A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 68: So close
Chen Guangliang came to the conference room of Gu Real Estate to attend the meeting as a real estate consultant.

Zhang Jiepu, the general manager, reported to Gu Zhuxuan, "Before the end of this month, Gu's Real Estate has already acquired 30 mu of land near Zhabei Railway Station and 15 mu a little further away. We've already secured both of these difficult pieces of land."

The so-called two "tough bones" are naturally the 12 acres of land owned by a factory owner and the 8 acres of land owned by Zhu Guangsheng.

"Pa pa!" Gu Zhuxuan clapped his hands, then said, "Don't forget, those two tough guys were taken down by Guangliang's strategy."

Zhang Jiepu immediately followed up, saying, "Boss, you're right. Consultant Chen is incredibly resourceful, like a reincarnated Zhuge Liang."

Ever since Chen Guangliang voluntarily resigned from the position of "Deputy General Manager", he believed that the threat had been eliminated. In addition, Chen Guangliang was indeed the hero who won the two plots of land, so his initial hostility had been eliminated.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "It's all the result of everyone's joint efforts. I just talked a lot, it doesn't count."

Gu Zhuxuan immediately said: "Any merit is a merit, I will not ignore it."

Seeing this, Chen Guangliang stopped talking nonsense. After all, you, Gu the big gangster, are not going to give him any bonuses.

In Chen Guangliang's mind, he was temporarily "committed" to work under Gu Zhuxuan, but he did not think that he had worshipped Gu Zhuxuan or was Gu Zhuxuan's disciple.

The two of them were in a "partnership" and he gave Gu Zhuxuan some advice on the land speculation business, and Gu Zhuxuan waived his commission and did not cause trouble for the car dealership.

That's it!

Chen Guangliang also had no intention of cheating Gu Zhuxuan. As long as everyone cooperated happily, he could help Gu Zhuxuan get out of the real estate business unscathed in the future.

If the two of them fall out, then he still has a trick up his sleeve.

Afterwards, Gu Zhuxuan asked Chen Guangliang, "At this rate, will we make it in time?"

Chen Guangliang immediately replied, "It's definitely not too late. At least the banks in the Shanghai Stock Exchange are gradually exiting the market, and it's expected to be next year. Don't worry, Mr. Gu!"

"Okay, I feel relieved when you say that. But I heard that you, Guangliang, also recently bought land on Yuyuan Road!"

It seems that spies have also been arranged on Chen Guangliang's side.

But it doesn’t matter, it’s not something that can be exposed in public anyway.

"Minor fights"

"Ha ha"

Knowing that Chen Guangliang was also acquiring land, Gu Zhuxuan felt more at ease.

What's more, he also learned that Cheng Zikang of Jincheng Bank seemed to be investing in this area.

So, he felt even more relieved!

Afterwards, Chen Guangliang took the initiative to say goodbye to Gu Zhuxuan and left the scene.

The old housekeeper who followed Gu Zhuxuan said at this time: "Boss, this young man is not simple. Although he has been keeping a low profile recently, he is said to be quietly increasing the number of rickshaws. It has been less than a year since he started, and he already has nearly 200 rickshaws. He understands business, how to win people over, and even how to scheme. In the future..."

The implication is that Chen Guangliang will become a threat to Gu Zhuxuan, at least in the car dealership business.

In addition, Chen Guangliang and Gu Zhuxuan are in a close yet distant relationship, which may lead to direct competition between them in the rickshaw business in the future.

Gu Zhuxuan thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, he's working for me now, and let's start with the land speculation first. Besides, it's not that easy to get a rickshaw license plate. As for the future, we can discuss it later."

The most urgent thing is that the two have not reached that point yet.

At the end of November, the first batch of "wild cars" of Changjiang Car Dealership, a total of 11 cars, were put into operation.

The rental fee for this batch of vehicles remains unchanged, totaling 1 dollar per day (three shifts).

However, if any problems arise with these illegal rickshaws, the drivers will naturally not be held responsible or fined. However, if a rickshaw driver is caught and fined by a patrol officer for violating traffic rules, the Changjiang Rickshaw Company will generally not intervene (special circumstances warrant special consideration). Only when a patrol officer detains a rickshaw will the Changjiang Rickshaw Company intervene to resolve the issue.

Therefore, the normal income of the rickshaw drivers of Changjiang Coach Company is 12 to 15 yuan (excluding dividends, but including product sales), which can be attributed to the good overall environment.

But if it continues to develop for another three or four years, the income of the drivers may show a situation of "not increasing but decreasing" due to competition, and the situation will become increasingly difficult by the 1930s.

This is something Chen Guangliang needs to consider!
Of course, he couldn't be a savior, he just said that he was thinking that his career should get rid of the dependence on rickshaws, that's all!

However, the current profits of Changjiang Car Dealership are still very considerable.

It is expected that starting from next year, Chen Guangliang's monthly income will increase to more than 2500 oceans. In this way, his debt of more than 26700 oceans will not be too heavy a burden.

In this era, the interest rate for deposits is generally 8%, and the interest rate for loans is generally (15~20%).

The average interest rate on Chen Guangliang's debt is 18%, which is also quite high.

He is now trying his best to expand the car dealership and increase the monthly dividends, but in fact all of it is spent on "investment in land".

But Chen Guangliang suddenly discovered a problem - the land might take three years, or even four years (to be cashed out in 1931), which would take up a lot of capital.

Assuming that 40 to 50 illegal vehicles are added, Chen Guangliang may be able to repay all loans and interest next year.

Essentially speaking, Chen Guangliang's career has reached a bottleneck.

Therefore, Chen Guangliang recently came up with an idea - after purchasing another piece of land as an investment, he needs to use his wisdom to do a business.

This business can not only make a lot of money, but also improve his status in the business world, and the condition is - 'get something for nothing', because he has only very little capital.

Moreover, the land he owns is only used for "land speculation" and he does not intend to use it for real estate investment.

In this era, real estate was purchased as a whole building, without any separate floors or units.

Therefore, even a literary giant like Lu Xun could not afford to buy a house in Shanghai, because ordinary houses were all rented out by developers, and garden houses and villas were impossible to afford.

The big property owners in Shanghai, including Ningbo business leaders like Yu Qiaqing, own probably thousands of houses in Shanghai; and the Jewish businessman Hardoon collects rent of around one million silver coins each year (office buildings, apartments, etc.), and his business is still expanding.

Other owners include banks and foreign companies, which develop large numbers of apartments and rent them out, monopolizing Shanghai's residential market. Banks, in particular, enjoy purchasing land for investment or developing real estate projects for rental purposes.

Therefore, even Chen Guangliang could not afford to buy a house.

At present, several houses have been built on the second piece of land on Yuyuan Road purchased by Chen Guangliang (covering an area of ​​three acres), which will serve as the residence of Chen Guangliang's family.

However, these houses are all simple civil structures, which can be easily dismantled at any time in the future.

In this era, there is no planning bureau, so as long as it is your own land, you can build any house you want.

Among the houses in Shanghai, the highest grade are villas and apartments. Apartments are generally taller, ranging from 6 to 13 floors, and the cost of these is very high; the second highest grade are brick and wood structure houses in "new-style lanes", which are generally 3 to 5 floors and have a lower cost.

Chen Guangliang has recently been researching and studying real estate development in Shanghai, and is particularly interested in the construction and cost of houses in the "new-style lanes".

The so-called "new-style lanes" are 3-5-story brick-and-wood structures, usually three-story buildings.

Compared with the houses in the "old-style lanes", the houses in the "new-style lanes" have running water, gas, steel windows, sanitary ware, and hot and cold water pipes.

It can be said that the Shanghai of this era is a city that is truly connected with the world, and in many aspects it is more advanced than Chen Guangliang imagined.

Of course, Chen Guangliang's current understanding of this aspect is only through newspapers, relevant books, and field investigations, and he cannot be considered a professional.

(End of this chapter)