The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

A few more days passed.

Chen Lujin's internship at Tengfei AI caused a huge uproar not only in the dormitory.

The same thing happened in class; many people came to him, asking, "Brother Lu, how did you get in? Can you teach me?"

"Thanks to my dad!"

"Didn't you say your dad owns a barbecue restaurant?"

He also works part-time as a driver.

Oh... I see, now I understand! So your dad's still working as a driver for a big boss?
This is a backdoor deal.

There's not much to say; young people in this new era are already used to it.

Everyone wants to work for a big company, but you have to be able to get in.

Fairness has been completely shattered, and class distinctions have become rigid. For those who have studied hard since childhood, the best future path is probably to work for a large company.

June 8th.

Worry-Free Barbecue in the urban village officially opened, and Chen Pingsheng was promoted to chef again. Although his shop was not big, he still hired a lot of employees.

There are people specifically in charge of barbecuing, and naturally, there are people specifically in charge of cleaning.

The business hours are until 8 pm every day, and the opening time is 1 pm.

Normally, preparations should begin at noon, which is considered an eight-hour workday.

On the opening day, Chen Lu did indeed bring his classmates over.

The four roommates, plus two others who all have girlfriends, squeezed together at a small round table, creating a lively atmosphere.

"Uncle... what would you like to eat?"

"Jiye, we'll just have something simple."

"Okay, Grandpa is still busy in the back."

Xiao Jiye was overjoyed. Now that his grandfather was no longer working as a driver, he had more time to spend with him every day.

"Chen Lu, is that your nephew?"

"My eldest sister's youngest son."

"You're so cute, all fair and chubby! Do you live nearby?"

"It's not far from here, that two-story building."

These classmates were quite curious, after all, Chen Lu's reputation for being helpful was quite well-known in the class.

Anyone who has a decent relationship with him can borrow money from him.

Now that he's said this, everyone basically understands that he's really rich.

Even in a place like Shenzhen, people can live in two-story buildings. Although it's an urban village, it's still considered a large apartment building.

Chen Lu himself didn't mind these things, so not many people took the initiative to return the money to him.

The ingredients at Wuyou BBQ are very fresh, and the chef they hired is also quite skilled.

Food baked in this way tastes delicious.

"Chen Lu, if you have any good connections, please introduce them to us."

He's amazing, but it's hard to introduce him.

After his father came out, Chen Lu went aside and talked with Chen Pingsheng for a while.

He always makes sure to be home before 6 p.m. every night, mainly to have dinner with Su Xiaoxi.

Chen Lu had guests at his home today, so he didn't stay at his father's barbecue restaurant for too long.

Su Xiaoxi's mother arrived, along with Su Xiaoxi's cousin, who is also her uncle's daughter.

The two of them came together this time not primarily for a meal, but mainly to ask Su Xiaoxi for some small favors.

Su's mother still felt somewhat inferior in front of Chen Lu; everyone in their family knew how well their daughter had married.

Even Su's mother couldn't see Chen Lu's parents, let alone their relatives.

Fortunately, Su Xiaoxi also has power in her own hands. Not to mention the more than 1 billion yuan that her mother had saved earlier, she can get 20 million yuan in interest every year.

The Hong Kong-based Teng Hui Capital that she currently owns is itself larger than one can imagine.

Unfortunately, that's human nature; once you have tens of millions, you often want more.

Now, my cousin from my uncle's family is coming over because she wants Su Xiaoxi to help her start a company, preferably with a full investment of several hundred million yuan.

"Chen Lu, you're back! Have you eaten?"

I ate some at my dad's place.

Since marrying Su Xiaoxi, Chen Lu has always treated Su's mother well, but he never changes how he addresses her.

He would never call her mother.

"Your dad must be pretty busy right now, right?"

"Fortunately, he recently opened a barbecue restaurant."

"Is your dad opening a barbecue restaurant?"

Su's mother felt it was quite strange, because she couldn't be accepted by Song Yanxi, so naturally she couldn't receive any messages from their family.

Chen Lu found a sofa to sit down and asked the nanny to pour him a glass of warm water. Su Xiaoxi's cousin sat opposite him. She was twenty-four years old, not pretty, and a little chubby.

She just likes to wear designer brands when she goes out and is particularly concerned about her appearance, so her makeup is a bit heavier than that of the average girl.

Chen Lu felt that this had a somewhat cheap feel to it.

"Did my cousin come to our house for something?"

"I just have a great project that will make me a lot of money, and I want to talk to Xiaoxi about it."

"You guys chat, I'm going upstairs to rest for a while."

Chen Lu doesn't concern himself with the group's affairs, so naturally he won't interfere with his wife's affairs either; Su Xiaoxi can make all the decisions herself.

After he left, his cousin immediately said, "Xiao Xi, this is a great opportunity to make a fortune! As long as you invest 200 million, I guarantee you'll triple your money in a year."

What guarantees do you have?

"Of course it's because of my reputation as your cousin. I went through a lot of trouble to get this project through a friend. You absolutely mustn't miss it. I've already guaranteed it to everyone."

"Cousin, come back to me for a loan when you've built up your credit to be worth 200 million."

"Su Xiaoxi, what do you mean? Don't you trust your cousin?"

Su Xiaoxi touched her big belly, not wanting to argue with her, so she signaled the nanny and the security guard outside to come in and kick her out.

Her cousin is the kind of person with absolutely no credibility. She borrows money everywhere and never intends to pay it back. How much credibility can she have?
After she was chased away, cursing and swearing, Su Xiaoxi asked her mother, "Why did you bring her here?"

"It's all because your uncles and the others kept talking about it."

"say what?"

Su Xiaoxi raised her eyes and said, "It's the same old clichés again. It's nothing more than brainwashing you about how rich families are, how I'll get divorced sooner or later, and then insisting that I make plans for myself as soon as possible and transfer the Chen family's assets."

"Mom, you're not young anymore. Are they afraid I'll get nothing if I get divorced, or do they want me to put the Chen family's assets into their own pockets? They're insatiable! I used the money to treat our elders and even bought them a house in Shenzhen, but look at them now..."

Su's mother wasn't a very smart person either; she herself was quite complicated. The reason she was swayed was mainly because the Chen family had never truly accepted her.

This made her feel uneasy, constantly influenced by some relatives.

In fact, given the Chen family's, especially that one's, way of doing things, if her daughter really got divorced, with all the compensation from all sides, she would definitely never have to worry about money again for the rest of her life.

Actually, we don't need it anymore, but that's just how human desires are—they only keep expanding.

"Alright, Mom was wrong this time, okay? By the way, you manage such a big Hong Kong capital, and Chen Lu doesn't offer any opinions?"

"He wouldn't bother with such trivial matters."

Fine... The Chen family's wealth once again shattered her imagination.

Su's mother's only regret now is that Chen Lu never called her "mother" or took her to meet his parents.

This is quite unusual in an ordinary family, considering that she, as the mother, has been diligently taking care of Su Xiaoxi for the past twenty years.

There wasn't a single problem in between, so her daughter's husband naturally had to start calling her "mother."

Unfortunately, that's simply not realistic.

……

Su Xiaoxi, heavily pregnant, went up to the study on the second floor and found Chen Lu still looking at stocks on the computer.

She sat down next to Chen Lu and asked, "Which stock have you taken a liking to? How much are you planning to invest?"

"I've got my eye on a few decent tech stocks lately, and I'm planning to invest around nine million."

"so little?"

"That's quite a lot, isn't it? My total monthly allowance is only ten million."

"If you want to invest, I can give you all the money I have."

"Forget it then."

Chen Lu shook his head and said, "My dad used to invest billions of dollars in me all the time. To be honest, it put a lot of pressure on me. Every fluctuation in the stock market is worth tens of millions. Whether I lose or make money, it's just a short-lived thrill. Now I just want to spend a few years achieving financial freedom."

His standard for financial freedom is very clear: to make money from his pocket money and earn ten million a month after a few years.

Then he would no longer need to ask his family for living expenses.

"Chen Lu, isn't this too unfair to you?"

"Aren't you overthinking this? What's there to feel aggrieved about? Even if I invest nine million every month and have one million for living expenses, and I earn a million a month without having to work, that's already more than many people. Besides, I have my own goals now, so I'm more motivated to work every day."

Well… Su Xiaoxi didn’t quite understand his behavior. When he had money before, he didn’t have a goal. Now that he has less money and only has a fixed ten million for living expenses, he has his own goal.

Chen Lu had a clear plan for his allowance, and over the course of a month, his classmates and college friends would borrow money from him in various ways.

It would only add up to about 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. He included this money in his fixed expenses and never planned to ask anyone to pay it back.

All that's left is to buy some things, eat, drink, and have fun.

A million dollars in living expenses would not be enough for his two older sisters, but it was far too much for him.

There weren't many expenses at home, and the next day he would take Su Xiaoxi to the hospital for a medical check-up.

The baby in the womb has never had its gender checked; the gender will be known naturally when the birth date arrives.

There are very few pregnant women in hospitals now, mainly because young people in this new era are less willing to have children.

The modern understanding of the saying "poverty doesn't last three generations" means that, let alone not having children, even getting married is a struggle.

It just means that the rich have a few more children.

Over the past decade, the real estate market will not stabilize until 2028, meaning it has been declining for seven or eight years.

A large number of middle-class people have fallen back into poverty as a result. The rich class is different, as long as their families don't produce anyone who is single-mindedly focused on surpassing their father.

They can all enjoy a long and prosperous life, but if the second generation works particularly hard, the third generation will most likely fall back into poverty.

Chen Lu himself would never have the idea of ​​working too hard; he just wanted to peacefully protect his little family.

Every time Su Xiaoxi came for a physical examination, she was very healthy, and the baby in her belly was naturally the same.

Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was the end of our junior year.

Su Xiaoxi invited two of her college best friends over for dinner, while Chen Lu prepared to report to Tengfei AI to become its intern.

As he was leaving, Yang Zi jokingly said that he was going to work like a prince.

Chen Lu usually doesn't respond to these kinds of questions.

He had no special privileges or power within the group; once he joined, he would simply be an honest, hardworking employee.

Tengfei AI is already the technology group with the highest market value in China, and it has research centers all over the country and around the world.

Its subsidiaries are numerous, including new-era intelligent robots, brain-computer interface chips, GPU graphics processors, and CPU central processing units.

In addition, there are many other software and hardware products.

In the decade that has seen the AI ​​boom, artificial intelligence in the new era has developed beyond imagination.

Many basic industry assembly line jobs are either being replaced by AI robots or covered by AI computing power.

In this day and age, if you want to start a business, you either have to do it on a small scale or have an abundance of resources available from your family.

The more advanced technology becomes, the more rigid social classes become.

Life is certainly becoming more and more convenient for ordinary people, but good jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Given this situation, it would be a lie to say that his classmates weren't envious that he was able to easily get into such a large corporation.

Chen Lu's first day of registration was just like his personality—unremarkable.

None of his colleagues knew that he was the son of the big boss.

As for the project team he participated in, it was just one of the thousands of projects that Tengfei AI was involved in.

In such a large corporation, one would need connections to reach the position of president.

Chen Lu could only think that they were truly chosen workers, one in a billion, the real elite among the masses.

Unfortunately, he himself is definitely not up to that standard.

All he can do is work honestly and try to make money from money as much as possible.

Once he no longer needs to ask his family for living expenses, he can probably finally do the things he likes.

As for what he likes, only he himself knows.

……

All three members of the family are second-generation members and have already entered the workforce.

Chen Pingsheng was left alone with Xiao Jiye, running a barbecue restaurant in the urban village. Under the blazing sun, they didn't have any customers.

Is it because the baked goods don't taste good, or is it because the feng shui here is bad?
neither.

Just because there were two doormen, one big and one small, sitting at the entrance, and it was 3 pm, who would come to eat barbecue!
"Grandpa, if we keep going like this, won't we be broke even?"

"Who told you that? That's utter slander."

"Everyone around here is saying it."

Xiao Jiye blinked his big, round eyes and said, "You open at this hour and close at eight, it doesn't seem like a proper barbecue restaurant at all!"

"It's alright, Jiye. When you grow up, Grandpa will definitely give you a great family fortune."

Okay... Xiao Jiye thought to himself, Grandpa is still dreaming that the old house can be demolished?

(End of this chapter)