Chapter 40: Chapter 40 Let Li read with Little An’an

In August, Chen Pingsheng accomplished two major tasks.

One was the restructuring of headquarters, and the other was the even more critical stock reform.

After completing these two steps, Tengsheng Fruit officially upgraded to Tengsheng Group Co., Ltd.

Just a few extra words in the name, and the momentum immediately rose.

By the end of the month, he also formally held the group listing ceremony.

The company might not be large, but the momentum had to be created.

For now, he, Chen Pingsheng, served as the Chairman and General Manager of the group.

Song Yanxi was the Chief Financial Officer, and Zhang Tao was in charge of the entire logistics department.

Liu Jing was responsible for Beixin’an, while Chen Hao and others took care of Shijingshan.

The specific duties were set, so going forward, there would be more bylaws to follow.

Things would no longer be as casual as before.

In Chen Pingsheng’s view, this was their first step towards becoming a formal army.

For this, he even held a grand celebration ceremony.

Down-to-earth beer and barbecue.

After completing the corporate headquarters’ operations, Chen Pingsheng immediately announced an important decision.

“Starting from September, after completing the recharge activities, Tengsheng Fruit’s community stores will offer 49% of bonus shares to the store management.”

What did this mean?

In the future, as soon as Tengsheng Fruit’s community stores complete the initial three months of attracting traffic and recharging,

Almost half of the bonus shares would be immediately released into the hands of the store management.

And these shares would be given at no cost.

That is, the management wouldn’t need to pay for them, because practice had proven that their fruit shops could recover their costs and even exceed expectations, just by doing well in the initial traffic and recharge efforts.

That money, of course, would not be distributed to the management.

Only the steady, long-term store profits that followed would be shared.

With this decision, he was undoubtedly lowering the headquarters’ profits, or even directly giving half of the profits to the employees.

Not to mention Zhang Tao and others not understanding, even his wife Song Yanxi was baffled for quite a while.

Why give away so much profit for no good reason?

Their salaries for the employees were not low, so why give away half of the shares?

Chen Pingsheng, however, felt that if he wanted to do business for the long term, he couldn’t just think about himself.

He had to let the employees who followed him also earn money.

It wasn’t fair for the boss to have a fortune worth billions while the workers beneath him could not even make ends meet.

Under this model, he believed that the business could not last long.

Thus, he was determined to give away half of the shares.

The key point was that this half share, after random appreciation, wouldn’t really affect his personal income.

This decision sparked more intense debates than any previous argument.

In the end, he simply exercised his veto power.

“I understand why you oppose this, but actually, if everyone thinks about it from the opposite perspective, I believe you’ll understand,” he said.

“Right now, the model we have worked out for opening stores is to break even in three months. After that, the store is no longer my responsibility or yours, but that of the store manager and the staff.”

“At that point, tell me, if we cannot give them a high enough income, why should others work their hearts out for us, just for the eight or ten thousand salary we pay them?”

“Truly capable people can earn that income anywhere. If Tengsheng wants to really retain people, then we must let them have an income far beyond their abilities. Only in this way, can our stores not be eliminated by others in the future.”

What he was proposing was essentially taking money out of their pockets and distributing it to the employees below.

Whether they understood it or not, Chen Pingsheng had made up his mind.

Starting next month, those five stores in Beixin’an would start implementing this.

The stores in Shijingshan hadn’t completed recharging yet, and it was estimated that they would not be able to distribute shares to employees until November.

Even Chen Pingsheng himself did not expect that it was precisely because of this stock allocation move,

That Tengsheng swiftly defeated Nongguo Garden in Shijingshan.

And in the future, it would defeat one strong competitor after another.

Its significance lay in the fact that it made the employees truly earn money.

With a salary more than double that of the industry standard, or even more, the employees would surely work hard for you.

With such a change in mindset, what came in return was customer reputation.

Over time, competitors began to fall one by one.

…

On the way home, Song Yanxi still couldn’t figure it out.

The main thing was, after all, that the profits from the fruit went straight into her card.

With this new setup, she’d lose about a hundred thousand a month.

And that was just from the five stores in the Beixin’an district, not to mention the five fruit supermarkets that had already been opened in Shijingshan.

Add the ten community stores about to open, and she would have to give up at least two to three hundred thousand a month to the employees.

That would total up to four or five million a year.

It hurt so much she could hardly breathe.

Without saying a word, Chen Pingsheng tried to comfort her, “What are you thinking about, still can’t figure it out?”

“Of course you’re not worried, it’s not your money!” she retorted.

Women tend to be petty, and Song Yanxi was no exception. Suddenly having to share so much with the employees every month, it would be strange if she could accept it right away.

Chen Pingsheng, holding her hand, said, “Yanxi, how long have we been at this business?”

“Nine months,” she answered.

“Right, nine months,” he echoed.

Chen Pingsheng said, “Look at us nine months ago and look at us now. A few days ago, I ran into a store manager from Beixin’an. He’s been with us from the start, and while we’ve gone on to drive a Bentley, he’s still worried about not being able to afford a wife.”

“If things continue like this, do you think he will remain as committed to us as he was before? Wouldn’t he start to harbor resentment? Once that kind of thought begins, it can’t be suppressed. If a store manager feels this way, how can the employees underneath him work diligently?”

“If they don’t work hard, who’s going to make money for you, the boss?”

“Being a boss is about understanding what to sacrifice and what to keep. If you don’t consider their needs today, don’t expect them to think of yours tomorrow.”

Song Yanxi, after all, had finished high school and was more educated than him.

She was also better at grasping concepts.

When she actually stopped to think about it, it made sense.

The fruit business was hard, with long hours for the employees, and if they didn’t receive satisfactory incomes…

All management strategies were moot.

Any so-called corporate dream was nothing more than pie in the sky touted by the boss.

Chen Pingsheng still aspired to be a conscientious boss.

At the very least, he didn’t want to be the kind of boss his employees cursed behind his back.

Sharing half the profits was just the first step in his transformation.

To let the employees truly earn money alongside him.

Song Yanxi spent all night in a huff, sticking her bottom in the air; whenever he tried to get close,

she’d just butt him away to the side.

Mess with a woman’s private money stash, and it’s impossible to expect her not to get angry,

Even if she understood the reason. She had to show that she was upset.

To let you know she was very angry.

That’s just how women are.

Sometimes, not the most reasonable.

The next day, which was the beginning of September,

was a big day indeed as their little An’an was finally going to school.

She didn’t mind; it was just going from kindergarten to Shijingshan Primary School after all.

Sometimes, Chen Pingsheng really wanted to ridicule the situation.

Children nowadays really don’t hold back.

It’s all about the parents’ status from the start.

As his family wasn’t well-off then, they chose the most ordinary kindergarten.

But when it was time for primary school, that was when the real competition began.

To enroll in a good school, he and his wife first bought a small villa and moved their headquarters to Shijing Stone.

Then, with opening stores and giving red envelopes, they finally managed to get Chen An’an into Shijingshan Primary School.

Yet that was just the number one school within the Fourth Ring Road.

Above it, there were schools within the Third and Second Rings, even true elite primary schools.

Was this still about learning?

The competition started from the very moment they entered school.