Other people's financing receptions are where founders actively seek out various investors to introduce projects and seek cooperation.
When it came to Chen Pingjiang, it was the exact opposite.
Because there were too many interested investors, Chen Pingjiang had to have them register uniformly, and then select a few preferred ones after the New Year.
At the end, Chen Pingjiang said to Ge Mengshi:
"I'll take you home."
Ge Mengshi hesitated slightly:
"You've had some alcohol."
Chen Pingjiang smiled and waved his hand:
"It's just a little champagne, barely anything. Besides, it's so cold; taking another car would be freezing. Let's go."
Ge Mengshi no longer refused, but followed Chen Pingjiang down to the underground parking lot.
"This is my first time seeing a reception where investors are so enthusiastic, I don't even know who to choose."
Ge Mengshi chuckled on the way.
"Actually, it doesn't make much difference who we choose. If it weren't to avoid suspicion, I could even have Renren.com invest in the catering company, or lend them a sum of money."
Ge Mengshi nodded:
"Those people are all here for you. You can decide after the New Year."
The journey was silent.
Chen Pingjiang took Ge Mengshi to her other apartment.
In most cases, she usually chose not to go back home, because as soon as she returned, Father Ge and Mother Ge would start nagging endlessly.
"Come up for a cup of tea?"
After getting out of the car, Ge Mengshi thought for a moment and invited Chen Pingjiang.
Hidden in the dim night was her subtle expression of anticipation mixed with fear of disappointment.
Chen Pingjiang was a bit surprised by the suggestion, but still nodded, and found a spot to park his car.
This wasn't Chen Pingjiang's first time at this apartment; he had even slept here once before.
As soon as he entered the room, a scent of orchids wafted over, very pleasant.
"Please sit first, I'll make you some tea to sober up."
As she spoke, Ge Mengshi got busy, without even having time to change out of her dress.
Before long, Ge Mengshi walked over holding a Yixing teapot, with steam curling up from it.
"Half a cup of fragrant tea to observe the myriad forms of life with a smile, a cup of clear tea to quietly watch the world's splendor. Not bad."
Chen Pingjiang nodded.
But soon, he realized the atmosphere in the room was a bit off.
Ge Mengshi didn't speak, but sat quietly on the sofa, looking at him.
Chen Pingjiang awkwardly rubbed his nose:
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Ge Mengshi still didn't speak, but at this moment, her gaze towards Chen Pingjiang was filled with different emotions.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the room became somewhat enchanting.
It was unclear how much time had passed, when Ge Mengshi seemed to pluck up her courage, and slowly leaned towards Chen Pingjiang.
A voice in her mind was frantically shouting:
"Be proactive, be proactive."
At any other time, she might not have dared to be so proactive.
It was just that Chen Pingjiang's various actions at the reception today kept flashing in her mind, coupled with the champagne she'd had, carrying a slight tipsiness, that encouraged her to do so.
Chen Pingjiang watched with some surprise as Ge Mengshi got closer and closer to him, until she filled his entire vision.
He did not dodge.
And precisely because of this, Ge Mengshi's resolve became even stronger.
After a long while, red lips pressed onto Chen Pingjiang's mouth.
This seemed to ignite a signal, and their movements suddenly accelerated.
Chen Pingjiang reached out and directly pushed aside the down jacket covering Ge Mengshi, revealing her jade-like shoulders.
Ge Mengshi became bolder, her slightly trembling hands climbed onto Chen Pingjiang's face.
Clink.
The straps of the dress slipped down to Ge Mengshi's elbows.
The visually impactful scene caused Chen Pingjiang's dopamine to secrete rapidly.
With Chen Pingjiang's movements, Ge Mengshi let out a soft moan, like a cry from the depths of her heart.
Rain pattering on plantains, iron horses clashing.
.........
The next day, it was not until late morning that Chen Pingjiang slowly woke up.
"You're awake? There's a new toothbrush and towel in the bathroom, go wash up first."
Walking out of the bedroom, Chen Pingjiang saw Ge Mengshi wearing home pajamas, looking at him with a face full of smiles.
After tasting the intoxicating and soul-stirring pleasure of last night, Chen Pingjiang finally understood the terrifying core strength hidden beneath Ge Mengshi's slender, delicate figure.
Young and naive, not knowing how good older sisters are, mistakenly cherishing young girls as treasures.
The charm of independent, capable, and thoughtful mature women is truly extraordinary, especially for an older sister like Ge Mengshi, who is beautiful with good skin and figure.
It's a good thing Chen Pingjiang usually exercises, otherwise, he would have truly felt overwhelmed.
Another benefit of mature women is that Ge Mengshi, who was proactive last night, showed no shyness when they met again this morning.
It's not to say she's open-minded.
Rather, people with strong willpower are very decisive once they make up their minds.
What was there was only femininity!
Fried eggs, millet porridge, sweet potatoes, toast, grilled sausage—a simple breakfast, yet it contained Ge Mengshi's thoughtfulness.
Chen Pingjiang looked at Ge Mengshi, whose walking posture was a little odd, raised an eyebrow, and said with a smile:
"Can you still go to work today?"
Ge Mengshi rolled her eyes, full of charm.
After breakfast, Ge Mengshi found an opportunity to talk to Chen Pingjiang:
"Let's just treat what happened last night as a spontaneous act between adults, don't overthink it."
Chen Pingjiang was stunned, he hadn't expected Ge Mengshi to be even more open-minded than him.
But on second thought, he thought Ge Mengshi probably said this deliberately, fearing he'd find it difficult or overthink things, so she said it on purpose.
In reality, Ge Mengshi was very reluctant to say this, and was very conflicted inside.
After a long period of being with Chen Pingjiang, her heart had long since fallen, and yesterday, she had resolutely thrown caution to the wind.
But today, she had to face reality.
For her, Chen Pingjiang was like a colorful poppy, exuding captivating brilliance in the sunlight, with a dazzling feeling, making her irresistibly draw near and lose herself.
Ultimately letting go of all restraints.
But on the other hand, she felt somewhat "inferior" when facing Chen Pingjiang.
Firstly, Chen Pingjiang had a proper girlfriend.
From a certain perspective, her current role was that of a "third party," and her age was also a full cycle older than Chen Pingjiang's.
In Ge Mengshi's view, the two of them were destined to have no future.
Thus, she became quite conflicted.
Liking someone but unable to get close, being brave but then having to face reality, facing all the trivialities and mess, facing how to redefine their relationship.
Ge Mengshi had to pretend to be relaxed and say this was merely a "spontaneous act of passion," this was a solution that allowed everyone to save face.
Otherwise, she couldn't keep falling repeatedly, making Chen Pingjiang bear the reputation of a heartless man, while she knowingly acted as the third party.
......
In the last few days before the New Year, Chen Pingjiang was incredibly busy.
All the companies gathered together for a grand annual meeting.
At the annual meeting, Chen Pingjiang spent lavishly, offering everything from mobile phones and home appliances to cars.
2008 was a year of rapid growth for Renren.com, and the employees worked very hard.
There was no reason for Chen Pingjiang to be stingy.
To make a horse run, you must feed it grass.
Working 996 (9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week) is really not a problem, as long as the money is sufficient.
What people fear are bosses who only make empty promises, and act as if their own mother died when it's time to pay.
Renren.com had already implemented 16 months' salary, which included basic monthly salary, year-end double pay, and performance bonuses.
Chen Pingjiang didn't deliberately wait until March or April after the New Year to issue year-end bonuses; there was no need.
If anyone at the current Renren.com was still not satisfied, and wanted to change jobs, then it could only be said that neither party was a good fit.
In addition to this, there were also annual outstanding employees.
A total of one hundred people received this award.
Bonuses ranged from 200,000 to 1,000,000 yuan.
The most exaggerated case was a database engineer who, due to outstanding performance, directly took away a suitcase full of money, stunning all the colleagues who attended the annual meeting.
The big boss is truly generous, really giving out money when he has it.
The benefit of this was that many people gathered all their strength, planning to work extremely hard after the new year.
After the annual meeting, someone uploaded photos from the event to Renren.com, and for a while, netizens were also stunned by Renren.com's generosity.
"I'm graduating next summer, can I intern at Renren.com?"
"I'm crying myself to death, someone else's annual income is equivalent to my four or five years, while my stingy boss, directly cut my year-end bonus by half compared to last year, claiming poor performance."
"Why is it that as a fellow big tech company employee, my income at a certain company is actually less than that of my counterparts at Renren.com?"
"This is too extravagant, it makes my mouth water."
"..."
Regarding the treatment of employees across the various companies under his name, Chen Pingjiang still tried his best to achieve consistent treatment, but due to different businesses, different benefits, and different positions, it was impossible for them to be exactly the same.
For example, the year-end bonus of an engineer at Renren.com certainly could not be the same as that of an ordinary store clerk at the catering group.
Workers outside praised Chen Pingjiang as "China's good boss."
After the annual meeting, Chen Pingjiang immediately rushed to pay early New Year greetings to various district and city leaders one by one.
It wasn't until the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month that he, accompanied by Dai Sheng and Zhou Guanghan, hurried back to Tongcheng for the New Year.
According to Wan Yuqian, they were already helping Chen Pingjiang find a suitable driver.
Some organizations explicitly stipulate that professional drivers must be provided after reaching a certain rank.
Renren.com was still relatively new, so regulations in this area were not yet perfect.
Moreover, Chen Pingjiang didn't like having a driver.
"The purpose of providing a driver is to improve your work efficiency and ensure your safety. When driving, you need to concentrate. You usually have too many calls and too many things going on, making it easy to lose focus. This is for your own good, and also being responsible to the company and the investors."
That's right!
This was precisely what the major investors strongly demanded; they even planned to assign Chen Pingjiang a bodyguard, but Chen Pingjiang firmly refused.
Just as they reached the Tongcheng expressway toll booth.
Zhou Guanghan, who was driving, looked suspiciously at two Tongcheng police motorcycles by the roadside.
"Great-uncle, there are traffic police stopping us."
Chen Pingjiang, who was pretending to doze off, opened his eyes and glanced outside the car, and saw a traffic policeman in a reflective vest waving at their car, then directly got on a motorcycle, and led the way in front of the Panamera.
"Holy cow, Brother Chen, this is the most awesome experience I've ever had, now I have bragging material for later."
Dai Sheng watched the scene before him, dumbfounded.
Chen Pingjiang chuckled softly.
Needless to say, his father and mother must have leaked the news of his return home.
Such a thing could truly be done in 2008, but if it were 2023-2024, don't even think about it.
I dare not describe it in depth, for fear of being censored; even this has been revised for a long time before being approved.
(End of Chapter)