Chapter 51: An Empty Night

Xia Shangxu spoke with a touch of pride, “The base fare for a taxi ride is fourteen yuan. That’s a hefty sum—enough to cover half a day’s work for many people. Not everyone can afford to take a cab, yet it’s a necessity. So, I gathered a few close friends, each put in a bit, then we took out a bank loan. We scraped together a million, bought thirty cars, and started a taxi company. We leased the cars out to licensed drivers.”

“For the first two months, we covered fuel and maintenance, and each driver paid the company two thousand yuan per month in rental fees.”

“After those two months, the drivers took over fuel and repair costs themselves, but still paid the two thousand a month to the company… Once the business got going, I was making sixty thousand yuan a month just from the taxi drivers’ payments. Of course, we had to subtract the cost of the vehicles and other expenses, but even so, my friends and I realized it would take us two years just to break even. So, we decided to expand. In big cities, locals wanted to make a splash at their weddings and needed to rent cars. Others worried about wear and tear, but taxi cabs didn’t have that problem… As long as they paid, it was fine. The base price for renting a wedding car for a week was two thousand.”

“We also had business owners coming and going all the time, airport and station transfers.”

“All these various streams of income added up, and in just a year I recouped my investment. For two more years, it was all profit!” At this, Xia Shangxu couldn’t help but look triumphant.

“Uncle, you’re amazing!” Qin Fei was bewildered. “Then how come everyone still criticizes you and you’re still not married?”

“It must be because our uncle just doesn’t want to get married!” Qin Yun declared, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and looked up to Xia Shangxu as a role model. “What’s so great about women? They’re nothing compared to money.”

Qin Hongfei couldn’t help gazing at her uncle with admiration, thinking silently, “Impressive, truly impressive!” But she was calmer than Qin Fei and Qin Yun, sensing there was more to the story—otherwise, why would Xia Shangxu be starting another business now? “Uncle, so what happened to the taxi company in the end?”

Shou piped up, “It went under, didn’t it?”

Tang Jinnan nudged Shou, “Don’t be so blunt.”

Xia Shangxu was silent for a moment. He had just basked in their admiration for barely three seconds before being brought down to earth by such direct questions. Couldn’t they let him enjoy it for a few seconds longer? Still, he answered frankly, “Yes, it went under, but the main reason was internal conflict.”

He’d made money for three out of his four years at university, but big cities develop quickly—if he could earn, so could others. Competition intensified, business slumped, and then there were disputes over profit sharing. There were four partners in total; things were all right between Xia Shangxu and the others, but one of them started feeling his share was too small and wanted to renegotiate. But the total profit was only so much; if one person got more, the others had to get less.

Xia Shangxu was the one who came up with the ideas, took out loans, and invested, so he wasn’t going to take the cut. That meant the others would have to shoulder it.

It was like being in a room where everyone was fine with the windows closed, but one person insisted on opening one—the rest naturally disagreed. The deadlock dragged on, business declined, and things got worse. Just then, someone offered to buy the fleet, so Xia Shangxu sold the business. He recovered his capital—after all, thirty taxis would never sell at a loss—and even made a handsome profit.

Qin Hongfei, puzzled, said, “So, you still made money in the end?” If it was so profitable, why did all their relatives speak so poorly of him?

Everyone shook their heads and sighed whenever Xia Shangxu was mentioned.

Xia Shangxu looked calmly at his niece and said, “Yes, I still made money. At that point, my dividends and the sale of the company added up to about one point two million. But that was just when stocks became all the rage. Bored, I decided to try my hand at something new, switched fields, and invested over a million. Overnight, it was all gone.”