Chapter 21

Chapter 22: Butting in

"You want to borrow fifty thousand, but money's tight for us too. Zeng Na will be going to university next year, and that takes money. You had a perfectly good job. How could you just decide to quit?" His aunt frowned at the family roundtable discussion. Right in front of her, the table was covered with cups, plates, and dishes filled with fragrant food.

Beside him, his chubby younger cousin Zeng Yuan was thoroughly enjoying his meal. In the past, Su Can would certainly have been just like him: with food in front of him, not even the highest authority could have intimidated him. Now, however, Su Can paid more attention to their discussion.

For once, Zeng Na was rather surprised that Su Can wasn't wolfing down his food. Sometimes, this was part of the reason she disliked this younger cousin. He wasn't as cute as Zeng Yuan, yet he had plenty of bad habits. Zeng Yuan's table manners at the moment, for instance, could more or less be called cute, but the same behavior from Su Can would disgust her. Sometimes, that was simply how she drew the line between liking and disliking someone.

Noticing Zeng Na's gaze, Su Can looked up and smiled straight at her, his eyes bright.

Zeng Na froze briefly. When had she ever seen such a sunny side of this younger cousin? Instead, she found she couldn't dislike him. Perhaps because she had drunk some soup, her face began to redden. She turned away, continuing to look dismissive, and picked up where her mother had left off. "Besides, if you take the buyout and put the borrowed money into a business, what happens if Su Can doesn't get into high school? You'll have to pay a hefty sum. Where will that money come from?"

Everyone stopped eating and turned to look at Su Can.

Zeng Yuan chose that moment to speak up too. "Yeah, Su Can, I reckon you're going to fail! I'm not holding out much hope for you, anyway!"

He imitated the adults, putting on a worldly air that left everyone unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Smack! His father, Zeng Zhaoding, landed a heavy slap on the back of his head. One look at this younger uncle was enough to tell that he had once run with gangs; he looked a little more menacing than handsome. His face darkened as he snapped, "You little fool, acting like you know everything! Whether your cousin can do it or not, who asked you?"

Zeng Zhaoding turned, glanced at Su Can, then faced Zeng Ke. "Yes, Zeng Na has a point. You're not like us, with hundreds of thousands coming in and going out all the time! If you put your money into the business-we all know what level your Su Can's at! If he doesn't get in and you're asked to pay, where's that money going to come from?"

His younger uncle Zeng Zhaoding had always been prejudiced against Su Can and disliked him intensely. The reason was simple: whenever Zeng Yuan did anything sneaky or underhanded, he pinned it on Su Can, saying Su Can had taught him to do it. Many times, Su Can had no way to explain himself. Incident after incident, his uncle's prejudice deepened until he disliked him on sight. Naturally, he wouldn't pass up a chance to take a dig at him now.

With everyone talking about her son, Zeng Ke was beginning to lose face. "He knows he needs to work hard now, doesn't he? You keep talking about hundreds of thousands coming in and going out-so what? I'm just asking you to lend me a little. I'll pay you back once I make some money!"

Zeng Zhaoding began to stammer. "That's all working capital. I can't touch it in the short term..."

His mother hesitated. "How about I just borrow twenty thousand? I've worked it out. I can get thirty-four thousand from the buyout. Apart from this jointly funded apartment, we've saved another six thousand in the bank over the past two years. That makes forty thousand. Borrow twenty thousand, and we'll have sixty thousand. That should just about cover the shop rent, expenses, and the initial stock."

Seeing how confidently his mother spoke, and that this didn't seem to be a sudden whim, his aunt seemed to waver a little.

"Then what happens when your Su Can needs money?" his eldest uncle suddenly asked, looking over.

His mother hesitated. That was indeed a problem.

Su Can spoke up. "I believe I can get into high school. I won't make Mom and Dad spend a single extra cent."

"Pfft!" Zeng Yuan couldn't quite stomach such a righteous declaration and laughed aloud. Su Can shot him a fierce look, and he quickly fell silent.

"Oh, come off it!" Zeng Zhaoding laughed. "Zeng Yuan says that every time too, and how does it turn out? You said the same thing in primary school, and how did that turn out? It's not that I'm saying you can't do it. Everyone has their own level of ability. You have to know your limits. What's the point of overstepping them and saying things you can't deliver on? Don't you agree?"

Zeng Zhaoding was very quick to read the room. Seeing that Su Can and Su Licheng looked unhappy, he immediately softened his tone toward the end, keeping the atmosphere short of an argument.

"I believe him."

Everyone froze and turned to Su Can's mother, Zeng Ke.

Zeng Ke looked at Su Can, a faint smile of reassurance showing on her face. "I believe our Su Can can get into No. 3 High School this time!"

Looking at his mother before him, Su Can felt something he couldn't put into words. In his memories, after the high school entrance exams, his mother had expressed the same faith in him. The results afterward had proved that Su Can had disappointed everyone. This time, though, he knew he couldn't disappoint his mother again and betray her trust.

Seeing his mother's determination, his aunt finally agreed to lend their family twenty thousand, bringing the total to sixty thousand. They had enough startup capital for the initial stage; next came choosing a location. From Su Can's experience, there were storefronts on the street-facing ground floor of the Xiahai City government office building. His money-obsessed second cousin's husband had rented a shop there back then, and business had been extraordinarily brisk. Behind that street were two schools, while out front were the government offices and several other office buildings. Other businesses weren't nearly as successful there; stationery shops alone were in short supply.

After Zeng Ke suggested the location, his aunt actually said in surprise, "Mei Lan and her husband Jia Zheng came to see me a few days ago too. They also wanted to rent a storefront there and asked me to intervene. They don't know what business they want to run yet. Mei Lan just thinks her job pays too little, so she's planning to work for herself. Did you discuss this and decide to go into business together?"

Su Can was startled. According to his memories, that second cousin and her husband wouldn't choose to open a shop there for another year or even longer. Why had they suddenly moved so quickly, even getting ahead of him and approaching his aunt several days earlier?

Those storefronts were on city government property. Without his aunt and eldest uncle intervening, their family would never have had a chance at one. Moreover, Su Can knew the location had boundless potential. If Mei Lan and Jia Zheng gained the advantage, wouldn't history repeat itself?

Su Can knew that his rebirth and journey back in time would set off a series of side effects, but he hadn't expected this particular one to be so difficult.

His parents were clearly very surprised too. They hadn't expected Mei Lan and her husband to have their eyes on the same location. It was quite a coincidence. His mother, however, hadn't thought as far as Su Can had. She simply felt that his recommendation had coincided with the ideas of two adults, and that this son of hers was rather capable after all.

"How about this..." His aunt hesitated. "I do owe Mei Lan an answer, after all, and she came to me first. I'll check again in a few days and see whether they've decided. If they do want that storefront, you'll have to take the little one next door. I'm not so sure they'll go through with it, though. Mei Lan's still sitting around at home. She hasn't figured out what she'd do with the storefront even if she got it..."

Su Can broke into a cold sweat. At this stage, his aunt had no idea of Mei Lan and Jia Zheng's true nature and was still deceived by their outwardly proper gift-giving. If she inadvertently told them his mother intended to sell stationery, they certainly wouldn't respect who had come first. They would start a stationery business at once. Then his mother would only get the smaller storefront, and with less capital than them as well, she would inevitably be thoroughly suppressed in the competition!

Su Can was anxious, but naturally he couldn't expose Mei Lan and Jia Zheng's true nature now. He had suddenly landed in deep water. On top of that, this aunt of his talked a great deal, so she might well let something slip...

Su Can instinctively tugged at his mother's sleeve. Zeng Ke glanced at him without responding, then turned to his aunt. "That's fine, then. But Sister Yin, about my plans to go into this line of business..."

His aunt considered for a moment, then nodded with her eyelids half lowered. "Of course I understand. I certainly can't go spreading it around. After all, nothing's settled yet. We can't make a final decision..." In fact, she too had a vague sense that Mei Lan and Jia Zheng could sometimes be rather sly. She didn't have much evidence, though; it was only a guess based on her years of experience judging people. Naturally, she still kept something in reserve when dealing with the two of them.

Su Can breathed a sigh of relief. Judging by his aunt's manner, perhaps she had already picked up on some clues about Mei Lan and Jia Zheng. That was somewhat reassuring. But if the two of them really did think of stationery and take the larger storefront, history would simply repeat itself.

Su Can knew there was nothing more he could do at that moment. Besides, Zeng Yuan was dragging him to their eldest uncle's study. He had just installed The Legend of Sword and Fairy on the computer and wanted Su Can to play with him. Somewhat aimlessly, Su Can followed him into the study.

His eldest uncle's household already had a computer back then. Although it looked far too basic to Su Can now, with its rather comical fifteen-inch curved-screen monitor, it had been quite a good computer at the time.

Zeng Yuan was disappointed, however. Their eldest uncle was sitting at the computer, fiddling with his stock charts. Seeing the two of them enter, he merely grunted around his cigarette, paying no attention to Zeng Yuan, who sat on the sofa behind him, looking disgruntled at his occupation of the computer and waiting for him to leave soon.