Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

July, the temperature is soaring.

Chen Pingsheng was deciding on his next stock investment plan when Tang Jing brought him a proposal from the HR department.

Due to the downturn in the traditional sector this year, the HR department unanimously suggested implementing a "35-and-out" rule.

What does that mean?

Basically, after age 35, people's energy levels are limited, nowhere near as good as fresh graduates or young people with two years of work experience in society.

And the most important reason: young people are cheaper.

Anyone over 35, who has stayed at Tengying Group for more than 5 years, costs as much—considering all the welfare and seniority—as hiring two young employees.

In light of the operational pressures in the traditional sector, the HR department recommended eliminating a large batch of employees over 35.

To cut corporate expenses.

Chen Pingsheng's face darkened after glancing at the plan. He asked his secretary, "Who spearheaded this suggestion?"

Tang Jing replied, "It's that new HR executive we poached from the other side!"

"Do you think this plan is executable?"

"Of course not."

Tang Jing said, "People at 35 are the backbone of their families. They're raising children while also caring for elderly parents. If we push all these people into society, it would undoubtedly be a huge blow to their families."

"If you understand this, then why would those executives dare propose such nonsense?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Immediately fire that new HR executive. Running a business without regard for employees and focusing solely on profit is a disaster for society as a whole.

"Our company will never adopt such a culture."

The past two years have seen increasing challenges in business operations, and many companies are learning so-called wolf culture.

Firing employees over 35, excluding them during recruitment—it's all part of it.

Meanwhile, most factories encourage excessive overtime. But if they're paying overtime wages in full, then fine.

After all, who isn't working to make money?

The most feared scenario is a wolf culture with zero overtime pay.

Even worse is seeing this culture promoted across society—it wouldn't be exaggerating to call it inhumane.

Anyway, Chen Pingsheng himself finds this kind of thing utterly repulsive. People in middle age have so many responsibilities, and losing a job during this stage doesn't just mean losing income.

The truly frightening part is the impact on their families—divorce and separation could be inevitable.

A business without any sense of social responsibility is an extremely dangerous one.

Tang Jing went to announce the big boss's decision. He had indeed replaced a batch of employees over 35 before.

But they were all management-level workers, particularly the ones who had lost their drive.

Compared to the massive employee base, the fired management staff represented only a tiny fraction.

Now everyone is struggling, and abandoning those middle-aged employees would be a real catastrophe.

It's no wonder everyone is fighting tooth and nail for government jobs nowadays—they're stable.

Once you're in, it's for life. Who wouldn't want that?

After Chen Pingsheng fired those HR executives who were hell-bent on squeezing employees to boost profits, no one dared to stir up trouble like that anymore.

At the Golden Mountain headquarters, he parked three cars: a red Bugatti, a Brabus 800, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

From sports cars to SUVs to luxury sedans, he had them all.

Since he clocked off early, he decided to check in on Erya.

That little rascal had moved on to her three companies after her BBQ restaurant was forced to close.

She'd even relocated all three companies to the Golden Mountain area and, come September, would transfer to Golden Mountain Elementary School.

Erya's extravagant spending spree was still going strong, and her employees were actively participating in her "spend big" philosophy.

By the time he got to her companies, she was no longer that kid squatting on the ground skewering meat.

She was the grand, grand, grand CEO.

Knocking on her desk with an overly serious demeanor, Erya listened to Zhang Qi as he reported on the operations of her three companies.

As for anything besides spending money, what actual operations were there?

To her surprise, her older sister had also started live-streaming—quite unexpected.

For Erya, the most pressing issue on her agenda was avoiding illness; everything else was secondary.

She had an entire warehouse stockpiled with masks, changing into a new protective suit twice daily. She lived her life cautiously, wary of the skies and the earth—and disease.

"Grand CEO, here's the operational status of our company. Please take a look."

Erya glanced briefly; her mind got a bit foggy from all the numbers.

Thankfully, Zhang Qi understood her well and specifically highlighted the critical figure with larger print.

She could spot it instantly.

Each month's regular expenses hovered around 8 million—a small sum she didn't even care about.

"Grand CEO, Chairman Chen is here."

Chairman Chen? That's her dad!

Erya immediately abandoned her CEO office and obediently went to greet her father.

When Chen Pingsheng walked in, he exchanged a quick hello with a few employees before finding Erya.

"Have you finished your summer homework yet?"

"Dad, I've switched teachers—what homework are you even talking about? I can't exactly bring my last teacher's assignments to the new one!"

She had a point... Chen Pingsheng couldn't refute her logic. "The BBQ shop won't reopen for another seven or eight days. During your summer vacation, you should at least do something meaningful at your three companies."

"Haven't I been doing the most meaningful thing this whole time?"

"Spending money counts as meaningful?"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Here's the deal: I'll allow you to take your three companies and start a new business—any type of store, but it has to do more than just spend money. You need to think about earning money this time."

"Dad, I'm only seven and a few months." Erya replied adorably.

"You didn't say anything about being five and a few months when you asked the family for billions in pocket money."

Well... she couldn't argue with that logic either.

Fine, thinking about turning a profit then. As long as he didn't make her go back to the BBQ shop to skewer meat, anything was fine.

Chen Pingsheng also forbade her from accepting online gifts from her viewers anymore.

Ridiculous. A child who spent billions of pocket money a year—why would anyone tip her?

Only an absolute fool would do that.

Since losing that revenue stream, Erya couldn't care less.

She wasn't making a living off of it anyway, but now she was up for a challenge.

The three companies couldn't just spend without earning. Even if she invested a billion to start a store and made just one dollar a day, it would count as a successful experience.

They say failure is the mother of success. At Erya's age, by the time she was eighteen, she'd have accumulated dozens of "mothers of success."

For ordinary people, this would be absolutely unimaginable.

Since Chen Pingsheng couldn't teach her to sympathize with ordinary folks, he figured he'd let her build entrepreneurial experience instead.

At this rate, by the time she turned seventeen or eighteen, she wouldn't be like any other child.

Once her dad left, Erya hummed a tune. Thinking about earning money? How hard could it be?

The three companies began brainstorming. Since her companies were named "Big, Bigger, Biggest,"

everything had to be developed in the "biggest" direction.

Ever heard of bucket-sized milk tea?

Erya's mind sparked with an idea: first, open the largest milk tea shop in the country.

Small-sized cups? Not happening. Medium-sized cups? Impossible. Even the largest cups seemed too small.

What the servers carried out were family-sized buckets.

Store renovations taking forever? No way.

Her company had resources for anything—they simply bought pre-furnished spaces.

If there were no pre-furnished ones available, she'd pick a location and offer a million to buy it outright.

Not interested in selling?

Fine, make it three million.

Alright, you win.

Erya dove into her business venture, the kind where cost wasn't even a consideration.

At her age, could she possibly do anything serious?