Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

The next morning dawned bright and early.

In Capital City, a grand sun shone down, bringing the temperature up to around eight or nine degrees.

Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi had gotten up early. Today was the day to register their family's "Divine Beast," an event that couldn't be delayed.

After a month of play, Chen An'an had nearly mastered doing splits.

Exploding cow dung, playing with marbles—there wasn't a single game she didn't love.

And now, with school starting again, she had even gotten up earlier than him.

She carried a backpack that was bigger than herself—ridiculously so.

After gaining three more pounds over the New Year, her eyes nearly disappeared into slits when she smiled.

If she didn't lose some weight soon, Pingsheng genuinely worried that she would end up uglier than him when she grew up.

With her mother's genes, it was highly likely she would become more beautiful as she got older.

"Chen An'an, you're up early, huh?"

"Dad, I want to study, I want to make progress every day."

No matter how false that statement might have been, at least he was happy to hear it.

Pingsheng waited until she had finished washing up, and after eating egg noodles on the first floor, he took her to his Maybach S680.

No matter where it was, the Maybach always stood out as the brightest light among the cars.

The black and gold dual-toned S680 dazzled and sparkled to the point of blinding.

On the opening day of school, Capital City's traffic jams started early in the morning.

He couldn't drive fast either, and as several impatient drivers kept honking their horns outside, he just casually inched forward at a leisurely pace.

The cars on either side automatically maintained a safe distance from him.

After all, this was a Maybach—a collision, though covered by insurance, would certainly hike up the insurance rates the following year.

Insurance companies also had to be wary of such seasoned drivers who dared to ram into a Maybach.

Chen An'an leaned forward in her seat, hesitating, wanting to speak but not quite daring to, as if it wouldn't be right to stay silent.

"Daddy?"

"What's up?"

"Last year, our teacher assigned us a little homework—to write a 300-word essay titled 'My Father' during the winter vacation."

"And then?"

Pingsheng watched her through the rearview mirror.

Chen An'an said, "Then I lost my homework. Could you ask Teacher Bai Xin to write it for me, Dad?"

"You want your dad to ask the teacher to write 'My Father' for you? Chen An'an, how did you come up with such a brilliant idea?"

Song Yanxi also stared at her in disbelief. It was outrageous.

Chen An'an sat back down, a pitiful look on her face. The teacher would soon ask them to go on stage and read their essays—what was she supposed to do?

Pingsheng couldn't be bothered with her. After dropping her off at Shijingshan Primary School, the school hosted a parent-child activity on this first day of school.

The main purpose was to allow parents to gauge their children's progress over the past six months.

It also aimed to foster interaction between the teachers and parents.

Pingsheng, too, found himself in the large classroom, with Chen An'an and her classmates adorned with red scarves sitting at the front.

Teacher Shen Qing hosted from the stage, looking more radiant than ever after the New Year.

Her attire was still very appropriate: black slacks paired with a white shirt, topped with a blazer.

The class's first performance was "The Big Duck."

Featuring cuteness as its main attraction, about a dozen little girls dressed in duck costumes hopped up and down in disorder on stage.

One of them was Chen An'an, on the far side.

When the music stopped, the eleven ducks in front all walked off, but she kept bouncing up and down, confused.

What would have been a rather unamusing act suddenly became hilarious.

A departing "big duck" seemed to notice her predicament, turned around, and gave her a thwack.

Chen An'an stood there baffled for a while, her head shaking. What's going on? Why hit me?

The "big duck" next to her pulled her down towards the exit.

Chen An'an, the little oddity, always made sure there were surprises whenever she was around.

Surprising or not, the performance was actually quite successful.

Many parents and children burst out laughing.

Song Yanxi laughed along. That was her daughter—maybe a bit dim-witted, but undeniably charming in her own way.

For the next act, several students with good grades took the stage to read their essays.

All performed well, recounting how hard their parents worked, how good they were to them, and how they planned to repay them when they grew up.

"Next, please welcome Chen An'an."

Here she comes, finally.

Chen An'an walked onto the stage and took out a blank workbook with not a single word in it.

Not flustered at all.

As she opened it, she completely baffled the teachers.

"Ah~ my daddy."

There was a bit of emotion, and it was quite high.

Chen An'an purely imagined, "He's a bit old and has a little bit of a beard. He has two eyes, a big nose, and a mouth that eats."

"Ah~ my daddy!"

Chen Pingsheng sat below feeling like he was on pins and needles, never having been so embarrassed before.

"He eats more than I do. He has two feet and two hands; the feet are for walking, and the hands are for eating."

"Haha... whose kid is this?"

"The Chen family's, her dad is the one who drives the Maybach."

Quite a few parents nodded towards the back, signaling that wherever you are, having money and a career still equals respect.

"Ah~ my daddy."

Shen Qing could hardly stop herself from interrupting her, what on earth was this?

Chen An'an stepped on her left foot with her right, suddenly feeling an itch, stopped to scratch it, and then continued:

"Since he was young, he didn't like to take baths, yet he makes me take one every other day. I scrub a duck, scrub and scrub."

She couldn't make out the rest of the words; anyway, she just kept scrubbing.

"Ah~ my daddy, thank you, everyone."

Chen An'an bowed calmly, not rising until she heard applause from below.

It was a classmate she got along with well who started clapping first, prompting others to follow suit with laughter and applause.

Hmm... it became apparent.

This little friend's main act was creating an atmosphere.

With comedy talent maxed out, you just wanted to laugh whenever she took the stage.

Chen An'an walked off the stage calmly and took a seat next to her mom—she had to keep some distance from her dad.

To avoid a ruthless beating.

"Chen An'an, that little essay reading was pretty good, huh?"

"Not bad, but there's still a bit of room for improvement."

Chen An'an didn't even dare to look at her dad now, what a scary day.

She was suppressed by the parental authority.

It wasn't until noon that the parent-child activity organized by the school ended.

Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi left together by car.

Chen An'an kept waving at them until they drove away, then burst into exaggerated laughter.

She turned around and ran off to play with her little friends.

One piece of sachima for you, one for me.

If you take another, the rest are all mine, spicy.

School days were still quite fun, receiving new textbooks and getting new homework.

The teacher worked hard to instruct from above, while she drew ducks below.

The teacher called on her to stand up and answer a question.

She asked the teacher, what are you calling me for?

With even the slightest attention on the lesson, she could not have answered with such justified boldness.

Teacher: Alright, my mistake, sit down, please.

After sitting down, Chen An'an sat up straight and serious, and then felt very sleepy.

It's not that I want to sleep; it's the God of Sleep pulling me to sleep.

Sleep and sleep, eyes close and then open.

It's time to eat.

In the afternoon, it was still Chen Ping who came to pick her up, taking his wife for a comprehensive prenatal check-up at the hospital. Everything was normal.

If he hadn't arrived early at the end of the class, he might have been stuck in traffic.

Chen An'an looked around and found her family's big car.

She jumped in and rolled down the window, saying goodbye to her classmates all the way.

Going home after class felt great.