From Wage Slave to Tycoon

"Huh?"

"Whoa!"

Two different gasps of surprise rang out. No one had expected Su Chen to be so generous.

"Uncle, you’re the best!" Yao Yao chirped, planting a kiss on Su Chen’s cheek. Her eyes crinkled into smiling crescents.

The nearby employee, snapping back to reality, confirmed with Su Chen one more time. They didn’t see a big spender like this even once a year.

After getting Su Chen’s affirmative nod, the employee quickly called two colleagues from the kids’ toy section over to help. There were thirty to forty Barbie dolls, and if they sold all of them, the commission alone would be several hundred yuan.

Soon, the employees had all the Barbie dolls bagged up. It took a full ten bags. And the total... good grief, it was nearly seven thousand.

Su Chen was starting to understand why it was so easy to make money off of children and women these days. The production cost for these Barbies was probably only a few hundred yuan, making the profit margin astronomical. But what could he do? His little niece loved them.

After buying the dolls, Su Chen didn’t leave the Chongbai department store. Instead, he went to the children’s clothing section, not far from the toy area, and bought about ten different outfits and pairs of shoes for Yao Yao, none of them the same.

In return, Su Chen received several more loud SMOOCHES from Yao Yao.

「 」

By the time they returned to Grandma’s house, it was already past four in the afternoon.

The small courtyard was filled with people—relatives of the Chen family who lived in the nearby villages. They all knew that the Chen family’s youngest daughter had married a man who’d struck it rich, so they had all come over to make their presence known.

Seeing the white G-Wagon drive into the courtyard, the chatting crowd instinctively moved their stools aside to make room for Su Chen’s car.

"Grandpa!" Yao Yao yelled to Chen Changjie, her face pressed against the car window.

They say the love for a grandchild is special, and Chen Changjie was no exception. He doted on his little granddaughter, the kind of love where you’d be afraid she’d melt if you held her in your palm.

Chen Changjie chuckled and lifted Yao Yao out of the car. He gently booped her little nose and asked, "Where did you and your uncle go to have fun?"

"Hee hee! Uncle took me to play in the city! He bought me lots and lots of Barbie dolls, and lots of clothes, too!" As Yao Yao spoke, she gestured wildly with her hands in the air.

Chen Changjie just smiled, assuming it was just a few toys and a couple of outfits. But when he saw the trunk slowly opening, his jaw dropped.

Seeing Chen Changjie’s reaction, even the other relatives sitting in the courtyard gathered around curiously. When they saw the trunk packed to the brim with all sorts of shopping bags, they were all stunned.

Especially since the bags all bore the Chongbai department store logo. As locals, they knew that items from there cost hundreds or even thousands of yuan. Just those twenty-something shopping bags had to be worth at least several thousand, if not over ten thousand.

"How much did you spend on all this?" Chen Changjie asked Su Chen, smacking his lips.

"Not much at all!" Su Chen definitely wouldn’t reveal the real amount. After all, with other people around, what if he provoked them by mentioning such a sum?

’It really is true that ’the poor have no visitors even in the city, while the rich have relatives from deep in the mountains.’ Su Chen had never seen so many relatives at his grandma’s house before. He didn’t have the slightest impression of most of them.

He gave a polite greeting to these relatives, then he and his brother-in-law, Chen Changjie, carried everything from the trunk inside.

Once Su Chen and the others were gone, the courtyard once again filled with the sound of discussion.

"I never thought Chen Shufen would become so successful. She found a good husband! Look at them, driving a Mercedes now!"

"Isn’t that the truth? It’s all fate. Chen Shufen’s husband used to be just a driver. He couldn’t even afford a car when visiting her family. And now, not even a year later, he’s driving a car worth millions. Tsk, tsk... you can’t even be envious of that kind of luck."

"Who says you can’t be envious?" A middle-aged man who seemed to know some inside information peeked into the house before saying in a low voice, "I heard Chen Shufen was the one who helped Chang Jie set up that hot pot restaurant he runs."

"Everyone knows how good business is at Chang Jie’s hot pot place. There’s a line for dozens of minutes every single day. Just imagine how well Chen Shufen’s hot pot restaurant in Fuzhou must be doing!"

He finished with a feigned sigh, "If only Chen Shufen could help us out like she helped her brother, even just by setting something up in another town."

Someone in the crowd muttered, "We’re all relatives. What’s wrong with helping us out a little?"

These words instantly struck a chord with everyone. They all lowered their heads and fell silent, but their darting eyes revealed the turmoil in their hearts.

SCRAPE! A stool was pushed back. As the first person stood up and left, the others didn’t hesitate for a moment. One by one, they all got up and headed home, moving so fast you’d think they were rushing back to cook dinner.

Su Chen was oblivious to the situation outside. Even if he had known, he would have just laughed it off. ’What era is this? Are they really planning to guilt-trip people using family ties?’

’They should just go to sleep. They can have anything they want in their dreams.’

「 」

Hearing Yao Yao’s cheers, Chen Shufen and the others who were busy in the back kitchen all came out. They stared, wide-eyed, as Yao Yao continuously pulled one exquisite Barbie doll after another from the shopping bags.

This was especially true for her second sister-in-law, who had overheard their conversation from upstairs earlier. She just never imagined Su Chen would actually buy so many things for Yao Yao. And by the looks of it, none of it was cheap.

"What’s all this? Su Chen, did you buy this for Yao Yao?" Chen Rui asked, looking at the scene, feeling a bit flustered.

"Mhm. I took her to the Chongbai department store in the city for a bit and bought her some Barbies and clothes." Seeing Yao Yao’s happy smile, Su Chen’s own face lit up with pleasure.

’Some?’ he thought. ’You call this "some"?’

As someone who often took Yao Yao to amusement parks, Chen Rui knew exactly how much those Barbie dolls cost, especially from a place like Chongbai.

He did a rough count—there were at least thirty or forty dolls, all different, including several special-edition collaboration models. Just those alone had to cost several thousand yuan.

And that wasn’t even counting the dozen or so outfits and shoes. Everyone knew kids’ clothes were more expensive than adults’. All told, the total had to be over ten thousand yuan.

For a moment, Chen Rui was at a loss for words.

"Alright, alright. Chen Rui, you and your wife tidy all this stuff up. It’s no big deal," Chen Shufen said. "Oh, and Second Brother, go check if that crowd outside has left."

Chen Shufen, of course, knew how rich her husband was now. Buying a few toys was nothing. Besides, she adored Yao Yao too and was already planning to secretly give her a big red envelope before they left.

Hearing Chen Shufen’s words, Chen Rui and his wife immediately got to work. They knew just how wealthy their aunt was now. Since she had spoken, there was no reason to be overly modest.

As for Chen Changjie, he didn’t dally either. His younger sister’s presence had become more and more imposing lately. Facing her felt like facing some kind of big shot; it was quite intimidating.

Chen Changjie left and returned quickly. When he reported that everyone was gone, Chen Shufen simply nodded without a word. She knew exactly what those relatives were like; otherwise, they wouldn’t have just sat in the courtyard for a whole afternoon.

’There’s no need to worry too much about these things for now. What if I’m just overthinking it?’

Dinner that evening was an incredibly lavish spread. There was chicken, duck, fish, lamb, and beef—a bit of everything.

"Xiaochen, try this steamed long-snouted catfish. See how you like it." Chen Changjie had run around to several places that afternoon just to buy it. This fish alone had cost him nearly a thousand yuan.

The long-snouted catfish, after all, is known as one of the "Four Delicacies of the Yangtze River." Its flavor and texture are comparable to the coilia fish, which speaks to how precious it is. To be able to buy one during the New Year holiday really took some effort.

Su Chen picked up a piece of the fish with his chopsticks and placed it in Grandma’s bowl, saying, "Grandma, you eat first!"

"Hahaha! Good grandson, you eat too!" Grandma said with a wide, beaming smile.

With that, everyone began to eat. The sounds of laughter and cheerful conversation filled the entire house.

Some families rejoice while others worry. While the Chen family ate their meal with great cheer, there were undoubtedly many others for whom their own food tasted like ash.