Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

My little sister got married.

Chen Pingsheng made quite a mess at home, mainly because he'd had too much to drink, and couldn't take part in the activities that evening.

So much so that he couldn't even see Gao Hu off to the airport when he left for Guangdong from Capital City the next day.

Drinking too much really was a bit unpleasant; it took him an entire night to recover.

It was his wife who had been taking care of him the whole time.

This was just his little sister getting married, but what about when Chen An'an and the others get married someday? Would he, as a father, feel even more empty?

He suddenly felt it was very likely.

Song Yanxi handed him a cup of tea, "You're finally awake. Are you hungry?"

"A little."

Chen Pingsheng seemed to remember he'd even thrown up last night, which hadn't happened in many years!

Song Yanxi helped him up, saying that it was just a one-night drunken spree, today he was sober and there shouldn't be any issues.

No need for her help; after freshening up by himself, he had some plain congee.

Song Yanxi said, "There were quite a few people who came to say goodbye to you today. I told them you were drunk, so they all left."

"Mm... drinking really does hold you back, I'm not going to drink that much again."

"Little Qi and her husband will be over in a bit, and there are still a lot of classmates on Hu Lin's side who want to meet you alone."

"Forget it."

Chen Pingsheng waved his hand, refusing, "What else is there to talk about in a meeting? It's nothing more than looking for a better job, watch. After Chen Qi marries into their family, she'll definitely need some time to adjust, and if relatives on Hu Lin's side ask her for a loan, it's very likely she won't refuse."

"You already knew this would happen."

Song Yanxi said, "Your little sister received so much gift money today, the newlyweds must be thrilled. You as the big brother should let them manage their own matters."

"I have no intention to interfere, and all those cash gifts will have to be repaid by us eventually."

Chen Pingsheng said, "I'm just worried that she'll get taken advantage of after lending her money. Haven't you experienced it before? When relatives come looking for a loan, they can think up any excuse, and when it comes to repayment, they'll sicken you to death."

Now, people in Hu Lin's hometown all know that he married a very wealthy wife.

His older brother and sister-in-law are okay. They're working diligently at Tengsheng Fresh Produce.

Stick it out for half a year, and both may become part of the management, and together their monthly salaries won't be less than thirty or forty thousand.

For a couple who traveled from the countryside to work in Capital City, that's already pretty good.

Chen Qi even gave them a house to live in, and she's quite good to Hu Lin's wife too.

Soon, Chen Qi came over.

First, she visited their parents, and then seeing him looking fine, lounging in the tea room, she tried to get him to join Hu Lin's classmate gathering.

She shouldn't have even broached the subject.

Chen Pingsheng outright refused; how his little sister wanted to help people was her own business.

Even if Hu Lin's relatives asked her for a hundred million, as long as she was willing, he wouldn't interfere.

She just needed to ensure she wasn't mistreated afterward.

As for those on Hu Lin's side who still wanted to leverage his sister to connect with him, they shouldn't even think about it.

He had already lost a younger sister to them; they shouldn't expect to take advantage of him too.

What were they thinking?

Chen Pingsheng simply didn't bother to make excuses, he refused directly.

Let them think what they want.

Chen Qi left somewhat disappointed, and Hu Lin was quite embarrassed.

That was right; Chen Pingsheng also wanted him to take a hard look at himself.

At the very least, he should have the right mindset.

You can't have everything go your way and still coddle to their every wish.

Where in the world is there such a good deal?

After Hu Lin and Chen Qi left, they ran off to another area to participate in another class reunion.

Chen Qi really didn't put on any airs and even went out of her way to present herself with extreme humility.

Mainly because she felt her cultural level wasn't high and that being able to marry Hu Lin was actually very good for her.

Although Hu Lin was not young, his approach to dealing with the world was quite straightforward.

He was certainly very good to Chen Qi, but that couldn't stop the classmates and relatives from incessantly gossiping.

Seeing how proactive Jiang Jia was at the dinner table made them think they should perhaps take initiative as well.

If they could get Chen Qi's brother to help out, transferring to Capital City to become a teacher would surely pose no problem.

So they kept urging Chen Qi to invite her brother over for drinks.

In their minds, hammering out a deal hinged on drinking well.

Even if it meant getting so drunk they'd end up in bed with a hangover for days.
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Little did they know, Chen Pingsheng flat out refused to come.

Many people started making sarcastic remarks, saying Hu Lin had no clout.

He couldn't even get his own brother-in-law to show up.

This made Chen Qi quite embarrassed.

As for Hu Lin himself, it was natural for him to have such thoughts; after all, these were his university classmates he had shared four years with.

It was just about getting his brother-in-law to join them for a drink.

It was only because Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi weren't there; otherwise, he would have faced them head-on, with blatant disdain: What makes you think I'd want to drink with you?

He knew such things were unavoidable.

So, he simply chose not to come from the start—all of Hu Lin's relatives were barred,

except for his parents, grandparents, and older brother and sister-in-law.

Nobody else should even dream of entering his house.

Let alone hoping to invite him out to eat and drink alone.

Is this just about having drinks?

It's just that Chen Qi was still young and unaware of the intricacies involved.

They thought, why did Jiang Jia directly address matters at the dinner table? It was precisely because she had anticipated this.

With Hu Lin's status, there was no way he could invite Chen Qi's brother out alone afterward.

He could only bring up the invitation when Chen Qi was coming out, casually adding her brother to join them for a meal.

Inviting someone directly under the guise of being Hu Lin's classmate was quite amusing and could actually put people off.

After all, this was about losing a couple hundred million yuan through marriage, not earning it.

The red envelopes at the wedding were so generous, and the bride's cash gifts even returned sixty or seventy million yuan.

None of that money came from Hu Lin's family.

How could someone be influenced by the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of yuan in wedding gifts he had given?

It could only be said that Jiang Jia had grown up in better circumstances and understood these social relations from a young age.

That's why she took the risk, even if the timing wasn't ideal, to speak up the first time she met Chen Pingsheng.

Others might not know, but how could she not know?

In Chen Pingsheng's eyes, Hu Lin was worth nothing.

The best course of action when they all wanted to invite Chen Qi's older brother out to meet as classmates was for him to find an excuse to refuse directly.

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This might even earn him a higher regard from others.

The reality proved that it was exactly as she had speculated.

Jiang Jia was still here, simply gambling on a slim chance.

What if he really did come?

Although during the wedding, Chen Pingsheng had said she could go to the company.

But who knows if that was just an excuse from him.

Seeking financing and looking for money is never easy.

Unless you have such connections right from the start.

Clearly, Jiang Jia did not, and her family's good situation was only relative to people like Hu Lin.

Compared to Chen Qi, her brother, she was nothing.

As for seeking out top-tier investors in the circle like Tong Zelan, she couldn't even get a glimpse of their faces.

The hardest part about finding funding isn't the lack of a great project, but the lack of the right person to earn you the trust of others.

Circles, isn't that how they're formed?

Everyone in investment expands through the network effect.

Like a reliable friend introducing another reliable friend.

If she could get Chen Pingsheng's money and do well,

then naturally, she would be able to easily obtain money from people like Tong Zelan because Chen Pingsheng would have made the connection.

A single word of praise from Chen Pingsheng is worth more than a thousand from her.

How did Old Ma manage to get Sun Zhengyi to invest?

That was because Cai Zongxin was already within that circle, having gone to Small Day to communicate with Sun Zhengyi many times beforehand.

That's the story of the two million US dollar investment decided in just a few minutes.

In other words, this intermediary is the most important.

Acting as a guarantor.

Jiang Jia was quite aware of these things, and it was obvious.

Zhang Yang and the others wanting to invite Chen Qi's brother, it was more about solving their work problems.

Work, well, it's about grades in school and parents after graduating.

If you didn't have parents to rely on after graduation, you just had to wander around Capital City, either with a mismatching major

or you had to go back to the county town where you came from.

After all, to stay in Capital City and find a job you love,

forget about it even if you're a 985 graduate, without connections it's virtually impossible.

That's just the society we live in.

With the resources of Chen Pingsheng's connections, he could solve these kinds of jobs with monthly salaries of ten to twenty thousand.

Without saying a word, just a glance from him would make sure someone took care of it.

But why would such a bigwig give that look?

A job with a salary of ten to twenty thousand a month, and you're asking someone of his stature to solve it for you.

Unless it's a relative he deeply cares about,

you get that chance once in a lifetime, and only once.

Now, it's obvious that Hu Lin can't even secure this one opportunity.

If he really tried to do it, maybe all he'd earn was Chen Qi's brother's disappointment.

She remembered how her family flat out refused when she brought home a boyfriend from a rural area with not too low an income.

At this moment, she seemed to understand her parents' feelings.

The reason being nothing else but the fact that both families were simply incompatible.

Now with Hu Lin, it was quite obvious. He glanced over at Chen Qi with a look that seemed to say,

Could you please call your brother again? These are all my best friends from university. Could you ask him to meet with us?

Chen Qi immediately took out her phone, seemingly now the weaker side in this marriage.

Just as she was about to make the call, Jiang Jia grabbed her hand and shook her head, "Don't call, it will hurt your brother."

Chen Qi was puzzled. In the past few years, she had been a beauty salon receptionist in Sha City, earning a salary of a few thousand a month.

And she could save a large portion of it.

She often asked her brother if he needed money to buy a house because she had it.

Later, when she moved to Capital City, she was still a beauty salon receptionist.

The difference was that it was her brother's enterprise, and her brother had given her a quarter of the shares.

Then, she grew increasingly wealthy.

There was not a slight bit of difficulty in it.

Everything was resolved by her brother and sister-in-law; she only had to split the money.

That's how she ended up with a net worth of hundreds of millions.

But the way she dealt with the world and her mental maturity were completely unmatched by her wealth.

That's why we have today's scene.

Otherwise, based on her own abilities, how could she make these people utter such words, and then honestly take them back?

"What do you mean, Jiang Jia?"

"Don't you understand what I mean?"

Jiang Jia frowned and said, "Hu Lin just got married, and you are already envious enough to sabotage?"

"Who's jealous? We just want to invite Chen Qi's brother out for a meal and a drink," said a classmate who wasn't doing too well.

"Still denying jealousy. If we speak plainly, it loses all its meaning," Jiang Jia retorted.

"For someone of Chen Qi's brother's status, do you think it's possible to leverage Hu Lin's status to solve your household registration and work issues in Capital City?"

"You're one to talk. Aren't you doing the same?"

Once the truth was out, everyone had nothing to fear, mainly because Hu Lin was such a nonentity that he couldn't even get people out to meet.

What else could they expect from him?

"You're not any different, cozying up at the dining table, even aiming for one billion. Do you think a billion is as common as cabbage?"

"At least what I said at the table was open and aboveboard. Besides, I've said it before, my project is valued at several hundred million. And you?"

Jiang Jia scoffed, "With his own brother not turning up, you still try to provoke Hu Lin in such an underhanded way. If Chen Qi's brother were really here, would you dare repeat what you've just said?"

If Chen Pingsheng were really here, of course, they would not dare to utter a word.

But the key is that he's not.

Someone who can be a billionaire and run such a large corporation is not without reason.

Even with three times the courage, they wouldn't dare be presumptuous in front of such a person.

Let alone play such petty tricks.

Something even Jiang Jia could see through in an instant,

how could the tycoon not see through it?

What were they thinking?

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