The year 1998 had arrived. More than half a year had passed since his rebirth. Facing the past year of 1997, Cheng Ran had not been idle. On Li Cheng Feiyang's computer, he had stored a lot of information that could be found on the Internet at that time.
People like Cheng Feiyang who come from old state-owned enterprises have a habit of subscribing to newspapers at home, so the amount of information that Cheng Ran can access is currently very high at this time.
In the past six months, he has conducted a lot of detailed comparisons, comparing the things he can still remember in the future with the changed world in front of him. Later he discovered... an era is indeed about to begin.
The battlefield, which is about to expand at a rapid pace, will soon become a battlefield where many heroes compete, and the continuous and far-reaching transformation will affect the future.
…
After Xie Houming finished a meeting on the 1998 technology development plan at Zhonghai, he returned to Shanhai on New Year's Day. When he invited Cheng Ran's family to dinner, one more person joined him.
This person and Xie Houming were cut from the same mold. He was about thirty years old, like a younger Xie Houming, equally gentle and refined. But if you look closely, Xie Houming's refinement had a kind of awe-inspiring aura, but this person didn't have that kind of temperament. Instead, he was another kind of person, persistent, spirited... or smart enough, the type of person who seemed to have endless energy.
Xie Houming introduced Xie Qian, his younger brother and Xie Feibai's uncle.
This is the person Xie Feibai once mentioned. He was doing business outside and was successful in his career. He prepared a street of shops for Xie Feibai in Chengdu.
The overall impression is that he treats people very properly. Logically, he is also a wealthy man. Maybe he can call the shots outside, but when facing Cheng Ran's family, he is extremely polite. After the introduction, Xie Qian shook hands with Cheng Feiyang and shook them vigorously. "Amazing! It's not easy to build Fulong Company on your own. You have to be a technician, understand business, and lead people. It's not easy to be all three in one, Old Cheng!"
"It's also a difficult development..."
The first time they met, Cheng Ran felt like they were old friends. He thought Xie Qian was quite capable. Although Xie Feibai looked lazy, his father and uncle were both capable people.
When the food and wine were served, Xie Qian and Cheng Feiyang drank for the first time and clinked their glasses with each other.
Xie Qian picked up a few pieces of meat with chopsticks and chewed them. "I haven't eaten your sausages and bacon for a long time. I'm often away from home, so I can eat everything. But sometimes I just miss the sausages and bacon at my brother's house during the Chinese New Year. I'm drooling just thinking about it..."
"You too... You don't even bother to start a family. What do you look like now?" Zhang Wei couldn't help but nag him a few more times. Xie Qian kept bowing his hands and lowering his head, begging for mercy with a humble look.
Both women laughed.
The atmosphere at the table was very harmonious. Xie Houming also introduced Xie Qian's deeds. He graduated from Sichuan University in 1984 and worked in a state-owned enterprise for four years. He resigned with the initial idea of "I don't like the kind of life that I can see the end of and I want to do something career".
Because he had studied a water purification project in college, he used this as a breakthrough and registered a small company with some money. At that time, ultrafiltration membrane technology was extremely expensive both at home and abroad, and was generally only used in fields such as hemodialysis. A foreign ultrafiltration membrane water purifier sold for 3,000 yuan in China in the early 1990s. Seizing this opportunity, Xie Qian used the experience accumulated in the university project to continue his research, starting from the surrounding areas. Later, all major breweries in the province used their equipment. There were many successes and failures in the process. Later, the ultrafiltration machine in 1994 was a hit at a foreign exhibition. Its performance was comparable to that of foreign products, but the cost was only one-third, which directly solved the world's problem of high ultrafiltration technology costs.
An Australian company bought out his technology for a large sum of money, but the exact amount was not disclosed. Although Cheng Ran's family was extremely interested, they did not want to ask too much. It was strange that Xie Qian lost interest after studying something to the top, so he simply sold it and got the money back.
The deal was made around 1995, and Cheng Ran estimated that the money would not be small. Xie Qian knew the industry very well. Domestic companies could not get a share of the pie, but the overseas purified water market was an extremely mature and developed industry.
Xu Lan had heard about his legend from Zhang Wei a long time ago, so she smiled and said, "He is really my uncle... Feibai is enjoying a good life. I heard that you bought him a shop on the East Street of the New Commercial Street in Yanshikou, Rongcheng?"
Yanshikou East Street will be the core business district in the future city center of Chengdu. At least in Cheng Ran's era, the unit price was probably over 70,000 or 80,000 yuan per square meter.
Speaking of this, Xie Qian was still a little proud, "I didn't give him all of them. I gave him more than a dozen rooms."
"It's expensive, right?" Xu Lan said with a sigh.
As if Xie Qian was waiting for her to ask this question, he smiled and said, "Four thousand per square meter, a shop usually costs about one hundred or two hundred thousand! Hahaha..."
Cheng Ran: “…”
In the east of Yanshikou, a shop with an area of 40 to 50 square meters costs hundreds of thousands of yuan...
Xie Qian laughed again, "I bought more than 2,000 square meters, haha, but only 1,200 square meters are mine, the rest were bought for others..."
When Xie Qian mentioned this, he glanced at Xie Houming.
In the commercial district of Chengdu where every inch of land is valuable, it would be impossible for Xie Qian to buy so much at one go if he was a natural person with no background. So buying some for others involves various higher-level profit sharing issues.
Xu Lan opened her eyes wide, "Two hundred thousand for a shop! So expensive..."
"I heard it's still rising," Zhang Wei smiled, "It seems to have risen to 4,700 this year, almost 5,000."
It's no wonder that Xu Lan found it hard to imagine. At that time, there was no commercial housing that would spring up everywhere and impact people's perceptions like in later generations. Most of the houses were built with funds raised by units, and those in the countryside who had their own land built their own houses. In comparison, the houses built by units were much more expensive than those built on their own land. Take Cheng Ran's family as an example. A 90-square-meter house cost only 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to build with funds raised.
At this time, no one wanted to buy or hoard houses, because even if they held houses, the price would not be high. This thing was not a commodity that could be resold. There was a lot of money on deposit, a long payment cycle, and not much profit. It was not entertainment. There were many people who spent thousands of dollars on color TVs. Buying a house is to live in it. People only buy it when they have nothing to do after they have enough food. If you really have spare money, you might as well open a store.
Shops are more expensive than ordinary houses. Although there is rent, the rent is low and the return on investment is slow. Therefore, those who invest in shops at this time are actually just buying a guarantee. No one has really thought about getting rich overnight.
"Speaking of which, today I came here and asked my brother to invite your family, Old Cheng. Actually, I have a plan... Xie Feibai is my nephew. Cheng Ran, you are the same age as Xie Feibai, and you are also a great benefactor of my family. If it weren't for you, I can't imagine what it would be like for my brother's family to be broken up... Sometimes when I think about this, I toss and turn and can't sleep. I sweat all night long. I have an idea. After all, I came here to recognize my nephew today. Cheng Ran, I won't take advantage of my age. You and Xie Feibai can both call me uncle, okay? As an uncle, I have a gift for meeting you..."
"I probably still have a dozen shops in Rongcheng. I'll take out two more as a gift!"
Cheng Feiyang and Xu Lan were shocked and shook their heads quickly, and Xie Qian waved his hand to stop them.
"Old Cheng, Sister Lan, today's matter really has nothing to do with you two. If Cheng Ran is willing to call me uncle, this is not just an ordinary title, but he recognizes me as his uncle. He is my nephew, and this is a meeting gift for my nephew. You have to accept it!"
"This is a matter of two or three hundred thousand!" Xu Lan's face changed and she shook her head vigorously.
Cheng Ran was stunned for a moment, but he swallowed hard in his heart. This was not a matter of 200,000 or 300,000 yuan... it was clearly a matter of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan.
Cheng Feiyang said, "You can't do that. I can't accept such an expensive gift."
"During the Tang and Song dynasties, there was a saying that 'one shop can support a family'. Halls, workshops, villages, and brothels were all passed down from the elders to the younger generations, from generation to generation. This was not just wealth, but also a foundation, a guarantee, and a way to teach people how to fish. I'm just asking for a good start, which is more meaningful. I don't care about the price. It would be vulgar to negotiate the price with me. If I only have 10,000 yuan, then I'll give you an umbrella, and you can't refuse it, right?"
"The same goes for me. These two shops are just two umbrellas for me." Xie Qian smiled and patted Cheng Ran on the shoulder. "I am not sending you umbrellas because I am thinking about rain. But if you can use these two umbrellas when it rains, wouldn't that be great?"