Zhang Zilong grew up in a modest apartment in Pingjiang County, Hunan, China, always hearing the same phrase: the family was in debt. So he studied, worked hard, and when he graduated from university, his only plan was to get a job that paid him around 800 dollars a month to help pay off that debt which, according to him, was drowning them.
What he did not know was that his father, 51-year-old Zhang Yudong, owned Mala Prince, a spicy snack brand that generates nearly 83 million dollars a year. The company was founded the same year he was born. For nearly two decades, the father maintained the lie without any cracks, even living modestly in front of his own son.
The truth came after graduation: a new villa valued at 1,4 million dollars and a position in the family’s e-commerce department, where he is treated like any other employee. Zhang Yudong will only hand over the company if he proves, through results, that he deserves it.
