It's cold in the heights.
01
During the Republic of China period, the number of cars in Shanghai ranked first in the country.
Among them, Mercedes-Benz, which is imported from Germany, is the most high-end.
And in the rare Mercedes-Benz,
One car with a license plate of 4444 and handlebars is a custom-made sedan in sterling silver
, especially eye-catching.
The man sitting in the back row shouted
Sheng Enyi
, the Jianghu people called Sheng Laosi, is the fourth son of Sheng Xuanhuai, the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty.
Sheng Xuanhuai was 48 years old, and he was only happy to mention this son, so he was so pampered that he actually invited Empress Dowager Cixi to name his son.
Eun Seol's life is very good, although he is not the eldest son or the youngest son, but the three older brothers, all unfortunately died young, so the richest father has always regarded him as a successor to cultivate.
Similar to the model of the richest man today to cultivate offspring, Sheng Enyi immediately returned to China after graduating from Columbia University, inherited the family property, and proposed a lot of positions such as general manager and chairman, so many that business cards could not be written.
But Sheng Enyi's mind is not on career, but on indulging in the entertainment industry.
Especially in the gambling industry,
He has achieved a lot of "achievements" and has repeatedly set various records on the beach.
The most famous is that he once lost an entire lane in a prime area of Shanghai overnight, with more than 100 houses in the lane.
Such a gamble, we open a blind box, do not open a good thing, just scream poor and lower middle peasants, do not dare to imagine.
No matter how big the family business is, it can't afford such a waste. It didn't take long for Sheng Enyi's cash reserves to be in a hurry.
However, he did not panic, because the home furnishings were all antiques, which were all hard currency.
With such a solid backing, Sheng Enyi's daily life is like a contemporary Internet addicted youth.
He slept during the day, got up in the afternoon, went out in the dark with antiques, went to the pawn shop first, and then went straight to the casino.
In terms of private morality, Sheng Enyi is undoubtedly a loser, but among the giants, this is very common, which is not surprising.
The bad is bad, and his public morality is also bad.
He had set up a call in Shanghai
"Hongji Zendo"
of institutions. Listening to the name, you may think it's a welfare institution.
In fact, this is not the case, this is Sheng Enyi's vest company that distributes opium for Japan.
Through this wave of operations, he can not only guarantee a steady stream of gambling funds, but also draw two mouthfuls for free, and the joy is not enough.
Historical experience tells us:
People who are infected with gambling often do not end well.
If this person had done business with the Japanese, then even the son of the richest man would eventually fall under the iron fist of socialism.
In 1945, before the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Sheng Enyi almost lost his family.
At that time, he and Li Hongzhang's grandson, Li Houfu, often went shopping together. Once, walking to the door of Xiangyang Park, both of them wanted to go in and sit down.
As a result, you look at me, I look at you, and no one can come up with the ticket money.
After liberation in 1949, New China assigned Sheng Enyi the Suzhou Lingering Garden (his family garden) and four ancestral halls at the entrance.
Nine years later, he died in the gatehouse of his house and never set foot in the Lingering Garden again.
02
A year before Sheng's death, Fortune magazine took on the oil tycoon
Paul Getty
Named "richest American."
By 1966, the Guinness Book of World Records named him "the richest individual in the world."
But the son of the richest man is not easy to do, it can be said that it is hellish difficulty.
Paul Getty's youngest son, Timmy, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1952.
But at this time, he was busy expanding his oil empire to Arabia, and he had no time to care about his son.
Even so, between work, he still did not forget to tell his wife that he needed to use her personal allowance to pay for medical expenses, and even blamed his wife for excessive expenditure.
With such a door-slamming father, little Timmy naturally does not live well. Six years later, he died at the age of 12.
Even more heinous is that
The busy Paul Getty was unusually determined and missed the funeral.
But Paul Getty's performance wasn't over yet.
The death of his young son had no impact on his ambitions to expand his business empire.
But he knew he was running out of time, so he sped up the succession development program.
This poor successor was Paul Getty's eldest son—
George Getty
。
George, who came from a golden spoon, was already an executive vice president of Getty Oil, an executive vice president of Bank of America, and an executive vice president of Douglas Aircraft Company at a young age.
But for him, success is not a happy thing.
Because in his father's view, this is not a success. This should be the common life confusion of many rich second generations.
Paul Getty never gave his eldest son any appreciation and was accustomed to spurring in harsh language.
This American is like a traditional Chinese strict father.
Day-to-day anxiety and frustration caused George to suffer from depression and directly led to the breakdown of his first marriage.
But even remarrying didn't change all that.
One day after work, George first picked up the shotgun and shot it into the air, alarming his wife.
He then stabbed himself in the chest with a barbecue knife and locked himself in the room after the police arrived.
Since George had taken a lethal dose of the drug before he went mad, he died the next day in the hospital.
03
One is undoubtedly doting, and the other is bordering on abuse.
The son of the richest family wants to get the simple fatherly love that can be seen everywhere in the commoner family, which is really not an easy task.
The more sons there are, the more complicated it is, and if you look at the infighting in the family of the gambling king Ho Hung Sun, you will know how difficult it is.
Compared with the richest people above, Li Ka-shing is simply exemplary.
In the face of the kidnapping of the eldest son, Li Zeju, he was not in a hurry, calmly and calmly talked to the robber Zhang Ziqiang about the conditions, and even suggested the robbers
Gamble less and buy more of your own stocks to keep you rich in the future.
This is his businessman side, and he never forgets to do business at any time.
At the same time, he did not forget to tell Zhang Ziqiang:
As long as the dog is safe, I promise not to call the police.
This is his father's side, and the safety of the child is always the first.
To this day, this experience is still talked about.
It is precisely because of this wisdom that more than 20 years later, the richest man in Hong Kong is still this man.
In contrast, Chinese mainland rich list, for more than 20 years, many people have not only walked off the list by their ability, but even their families have disappeared in the business world.
Most of them don't understand a word:
Be careful with the Ship of Ten Thousand Years.
And no matter how powerful the businessman is, the peak of his ability is only forty or fifty years, and it is eternal fate to prosper and decline.
To escape from such a fate, smart people and adventurers often can't do it, and only the stupid fools who "have endless children and grandchildren" can do it.
But how can a person like Yu Gong ascend to the throne of the richest man?
Therefore, more than 2,000 years have passed, and there is only one Shangsheng in China - Fan Li.
Merchants admired Fan Li, in addition to hoping to earn more, but also praying for a long-term foundation, or at least a complete retreat.
Of course, the results often backfire and cause the world to sigh.
Thinking of those who fell from a high place, even Su Shi couldn't help but sigh:
"Since the Spring and Autumn Period, no one has been able to be like Fan Li, who knows when to forge ahead, when to retreat, and finally retreats completely.
I often lament this phenomenon and mourn deeply. ”
Skye has no culture and can only say, "So do I!" ”