Chapter Thirty-Three: Ingenious Means

  "Son, give your old man a hand and help move the cabinet to the storefront!" Old man Su Licheng yelled out as he was setting up the new cabinet at the bottom of the residential building.

  Su Cang came downstairs, the shelves in front of him were neat and tidy, with no glass panels installed yet. The white shelf body was simple and elegant, although not as beautiful as the supermarket shelves of later generations. The material used for this shelf is aluminum alloy column, which is combined and spliced according to each node, making it lightweight and easy to move. Finally, just put the designed glass plates on top, and you can display goods for sale.

  Su Can rolled up his sleeves, in his father's impression, he was very diligent in doing these splicing or electrical work, and his mother was most satisfied with this point of his father. However, in other aspects, his father had conservative ideas, did not think about making progress, and often got scolded by his mother.

  Moving these shelves with my old man, there are many people coming and going in the unit's courtyard, one of the women joked with a smile, "Oh, Old Su, your family is opening up a store, two masters moving together, what, no class today?"

  "This isn't the time to slack off, work matters can't be neglected." Dad's response was quite proper, which made a unit leader who just happened to pass by slightly raise an eyebrow.

  The woman, Wang Xiaocui, was an accountant at her father's construction company. The man next to her, Xiao Yazhong, was a high school classmate of her mother's. He was usually indifferent to people, but good at flattering and socializing with those in higher positions. Before long, he had managed to leave the construction company and start his own small business, supervising several small construction sites. In the unit, he always felt like he was a level above everyone else. Seeing the two men moving cargo, he found the father's appearance somewhat comical. "Heh, Su Licheng, how's your family's store doing? It may not be making money, but at least you have your own business now! Come on, take a break and smoke a cigarette!"

  So saying, Xiao Yazhong took out a pack of top-grade cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out and handed it to Old Man Su. At that time, this brand of cigarette was considered too expensive for ordinary working-class people in Xia Hai City to afford. Xiao Yazhong was also used to showing off at the company, and thinking that the boss of this construction company didn't even smoke the same brand as him made him feel a little smug. His tone carried a hint of not taking Su Can's store seriously.

  Put down the trunk, old dad busied himself blocking it, laughing and going to dig into his pants pocket, "Take mine, take mine..."

  At that time, smoking was a way of communication among adult men, and in fact, it was also a symbol of identity, representing a man's face. Often, in daily communication, apart from looking at what this person wears and talks about, the level of cigarette brand can also distinguish between high and low.

  "What's wrong with you!" Xiao Yazhong furrowed his brow, thinking that Su Licheng was just making a symbolic refusal. The cigarette in his hand was a luxury for someone like Su Licheng, who had been diligently working at his post all his life. He handed the cigarette over, saying "Take it, you don't often get to smoke..."

  However, Su Licheng immediately pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and Xiao Yazhong was suddenly speechless. It was a pack of white soft-packaged cigarettes with the big red Chinese characters "Zhonghua" on it, which directly stimulated Xiao Yazhong's nerves.

  Su Can knew that he himself was a good father, with a kind and honest personality, having the good character of his military days, and didn't have any pretentious attitude towards Xiao Ya in front of him.

  This brand of cigarettes was a rare commodity in Xiashi City at the time. Due to regional protection and blockade policies, Xiashi Cigarette Factory only approved the production and sale of its own branded cigarettes. As Xiashi Cigarette Factory is also a branch of Rongcheng Cigarette Factory, the best cigarette available was also Xiongmao Jiaozi (Panda's Pride), which was the best cigarette that could be bought on the market at the time. Cigarettes from other regions or foreign countries were extremely rare, and the tobacco market was not open.

  Su Can doesn't smoke, but he also knows that Zhonghua is a top-notch Chinese brand and was the national cigarette at the time. His elder uncle had someone give him two packs for the new year, and by July this year, his elder uncle hadn't even finished one pack yet. There's still another pack that his younger uncle has been pestering him about for a long time but hasn't gotten his hands on yet. Recently, Su Can's high school entrance exam scores skyrocketed like a rocket, which thoroughly delighted his elder uncle. Adding to that, during their last meal together, the more he looked at Su Li Cheng, the more pleasing he found him, and in a good mood, he handed over the remaining pack of Zhonghua cigarettes to Old Dad.

  Old Dad couldn't help but be envied by Xiao Shu Zeng Zhao Ding for a while, but if he let him and Old Dad shake hands, he wouldn't be able to save face. You know that at the time, if you had a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes in your pocket, it would be easy to go out and make connections with various people, and others might even think you have some background or connections.

  Dad took out this pack of cigarettes, which was also a simple and honest side of his character. He wanted to share it with Xiao Ya in front of him, but he didn't have the slightest intention of showing off. Who knew that Xiao Ya's face suddenly changed?

  The tone was somewhat sarcastic, "Hey, smoking Zhonghua, Lao Su's store hasn't even opened yet, and you've suddenly become wealthy!"

  He didn't wait for his father to explain and took the cigarette from his father's hand, humming a sound, turned around and left.

  Dad was stunned for a moment, let out a sigh, and then beckoned Su Can to lift up the cargo rack in front of him.

  As she watched the father and son leave, Wang Xiaocui, his wife, shook her hips and withdrew her contemptuous gaze from Su Licheng's body, asking somewhat doubtfully, "Huh, you say that store opened by Su Licheng and Xiang Ke is making so much money that they can even afford to smoke Zhonghua cigarettes?"

  Xiao Ya Zhong resentfully pulled out a lighter, lit the China cigarette in front of him, "Small business, how much can you earn? Cigarettes, anyone can give them to him as a favor, what's so strange about that?"

  "Humph! You're so capable, why doesn't anyone give you a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes?! Instead, you keep sending them abroad, and the expenses for cigarettes this month are quite high. And yet, I haven't seen you accomplish anything!"

  Xiao Yazhong coughed and spat out a mouthful of smoke, his wife's words had choked him. However, in their circle, this kind of cigarette was not commonly circulated, usually only he gave them as gifts to others, and it was impossible for someone to give them to him, let alone Zhonghua cigarettes!

  Xiao Yazhong didn't say anything, thinking that today Su Licheng didn't make things too difficult for him, which was due to his personality, maybe the other party simply didn't care, and it seemed that he was being petty. Xiao Yazhong smoked silently, after a while, although he felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart, but the cigarette tasted really comfortable and refreshing.

  "Dad, your invisible push just now was really great!"

  In the streets around, there were snack stalls, shops and clothing stores. The people inside all seemed to be busy watching the two father-son duo moving goods racks while Su Can winked at Su Li Cheng.

  They walked on the road, with sunlight filtering through the dense and sparse leaves shining down, reflecting on the faces of the father and son, carrying a cargo rack, although a little tired, but also becoming the focus of pedestrians in the neighborhood, however, Su Can's heart was warm.

  "I saw Uncle Xiao's face change, he probably didn't expect you to be smoking Zhonghua!" Su Can said with a smile. He thought that the most important thing to change his father's thick and kind personality was to inspire his confidence. This time, unintentionally undermining Xiao Ya's prestige was a small matter, but if there were similar situations in the future, Su Can didn't want his father to be looked down upon or taken advantage of by others.

  Reborn once, he himself matured and understood what it meant to cherish. Towards the people close to him, Su Can felt a strong desire to protect them, not letting them suffer even a bit of grievance.

  Dad smiled, "Su Can, you're sensible and understand the pros and cons of human relationships, that's great. However, don't be too narrow-minded, especially when dealing with people like Uncle Xiao. It's not worth competing with him in a petty way. Sometimes, taking a step back can give you more space to breathe. If you can't do that, take two steps back and focus on your own affairs. Boastfulness and vanity won't bring you any help. Only when you become stronger can you truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with others! It doesn't matter if people look down on me, your uncle has looked down on me many times, but I'm not discouraged. I have you as my son, and in the future, you'll be more outstanding than me. When you're strong, who dares to look down on your old man?"

  Su Can was stunned, this remark made his heart surge. It turned out that his father was not as dull as he seemed on the surface, nor was he as naive and easily bullied as everyone thought. He understood everything, whether it was the mocking tone of others or their disdainful gaze, he could take it all in without missing a beat. Great wisdom is like foolishness, great wisdom also has great tolerance, his state of mind was just very calm, he didn't care about gains and losses, his greatest hope was pinned on himself, because he knew that one day, Su Can would not let others dare to look down on him with such eyes.

  There was a damp feeling covering his nose, slightly sour, Su Can nodded vigorously.

  His future self disappointed him, but now reborn, he cannot disappoint his father again.

  During this time, it seemed that Su Can had stolen the show, but in reality, it was not the case. On the day of the barbecue, if Wang Weiwei hadn't appeared, Su Can wouldn't have been able to attract the attention of those people, let alone Chen Lingshan's regretful gaze later on.

  Nowadays it is still like this, if a family did not rely on the greatness of their elder uncle, they would not be respected by others.

  To truly stand up, as my father said, you need to have your own strength and confidence, you can't always rely on others' protection and glory to live.

  Happiness that relies on others is always short-lived and unsteady. Only by striving for it yourself can you have a truly wonderful life.

  But Su Can still thinks he's a strong father, precisely because of his unpretentious appearance and completely natural demeanor, so when he pulls out the Chinese cigarette, Xiao Ya Zhong feels even more embarrassed, perhaps with a hint of shame, and is even less likely to arouse resentment towards his father.

  Su Can's bright mind made petty people suffer losses and also didn't let them harbor a vengeful heart, this was already a very clever way of handling people.

  Is this father really as dull and useless as everyone sees him?

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  Xuehou Spring Breeze brother's reward made Ao Bao feel honored and surprised, thank you!