Chapter 160: New Year’s Daily Routine

The next day, the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month, Wu Mengting left the Chen family in the afternoon.

Lin Yujiao also returned to her parents’ home in Haiwan Town in the afternoon.

Chen Feng didn’t go out to fool around anymore. He stayed at home obediently, chatting with a few women, reading novels, and scrolling through short videos.

After dinner, his father, Chen Dayong, asked him and his brother to check the accounts.

The two brothers had opened a car beauty shop together. Chen Feng had invested the most and was considered the big boss. Usually, the shop was managed by Chen Rui, the second boss. Now that it was the end of the year, they definitely had to check the accounts.

It was a matter of principle to settle accounts clearly even between brothers.

Otherwise, many brothers had turned against each other because of money problems.

Chen Dayong and Zhao Xiaolan watched the whole process, afraid that their two sons would have a falling out because the accounts were not clear.

Of course, Chen Feng didn’t care about the business of this car beauty shop. If it weren’t for keeping it a secret and not wanting to spoil the current family relationship, Chen Feng would have revealed his true net worth to his family long ago.

In addition, there was no reason for a brother to give a large sum of money to the other for free. Otherwise, even if it didn’t lead to resentment, it would easily spoil the original brotherly relationship.

So, even though Chen Feng didn’t care about this little money now and didn’t want to calculate the shop’s accounts too clearly in his heart, under the supervision of his parents, Chen Feng and his brother Chen Rui still used a calculator to calculate it clearly, and then compared it with the bank account amount of the shop.

After all, it was just a small shop, and it had only been in business for four months. The accounts to be checked and calculated were not very troublesome.

Now it was basically mobile payment, and there was very little cash payment. Every mobile payment had a record to check. Even if Chen Rui embezzled all the cash from the customers, it probably wouldn’t be much.

In addition, after deducting operating costs, including water and electricity, materials, employee salaries, etc., the balance was the net profit of the two.

The two brothers spent more than two hours checking the accounts. In the end, the balance was about 200,000 yuan, with an average monthly net profit of forty to fifty thousand yuan. This was still profitable.

The main reason was that now Qingpu Town only had their car wash shop. In the last two or three months of the year, it was equivalent to their car wash shop’s exclusive business, so of course it was more profitable.

If they opened another one here in the future, or even restored the previous three, the business would definitely be much worse.

Now Chen Feng owned 70% of the shares in this shop. He could take 140,000 of the 200,000, and Chen Rui 60,000.

In this regard, Chen Feng was indifferent, but the rest of the family was very satisfied. Chen Rui and Li Guihong’s couple were even more overjoyed.

In the past, Chen Rui worked hard to pull a cart and transport goods. He worked hard all year and at most earned about 100,000 yuan. This was a good year. And now, in just four months, he had earned about 100,000 yuan. In addition to the 60,000 yuan dividend, he also had a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan, which was 32,000 yuan in four months. What else was there to be dissatisfied with?
However, Chen Feng quickly gave him more money, “Brother, as the owner of the car wash shop, you have worked hard and made great contributions. You should definitely get a bonus at the end of the year. How about this, a bonus of 50,000 yuan to reward your good work performance this year.”

Chen Rui was stunned for a moment, then immediately shook his head and said, “This is not right, not right. As the owner of the shop, I already get a salary of 8,000 yuan a month. It’s too much to get a bonus. There’s no such reason.”

Chen Feng said with a smile, “How is there no such reason? When I was working in Xiuzhou, the company would give employees a year-end bonus at the end of the year, more or less. Basically, it was at least two or three months’ salary, and some were even 12 months’ salary.”

Chen Dayong said, “12 months’ salary? There’s no such thing as giving money like that, right?”

“That’s right,” Zhao Xiaolan also said. “Your two brothers have only been running this shop for four months. You’re giving him 12 months’ salary as a year-end bonus?”

Chen Rui shook his head with a smile and said, “I’m also the boss. What year-end bonus? Xiaofeng, don’t give me money. If it weren’t for you helping me, this shop wouldn’t have been opened.”

“Brother, one thing is one thing. A year-end bonus is definitely necessary. Even if we hire someone else to be the shop manager in the future, this year-end bonus must also be given. How about this, you think 50,000 is too much, then I’ll give you 4 months’ salary. 32,000. We’ll deduct it from our 200,000. After deducting it, we’ll take out 100,000 to divide according to our shares, and the remaining tens of thousands will be left in the account as operating funds for next year.”

“No. 32,000 is also too much,” Chen Rui shook his head and refused again.

“Alright. It’s settled,” Chen Feng said in a firm tone. “As the shop manager, you get up early and work late every day, from morning to night. It’s not too much to give you 12 months’ salary as a year-end bonus every year. Otherwise, I won’t feel at ease taking this money.”

Li Guihong said with a smile on the side, “Since Ah Feng has said so, you should agree. We’re brothers. Why are you being so polite?”

Hearing her words, Zhao Xiaolan glared at her unhappily.

Li Guihong pretended not to see it and said to Chen Feng with a smile, “Ah Feng, thank you. Xiaoyu will be going to preschool next year, and she also has to attend some tutoring classes. This all costs money. I won’t be polite with you.”

“What are you thanking me for? It’s money that brother should have.”

Seeing Chen Feng say this, Li Guihong was very happy.

Seeing this, Chen Dayong acted as a middleman and said, “Then let’s do it this way. Ah Rui gets up early and works late every day. He has indeed contributed a lot to this shop. He should be given a bonus.”

Zhao Xiaolan said with a slightly stern face, “A bonus should be given, but it must be linked to the shop’s profit. If the shop’s business is not good next year, should we still give such a bonus? There’s no such reason. I think Ah Feng can take out a part of the shop’s profit to give to Ah Rui as a reward, for example, 10% of the profit.”

After all, Zhao Xiaolan also ran a small shop and had attended elementary school. She still had some knowledge.

Chen Rui immediately responded, “Mom is right. It should be like this. Otherwise, if the shop’s business is not good in the future and the monthly profit is only twenty or thirty thousand, should we still take out eight thousand to give the shop manager a bonus?
This precedent cannot be set. I won’t be the shop manager forever. At most, 10% of the profit will be used as a year-end bonus. This is already a lot.”

Li Guihong was so angry that she secretly stepped on Chen Rui’s foot under the table, which made him almost cry out in pain.

Chen Feng also agreed with this plan and said, “Then let’s implement this plan next year. This year, we’ll do as I said, four months’ salary. Alright, that’s it. Brother, you can use your phone to operate it and divide the money.”

“Alright, alright, we’ll implement this plan next year,” Li Guihong said happily and pushed Chen Rui slightly.

Chen Rui glanced at his mother with some guilt. Seeing that her face was still calm and she didn’t object, he was relieved. He then picked up his phone and said, “Alright then, I’ll take advantage of it this time.”

Soon, Chen Rui operated his phone and transferred the respective dividends from the shop’s public account to the two brothers’ private accounts.

“OK! Done. That’s it. I’m going back to my room.”

Chen Feng stood up and was about to leave.

“Wait a minute,” his mother called out to him. “You give me this 70,000 yuan to keep. I’ll give it to you when you get married, so you don’t spend it recklessly outside.”

Chen Feng originally wanted to find an opportunity to give this money to his mother as a filial piety. It was just that for the sake of his brother and sister-in-law, it was not good to give it to his parents on the spot. Otherwise, they were both his parents’ sons. If Chen Feng gave, and Chen Rui, the older brother, didn’t, it would look a little bad.

Now that his mother took the initiative to ask him for it, Chen Feng couldn’t help but think of the red envelopes that had gone and never returned since he was a child. He couldn’t help but feel a little sad in his heart.

“Mom, you’re tricking me out of my red envelope,” Chen Feng said with a bitter face.

“What nonsense? I’m telling you to save it with me, so save it with me. Just transfer it to me on WeChat.”

Zhao Xiaolan’s expression was unquestionable.

Chen Rui said sympathetically to his younger brother, “Mom, you should leave some for Ah Feng. He’s a grown man now and needs money with him.”

“He has a lot of money. He’s fooling around outside, not coming home at night, and traveling everywhere. If I don’t help him save some, he’ll spend it all soon.”

Obviously, his mother was a little dissatisfied with his recent romantic performance.

“Alright, alright, money is gone, people are happy. Mom, don’t say anymore. I’ll transfer it to you right away.”

Chen Feng picked up his phone and happily transferred 70,000 yuan to his mother.
After Zhao Xiaolan received the money, she nodded with satisfaction and waved her hand, “Alright, go.”

Chen Feng turned and left.

Chen Rui could only show deep sympathy for his younger brother. The money was snatched by his mother before it was even warm.

After returning to his room, Chen Feng couldn’t help but smile.

He was originally thinking about how to find an excuse to give this money to his mother as a filial piety. Her taking the initiative to ask for it saved him the trouble.

In the blink of an eye, the next day was the thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month. Early in the morning, his mother and sister-in-law were busy in the kitchen, preparing a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner.

Chen Feng, on the other hand, was like a salted fish, watching TV with his father and brother in the small shop in front, and at the same time watching Xiaoyu and Xiaoxue play in front of the house.

At this time, many little brats appeared in groups on the street, having a great time. From time to time, there was a “pop” sound, which was the sound of sand firecrackers being thrown on the ground and exploding.

Children basically liked this kind of “small firecracker” very much. It was safe and interesting to play with. You just had to take it out and throw it on the ground, and it would explode by itself.

In the past few days, his family’s small shop mainly did this kind of business. Because firecrackers were sold exclusively, small shops had long been out of the business.

In addition, there were some small toys for children, which were placed at the door and could attract many children to come and watch. Then they would beg their parents to come and buy them, or older children would buy them directly with their own money.

In this way, the business was not bad. So much so that on the thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month, his parents were reluctant to close the shop and rest.

At about one o’clock in the afternoon, the whole family began to eat.

After eating, Chen Feng took his two little nieces for a walk outside, and then went back to his room to sleep. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

At five o’clock, Chen Feng was woken up by his mother and asked him and his brother to go to their own fields to pick vegetables.

The two brothers then took a broken knife and a bucket to pick vegetables. There were Chinese cabbage, shepherd’s purse, and white radish.

On the way, his older brother, Chen Rui, happily told him about his plan to buy a house in the town next year.

The couple had long wanted to buy a new house. After all, living with their parents every day was somewhat not good. Especially between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Zhao Xiaolan was a relatively strong mother-in-law. Li Guihong, this daughter-in-law, was obviously suppressed, and this suppression had been going on for several years. Although she did not dare to resist, she still had some resentment in her heart.

So, in the past few years, the couple had been saving money to buy a house.

This time, he got more than 100,000 yuan from the shop. Plus his previous savings, it was almost enough to buy a house.

A new apartment in their town, a 120-square-meter unfurnished apartment, was only about 300,000 yuan.

Of course, Chen Feng did not object to this. It was definitely not good to live with elders for a long time. He said, “Our house is a bit old. It’s almost twenty years old, right? I remember it was built when I was in the third or fourth grade of elementary school.”

“It’s almost twenty years old. Although it’s still comfortable to live in, it’s definitely not as convenient as an apartment. Isn’t there an apartment being built in front of our house? It will be completed in the first half of next year. It has an elevator, which is pretty good. It’s also close to our parents.”

“Yes, that place is not bad. There’s a small park not far away, and it’s also very close to the market. If you don’t have enough money, I can lend you some.”

“That’s not necessary. My wife and I have saved some money over the years. My wife has been thinking about buying a house for several years.”

“I didn’t see it. You two actually have so much private money? The house costs about 300,000 yuan, and the decoration will cost at least 100,000 yuan, right?”

“The money for the house is barely enough. Let’s buy it first. The decoration is not urgent. We can wait until our shop makes money next year to decorate it.”

“Then won’t you be able to move in until the year after next?”

“That depends on how good the business of the shop is. If we can earn fifty or sixty thousand a month, I might move in at the end of next year.”

“I think you shouldn’t let sister-in-law wait too long. As soon as the house is built, you should decorate it right away. If you don’t have enough money, I’ll lend it to you then.”

“This… let’s talk about it later,” Chen Rui said with some hesitation. “I’m really a little reluctant to move out all of a sudden.”

Chen Feng said with a smile, “You are reluctant. But sister-in-law has been dreaming of moving out early.”

Chen Rui was speechless. There was no need to explain anything in front of his own brother.

Although his mother and wife were harmonious on the surface, his wife had complained to him about his mother in private.

And his mother was indeed a bit strict with his wife sometimes.

“Alright, it’s decided. As soon as the house is built, we’ll decorate it right away.”

Chen Rui nodded and didn’t say anything more.

When the two brothers returned home, they found that their little uncle, whom they hadn’t seen for several years, had come.

Little uncle Zhao Guozhong was in his forties this year. He had been fond of eating and lazy since he was a child. He was a loafer. He had managed to marry a wife when he was young, but he still couldn’t keep her. She ran away, and he was still an old bachelor.

A few years ago, he borrowed 100,000 yuan from his two older sisters, including 50,000 from Zhao Xiaolan, to do business in another province, and then there was no news.

And now, on the thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month, he suddenly appeared here. Chen Feng felt that it was really not a good thing.

“Ah Rui, Ah Feng, come, come, try the ginseng cigarettes I specially brought back from the northeast. You’ve definitely never smoked them before.”

Little uncle came up enthusiastically to give the two brothers cigarettes.

Ah Rui took it without being polite. Chen Feng waved his hand and said, “I don’t smoke.”

“You kid, why don’t you smoke yet? Come, you must smoke this time. This is a health-preserving cigarette. It’s good for your body to smoke it.”

Chen Feng couldn’t help but roll his eyes and waved his hand, “I really don’t smoke. You guys smoke.”

After saying that, Chen Feng bypassed him and walked towards the back of the kitchen.