Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

After breakfast in the morning, she wanted to go out with her hands clasped behind her back and take a stroll.

If there was nothing else to do, she would join the old men and women in the park to practice Tai Chi.

Of course, other people did their thing, and she was doing hers.

The main point was that she didn\'t quite fit in.

After spending an hour, she would return home and take her sister around the yard.

Chen Xinyi was now quite efficient at walking, though she wasn\'t much of a talker yet.

She was learning to speak, but she could already call out \'sister.\'

Chen An\'an loved playing with her, but when it was time for a diaper change, An\'an would run as far away as possible.

End of June.

Peng Ying arrived in Capital City from Sha City via high-speed rail, and they didn\'t go to pick her up.

She took a taxi by herself and even paid an exorbitant fee for it.

With the relative\'s arrival, Liu Fen wasn\'t alone in taking care of the kids anymore.

Liu Fen was happier than anyone, chatting away joyously with another elderly woman in the yard.

Peng Ying adored holding her little granddaughter.

As for Chen An\'an, she always had several bodyguards around her and she didn\'t go far, so she hardly needed any supervision.

Still, they took her along when going out to shop.

Peng Ying had just arrived, and Liu Fen was introducing her to the neighbors.

Living in Nanluo Gu Alley was undoubtedly a sign of wealth—the house prices were so exorbitant that being poor was not an option.

Some simply lived on the fortunes of their ancestors, like the family next door with the last name Jin.

One of the Eight Impoverished Nobles of the Late Qing Dynasty, they nearly starved in the sixties and seventies.

They had managed to survive on the countless antiques in their possession.

Now, the most valuable thing in their family was just the courtyard house.

But their home still contained several treasures.

Then there was the Widow Qin next door, whose children were nothing remarkable, but the house kept increasing in value.

This house was inherited from her second husband.

A twice-married woman with a few children, ending up in Nanluo Gu Alley represented the pinnacle of a second marriage.

Of course, it mainly worked out because she married early.

Back then, property transactions were not private, so the houses weren\'t worth much.

Nowhere near what they\'re worth now.

Apart from these local residents who refuse to move, there are many who bought properties here.

These people are clearly wealthier.

Like her family, who spent nearly four hundred million to move here.

Far from what the Jins and Widow Qin could compare with.

Aside from them, Nanluo Gu Alley is also home to some retired elderly.

These people,

practice Tai Chi every morning in the park. They might look ordinary, but each has an impressive background.

It\'s not something that wealth can compare with, but they also keep a very low profile, maintaining excellent relationships with their neighbors after retirement.

Sitting in the middle of the courtyard, Liu Fen said, "Randomly drop a brick here, and it\'ll hit a billionaire."

Peng Ying thought it was an exaggeration. She hadn\'t heard her son and daughter-in-law mention that the property prices in Capital City had become so outrageous.

Like this Siheyuan, the external selling price was nearly five hundred thousand per square meter.

In the countryside, one could build a decent little villa for five hundred thousand, but here that wouldn\'t even buy you a toilet.

The disparity between the rich and poor is just enormous.

Right at that moment,

Chen An\'an, who was out on a stroll, came back with her hands clasped behind her back, imitating the walking style of the elder men in Capital City.

After playing a set of Praying Mantis Fist, she was a bit sweaty.

She turned on the courtyard\'s tap to rinse off her Richard.

This got Liu Fen worried, and she yelled, "My little ancestor, how can you rinse your watch with water?"

"It got a bit sweaty, what else should I wash it with if not water?"

Chen An\'an shook her Richard Mille and put it back on.

After calling out to her grandmother Peng Ying, she went off to play by herself.

"It\'s just a watch, why are you so worried?" Peng Ying asked curiously.

The two were about the same age and lived in the large courtyard; her son and daughter-in-law went to work and left them with a companion to chat with.

Liu Fen said, "That is no ordinary watch, her parents bought it for her for two million!"

"Two million?"

Peng Ying was shocked, "How old is she to need something that fancy? Isn\'t that just a waste of money?"

Liu Fen also thought it was a waste, but she wouldn\'t say it.

Especially since everything in this house was extravagant, with over a million spent just on one bathroom\'s renovations, which is quite outrageous.

With six separate bathrooms in the courtyard, each one had its expenses.

Peng Ying recalled how in the countryside, two neighbors could fight bitterly over a chicken.

Here, her granddaughter casually wore a watch worth two million.

Her son\'s lifestyle felt somewhat out of place.

"Pingsheng and Yanxi are wealthy now, and it\'s normal for them to spoil An\'an. They will come back for lunch, so let\'s go buy some groceries early!" Liu Fen said.

Peng Ying, holding Chen Xinyi, asked, "An\'an, do you want to go with grandma to buy groceries?"

"Sure."

Chen An\'an came out from inside, carrying a little bag on her shoulder with her phone and some lollipops.

Whenever Chen Xinyi was about to cry, she\'d give her one to stop the tears.

The place to buy groceries was very convenient, right outside at Tenghui Department Store.

They had all kinds of vegetables and fruits, and the store was owned by their family, which always made Liu Fen feel quite proud.

Peng Ying had just arrived, naturally unfamiliar with the place.

The produce ranged from cheap at one or two yuan to expensive seafood costing hundreds per jin.

Chen An\'an spotted a huge Australian lobster priced at four thousand eight hundred.

Money was not the issue, but none of them knew how to prepare such high-end ingredients.

Liu Fen: "An\'an, we can\'t buy this. Your grandma and I don\'t know how to cook it."

"Oh, that\'s a bit disappointing."

Chen An\'an had her eyes on that big shrimp, and she didn\'t even care about the king crab next to it.

It was mainly because she had bought one last time, and her grandmother had tried to cook it using a tutorial from Baidu.

It turned out not tasty at all.

Such ingredients could only be truly mastered by top chefs.

Peng Ying felt that Tenghui Department Store was really packed, offering many kinds of expensive seafood.

Even the same type of cabbage was priced differently, from a few yuan per pound to dozens per pound.

The key selling point was pesticide-free organic vegetables.

Liu Fen even reminded her that their family only ate organic vegetables now, spending at least a few hundred yuan on vegetables each day.

Being in charge of cooking every day here, she used to receive fifty thousand yuan for living expenses each month.

Besides eating well daily, she occasionally prepared a big seafood meal for An\'an and Xinyi.

However, she wasn\'t very skilled, always learning from the internet on the fly.

After Peng Ying arrived, she too had to keep up with the lifestyle here.

She had been frugal all her life and, honestly, she wasn\'t quite accustomed to this way of living.

Liu Fen purchased two pounds of New Zealand beef, priced at one hundred and eighty yuan per pound.

She also bought some crayfish; she didn\'t know how to cook Australian giant lobsters, but she was particularly good at cooking crayfish.

After shopping around, she casually spent almost a thousand yuan.

The locals usually came here to buy groceries and daily necessities.

First, because it was cheaper, and second, because returns were easy.

The third and most crucial point was that this place had everything.

All kinds of imported seafood and high-quality ingredients were available.

For instance, the beef here, the most expensive was Japanese Wagyu, known as the \'Rolls-Royce of beef\'.

It was priced at 1680 yuan per pound.

Eating here casually could burn through an average person\'s monthly salary.

Without Chen An\'an\'s parents around, Liu Fen certainly wouldn\'t buy it.

She would only buy that New Zealand beef priced at one hundred and eighty yuan per pound.

Liu Fen also told Peng Ying, "This major store, Pingsheng spent over two hundred million yuan to buy it. Business here makes tens of millions yearly, as easily as playing."

Peng Ying was secretly amazed, but wealth is wealth.

Such a lavish and wasteful lifestyle was unnecessary.

She had to figure out how to grow vegetables at her own home.

When Liu Fen heard her idea, she was startled.

Growing vegetables in Nanluo Gu Alley? She didn\'t even dare think about it; the real estate prices here start in the billions.

Growing vegetables in a Siheyuan would be like digging soil to farm on Golden Mountain.

By noon.

Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi had both returned, and Peng Ying indeed shared her idea of growing vegetables at home.

Liu Fen said nothing and just kept eating her meal.

According to Peng Ying, growing their own vegetables would make them more reassuring to consume.

It made no sense to always buy from outside.

Chen An\'an also thought it was a good idea, and Chen Ping had no objections. Continue reading on mvl

His parents had grown their own vegetables in the countryside.

If his mom wanted to grow some vegetables here, there was no reason to disagree.

It would give her something to do here and make her life happier.

In the afternoon, he called the moving company.

They dismantled the artificial hills and ponds on the second floor of the South Courtyard and laid soil to plant vegetable seedlings.

The two middle-aged mothers were incredibly busy and enjoyed the rural charm at home.

They hadn\'t had the means before, but now the yard was so big, what wasn\'t convenient about it?

Liu Fen even thought about replacing the beautiful fish in Chen An\'an\'s aquarium with common carp and crucian carp, which are often eaten in the countryside.

That wouldn\'t do.

Instead, they decided to set up a small fish tank on the second floor.

Chen An\'an used to love planting trees haphazardly, but she had given up after everything she planted died.

Now, helping her grandmother to plant vegetables, she was incredibly happy.

By the time July arrived.

Chen Pingsheng didn\'t mind their activities at home.

If his mom was happy, it was all worth it. Noteworthy was that after Peng Ying arrived, she even brought her younger sister Chen Qi to live at their place.

Such a large courtyard felt too desolate without more people.

Empty and cold.

Rural folks like lively atmospheres, and younger sister Chen Qi had reluctantly moved in.

Her own home was over three hundred square meters, quite incomparable to her brother\'s, but it had the advantage of doing whatever she wanted when living alone.

Even running around naked, no one had a say over her.

The environment here was top-notch, but unfortunately, she had to endure her own brother\'s oppression.

With five out of seven master bedrooms occupied, Liu Fen simply called Song Wu over as well.

This finally brought much more liveliness to the large Siheyuan.

Everyone\'s rooms weren\'t adjacent either.

For instance, Chen Pingsheng and Song Yanxi lived in the West Courtyard.

Peng Ying and Liu Fen lived in the North Courtyard, while Song Wu and Chen Qi lived in the East Courtyard.

Chen An\'an lived alone in a room in the South Courtyard.

They were quite spread out, each having enough personal space.

To speak frankly, such a large courtyard felt chilling at night if it wasn\'t housing seven or eight people.

Now that everyone had arrived, it instantly became lively.

Liu Fen and Peng Ying enjoyed planting vegetables on the second floor of the South Courtyard, while Chen Qi often went to watch Song Wu film.

As for Chen An\'an, she was a lone ranger.

There was nothing she didn\'t try, and yet, nothing she really succeeded in.