Chapter Summaries

Su Can helped Wang Ming’s family take over the shop next to theirs and planned to combine the two into a specialized office-supplies branch. After renovation began, Liu Rui dragged Su Can to Xuanyue café to meet his classmates, where Zhao Yi took charge of the gathering.

• Su Can inspected Zheng Yulan’s shop and agreed to buy the neighboring shop from Auntie Zhao for twenty thousand yuan without an extra transfer fee.
• Zeng He signed the contract, and Su Can reassured her that the family could make the two shops profitable.
• Su Can planned a unified office-supplies store, and Zheng Yulan and Wang Ming oversaw its renovation.
• Liu Rui dragged Su Can to meet five classmates and introduced him as his little brother, then presented Zhao Yi as the group’s senior.
• At Xuanyue café, Zhao Yi offered to treat everyone and recommended drinks, drawing the girls’ attention back to him.

Su Can accompanied Liu Rui to an upscale teahouse, where Zhao Yi tried to impress their group and described a remarkable young pianist who performed there. When the pianist began playing, Su Can recognized her as Tang Wu.

• Su Can declined to play cards while Zhao Yi showed off his connections to Zhao Ying and Lu Zhifei.
• Liu Rui tried to set Su Can up with the two girls, but Su Can told him he did not want a relationship built around expensive surroundings.
• Zhao Yi explained that the teahouse pianist came from a distinguished family and was not someone ordinary people could approach.
• A girl in a black dress performed "Ballade for Adeline" as the teahouse fell silent and the group watched in awe.
• Liu Rui said the pianist looked familiar, and Su Can recognized her as Tang Wu.

Tang Wu performed piano at the teahouse, then joined Su Can and left with him, drawing the attention of everyone there. She explained that she played for her father’s classmate, Uncle Gong, and told Su Can she earned 160 yuan per piece before boarding the bus home.

• Tang Wu played a piano piece that captivated the teahouse guests, while Su Can watched from his table.
• Tang Wu sent drinks to Su Can’s table, then sat beside him and asked what he was doing there.
• Tang Wu thanked Zhao Yi for treating Su Can and said goodbye to Su Can, who offered to see her off.
• Su Can and Tang Wu left the teahouse together, and Uncle Gong told Su Can to take care of her.
• Tang Wu explained that Uncle Gong was her father’s classmate and that she played piano for practice and experience.
• Tang Wu boarded the bus after telling Su Can that Uncle Gong paid her 160 yuan for each piece.

Su Can’s family’s new stationery branch outside No. 3 Middle School struggled to attract customers, leaving his parents and Wang Ming anxious about their investment. When the school term began, students crowded the shop and its sales reached ten thousand yuan on opening day.

• Su Can ate breakfast with Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui, who teased him about knowing the girl at the stationery branch.
• Xue Yiyang asked about Su Can’s family shop, and the chapter described the branch’s distinctive renovation and opening.
• The branch’s first sales were only four hundred yuan, then declined further, worrying Su Licheng, Zeng He, Wang Ming, and Zheng Yulan.
• On February 24, students returning to City No. 3 Middle School flooded the branch and quickly bought out its exercise books, scratch pads, and other supplies.
• Zeng He rushed in more stock as the crowd continued shopping, and the branch took in ten thousand yuan that day.
• Su Licheng and Zeng He stared in amazement at the money while Su Can remained quietly confident.

Su Can’s family saw the new school shop branch settle into profitable business, while he returned to school and reflected on his friendship with Lin Luoran, Lin Zouwen, and Wang Weiwei. At home, he learned that officials from the parent group were using the new municipal Party secretary to pressure Zhong Jianjun, unaware that Wang Bu and Zhong had served in the same army company.

• The No. 3 Middle School branch’s daily revenue declined after the opening rush, but its projected profits still exceeded Su Licheng and Zeng He’s expectations.
• Su Can returned to City First Middle School and saw Lin Luoran, Lin Zouwen, and Wang Weiwei arrive by car, reflecting that he considered them friends despite their different backgrounds.
• Su Licheng praised Su Can’s judgment at dinner, while Zeng He criticized the group company officials who were causing trouble over Xinghai Square.
• Su Licheng explained that Li Yuhe and his faction were using their connection to new municipal Party secretary Wang Bu to pressure Zhong Jianjun after Zhong refused to share project profits.
• Su Licheng revealed that Wang Bu and Zhong Jianjun had served in the same army company, making the group officials’ plan unlikely to work.

Wang Bu reflected on his transfer to Xiahai City and the political setback it represented, while hoping to rely on his estranged son Wang Weiwei. At school, Su Can helped Xue Yiyang avoid punishment for missing homework by approaching Tang Wu, whose action and the classmates’ reactions left Su Can awkwardly aware of their closeness.

• Wang Bu arrived at the family compound in Xiahai City and considered whether his transfer had ended his prospects for political advancement.
• Wang Bu planned to bring Wang Weiwei and the other children to live with him, using his son's reduced pocket money to overcome Wang Weiwei's resistance.
• Xue Yiyang asked Su Can to persuade Tang Wu to remove his name from the missing-homework list so his mother would not be called to school.
• Su Can awkwardly approached Tang Wu, who crossed out Xue Yiyang's name without waiting for him to ask.
• Xue Yiyang celebrated his escape and told classmates what had happened, prompting Chen Lingshan to scold him for neglecting his homework.

Su Can joined Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Lin Luoran at an internet café after learning Wang Weiwei was fighting with his father over moving in with him. As Wang Weiwei won match after match, a bespectacled gamer challenged him to a wager that targeted Lin Luoran.

• Su Can found Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Lin Luoran drinking at the soccer field, where Wang Weiwei complained that his father wanted him to move in with him.
• Lin Zouwen explained that Wang Weiwei's father had moved their belongings and asked him to persuade Wang Weiwei to go back, while Wang Weiwei refused to give in.
• Wang Weiwei invited Su Can to spend the night gaming with them, and Su Can agreed; afterward, Xue Yiyang searched for Su Can and found he had left.
• At Benteng Computers, Su Can paid for food and drinks while Wang Weiwei dominated a StarCraft tournament and attracted a crowd.
• A bespectacled young man challenged Wang Weiwei to a wager, proposing that if he won, Lin Luoran would have to play while he destroyed her base and workers.

Su Can took over Wang Weiwei’s StarCraft wager against the bowl-cut player and won the final two games with unexpected strategies and precise control. The opponent quit after Su Can’s Terran forces overwhelmed his Zerg army, leaving the crowd impressed and Wang Weiwei remembering that he had promised Su Can a favor.

• Lin Luoran accepted the bowl-cut player’s wager and challenged Wang Weiwei to beat him, but Wang Weiwei lost the first game after the Zerg player harassed his workers and overwhelmed his forces.
• Su Can took Wang Weiwei’s place, and his double proxy Gateway rush destroyed the bowl-cut player’s Zerg base to even the match.
• In the deciding game, Su Can used fast Vultures to attack the Zerg player’s workers and distract him with a feint.
• Su Can moved his Terran tanks and mechanized forces to the Zerg main base, where they destroyed the opponent’s army and Hatchery until he quit.
• The crowd praised Su Can’s play, and Wang Weiwei remembered that he had promised to agree to one of Su Can’s conditions.

Su Can confronted Wang Weiwei about breaking his promise to go home, then persuaded him to return despite the tension among their friends. Wang Bu welcomed his son back while concealing how worried he had been, and began to assess the classmate who had brought him home.

• Su Can urged Wang Weiwei to go home and reminded him of his promise, prompting Wang Weiwei to accuse Su Can of not understanding his conflict with his father.
• Lin Zouwen moved closer to Wang Weiwei, while Lin Luoran hesitantly suggested they all go back for the night.
• Wang Bu waited anxiously at home, reflecting on how his controlling approach had strained his relationship with Wang Weiwei.
• Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, Lin Luoran, and Su Can arrived at Wang Bu's home, and Wang Weiwei went to his room after a cold exchange with his father.
• Su Can noticed Wang Bu's hastily changed pajamas and socks and realized that Wang Bu had been waiting anxiously for Wang Weiwei to return.
• Wang Bu invited Su Can inside and studied the classmate who had persuaded his son to come home.

Su Can spoke with Wang Bu late at night, earning his respect and learning hints that Zhong Jianjun and Engineering Division Four might be targeted by the construction group’s headquarters. Wang Bu invited Su Can’s family to dinner, but in the following days Wang Weiwei barely acknowledged Su Can at school.

• Wang Bu recognized Su Can’s reportage and discussed Wang Weiwei’s behavior and Su Can’s family with him.
• Su Can recounted the fraud-ring case involving Zeng Qu anming, and Wang Bu praised Zeng’s appointment as construction commission director.
• Wang Bu’s remarks about Engineering Division Four led Su Can to suspect that the group’s headquarters planned to remove Zhong Jianjun and threaten the division.
• Wang Bu invited Su Can’s family to dinner and asked him to help keep Wang Weiwei in line.
• Su Can’s parents questioned him about his late return, and Wang Weiwei later ignored him at school while Lin Luoran signaled she could not help.

Su Can’s family received a surprising apology and two replacement parasols from Liu Zheng, while Wang Ming suspected Su Can had arranged the change. Teacher Ma then asked Su Licheng to help reconnect Wang Guangming with a vocational-school teacher who had once rejected him, and left pleased with the favor.

• Wang Ming continued learning the family business from Zeng Ke and insisted retail could lead to success.
• Liu Zheng brought the Su family two parasols as compensation for the one his officers had damaged, apologizing and promising more careful enforcement.
• Wang Ming noticed Liu Zheng’s glance at Su Can and privately suspected he had influenced the bureau’s sudden change of attitude.
• Teacher Ma arrived and asked Su Licheng to speak with Wang Guangming about reuniting with a vocational-school teacher who regretted ending their relationship.
• Su Licheng agreed to talk to Wang Guangming, and Teacher Ma left feeling delighted by the favor.

Su Can followed his father, Su Licheng, to a protest by unpaid workers and watched him calm the crowd by promising to find a solution and appealing to their shared history. The workers dispersed, but Li Yuhe and Mao Nan planned to keep the project funds delayed so the workers would turn against Su Licheng and Zhong Jianjun again.

• Su Licheng received word that workers were protesting two months of unpaid wages and hurried to the company compound, with Su Can following him.
• Mao Nan’s allies accused Su Licheng and other managers of pocketing project money as the crowd gathered outside the compound.
• Su Licheng pushed through the crowd, denied embezzling wages, and explained that the Xinghai Square project payment had not been released.
• Su Licheng appealed to the workers’ pride in Engineering Division Four and promised to address their wages, persuading them to end the protest.
• Li Yuhe told Mao Nan that he had arranged for the project payment to be held up for months, and they expected the workers’ anger to return.

Su Can recognized his father Su Licheng’s leadership potential and began planning for him to turn Engineering Division Four into a real estate business. When protests threatened the Xinghai Square Project, Su Can realized the project’s completion was crucial to his family’s future, and Chen Lingshan offered to ask her father about investing.

• Su Can reconsidered Su Licheng’s abilities and envisioned him leading Engineering Division Four into real estate after the company separated from its parent group.
• Classmates asked Xue Yiyang about news reports that funding problems and protests were threatening Xinghai Square.
• Su Can worried that delays would deprive Engineering Division Four of the experience and resources it needed to grow after separating from headquarters.
• Li Weimei suggested Chen Lingshan ask her father to invest, and Chen Lingshan agreed to speak with him.

Su Can reassured Tang Wu that his family’s troubles would pass, and they shared a playful promise about his growing taller. Meanwhile, Chen Lingshan’s parents warned her that investing in Xinghai Square was risky and ordered her to keep her distance from Su Can, leaving her questioning their decision.

• Su Can left school and walked with Tang Wu, who teased him about his height and promised to look up to him if he grew taller.
• Tang Wu asked about Su Can’s family, and he told her that the problem involved his father’s generation and would be resolved.
• Chen Lingshan’s father asked whether Su Can had prompted her to suggest investing in Xinghai Square, and she said the idea had come up in conversation.
• Chen Lingshan’s father explained that Engineering Division Four faced political and funding troubles, while her mother warned that the project might collapse.
• Chen Lingshan’s mother told her to spend less time with Su Can, but Chen Lingshan asked why before her mother sent her to practice guzheng.

Chen Lingshan told Su Can that her father would not support the Xinghai Square project, while Su Can’s family and Zhong Jianjun discussed the company’s withheld payments and their lack of influence. Su Can revealed that he had met Municipal Party Committee secretary Wang Bu, and Wang agreed to meet Zhong that afternoon.

• Chen Lingshan apologized to Su Can after her father declined to invest in Xinghai Square.
• At dinner, Su Licheng and Zhong Jianjun discussed the withheld project payments and Zhong’s failed attempts to reach the Finance Bureau.
• Zhong Jianjun hesitated to ask his old army friend Wang Bu, now the Municipal Party Committee secretary, for help.
• Su Can told Zhong Jianjun that he had met Wang Bu and that Wang remembered him and had offered to meet.
• Wang Bu’s secretary, Li Yangbo, called about Zhong Jianjun, and Wang scheduled a meeting with him for three that afternoon.

Wang Bu met with Zhong Jianjun, Su Licheng, and their families, then intervened to resolve the funding problems holding up the Xinghai Square project. His public inspection and speech secured the release of the project money, while Su Can’s role in setting events in motion went unnoticed.

• Wang Bu joined Zhong Jianjun, Su Licheng, Zeng He, and the young people for dinner and discussed the Xinghai Square project.
• Zhong Jianjun and Su Licheng explained that the Municipal Finance Bureau had withheld project payments and left workers unpaid.
• Wang Bu promised to coordinate the departments and said project funds could not be withheld without valid grounds.
• Wang Bu inspected Xinghai Square and publicly ordered departments to advance construction and release project installments on time.
• The Municipal Finance Bureau sent thirteen million yuan, including ten million to Dage Construction’s project team and three million to Engineering Division Four.
• Mao Nan and Li Yuhe wondered how Wang Bu’s intervention had changed the situation as Su Can’s influence remained unnoticed.

Su Can’s classmates celebrated the turnaround for Engineering Division Four, while Tang Wu wondered how Su Can had anticipated it. After Su Can walked past Chen Lingshan and her father without stopping, Mr. Chen wondered whether he was getting old.

• Xiao Rihua fought with veteran teachers to secure a Three-Good Student nomination for Su Can.
• Xue Yiyang told classmates that Engineering Division Four’s troubles had been resolved and Xinghai Square would be completed.
• Tang Wu exchanged glances with Su Can, then was called on by Ren Cao to answer a question.
• Chen Lingshan greeted Su Can outside school, but he waved and continued walking without greeting Mr. Chen.
• Mr. Chen asked Chen Lingshan whether he was getting old, and she reassured him that he would never be old to her.

Mao Nan and Li Yuhe were removed after Engineering Division Four secured funding and paid its employees, while Su Can’s family business continued to prosper. At school, Chen Lingshan decided to meet Su Can privately, and the chapter ended with her standing on a bridge, preparing to confess her feelings.

• Mao Nan drove toward his new assignment in poor, remote Wu County after losing the employees’ support, while Li Yuhe returned to Ge City in disgrace.
• Engineering Division Four’s employees rallied behind Feng Jianjun and Su Licheng after receiving overdue wages and benefits, and Su Licheng urged them to live with dignity.
• Su Can’s family’s two branch stores increased their sales under Wang Ming’s management.
• Chen Lingshan regretted turning away from Su Can at Xiao Yunyun’s house and resolved to speak with him.
• Su Can scored for Class Five after Xue Yiyang passed him the ball during their match against Class Three.
• Li Weimei directed Su Can to Chen Lingshan, who waited for him on a garden bridge and wondered if she would confess.

Chen Lingshan struggled to understand her growing feelings for Su Can and tried to find out whether he was angry with her family. Their conversation turned into a painful misunderstanding, and Su Can walked away as she silently wished he would come back.

• Chen Lingshan recalled how her feelings for Su Can had grown since she learned he once liked her, and decided she wanted to become closer to him.
• Su Can asked Chen Lingshan how Uncle Chen was, and she tentatively asked whether he was angry.
• Su Can teased Chen Lingshan that whether he stopped being angry depended on how she behaved, and she fought back tears.
• Su Can tried to comfort Chen Lingshan, but she retorted that she could claim she was only joking when she said she looked down on his family.
• Su Can turned and walked away, while Chen Lingshan could not bring herself to call him back.

After Su Can rejected Chen Lingshan, Li Weimei blamed him and rallied their friends to ignore him while Chen Lingshan maintained a composed front. The chapter ended with Xue Yiyang telling Su Can that Zhao Chunyang was pursuing Chen Lingshan, but Su Can insisted that her choices were her own.

• NATO began bombing Yugoslavia, while the distant war reached Xiahai City only through television reports.
• Su Can greeted Li Weimei, who angrily accused him of hurting Chen Lingshan after learning she had cried following his rejection.
• Li Weimei confronted Su Can and vowed that Chen Lingshan would find someone better, while Chen Lingshan acted as though nothing had happened.
• Li Weimei urged Chen Lingshan and their friends to ignore Su Can, and the two girls began avoiding him.
• Xue Yiyang told Su Can that Zhao Chunyang from No. 2 High School was waiting outside school to pursue Chen Lingshan, but Su Can said she could make her own choices.