Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 887 - 669 New Year’s Eve

Xiao Wenwen and Hu Tao especially enjoy going out with An’an.

Although the two of them have no idea that Chen An’an has inherited Tengchao Commercial Management, worth over tens of billions, from her family.

Officially recognized as the first billionaire heiress of the post-2000 generation, they’re well aware of the power her family—especially Tengying Group—holds in Golden Mountain.

The major projects in Golden Mountain over the past few years—has there been a single one that wasn’t funded by Tengying Group?

Her family’s influence in that area can only be described as beyond comprehension.

Take the treatment she received during this tour to Chengdu—she’s staying in the Li Lake Ecological City, surrounded by water on three sides.

A lavish super villa worth over two hundred million.

An’an has stayed everywhere imaginable. She’s not used to staying in hotels, and since she has extraordinarily high standards for accommodations, her mom had no choice but to buy her a grand villa here ahead of time.

Tonight, she’s planning to visit the Chengdu night market, take in the liveliness of Chunxi Road, and try some of the unique local delicacies.

Tomorrow, she’ll head to the panda base, the place she’s most eager to see—despite growing up, she’s never seen a real panda before.

"Wenwen, let’s go to the night market together."

When stepping out in the evening, the atmosphere was incredibly lively.

Many people have already gone home; big cities tend to be emptier after the new year holiday.

Conversely, small towns see even more cars during the new year period.

Driving out now, there wasn’t any congestion—every road was free-flowing.

An’an still has at least another five or six years before she can obtain her driver’s license, so naturally, she always rides in a car when going out.

The following day, she went to the panda base to see the pandas.

The pandas were too adorable—she really wanted one for her own, but unfortunately, that’s destined to remain a fantasy.

Who would dare to mess with pandas? That crime is many times worse than stealing bird eggs.

Even the wealthy Old Chen Family wouldn’t dare raise a panda at home.

An’an absolutely loved these lovable creatures and spent two full days watching them before leaving.

During that time, she also visited Qingcheng Mountain.

The joy of being rich is just so simple—you can go anywhere you want, carefree and without worry.

In the afternoon,

Shen Youwei mentioned that one of her cousins was getting married, and tomorrow she’d attend the wedding banquet.

Weddings in rural areas are much simpler—drive the wedding car to pick up the bride in the morning, have the banquet at noon, with none of the ceremonial touches like the bridal chamber from old traditions.

This is mainly because most modern marriages involve cohabitation before the wedding—there’s nothing left to ceremonialize.

Nowadays, it’s more about going through the motions.

An’an had never attended a rural wedding banquet, so she figured she might as well go take a look—and also visit Fat Madam while she was there.

Shen Youwei’s home isn’t too far from Zhao Yingying’s, and with An’an attending, they didn’t even bother preparing the wedding cars.

No car, no matter how good, could compare to the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The three of them headed to the countryside together. Over the years, it was clear that single people in rural areas were truly becoming more and more prevalent.

High bride prices are just one aspect; most people who want to marry can scrape things together—family pooling some money, throwing in a bit themselves—and make the bride price work.

The real issue is the costs after tying the knot. Raising a child, from birth to adult—for today’s standards, it’s practically impossible without spending at least several hundred thousand.

A minor cold or fever costs at least several thousand, not to mention the daily expenses for food, clothing, and necessities—every single thing requires money.

Many young people are waking up to reality, opting to simply give up on believing in the "no pain, no gain" mantra.

For poor families, getting married is like jumping over hurdle after hurdle, only to triple that struggle.

Shen Youwei’s cousin is an example of this—the wedding car arrived at the bride’s house, but her family demanded additional "stepping-out money," which couldn’t be resolved without three more grand.

During the wedding ceremony, even more money was requested—all this from a bride who’s been married three times already.

There’s a saying nowadays: some women have found a fast track to wealth—marriage and divorce.

As long as the divorce comes swiftly, becoming a millionaire could take just a few short years.

For many, the moment they board the marriage train and want to disembark, it’s already too late.

The rural wedding banquet wasn’t as festive as one might imagine. An’an left in poor spirits, her experiences expanded by witnessing the bride’s wild antics.

It’s true what they say—having money doesn’t guarantee happiness, but not having money definitely makes happiness hard to come by.

Too many things fall short of expectations.

An’an brought Fat Madam back with her to spend the new year together. At least in her Li Lake Ecological City villa, there wouldn’t be any frustrating matters to deal with.

The night before the new year, she called her parents, wishing them a happy New Year’s Eve and telling them to enjoy the festivities.

This was her first time spending the new year away from home. Though she wasn’t outright unhappy, her heart still felt somewhat empty.

She kept wondering what her parents might be up to, whether Er Ya was stirring up trouble somewhere again, or if Little Third Chen Lu was sneaking out to find Su Xiaoxi.

This year, on New Year’s Eve, she made dumplings at home with Fat Madam while learning to cook her own New Year’s dinner.

A few classmates joined her as they happily celebrated the coming year together.

...

Magic City, Jinshan Villa.

This year, the family of five was missing one member—the spoiled brat spending the New Year in Chengdu alone, leaving the rest to celebrate as a family of four.

When Er Piya grows a bit older, she’ll surely follow her sister’s footsteps—spend the new year traveling, creating her own space for activities.

A little later, as she moves on to marriage and children, she’ll likely live in her own home permanently, and the days she returns to visit may grow scarce.

At that point, the feelings of emptiness will be even more profound.

Er Piya video-chatted with her sister upon learning that she had bought an enormous lakeside luxury villa in Chengdu—now she wanted one too.

But she’s far from reaching the age to travel solo, so for now, she could only stay at home and obediently accompany her parents.

"Dad, Sister’s little villa is so beautiful."

"When you’re her age, I’ll gift you two," he replied.

"What’s the point of just a couple? I want to buy the whole lake and build one for myself!"

"Alright, alright, just behave yourself and get through these years first."

She’s about to enter sixth grade. Er Piya doesn’t really have anything worth envying.

No matter how good the Li Lake Villa is, it’s still miles away from what their family has.

"Since it’s almost New Year’s Eve, should we watch the Spring Festival Gala? Tomorrow we could go see a movie?"

"Forget it, watching the gala is less fun than watching the Pleasant Goat cartoons. But seeing a movie sounds alright."

This year, several big films were released, the most anticipated being Detective Chinatown 3.

Its presale box office had already surpassed 1 billion.

Post-pandemic, the film industry seemed to be making a significant recovery.

Er Piya obediently accompanied her parents to watch TV until Peng Ying called again.

She mainly wanted to ask about their plans for the New Year and share some updates from Wangcai Village.

Their family had spent 1.5 billion to build villas for the entire village—what an incredible move.

When it comes to festive atmosphere, rural areas are still unrivaled.

In the city, many places prohibit fireworks, robbing children of half their joy.

Before New Year’s Eve could finish counting down, the family went to bed an hour early.

Now it’s official—the Lunar New Year and the Solar New Year are both in 2023.

The new year brought fresh energy—Tang Jing was already sending red envelopes in the group chat.

The flood of red envelopes perfectly coincided with the stroke of midnight—managing so many work groups inevitably cost quite a bit.

Her phone was continuously buzzing with "Happy New Year" messages from various people.