Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

A sudden downpour brought wisps of mist to Magic City.

Huge raindrops pattered ceaselessly against the front windshield, and the best vehicle to drive in such rainy weather was undoubtedly a large off-road.

Chen Pingsheng drove out his long-unutilized Black King Kong Bospeed G-class from his garage.

The vehicle was high enough and had formidable power.

He took his cousin, Chen Sai, to Nanjing Street to look at storefronts, which is also acclaimed as the ceiling of domestic shopping streets.

There, the average price per square meter of the storefronts ranges from 1.2 million to 2 million.

The price depends on the location, with slightly better spots not falling below one million per square meter.

Even the smallest shop would cost at least fifty to sixty million.

He owned an enormous Water Cloud Space flagship store there, as well as the Tenghui Department Store.

Just the price of these two storefronts added up to a staggering 1.5 billion.

Chen Sai's foot was still in a cast, and she needed a crutch to walk.

Chen Pingsheng planned on buying a small storefront there for her to run a business, including collecting rent.

The rent would be about half of the normal market price.

With the foot traffic and consumption level on this street, any business would likely do well.

As long as one can manage a storefront well on Nanjing Street, it's far better than running a delivery service.

His elder sister, Chen Yao, also came; she wanted to rent a storefront here too and thought it'd be nice to venture into the clothing business.

The two sisters' shops being close, they could chat and keep each other company.

Xiao Le and Xiao Ya were already grown up, and all of his elder sister's storefronts were owned by him.

Without the need for rent, he earned seven to eight million a year effortlessly.

Opening a store on Nanjing Street was her own idea.

"Big sister, why don't you call our younger sister and let her also open a shop here?"

Younger sister Chen Qi wasn't planning on having a second child; having Hu Qilin was enough.

The little one was soon to attend kindergarten, so she would have time.

It's not great for her to be too idle; she needed to find something of her own to do.

"Younger sister loves opening clothing stores; if she hears that you're buying a storefront for her, she'll definitely come bustling over."

"Okay, in the future, the three of you can be shop owners here together. That wouldn't be bad."

Chen Pingsheng had his secretary pick good locations for them, three connected storefronts.

The smallest was ninety-five square meters and the largest one hundred twenty square meters, all with lofts.

Shops like this, opened as slightly upscale clothing stores, would definitely do well.

Though physical business has been declining, good shopping streets still see swarms of visitors.

All three shops belonged to one owner, a retired old man over sixty.

Initially rich from demolition compensations, he later speculated in property, stocks, and storefronts.

The uncle from Magic City indeed had style, wearing a full Armani suit.

He had more than these few shops, and the main reason for selling was because his grandson needed money to start a company.

A one-time asking price of 320 million, not open to bargaining.

For a location like Nanjing Street, that price was indeed warranted.

Chen Pingsheng felt no pressure, mainly as his wife was not only managing Water Cloud Space's Splendid Night in Capital City, but also handling it in Xiangjiang, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

In another year or two, she would also expand to eight more cities, the income from which was incredibly lucrative.

"What do you think about this storefront?"

There's no such thing as a bad location on Nanjing Street, and Chen Qi arrived quickly.

Being the youngest, she shamelessly asked:

"Brother, if you buy this, how much rent are you planning to charge us per year? If it's too high, your sister here just can't afford it."

"Forget it."

Chen Pingsheng wished he could give his little sister a smack.

"I'm just thinking of getting you something to do because you're too idle. Renting this place for a million a year, what pressure could you possibly have?"

"One million a year, you're going to scare me to death."

Chen Qi thought about it and first stretched out three fingers. Feeling the pressure, she then retracted two.

She could contribute a maximum of one hundred thousand per year.

Even this would require good luck and exceptional talent to make any money.

"You're offering one hundred thousand per year?"

Chen Pingsheng didn't even feel like talking to her; no matter what, he had to buy the property first.

They can discuss the rent later; he wasn't relying on this to get rich.

He just wanted them to feel a little pressure.

One hundred thousand a year, even if you just sold bottled water here, you'd make more than that in a year.

Chen Pingsheng looked at Chen Sai's crooked foot, then at her pitiful daughter.

After thinking it over, he decided to rent it to them at that price.

As for what kind of shop they would open, that wasn't his concern.

He didn't have the spare energy to worry about it, especially when with such rent, it would be a joke not to make money on Nanjing Street.

Huangpu River's water wouldn't wash away such a huge joke.

Chen Sai had never done business and knew nothing about it.

But Chen Qi was like a gangster, supporting her while looking around here and there.

When it came to extorting her own brother, she had no limits.

It's because her brother was too rich, giving her a digging machine to dig day after day.

She would never be able to dig it all up in her lifetime.

Chen Qi had long wanted to open a fancy clothing store – after all, which woman doesn't like selling clothes?

The three of them discussed it for a while, Chen Qi decided to sell clothes, Chen Sai planned to sell shoes, and the eldest sister, Chen Yao, would sell bags and the like.

In a place like Nanjing Street, there's no concept of small margins for high volume due to the cost of rent.

Secondly, many customers are tourists who won't return to purchase again.

Thirdly, locals from Magic City with a slightly higher spending capacity won't prefer cheap goods.

Even if you wander into any random shoe store in an alley, you'd find most shoes starting from one to two thousand.

There are many who can't afford it, but plenty who can.

Anyway, these shopkeepers tacitly respect one principle: everyone sells mid to high-end products.

They compete in everything but a price war.

Newcomers who know nothing about the area and try to compete on price would be crushed within minutes.

Here, the shop owners are truly all from wealthy families.

Chen Pingsheng's Antler Coffee was located here, and while the business was good, he was still losing millions each year.

No other reason, just the incredibly high rent.

Some shops are just like that, not expecting to make money but just to increase visibility in high traffic areas.

Antler Coffee is still in a central location, covering an area of about two hundred square meters.

The annual rent is 12 million.

If you wanted to buy such a property, don't even think about it without four or five billion.

It's no longer about sustaining three generations with one property, but ten generations.

Chen Pingsheng himself owns many properties, so he certainly wouldn't complain about the high rents.

It's just that he was subtly squeezed by his little sister again.

Only she would dare to cut down to one hundred thousand per year.

It would be good for the three sisters to run the shop together; they could keep an eye on each other and chat casually outdoors.

Watching the bustling Nanjing Street also has its own charm.

Once he bought these properties, many relatives came to him.

Mainly because now the family's startup fund was gone, but that didn't mean he wouldn't help his relatives.

Chen Sai was an example; after she was hit by a car, wasn't it Old Chen who helped her handle all kinds of things?

Now, he's even spending a billion to buy her a property to do business, and really, offering ten thousand in rent for such a location per year.

It's almost like giving it away for free.