Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 776 - 583 Reserve Cash

December arrived as scheduled.

After the relocation of the group’s headquarters, it was nothing short of grand and spectacular. Overall, Tengying Group had now ascended into the top-tier echelon of domestic private enterprises.

It stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com.

The future remained uncertain, but for now, things were undeniably impressive.

The weakness of Tengying Group lay in its lack of a core business entity valued at over $100 billion USD. This was why Chen Pingsheng was focusing his attention on Tengfei New Energy.

While he was overseeing operations on this side, the staff in Han City sent over an unusual report.

It mentioned that a potentially contagious disease might be emerging in the area.

The disease was highly infectious. Although there wasn’t much news circulating externally, Tengying Group’s widespread physical stores had received early intel.

However, this information was intercepted before it could reach the CEO’s office.

This wasn’t an intentional oversight by the lower levels; they merely deemed such news as inconsequential and not needing the CEO’s personal involvement.

After dividing housing resources, Chen Pingsheng had accumulated quite a bit of "luck value," and as he shared this fortune with his family, he noticeably felt a boost in his physical well-being.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of this luck value was the ability to ward off disasters, ensuring a life of peace and safety.

Of course, it could likely fend off diseases as well.

This was one of the reasons Chen Pingsheng appreciated the concept of luck value.

As the days ambled on, mid-December arrived, and Han City issued three consecutive documents, reporting that the disease in question was extremely contagious.

It was said that even minimal contact could make exposure virtually unavoidable.

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The first two reports were once again held up at the administrative office. It wasn’t until the third document—endorsed both by Han City’s top official and a collective of local store managers—that it finally landed on Chen Pingsheng’s desk.

The opening words of the report were bold and striking: "Unprecedented, Impossible to Defend Against."

It described the severity of this outbreak as historic with unmatched transmission rates.

If you happened to be near it in a crowd, the disease would latch onto you instantly.

It was even airborne, which was utterly terrifying.

After skimming the document, Chen Pingsheng’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

He immediately made three phone inquiries within the CEO’s office and then promptly called for a meeting with the group’s headquarters.

Regardless of the circumstances, the top priority was to immediately evacuate all staff from Han City stores.

After all, Han City was the provincial capital.

In terms of staffing, Tengying Group had over 20 Fei Yangyang stores there alone, employing more than a thousand people.

Including Bobo Milk Tea, Antler Coffee, Snacks Dash, and other business chains,

the workforce in Han City exceeded 15,000 employees.

Chen Pingsheng didn’t even consider the financial losses that closing stores in the provincial capital would cost the group.

His priority was people first and economic losses second.

This large-scale store evacuation left many competitors dumbfounded.

While those on the ground in Han City had some understanding of the situation, outsiders were still observing and gathering more information.

Few companies were as decisive as Tengying Group, which directly announced the closure of all stores in the city.

Not only were stores shut down, but all business institutions in the city were also relocated.

Within the group, the reasoning was clear since Chen Pingsheng had explained everything during the leadership meeting.

The documents were shared with the executives. It was made clear that, had these documents arrived on his desk any later, the consequences could have been unimaginable.

But now, he had already evacuated every Tengying employee in the city.

Their new assignments had yet to be announced.

For now, everyone was sent home to wait for updates, with salaries paid as usual.

Aside from closing stores, Chen Pingsheng also instructed the Economic Research Institute to analyze the information from the area.

They were to predict whether the outbreak could affect cities beyond Han City, as the available information was too limited.

More than 90% of the Economic Research Institute’s experts believed it would be no different from the SARS outbreak in 2004.

The impact would likely be confined to Han City and wouldn’t affect other areas.

While this prediction seemed solid, Chen Pingsheng still frowned deeply and pondered for a long time.

He decided to liquidate his 3% stake in Meituan for full cash-out.

Originally, he had planned to hold onto it for another year or two, but Meituan’s current valuation had already reached $120 billion USD.

Converting that to RMB, it was roughly 800 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Even as the leading intermediary in the domestic food delivery industry, that valuation wasn’t low.

Further significant growth in the near future seemed unlikely.

In times of crisis, stockpiling cash was always the safest choice.

This cash-out would yield $3.6 billion USD.

Converted to RMB, it totaled approximately 25 billion RMB, enough to fully finance Tengfei New Energy’s 2020 development needs.

This money was meant as a contingency in case the epidemic escalated further.

Of course, Chen Pingsheng didn’t expect to need the full amount, and he planned to use the extra 5 billion RMB to invest entirely in NVIDIA.

That stock had become a monster, climbing endlessly, with the potential to break $1 trillion USD in valuation.

Even after injecting an additional 5 billion RMB, his stake in NVIDIA had only risen from 1.4% to 1.7%.

This 5 billion only allowed him to buy an additional 0.3% stake.

Meanwhile, Meituan’s stock prices were surging as well. This round of selling and buying left Chen uncertain whether he had gained or lost in the process.

Regardless, he aimed to prepare a cash reserve of several hundred billion RMB.

With these funds on hand, he felt a strong sense of security.

His other major investments, besides Meituan, included stakes in Pinduoduo and TikTok.

He held 5% of Pinduoduo and 3.5% of TikTok.

Pinduoduo had also become a monster stock this year, surging uncontrollably.

Its valuation had reached $150 billion USD, prompting Chen to decide to liquidate 2% of his stake.

Once again, he aimed to add $3 billion USD to his cash reserves.

Chen Pingsheng liked to prepare for the worst-case scenario—just in case this outbreak couldn’t be contained in Han City and potentially lasted for years.

With 40 billion RMB in hand, he could remain calm and composed.

Cash flow was king when crises hit.

After cashing out another 20 billion RMB, he decided not to touch the remaining valuable stocks. He believed that holding onto 40 billion in cash could help him weather any storm.

He secretly stashed the money away, telling no one except his wife.

This was to prevent anyone from approaching him to borrow money.

As news from Han City spread, other well-informed domestic companies had also caught wind of the situation.

Most assessments mirrored the opinions of his Economic Research Institute,

believing the crisis would soon pass.

However, exactly when it would pass was anyone’s guess. Even Chen Pingsheng didn’t know, let alone others.

He even canceled his original plans to return to Southern Province for the Lunar New Year.

Staying in Magic City seemed more reliable—in fact, staying in Golden Mountain felt even safer.

With his massive cash reserves in hand, he was no longer anxious.

The money alone was enough to cover years of wages for Tengying’s brick-and-mortar stores, even if they all closed down.

This eliminated any significant risks.