CHAPTER 386: CHAPTER 225: UNFATHOMABLE

Chen Feng understood one thing very well: "The size of your bowl determines how much you can eat." He was just a rural person with no connections or background, who found a foothold in this big city countless people dream of, simply due to good luck. In this alone, he was luckier than many.

Before the disease and divorce, despite working hard for over ten years, he couldn’t truly establish himself in this city. It wasn’t until his luck turned, when he bought a house in this city, followed by a shop, a second house, a third house... that he finally felt a true sense of belonging and really established himself in this city.

But for him, he essentially remained that rural person from Lu City, only more fortunate than most to have snatched the cabbage in this big city.

This cabbage not only referred to women but also all kinds of material and resources in the big city, like real estate, or more advanced medical, educational, and social security services than those in the countryside.

Chen Feng had no grand ambitions in career or business. His lifelong dream was simply to make money and buy a home to establish himself in this big city.

After falling in love and marrying Shen Lin, an additional dream was to live lovingly with her for a lifetime, have a pair of children, and let them grow up healthy and happy.

This dream, like many ordinary people, was very plain and simple.

However, for an outsider in this big city, realizing this seemingly ordinary dream was extremely difficult. A single house in the big city stumped 99% of outsiders.

Without a house, according to Chinese beliefs and ideas, a couple has no root to stand on in this city, never feels a sense of belonging, and the city will always exclude you. The wife or woman with you will also never have a sense of security.

Now, he can finally give the woman beside him a sense of security, but has already lost his marriage and family.

Gains and losses, between gains and losses, between life and death, Chen Feng sees many things in the world lightly, including money and affection.

He has even less interest in chasing after fame and fortune.

Not to mention, he doesn’t have a bigger bowl to eat more. For rural people like him with no foundation, having too much money is not a good thing, as it has been throughout history.

This is also why Chen Feng doesn’t bother to earn too much money. If you have tens of millions, maybe one or two billion at most, others might not bother with you because there are genuinely many people with that level of wealth in the country now, especially in this big city where rules and laws are ostensibly upheld. Those people can’t just act recklessly.

But once your assets reach ten billion, or even more, and you don’t have the power and ability to protect such wealth, then you’re just a dish or a pig waiting to be slaughtered in some people’s eyes. You’ll bring disaster to yourself and your family.

Therefore, Chen Feng has no intention or desire to join any high-end gatherings, nor does he bother to find any backing for himself.

For a nouveau riche like him with not very high consumption desires, having just enough money is fine. There’s no need to make too much money and wealth for himself. That would be tiring and troublesome, not to mention inviting disaster.

The current level of wealth Chen Feng has is already slightly dangerous to him, which is one reason he buys house after house, shop after shop.

Having tens of millions of cash in a bank card is a bit dazzling, and it doesn’t fit modern financial management concepts. Turning these tens of millions into properties makes them less conspicuous.

Of course, others don’t know Chen Feng’s thoughts and concerns, including Tao Yao, who wants to bring him into their circle. He still thinks Chen Feng is just a homebody, indifferent to fame and fortune.

Actually, if he insists on thinking that way, he’s not entirely wrong. Chen Feng really has been staying at home all this time, living in a semi-reclusive state, so calling him indifferent to fame and fortune isn’t entirely inaccurate.

After saying goodbye to the two second-generation kids, Chen Feng took the two women back and started preparing to move house.

On the other side, Tao Yaoyang and Cai Zhixin returned to the former’s villa, each smoking a cigar and discussing the matter of taking on a construction project.

With Tao Yaoyang’s methods and connections, taking on a rural road construction project in Lu City was a breeze. The issue was how to operate the project once taken on, particularly controlling the quality of the project.

Road construction is undoubtedly a very profitable business, and if quality is compromised, one might make a fifty-percent profit. But the risk is too high. Especially now with rather mature supervision and inspection systems, hardly anyone does so recklessly anymore.

However, maintaining generally acceptable quality can bring about a 30% profit as standard operation.

For example, if the total price of this project is 100 million and you maintain an average level of quality, making a profit of around 30 million is quite easy. Of course, there are definitely some additional costs here, such as public relations fees, which are a considerable expense.

However, by relying on Tao Yaoyang’s relationships and leverage, some unnecessary additional costs are not needed, but Tao Yaoyang would still need to provide his share of benefits after Cai Zhixin makes money.

In this aspect, Cai Zhixin isn’t very sure, since it is his first time taking up such work from his big brother, Tao Yaoyang, and for a while could only superficially chat about some project matters with him.

Seeing this, Tao Yaoyang didn’t make him, this little brother, uncomfortable and directly said, "After the deal is done, you just need to give me 10 percent. If there are later financial strains, I’ll help you figure it out, and if there’s an issue with collections, I’ll help you with that too."

Although losing 10 percent at once pained Cai Zhixin, he knew his place and immediately put on a rejoicing face, saying with a smile, "Then thanks so much, big brother. If not for your help this time, I’d have no way to get by."

Tao Yaoyang shot him a glance and said with some helplessness, "You are still at odds with the old man."

Cai Zhixin could only smile bitterly and say, "It’s not like you don’t know the situation in my family. Even when I go back, I’m unwelcome."

Tao Yaoyang just smacked his lips and didn’t say much.

Cai Zhixin’s father is also considered one of the prominent wealthy figures in Xiu Zhou. But since Cai Zhixin’s mother passed away when he was young, his father married a young, beautiful secretary who then bore him two half-siblings. Furthermore, the stepmother isn’t an easy person to deal with, so the relationship between father and son has never been good.

Of course, Cai Zhixin himself isn’t particularly outstanding either. After graduating from high school, he rebelled fiercely, always clashing with his father, refusing even to attend university. He kept dreaming of starting from scratch like his father, but whatever he did turned to loss, finally finding a bit of success in the stock market.

When he started stock trading, he happened to hit a bull market, where everything he bought rose, and during that time he indeed made quite a bit. But in recent years, when the stock market wasn’t so good, everything he bought fell, gradually losing what he earned, and even ended up in debt. Hence, he sought out Tao Yaoyang for help, to lend him a hand.