get together with people much, mainly because he spends most of his time in Guangzhou.

Chen Pingsheng finalized many things while spending the Chinese New Year at home this year.

After the New Year, Chen Lu, a third-grader, will be starting the second semester of his third year of junior high school, unlike his two older sisters.

In the traditional Chinese mindset, he is the true and sole core heir of the Chen family.

She was also the one with the highest status.

The significance this identity bestowed upon him was beyond imagination.

For this reason, Song Yanxi is particularly concerned about his future development plan.

Even now, Chen Lu's personality is still very good.

He has a mild temper, is very humble, and doesn't have the "I don't care what you think, I care what I think" attitude that some so-called fake domineering CEOs have.

If a junior high school student of this caliber were born into an ordinary family, they would be considered extremely fortunate.

But for their family, it's far from enough.

In order to build a more sustainable development for the group, Chen Pingsheng was the first to abandon the so-called group personality cult and one-man rule.

Despite his high authority within the group, his opinions, including major decisions, are often rejected by the advisory group when it comes to important matters.

Not to mention something as important as succession. If Chen Lu can't grow to that level, all he can inherit in the future is the company's profit-sharing rights.

Control will never fall into his hands; the seven chiefs will not agree, and the board of directors, including the advisory group, will also oppose it.

In such a situation, even he couldn't change it.

Relying on bloodline inheritance would be absolutely fatal for the group's development.

They can even easily squander the achievements their parents have accumulated over decades in a single day.

This is also one of the main reasons why Song Yanxi strongly opposed Su Xiaoxi.

It can be said that if Chen Lu really gets together with Su Xiaoxi, it's like losing all the help from his other half.

This is extremely detrimental to his future.

Families like theirs clearly need to plan more, and this planning is mainly aimed at the children.

Compared to An'an's kindness, Erpiya is a typical domineering CEO, and the kind with a very eccentric personality.

With her personality, it's difficult for most people to get used to her work style.

So, Er Yatou has yet to properly inherit a family business.

Instead, she goes outside and deals with all sorts of random top-tier luxury brands.

Compared to her sister's kindness and generosity, Er Ya Tou is clearly incapable of inheriting the family's legitimate business.

Her unchangeable personality determined everything.

The only company with a chance of inheriting the business is Tengyou Media.

In Song Yanxi's heart, she really wanted her son to inherit the family's technology group.

Only by inheriting the family's technology conglomerate can one acquire a special business status.

It's just a pity that the standards for selecting presidents and top executives there are extremely high.

It's far from something Chen Lu can inherit simply by being the son of a founder, as he is now.

If the goal is to groom him to be the best successor, he will no longer be suitable to study in the country after three years of high school.

It would be best to study at top universities abroad.

In fact, given their family's situation, most of their children are sent to study abroad.

The reason is self-evident.

Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi also had a large family discussion about their son's future studies.

Song Yanxi insisted that Chen Lu study abroad for three years, and then come back after university.

He needs to study abroad for three years before he can possibly inherit his family's technology group.

From a practical standpoint, Chen Pingsheng believes his wife is right.

From a psychological and emotional perspective, he knew that Chen Lu himself would not want to study abroad.

There's just no way around it; given their circumstances, some choices are destined to go against their personal wishes.

Chen Lu's three years of high school could only be spent studying abroad.

Spend three years learning about excellent knowledge from overseas and experiencing the intellectual collisions brought about by different cultures.

When you go to university, you can return to your homeland and gradually adapt and integrate.

Chen Pingsheng talked to Chen Lu alone for a whole night. No matter how unwilling Chen Lu was, he had no choice but to listen to his family's arrangements this time.

Going abroad for three years was not something to discuss, but the only option.

The six months after the New Year will be the last six months that he and Su Xiaoxi can still get along normally.

For the next three years, he would certainly never see his only friend again.

As expected, Shen Xi will accompany him abroad.

Chen Pingsheng didn't need to think much about it; he knew his wife, Song Yanxi, would definitely arrange for her to go.

Given the Shen family's wealth and influence, sending a daughter abroad to study would be incredibly easy.

(End of this chapter)