Gao Shijin is a descendant of Cheng Ran's grandfather's cousin. In his early years, he was said to have dealt in antiques, run a restaurant, and sold spices. He did everything. Later, he made his fortune in the clothing business, importing goods from Guangzhou to Chengdu, and caught up with the trend of openness. Guangzhou had the largest port trading center and the most concentrated garment factories. At that time, when clothing wholesale markets across the country were mentioned, they all brought goods from Guangzhou... Those who took advantage of this opportunity made a lot of money, and it even continued until 2005 and 2006, until the development and growth of e-commerce.
Doing business is like martial arts, with different sets of tactics and everyone has his own style. Cheng Ran does not agree with the widely-used saying that businessmen are profit-driven and all are dishonest. It's just that his cousin Gao, who is a businessman, is indeed a shrewd and calculating person.
In the previous life, their family was well-off, so they were somewhat cold to their Shanhai relatives. During festivals, they usually called to greet them, but rarely took the initiative to call them. However, Gao Shijin was very friendly with Cheng Bin, who was then the deputy director. Later, when Cheng Bin got into trouble, Gao Shijin no longer cared about him.
In fact, Shanhai's family had sensed this situation before, so apart from routine greetings during festivals, the two sides did not have much contact.
It was just that last year, my cousin aunt came to Shanhai to travel and enjoy the scenery. The relatives in Shanhai gave her a warm welcome. Before leaving, my cousin aunt was very impressed and asked her relatives to look for them when they came to Rongcheng. Gao Shijin even promised that he would keep in touch with the relatives when they came.
So when Cheng Feiyang came to Chengdu, he still called Gao Shijin to inform him.
As a result, there was no news for a long time, and today there was a sudden call. The call was made to Cheng Feiyang before, and it was obvious that Cheng Feiyang was not available, so he notified Xu Lan and Cheng Ran.
It seemed like he was forcing someone to do something just to get something for his own good, so Xu Lan knew that Cheng Ran might be right, but she was the type of person who couldn't refuse a relative's kindness, so she persuaded Cheng Ran and went.
At six o'clock they arrived at Canglanglou Hotel and Gao Shijin booked a private room on the second floor called "Wanghai Pavilion".
Xu Lan and Cheng Ran walked in. All the family members of Gao Shijin's lineage were present. Gao Shijin had sparse hair that was sideways and had mousse on it, making each hair distinct and shiny. His lips were a little thin, and he gave people the impression of being smart and capable.
His two brothers and one sister all nodded to the two people with polite but awkward smiles. After all, they rarely interacted with each other, so it was more or less awkward to get together like this. Next to the group of people, there were three teenagers sitting, two boys and a girl in a dress. The older one introduced Gao Shaoning, the daughter of Gao Shijin, who was one year younger than Cheng Ran.
The other two boys, one fat and one thin, were the children of the fourth and second cousins, and they were of similar age, between thirteen and fourteen. Seeing that Cheng Ran was a little shy, he looked at him a few more times and followed the adults to call him brother.
Gao Shijin said, "I called Cheng Feiyang earlier, but he was busy outside. I said you are busy, and my sister-in-law and the children can't skip dinner, so I ignored him and asked you to come over for dinner."
Xu Lan said, "Yes, yes, never mind him."
Obviously he didn't have much sincerity, but he was able to speak very smoothly. This cousin Gao from Rongcheng was a very talented person.
“This Canghailou opened this year and is very famous in Chengdu… It can be considered one of the first-tier restaurants.”
Xu Lan kept looking around at the decoration and nodded, "It's really beautiful, there is no restaurant like this in Shanhai!"
Gao Shijin smiled calmly and did not comment.
The cousin said, "Isn't it? Today's meal is very expensive. Boss Gao will have to spend a lot of money today."
Gao Shijin said, "Ningning's admission to No. 12 Middle School has been arranged. No matter how expensive this meal is, I will treat you."
The words were incoherent, but Xu Lan glanced at Cheng Ran, and Cheng Ran was right. They were not the protagonists at all. Gao Shijin was really shrewd in business. But in other words, he didn't seem to need to pretend to be a relative like Xu Lan, nor did he need to wear a mask like he usually did in social gatherings, because there was no need. Here, he was the boss, even if Cheng Feiyang, who came from afar, was older than him. In the family, Boss Gao always had the final say and was very prestigious.
He is usually intimidating without being angry, and is the backbone of the family. In fact, his brothers and sisters are quite afraid of him in private.
Everyone sat down first and were served some appetizers and cold dishes, but the main course was delayed. It was obvious that Gao Shijin was waiting for the protagonist of the banquet, and he also asked Xu Lan from time to time.
"When I went to Shanhai at the beginning of last year, I heard about the problems of Lao Cheng's company. What's the situation now... Why did he choose to settle down in Rongcheng?"
Gao Shijin obviously didn't know much about Cheng Feiyang and Fulong at the moment, and it was no wonder. After all, even if Fulong's acquisition of Rongcheng Huatong was reported in the newspapers, there were many newspapers in Rongcheng, and the news was different every day. The four newspapers with the largest circulation, Evening News, Morning News, West China, and Commercial News, although three of them published the acquisition news, not to mention that the newspapers did not publish the name of the legal representative of Fulong Company. This kind of news was just a piece of tofu, because it did not reach the level of social shock. The news that took up an entire front page of the newspaper for those two days was about a woman who abused her stepson and was condemned by countless people.
Ordinary people only glanced at the Fulong area and did not have the deep experience of "the wolves are coming" as those in the industry.
Secondly, the influence of Fulong's acquisition of Rongcheng Huatong needs time to ferment and expand through word of mouth. Even if Gao Shijin has read the news about Fulong Company, it is unlikely that he would associate it with Cheng Feiyang.
"Lao Cheng's company had some problems in the second half of last year, and then it underwent restructuring. The company recently moved to Chengdu, and we followed."
Xu Lan also knew the principle of keeping three points to herself. Since the Gao family didn't know much about Cheng Feiyang, there was no need for her to show off to them. After the incident with Xie Houming, Xu Lan knew the principle of hiding her shortcomings. Fulong Company was at a critical moment in its development, and her own boss Cheng didn't make much money. She didn't want others to treat him as a rich CEO. That would be terrible.
Secondly, the Gao family’s relatives in Rongcheng are relatively distant from them, so there is no need to reveal everything.
Gao Shijin nodded, "Brother Cheng, you're working so hard..." Then he looked at Cheng Ran and said in a lecturing tone, "When I went there last year, your dad said he was most worried about your grades! So you see how hard your dad works, and everything the adults do is for the children... If you were in my hands, I would have plenty of ways to make you work hard! After all, good people are made of gold bars, haha!"
Obviously this is an empiricist mistake. Gao Shijin has heard for many years about Cheng Ran's poor academic performance. He is more polite to Xu Lan, but to Cheng Ran, a junior, he naturally reveals the aura of the head of the family.
The two cousins beside Gao Shaoning, one fat and one thin, cast a look of sympathy towards Cheng Ran. It was obvious that they were the targets of Gao Shijin's attacks during family gatherings. Now that someone had appeared to take the blame, the two of them felt somewhat fortunate to be able to survive.
Gao Shaoning also glanced at Cheng Ran... and then looked away again. She had met this distant cousin once before, but she didn't have a deep impression of him except that he looked good. Naturally, she wasn't too interested in him now. Her interest was still in the uncle she invited to help today and his little sister who was always admired by Gao Shaoning and her circle.
Then she saw Cheng Ran grinning and smiling at her father, who always lectured his children and made everyone look ashamed, "Uncle Gao is right!"
The tone of voice made Gao Shijin narrow his eyes.
Gao Shaoning was stunned, and his two younger brothers beside him looked at Cheng Ran, wondering if this cousin who came from nowhere was so heartless or so heartless!
Make some adjustments and update twice tomorrow.