Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 815 - 620: Open the Door, Close the Door

The old friends store has opened.

Erya from Family of Three sat at the door with her legs crossed, welcoming guests. She had a positive outlook, thinking that even if there were few guests, thirty days would pass fast enough.

As for her sister Chen An’an, she was busy running around inside and out.

She had stayed in the urban village for a period before, back when she and Dad used to run a restaurant together.

When counting the time, it had already been three or four years, time really flies.

The urban village only sees bustling crowds after six in the evening.

Most of them are factory workers, while only a small portion are employees from corporate units.

Chen Lu the little mountain boy was just like his sister, sitting at the door with feet up, acting as the absent-minded little genius.

Soon, guests came, five or six of them.

Among them was a young lady who looked pretty decent. The group all wore the same work uniforms, obviously coming from the same factory.

"Little girl, do you still have tables available here?"

The place was empty, yet you ask such a question. How do you expect me to respond? "Available, available, or still available?"

Er Piya replied, "Can I answer no?"

"Of course not. If you have no customers, this place must not smell good."

"You haven’t even tried it yet, how can you say it’s not good?"

"Alright, this place seems hospitable enough. Today’s on me; everyone, just eat whatever you like."

Chen An’an came over to serve them. One glance, and it was obvious — a guy was trying to impress the young lady.

Factory workers only act this carefree about money when they’re trying to win someone over, ordering without hesitation.

With guests arriving, even Er Piya had to step up and help entertain them.

These individuals were mostly middle school graduates who had joined the workforce early, still young but having changed many jobs over the years.

The happiest moments for them were probably after work, playing video games for a bit, then having a beer and barbecue with a couple of friends.

Because it was the first day of business, there weren’t many guests. Plus, they closed early, so after serving just three or four tables, the day felt relatively light.

A surprisingly relaxed day.

Even though it was chill, Er Piya still felt the time crawling by as though the days were hard to endure.

Thirty days — one day down is one day closer.

By the end of June, their old friends barbecue shop had been open for nearly a week, and oddly enough, business seemed to be picking up.

From three to four tables daily before, they were now hosting eleven or twelve tables per day.

The lamb skewers were smoking hot as they skewered them nonstop.

Erya had no choice but to call Little Third Chen Lu to join her in skewering.

"Sister, how much longer do we have to keep this up?"

"What, I’ve been at it for ten minutes, and you’re already complaining after just an hour."

Erya spun tales to fool her brother without a hint of hesitation. Little Third Chen Lu scratched his head, sensing that something was off.

But he couldn’t quite put it into words.

"Sis, I’m so tired. Can’t I take a break?"

"A break? Didn’t you just rest for two minutes half an hour ago?"

The siblings looked like miserable little child laborers, sitting there tasked solely with skewering meat.

When Chen Pingsheng came by, Erya immediately pleaded, "Dad, I’ve been working for over a week now. Can I have a day off?"

"Sure, take a day off and we’ll extend your workload by three days. Up to you."

"No way!"

Er Piya flopped onto the chair, dreaming of calling employees from the Big Three companies to come help her with the skewers.

"Don’t complain so much; it’s only been a week, haven’t you already hit your limit?"

She could handle it, but she just really wanted to go play.

Chen Pingsheng stepped out for a cigarette. His business was actually not that great — peak hours were around ten at night.

Unfortunately, he closed shop by then.

At night, his wife Song Yanxi came over and mentioned that Tang Jing had arranged a blind date for Song Wu, and the man seemed alright.

Not only was he grounded, but his family situation was decent too — both parents were simply hometown teachers.

Her younger sister neither expressed dissatisfaction nor approval, hinting she was willing to try dating for the time being.

This time, Song Yanxi came not just to talk about her sister’s situation, but also to check if the "three treasures" of the family were adapting well.

Even kids from wealthy families often try out summer jobs.

Her family was no exception, though her wife brought up another issue.

"Chen Fan got divorced again. Should we sort out another marriage for him?"

"Sure, why not."

Chen Fan was something else. His marriages repeatedly fell apart due to infidelity, but his was truly a special case.

Every couple of years, he’d need a new wife, roughly costing them three or four million to accommodate the swap.

No one really wanted to have children with him, fearing congenital intellectual disabilities.

This amount of money wasn’t even considered pocket change for their family.

That night, Pingsheng met up with Chen Fan, essentially telling him to find another wife.

Since a dependable woman was out of reach, why not spend more for a beautiful one?

At this point, marrying someone was no different from buying a wife — spending five or six million for her to stick around for a few years.

Once she eventually cheats, it would be time to replace her.

After two more days passed, vacation or no vacation, a lockdown was on the horizon.

Their urban village received word about an outbreak — someone had contracted it on their return from their hometown.

Upon hearing the news, Erya bolted — while that street hadn’t been ordered to shut down, foot traffic vanished.

The factories even hung banners, enforcing daily inspections.

Such was life with the pandemic: helpless and unavoidable.

The small business owners lining the streets all wore faces of despair, as any outbreak inevitably meant downtime.

The shortest disruptions lasted about a week, the longest half a month or more.

Though this area was just an urban village, it was still Magic City, where rents weren’t cheap.

With the shop open, barely anyone came. Chen Pingsheng decided it was better to shut down.

It wasn’t just his store — the entire Tengying Group had countless outlets hit by this.

On the surface, it seemed as though things would resolve once the outbreak passed, but deep down, falling real estate prices were a far bigger headache.

Erya happily went off to work at one of the Big Three companies, while Chen An’an received Dad’s approval to launch a small TikTok account for her erhu performances.

Most of her time was spent playing the erhu on their rooftop and chatting with followers online.

She only got permission from Chen Pingsheng after promising not to gain major popularity or reveal family information.

There was no choice, since the pandemic limited travel and staying home was the safest option.

Thankfully, their house was big, accommodating the needs of both immediate and extended family living there.

Many shops and small factories in the urban village faced shutdowns.

When Chen Pingsheng went to Tengying Group, Tang Jing reported that the pandemic was expanding, affecting more areas.

Basically, open-and-close scenarios were common for offline stores.

It was a colossal hassle.