From Wage Slave to Tycoon

It wasn’t until they were about to pull into the courtyard of their old home that Chen Shufen, still not having had her fill, finally rolled up the window.

"Ah, that was refreshing!" Chen Shufen said smugly.

"Mom... you don’t think those people you accosted are cursing you behind your back, do you?" Su Chen asked, a funny look on his face. ’If that were me, I definitely would be.’

"Of course they are. I remember... who was it from the old production team? Their kid got into a top-tier university, and his mother walked around with her nose in the air. Whenever she saw someone, she’d say, ’How did you know my son got into a top-tier university?’ Who knows how many people were smiling to her face while cursing her out behind her back."

Hearing such harsh words, Su Chen decided to shut his mouth. There was no telling what his mom would say if he kept the conversation going.

As the three cars drove into the courtyard, they saw a group of men standing around, smoking and chatting.

Su Chen spotted Su Zhuyun in the crowd at once. The smile on his father’s face was as radiant as could be.

"Well now, a Mercedes G-Wagon. Whose is it?"

"Someone from our courtyard is that successful?"

"Hey, isn’t that the second and third brothers of the Su family?"

The men who had been chatting all turned their attention to Su Zhuyun.

Su Zhuyun took a slow drag from his cigarette. Only after exhaling a plume of white smoke did he say, "That’s the car Su Chen is driving."

"Su Chen? Eldest Su, you really splurged, huh? Buying your son such an expensive car. Looks like your hot pot restaurant is doing more than just good business!"

The words may have been spoken casually, but they were heard with intent. The eyes of the other men nearby flickered with a strange light, though it vanished in an instant.

Hearing this, Su Zhuyun didn’t bother to explain that Su Chen had bought it himself—that his son had more money than his own father.

In the countryside, people aren’t afraid of being poor, they’re afraid of their neighbors suddenly striking it rich. The psychological shock isn’t something that can be easily accepted overnight.

Fortunately, the neighbors all knew the Su family had opened a hot pot restaurant and that business was booming. While they were still jealous, it was something they could accept. After all, the Sus had built it from the ground up with their own two hands.

"You all carry on, I’m going to go help out." Seeing Su Chen and the others loaded down with bags, Su Zhuyun hastily tossed his cigarette on the ground and hurried over.

Once Su Zhuyun was out of earshot, a few of them started murmuring amongst themselves.

"What do you guys think? What if we all asked Su Zhuyun to bring us in on the hot pot business?"

The moment he said it, the others all shot him strange looks.

"No way. Why would he help you? Just because you’re his neighbor?"

"Have you forgotten? A few years ago, over that business with the irrigation for the terraced fields, you had a huge fight with the Su family. You almost hit Master Su. And now you expect them to help you get rich?"

"You must still be drunk."

Even though they all lived in the same courtyard, they’d had their fair share of conflicts in the past. They weren’t earth-shattering fights, but they weren’t trivial either. Certainly not the kind of history you could ignore while asking someone to help you strike it rich.

You’d be lucky if they didn’t try to get back at you, let alone help you. It was an impossible dream.

The mood for conversation soured, and the men all went their separate ways.

...

"You bought this car yourself, kid?" Su Zhuyun asked, running his hand over the G-Wagon’s frame.

"Yeah. You’re never home, so I figured I’d buy a car to get around in."

Su Zhuyun circled the vehicle, then walked up to Su Chen and held out his right hand. "Gimme the keys. I’m taking it for a spin."

Just as Su Chen was about to take the keys from his pocket, a pair of hands shot out from behind Su Zhuyun and firmly grabbed his ear.

"OW, OW, OW! Easy! Honey, go easy!"

"Go easy? You’ve been back all this time and haven’t lifted a finger to help Mom and the others cook. All you do is fool around!" With that, she dragged Su Zhuyun into the house.

Out of the corner of his eye, Su Chen saw his second and third uncles flinch. ’So the rumors about the family "T-Rex" are true. She really lives up to the name.’

After a simple lunch, everyone got busy.

This year’s New Year’s Eve dinner was going to be much more lavish than in previous years.

In addition to the standard chicken, duck, and fish, there was also beef and lamb, as well as a great deal of seafood like lobster and king crab. Even the dried abalone Su Chen had bought had been rehydrated two days in advance.

Chen Shufen and the aunts and uncles had taken over the kitchen, so Su Chen took Su Yan and Su Qingya to put up the Spring Festival couplets and prepare the joss paper to be burned that evening.

Just as they finished putting up the couplets, Su Zhuyun walked out of the house. "Xiaochen, are you guys going to set off any fireworks tonight?"

"Fireworks?" The word was both familiar and foreign.

In the past, the Su family had always been poor, so they almost never bought fireworks for the New Year. In their parents’ words, it was a waste of money.

In Su Chen’s memory, the only fireworks they ever had as children was a six-pack of bottle rockets—the cheap kind that were gone in a flash. And the crucial part was that those six rockets had to be split among the three of them.

Two rockets each. Once theirs were gone, all they could do was watch the neighbors set off their own fireworks in the courtyard. Su Chen used to fantasize that when he grew up and made his own money, he would buy mountains of fireworks. But sadly, after he started working, that dream was forgotten.

Su Yan and Su Qingya both looked at him with hopeful expressions.

Su Chen smiled, rubbing Su Qingya’s head. "We’ll buy them. We’ll buy a ton. We’ll set off fireworks for hours tonight!"

"For real?"

’What’s with the "for real?"’ Su Chen grabbed Su Yan and Su Qingya, and the three of them hopped into the G-Wagon and headed straight for town.

Their village was right on the outskirts of town, only a five- or six-minute drive away.

The town was a long, narrow strip situated on the banks of the Yangtze River. As they drove past his old middle school, Su Chen even stopped the car to take a look.