Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

The dishes were indeed lavish, at least no other host would go to such lengths.

Crabs that cost over ninety per pound, forty-eight laid out on each table.

Add in wild soft-shell turtles, eels, and mandarin fish, the cost per table was nearly two thousand.

"How rich must Old Chen be to do this?"

A curious classmate asked, and Chang Fu replied, kicking his teeth:

"I don't know how much money he has, but the day before yesterday I called that guy Gao Hu. He was doing fine in Sha City, when Old Chen called him over to Capital City to set up Fei Yangyang Hotpot City. The investment for a single store was around two million. Last year he poured in ten million in one month.

According to Gao Hu, as long as it didn't lose money, he was ready to invest another hundred million right away, all taken by Old Chen."

"Sss… a billionaire?"

A bunch of classmates were secretly clicking their tongues in amazement.

But Chang Fu said, "A billionaire, my ass. That hotpot city isn't even his main business, just another one of his investments. Last year, he filled Capital City with fruit supermarkets. According to Gao Hu, he makes hundreds of millions a month easily."

"He also runs fruit supermarkets?"

"What's so surprising about that? When Old Chen first came to Capital City, he started by selling durians on the street with Zhang Tao and the others. After getting rich, he started his ventures, and it's not strange at all that he's in the fruit supermarket business."

"Even so, he can't have that much money, can he?"

"If it was just the fruit supermarkets alone, indeed he wouldn't have that much."

Chang Fu explained, "The key thing is, he also owns an entertainment company. That Zhao Liying who came here to Sha City to promote the TV series and took part in Happy Family, she's under his company."

"Sss... Zhao Liying is his artist too? The 'Legend of Lu Zhen' playing on Mango Channel now, that she stars in, my wife loves watching it every day."

"'Legend of Lu Zhen' was invested and filmed by him."

After saying this, Chang Fu's face was unable to hide his pride, as if he had done these things himself.

"No wonder Old Chen came back this year able to be so domineering, the guy is even investing in TV shows now."

"He and his wife, you think they're like us? He's busy with entertainment, catering, fruits, and his wife's running those high-end Water Cloud Space beauty salons. According to Gao Hu, last year in one month they made over thirty million, and even before Old Chen returned, they directly invested sixty million to open branches. They're a couple that makes money together."

"Let me tell you something even more exaggerated."

Chang Fu smiled mysteriously, "Do you know what those dormitories for the girls at Water Cloud Space are like?"

"What, surely not big villas?"

"When did you get so clever?" Chang Fu laughed, "Indeed, they're big villas, with over a thousand square meters of floor space. Old Chen waved his hand and bought them for the employees as dorms. How about that, terrifying, right?"

Terrifying, indeed very terrifying.

There wasn't a single classmate at the table who wasn't shocked.

Almost rendered their titanium alloy ears deaf.

Chang Fu continued mysteriously, "Let me tell you something even more explosive. When Old Chen first went to Capital City, he was also nagged by his mother-in-law, who was forever complaining that he couldn't afford a house in Capital City."

"Now that's settled. If you go to Capital City, no matter which corner you play in, just call Old Chen and I guarantee within a few kilometers there'll definitely be a house owned by him."

"His family is flipping houses too?"

"It's not exactly Old Chen himself; it's more that his wife Song Yanxi likes flipping houses. Whenever she has some money, she goes buying all over the place."

"The most terrifying thing is still that until now, they haven't even taken a damn penny in bank loans; it's all damn cash paid out. Now do you see how much money your Old Chen has?"

Having money isn't terrifying, having money without any bank debt, that's truly terrifying.

This means, as long as the sky doesn't fall, his family returning to how they once were is basically impossible.

Even if a family goes bankrupt, one like his wouldn't face a bankruptcy crisis.

At worst, if something didn't work out, he would simply shut it down.

If something else didn't succeed, he would just not open it at all.

In the end, it would merely mean losing some of the investment money, not being affected by debt or facing the crisis of banks pursuing him for repayment.

Summing it up in one sentence: don't think the event he's throwing in the village now is too grand.

For him, it's just a trifle, not worth mentioning.

Even if you guys eat and take as much as you want, you can't possibly eat him out of house and home.

...

The event suddenly sparked a lot of talk.

It led to the hottest topic in the village being just how much money Old Chen had made in Capital City.

The elders in the village were fine; those who came back from the feast couldn't stop praising it.

They even wanted to go again the next day.

As for his relatives, those rarely seen in years all showed up.

Chen Pingsheng just handed out big red envelopes to everyone who came, relatives got eighteen hundred, and cigarettes were distributed by the carton.

As a kid, he hadn't refrained from causing trouble outside.

In the village, the custom was not to talk about whether these youths were bullied outside or not.

They had to support each other first, and discuss right or wrong after they were back in the village.

The number one rule was, outsiders shouldn't bully them.

Bringing it back by fighting was the hard truth.

Now that he was a bit wealthy, returning to his hometown to give back was only appropriate.

"Old Chen."

Chang Fu called for him, and Chen Pingsheng, having just freed up, came over and without a word drank a glass with him first.

"How is it, everyone enjoyed the food and drinks?"

They were all old classmates; no need for too much formality.

Chang Fu pulled him to sit down and asked, "Eating was fine, drinking was a minor thing, but what's the plan for the afternoon?"

"How do you want to arrange it?" Chen Pingsheng asked him.

Chang Fu laughed, "Well, since so many classmates have come, everyone wants to have some fun with you. You have too much money, doing things alone isn't fun. How about you open a table and be the dealer, and we just have a casual game of Bullfight?"