Chapter Thirty-Four: The Unfathomable Life

  "Hey, you two are finally here. Didn't you call half an hour ago? Hurry up and bring in the goods. We'll have lunch here today, I've ordered noodles." Mom seemed a bit impatient. The glass delivery guy had just arrived, and the boxes were stacked up one by one, waiting to be checked and put on shelves. None of this could be done without Dad's help.

  It's a summer noon, the sunlight passes through the camphor trees on the street outside the door, piercing the white willow catkins dancing in the air, and shining down with a slightly reddish and charming glow. The ground is covered with patches of light, and the large shop behind me, which is over 80 square meters, is their family's storefront. A refreshing scent wafts through the air, reminiscent of the clean air and fragrance of camphor trees from eleven years ago.

  Not far from the small shop, it was said that after Mother decided to open a big shop, Second Brother-in-law Jia Zheng and Mei Lan also settled on that location. That place used to be an old store rented by Mother later. During high school, every Sunday afternoon, Su Can would often hold various books borrowed from a nearby rental bookshop, facing the sunny spot, leaning against a tree, and read for almost half an afternoon.

  Those slow, summer days, filled with the scent of books and the faint sweat of long sitting, once truly flowed...

  Life is but a great dream, and we are all merely waking from a single night's sleep.

  Before this, Su Can was just a thirty-year-old who had experienced countless setbacks and hardships, with many signs of premature aging from the cold warmth of human relationships in the midst of desperately rushing to make a living in numerous big cities, a small white-collar worker who didn't even dare mention his dreams. However, now, all those things in the past were like a bizarre dream that was dragged back to his sixteen-year-old self by some kind of mysterious force.

  Fate's *one pause, reversal, and then restart, slowly rumbling forward.

  This is where he restarts his own destiny, he never thought about returning to the past what big official he would be, or stirring up international finance, he is just an ordinary and humble little person, he doesn't have that kind of courage and ambition, even if he has the ability to foresee things, but if he is naive enough to think that this can rival with those world-class top brains in terms of strategy and tactics, he estimates that he may not even know how he will die.

  His dream was simple and down-to-earth, just not to let himself be as poor as he was before rebirth. Even if fate is a little better than before, the living standard is higher by that much, his parents don't worry about him, and he can find a beautiful woman to be his wife, that's all he wants.

  A family of three ate take-out noodles in the store, and the father started putting glass plates on the shelves one by one. The mother was counting the goods they had just purchased and discussing with her husband, "Now that we have our own store, you should come down more often to take care of it. After all, it's just a street away from home. I'm alone here sometimes, and I can't take care of everything, including going to the bathroom. We both need to be careful. Su Chan is about to enter high school, and after three years of high school, he'll go to college. We've invested all our savings in this store, so we need to think of a way to save money for Su Chan's future university tuition within these three years."

  His father nodded, and he also had a plan in mind. When he could leave the company, he would come down to take care of the store as much as possible. Everything was just starting out, and the storefront really couldn't be left unattended.

  "Mom, why not consider hiring someone to help out? That way you and dad can have more energy for other things, like restocking and accounting. You don't have to do everything yourselves." Su Can couldn't bear the thought of his parents, who had spent their whole lives tending to their small shop, doing everything themselves, growing increasingly haggard with age. His mom had even developed rheumatism and back pain from it.

  It turns out that Father's cervical spondylosis also has the factor of long-term overwork, looking at his parents who are still in their middle-aged prime, Su Can's heart aches slightly.

  "Are you considering hiring someone now? Where's the money coming from? The rent here is 1,500 per month, plus utilities and taxes, it's probably 2,500 per month. If I hire someone, I'll have to pay them at least 500 per month, so that's a cost of 3,000. This store can only break even if I make more than 3,000 per month. Giving this money to someone else is no different from making it myself!"

  Su Caner, parents' character has always had an old idea that they can't let go of, thinking that things they can do themselves, why ask others for help, isn't it just giving money to others.

  In fact, this was also the original intention of the parents who opened this store, just to make a living and did not have the ambition to expand like Mei Lan and Jia Zheng, so they did not hire anyone to manage the small store, only taking care of receiving money and contacting business, even thinking about developing other chain stores.

  It's been many years since the store opened, and it's still the same, with even a risk of going backwards. This is also because they are older and more focused on stability, rather than daring to take risks.

  Su Can understood that his parents' current mindset was not going to change overnight, and if he really wanted them to take a different path in life, the most important thing was to change their way of thinking. Of course, this wasn't something that could be accomplished in one day, nor was it something that Su Can could achieve by simply lecturing them with grand theories.

  What matters most at present is that this store can make money and has actual ability. Without the support of hardware, all so-called dreams and planning are empty talk.

  The second aspect is to increase one's influence on parents.

  Since he has been disappointing his parents all the way, Su Can's personal influence on his parents is minimal. His words are considered unrealistic and not worthy of reference. This is not anyone else's fault, but rather his own for not giving his parents more confidence.

  So if he wants to change his parents' minds, the most important thing is to increase his influence and let his parents see his abilities. The middle school entrance examination is just a small test, and there will be more vast development space in the future.

  "Besides choosing this place, I still have some worries in my heart. This is a single path and not at a very good business port, so it shouldn't be decided so quickly. What does a little girl like you know!"

  Mom frowned, the more she thought about the future, the more uneasy she felt in her heart. After all, the family's entire savings had been invested in it. Although they were enthusiastic and confident at first, now that they've calculated carefully, the store must make a profit of at least 2,500 yuan per month.

  These stationery items are profitable, but the selling price is very low. A pen costs one yuan, and some cost only 50 cents. Even a good eraser doesn't exceed 1.5 yuan. The price of fountain pens might be higher, but these small items add up. How many do you need to sell in a month just to break even? Not to mention having to support a family's livelihood.

  Su Chan was also uncertain in his heart, although his family had been doing this business before, but one thing was that it was too early to make a final conclusion before the final result. Maybe this industry is still in its slow heat period, and his parents just started to see no effect, not making money, or even losing money! It's also possible that their confidence was hit.

  At this time he can't be certain to tell them that the future will definitely make money, in everyone's eyes it is likely just an arrogant display!

  At this time, Su Can only discovered that the actual situation was far from being as simple as he had imagined. He was so thrilled to be reborn that he lost his head, but he neglected that this wasn't a movie or a play, and fate was much more elusive and uncontrollable than he had imagined.

  When can I truly hold on?

  ······

  Life was calm and peaceful, without the sudden appearance of a beautiful woman's disturbance, nor any thrilling events to spice things up. The dull July passed by, and August brought the recruitment announcements from various universities in Xia Hai City.

  The list of candidates has been announced.

  The admission score of Xia Hai City No. 3 Middle School is 490, which is neither high nor low, and it's just average compared to previous years. The admission score of No. 2 Middle School is 535, many borderline students breathed a sigh of relief, including Liu Rui, a die-hard fan of Su Can, who had been worried about his scores every day recently, with a score of 543, which was barely enough for admission. Other marginal middle schools have even lower admission scores.

  What everyone has been waiting for is the release of the scores of the First Middle School, because for the entire Xi Hai City, the score of the First Middle School, a leader in the academic world, reflects one aspect of the top level of education in Xi Hai City and the height that the best students in Xi Hai City can reach.

  The Xia Hai City's college entrance examination results did not disappoint, with a high cutoff score of 610 points, leaving countless people in awe and also eliminating many students from the No. 1 Middle School who were originally on the borderline.

  However, students who have attended the First Middle School will have an arrogant attitude that they would never think of going to other schools. On the other hand, students from the school itself will enjoy a preferential policy with half tuition fees waived, so the enrollment of the First Middle School has undoubtedly reached its peak.

  Just as the enrollment in Yizhong was in full swing, Su Can's problem arose. The voluntary reporting was set before the exam, which was before Su Can's rebirth. At that time, he certainly couldn't have thought that he could get a high score of 645, so his first choice was naturally filled with Sanzhong Middle School.

  So Su Can's 645 points were enough to trample the First Middle School under his feet from a looking-up angle, but his next step was about to cross the threshold of the Third High School...

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  Please support the brothers in rushing up the rankings, Ao Bao thanks you! Fist bump!