Chen Pingsheng arrived home at six in the evening.
Song Yanxi was busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, as the family would gather for the meal later.
Little An'an walked out, clutching her little tablet, oblivious to those around her.
With the tablet in her hands and games at her disposal, calling out to her was futile.
Meanwhile, Chen Pingsheng took his newly purchased laptop to his room, plugged in the Ethernet cable, and powered it up.
On his mind the whole way home was a pressing issue.
With his current income, excluding the random multipliers from the Golden Finger, he would make between two hundred fifty to three hundred thousand in a year.
Selling durians on the street and doing various odd jobs, that was about the limit.
If the random multipliers were included, averaging it out, he would make about one-point-two to one-point-five million a year.
Even in talent-packed Capital City, that certainly was not a low income.
Definitely part of the high-income group.
But Chen Pingsheng felt it was still not enough if he wanted to buy a two-hundred-square-meter house in six months' time.
It would cost about six million for a full payment within the third ring, needing a down payment of one-point-eight million.
His current savings were just over three hundred thousand, which meant he needed to save up one-point-five million more in the next half-year.
This was undoubtedly very stressful, especially since durians weren't so easy to sell after the New Year.
There was no possibility of earning eighty to ninety thousand in ten days as he had during the New Year celebration.
It looked like he needed to look for more money-making opportunities.
Indeed, if he bought a large house, he also wanted to bring his younger sister and parents to live in Capital City.
Checking online, almost all the moguls were talking about the advent of the mobile internet era.
The best business would involve making it into people's mobile phones.
The logic wasn't hard to understand, but he simply lacked the capability.
The current internet giants, BAT, for the sake of seizing mobile terminals, were nearly at each other's throats.
Each investment easily ranged into the tens or hundreds of billions.
Food delivery, shared bicycles, and any emergence of a new trend were capital feasts.
The fierce subsidies were in a bid to seize market share.
All these were beyond his current reach, waiting to see where the opportunities lay while on the go.
After discovering how useful the laptop was, Chen Pingsheng came out to make dumplings.
Regardless, they would think about these issues after the New Year had passed.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone watched the spring festival gala together.
In 2012, Yang Mi rose to top-tier stardom through the series 'Palace.'
Liu Shishi also successfully created her classic drama 'Scarlet Heart.'
Following closely were Tang Yan and others, with three of the 'Eighty-Five Flowers' now in place.
The one with the most acting talent was still living with them in a cheap house, sharing the simplest and most heartwarming New Year's Eve dinner.
On the first day of the New Year, Chen Pingsheng didn't go anywhere but stayed home to watch TV with his wife and child.
On this day, it was customary not to leave the house or sweep trash outside, as it was believed to affect the financial luck for the year.
The second day brought warm winter sun, and he and Zhang Tao rode a tricycle to sell durians.
When he returned home after selling all day, the income had indeed declined greatly, with the post-New Year business much worse.
However, the net income was still nearly a thousand.
Song Yanxi had taken Little An'an to the Great Imperial Palace during the day, and since the family had just bought a car, and the little guy had never been there before, it was the perfect time to go while it was less crowded during the vacation.
The little guy was extremely excited and talked nonstop as soon as he got home.
"Husband, how come I heard people in the compound saying that the new big fruit supermarket is up for transfer?"
Not far from them was an old residential area, home to about two to three thousand households, and because there were many residents, the retail spaces in the community were in great demand.
The newly opened fruit store typically didn't lack money; they took over the four best retail spaces and combined them all to exclusively sell fruit.
When it first opened, Chen Pingsheng had often heard the small fruit vendors say that the investment couldn't be less than one million.
To his surprise, it had been less than three months, and rumors were already spreading about its closure.
Actually, this was not at all strange to Chen Pingsheng. Over the years of selling durians, he had seen many outsiders think selling fruit was a profitable venture.
Many people jumped in without understanding anything.
And then they ran out completely bare.
He had actually visited the new store when it opened, and indeed, their decoration was the best in the area.
The investor was most likely a second generation; the family had some money, but not that much.
"You already know about it, it seems they really can't keep going."
Song Yanxi made him a cup of hot tea. Her husband started earning money in his junior year, and when he came home, she naturally took on the responsibilities of a good wife.
But she still had some other ideas.
"Husband, what do you think about that location, is it possible for us to do well if we take over?"
Having been married for so many years, he knew what she was thinking the moment she pursed her lips.
Now that she had brought it up, Chen Pingsheng understood that she had some plans.
After thinking it over, he said, "The location itself is definitely not an issue. You saw how much foot traffic there was when it first opened. The main reasons it couldn't last even three months, I think, are mostly because the owner didn't understand the business, and also because he wasn't really dedicated. The fruits in his store were left to spoil without being sorted out, which really affected the customer experience. Over time, of course no one would want to go there anymore."
Song Yanxi gritted her teeth, "Then husband, what do you think about us taking over the store?"
"How did you get so bold all of a sudden?"
Chen Pingsheng was astonished, "That store alone needed an investment of over a million, just the transfer cost was over three hundred thousand, plus the renovations and the cold storage. We would need at least five or six hundred thousand to take over."
"I just think you have the ability to make it work."
Song Yanxi held his hand and said, "Others may not understand you, but don't I know you? All these years, if it weren't for our marriage holding you back, you definitely would have started your own business by now. With such a good opportunity, we should at least try."
"Besides, haven't you been in the fruit business for three or four years? If we want to start a business, what could be more suitable than a fruit supermarket?"
This was actually true.
It had to be said, his wife's suggestion really tempted Chen Pingsheng.
People like him who sold fruits, most of them opened fruit stores later on.
Or they went into wholesale.
Wholesale wasn't even an option to consider, you couldn't get into it without a few million.
A fruit supermarket thus became the preferred choice.
Although he alone couldn't come up with five or six hundred thousand, asking Zhang Tao and others, borrowing a hundred thousand each would be easy.
If he had his wife's support for this, he really could do it.
Chen Pingsheng said, "Wife, if I lose this, don't even think about buying a house in half a year; we might even have to sell your Audi."
"Then sell it."
Song Yanxi determinedly said, "Husband, you're going to be thirty this year. The first ten years you helped build the house for the family, and then you've been protecting me and our daughter from the storms ever since. Now it's time to fight for yourself. Anyway, if we lose, I'll sell the car and join you pedaling a tricycle on the streets to sell durians."
With his wife speaking like this, if he were still hesitant, it would be really unmanly.
And he was actually very interested himself.