Chapter 22: Sticking One's Foot In

  "You borrowed 50,000 yuan from us, and we're also tight on cash. Zhen Na is going to college next year and needs money too. You have a good job, why did you just quit like that?" Auntie frowned at the family roundtable meeting, in front of her were various cups, plates, and dishes on the table with delicious food.

  Next to him, the chubby Zeng Yuan was eating with great relish. If it were in the past, Su Can would have been just like Zeng Yuan, and nothing, not even the king of heaven, could have intimidated him as long as there was food in front of him. However, now Su Can was more focused on their conversation.

  Zeng Na was surprisingly not annoyed by Su Can's gluttonous eating, which was somewhat unexpected. Sometimes she disliked her younger brother for this reason, as he didn't look as cute as Zeng Yuan, but had just as many bad habits. For example, at the moment, Zeng Yuan's eating appearance could be described as cute, but if it were Su Can, it would make her feel disgusted. Sometimes, what she liked and disliked was simply a matter of definition.

  Su Can noticed Zeng Na's gaze, raised his head, smiled at Zeng Na, and his eyes sparkled.

  Zeng Na was taken aback for a moment. When had she ever seen her younger brother's sunny side? It didn't even make her feel annoyed. Maybe after drinking some soup, his face started to flush red, and he turned back, continuing with an air of indifference, picking up where their mother left off. "Moreover, you bought out your working years and invested the borrowed money in business. If Su Can hadn't been admitted to high school, we would have had to pay a large sum of money. Where was that money supposed to come from?"

  Everyone stopped eating and looked at Su Can together.

  Little brother Yuan also said at this time, "Right, big brother, I think you're going to be eliminated! Anyway, I didn't have too much hope for you!"

  He spoke with a pretentious air of being an old hand at this sort of thing, and for a moment it was laughable.

  Bang! The back of his head was heavily slapped by his father, Zeng Zhao Ding. At a glance, Zeng Zhao Ding could tell that he used to be a gangster, with a more sinister aura than a handsome one, his face darkening as he spoke hastily, "This little rascal, you look so fake and experienced! Is your brother capable or not? You're the one who should be talking here!"

  Zeng Zhaoding turned his head, glanced at Su Can, and then turned to Zeng Ke, "Right, Zeng Na is also right. You're not like us, with hundreds of thousands coming in and out! You say you invested the money in business, but we all know about Su Can's lavish spending habits! If he can't afford it, he'll just ask for money. Where did this money come from?"

  Xiao Shu's brother Zeng Zhao Ding had always been prejudiced against Su Can and extremely disliked him, not for any other reason than that whenever Zeng Yuan did something wrong, he would shift the blame onto Su Can, saying it was Su Can who taught him to do it. Many times, Su Can couldn't explain himself at all, and as a result, Xiao Shu's prejudice against Su Can grew deeper and deeper, even to the point where he would feel disgusted just by seeing him. Now that there was an opportunity to strike back at him, naturally, he wouldn't let it slip away.

  After all, they were talking about their own son. Zeng Ke's face was a bit unbearable, "Others also know how to work hard, you say that tens of thousands of yuan are coming in and out of your account, what's the matter? You shout at me to borrow money from you, and if I make a profit, I'll return it to you!"

  "My uncle-in-law Zeng Zhao Ding suddenly stuttered, '...these are all circulating funds...can't be moved in the short term...'".

  "Otherwise, I'll borrow 20,000. After calculating it, I can get 34,000 after buying out the shares. At home, excluding this set of collective housing, there are still 6,000 on the deposit slip in these two years. That's a total of 40,000. Borrowing 20,000 will be enough for the shop rent, expenses, and inventory investment."

  Seeing her mother speak so eloquently, as if it wasn't a sudden outburst of emotion, her aunt seemed to waver slightly.

  "What about when Su Can needs money then? What will you do?" Big Uncle suddenly spoke up and said.

  The mother hesitated for a moment, this is indeed a problem.

  "I believe I can get into high school on my own and won't let Mom and Dad spend an extra penny."

  "Hmph!" However, Younger Brother Zeng Yuan couldn't help but burst out laughing at his righteous declaration, and was fiercely stared down by Su Can, quickly silencing himself.

  "Ah, forget it!" Zeng Zhaoding laughed and said, "Zeng Yuan always says this too, but what happens in the end? You were like this when you were in elementary school, what happened in the end? It's not that I'm saying you're not capable, everyone has their own strengths, just be realistic and don't overstep your bounds by saying things you can't do. Does that make sense?"

  Zeng Zhaoding was indeed tight in observing the expressions, seeing Su Can and Su Licheng's faces not looking too good, and his tone immediately softened a bit, maintaining an atmosphere that wouldn't lead to a quarrel.

  I believe.

  Everyone was stunned and looked at Su Mu Zeng Ke together.

  Zeng Ke's gaze turned to Su Can, and a reassuring smile spread across his face. "I believe in our family's Su Can, this time he can get into the third high school!"

  Looking at his mother in front of him, Su Can felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. He remembered that after the middle school entrance exam, his mother had also shown such trust, but the result later proved that Su Can had disappointed everyone. However, this time, Su Can knew he couldn't disappoint his mother again and betray her trust.

  Seeing her mother's determination, Auntie finally agreed to lend 20,000 yuan to Su Can's family, making a total of 60,000 yuan, which was enough for the initial start-up capital. Next came the issue of choosing a location. According to Su Can's experience, there were storefronts on the street side of the Xia Hai municipal government office building, and his cousin-in-law had rented one of those storefronts in the past, with business booming. The back of that street was home to two schools, as well as the entrances to government offices and other institutions. Doing anything else wouldn't be as lucrative, but a stationery store would be a rare find in that location.

  After Zeng Ke mentioned this location, his aunt surprisingly said, "Meilan and her husband Jia Zheng also came to me a few days ago, wanting to rent a storefront there too. They asked me to be the guarantor, but they still don't know what kind of business they want to do. Meilan just thinks her current job pays too little, so she's preparing to start her own business. Are you guys planning to partner up together?"

  Su Can was shocked, according to his memory, his second sister and brother-in-law would choose to open a store there in a year or even later, why did they suddenly become so urgent, and actually found his aunt a few days ago!?

  To know that the door of that entrance is actually the city government's land, if it weren't for Aunt and Big Uncle coming forward, generally this storefront would be absolutely impossible for their family to get, and Su Can knows that there are unlimited future developments there, if Mei Lan and Jia Zheng were to gain the upper hand, wouldn't history repeat itself?!

  Su Can knew that after his rebirth and transmigration, a series of side effects would occur, but he didn't expect the side effects this time to be so troublesome.

  The parents were also quite surprised, not expecting Mei Lan and her husband to have taken a liking to that place as well. It was quite a coincidence, but she didn't think too much about Su Can's intentions, only feeling that his recommendation happened to coincide with the thoughts of two grown-ups, and that her son still had some good qualities after all.

  "Alright..." Aunt hesitated, "After all, I also need to give Mei Lan an explanation, and she was the one who came to me first. Let me confirm in a few days, see if they've made up their minds. If they really want that storefront, you can only choose the small storefront next door. I think they're still undecided... Mei Lan is still playing around at home, she hasn't figured out what to do with that storefront yet..."

  Su Can's cold sweat, at this stage, his aunt still doesn't know the true nature of Mei Lan and Jia Zheng, and is still blinded by their superficial courtesy and gifts. If he inadvertently reveals the news that his mother wants to start a stationery business, they will naturally not hesitate to start one first, and will definitely crush her in competition, leaving her with only a small storefront and insufficient funds.

  Su Cai was anxious in her heart, but now it's naturally impossible to reveal the true nature of Mei Lan and Jia Zheng. She suddenly fell into a deep pit, and with her aunt's words being many, she couldn't help but say something that might slip out...

  Su Can subconsciously tugged at his mother's sleeve, Zeng Ke looked at Su Can and didn't respond, turning to say to his aunt, "So be it, but Yin Jie, I have things to do in this industry..."

  Aunt hesitated for a moment, her eyelids half-drooping as she nodded slightly. "I naturally know this, I definitely can't let you go around talking about it outside, after all, this is still an uncertain matter and can't be confirmed yet..." In fact, she also had some vague feelings that Mei Lan and Jia Zheng were sometimes a bit cunning, but she didn't have much evidence, just relying on her years of experience in judging people to make an educated guess. She naturally still kept a hand in reserve when it came to Mei Lan.

  Su let out a sigh of relief, looking at his aunt's current demeanor, perhaps he had already seen some clues about Mei Lan and Jia Zheng's relationship, which made him feel slightly more at ease. However, if the two people really thought of the stationery aspect and took that big step, history would likely repeat itself.

  Su Can knew that he couldn't do anything else at this moment, and Zeng Yuan dragged him to the study room, where he had just installed "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" on the computer, wanting to drag Su Can to play together. Su Can also followed him to the study room with no specific purpose.

  My uncle's family had a computer at that time, although Su Can thought this computer looked too simple, with a 15-inch display screen, it was a bit ridiculous, but at that time it was already a pretty good computer.

  Zeng Yuan was slightly disappointed, her elder uncle was sitting in front of the computer, fiddling with his stock chart, seeing the two come in, he who was smoking only hummed a sound, didn't even bother to look at Zeng Yuan who was sitting on the sofa behind him, looking unhappy and expecting him to leave soon.