Chapter Thirty-Seven: Seize the Opportunity, Embrace the Era

Shen Guodong did not linger. Amid the complicated gazes of the Liu family, he left Liu Family Village with Liu Yueru. The two daughters-in-law dared not utter another word of gossip. As for Liu Jianguo and Liu Jiangun, the two brothers each harbored their own feelings. The elder brother was genuinely happy, while Liu Jiangun was full of regret for his earlier attitude towards Shen Guodong.

"You wretched woman, if it hadn’t been for you, would I be in this situation? You made me always at odds with my younger sister and her husband," Liu Jiangun finally erupted, shifting all the blame onto his wife. Zhang Mulan dared not say a word. Now, with Shen Guodong’s status, their whole family looked up to him. She also understood the gravity of her mistake—there was no doubt about that.

In that moment, regret was written all over her face. She despised her own shortsightedness. If only Liu Jiangun had treated Shen Guodong as his elder brother did, there would have been far more opportunities to make money in the future.

As for her sister-in-law, Chen Xuehong, she was filled with relief.

Liu Chuanzhi looked at his two sons. "Don’t overthink things. Life goes on as usual. Guodong is your brother-in-law, after all. If there are opportunities to make money in the future, he’ll certainly bring you along. What he said today was just out of anger; there’s no need to take it to heart."

Liu Jiangun and Liu Jianguo both nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, on the way home, Liu Yueru and Shen Guodong walked together. The weather was still quite hot. They spent a few cents to buy two bottles of Beibingyang soda from a roadside stall.

In those days, drinks were nowhere near as varied as they would be in later years. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were only sold in Friendship Stores, and as for domestic beverages, not only did they taste poor, but the variety was extremely limited.

"How does it taste?" Shen Guodong looked at the woman beside him as they sat beneath the shade of a tree, cooling off. He asked with a cheerful smile.

Liu Yueru replied with a sweet smile, "Of course, it’s delicious."

"What if I opened a beverage factory so you could drink soda every day?" Shen Guodong teased her further.

Liu Yueru rolled her eyes at him in mock annoyance and said, "What are you saying? You’d open a whole beverage factory just so I could have soda?"

"As long as it makes you happy, it’s worth it!" Shen Guodong grinned.

In truth, such an idea had already taken root in his mind. In the early nineties, a famous tycoon had built his commercial empire from the beverage industry. Throughout the nineties and into the early twenty-first century, he became the country’s richest man, only to be later overtaken by the rapidly developing internet and real estate sectors.

Nonetheless, it was undeniable that this entrepreneur had created a business empire of his own. If memory served, his name was Zong Tianhou. Zong Tianhou had left his job to start a business around 1987, which meant there was about a year left—enough time for Shen Guodong to plan ahead, seize the opportunities, and perhaps even take over the beverage empire that was meant to be Zong Tianhou’s.

The beverage industry was still a blue ocean. The failure of domestic soft drink brands was closely tied to taste, pricing, and related factors. In an era when the average daily income was only a few yuan and many struggled to put food on the table, who had money to indulge in such luxuries? If drinks were priced cheaply, there was no profit; if expensive, no one bought them.

Production capacity and technology were also far behind, incomparable to future generations. As a result, privately-run beverage factories opened one after another, only to close down just as quickly. Even state-owned beverage factories hovered on the brink of bankruptcy; only the backing of the government kept them afloat, and even then, just barely.

In the late eighties, as many factories closed and the nation began to transform and open up, private enterprises were granted a rare opportunity for development. Zong Qingqian took advantage of this, acquiring a near-bankrupt beverage factory, and ultimately rose to prominence with a batch of children’s nutrition drinks. He then acquired several more factories, becoming the dominant force in the industry. Until 1990, when instant noodles developed by Kang Shuai Fu entered the market, accumulating vast capital and carving a bloody path out of Zong Tianhou’s empire.

All these details were clear in Shen Guodong’s mind. For him, these were opportunities to be seized—if he grabbed hold of them, who could possibly stop his advancement?

With the experience of a future era, once Shen Guodong set out on the path of rapid development, nothing could stand in his way. One wave after another of opportunity would become the catalyst for his wealth to multiply.

First, there was real estate, which began to develop in the nineties. Its representatives included Wang Jianlin and his son Wang Sicong. This father and son duo once basked in glory—real estate made them the richest in the country. One set a goal of earning a hundred million, while the other became known as the entertainment industry’s “female celebrity inspector,” getting involved in every matter, great or small. Of course, he also changed girlfriends as often as he changed clothes, a lifestyle countless young men envied.

Though Shen Guodong did not exactly envy them, as a man, how could he not wish to provide such a life for his own son? That was clear enough.

Then came Ma Huayun in Hangzhou and Ma Yunteng of Kunpeng, both of whom took turns at the top by riding the internet wave. Notably, the founder of Farmer’s Spring, who started with mineral water, also broke through to claim the richest man’s title for a time. This was thanks to changing consumer habits—people grew tired of sugary drinks and began to care about health, making mineral water the new favorite.

But these were not matters for Shen Guodong to worry about. From his perspective, as long as he seized the opportunities, no one could surpass him.

In the future, wave after wave of opportunities—every new trend, whether it be the internet BAT giants, mobile internet’s food delivery, the sharing economy, ride-hailing, or e-commerce—he would grab them all.

These would become the moats around Shen Guodong’s business empire, playing critical roles within it.

But for now, it was too early to talk about such things.

Time was still on his side. Shen Guodong’s most urgent task was to quickly accumulate some capital, so that when opportunities arose, he could seize them without hesitation.