Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Chapter 726: Chapter 534: Special Talents

The elders in the family.

Most of them are helping Comrade Lao Chen run the Red Star Restaurant, which is still a pretty meaningful endeavor for them.

As for Er Piya, ever since she became the Big Big Big President, her mannerisms have completely changed.

Even her Er Congming account online was changed to “Third Big President,” and her profile picture is now her wearing a red trench coat fluttering in the wind, with the tag of Big Big Big Company scaling from small to large.

This little fart kid really likes being the Little President more than her sister did. Her sister played at it for a month and got bored, but this one seems determined to play from the beginning of the year to the very end.

Chen Pingsheng couldn’t care less. By seven in the evening, he was still doing the same thing as before—driving his Rolls-Royce Phantom to pick up passengers.

He also took the spoiled brat along to experience life, originally wanting to bring Er Piya too, but the little one probably wouldn’t be willing.

The Magic City’s neon lights sparkled brightly at night. The Rolls-Royce drove out from the neighborhood, aimlessly cruising along.

Chen An’an even prepared a bottle of hot water for him in the car, taking a sip now and then, enjoying leisurely small days.

“Dad, you’ve driven this far without picking up a single ride?”

“Oh, I forgot to turn on Didi. No wonder there’s no passengers.”

Chen Pingsheng hurriedly pulled over. His forgetfulness was unmatched—it’s hard to believe he’d forgotten to turn on the app despite setting out to drive.

Once he activated the ride-hailing mode, orders popped up in no time.

The car eventually drove near a university, where two college-aged girls got in. They were heavy with perfume.

Judging by their appearance, most likely they were here as call girls.

The Magic City’s call girls come in many varieties. The cheaper ones go for about seven or eight hundred per session.

There are also plenty of white-collar girls who, driven by vanity, can’t afford luxury items and occasionally take on gigs themselves.

Those kinds go for at least two thousand a session, and you’d need a middleman to set it up.

Then there’s an even stranger category—the “decent housewives.”

They go down that path because they can’t manage their mortgage repayments after buying a house. Such services are priced even higher.

Take two gigs a month, and the mortgage is covered. Sleep it off, and by morning, they’re still the most respectable homeowners in the Magic City.

You could say as long as there’s demand, someone will always meet it.

No matter how strictly you try to ban it, it’s impossible to wipe it out completely.

Surprisingly, these two girls in the car turned out to be out-of-town college students, the only two non-locals from their dormitory.

Watching their roommates casually owning underwear that cost hundreds or thousands each, while their combined belongings didn’t even add up to a thousand—they felt their pride of being accepted to college evaporate entirely, replaced with endless inferiority.

The Magic City is like that. If you can resist its temptations, you’re fine.

If you can’t and try to compete, this Ten Li Foreign Market can easily swallow a young and pure heart whole.

It doesn’t need to persuade you actively; everything around you nudges you slowly toward the abyss.

Chen Pingsheng didn’t talk to them, nor did the two girls say a word, merely curiously examining the interior of the car.

When they arrived at their destination and went upstairs.

Chen Pingsheng lit a Laobaisha cigarette. If he guessed correctly, those two would be back down in less than half an hour.

He couldn’t help but wonder how much they charged for this session. Their parents—would they ever know their painstakingly nurtured college daughters ended up doing this?

“Dad, are you waiting for them?”

“No, just wanted to smoke a cigarette, that’s all.”

Chen Pingsheng said, “Over the years, plenty of people have gifted your dad exclusive cigarettes, but I still like smoking this five-kuai-per-pack Laobaisha from back in the day.”

After finishing the cigarette, he drove off.

Chen An’an wanted to persuade him to quit smoking—maybe to cut down in the future—but then decided to let it go.

Her dad doesn’t seem to have many hobbies nowadays.

It’s either work or staying home babysitting, and he hardly visits the university anymore.

At most, he smokes one or two when he’s out driving for Didi rides.

“Dad, do you think they’re doing… that kind of thing?”

“You noticed too?”

Chen Pingsheng drove seriously, “Could be, could not be—who knows. You know, in Wangcai Village, there used to be a girl who was considered second only to your mom in beauty.”

“Her family had tough conditions, so she left after graduating junior high. Later, every time she returned, she brought gifts for her family and made her parents incredibly proud.”

“And then?”

“Then bad rumors started spreading in the village, claiming she was working as a prostitute outside, and she never came back again.”

“Huh?” Chen An’an thought this story might have some unexpected twists, but turns out, that was all.

Since she never returned, it’s probably true.

Walk too far into the city, and you’ll end up like the girls in Guancheng, working as call girls.

There used to be a lot of people like that.

Back then, you could justify it as desperation; now, if you’ve even made it to university, it’s purely voluntary.

You wouldn’t do more than two gigs a day anyway—the second ride was straightforward enough.

This time, it was an overtime worker, someone who works until nine every night.

And yet doesn’t even get overtime pay.

The only benefit to working extra hours might be avoiding getting sacked during the next round of layoffs.

Out-of-town people living in this city, whether highly educated or otherwise, all have it pretty rough.

If you ask a local to work overtime every day without pay, forget it.

They’d drop their tools, quit immediately, and even report you to the labor bureau for being a bastard.

Out-of-towners, though—they’d never dare.

Some are suffocating under mortgage pressure; others have simply gotten used to being beasts of burden.

If you don’t want to do it, there’s always someone else who will.

Once this atmosphere takes root, many companies practically ignore labor laws.

Labor laws only matter when the boss needs them—they don’t when they don’t. Instead, they’ll preach “gratitude culture” to you.

Eating bitterness is a blessing.

“An’an, when you grow up, have you thought about which family business you want to take over?”

“Huh? That’s way too early to think about. Before Little Third was born, Grandma used to talk to me about it a lot—but no one’s mentioned it since he was born.”

Chen Pingsheng smiled and said, “Your Grandma just thought too much about it. I’m very fair and won’t do any of that favoring-boys-over-girls nonsense. You three will be treated equally. Ultimately, it’s up to you.”

To be honest, Chen An’an never considered the question—it felt way too premature.

Er Ya is only five, Little Third is barely two, and she herself is just about to enter middle school.

“Dad, why did you suddenly bring this up?”

“I just feel you’ve matured. Among the three of you, you’re the most promising to inherit the family’s business empire as of now.”

Chen Pingsheng explained, “The future of our family isn’t about amassing wealth but about walking firmly along the nation’s strategic path, supporting national development. Without the country’s support, families like ours might look strong but are actually vulnerable. That’s why I brought you to Capital City.”

Alright… if possible, she wished Dad could remain CEO of Tengying for another sixty years.

But as she grows up, that time will only grow shorter.

They will inevitably take on the role of inheritors.