A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 15 Loan Matters
In Shanghai at that time, neon lights had just become popular, so the streets were basically only illuminated by dim street lamps. Rickshaws, however, were generally equipped with kerosene lamps at night.

One evening last year (1926), the entrance to the British-owned Evans Bookstore at the intersection of NJ East Road and Jiangxi Road was crowded with curious heads. In the window, a small advertisement for a "Royal" typewriter had a strange red and blue light.

Passersby were fascinated by the sight and asked what it was. The foreign owner proudly replied, "Neon light." Thus, something called "New Year's Red Lantern" began to spread in the streets and alleys.

Soon, the "New Year Red Light" became popular in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

This year, the Chinese and English characters for "Central Hotel" and "Central Hotel" on Hubei Road shone brightly in the night sky. This earliest bilingual "New Year Red Lantern" sign was created by the Shanghai Far East Chemical Manufacturing Plant, China's first "New Year Red Lantern" manufacturer.

The so-called "New Year's red lights" were later called "neon lights".

In this way, Shanghai will become the "Far East City that Never Sleeps" in the 1930s. As for Hong Kong at that time, it was just a small country town and could not be compared with Shanghai.

and.

According to Chen Guangliang, the decade from 1927 to 1937 was the best period for the development of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the economy developed very rapidly.

One of the reasons is that the 'Shanghai Market' will not be officially established until next year, and it is now called 'Shanghai County', which does not include the concession.

Hu County was originally not big. The next year, the National Government divided several districts of Jiangsu into "Hu County", thus forming the later "Shanghai City".

Thinking about the changes that have taken place in the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the past decade, Chen Guangliang naturally hopes that he can seize the opportunity to complete the initial accumulation of his career.

By the time I first arrived in Hong Kong (1937), I was able to settle down.

Three o'clock in the morning.

Chen Guangliang was taking his guest through the streets of the concession. The guest must have just finished playing cards and having dinner with friends.

"Sir, do you need cigarettes, matches, drinks, or Guanshengyuan snacks? I have them for sale here!"

The customer was a small businessman. He couldn't help but laugh when he heard this and said, "You're quite good at making money. What kind of cigarettes do you have?"

Soon, the customer lit a cigarette, and Chen Guangliang certainly made a deal.

The recent sales promotion has been very successful, and I'm afraid it will increase the dealership's profits by 10-15%. This is equivalent to renting a car for dollars, which used to be a lot, after deducting taxes and maintenance fees, but now it can be stabilized at dollars.

After safely sending the guest home, Chen Guangliang received the fare and gave a two-cent tip, making the fare exactly one cent.

There aren't always guests at night, but you're more likely to run into generous guests.

Pulling an empty cart, Chen Guangliang walked in the concession at night.

He was not worried about his own safety. The chances of a rickshaw being robbed were not high, as there were not many wealthy people in the first place.

What's more, Chen Guangliang has been traveling through time for two months, and he has discovered a "golden finger" of his own - that is, his physical fitness has improved a lot.

If he had 'a little strength' before, now he has 'infinite strength'; even if he doesn't know kung fu, three or five people generally cannot be his match, because his strength, agility and reaction ability have greatly improved.

This will also be one of the foundations for him to settle down in Shanghaitan.

"Hey, hey."

Chen Guangliang suddenly found a man lying on the side of the road, motionless, and shouted a few times.

Seeing that the man was indifferent, Chen Guangliang walked over with a kerosene lamp to find out what was going on.

"Hey, hey."

Seeing that the man moved but did not turn over, Chen Guangliang simply turned him over with his foot.

“Still alive”

The man looked very weak, but he didn't look injured. Chen Guangliang guessed he was probably starving. He immediately returned to the car, opened a bottle of Coke, and then squatted down to feed the man.

Society is in a difficult situation now, and Chen Guangliang is not the kind of person who would stand by and watch someone in need.

Taking the opportunity, Chen Guangliang also looked at the man. It seemed that he had fled to Shanghai; judging from his clothes, he must have fallen on hard times, but his life must have been good before.

Is it communism?

It is unknown, but at this point, we must save people. At most, we can just let them leave afterwards.

"Come with me"

Chen Guangliang picked up the man and put him directly on the rickshaw, intending to take him to Fangua Lane to stay temporarily.

Chen Guangliang changed into his only Zhongshan suit and double-soled cloth shoes and walked towards the Shanghai Savings Bank in the concession.

He was very excited because Professor Zhang told him that he had introduced him to his friend who was the deputy manager of the Shanghai Savings Bank.

"Manager Li, I'm Xiao Chen, whom Professor Zhang introduced to me!"

In Li Shoumin's office, Chen Guangliang greeted him respectfully, not daring to be negligent at all.

Li Shoumin looked at Chen Guangliang and said calmly, "You want a loan? What assets do you have as collateral?"

Chen Guangliang said quickly:
"Our assets include two rickshaw licenses, each worth over 200 yuan in the market, plus three brand new rickshaws, for a total value of over 700 yuan."

"In addition, this loan was arranged by me and a partner from the Municipal Council's Transport Department. The partner from the Transport Department, in particular, has a stable salary income and is therefore able to repay the loan."

"Finally, here is a 'Yangtze River Motors Development Plan' I made to illustrate the enormous potential of our Yangtze River Motors."

Li Shoumin picked up the "Yangtze River Car Dealership Development Plan" and flipped through it casually.

He also didn't expect that this young man knew how to make a "plan". Wasn't he just a rickshaw driver?

The plan includes business philosophy such as "improving services", marketing philosophy such as "increasing product sales", and "long-term development plans and prospects", which is quite comprehensive.

"How much do you want to borrow?"

"Seven hundred dollars, in the name of my partner Li Chao and me."

Li Shoumin nodded and then said, "Wait a moment."

Then he called in a young man and said, "Xiao Wang, go investigate this gentleman's situation. If it's true, approve his loan request."

After saying this, he handed the information in his hand to his subordinates and ignored Chen Guangliang.

"Thank you, Manager Li. You are busy now!"

Such a small loan naturally does not require a manager-level figure to personally take action. The reason why he was able to meet Chen Guangliang was because of Zhang Qihua.

Although Li Shoumin was surprised by Chen Guangliang's ability, he did not try to win him over.

Of course, if the Changjiang Car Dealership really develops, Li Shoumin will naturally get involved in it personally.

But at this time, it was obvious that Chen Guangliang was not qualified.

On this side, Chen Guangliang invited staff from the Shanghai Savings Bank to come to Fangua Lane to inspect the rickshaw assets at 10 o'clock the next morning. Everything went in an orderly manner.

Chen Guangliang also understood that the success had actually been achieved when Li Shoumin arranged for Xiao Wang to take over.

(End of this chapter)