Daily Intelligence System: Financial Independence-Chapter 160 - 123: Golden Toad Acquired!

At midnight, Xiaoshanhe Urban Village, bustling all day, finally quiets down.

In a dim alley lit by flickering dark red lights.

Zhang Chao smokes a cigarette as he walks home, silently regretting adding more time earlier.

After a whole day of selling fruit tirelessly, he only earns two or three hundred yuan.

Yet, in just a short moment, he lost 400 yuan.

The more he thinks about it, the more he feels it’s a loss.

After finishing his cigarette, Zhang Chao returns to his rented apartment building.

He swipes his card to enter the building and goes upstairs to his small room.

Without even taking off his shoes, he flops onto the messy bed.

Zhang Chao’s gaze fixes on the ceiling.

His mind first conjures up the voluptuous figure of the woman who had extended his time earlier.

Then comes the scene of being with Jiang Tao’s family last night.

Clearly, before the New Year, Brother Jiang and he had both been in the ride-hailing business.

The difference was that he transported fruits, while Brother Jiang moved goods, and there wasn’t much difference between them.

When did the gap suddenly widen?

After the New Year, he remained the same, still a poor loser.

But Brother Jiang seemed to have changed completely, with a whole new aura.

Now, he drives a Mercedes GLS worth over a million, accompanied by a wife prettier and with a better figure than a top star.

He rented a big house with a monthly rent of 15,000 yuan without a second thought.

"On the Sugar Orange project, Brother Jiang at most made hundreds of thousands, so why..."

"Is there some other more lucrative project that I don’t know about?"

"Stocks? Funds? Or did he win a lottery?"

"Or did he meet some benefactor who gave him a boost?"

"Ah! I really envy Brother Jiang’s good fortune!"

"Even though he hasn’t bought a house yet, he drives a luxury car, has a beautiful wife, and a cute kid. He’s a real winner in life."

"Unlike me, neglected by my father, unloved by my mother, everything is for my younger brother. What the heck am I..."

As he thought about these things, memories of unhappy experiences during the New Year at home flooded back, bringing tears of grievance to his eyes.

After the New Year, Zhang Chao had turned 29, almost reaching 30.

At his age, he was considered an older single youth in the village. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Having only graduated from junior high, Zhang Chao lacked education, skills, and ambition, enjoying foot massages instead.

He earns eighty to ninety thousand a year selling fruit in Beijing. After daily expenses and massages, he would be lucky to save two or three thousand by year’s end.

Given the rising costs of marriage nowadays, even if he worked hard for another ten years, he wouldn’t be able to save enough for a bride price.

His parents never bothered with arranging marriage for him, leaving their eldest son entirely to fend for himself.

Even though his younger brother is four years younger, only 25 this year,

his parents are busily arranging matches for him, setting up six meetings in a single day during the New Year holiday.

As the older brother, Zhang Chao seemed indifferent on the surface but was inwardly twisted with envy.

So many match-making candidates, even if...

just one could be reserved for him!

But, he didn’t have even one.

To top it off, when his parents were arranging to buy a house for his brother in the county, they asked him to help cover the down payment.

Zhang Chao said he had no money, and his mother even suggested borrowing online to help his brother through this challenge first.

The house purchase for his brother sparked a row between Zhang Chao and his parents.

He was scolded for not being a responsible brother and called an ungrateful wretch.

In a fit of rage, Zhang Chao went back to Beijing on the fifth night of the New Year holiday.

"Am I really their biological son?"

Thinking about how differently his parents treated him and his brother, Zhang Chao felt a wave of desolation in his heart.

He had always been the child his parents didn’t care about.

After his brother was born, his parents sent him to live with his grandparents.

He stayed with them until he graduated junior high.

After his grandparents passed away, Zhang Chao moved back into his parents’ home.

In name, he was part of the family, but the interactions were awkward, always feeling like he was a bit extra.

As for the warmth of family, he never felt it at all.

Reflecting on his nearly thirty years of life.

Zhang Chao saw innumerable bricks labeled "failure" rushing toward him, pinning him down with suffocating pressure.

...

Bai Gezhuang District.

Jiang Tao uncharacteristically got up early.

When he awoke, Xu Li and Jiang Xue were still sound asleep.

He quietly got out of bed, washed up quickly, and went downstairs.

At home, Xu Li always took care of the household, attentive in every detail.

Coming to Beijing, such an unfamiliar environment, Xu Li inevitably felt a bit uncomfortable.

As a husband, Jiang Tao assumed his responsibilities, reversing roles to take care of Xu Li and their Little Cotton Padded Jacket.

Downstairs, he walked out of the district, reaching the commercial area where they dined last night in less than five minutes.

Besides restaurants, hair salons, and smoke shops, there were also breakfast stores here.

Not far away, there was a morning market selling vegetables.

Early in the morning, the street was bustling with hurried pedestrians.

Besides those rushing to the early shift, many elderly folks with baskets were heading to the morning market.

Jiang Tao stopped across the street from the "Yu Xiang Renjia" restaurant where they had dinner last night, gazing at the entrance.

Last night, in the rush, he hadn’t noticed, but today he saw that the restaurant was up for lease.

On the restaurant’s large glass window, a red notice reading "Prosperous Shop for Lease" stood out prominently.

Jiang Tao took two steps forward, adjusted his angle, and looked inside through the gap next to the "Prosperous Shop for Lease" notice.