Chapter 17: Second Branch

On March 1, the temperature rose.

The cold spell had passed, and with the air in Capital City no longer so cold, the kindergarteners could once again play and laugh without restraint.

Little An'an had bought a new big schoolbag, and she had been quite chubby even before the New Year.

A year had passed, and after eating and drinking well, she had completely turned into a round little chubby girl.

The comic books in her bag only took up a small corner every day.

The rest was mostly snacks and fruit.

There were the cherries she loved to eat in the morning, the mangosteens she ate after lunch,

and a box of durian that the other kids always disliked.

She didn't know whether her family was making money, but her life was now utterly delightful.

With her generous supply of snacks, she even somewhat took on the role of the leader in her class.

"You get one, I get two, you get one, I get four."

Little An'an was good at arranging things. When the other kids coveted her cherries, she distributed them fairly like this.

While sharing, she first made sure that she could eat well herself.

By four in the afternoon, kindergarten was over, and it was still Song Yanxi who came to pick her up.

Their kindergarten was not some high-end nursery, and parents had to come pick their children up in the afternoon.

Song Yanxi drove her own new car, and over time her driving skills had greatly improved.

Although it wasn't the best car among the parents, it certainly wasn't bad.

After all, those who truly had the means wouldn't send their children here.

"Yanxi, Mom."

The greeter was Yang Xiaoyan, whose daughter got along quite well with Little An'an.

In the past, they weren't allowed to play together, mainly because she looked down on their family for being too poor.

Rain or shine, they could only ride a motorcycle; what kind of future could a child from such a family have?

It must be said, living in such a big city, parents plan far ahead out of love for their children.

From the start, they help their children scheme in many ways.

In contrast, Song Yanxi and Chen Pingsheng never demanded such things.

"Xiaoyan, Sister."

Yang Xiaoyan walked over with her daughter, who was dressed quite prettily.

"I heard you opened a fruit supermarket. Business is not bad, right?"

"Not bad," Song Yanxi didn't know what she meant, and simply replied modestly.

Actually, their business was doing very well.

Even without running credit cards, based on the current turnover, earning seventy to eighty thousand a month was definitely no problem.

With their share, that was four to five hundred thousand a year.

"Selling fruit must be quite profitable, right?"

Yang Xiaoyan had started to take more interest after she knew they had bought an Audi.

"Just so-so, it's quite hard."

Yang Xiaoyan, pondering something, again started talking to her about houses.

For married women like them, the most common topics are children, husbands, and houses.

Currently, real estate prices in Capital City were simply changing by the day.

Song Yanxi was also very interested in this, hearing that a new housing development had opened not far away.

They were already preparing to start presales, the price was eighteen thousand per square meter.

This price was undoubtedly very high, you should know this is within the fifth ring road, there has always been a saying in old Capital City that beyond the second ring, it's rural.

Last year, the average price around the third ring was only about thirty thousand, while their area was about fifteen thousand.

She hadn't expected that in just one year, it would have increased so much.

The three swords of housing price regulations.

Limited purchases, price control, and tying them to essential resources like education and healthcare.

With these three measures, plus everyone speculating in real estate, this kind of speculation did not include those who really needed to buy.

It was truly those who had conditions to speculate.

For Song Yanxi, she was merely still at the just-need stage.

The rapidly rising house prices unsettled her; she always felt that buying too late would mean a big loss.

Actually, many people felt this way.

The presale system could keep booming precisely because of this reason.

After saying goodbye to Yang Xiaoyan, Song Yanxi took Little An'an to find Chen Pingsheng.

At that moment, Chen Pingsheng was on East Street in Beixin'an, where there are several communities,

and a bustling commercial area; he was negotiating a transfer with a supermarket.

The supermarket spanned over four hundred square meters, and the transfer fee was eight hundred thousand.

The annual rent was around six hundred thousand.

To take over this shop, the transfer fee plus later renovations, as well as paying one year's rent,

would altogether require at least one million six hundred thousand yuan.

The investment was four to five times higher than the first store, and naturally, the foot traffic was also much greater.

Chen Pingsheng had been scouting this area for a week, and he thought that if he could secure this location for a fruit supermarket.

It would be hugely beneficial for his Tengsheng brand.

Additionally, he was confident that within a month, he could significantly boost both customer flow and reputation.

In the second month, he would then launch a large-scale recharge event.

If he continued for a month, he was certain he could bring in at least three million within a month.

Then, by using the Golden Finger to randomly increase, even at the smallest rate, he could earn five to six million.

Is there anything more profitable than this?

He couldn't think of any. Song Yanxi came over to talk to him about the rise in house prices, and Chen Pingsheng was only slightly surprised.

But he didn't care as much as before, since compared to opening a supermarket, the rise in house prices was nothing.

As long as this store succeeded, he could even buy a 200-square-meter house outright within the third ring.

Why should he care about the rising house prices outside the fifth ring?

"Wife, I've been negotiating for this store for a week, and I really think it's feasible. This location is much better than our first one," he said.

Song Yanxi was puzzled. The location certainly needed no discussion.

A 600,000 annual rental couldn't be bad, could it?

But the key is an investment of over a million. Do you have that money? Do I have that money?

We don't.

"Husband, shouldn't we go and check the bank deposits at the counter next door?"

"There's no need for that. I will handle the money needed to open this store," he replied.

Chen Pingsheng chuckled, "Then you'll be the housekeeper of two fruit supermarkets. Aren't you excited about that?"

Excitement was there, but not to the point of losing all restraint.

If it weren't for Chen Pingsheng being with her every day, given the way he spoke,

Song Yanxi would have suspected he had become another Monk Tang, finding a wealthy Chen Lihua somewhere.

"Husband, tell me honestly, where can you get one to two hundred million?"

"It's still that rich second generation, the boss. He wants to make his name bigger, so he invested the money in me," he explained.

Chen Pingsheng conveniently blamed everything that couldn't be explained on Li Zehao.

Song Yanxi didn't think too much about it, because for some real rich second generations, spending that much on a single trip to a nightclub was normal.

But she was thinking, was she really going to be the owner of two stores?

It felt so surreal.

Chen Pingsheng was a man of action.

If he couldn't negotiate the price down, he didn't bother anymore; he paid the standard transfer fee of 800,000 and also prepaid a year's rent of 600,000.

The supermarket would clear all the goods within two days, and then he could enter.

Once everything was settled here.

He would go and discuss with Zhang Tao, Liu Jing, and the others.

Without these people, he absolutely wouldn't dare to open the store so readily.

Having money was one thing, but having money and spending it wisely was another.

With them around, it was a completely different story.

They were people who understood the fruit industry very well: from procurement to placement and various pricing issues of fruits.

The investment here was huge.

When it came to share distribution, there was no pressure for him; for Zhang Tao and the others, it was a different story.

First, Zhang Tao took 20% in the first store, and combined annual dividends and personal salary, it came to no less than three hundred thousand. In the second store, he was to take 7%.

Liu Jing had only 7% in the first store but invested 320,000 to take 20% in the second store.

This was almost all the savings he could muster.

The main reason he was given such a large share was that he would be responsible for procurement, sales, and controlling the fruit loss in the second store, just like Zhang Tao.

The others, like Chen Hao, still held 7% each.

The standard remained the same: whoever managed the store's purchasing and operation would take 20%.

Others who weren't in the store naturally only got 7%, which was a very reasonable arrangement.

In their moving group, there were six people, and Chen Pingsheng thought that at least the first six stores wouldn't have to worry too much about management issues.

Since each person was responsible for one store, all six could be launched.

Even after distributing the shares, Chen Pingsheng himself still held the majority.

If they really managed to open all six stores, these former street vendors would truly be well off.

Their annual income wouldn't be less than five or six hundred thousand.

In their hometown, that would definitely qualify them as successful middle-aged people.

In Capital City, it was not bad either, at least the pressure to buy a house and settle down wouldn't be too great.

As the leader who could bring everyone to earn money, Chen Pingsheng naturally gained more and more cohesion.

Once the contracts were signed.

On the other side, Liu Fen and Song Huamin were completely stunned.