From Wage Slave to Tycoon

"What the hell?"

Su Chen was in the middle of a pleasant dream when he suddenly felt a weight on his chest, like a case of sleep paralysis. It was hard to even breathe. He struggled for a moment before managing to open his eyes.

When he saw what was going on, the corner of his mouth twitched.

Little Yao Yao was sprawled on his chest, lost in a sweet dream. Every now and then, she smacked her lips as if she were eating something delicious.

Carefully, he moved Little Yao Yao off him and set her to the side. Only then could Su Chen finally breathe freely again.

The night before, Little Yao Yao had insisted on sleeping with Su Chen. She wouldn’t listen to anyone else, just clung tightly to his neck, tears welling up in her dark eyes.

Su Chen had felt helpless. After all, he’d never slept with a child before. He was worried that if he turned over or even moved his arm, he might accidentally hurt her.

He had wanted to be firm and refuse, but when he saw her pitiful expression, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He could only nod and agree.

Su Chen slept lightly all night, afraid that a single movement might hurt Little Yao Yao. He didn’t fall into a deep sleep until three or four in the morning.

He checked the time—it was already eight in the morning. Normally, Chen Shufen would have called him for breakfast by now. ’Why is it so quiet today? Is it because we’re at Grandma’s house?’

Su Chen didn’t overthink it. He carefully got out of bed, changed his clothes, and tiptoed out of the bedroom. When he got downstairs, he finally understood why his mom, Chen Shufen, hadn’t woken him up.

The courtyard was now packed with people, at least half as many more than yesterday afternoon. Among them were many old men Su Chen had never seen before.

Besides them, Chen Shufen, Su Zhuyun, and the men of the Chen family were all there. What surprised Su Chen even more was that his grandmother was also sitting among the crowd, arguing with a few white-haired old men and occasionally tapping her cane.

Su Chen watched for a moment but couldn’t make out what was happening. He quickly walked over to his father, Su Zhuyun, who was at the edge of the crowd. His mom, Chen Shufen, was standing beside his grandmother.

"Dad, what’s going on?" Su Chen whispered, leaning close to Su Zhuyun.

Su Zhuyun, who had been engrossed in watching his mother-in-law take on the crowd, jumped at the sudden voice in his ear. When he turned and saw it was Su Chen, he shot him an annoyed glare.

"What else could it be? Some people from the Chen family saw that your second uncle’s family is doing better now. On top of that, who knows where they heard that your mom was the one helping them, so now they all want a piece of the action."

"I just didn’t expect them to drag the older generation into this." As he spoke, Su Zhuyun glanced again at the old men in the center of the crowd.

Su Chen’s expression darkened at his words. He was about to push through the crowd when Su Zhuyun grabbed him and pulled him back.

Before he could react, Su Zhuyun had pulled him away from the crowd.

Just as he was about to ask why his father had stopped him, Su Zhuyun’s voice rang out. "Don’t go making things worse. Just let your grandmother handle this."

"Don’t worry. Can’t you see your mom looks like she’s just watching a show?"

Su Chen was stunned by this. From what his dad, Su Zhuyun, was saying, it seemed there was some inside story he didn’t know.

Seemingly noticing the confusion in Su Chen’s eyes, Su Zhuyun offered him a cigarette before speaking slowly. "Your grandma is a sharp woman. She talked to your mom and me about this last night. After all, we haven’t had any relatives visit for years. How could she not know what this is all about?"

He flicked the ash from his cigarette and continued, "There might be a lot of them, but not a single one actually dares to bring this up with your grandma. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have trotted out those old guys with one foot in the grave!"

Su Zhuyun then leaned in and whispered a few more discreet details to Su Chen. Su Chen’s eyes widened in surprise. He hadn’t realized there were so many hidden secrets.

The secret wasn’t exactly top-secret. During the famine years, it was thanks to the help of Su Chen’s grandmother’s family that all these surrounding relatives managed to survive.

Su Zhuyun wasn’t clear on the exact details, as there seemed to be many stories involved that Su Chen’s grandmother hadn’t elaborated on.

All he knew was that without their help, most of these relatives would have died back then.

You could say that all the relatives of the Chen family owed them their lives.

If something like this happened in the city, people might think it wasn’t a big deal after so many years. But this was the countryside, where reputation is everything.

If they did something to wrong the Chen family, they’d be scorned by everyone. At that point, they probably wouldn’t be able to show their faces around here anymore.

This was also why, after Su Chen’s maternal grandfather passed away early in life, these relatives rarely came to visit for the New Year. They were worried the Chen family would ask them for help.

If his mother-in-law hadn’t told him all this herself last night, Su Zhuyun never would have believed these were the reasons behind it.

That was also why both Su Zhuyun and Chen Shufen were so calm, just watching the show. They knew these people couldn’t stir up any real trouble today.

Sure enough... a moment later, his grandmother’s furious roar erupted from the crowd. "Chen the Third, have you people no shame? If it weren’t for Yongheng helping you all back then, would you even be sitting here saying these things now?"