Sharing Profits and Sending Little An’an to School

In August, Chen Pingsheng accomplished two major things.

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

With these two steps completed, Tengsheng Fruits officially upgraded to Tengsheng Group Limited Investment Company.

Adding a few more words to the name instantly made it sound grander.

At the end of the month, he even held a formal listing ceremony for the group.

The company might not be large, but it needed to have a strong presence.

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

Song Yanxi was the Chief Financial Officer, Zhang Tao handled logistics, Liu Jing was responsible for Beixin'an, and Chen Hao, along with others, took charge of Shijingshan.

With specific responsibilities assigned, operations would now follow a more structured approach.

Gone were the days of running things haphazardly.

To Chen Pingsheng, this was the first step toward becoming a truly professional enterprise.

To mark the occasion, he even held a grand celebration.

Nothing fancy—just beer and barbecue.

After successfully establishing the company's headquarters, Chen Pingsheng made another major announcement.

"Starting in September, after completing the recharge promotion, 49% of the community store's dividend shares will be given to the store management."

What did this mean?

Moving forward, every new Tengsheng community store, after completing the first three months of customer acquisition and recharge campaigns, would immediately allocate nearly half of its dividend shares to the store management team.

And these shares would be entirely free.

The management wouldn't have to invest a single cent to buy them.

Because as practice had shown, as long as the initial marketing and recharge strategies were executed well, the fruit stores could recover their costs in one go—sometimes even exceeding expectations.

This upfront capital wouldn't be shared with the employees.

Instead, the steady stream of profits that followed would be divided.

This decision effectively slashed headquarters' profits, even directly handing over nearly half to the employees.

Zhang Tao and the others were dumbfounded, and even his wife, Song Yanxi, was stunned for a long time.

"Is this really necessary? We already pay them well. Why should we give away half the shares?"

But Chen Pingsheng believed that if they wanted long-term success, they couldn't just think about themselves.

Employees following them had to make real money too.

A company couldn't thrive if the boss became a billionaire while the workers could barely make ends meet.

Under this model, he was convinced the business wouldn't last.

So, he decided to give away half the shares.

More importantly, since the shares would only be allocated after the store's revenue had stabilized, it wouldn't significantly impact his personal earnings.

This decision sparked the fiercest debate they had ever had.

In the end, he simply exercised his veto power.

"I understand why you're against this, but if you think about it from another perspective, you'll see the logic."

"When we open a new store, our model ensures it recovers costs within three months. After that, who runs the store? Not you, not me, but the store manager and the staff."

"Now tell me—if we don't let them earn enough, why should they stay loyal to us? Just because we pay them 8,000 or 10,000 yuan a month?"

"Anyone with real skills can get that salary elsewhere. If we want to retain them, we must offer them earnings far beyond their usual income. That's the only way to ensure our stores won't get overtaken by competitors in the future."

This move was essentially taking money out of their own pockets and distributing it to the employees.

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

Starting next month, the five stores in Beixin'an would implement this system.

Shijingshan's stores hadn't completed their recharge campaigns yet, so they would have to wait until November before shares could be allocated to employees.

Even Chen Pingsheng himself hadn't anticipated that this very decision would allow Tengsheng to quickly surpass Nongguoyuan in Shijingshan.

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

Because this move ensured that employees genuinely made money.

When workers earned twice the industry average—or even more—how could they not give their all?

That shift in mindset led to improved customer satisfaction.

And over time, one competitor after another fell.

---

On the way home, Song Yanxi still couldn't wrap her head around it.

The problem? All the store profits went into her bank account.

Now, she would be losing tens of thousands of yuan every month.

And that was just for the five stores in Beixin'an.

If they included the five supermarkets already operating in Shijingshan and the ten upcoming community stores, they would be giving away at least 200,000 to 300,000 yuan per month.

That was 4 to 5 million yuan a year.

It was enough to make her heart ache.

She remained silent, sulking.

Chen Pingsheng comforted her, "What's on your mind? Still can't accept it?"

"Easy for you to say—you're not the one losing money!"

Women were petty—Song Yanxi was no exception.

Having to share so much of her earnings at once? Of course, she was upset.

Chen Pingsheng held her hand.

"Yanxi, how long have we been running this business?"

"Nine months."

"Exactly—nine months."

"Think about it. Nine months ago, what were we like? And what are we like now? Just a few days ago, I ran into a store manager from Beixin'an. He's been with us from the start. And here we are, driving a Bentley, while he's still worried about not being able to afford a wedding."

"If this goes on, do you think he'll stay as loyal as before? Won't resentment start creeping in? And once it does, you can't suppress it."

"If even a store manager starts feeling this way, do you think the rest of the employees will still work hard?"

"If they slack off, who's going to make money for you?"

"A good boss knows when to give and take. If you don't think about them today, don't expect them to think about you tomorrow."

Song Yanxi, despite her stubbornness, was smart—smarter than him academically.

And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

The fruit business was tough.

Long hours, hard work.

If employees weren't well-paid, all the so-called "corporate visions" were just empty words.

Chen Pingsheng wanted to be a decent boss.

At the very least, one who wouldn't be cursed behind his back.

Sharing half the profits was just the first step.

It was about ensuring that his employees could genuinely make money alongside him.

That night, Song Yanxi sulked in bed, huffing in frustration.

Every time he tried to get closer, she would push him away with her hip.

Messing with a woman's money and expecting her not to be mad? Impossible.

Even if she had come to terms with it, she still had to put on a show of anger—just to make sure he knew.

That's how women were.

Sometimes, they just didn't play by logic.

---

The next day, the beginning of September.

A big day.

Their little An'an was finally starting school.

She didn't care much—after all, she was just moving from kindergarten to Shijingshan First Primary School.

But to Chen Pingsheng, it was ridiculous.

Kids these days weren't competing with themselves.

They were competing with their parents.

Back in kindergarten, they didn't have the money, so she went to an average school.

But for primary school, the competition began.

To get her into a good school, they bought a small villa, relocated their headquarters to Shijingshan, opened more stores, handed out red envelopes—everything just to get Chen An'an into Shijingshan First Primary School.

And that was just the top school in the fourth ring.

There were even better ones in the third ring, second ring, and beyond—elite private schools for the truly wealthy.

Was this even about education anymore?

From the moment they entered school, it was all about competing parents.