Chapter 20: Expecting Others to Bring Happiness

  For several days after the exam, the clear sky remained for a long time. The sunlight continued to move above Xia Hai, a small city. Su Can occasionally went to the rooftop of the building, from where he could see the entire city, with half of it shrouded in a warm yellow light. The light pillars projected from the cloud layer slowly wandered on the ground of the city.

  This is Xiahaishi eleven years ago, many places that were originally buildings are now desolate or abandoned ponds and messy pampas grass reaching the knees.

  The gentle breeze blew, and Su Can felt that this was the place where his fate continued to start anew. This time, he couldn't become a defeated deserter of fate; he wanted to change his life from its previous defeats.

  One day, he can stand in a higher place, just like that, against the clouds rolling and stretching, overlooking this world of withered grass and trees.

  Mom Zeng Ke has been coming home earlier and earlier, and her vacations have increased, but on the contrary, her worried and bitter expression has also increased, making this mother, who is still in her prime at this age, suddenly look several years older.

  Seeing that it was another day off, Su Can asked his mother who was cooking at home in the afternoon, "Mom, is there something wrong? You've been frowning and looking unhappy lately?"

  Zeng Ke, who was picking pea shoots, turned his head and glanced at Su Can. Recently, some things had indeed happened in the unit, causing people to be on edge. However, subconsciously, Zeng Ke still treated Su Can as a child who hadn't grown up. In fact, he really was, and didn't want him to worry about adult matters either. What he should do was just focus on studying well.

  "What does a kid like you know? Nothing! If you have nothing better to do, come help me wash the dishes!"

  Su Caner, the treatment before and after the exam is really different. Before the exam, you don't have to do anything yourself, eating chicken soup, milk, and eggs every day, while after the exam, the food level drops by two grades immediately, and you still have to work.

  Fortunately, Su Can felt that this was a kind of enjoyment. In the future, he would be busy with work and have fewer days off. Sometimes his parents wanted to call him, but he was either entertaining clients or working overtime, let alone helping his parents with anything. Now, thinking about it, Su Can felt a twinge of guilt. He quickly took the vegetables that needed to be washed in the kitchen from his mother's hands and began to wash them under the faucet. His movements were skilled, which made Zeng Ke slightly surprised. When did this lazy son become so diligent?

  It somehow brought her a little comfort in her depressed mood.

  After dinner in the evening, Su Licheng and Zeng Ke broke the convention of not watching TV with Su Can outside, but instead had some arguing voices coming from their room.

  Su Can deliberately turned down the TV volume to its minimum and listened carefully to his parents' conversation on the other end.

  "What's the point of saying anything, this unit is going to collapse anyway. Now they're asking us to voluntarily buy out our seniority and reorganize, it's a joke! I'm so humiliated, I'll lose my job soon, I'll die from embarrassment!" Zeng Ke's voice came through.

  His father Su Licheng hesitated for a moment, "What did your unit leader say?"

  "If you voluntarily buy out your seniority, you can settle now. Based on my seniority, I would get around 30,000 yuan for 15 years. Lan and Wang sisters have already bought out and left. However, if you're willing to stay, the original salary system will change, and each month might be 100 yuan less than before! I asked my brother, and he also looks down on our unit. You know how he is, this time if I lose my job, he'll say 'I told you so' even more. This time, if Huang wasn't giving me face, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to choose for myself!"

  Su Can suddenly remembered what his parents were discussing. His mother had worked as an accountant at a state-owned trading company in Xia Hai City, and initially it was very prestigious, but later the company encountered problems, suffered consecutive losses, and its reputation declined. The company began to consider laying off employees and other issues. At that time, if someone chose to leave by buying out their seniority, the company would pay a severance fee and then settle the matter once and for all.

  At that time, there were two options for my mother: one was to buy out and take the money to start a small business or something similar; the other was to stay in the company with a slightly lower monthly salary than before, so as not to lose her job.

  Later, my mother still didn't take the risk and chose to stay in that trading company. However, within two or three years, the company couldn't survive and finally went bankrupt. My mother was forced to receive severance pay and started her own business. She worked for others for two years before discovering that stationery stores were very profitable at that time. She then opened her own store but missed the golden era. Nevertheless, thanks to this store, our family's life became much better than before.

  "What business can you do? You've forgotten that you used to run a clothing store and lost money consecutively. Whatever business you do, it doesn't work out," said Su Licheng's father.

  "But it can't go on like this, looking at Huang's attitude, he doesn't seem to have much confidence in the company either..."

  "Ah, never mind, I think your company's turmoil is only temporary. Your Huang Zong is also a capable person, and he can probably revive your company too. If you stay inside, even if it doesn't work out in the future, at least they won't treat you badly, and the salary will be higher than what you're getting now." Father said hesitantly.

  Su Chan put on his shoes, walked down from the sofa, came to his parents' door, and knocked gently.

  The discussion between the parents subsided, and Mother's voice rose up, "Su Can, what's going on? Come in."

  Su Can opened the door, and Zeng Ke and Su Licheng were sitting on the sofa in the bedroom, with some materials spread out between them, including household registration books and deposit slips.

  "Dad, Mom, I just heard what you were saying." Su Can sat down on his parents' bed and thought for a moment before saying, "Mom, I think you should buy out your working years and start your own business."

  The parents were stunned, and Father finally sighed and said, "You little kid don't understand anything, go watch TV, don't interrupt adults' business!"

  Zeng Ke blinked his eyes, looked at Su Licheng with a hint of resentment, "The son has also grown up, you haven't seen that he understands many things now, just let him speak, son, what do you think?"

  Su Can thought for a moment, then told himself that his mother's trading company was a product of the planned economy. It struggled in the modern commodity market because its system didn't fit, and it would eventually become a pile of rubble, buried in history. Clinging to what remained wasn't an option, and he already knew the company would inevitably collapse. He guessed his parents would look at him with eyes that measured him like a strange creature.

  Su Can changed his tone, "I read a few books before, and there was a sentence that mentioned, expecting the fate given by others, life is destined to be sad. Mom, whether this company will collapse in the future or not, whether it can develop well or not, these are not important. What's important is that our family's fate is tied together with it, and we're all connected with each other. That Huang Zong may see the face of my uncle today and be nice to you, but if one day my uncle loses his power, he might just say a word, and our family will turn upside down."

  Both parents were stunned, never expecting Su Can to say such words at this time, and yet he sounded so mature. If not for the fact that he was quoting from a book, they would have suspected that their son had grown up too early!

  Su Can's words were almost identical to what he had seen in his mother's notebook, and then he interpreted them. His mother, Zhen Ke, actually had a pioneering mindset, and those words were written by her own hand in the notebook as a motto. Su Can interpreted it as wanting to move his parents fundamentally.

  After rebirth, he was unwilling to face the arrangement of fate. He also wanted his mother not to succumb to fate and create for her the dreams she had never dared to think of!