Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Early December.

In the last Gregorian month of 2014, Chen Pingsheng drove his white Phantom sports car to the fifth floor of Tengying.

The nationwide retail market research he had organized for thirty million six months ago was now halfway through.

Lin Jia, along with more than thirty market researchers, had departed to major first-tier cities across the country.

They had investigated RT-Mart, supermarkets in Capital City, and Pang Donglai in Henan.

There were many others they didn't list, and they also visited various major department store wholesale markets nationwide.

Such as Guangzhou Baima and Thirteen Hongs in the field of apparel.

And Jinjiang's shoe capital, Wenzhou Shoe & Leather City, and others.

Six months were enough for them to cover the national markets.

Similarly, Chen Pingsheng had spent upwards of ten million yuan.

The costs of accommodation, travel, and other expenses for dozens of people outside were all reimbursable.

Plus personnel wages—it wasn't an exaggeration to say the total had reached more than ten million yuan.

"Mr. Chen, according to our research, Pang Donglai of Henan is the most representative in the retail sector," someone reported.

"One aspect is their employee salaries, which are the highest in the industry; secondly, the employee benefits are unimaginably generous, and most crucially, in their sales sector, they clearly mark the purchase prices—making them the first nationwide retail mall with full price transparency."

"There's a local saying, 'If buying anything, go to Pang Donglai.'"

Examining the compiled data herself, Chen Pingsheng found it was indeed true.

All the surveys indicated that Henan's grand department store was absolutely the pinnacle of the industry.

That was good; he now had a model to learn from and emulate.

"You all rest for a couple of days, then prepare to start picking out products all over the country in two days," he instructed.

After setting aside the materials he had been reviewing, Chen Pingsheng announced, "Next year, I will be investing in five to six of my own Tenghui Department Stores in Capital City, with the emphasis on high-quality and low-price products, and similarly, we will also have transparent pricing."

Having listened to a morning of reports and reviewed an afternoon's worth of survey data, Chen Pingsheng then called Zhang Tao and Liu Jing.

Tengsheng fresh produce was developed to lay the groundwork for today's Tenghui Department Store.

As long as Tenghui excelled in the fresh produce sector, it would be halfway to success.

He didn't plan to expand it to the scale of Wanda, focusing mainly on being a large department store retailer.

After Zhang Tao and Liu Jing arrived, Chen Pingsheng shared his thoughts with them.

In some ways, Tenghui Department Store represented his plan to ensure the family's prosperity for a century.

That is, Tenghui wasn't aiming to open too many stores but was focused on ensuring every Tenghui Department Store building was owned by them.

This required heavy investment.

By Chen Pingsheng's own estimates, a Tenghui Department Store needed a minimum of three thousand square meters.

Simply buying commercial real estate of more than three thousand square meters would cost between one and two hundred million yuan.

Moreover, to invest in a fully self-run Tenghui Department Store would undoubtedly require another two to three hundred million yuan.

Zhang Tao and the others wouldn't even think about participating.

"I say, Old Chen, aren't you considering these things a bit too early?" someone remarked.

"Early in what way?"

Chen Pingsheng tapped on the table, "Think about it. I'm already in my thirties. One's lifetime of spendable money is actually quite limited. Since I'm not really lacking money to spend, I must think about passing down the family legacy."

"You see, the great families in Xiangjiang, who at a certain level doesn't heavily invest in commercial real estate? I'm no different."

Pausing, he continued, "I plan to open twenty-five to thirty Tenghui Department Stores in the four major first-tier cities within two years. Once I achieve this minor goal, no matter how An'an and the others grow up, as long as these commercial properties exist, they can't be impoverished for three generations."

The safest investment in the world is undoubtedly collecting rent.

What's even safer is collecting rent from your own properties.

His plan was to use these two years to make a leap in his family-style business.

Frankly, once money reaches a certain amount, the most critical consideration isn't taking risks for greater profits.

But how to securely pass on a legacy for a century.

The Tenghui Department Stores he planned to invest in the four first-tier cities would each be held by one of four different overseas companies.

Again, the phrase went: safety above everything else.

Eventually, he must pass these holdings into Chen An'an and Chen Xinyi's hands securely.

Perhaps there would even be another child.

Understanding his thoughts, Zhang Tao also knew how to cooperate.

They planned to transfer two capable personnel from Tengsheng Fresh Produce to help manage the fresh produce sector of Tenghui Department Store.

Moreover, although Tong Zelan wasn't investing in Tenghui, she still introduced two top talents from the department store industry to him.

His initial team for Tenghui Department Store was thus almost formed.

Chen Pingsheng planned to invest about twenty billion yuan in Capital City within a year to open six to eight Tenghui Department Stores.

The first step was building a super-large logistics park for stocking and moving goods.

This time, he transferred one billion yuan from his wife's funds to construct a super-large Tenghui Department Store logistics park in Shijingshan.

For nearly ten days, he kept busy with matters concerning Tenghui Department Store, and the logistics park they were building surpassed five thousand square meters.

One billion yuan invested was just for the infrastructure; additional stocking would cost at least another one to two billion yuan.

If it weren't for the Splendid Night event at the end of the month, he wouldn't have dared to scale up the investment so much.

A half-year run-up event had to be worth six or seven billion yuan at least, he thought privately.

Receiving that money would be perfect for investing in Tenghui Department Store.

Back home.

Song Yanxi thought his investment in the department store was too large, far surpassing the total of the current enterprises combined.

Just building a super-large logistics park required an investment of over one billion yuan, plus at least another two billion yuan for stockpiling goods.

Later, opening a single Tenghui Department Store would cost another two to three billion yuan.

Such massive investment didn't seem to correspond proportionally to the returns.

Chen Pingsheng reassured her, "Don't just look at the immediate future. Decades from now, whether it's Tengsheng fruits or Water Cloud Space, both might be gone, but this department store will still be here. You think I'm investing in department stores? I'm actually investing in these commercial properties."

Alright, Song Yanxi wasn't thinking as long-term as him.

She simply felt the investment was too large.

Read new tales at m-vl-em,pyr

Unlike Water Cloud Space, just opening a large clubhouse there cost merely ten million yuan.

The return on investment was particularly high.

She had never considered that Water Cloud Space simply couldn't afford such a large amount of capital.

Moreover, her family had already opened 15 branches in Capital City, and another ten were just about done with the renovations, expected to open after the New Year.

Once those opened, the Capital City market would be almost saturated.

After all, it only catered to the very top tier of wealthy women.

The consumer group was also quite limited.

On the other hand, the beauty academy would still need a year and a half to complete its training.

Only when this batch of intern beauticians was fully trained.

Could her family consider leaving Capital City to develop the next first-tier city.

There wasn't much point in opening stores there before the people were well-trained.

At this time, her family needed a tool to handle a huge amount of capital.

And this, naturally, was Tenghui Department Store, which he intended to take on.

Chen Pingsheng had also considered, if the Splendid Night really made a lot of money this time.

Investing in a commercial building in Xiangjiang was also a nice option.

However.

He felt after much deliberation that heavily investing in Tenghui Department Store had more potential.

Firstly, the department store was owned by his family, which made it easy to control.

Secondly, this type of department store was quite profitable, and once spread across the country, a great opportunity might emerge at any time.

Most crucially, it would enable him to fully understand the traditional department store business.

With these thoughts, he grew even more eager for the upcoming Splendid Night at the end of the month.

If that event failed to succeed, Tenghui Department Store might be doomed before it even started.

No money to operate, right?

...

The Splendid Night event at Water Cloud Space had been in the works for half a year already.

Now, with less than half a month to go until the New Year's Eve celebration.

The ones most anticipating this event, aside from Chen Pingsheng himself, were the beauticians at Water Cloud Space.

Or the intern beauticians at the beauty academy.

"The venue for Splendid Night has been decided."

"Where is it?"

"MasterCard Center, also known as the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium."

Chen Qi was the first to catch the news online, and she knew this was the most anticipated event internally at Water Cloud Space.

"The basketball games of the 2008 Olympics were held here; it can accommodate 18,000 spectators. Sisters, aren't you all excited?"

"Pfft... Elder Qi, can all of us from the academy attend?"

"Of course, you can."

Chen Qi giggled, typing swiftly: "Just between us, seven major stars have already confirmed their attendance, including your favorites, Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun."

The hottest Korean drama this year has undoubtedly been My Love from the Star.

These two are extremely popular right now.

It naturally cost a fortune for Water Cloud Space to get them to appear.

In a word, there are no stars who can't make an appearance, just an insufficient amount of money offered.

"Oh my gosh, is my heartthrob really coming?"

"Jun Ji-hyun, I absolutely love her Cheon Song-yi!"

"And Kim Soo-hyun, his role as Professor Do was also really awesome."

"Haha, sisters, they will arrive in Capital City one day early, and will first head to the Splendid Night venue for a rehearsal, there's a chance to get autographs."

"Let me drop another bombshell, Mr. Bird is coming too, oh boy Gangnam style."

It wasn't just the insiders at Water Cloud Space that were going crazy.

Even the internet was abuzz.

Knowing that New Year's Eve is when local stations often put on big events to showcase their strength.

Now, it was a matter of which station could snag the bigger stars.

As various local stations started revealing their trump card stars, Water Cloud Space began announcing its big event for Splendid Night on their official website.

There were two main themes.

Water Cloud Space Splendid Night, new year celebration.

The first two stars they announced shook the entire internet.

From My Love from the Star, Jun Ji-hyun, Kim Soo-hyun.

These two are exceptionally popular this year; there aren't many young people who hadn't seen this Korean drama in 2014.

Once revealed, countless netizens scrambled to comment below.

"How much are tickets? I want to go watch."

"Damn, I want to see Cheon Song-yi."

"Don't even think about it, upstairs; this is an internal corporate event, not open to the public for ticket sales."

"Damn, talk about being rich and powerful."

"You're just realizing this now? They've already hosted two top-tier celebrities before, and now they're totally stepping up their game."

Later on, Water Cloud Space successively revealed the stars attending this Splendid Night.

Besides the incredibly popular Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun of this year.

From Korea, there was also Mr. Bird, who became a global sensation with Gangnam Style.

After all, Water Cloud Space caters to rich women, and besides the popular stars of this year,

King Li and King Liu, the favorites of the rich women, would also be attending.

The last two were Yang Mi and the legendary Zhou Huimin.

The splendid, star-studded lineup of Splendid Night once revealed, blazed across the internet.