Chapter 37: The rise
Su Can had eaten with Tang Wu's family before, when he first came to Shanghai to study. But that occasion had been different, with something of an inspection about it. It was also Su Can's first time entering Tang Wu's inner family circle. Since he had never taken Tang Xiaowu's hand with the intention of treating life as a game, he was neither servile nor overbearing toward her family, but he took them very seriously.
This meeting with Tang Wu's grandparents, however, lacked the tension of the previous occasion and felt much more harmonious by comparison. It also opened Su Can's eyes. When introductions were made, Old Madam Mu's title of executive vice principal of the Central Party School genuinely left him unable to swallow his mouthful of water.
At the same time, he could not help feeling some admiration for the way the Qian and Mu elders had raised their family. While Mu Qin's official career had been sailing ahead, who would have known that Tang's father and mother had once struggled in a small town? They had climbed from the very bottom to their present heights without ever relying on the two elders' influence. No wonder Tang's mother was independent and forceful. To some extent, that temperament and approach to upbringing had also been passed down to Tang Wu.
Su Can did not know whether Tang Xiaowu's family had followed this same course in his previous life. But in all the time since his rebirth, Old Madam Mu's position alone was already formidable enough.
Just while they sat there, two or three high-ranking officials had come and gone. Then there were the calls Lü Changshu of the Shanghai Administration Institute received, roughly one every seven minutes, all asking about Mu Qin's itinerary in roundabout