Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 823 - 628: August

The days flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was August.

Social media was in constant turmoil, with countless restrictions being introduced in the realm of short videos.

The recurring chaos seemed poised to escalate unchecked.

Little Third, Chen Lu, stayed at his Second Sister’s place for a while before he started clamoring daily to play with the little girl Su Xiaoxi.

This time, he wouldn’t listen to anything; even getting smacked by Er Piya didn’t help, and when his mom came over to discipline him, he just bawled his eyes out.

All he wanted was to play with Su Xiaoxi.

Good grief… this kid is truly set on becoming a bootlicker, isn’t he?

From the way he was crying, it seemed like the only solution was to let him meet Su Xiaoxi—otherwise, the wailing wouldn’t stop.

Song Yanxi had no choice but to send him to Xiao Su’s house.

The moment Little Third saw Su Xiaoxi, he broke into an awkward, silly grin. The little girl barely paid him any attention, yet he still happily trailed behind her, running in her wake.

Such devotion is unmatched.

August remained relatively uneventful, apart from the struggles in traditional business sectors.

Other divisions in the group weren’t severely impacted, and the two-billion employee welfare fund initiated earlier had officially been launched.

The first ones to crumble under pressure were Fei Yangyang’s stores; though many shops shut down, the primary issue was the severe impact of the pandemic.

Despite maintaining employee benefits, monthly net losses ranged from twenty to forty million yuan.

Calculated over a year, that amounts to roughly three to five billion yuan.

For most companies, losses of this magnitude would force them to shut down within two years.

The businesses under Tengying Group, however, remained financially robust.

While the group managed to hold its ground, the two newer companies under the New Energy division were a different story.

The major shareholders withdrew their investments, and no sooner was the announcement made in the morning than the CEO practically fled abroad by afternoon.

As for the clients and employees? They were completely disregarded.

It’s truly a tragic time for the working-class folks. All they want is a job, but they’re forced to take out loans just to buy one of the company’s vehicles.

Before they can even pay off the loans, the company declares bankruptcy and shuts down, leaving them without any unpaid wages or compensation.

This is blatant exploitation of labor laws!

Such actions don’t just tarnish a single company’s reputation; they cast a shadow over the entire New Energy industry.

Online, a particularly intriguing topic went viral: one of these unstable companies had invited A-list celebrities as spokespersons just a month before its collapse.

It had even boasted to the public about its hefty financial reserves. But by the next month, car buyers couldn’t even locate the manufacturer!

The internet buzzed with speculation about which New Energy car company would be the next to go under.

When it comes to Baidu’s investments, it seems nine out of ten end in failure—they’re always early to the party but late to the game, leaving behind scraps for them to scavenge.

Among domestic giants, Tencent undoubtedly stands out as the most competent investor.

This is simply indisputable.

As for Alibaba and Baidu, they’re more inclined toward aggressively seizing operational control, only to end up with chaos and disarray.

And so, the quiet storm of trust issues in the New Energy industry began brewing.

Over on Xu Pidai’s side, the rallying slogans are deafening, with testing data seemingly head and shoulders above all else.

But for now, it’s all slogans and no cars.

There are only a handful of companies genuinely committed to making cars, and the New Energy sector faces a significant issue: freewebnoveℓ.com

Car marketing increasingly resembles smartphone marketing, emphasizing features like refrigerators, TVs, or oversized sofas, or touting this smart system and that smart chassis.

Absent the online hype and blind marketing enthusiasts, those truly knowledgeable about automobile manufacturing understand one simple truth: cars aren’t disposable consumer goods.

Consumers capable of upgrading their vehicles every few years are absolutely a minority.

Even affluent buyers overwhelmingly favor classic luxury models like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW X5, and Audi A6.

Only people who don’t own a car might mistakenly believe that genuine wealth means ditching a Maybach for a New Energy vehicle.

For those with ultra-high consumption power, the ultimate choices remain Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

As for claims that Rolls-Royce cars are "for old folks" and New Energy is the hallmark of the intelligent era?

Anyone making such remarks usually doesn’t even own a Santana.

Simply put: when government officials uniformly start driving New Energy cars, that’s when the industry will truly have arrived.

Chen Pingsheng remains devoted to the fundamentals of car manufacturing: ease of driving, durability, and zero minor issues within 100,000 kilometers.

Another key focus is exceptional value for money.

As for those marketing warriors proclaiming that driving New Energy cars makes even Rolls-Royces feel like tractors?

If anyone in the company dares to make such claims publicly, Chen would fire them on the spot.

For regular folks, owning three cars over a lifetime is already a remarkable achievement. Expecting them to replace cars every two or three years is fundamentally unrealistic.

All so-called smart driving features are inherently auxiliary functions. If you were to actually let them drive hands-free on highways, who would bear responsibility for accidents?

The car manufacturer or the individual?

The value of human life far outweighs any profit. Compensation won’t undo the damage if lives are lost.

This obsession with smart driving features is just a ploy to exploit two waves of young consumers.

Anyone older, with real purchasing power, couldn’t care less about these gimmicks.

Tengfei New Energy continues to advance steadily. In addition to producing pure electric vehicles, they also manufacture extended-range and hybrid cars.

As for the costly AI-driven smart driving technology, the focus has always been on auxiliary functionality.

Never an attempt to fully replace human drivers.

Frankly, Chen doesn’t see a promising future for autonomous driving under the current economic conditions and traffic environment.

If this technology were to eliminate middle-aged workers, society would likely explode in outrage.

August 5th.

Chang Fu came looking for Chen, reporting that Gao Hu had been accused of selling counterfeit goods.

"What is there to discuss? Selling fake goods? Then just compensate, right?"

"He wants to compensate, but he just repaid 100 million last month."

"He’s making bank with this livestreaming gig. Just a few months, and he’s already hit a small target!"

"Yeah, it’s lucrative, but there are risks involved."

Gao Hu’s long journey to pay off debts still has no end in sight.

Chang Fu came mainly to inform; Chen Pingsheng didn’t overthink the matter.

After attending a conference in Capital City, Chen found himself enjoying a leisurely life.

"I have to ask: are you serious about pursuing that health-focused startup? My wife already invested three billion in you, but at the snail’s pace you’re moving, the project’s yellowed before it even takes off."

Chang Fu grew a bit embarrassed. "It’s out of my hands now; once we started, I realized it’s far more challenging than anticipated. Only someone like you could easily cross industries like this—it’s like scaling a mountain for others."

Chen Pingsheng shook his head. "If you’re not planning on moving forward, you’d better return my wife’s investment quickly, unless you want her to confront you directly."

"Alright… I’ll have finance transfer the money tomorrow."

Chang Fu had entered the venture with grand ambitions, only to discover that the field of traditional Chinese medicine and wellness was entirely outside his expertise.

In addition to needing money, the market also demanded high levels of professional knowledge.

It’s not a field you can succeed in just by wanting it. Though initially planning a ten-billion investment, he’d borrowed three billion from his wife and hadn’t even spent one billion yet.

This wasn’t seizing a windfall; it was more like helping an old lady cross the street.