A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

On December 7, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, but the news didn't reach Chongqing until the following day.

This news thrilled some Chinese people, because the US and Britain declared war on Japan on December 8, meaning that China's resistance against Japan was no longer a solitary struggle.

On this day, Chen Guangliang and his wife, along with Kong Lingyi and her boyfriend Chen Ji'en, gathered at a coffee shop.

Kong Lingyi had always been a friend of the two, and they often got together after arriving in Chongqing. As for her boyfriend, they had only met a few times.

She even asked Chen Guangliang and his wife, "What do you think of Chen Ji'en?"

Chen Guangliang simply replied, "If I like it, that's fine; I don't need to ask for other people's opinions."

Although they have been friends for many years, Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei really don't care about Kong Lingyi's marriage and rarely talk about it. It's simple: although Kong Lingyi has a good temper, she is actually quite stubborn. Discussing her opinions on that matter could offend not only the Kong and Song families but also Kong Lingyi herself.

Upon meeting today, Kong Lingyi said, "The reason I invited you two friends here is to tell you something—I plan to study in the United States next year!"

Yan Renmei chuckled and joked, "Is it really for studying abroad?"

Kong Lingyi blushed slightly and said, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you. I'm planning to marry Ji En in the United States, but unfortunately you can't be there."

Chen Ji'en was very talkative and seized the opportunity to say, "There's nothing we can do about it! Actually, we were planning to get married in Chongqing, but mainly it's because my job was transferred to the United States to work as a business agent for the Central Bank's office in the US. It's also for the country, and it's so important to get American support right now! Mr. Chen, don't you think so?"

Chen Guangliang smiled faintly and said, "Of course, congratulations on your success, brother."

Kong Lingyi remained silent. She knew that Chen Ji'en's job was arranged by her father, and he was naturally not on the same level as Chen Guangliang. However, she admired Chen Ji'en's art and charm, and his career was secondary.

After chatting for a while, Chen Guangliang said, "By the way, Lingyi, could you please take two letters for me when you go to America? One to Meiying and one to my younger brother."

Kong Lingyi deliberately said, "Now you're not even trying to hide it anymore."

Yan Renmei laughed and said, "What's there to avoid? I also need to write a letter to Mei Ying. Could you take it with me?"

Kong Lingyi was somewhat incredulous. After meeting Yan Renmei in Chongqing, she had assumed that Jiang Meiying had withdrawn from the relationship and gone to live alone in the United States. Now it seemed that Chen Guangliang had made separate arrangements for his two wives.

She admitted that she had a crush on Chen Guangliang, but she felt that her parents would try to get rid of him and wouldn't agree to her wanting to be his concubine.

"Alright, since you all have no problem, I will naturally deliver the message myself."

Chen Guangliang said with a smile, "Remember to invite them when you get married; they will bring our gifts."

Kong Lingyi joked, "Then do you have quite a few assets in the United States?"

Anyone else would have reacted differently upon hearing this, as it involves classified information and is extremely sensitive.

Chen Guangliang casually remarked, "I've donated most of my money to the country and the people; how much money could I possibly give them?"

It means the two have a good relationship, otherwise others wouldn't ask that question.

Kong Lingyi, unintentionally, quickly replied, "That's true. My parents both say that although you've earned a lot of money over the years, you've basically donated it all."

Nonsense, it would be strange if her parents said that; they must be thinking that way themselves.

However, one thing is true—the vast majority of people believe it was 'generosity to save the country,' and that most of the money they earned from running businesses over the years was donated. There is evidence to support this.

Most of Chen Guangliang's wealth was actually acquired through speculation, which naturally cannot be accurately estimated.

After the two families finished their meal, they went their separate ways, as there weren't many entertainment options in Chongqing.

night.

Chen Guangliang was writing letters to Jiang Meiying and Chen Guangcong in his study when Yan Renmei came in shortly afterward.

"Check for typos for me."

Yan Renmei said coquettishly, "Do you think I came in to peek? And you're saying that on purpose?"

Chen Guangliang pulled Yan Renmei into his arms, feeling a sense of pride as he gazed at his still youthful wife. Yan Renmei, 27 years old this year, could easily be mistaken for a college student, or even a freshman or sophomore.

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look. Shouldn't the three of us communicate openly and be a true family?"

Yan Renmei actually picked up the letter and read it, saying, "Hmph, I can take a look for you. After all, you've never written a love letter before, so I wonder if you'll use the wrong words."

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be no love letter at all.

The message roughly stated: He thanked Jiang Meiying for giving birth to another child (Chen Wenhua) for him. He also mentioned that the United States and Britain had announced their entry into the war against Japan, indicating that the war had entered its final stage and was expected to end in three or four years, at which time everyone would be reunited. Finally, he expressed his concern for the child.
Yan Renmei immediately handed the letter to Chen Guangliang, saying, "No, this letter is too emotionless. I don't believe you don't miss them. How about this, I'll teach you how to write love letters?"

And so, Yan Renmei embellished the story, getting Chen Guangliang to write a few lines that resembled a love letter.

Wow, the first wife taught her husband how to write love letters to the second wife, that's pretty impressive.

The letter to Chen Guangcong was relatively simple, specifically instructing him to find a way to buy ships in the United States and then return to develop the shipping industry if the war ended.

Chen Guangcong also had money. During Chen Guangliang's last trip to the United States, he reached an agreement with the lawyer and Jack—the annual profit from the rental income would be managed by his younger brother. This meant that Chen Guangcong would have an annual income of nearly $15, and Jiang Meiying would also give him guidance on investing in military stocks.

Chen Guangliang wasn't worried about the risk of these letters being leaked, since he believed Kong Lingyi wouldn't do that. Besides, the letters didn't contain much; at most, they expressed Chen Guangliang's confidence and optimism about the war.

After Yan Renmei finished her "mischief," she said, "I'll keep the letter for now and give it to Lingyi before she leaves."

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "I know, do you want me to write you a love letter?"

"Yes, of course I want it! As long as you write it, I'll take it!"

Chen Guangliang immediately felt that he had made trouble for himself. In fact, he was not a person who did not understand romance, but he had never tried writing love letters.

However, Yan Renmei then put her arm around Chen Guangliang's neck and said shyly like a young girl, "Brother Liang, let's have another child. I want a daughter too!"

Having three sons is indeed enviable, but not a single daughter, especially since Yan Renmei and Chen Meiyi have never had a daughter, they naturally long for one.

Now, more than three years after the birth of her third child, she feels she can have another one!

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "What if it's still a son?"

Yan Renmei could only say, "It's worth a try. It would be a pity if I couldn't be born. Besides, Meiyi is close to me, so I'll treat her like my own daughter from now on."

Chen Guangliang also started to think about it. There were still three years and eight months left until the end of the War of Resistance. If the child was born next year, there would be no inconvenience in bringing him to Hong Kong.

"You really want more?"

Taking Yan Renmei's wishes into consideration, he inquired carefully.

In fact, he is quite satisfied with his current number of children: 5 sons and 1 daughter.

Yan Renmei knew that Chen Guangliang was sincere at this moment. If she said she didn't want to have any more children, then this man would no longer want her.

But she truly wanted to give her daughter a final push, and this was her last chance.

"Carry me to the bedroom!"

The next day, Chen Guangliang, looking energetic, went downstairs with Yan Renmei, and the family had breakfast together.

Breakfast was very simple: a bowl of plain porridge for each person, plus an egg, a steamed bun, and a dish of pickled vegetables. Of course, this was a breakfast for the wealthy and powerful, but it represented a significant reduction in the Chen family's standard of living compared to before.

"How much have the prices of rice, meat, and vegetables risen today?"

Qin Ma, who had been working as a maid for the Chen family, immediately said, "Medium-quality rice is 43 yuan per dou (12 jin), pork is 4 yuan per jin, and the prices at the market have been soaring lately. Fresh peas are selling for 10 yuan per jin, and even ordinary cabbage and celery are selling for 3 or 4 yuan per jin."

Chen Guangliang nodded and then said, "The country is facing difficulties. Our family only needs to maintain the necessary nutrition. In particular, we should eat as little rice and flour as possible, while chicken, duck, fish, pork, and vegetables can make up for it. But no matter what, we must not waste food."

Qin Ma said, "Mr. Chen, you are not short of money and you are doing a lot of charity work. You don't need to make yourself suffer like this."

Chen Guangliang then said, "It's not about compromising ourselves or everyone else, but about conserving food while ensuring we have enough to eat and get enough nutrition. It's true I have money, but if I could use my money to buy food that doesn't consume our population's food supply—that is, food that can be imported from overseas—I wouldn't mind paying a high price. The key is that food is scarce in the rear right now. Every meal we waste could mean one person starving to death."

Qin Ma quickly replied, "Yes, I will arrange for the kitchen to prepare an appropriate amount for each meal."

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "Don't throw away the leftovers. Serve them directly for the next meal. Whoever has leftovers can eat them."

Upon hearing this, the three children immediately began to eat heartily.

"Okay, actually it's fine for us to eat leftovers!"

“What do you mean it’s okay? You work for me. If you eat our leftovers, wouldn’t that be a loss of dignity? Everyone should just eat their own leftovers.”

"Yes, then I'll go and get back to work!"

During the meal, everyone practiced the "Clean Plate Campaign".

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction:

“Listen carefully, you three. Many people are still starving, so we must conserve food. Take this article from Shanghai, for example. The author described how he bought a liter of rice for 2.6 yuan. He arrived at the rice shop early, but a long queue had already formed. Finally, when the shop opened and it was his turn to buy rice, he handed over his money, but the seller complained that the bill was too worn. In his anger, the author thought of his mother waiting for the rice to cook, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger and buy only a liter of rice for 2.6 yuan. At the end of the article, the author lamented: ‘I really wanted to cry. I stood for four whole hours, enduring the squeezing, the hitting, the cursing, the soreness, the pain, and the hunger. I had to ‘bend my back’ for a liter of rice!’”

"It wasn't just ordinary people; even the soldiers on the front lines could only eat one bowl of porridge and one meal a day. They were also short of cotton and blankets, and wore the same clothes year-round, which were infested with fleas."

Eight-year-old Chen Wenjie exclaimed in shock, "Are you all so poor?"

Chen Guangliang said, "The whole country is so poor, so you must cherish the hard-won food."

"Okay, Dad"

With his wealth, indulging in lavish meals was certainly not a problem, and Chen Guangliang didn't often talk about 'thrift' before 1937. However, during this period, Chen Guangliang witnessed too many impoverished people's lives, and coupled with the fact that this was during the War of Resistance against Japan, there was a severe shortage of food in the rear.

Reduce your consumption of staple foods and buy more chicken, duck, fish, meat, and vegetables. After all, these are things that ordinary people cannot afford to consume, and of course, they should not be wasted.

Afterward, the children began packing to go to school.

Yan Renmei also seized the opportunity to say, "I want to auction off a batch of my clothes; it can fetch a lot of money!"

"No need, I feel a little awkward about it. Keep the clothes safe, and if you take them to Hong Kong and don't want to wear them, they can be kept as souvenirs."

"it is good"

Not wasting food doesn't actually cause any problems.

If we were to go and sell used clothes again, that would be going too far.

However, it must be said that 600 yuan today only has the purchasing power of seventeen or eighteen yuan in early 1937, meaning prices have increased 35 times. Salaries, on the other hand, have probably increased seventeen or eighteen times, making life extremely difficult for everyone.

On that day, Chen Guangliang arrived at the Ping An Bank Building on Duyou Street, which has become the headquarters and administration department of Ping An Bank, Cheung Kong Real Estate, Global Shipping, Xinfeng Textile, Vitasoy, Xin'an Sugar Factory, and Xin'an Alcohol Factory.

Today, Ping An Bank continues its normal business operations (deposit, loan, and investment) in the rear, Yangtze River Real Estate also has a number of rental properties, Global Shipping has taken over a batch of ships from Lu Zuofu (which were also purchased by Chen Guangliang), and Xinfeng Textile continues to operate its Chongqing factory.
In short, there's still money to be made.

However, recently in Yangon, Chen Guangliang had a small number of vehicles destroyed by the Japanese, about ten or so; while the remaining 100 or so trucks were requisitioned by the Nationalist government to transport supplies to Kunming.

He said that if the Nationalist government requisitioned his troops, he would support them and would not feel bad about it.

In fact, this batch of trucks only brought him a return of US$15 that year, with half of it still unrecovered. But it was better to have no profit at all, so Chen Guangliang simply donated the remaining trucks to support the war effort.

Through the windows, the people of Chongqing were still filled with laughter and joy, a happiness that had lasted for half a month. It turned out that after the United States declared war, the streets of Chongqing were filled with the cries of newsboys hawking extra-large editions and the sounds of celebratory firecrackers. That day, the entire mountain city was in jubilation; factories, schools, government offices, and other organizations rushed to buy newspapers and congratulate each other. Meanwhile, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, was also gripped by the euphoria of a successful surprise attack, with people flooding the streets to celebrate victory. For the capitals of two opposing warring nations to simultaneously rejoice and celebrate the same victory was perhaps a truly remarkable phenomenon, both ancient and modern.

In fact, it was China, not Japan, that truly benefited.

"Boss, everyone's here!"

"Okay, I'll come right away"

A short while later, Chen Guangliang walked into a conference room where dozens of senior executives were gathered. They had been exchanging private messages, but stopped when they saw him enter.

These people are the core management team of each company.

Everyone admired the boss's foresight during this evacuation, which allowed them and their families to avoid the impact of the war and maintain a stable life in the rear.

"Although the declaration of war by Britain and the United States against Japan means that we will inevitably win, the economic situation in the rear areas in the next few years is not optimistic, and the devaluation of the legal tender and the rise in prices are all things we need to consider."

"I didn't think about making money during this critical period of the War of Resistance against Japan; I was more concerned about how to lead all the employees to get through the remaining years in order to look forward to a fresh start after the war ended."

Tong Runfu said, "Xinfeng Textile is still making money, so getting through this difficult time shouldn't be a problem."

Cao Mingxian also said, "Our sugar factory is the only fully mechanized machine-made sugar factory in the rear area. Its 'snow-white and clean' and 'purity' are inimitable by other factories, so we were able to overcome the difficulties and still make money."

Chen Shiyuan also said, "Our products are already being sold in the rear areas and are very popular. Some counties have our product agents."

Seeing everyone's confidence, Chen Guangliang gave them his usual dose of calm: "If nothing unexpected happens, the Nationalist government will likely implement material controls to regulate prices in the rear areas. In the future, all our factories may have to register, and the Nationalist government will set a profit margin, and then they will control the products. Therefore, textile and alcohol factories will be the first to be affected. In short, don't be too optimistic, but don't be too pessimistic either. Just do your job well."

This was an inevitable outcome. In fact, the Nationalist government had already intervened in the prices of rice, cotton cloth, and other commodities, but it hadn't yet said it would directly 'take over' them. However, that day should be coming soon.

At that time, the Nationalist government will take stock of all raw materials and products, and give your factory a 20% gross profit margin. I'm afraid that private enterprises will completely fail in the last two or three years.

Everyone calmed down immediately, knowing that Chen Guangliang's predictions were always very accurate.

Cao Mingxian then said, "It's unlikely that sugar factories will be subject to regulation. After all, there are more than 4000 of them, large and small, and the price of white sugar is not easy to inflate, so there is no need for regulation."

Chen Guangliang said, "Perhaps, anyway, in this phase, we need to make preparations in all aspects. On the other hand, I plan to adjust allowances to save food in the rear. My idea is to divide allowances into levels: for ordinary workers, the allowance is based on supporting two people, with each person's food, oil, and sugar at 70% of the previous standard; for lower-level management and technical personnel, the second level is to support three people; and for core management, the fifth level is to support six people, with the allowance and salary then distributed at the discretion of the authorities. The reason for this redistribution is not that I cannot afford to pay everyone's salaries, but rather to call on all of us to 'save food' and 'fight together'."

In fact, if the "Chen's Enterprises" were to resume large-scale purchases of grain, oil, and other supplies, they would likely be arrested by the Nationalist government, as they would be suspected of "speculating on supplies" and "disrupting market prices." After all, they had indeed been hoarding supplies for more than a year.

However, from the beginning, Chen Guangliang required the purchasing team to buy from places outside Chongqing, because they had boats and vehicles; in this way, at least they did not need to take up Chongqing's share, which could curb inflation to some extent.

"Okay, each of our companies will prepare a detailed plan immediately."

Business leaders expressed their support.

After all, this is a special situation, and the treatment is still quite good.

Chen Guangliang divided the allowance into five levels, mainly for the management of materials; in fact, everyone still received a salary, but for ordinary workers, the salary was only a little over ten yuan, which was basically not enough to buy anything, as a pound of rice cost 4 yuan.

But in those days, it was all about making a living; just surviving was a good thing. Besides, the fact that one worker could provide enough supplies for two people was already considered quite good treatment.

On the other hand, many of his management and technical staff actually had considerable savings, mostly in gold and silver dollars, thanks to the guidance of experts. (End of Chapter)