Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

That shop owned by his sister may be small, but the clothes are astronomically expensive. Without tens of millions, you won't even begin to cover the damages.

Rich people understand one truth: if your family is wealthy enough, smashing up a Rolls-Royce on the street is no big deal.

But touching an Audi A6? Definitely not. And as for a Hongqi L5—that's completely untouchable.

If you can't afford to pay for the damages, then you'll only have one other option: jail.

How many years you'll serve depends on the circumstances of the victim. Looking at his sister's shop situation, if the case ends up in Golden Mountain...

The guy may not see the outside of a prison for ten years.

When he walked in, he saw a mess of shattered debris on the floor. The half-drunk buzzcut guy, seeing Chen Pingsheng arrive in a Bugatti with a retinue of bodyguards, visibly panicked.

"Brother, is this your shop?"

"No, I opened this little shop for my sister. And wouldn't you know, you just happened to smash it up."

"Brother, your family must be pretty loaded."

"Just so-so. Though I poured over a hundred million into this little shop. Forget about the storefront itself; I won't even bother counting that. But my sister's clothes are worth at least ten or twenty million. Add in other damages, and about twenty-five million should just about cover it."

Chen Pingsheng spoke in an extremely calm tone, saying words that would make anyone feel like their world was collapsing.

The tattooed buzzcut instantly sobered up. "Brother, my big brother is Jiang Hu—you must know him, right? Could you cut me a little slack?"

"Sorry, but I really don't know this 'Jiang Hu' you're talking about. Anyway, I don't need to know every random Tom, Dick, or Harry."

Chen Pingsheng found a spot to sit and waited for his sister to arrive. His older sister was already on her way too.

The buzzcut guy was itching to act tough, maybe throw out a few harsh words—but seeing the setup in front of him, he didn't dare.

"Brother, it's all just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding or not, talk to me when you can come up with twenty-five million."

"What if I can't?"

"No problem—just sit in prison for seven or eight years."

"Come on, you're f***ing kidding, right?"

The buzzcut guy suddenly stood up, but the bodyguards next to Chen Pingsheng acted immediately, forcing him back into his seat.

"You're not even qualified for me to joke around with you. You've got three hours to gather the money. If you still can't come up with the compensation after three hours, you'll likely regret even having the option to regret."

This guy was truly unlucky, introduced by a friend to meet the cheongsam boutique's gorgeous boss from the neighboring shop.

The boss lady was way wealthier than him and no fool.

She already knew that the boutique's storefront belonged to someone who had purchased it outright to open the shop.

If someone could buy a storefront in this prime area on Nanjing Street, even for a small shop, they're on a whole other level of capability.

The buzzcut guy, as usual, talked big—after a few drinks, he was acting like the king of the world.

The boss lady found this kind of person detestable, which made her casually exploit the situation a little. But who could have imagined that he'd actually go smash up a shop?

Smashing up a cheongsam boutique in Magic City—what kind of lunacy is that?

A premium custom cheongsam could cost tens of thousands or even millions per piece. If your family doesn't have billions, only a fool would dare to smash a boutique like this.

When she heard he really went and smashed the shop, the boss lady immediately disappeared on the spot.

She gave him no chance to explain or ask her to share the responsibility. No matter how many calls he made, she refused to pick up.

Encountering a fool is one thing—a fool as stupid as this is rare.

When his sister, Chen Qi, showed up, the buzzcut guy was even more terrified.

Turns out, he'd offended a nest of wealthy elites—Bentleys and Rolls-Royces were everywhere.

"Brother, you came pretty fast."

"What did you expect? Unlike you, I don't take my sweet time showing up after my shop gets smashed."

Chen Qi wasn't embarrassed in the least. "Isn't that what brothers are for? Magic City may be big, but is there anything you can't handle?"

"Quit kissing up. Find someone to tally up the losses here."

"Brother, I don't even know this guy. Why would he smash my shop?"

"He's an idiot who got used by someone else."

Chen Pingsheng shrugged it off. "Don't worry about all that—whoever smashed your shop is responsible, end of story."

"Alright then..."

"Once you've calculated everything, send me an expense report. I'll let the legal team in Golden Mountain handle the lawsuit and see how much he can pay."

He thought it might be interesting to see the commotion but ended up just witnessing pure stupidity.

This kind of guy will do anything to chase after rich women—didn't even ask questions before charging in to smash up the shop.

Chen Pingsheng had no intention to go easy on him. Whatever has to be done will be done.

His sister, Chen Qi, took one look at the buzzcut guy and immediately predicted that there was no way he'd be able to afford her shop's damages.

If he can't pay, everything will go through the legal channels. No need to elaborate—the only question is how many years he'll serve and how much he can compensate while behind bars.

The loss to the shop was upwards of tens of millions, and this guy wrecked his life with just a few swings of a hammer.

Some things happen inexplicably.

Take that barbecue brawl incident blowing up on TikTok—just trying to eat some barbecue.

Someone hits on a few girls, gets rejected, and ends up dragging people outside to beat them. What happens next? Drives off in a Maybach, gets caught halfway down the road.

And then, all the connections one by one get exposed.

The whole district's reputation takes the hit.

Makes such a stir that the top leader of that area's position gets shaken.

If you shake their position, it'd be odd if they didn't come down hard on you.

Once their position is threatened, heavy-handed measures are a given.

Chen Pingsheng thought he might run into someone of significance, but it turned out to just be some reckless hothead—from some small place no less.

Before Chen Qi even arrived, she had already called the police. The first step was to take the guy to the station.

After that, it was all negotiation for compensation. Can't pay? Straight to litigation. Follow the process step by step—once this guy goes in, he's not coming out anytime soon.

When everything settled down, Chang Fu rushed over to watch the drama unfold. Back in the day, they were tough characters too, but after living in society long enough, they all learned one truth:

The poor can't compare to the rich, and the rich can't compare to those in power.

Like Chen Pingsheng, who was already half-businessman, half-official.

Chang Fu hurried over to see what was happening but felt like he'd come for nothing.

The buzzcut guy was bawling his eyes out at the police station. He had been living a decent life, but now, with one rash move...

Everything was gone, and he was staring down seven or eight years of life behind bars.

The rest of his life was nothing but gloom and despair.

Even if he wanted to get on his knees and apologize, Chen Pingsheng and the others were long gone, leaving it all for the lawyers to handle.

A purely business-like approach.

As for the cheongsam boutique owner who started it all, Chen Qi would have to deal with her directly. Someone with his standing stooping to bully a small-time boutique owner? That'd be embarrassing.

Completely unnecessary.

"Old Chen, who'd have thought one day we'd get our shop smashed, huh?"

"Isn't that perfectly normal? Back in the day, this used to happen all the time; now it hardly ever does."

"True."

Chang Fu sighed, "I remember when I was a trainee—fights breaking out outside the school all the time. Any slight disagreement could bring dozens of people yelling and swinging. Not like now."

"Which isn't a bad thing. I still remember working in Guangdong years ago—one wrong look, and you'd have three or four people coming after you."

From the early 2000s to 2010, so many places were just chaotic.

Fights were everywhere.

As for the 1990s, those were on a whole other level—take those gangster movies they made in Xiangjiang.

A random village from the Mainland could probably wipe out those guys.

Back then in '95, two villages got into a fight with over 5,000 people involved.

That wasn't just kitchen knives and hoes waved in front of someone's door—it was old rifles and mortars.

Even dugout trenches and village leaders calling the shots.

Pull that kind of force into Xiangjiang, and whatever Jiulong Emperor or Causeway Bay big shot would be lucky to last one round.

Not an exaggeration—during those days in the Mainland, many places were like armed societies.

Anyone who's seen battles like that knows how laughable those gangster movies are.

Nowadays, the true big shots all wear suits and ties—just like Chen Pingsheng, sitting at tables, chatting, and humbly sipping tea.

Chang Fu, Gao Hu, and people like them all came from that era.

Back then, trying to start any kind of business without some tough measures meant getting your shop smashed or dealing with endless trouble.

Compared to then, things now are so much better.

Short videos just amplify certain societal injustices. To anyone who lived through that period, it's clear—the current era is truly the most peaceful one.