The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 4: As a Substitute

back home.

Xiao An'an was inexplicably locked out of her room.

She couldn't understand what her parents were up to, why they were keeping her locked up outside.

I peeked at it secretly; I couldn't hide my desire to watch the Teletubbies.

inside the room.

Chen Pingsheng mysteriously pulled Song Yanxi to the large bed, where a pink curtain hung near the window.

The house may be small, but it's cozy.

"Honey, what do you want to do in broad daylight?"

Song Yanxi thought he was thinking about sex, since they had been having sex less often since their daughter was born.

The main problem is that the room is small and can't be soundproofed.

To put it bluntly, the conditions simply don't allow it.

"Yanxi, I'll transfer the money I earned today to you first."

As a true homebody, my income must be handed over to my wife for management.

Chen Pingsheng only keeps a maximum of 500 yuan in his card for his own use. If nothing unexpected happens, that amount of money is enough for him to live on for a month.

After all, he didn't have many expenses; his most fixed expense was a pack of Lao Bai Sha cigarettes that cost seven yuan every day.

My wife bought the rest of the clothes and shoes.

"With a ding, 4,000 yuan has been deposited into your Alipay account."

Song Yanxi frowned slightly, seemingly a little surprised. Her husband would give her the money he earned every day, which was normal.

The key point is that it's four thousand a day, which is higher than ever before!

The highest I ever made was during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, when I earned over three thousand yuan a day selling durians.

"Honey, are you doing something bad?"

"No, I earned it by helping people move, and I also delivered a truckload of durians to someone on the way."

Chen Pingsheng had already thought of a reason. He coughed slightly and said, "Yanxi, I might be able to earn this much every day from now on. You'll have to get used to it and enjoy the feeling of being a rich woman."

What's there to enjoy?

Song Yanxi was still very happy to hear him say that. For a family like theirs, nothing is more exciting than making more and more money.

"Honey, I suggest we go out for one of those candlelight dinners your little sister always talks about today."

Song Yanxi rolled her eyes at him, "What's the point of eating? It's a waste of money. Why don't we just cook a couple of dishes at home and light a candle? Wouldn't that be better?"

Hmm, it smells pretty good.

Without hesitation, Chen Pingsheng actually went downstairs to the convenience store to buy those red candles.

When he came up, Song Yanxi went over the family's accounts again.

With the money he earned today, their family's total savings amount to 386,000.

It looks like a lot, but you have to know that this is what they saved up over the past five years of their marriage by scrimping and saving.

"Honey, with another 120,000, we can make enough for a down payment."

Song Yanxi said with anticipation, "Twelve years ago in Beijing, the average price of a house within the Third Ring Road was around 12 yuan."

The couple's idea was to buy a small 80-square-meter apartment, just enough for their family to live in.

The total comes to about two million, with a down payment of around five hundred thousand.

"Let's have some romance after we buy a house."

Song Yanxi is even more frugal than him; she wears the same clothes for years.

Those candlelight dinners that cost hundreds of dollars a meal—you're eating them, but your heart is bleeding.

It is absolutely not something you should enjoy.

Chen Pingsheng stopped trying to persuade him. Just as he went to the kitchen, his sister-in-law, Song Wu, sent him another message.

Inform him that he can spend the Chinese New Year at their home this year.

Honestly, if your circumstances aren't great, going to your mother-in-law's house is pure torture.

Only those who have experienced it know.

After the meal was ready, Song Yanxi lit the candles in a very professional manner, leaving Xiao An'an completely bewildered.

I thought there would be a birthday cake any minute, but there was nothing there, just some silly giggling at the red candles.

She was too young to understand what her parents were laughing about.

That was laughter, a glimmer of hope for life, a ray of dawn for the future.

In the evening, Song Yanxi even accompanied her to watch Teletubbies, turning the volume up really loud. Only after the little one was engrossed did she secretly pull Chen Pingsheng to the room.

It needs to be fast.

Who knows when the little guy will come knocking on the door.

Even at his fastest, he's still a strong young man; it won't be over in less than thirty minutes.

Song Yanxi was so satisfied that tears were streaming down her face.

The next day, after Chen Pingsheng dropped his wife off at work, he immediately opened the moving group chat.

Now that he has a clear goal of making money, his enthusiasm for making money is higher than ever before.

In the moving group, the guy called "Young Marshal" is his childhood friend.

He was the one who introduced me to the capital to make money. I'm a 30-year-old bachelor who earns more than 10,000 yuan a month and lives a very carefree life.

He knew the shops with red lanterns hanging under the overpass like the back of his hand.

Moving group.

Young Marshal: "Just got a job, moving a washing machine up to the seventh floor, 100 yuan, damn it."

There's definitely no elevator here, and nobody wants to do this kind of work.

It's raining heavily again today, so they can't sell durians. They can only make a living by doing odd jobs.

Sometimes I get a call, and sometimes I just have to rest.

General: "I have a job here. Do you want to work together? It's just moving furniture. It's three hundred a day."

Young Marshal: "What the hell? I'd rather spend this time strolling around Xidan and maybe I'll find a wife."

Chen Pingsheng ignored their pointless chatter. Although they were all from the countryside, they all earned over ten thousand yuan a month. They certainly didn't care about small orders.

But at that moment, the girl he had just met yesterday sent him a message.

"Brother Chen, are you busy?"

"I'm not busy."

"Are you free today? We have a special extra here, two thousand a day, no face showing. Would you like to give it a try?"

I have to give it a try.

That's why they say having more friends means having more options.

No matter how unknown Zhao Liying was in the entertainment industry, she was still a veteran extra who had been running around for more than four years.

They know far more people than newcomers to the industry.

He naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by, but he still asked if acting skills were required.

After all, he really didn't have that thing.

Zhao Liying gave a brief introduction, saying that she didn't need any acting skills, but it was extremely hard work, and she didn't know if he could handle it.

To put it bluntly, an ordinary extra can earn at most three to five hundred yuan a day, and if it can reach two thousand, there must be special conditions.

When he arrived at the film set, the assistant director didn't even ask his name before telling him to take off his clothes.

Those two thousand yuan are no way a human could earn. In minus four degrees Celsius, they let him go crazy naked in the lake.

The scene was originally supposed to be played by that young, handsome male lead, but after testing the water temperature in the lake, he turned around and left without saying a word.

What a joke, how could he possibly work in such low water?

What if I catch a cold?
The fans must be heartbroken.

There was no other way; the assistant director had to find a stunt double to shoot from a distance.

Several members of the crew also tried it, and once their clothes were off, no one could withstand it; they were all trembling in less than a minute.

What's the point of filming this?

It was at this moment that Zhao Liying thought of Chen Pingsheng, who was also from out of town and was working hard to make money.

He has done manual labor for many years and has maintained a very good physique. He can also endure hardships that most people cannot.

However, after putting on some simple makeup, Chen Pingsheng walked to the small lake, where the clear, jade-green water felt bone-chillingly cold.

The moment I put my foot down, I shivered from the cold.

"Can you do it or not? If you can't, get out of here."

The assistant director had neither patience nor a good temper with these special extras.

He's afraid of the cold, so he starts cursing as soon as he opens his mouth.

Chen Pingsheng gritted his teeth and suddenly jumped into the lake.

His scene was very simple: the young male lead, betrayed in love, vents his emotions in the lake. There were no lines and no facial expressions.

Just act however crazy you want.

Because it wasn't the person in question, the assistant director couldn't get close enough to film.

Chen Pingsheng was also shivering from the cold, but he kept thinking about his little house.

I'm also looking forward to seeing my wife's happiness as she moves into her new home, and I can get through any hardship.

He thought that once he filmed this scene, it would be over.

Who knew that the young, handsome male lead, who was paid tens of millions in film fees, couldn't endure any hardship?

Today we must finish filming all the scenes where he's freezing in the cold winter.

Acting skills are fine, but the most difficult one is when this young heartthrob accidentally falls into a lake and unexpectedly gains unparalleled martial arts skills.

From then on, he dealt a severe blow to those women who looked down on him and betrayed him.

Then came all sorts of regrets.

It's just another old trick in Chinese dramas: the protagonist falls off a cliff and inevitably gains unparalleled martial arts skills.

This scene was originally supposed to be filmed by the young actor himself, but he couldn't possibly endure such hardship in the freezing cold.

A body double is necessary; he can just reshoot the highlight moments later.

Chen Pingsheng sighed inwardly, thinking how easy it must be for these people to make money.

He made tens of millions just by standing there.

On the other hand, he would risk his life for two thousand.

He filmed four scenes on the lake between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

His body was almost stiff, but fortunately Zhao Liying brought him a bowl of freshly cooked ginger soup.

Those who work hard understand those who work hard the most.

She was still playing a minor role, still acting as the female lead's maid.

She has played maids in countless dramas, and countless people say she is destined to be a maid.

"Brother Chen, warm yourself up by the fire and take a rest."

Zhao Liying also gave him a white towel, and Chen Pingsheng felt much better after changing into his own clothes.

"Your sister-in-law is about to get off work, I have to go pick her up."

Chen Pingsheng gestured for her to go to the film crew to get the money. He said that if it weren't for the two thousand yuan, who would suffer like this in this awful weather?

Zhao Liying nodded and quickly brought over his two thousand yuan.

This is a big production team, the kind that has an investment of hundreds of millions.

Naturally, no one would haggle over such small amounts of money.

However, when he was about to leave, the assistant director came back.

"You're very good. Do you have a business card for me? I'll look for you again if there are any difficult roles like this next time."

He doesn't have a business card at all; he's just a durian seller on the street.

However, Chen Pingsheng still gave him a number.

He's willing to do anything as long as there's money to be made.

(End of this chapter)