From Wage Slave to Tycoon

"My eldest is really getting too big for his britches. Ordering me around for his own birthday, making this old man come all the way to the city. Doesn’t he know he could just hold the banquet back in Fuzhou?" Master Su grumbled under his breath from the passenger seat, gazing at the Wudu scenery outside.

Of course, what Master Su considered "under his breath" was, in fact, perfectly clear to everyone else in the car.

The corner of Su Zhixin’s mouth twitched as he drove. When they had first set out, the old man had been all smiles, saying it had been a long time since he’d been to Wudu and he was curious to see how it had changed.

But now that they were almost at Jiangbei Peninsula, his mood had suddenly gone from sunny to cloudy, and he’d started complaining about his big brother.

"Dad, you know how busy Big Brother and his family are. Besides... we just thought this would be a good chance for you and Mom to come visit Wudu for a while," Su Zhixin replied softly, defending his brother against Master Su’s grumbling.

"Tch. What’s so fun about the big city? It’s not as comfortable as my place in the countryside. This trip is just keeping me from my farm work!" Though that’s what Master Su said, the slight upward curl of his lips betrayed his true feelings.

Of course, busy driving, Su Zhixin didn’t catch this subtle change.

Hearing this... Su Zhixin smacked his lips. He wanted to say something more but couldn’t find the words, so he just pretended nothing had happened and focused on driving.

Soon, their group arrived at their destination—the Jiangbei Peninsula Financial Center.

"We’re here. This is the place Xiaochen told us about!" Su Zhixin said after finding an empty spot in the building’s lot and parking the car.

"This place looks pretty fancy. A meal here must cost a fortune, right?" Master Su said, sizing up the towering skyscraper before them.

"Heh heh. The family’s making good money now; Big Brother can afford it. Dad, let’s head up. It’s getting late!" Su Zhixin was also getting impatient. Even though the family was well-off now, this was his first time in a place like this, and he was filled with curiosity.

At his words, Master Su nodded and gave Su Zhixin a look, signaling for him to lead the way.

It was just after four in the afternoon, so there weren’t many people coming and going. After entering the lobby, a direct elevator for the restaurant happened to arrive.

The group of five walked straight in. Su Zhixin glanced around, saw no one else, and pressed the ’close door’ button. Just as the doors were a third of the way closed, a slightly hurried voice called out from outside: "Wait, there are still people!"

Hearing this, Su Zhixin managed to press the ’open door’ button before the elevator closed. Three magnificently dressed women, each carrying a designer handbag, walked in.

When the leading woman saw how Su Zhixin and his family were dressed, her brow instantly furrowed. She even raised her left hand to her nose and muttered to the person next to her, "What terrible luck. The moment I step out, I run into a bunch of hicks."

An elevator is only so big. Unless you’re whispering directly into someone’s ear, others are bound to hear you. What’s more, the leading lady hadn’t bothered to lower her voice at all, so the Su family heard her loud and clear.

"Exactly. I wonder which backwater district these bumpkins crawled out of. Wouldn’t they be better off staying in the countryside? They should be afraid of dirtying the air here."

"You..." Su Zhixin was about to fire back when he felt a tug on his arm.

He turned his head and saw that it was Master Su. The old man shook his head slightly, signaling to Su Zhixin not to stoop to their level.

Seeing this, Su Zhixin could only give up. He took a deep breath, shot the three women a look, then turned his head to watch the numbers change on the elevator’s display panel.

Perhaps the Su family’s lack of a response annoyed the woman who had spoken, because she raised her voice by several decibels.

"Xiaomei, isn’t Liyu supposed to be the number one Huaiyang restaurant in Wudu? You even went out of your way to get a membership. How can just any riffraff get in to eat here now? The standards have gotten so low!"

The woman named Xiaomei immediately chimed in, "You’re right, Mrs. Qin. I’ll bring this up with the restaurant’s lobby manager later. If they’re really letting just anyone in, then I might as well get rid of this membership card."

"Mmm. If they serve them, it just lowers our status, doesn’t it!" Mrs. Qin said, nodding in firm agreement.

The two went back and forth, clearly enjoying themselves. The remaining woman glanced at Su Zhixin, whose face was red with anger, but after a moment’s thought, she decided against saying anything to stop them. After all, Mrs. Qin came from a more powerful family than she did.

She could only choose to remain a quiet observer, neither participating nor agreeing, just watching the drama unfold.

Still, she found herself looking at Su Zhixin’s group with a hint of new respect. Anyone else would have started a fight by now. Their self-restraint suggested they weren’t as boorish as they looked, even if their clothes and background couldn’t be much to speak of.

If Su Zhixin knew what this woman was thinking, he would have whipped out his phone and shown her his seven-figure bank balance.

Although the Su family was wealthy now, their style of dress hadn’t changed much. After all, they spent most of their time in their hot pot restaurant. If they wore clothes worth thousands of yuan only to get a stubborn grease stain on them, they’d want to cry.

DING! "Welcome to Liyu Huaiyang Restaurant!" The elevator quickly reached the thirty-eighth floor, complete with a thoughtful welcome message.