In 1916, Sheng Xuanhuai, known as the "Father of Chinese Commerce" at the end of the Qing Dynasty, passed away. The wealth accumulated by Sheng Xuanhuai in his lifetime is not to say that he is rich enough to rival the country, but it is still easy to keep a descendant rich and wealthy. Sheng Xuanhuai at the end of the Qing Dynasty and Hu Xueyan were known as the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, of course, the name of the richest man was only one, after the fall of Hu Xueyan, Sheng Xuanhuai seized the opportunity to quickly become the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty after Hu Xueyan. Later, it was even more dependent on li Hongzhang's relationship in the chaotic situation at the end of the Qing Dynasty
Under the trend, he engaged in industry and founded the Steamship Merchants Bureau, the Telegraph Bureau, the Bank, the School, the Library, the Red Cross and so on. Sheng Xuanhuai is also a staunch supporter and partner of Li Hongzhang's foreign affairs movement. After his success, Sheng Xuanhuai paid more attention to the lives of the poor people, not only founded a charitable structure, but also took out money to relieve the victims of the disaster, it can be said that Sheng Xuanhuai is a conscientious businessman who cares about the people. However, it is such a person who is worried about the country and the people, and it can be said that he is a mess in education. It may also be because too much energy is spent on saving the country and the people, which leads to neglect to discipline their children. Sheng Xuanhuai had two wives and five concubines in his lifetime, and these concubines gave birth to a total of eight sons and eight daughters, of which Sheng Xuanhuai was particularly spoiled by his fourth son. Before giving birth to the fourth son, Sheng Xuanhuai had three sons who unfortunately died, and when he arrived at the fourth son, he was naturally particularly favored, and it is said that even the name of the fourth son, Sheng Enyi, was still Sheng Xuanhuai who went to ask Cixi to take it. It can be seen that he spoils the four sons. It was precisely because of Sheng Xuanhuai's spoiling of the fourth son that his son finally starved to death. In fact, before Sheng Xuanhuai's death, he had already left a will, and handed over the tens of millions of silver and family property in his name to a professional organization to take care of, and part of the wealth generated by various industries was left to his children, and the other part was placed in the family charity. However, Sheng Xuanhuai did not expect that the descendants would not abide by the will. Sheng Xuanhuai, in order to ensure that the will could be better implemented, he designated Li Jingfang, the eldest son of his friend Li Hongzhang, as the supervisor. However, he did not expect that Li Jingfang would directly give the more than ten million taels of silver he had left behind directly to the children of the Sheng family.
This led to Sheng Huaixuan's children squandering their money, in fact, if according to Sheng Xuanhuai's meaning, since the children did not inherit his own business acumen, then find a trustworthy person or institution to take care of their own money. Then use the proceeds it generates to live in the lives of their children, but life never comes as it pleases. Sheng Xuanhuai was afraid that he would not have thought that it was because he laid out the future of his children too perfectly before he died, and did not experience the wind and rain that would lead to the downfall of his children later, and even his most spoiled four sons starved to death on the street. Because his fourth son Sheng Enyi was born before Sheng Huaixuan had already died three sons, plus the fourth son was an old son, Sheng Huaixuan was particularly spoiled for him, so Sheng Enyi developed a playboy who was delicious and lazy, spent all day drinking wine, and spent money like soil, and became a famous "Sheng Fourth Master" in Shanghai When Sheng Xuanhuai was alive, Sheng Enyi would still have some restraints, and after his death, he was more like a wild horse without restraint, and every day he was either in the Qinglou or in the casino to "kill the four sides".
。 After Sheng Xuanhuai's death, Sheng Enyi not only shared his amazing wealth, but also had several factories, but Sheng Enyi had no intention of running them, and even when his subordinates reported to him, he still smoked opium while listening to the report. Regardless of what was on the document, it was hastily approved, and under the various operations of Sheng Enyi, these factories soon closed down. Sheng Enyi not only did not restrain himself, but went farther and farther down the road of the loser. Sheng Enyi not only bought China's first Mercedes-Benz car, but even replaced the handle of the car with silver in order to highlight his wealth. Even more, he was powerless to marry the eleventh aunt in a row, and even more in order to please the beauty, he also bought a garden villa for each aunt and wife, and imported cars. In terms of gambling, he could lose a hundred buildings in Shanghai in one night, and when he had no money, he would sell the antique calligraphy and paintings left by his father.
In his heart, the property left by his father was inexhaustible. Later, after experiencing the farce of brothers and sisters competing for property and the darkness of the government at that time, Sheng Xuanhuai's property left behind was not much in Sheng Enyi's hands. Twenty years later, Sheng Enyi has changed from a playboy to a beggar living on the street, and after the founding of New China, Sheng Enyi's life has become difficult because of his youthful good and bad work. In 1958, Sheng Eun-yi starved to death in front of his former mansion. Maybe before he dies, he will still linger on his former profligate life, or regret his former self. Sheng Xuanhuai may not have thought that if he did not want to give his children a rich life, he might not have caused the tragedy of his sons.