The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Ma Jia was right about one thing.

That is because the Chen family is keeping a low profile. If it weren't for Xia Yan, no one would know Chen Jiye's identity.

It was also because of Xia Yan that the news about the three generations of the Chen family's heirs spread like wildfire throughout the school.

Most people are just scrolling through their phones and gossiping, but the most influential figures on campus are much more than that.

Girls' dormitory, second floor.

Three girls were eating melon seeds together, while another girl was bending over on the headboard, practicing her posture.

She is also recognized as the most beautiful girl in the university, Si Ke.

Si Ke is a sophomore, a senior of Chen Jiye, and is also studying economics.

"Si Ke, you're a local resident of Shanghai, so you should know more about the Chen family, right?"

"What do you want to ask?"

Si Ke spends an hour every day practicing her physique in order to maintain her perfect figure.

What outsiders talk about most about her is her perfect, perky buttocks. If she were to go out in tight pants, countless guys would be embarrassed by her.

Her stunningly beautiful back view with her shapely buttocks alone is enough to make countless men fall in love with her and become unable to resist.

"Is the Chen family really as exaggerated as the internet says?"

Is this an exaggeration?

Si Ke bent over and stuck out his buttocks, saying, "The Chen family is far more exaggerated than you can imagine. My family is in Jinshan. Within a 30-kilometer radius of my home, there are headquarters, including high-end residential areas, hotels, and commercial centers. At least half of them belong to the Chen family."

"His family is so prestigious, how come he goes to the same school as us?"

"You're not so naive as to think that just because someone attends the same school as us, they're receiving the same educational resources, are you?"

Si Ke was born in Jinshan and grew up listening to the legends of the Chen family. If you had to describe Jinshan in the simplest way, that would be a good description.

That's probably the Chen family in Jinshan.

"The Chen family cultivates its own heirs, starting with resources of tens of billions or more. You should have heard of the seven-star hotel in Shanghai, Liangshan, right?"

"Decades later, this hotel is still at the pinnacle of Shanghai's hotel industry. The original investment was as high as 40 billion yuan, and this was just a high school gift from the founder of the Chen family to his second daughter."

"The standards they set for training their family heirs are so high that you can't even imagine them. I don't know why the three generations of the Chen family heirs chose to attend the same school as us, but one thing is certain: the educational resources the Chen family has invested in him are at least 20 billion yuan. I'm talking about his current age, not including the future."

"Heh heh~ It's true what they say, students from the same school have different fates."

The other two girls in the dormitory also exclaimed, "Si Ke, you're so beautiful, especially your shapely butt. Any guy who sees that would be unable to resist. Have you ever thought about marrying into the Chen family and becoming a future daughter-in-law of a wealthy family?"

"Stop daydreaming. If the Chen family were so easy to marry into, I wouldn't have a chance."

After a pause, Si Ke continued, "Their family did indeed have a daughter-in-law who came from an ordinary background, but now she has a great reputation. However, she and that man's only son were childhood sweethearts. No matter how much her own mother objected, it was no use. Later, with the strong support of his father, she was able to marry into the Chen family smoothly and become the daughter-in-law of the most prestigious family."

"How about we all go and watch their freshman military training later?"

Si Ke's eyes lit up; he was still somewhat interested.

She wasn't the only one interested; many others were too.

In a ranking of the most popular school beauties among male students, Si Ke ranked third due to her perfect, perky buttocks and exquisitely beautiful face.

The first and second place winners are a senior student who is no longer on campus and a junior student.

She rarely shows her face in front of outsiders; the few times she has been seen are when she is photographed getting food without makeup in the cafeteria.

No matter how many years have passed, what people like most is still the kind of girl who is natural and pure, and preferably has a bit of a protective instinct.

Military training for freshmen is nothing unusual; it happens every year as long as freshmen enter the university.

It's clear that the military training attracted countless female students because of a viral post about the three generations of the Chen family's heirs.

People were pointing and whispering outside the playground, probably mostly trying to find Chen Jiye's location.

Ji Ye is under considerable pressure; he's quite uncomfortable being watched by so many people.

Xia Yan, on the other hand, didn't have this problem. She was like a troublemaker; once she had dealt with the mess, the rest was none of her business.

During breaks in military training, everyone sat in small groups around the ground.

Xia Yan was surrounded by two friends, both of whom were her roommates.

Both of them are short-haired girls with a rather fierce demeanor. When they see a handsome guy, they will whisper things like, "Double door, eight-pack abs, must be very long-lasting."

After saying that, she chuckled softly.

They weren't exactly stunningly beautiful, so naturally they wouldn't dare dream of marrying into a wealthy family.

"Xia Yan, I think Chen Jiye isn't particularly handsome, but he's quite nice. Why would you expose his identity in front of all the girls in the school? Wouldn't that just create countless competitors for yourself?"

Xia Yan spat and said, "I'm going to expose him. I hate my family's arrangements. Why should I, Xia Yan, be tied to Chen Jiye for the rest of my life? I refuse to accept it."

The short-haired girl shook her head. "You're so silly. This is a blessing that so many people would kill for, and you're pushing it away."

Xia Yan snorted lightly, "Let whoever wants to beg go ahead. I admit that Chen Jiye's mother and father are both very capable, not to mention his grandfather, who is an undisputed legend in the business world. Look at how big this matter has become, his grandfather hasn't said a word. He probably thinks that Chen Jiye will eventually regain his position as the chief successor of the third generation. At that time, he won't be able to keep a low profile even if he wants to, and he is destined to live in the spotlight of everyone."

Do you know where his grandfather is?

“Right here at our school, not only do I know that there are a lot of top-tier third-generation rich kids among the freshmen. Ma Jia, who is so extravagant and loves to flaunt his wealth, doesn’t even come close. The others are just not as high-profile as him.”

Those who can remain wealthy for three or four generations, like the Chen family, possess extremely high cultural heritage, and their family culture, including the cultivation of successors, has formed its own educational system.

Normally, unless they say it themselves, these people are exceptionally low-key and approachable.

Of course, their approachability stems more from the superiors looking down on the lower classes.

Just as the king would never bet on three.

Senior leaders never personally criticize lower-level employees.

The short-haired girl's eyes lit up. "Are there really so many rich kids among this year's freshmen?"

"Not only were there rich kids, but also many heirs of wealthy families."

Xia Yan said indifferently, "These people all have obvious purposes; they've come to listen to that person's lecture."

"Look at that unassuming, ordinary boy with a calm smile. He comes from the Huang family of Chaozhou."

"His family has a great influence in education and charity. This person should be the second son of the fourth generation of the Huang family. And there is that short and quiet one over there."

"He belongs to the Liang family of Zhongshan, Guangdong. The Liang family has a huge influence in culture, politics, and commerce."

“It’s usually difficult for outsiders to even see one of these family members, but now they’ve all gathered together. Why do you think they’ve come?”

The short-haired girl had finally seen the light; with Xia Yan's help, she was able to get to know these low-key yet extraordinary scions of prominent families.

As the reform and opening-up period has continued for longer, those top families have come to understand the importance of keeping a low profile.

Even if they only started to rise in the 1980s, they still have a history of at least seventy years.

Not to mention that many families returned from overseas after the Southern Tour speeches in the 1990s.

These people have many businesses overseas, and they are doing quite well.

After returning to China in the 1990s, he accumulated wealth rapidly.

Having developed to this point in time, they have become so large that it is unimaginable to outsiders and extremely difficult to shake.

As for the portrayal of wealthy families in TV dramas going bankrupt so easily, that's pure nonsense. Those are just nouveau riche; true wealthy families include those that have already reached the threshold of becoming established clans.

As long as it doesn't encounter the major problem of choosing the wrong side, it won't fall for ten or twenty years, let alone a hundred years.

People are smarter now, and families all have "spendthrift funds" for their children.

If the descendants don't have much ability, they can just receive a million-dollar living allowance every month.

It's unlikely that he would squander tens or hundreds of billions of yuan in just a few years simply because he wanted to surpass his father.

This new cohort includes not only three generations of the Chen family's heirs, but also members of the Huang and Liang families, two of Guangdong's top ten families.

This shows just how high the quality of this batch of freshmen is.

After the military training ended, the instructors organized each of them to perform a program.

This segment was also loved by many freshmen, especially Xia Yan's casual jump yesterday, which was simply amazing.

Today, the coach called Xia Yan up to perform again, just to warm up the atmosphere for everyone.

Xia Yan had no objections, but she had already achieved her goal and didn't want to attract too much attention now.

After patting her bottom and getting up, she actually jumped up and wrote a big character on her bottom, and then she started imitating a duck's quack and stretched her neck, which was as strange as it could be.

"Haha, Xia, the school beauty, is so cute."

"I thought she could dance, but this is what she did..."

"This woman is a little bit mentally unstable!"

Chen Jiye cursed under his breath. He was also being watched by many people because of Xia Yan, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Now Xia Yan is pulling this stunt again, what is she trying to do?

Xia Yan didn't care what he thought; she was determined to be beautiful on her own, regardless of how many generations of heirs she might have.

Thank you everyone…

She bowed to express her gratitude, thanking him from every angle. When she bent down to Chen Jiye's angle, she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye.

Xia Yan straightened up immediately after bending over halfway, and left with a couple of hums like a female hooligan.

"Brother Ye... this Xia girl doesn't know what's good for her, she actually made a provocative move against you."

Ma Jia has already regarded himself as Chen Jiye's number one adopted son, and as an adopted son, one must learn to read between the lines.

Chen Jiye was speechless. "You were trying to pursue her yesterday, and now you're saying these things about her? Is that appropriate?"

Ma Jia was embarrassed, but he was thick-skinned and said, "I have no feelings for her at all. I'm just seeing how bold she is."

Chen Jiye was not the kind of arrogant rich kid who bullied others; on the contrary, he had an ordinary heart that was hard for ordinary people to understand.

Even Chen Pingsheng said that Jiye was the one in the family who resembled him the most.

This shows how highly he is regarded.

Although Chen Jiye disliked Xia Yan, he did not want those around him to insult her so casually.

“Ma Jia, I still prefer your exaggerated, flaunting-wealth style. Please revert to that.”

"Okay, restore factory settings immediately."

Ma Jia swept his hair back, reverting to his persona as the nouveau riche fool's son.

He loved performing on stage the most; what if some blind school beauty fell in love with his looks?

When Ma Jia went on stage, Xia Yan had already made some funny faces, so it didn't seem out of place for him to go up and sing "My Family Is Really Rich."

As for Chen Jiye, he sat quietly in the audience, saying nothing, and applauded when the performers did well.

After the military training ended, Ma Jia even invited some people to go out for a late-night snack.

There's a reason he's so fat; eating a lot is a blessing, so he's very lucky.

Chen Jiye went to see his grandfather, Chen Pingsheng, who also enjoyed watching him train in the military. Most of his hair had turned white.

He's almost seventy, truly in his twilight years!

There's not much left to do in my life, watching my son, whom I raised from childhood, grow up to be successful.

They then spent another twenty years monitoring the Tengying Group, including the Economic Research Island, to ensure there were no problems.

The rest is up to the younger generation of the Chen family.

Upon his departure, the industries under Tengying Group that are related to people's livelihoods will inevitably be transformed from private enterprises into state-owned enterprises.

This is probably what he has to accomplish in the little time he has left to live.

Jiye came to see him again because of the fact that his identity had been exposed at school.

Chen Pingsheng, as usual, was drinking tea in his office. He didn't say much, only remarking:
"You've spent too many years on Jingyan Island, and you kept a low profile throughout high school, which means the outside world knows very little about you."

"This is actually not conducive to your future desire to inherit the family business."

“When your mother came to see me last time, she said that she would retire completely at the age of fifty at the latest, and it doesn’t seem like that long.”

An'an used to want to retire before she turned 45, but now the Tengying Group is too big, and the Economic Research Island has only been in place for a short time.

Her early retirement was inappropriate.

However, he will definitely retire at the age of fifty, only retaining the position of deputy dean of the Economic Research Island.

He will have to relinquish all his positions, including Chairman of Tengfei AI Mobile and Chairman of Tengying Entertainment.

An'an will definitely pave the way for Ji Ye before retiring, but the prerequisite is that he himself has the ability to do so.

If they don't have the ability, the Chen family won't be able to call the shots at Tengying Group, including Jingyan Island.

The opinions of the group's senior management are also very important.

As the business progresses, the family's control over the group, including the research island, will decrease.

This was something Chen Pingsheng did intentionally.

Although he started the Tengying Group, he did not want it to end with the Chen family.

The best solution is undoubtedly to break free from family control and move towards a fair and just selection mechanism.

For example, Zhang Wanyi now has a strong control over Tengying Group, including Jingyan Island.

Only if the Chen family produces truly top-tier talents in the future can they possibly regain control of the Tengying Group, including Jingyan Island.

Chen Pingsheng estimated that this probability would definitely be extremely low after he left.

Simply put, the Chen family is already too rich.

Having more money certainly has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages.

When he leaves, An'an and Er Ya will have to take on the main responsibility of stabilizing the Chen family's development.

If Xiao Jiye can succeed in the next three generations, the Chen family can continue its glory for at least another century.

(End of this chapter)