From Wage Slave to Tycoon

He watched as Su Chen, guided by the airport staff, took a shuttle straight toward the private jet.

Watching Su Chen board the plane and the cabin door swing shut, Su Zhuyun muttered to himself, "My son’s really becoming a big shot. I don’t even dare to speak loudly to him anymore."

"Sigh... I’m such a failure as a dad. Other fathers help their sons, but in my case, my son is helping his old man."

He let out a long sigh, shook his head, and started walking out of the airport. However, judging by his brisk pace and the Mercedes-Benz key spinning in his hand, he didn’t seem upset in the slightest.

......

"I’m surprised you made it on time. How was your New Year?"

Su Chen asked, leaning back into the sofa with his right leg crossed over his left. He swirled a glass of white wine as he looked at Chen Fei, who was sitting across from him.

The mention of the New Year seemed to strike a chord with Chen Fei, and he became incredibly animated.

"Heh heh, this was the best Spring Festival I’ve ever had."

Now that he had money, Chen Fei had originally planned to buy a house in the city and move his whole family there, but they had all refused.

After all, they had lived on that land their entire lives; how could they just leave? So, he decided to build a new house in their hometown instead. The construction would have to wait until after the holiday, of course, but Chen Fei had still bought his family plenty of nice things.

Most notably, Chen Fei had bought the family a Volkswagen Teramont. He’d mainly considered the terrain of the northwest—an SUV would be more convenient—and the quality of German cars was still trustworthy.

During the holiday, his family became the center of attention among all their relatives. Seeing someone who used to ride in an ox-cart now driving a car—that stark contrast really got to a lot of people.

For a while, Chen Fei was the most eligible bachelor in the entire area. Over the holiday, so many matchmakers came to his door they nearly wore out the threshold.

At his family’s urging, Chen Fei went on no fewer than twenty blind dates. The women were all real characters; they’d either demand a bride price of 300,000 or insist he buy a house in the city. In any case, there were plenty of demands.

If Su Chen hadn’t called him, he’d probably still be on the blind date circuit.

Hearing this, Su Chen got the gist of it. It was similar to his own family’s situation, only far more intense in Chen Fei’s case.

"Tsk, tsk. So not a single one caught your eye, huh?" Su Chen teased.

A bitter smile crossed Chen Fei’s face. "You have no idea, Sir. Some of those women were genuinely gorgeous—curvy, great figures, the whole package. And they asked for a small bride price, some even said they didn’t need one at all."

"But when I asked them what they did for a living, their answers were all suspiciously similar... Do you know what they all said?"

"What’d they say?" From his tone, Su Chen could already tell a punchline was coming.

Chen Fei said with a long-suffering look, "They all said they ’sell clothes’ in the coastal cities."

"PFFT—" Su Chen sprayed the mouthful of wine he’d just sipped all over the place.

"Hahaha! That’s hilarious! ’Selling clothes’ in the coastal cities... hahaha! Chen Fei, are you trying to kill me with laughter?!" Su Chen clutched his stomach, laughing uncontrollably.

"Hold on, did you not know any of these women you were meeting?"

"Er... how could I not? They’re all from the nearby villages," Chen Fei said after a moment’s silence. "They just... probably didn’t know it was *me* they were being set up with."

Su Chen burst out laughing again. ’So they were all colleagues, earning money together in the coastal cities! I can’t believe Chen Fei ran into something like this.’

’Then again,’ he thought, ’it makes perfect sense. After making money ’selling clothes’ elsewhere, of course they’d come back home to find a nice, honest man to settle down with.’

’Chen Fei is from a small village in the northwest, looks as honest as the day is long, and is suddenly rich. Isn’t that just the definition of a prime sucker?’

’If he were a little more naive, he might have actually fallen for it. After all, a gorgeous woman who doesn’t even ask for a bride price? Who wouldn’t be tempted by that?’

Chen Fei shared several more amusing anecdotes during the flight, adding a good deal of entertainment to the three-hour journey.

Shortly before three in the afternoon, the plane touched down smoothly at the Imperial Capital Airport.

As soon as he stepped off the plane, he saw Jiang Hui standing beside a Rolls-Royce, dressed in a butler’s tailcoat.

"Sir, Happy New Year. Welcome back to the Imperial Capital!" Seeing Su Chen descend the stairs, Jiang Hui hurried forward to greet him.

"Haha, Old Jiang, Happy New Year to you too," Su Chen said, patting Jiang Hui on the arm.

After they got in the car, Su Chen learned that Jiang Hui’s family had already returned to Xiangjiang the previous evening. He guessed that his own return had cut their plans short.

Su Chen glanced at Jiang Hui, who was sitting bolt upright in the passenger seat, and said with a smile, "Old Jiang, once I’m done with my business tomorrow, I’m giving you a week of paid vacation. Come back to work after the fifteenth."

"Ah—Sir, could I perhaps not..."

Before Jiang Hui could finish, he saw the look in Su Chen’s eyes that brooked no argument and swallowed the rest of his sentence.

"Thank you, Sir!" Jiang Hui said, his voice tinged with excitement.

The Imperial Capital was especially bustling during the New Year. Many people now chose to travel during the holiday, and the capital had naturally become a popular tourist destination.

The drive was a crawl of stop-and-go traffic. By the time they finally arrived at the courtyard house, it was already almost five in the afternoon.

Just inside the entrance, a massive orange cat in a festive red outfit was sitting crouched by the Hanging Flower Gate.

Seeing Su Chen, the orange cat trotted over, circling his legs and meowing several times.

Su Chen scooped the cat up, giving its plump body a little jiggle. "Yuanbao, I haven’t been gone that long, and you’ve gotten fat again!"

"Meow~ meow~" Yuanbao looked up at Su Chen with an adorably dopey expression and nuzzled its big head against his chest, as if to say, ’I missed you.’