ebonymovies Chapter 966 The Young Generation?
Chapter 966 The Young Generation?
Shazhou City, Gansu Province.
This is the venue for the Northern Conference.
Some might wonder why such a small county-level city was chosen as the venue. Are the business owners going to stay in budget hotels?
However, although Shazhou is a county-level city, its convention and exhibition facilities and hotel amenities are quite good. This is thanks to the national-level strategic project, the Silk Road Shazhou International Cultural Expo.
Three years ago, this place became the permanent venue for the International Expo.
This is no ordinary business exhibition; it is a top-level diplomatic event hosted by the host country, with leaders in attendance and dignitaries from dozens of countries gathered.
In order to undertake this level of international political mission, Gansu Province and relevant departments have built a top-tier reception system for both government and business purposes in Shazhou City in just a few years.
The conference will be held at the Shazhou International Hotel.
A garden villa-style resort hotel with a very large area and typical state guesthouse specifications.
It is usually used to receive foreign leaders and state guests, and is extremely private with very strict security.
The villa area is grand and expansive, yet luxurious and understated.
In the hotel parking lot, in front of a Mercedes-Benz, two middle-aged men were playing a game of "eagle catching chicks".
"Shi Danai, why did you run away after looking at me?"
"Oh, isn't this Mr. Chen? What are you saying? I didn't see you running away..."
"You still say you haven't run away? Then come here."
"I'm not going there..."
The two men stared at each other across the car; Chen Yifeng was furious, while Shi Danai had a grin on his face.
"President Feng!" Suddenly, Shi Danai waved to Chen Yifeng.
The latter turned around, and the next second he immediately turned his head back.
"Shi Danai, you bastard!" Chen Yifeng clenched his fist as he watched the fleeing man.
"Mr. Chen, the hotel procedures have all been arranged." At this moment, a subordinate ran over, and he could only suppress his anger.
"Oh dear, who made you so angry?" Just then, a minivan pulled up beside them.
The door opened, and a young man stepped out.
"What are you doing here? And how dare you speak like that? You have no manners at all." Looking at his son in front of him, Chen Yifeng was first taken aback, then frowned.
"Coming to a meeting? Aren't you here too, my dear old man?" Chen Xi shrugged.
"This isn't a place for you. Let me tell you, stop attending all those meetings and conferences every day. It's not good for you!" Chen Yifeng began to scold his son.
What does this mean?
"Hmph, you'll understand when you grow up." Chen Yifeng wanted to say more, but with other people around, he could only swallow his words.
"Grow up? Aren't I old enough already?" Chen Xi scratched his head.
Following Chen Yifeng, Chen Xi kept hearing his father's scolding of Shi Danai. He didn't reply; he had already seen the news about the auction house.
Chen Yifeng had nowhere else to complain about this, so he could only vent to him.
Chen Xi now understands that it was all Shi Danai's doing.
However, Chen Yifeng only said that the loss of the artwork was nonsense and not true.
But Chen Xi understood that his father was only saying that because he was afraid of losing face.
"I was talking about your two little wild... little things..."
“If you don’t acknowledge your brother or sister… then you don’t acknowledge your brother either, so why bring this up?”
They spoke in a voice only the other could hear.
"Okay, never mind."
Chen Xi meant well in reminding the other party, but Chen Yifeng reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, almost going berserk.
"You shouldn't have come here today. You'll understand what I mean later." The two had already reached the entrance of the hall when Chen Yifeng said this again, his face flushed with anger.
"Why can you come, but I can't?"
"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" At the entrance, a middle-aged man wearing glasses was warmly greeting the arriving boss.
This man was Pei Yuanqing, CEO of Lianxiang, and like them, he was from Xinlu.
Shi Danai and Pei Yuanqing are both here today; they're filming "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties."
Chen Xi mentally complained.
"Oh, isn't this President Chen? Welcome, welcome!" Pei Yuanqing warmly shook hands with Chen Yifeng, but gave Chen Xi a casual greeting.
Although Chen Xi had appeared on television before because of Musk, he was not well-known in the country.
On the contrary, Pei Yuanqing is quite well-known in the country, after all, Lianxiang is a household name brand.
After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Yifeng glanced at his son and asked, "They don't even know you. Who invited you?"
"It's President Feng, I guess. By the way, is that guy from the Taishan Society?" Chen Xi shrugged.
"Him? He's just an employee, not qualified to join." Chen Yifeng shook his head.
Today's conference was hosted by Feng Yun and Liu Zhinong, the founder of Lianxiang. Pei Yuanqing is the CEO, commonly known as a senior employee.
The Taishan Club's membership requirements emphasize seniority and entrepreneurial lineage, making it a typical club for early private entrepreneurs.
The members, whether it's Liu Zhi or Shi Danai, are all pioneers who started from scratch and have absolute control over the company.
Although Pei Yuanqing is quite famous and is Liu Zhi's handpicked successor, he lacks the seniority of an entrepreneur.
"Then am I qualified?" Chen Xi grinned and pointed to himself.
"I'm telling you, after you're done, don't join these damn organizations..."
"Oh, the two Mr. Chens actually came together. It's like father, son, fighting side by side."
Chen Yifeng was interrupted halfway through his sentence when Feng Yun walked over with a smile and shook hands with the two of them.
"President Feng, instead of being busy with Ant Financial's IPO, you're here holding this conference. You really have a lot of free time. I don't think you've attended many of the Taishan Club events. What brings you here this time?" Chen Yifeng's words were sharp.
"I've encountered a small difficulty, but it's not a big problem!" Feng Yun paused and said in a low voice.
Then he said with a grin, "I just ran into President Shi. I heard there was a little misunderstanding between you two. You're both getting on in years, so let it go~" Feng Yun and Shi Danai were as close as brothers, so naturally he was going to help his good friend who had just asked him for help.
"Heh, he still has the nerve to tell others about this. A small misunderstanding? I think this misunderstanding is quite big. My auction house has suffered heavy losses. How do you think this should be settled?" Chen Yifeng was completely unconvinced.
"Oh dear, let's talk about that after the meeting..." When it came to money, Feng Yun was definitely not going to clean up Shi Danai's mess, so he immediately chose to dodge the question.
Knowing that arguing with Feng Yundong was pointless, Chen Yifeng, who was in a hurry to settle scores with Shi Danai, sneered and left.
Chen Xi didn't leave because Feng Yun held him back.
"Hey Chen, interested in joining us?" Feng Yun whispered mysteriously in his ear.
"You? You mean the Taishan Society?" Chen Xi opened his mouth.
"No."
"Is that the Lakeside Academy, the Jiangnan Club, or the Entrepreneurs Club?"
Chen Xi asked again.
Feng Yun has organized too many organizations, including the Taishan Club, which is too numerous to count within the business community.
"No, I'm planning to start something new. Something similar to your Overseas Returnees Association, an organization that can accommodate overseas Chinese."
"Are you the Ant Financial company that's running into big trouble?"
Feng Yun blushed slightly at the insightful remark.
"That's a long story."
"Then let's not talk about it."
"Let's go in for the meeting."
Feng Yun glanced around and saw that more and more people were gathering, then winked at Chen Xi.
"Why are we having this meeting here? Didn't you guys always prefer to hold meetings around Wulin City?" Chen Xi asked.
“Oh dear, isn’t the higher-ups planning to develop the Silk Road? Which city is the most famous along the Silk Road? Of course, it’s Shazhou City…” Feng Yun explained.
As a vital passage on the ancient Silk Road, Shazhou carries significant political significance. The fact that private entrepreneurs have drawn the attention of thousands of companies here is a tacit message to higher authorities: private capital is not lying low; we are actively responding to national strategies, seeking new paths westward, and supporting the Western Development Strategy.
When meetings are held elsewhere, the bigwigs have their own social engagements after the meeting, get into their luxury cars, and go their separate ways.
But this place is different; for dozens of miles around, it's all Gobi Desert and sand dunes.
Once the big shots check into an international hotel deep in the desert, they don't even have a place to distract themselves when they go out.
This creates a natural high-pressure information chamber at a high level.
During the day, everyone eats sand in the Gobi Desert and talks about digitalization in the conference room. At night, in the highly private tea room of the hotel, the big shots can only pick up their teacups and have a face-to-face debate.
In this highly focused, closed-off environment of the desert, it's easiest to achieve genuine exchanges of interests, such as who is about to go bankrupt and needs to borrow money, who needs to win over state-owned assets, and who wants to cross-shareholdings and engage in betting.
The conference began soon afterward.
Because there were too many people, Chen Xi couldn't find Chen Yifeng, but Feng Yun pulled her to sit next to him.
On stage, Liu Zhi began his speech: "My old friends, these past two days, the sandstorms outside have probably made it hard for you to open your eyes. Many of you have privately complained to me that after traveling all this way to this vast desert, you can't even find a place to entertain or socialize outside the hotel. It's really unwelcome. I can see perfectly well what you're all thinking from here on stage. In the past two years, with financial deleveraging and credit tightening across the board, every boss here is living like they're walking a tightrope between the gates of hell. Our cash flow is as tight as a snapping string, and we're losing clumps of hair. Everyone's on edge."
Liu Zhi raised his hand and touched his thinning hair with a self-deprecating smile, which drew a burst of bittersweet laughter from the audience.
"The organizing committee chose Shazhou, a place surrounded by endless yellow sand for thousands of years, to force everyone to change their way of life. The Mogao Caves have stood for a thousand years in the Gobi Desert, not because of the splendor of their murals, but because of the karst formations hidden deep within the rock walls. The same principle applies to business. The golden age of easy profits is over. The old ways of relying on storytelling, attracting hot money, and blindly leveraging to expand land are now deadly. This year, our theme is 'Winning in the Essence of Business.' What is essence? It's having surplus funds and the capital to take root. We must learn from the camels in the desert, shedding all the excess fat and throwing away useless vanity into the dunes. We must solidify our flesh and take every step firmly on the hardest sand. Those who can endure, persevere, and be able to sit in Shazhou and raise a glass after this storm of business winter have passed are the truly indomitable men..."
The conference lasted for an hour, and the entrepreneurs who had prepared took turns to speak.
Chen Xi secretly slipped out of the meeting while Feng Yun went up to speak.
He had heard countless such nice words, deliberately spoken for others' benefit, during meetings in his previous life.
It was like listening to the principal ramble on about random things when you were in school; nine out of ten people in the room weren't interested.
Everyone who comes here for a meeting is focused on what happens afterward, that is, holding a large meeting in private.
However, we still have to put on a show, otherwise everyone will leave, and the atmosphere at the venue will be very awkward.
In a secluded spot outside the hotel, Chen Xi had just taken out a cigarette when someone called out to him.
"Mr. Chen! This way."
Chen Xi turned his head and saw several people around his age gathered together, smoking and chatting.
Most of the entrepreneurs in the venue were around the same age as Chen Yifeng; these guys, including Chen Xi, were considered to be among the younger generation.
The person who called him was Zhang Ming, the founder of Douyin (TikTok), who was also one of the investors Chen Xi made in this life.
The others are Mr. Li from Nixiang Auto, Mr. Yin Qi, founder of Kuangshi Technology, Mr. Chen Wei, founder of Bilibili Taxi, and Mr. Liu Wei, owner of Mihayou.
"Hey, nobody's inside." Since everyone was the same age, they naturally got along well, and Chen Xi walked over with a smile to greet them.
“Yeah, I didn’t like meetings when I was in school, let alone now.” Liu Wei touched his nose.
"I'd rather listen to the birds chirping than listen to those old guys bragging," Zhang Ming said, pointing to the tree where a chorus of birdsong was coming from.
"Hahaha! Me too, I'm craving a cigarette." Chen Xi exhaled a puff of smoke.
"What we're saying now isn't the main point; the main point is what we'll say after the meeting!" This wasn't Chen Wei's first time attending this meeting. Although Bibi and Chen Xi's company were competitors, his attitude wasn't cold.
“That’s right, don’t be fooled by the fact that everyone’s gathered together now. Aren’t they all chatting amongst themselves in private? It’s just like back in school, when everyone would go back to their dorms and close the doors…” Liu Wei got tired of standing and squatted down.
"So how do you plan to get together?" Chen Xi asked.
“Those old guys all have their own needs; they'll associate with whoever can help them. Today they're with this one, tomorrow they're with that one. When we try to integrate with them, we often encounter disagreements. Some people say the future belongs to the young, but after talking to them, they're just condescending. They start with, ‘I used to do this and that… You'll definitely suffer later if you do that… You'll regret not listening to the elders…’ So, I think it would be better if we young entrepreneurs got together.” The owner of Nixiang Auto spoke up.
His batteries are now supplied by Chen Xi; the two are business partners.
“I think we should form some kind of small organization. I just saw several people calling themselves the Taishan Society. There’s a meeting going on in the south right now, they’re probably all forming groups.” After saying that, President Li added.
"I'll pass," Zhang Ming shook his head. It was his first time attending such a meeting, and he just didn't want to listen to those people bragging.
Chen Xi understood that Zhang Ming, like the founder of Pinduoduo, rarely attended these old-fashioned, traditional conferences with a strong social element, and belonged to the reclusive type.
This wasn't the first time Mr. Li had dealt with them; he had previously joined a group of car company bosses in besieging Dadao Group. He was the kind of person who liked to form cliques.
"I wonder how things are going in the south... I'll go check it out next time." Mr. Li pouted, slightly annoyed at being rejected so directly. (End of Chapter)