Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Old Chen’s family’s shiny BMW pulling into the big fish pond caused quite a stir in the village, not for any other reason, but because he had returned.

The elders and children in the village enjoyed visiting his house, collecting red packets as part of the tradition.

There were plenty of kids playing with An’an, creating a lively atmosphere.

The excitement escalated when he personally took the inebriated younger generation into custody.

Privately, many said that people become heartless when they get rich.

It seemed to apply to him as well.

Chen Pingsheng didn’t bother with the village gossip.

After Sir Song’s extravagant funeral, by the end of January, he’d taken a few turns around the village and then pulled out fifty million to build a three-story shopping and entertainment mall.

The rural area couldn’t keep the youth for lack of ways to make money, but more importantly, because entertainment and shopping venues were scarce.

The phrase "having money but nowhere to spend it" fits perfectly in the countryside.

He built the best Hope Primary School in the village and had the village clinic renovated to be the best in the county.

He even hired two traditional Chinese medicine doctors there.

After relatively improving education and healthcare, the next step was to upgrade the entertainment and shopping environment.

If no one from outside was going to invest, he decided he would spend his own money to make improvements.

Building a mall in the countryside, the land was essentially free.

Most of the expenses went into construction, so fifty million could create something quite impressive.

The location wasn’t too far from their house, less than five hundred meters away.

Setting that aside, the basic amenities such as a movie theater, restaurants, a large playground for children, and an anime city were a must.

Plus, there had to be tea rooms and places for card games.

The countryside buzzed with life only during the New Year when card games were at their peak.

Chen Pingsheng saw it as building his own entertainment square in his rural hometown.

As for An’an, after giving up blasting cow dung, she now fancied building nests for swallows.

In short, she never seemed to involve herself in serious matters.

He, on the other hand, visited the vacant lots around the village.

Year by year, fewer people worked the land, leaving it fallow.

With Fei Yangyang and Tengsheng Fresh, he had no worries about where to sell pesticide-free vegetables after cultivation.

After discussing with the villagers all morning, he ended up renting all the village’s fallow land for eight thousand per mu per year.

Frankly, he was offering five times the going rate.

Normally, the rent for an acre of land ranged between one and two thousand.

In more remote areas, it only cost around five hundred.

His project wasn’t aimed at making high profits.

Its primary goal was to provide the villagers, especially the elderly, with a basic and stable income.

Only in his hands could those lands realize their true value.

Using traditional agricultural methods in the countryside,

Vegetable vendors buying crops like green beans, potatoes, leeks, and garlic shoots directly from the village offered only spare change per jin.

The phrase "agricultural abundance depresses farmers" vividly illustrated the plight of rural agriculture.

He planned to turn these lands into a high-end industry.

Only the truly wealthy understood that health was the greatest luxury.

After announcing his plans, responses from the households came quickly.

Who didn’t have a few acres of land?

Previously, they just didn’t know how to make money from their land, but now they could get eight thousand a year by renting it.

Only a fool would say no.

In less than a day, nearly ninety percent of the village’s fallow land was offered to him.

Chen Pingsheng couldn’t possibly stay to manage this himself.

He left a small team in the village, which included Hu Lin’s Wife, He Xingfu, and five agricultural experts.

Together, they were responsible for repurposing these lands, planting authentic organic vegetables.

There were many specifics to handle, all left to Happiness and her team.

Additionally, he allocated another fifty million to the project.

If successful, he might use this method to help even more rural families.

Donations or yearly handouts couldn’t change the status quo of the countryside.

The key was to provide them with a long-term and stable income source.

He didn’t aim to make a lot of money, but running at a loss was out of the question too.

By February third,

Chen Pingsheng chose not to celebrate the New Year at home and returned to Capital City instead.

There were still many things to take care of there, and this trip home was mainly to assist Sir Song with his affairs postmously,

and to find a long-term and effective source of income for his rural hometown.

Since both matters were settled, it was natural for him to head back.

Capital City, Nanluo Gu Alley.

As New Year’s approached, the alley’s elders were beaming with joy.

They’d hand out sugar candies to any kid making a ruckus outside,

conserving a bit of the old tradition.

According to older generations, it was a way to "share in the joy".

On the eve of the Kitchen God Festival, Coaster returned from Sha City to Capital.

Chen Pingsheng lit up a fire in the courtyard; it was winter and New Year’s—if they didn’t light a fire at home, it didn’t feel like the festive season at all.

"Husband, do you think we should go visit Grandpa tomorrow?"

Grandpa Song had passed away, but her maternal grandfather was still around.

The disputes over his house between his children would have made the news if he hadn’t intervened.

He could probably hold on for a while longer given his decent health.

As soon as he passed, Song Yanxi’s two aunts and uncle would undoubtedly quarrel fiercely.

Chen Pingsheng didn’t really want to go, so Song Yanxi went alone with gifts to see the old man, and also took along Chen An’an, who was busy staring at ants building nests with her little hands propped behind her plump chicken butt.

After his return to Capital City, he had many visitors.

The situation in Capital City was obviously different from his rural hometown, with relatives and friends all being quite well-off.

Zhao Liying came by because she had her eye on a role that would signify her turning point as an actress.

She’d been filming idol dramas for years and now wanted to try a serious play for a change.

The team that invited her was exceptionally capable, and the drama they planned to shoot had an artistic title, "Do You Know".

Chen Pingsheng invested two billion in it after a thorough examination with Golden Finger.

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And she was supported in her complete transformation; though it goes without saying, Zhao Liying had reached that age.

She couldn’t keep playing roles in idol dramas forever.

Planning a transformation now was indeed very wise.

She had a clear understanding of her path and didn’t need Chen Pingsheng to deliberately remind her.

The two of them chatted at home for over an hour as if they were old friends.

In conversation, she also expressed her desire to settle down.

Chen Pingsheng felt that she should have had this idea a long time ago; she was stable at the top of the entertainment industry now.

Whether it was her reputation or her works, she had a pretty good connection with audiences.

Zhao Liying still smiled warmly, as always.

Chen Pingsheng also sincerely wished her happiness, hoping she would find someone who would treat her well.

As for the rest, he would not offer too many opinions.

Unlike Yang Mi, who loved participating in variety shows, Zhao Liying was always passionate about transforming through different roles.

Among the Eighty-Five Flower peers, her fan base was definitely the strongest.

As soon as she left, Bai Xin came over; their boss was in Capital City, so she, as the little secretary, had to hurry back from her hometown.

There was no need for a direct order from the boss; it all relied on the secretary’s everyday understanding.

Speaking of which, Bai Xin had been working with him since her junior year of college, and now she was already twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

He mused again about how time flew by so quickly.

Her visit this time wasn’t for anything else, mainly about the trainee contest.

After two months of preliminary preparation and planning.

The first episode of the trainee contest had aired, making a huge impact online.

The first episode’s viewership broke one hundred million in three days, and the buzz only continued to grow.

With Yang Mi, the queen of trending topics helping out, there certainly wasn’t a lack of popularity.

And with Shen Teng, the funny uncle on board, the comedy aspect was also pretty good.

Add to that the pre-hyped National Wind girl, Shen Wanning, the routine slacker Yang Chaoyue, and the cool girl Yang Xiaoxiao.

The charm girl Jiang Peiyao was also one of them.

Shen Wanning’s popularity stemmed from being the white moonlight in the hearts of countless audiences.

As for Yang Xiaoxiao, her image was set as a rich second generation, which also had a high appeal.

Jiang Peiyao became famous entirely because of her looks, and as for Yang Chaoyue, she was popular simply because of her persona.

Hosting their own variety show was hugely significant for Tengying Group.

The main goal was to allow their brands to achieve long-term and effective high exposure.

That meant traffic.

"Uncle, the four of them now have their respective fan groups online, although not very large yet, are rapidly accumulating," Bai Xin pointed out.

Chen Pingsheng felt as if he was in a kingdom of daughters, surrounded by beautiful girls galore.

If this were in Kimchi Country, he would have been the capitalist behind a girl group.

He thought for a moment, "Let Shen Wanning and Yang Xiaoxiao endorse Antler Coffee; have Yang Chaoyue and Peiyao endorse Bobo Milk Tea and Fei Yangyang."

Those who gained a following through looks and the factory flower persona would not have highbrow fan circles.

Mostly, they’re concentrated at the bottom.

This aligned with the consumer groups of Bobo Milk Tea and Fei Yangyang.

As for National Wind girl Shen Wanning and Yang Xiaoxiao.

Their fan bases clearly had greater spending power.

Anyone with a bit of understanding of human nature could quickly make sense of this.

Fifty trainees in total, those who have stood out so far include the four of them and two other third-tier female artists with minor fame in the entertainment circle.

Whether the others can break out against the odds depends on how they perform individually.

"Uncle, should we give them a few days off for the New Year?" Bai Xin inquired.

"Arrange for a ten-day holiday," Chen Pingsheng said. "For those who don’t want to go home and prefer to stay in Magic City, just give each of them a red envelope with one hundred thousand."

One hundred thousand wasn’t much for Old Yang’s youngest daughter, Yang Xiaoxiao.

But for a grass-roots player like Yang Chaoyue, it would absolutely make her ecstatic.

She would come for three thousand and a promise of food and lodging, carrying her own bucket.

Give her one hundred thousand now, she might lock herself in the bathroom for a week out of happiness.

Bai Xin nodded in agreement, and then she took out the group’s financial report from the previous month.

Bobo Milk Tea and Fei Yangyang didn’t need much attention as their profits had always been very stable.

Antler Coffee was the real headache.

It had built a significant reputation, and the ten billion previously invested was almost used up.

By the end of March, the total number of direct-operated stores Nationwide would break through to about 1650.

This was the result of a twenty billion heavy investment.

The monthly losses were as high as twenty million.

Without a second thought, Chen Pingsheng decided to stick with the original plan and invest another ten billion.

He would invest five billion personally, with Tong Zelan contributing four billion.

Yang Mi and Bobo Milk Tea would also pitch in to collect one billion together.

With these ten billion, Antler Coffee’s Nationwide store count could reach close to three thousand.

The money in his pocket had been mostly spent during the annual meeting and his visit back to the village.

Now, he could only resort to borrowing from his wife.

Fortunately, his wife’s spending was not substantial, and she received hefty cash dividends every month.

Taking out five billion was really just like splashing water.

What he was most proud of was that until now, the family had not taken out a single bank loan.

These were prosperous times; when housing prices soared, so did everything else.

But when the economy takes a nosedive and housing prices start to fall,

countless wealthy people propped up by loans would be completely exposed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

His goal for this year was very clear...

First to get Tenghui Department Store and Antler Coffee listed.

Then go to Shenzhen and Guangzhou to invest about sixty billion, opening 16 more Tenghui Department Stores.

The extra money would be used to buy an office building in Xiangjiang, dedicated to renting out.

Once this year’s small goals were achieved, his family would be thoroughly secure.

After that, he could confidently challenge what men love most.

The currently booming new energy automotive industry.

This sector had extremely high barriers to entry, starting at twenty billion.

It also gathered global elite talent, a truly super industry hotspot.

Without financial independence, he wouldn’t even think of getting involved, no matter how impulsive he was.

As for creating a whole industrial bloom like the hot LeEco did, generating a new term like "ecological anti,"

he had the capability, but he felt it was too risky and unnecessary.

Better to proceed with caution.

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