After Chen Cheng returned, he poured himself a drink; he felt it would be hard to sleep without having a couple of glasses.

He was just considering when to notify the people at his company that he had returned.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Who could it be so late at night?

Chen Cheng opened the door and saw her. "Why are you here?"

Yu Chuhui looked a bit embarrassed. "Senior, I can't sleep. Can I talk to you about what you said today?"

Chen Cheng frowned and glanced at his wrist; it was getting quite late. Seeing the pleading look on Yu Chuhui's face, he still stepped aside and let her into the room.

"Senior, your apartment is decorated so nicely," Yu Chuhui said as soon as she entered, beaming as she looked around at the decor in Chen Cheng's place.

He had handed this apartment over to the company's administration department right after buying it; aside from approving the renovation plan, all other details had been decided by the company's admin staff.

It was decorated in a modern light luxury style, and the furniture and such were all selected by the company's admin staff and the HR Director, Gao Yue, who had led the team.

There was no budget limit, and the company didn't have much business, so they were idle!

Gao Yue and the two young women under her had been incredibly happy picking out the furniture, putting as much effort into it as if they were decorating their own homes.

Chen Cheng was quite satisfied with the final result. In the end, he even let the three of them, who had been busy running around helping, pick a bottle of wine each from his wine cabinet as a token of appreciation.

Chen Cheng smiled and didn't answer her question about the decor. He pointed to the sofa. "Sit down. Would you like something to drink?"

Yu Chuhui rolled her eyes and said, "...Water. Just water is fine."

Chen Cheng poured a glass of water for Yu Chuhui and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Senior," Yu Chuhui said with a forced smile.

Chen Cheng's words in the afternoon had woken her up to the issue of the ceiling on her side jobs.

After Chen Cheng finished speaking, He Minhong had also reminded her of the saying, "The child wishes to support, but the parents are gone," and she realized it was true; she couldn't just leave her mother at home to suffer.

After He Minhong said that, she had immediately rushed to the furniture store to buy a folding bed, preparing to bring her mother over.

Now, in the dead of night, Yu Chuhui finally remembered reality.

She had only graduated a year ago, and her monthly salary had just reached ten thousand; after rent and living expenses, it would be good if she could save half of it.

If she brought her mother over, food wouldn't cost much, and sharing a room with her for a short time wouldn't cost extra, but what about later?

She was already living in a shared apartment, and while Zhu Zhe and He Minhong might politely tell her it was fine for now,

in the long run, there would inevitably be many inconveniences. Moreover, people's patience for matters outside their own concerns wears thin very quickly over time.

Chen Cheng sat down on the main sofa and asked, "When is your mother arriving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," Yu Chuhui said, then took a sip of water; she needed to calm down and think about how to phrase the questions she wanted to ask.

"That's pretty good," Chen Cheng nodded. Although it was a bit impulsive, he still quite admired this trait in Yu Chuhui.

At least she didn't hide things just to save face, leaving her mother at home to suffer domestic violence.

Although her mother wasn't exactly an easy person to deal with either. Some might disagree with Chen Cheng saying that.

But what kind of mother tells her child about every single hardship and asks the child to stand up for justice?

It's just that she saw Yu Chuhui had established a foothold in Shanghai and wanted to escape her own misery to come and enjoy life.

"Senior, what should I do? Now that I think about it, I seem to have been a bit impulsive." Yu Chuhui looked distressed.

Chen Cheng smiled, noncommittally.

Stopping her side jobs, combined with bringing her mother to Shanghai, did indeed seem a bit impulsive.

Chen Cheng thought for a moment and said, "I heard from Zhen Zhen that your workplace is a state-owned enterprise."

Yu Chuhui nodded vigorously, opening up and venting to Chen Cheng about her company's conduct.

The management was backward, formalism and dogmatism were rampant; interpersonal relationships were complicated, with various factions; internal competition was fierce, with people fighting over credit and benefits.

Recently, Yu Chuhui's supervisor had been stealing the patent results belonging to Yu Chuhui and her two colleagues. He had intercepted their patent emails and taken all the credit for himself.

They were just the underlings doing the work; it was one thing not to get credit, but he had even embezzled the patent bonuses.

"Do you know what your leader, Chu, makes a month? Excluding the gray income like embezzlement and kickbacks," Chen Cheng asked the talkative Yu Chuhui.

Yu Chuhui thought for a moment. "I heard it's a little over thirty thousand. A colleague accidentally saw his pay stub."

Chen Cheng started doing the math for Yu Chuhui. "That's three hundred and sixty thousand a year. If we add three months' salary for a year-end bonus, plus the gray income, he probably makes six or seven hundred thousand a year."

"That's quite high." Chen Cheng nodded as he calculated, surprised that a leader who knew nothing and stole credit from subordinates could earn so much.

Many people have been misled by the pace of the internet, always thinking that an annual salary of one million is easy to come by in a metropolis like Shanghai, and they look down on these five or six hundred thousand.

But in reality, even in Shanghai, the group earning a monthly salary of three thousand to five thousand is as high as 65%, six thousand to nine thousand accounts for 15%, and those above ten thousand account for 19%. This means that even as a fresh graduate like Yu Chuhui, her income already exceeds 80% of the people struggling in Shanghai, let alone her leader.

"So, how many years do you think it will take for you to reach the income of your leader, Chu?" Chen Cheng asked.

"Uh..." Yu Chuhui was stunned; she had never even thought about it.

Because it wasn't realistic. With a leader like that blocking the way, an underling like her with no connections would never be able to get ahead in her life.

Chen Cheng smiled, took a sip of his drink, and continued, "Let me do the math for you again. Let's say your current annual salary is 150,000, and your future growth rate is twice the GDP. Your annual salary next year will be about 168,000... and by the tenth year, your annual salary could reach about 450,000."

"Is it that low?" Yu Chuhui was a bit surprised.

She really hadn't thought about what her income would be in ten years, but surely it shouldn't be less than five hundred thousand, right?

Chen Cheng shook his head. Most people overestimate themselves, always thinking they can make a million a year after five years. In reality, after five years, you've just become a skilled worker; whether your salary can double compared to when you first graduated depends on the industry's ups and downs.

"This is already considered a lot. You're not in high-paying positions like programmers. In a medium-sized company, this annual salary would be at the department director level—which is your leader, Chu's level."

"Over ten years, your total salary income would be about three million. If we assume you can save half, that's 1.5 million. Do you think that amount of money will be enough for a down payment in Shanghai in ten years?"

Chen Cheng asked a soul-searching question. "Or are you planning to retreat back to your hometown in a few years?"

Most people who can do well after retreating from a big city to a county town have family connections and relationships locally; it doesn't have much to do with when they return.

And for the vast majority of ordinary workers, there is actually nowhere to retreat to.

How many job opportunities are there in a county town?

It's possible there aren't even any relevant positions.

Are you going to go back and drive for Didi?

Yu Chuhui looked distressed. "Senior, what should I do?"

She had nowhere left to retreat to.

Chen Cheng smiled. This girl had been living too comfortably in the state-owned enterprise, lacking ambition and falling into a mental trap.

"Your current ceiling is Chu Qunli. Since this ceiling cannot satisfy your needs for your future life, why not change to a different ceiling?"

"It's the same thing I said this afternoon: if you can't see a future somewhere, you need to leave immediately. The longer you hesitate, the higher the sunk cost of your time."

After Chen Cheng finished speaking, Yu Chuhui fell into a long silence. Chen Cheng didn't disturb her, continuing to drink his wine.

Although one shouldn't give advice to others lightly, he could handle it.

Moreover, he was looking at the problem from a god's-eye view, so he couldn't help but be fond of being a mentor.