new store didn’t earn money but lost it instead, that would be disastrous."Besides, you should focus on your studies. You don't need to worry too much about these matters."“Since I started asking abo...Chapter 113: Busy

The man couldn't help but cast sidelong glances, occasionally stealing glimpses at them. There was a small incident when boarding the plane; around them were some tall foreign youths with high noses and prominent cheekbones, generally over six feet in height. They seemed quite open-minded, often casting their gazes towards Tang Wu when placing luggage or conversing.

Tang Wu returned their glances with her piercing eyes. The British youth, likely a bit bashful and uncomfortable being in an unfamiliar environment, sat back down after getting into his seat but occasionally turned around to eye Tang Wu. Among them was a black youth who saw Su Can and offered him a friendly smile. Although Su Can smiled back, the smile didn't reach his eyes; he couldn't help but think, "Didn’t you notice that this lady is taken"

Tang Wu noticed Su Can's expression and turned her head to look out the window instead, though an ambiguous smile played on her lips. The foreign youths who had been considering approaching them with their Putonghua (Mandarin) felt they missed a great opportunity and returned to their seats.

Undoubtedly, Su Can and Tang Wu were noticeable figures in the cabin; even the flight attendants serving food gave them more smiles than usual.

Middleway, when Su Can went to the restroom, three flight attendants chatting by the cabin crew room immediately stopped talking, likely discussing the passengers and possibly him and Tang Wu.

Due to busy air traffic control in Shanghai, their plane was delayed for nearly an hour and a half before finally reaching Chengdu around 10 PM. After exiting the aircraft, Su Can found his phone filled with messages from people asking whether he had arrived in Chengdu yet.

The one here to pick them up at the terminal was Tang Wu's father; they got into her dad’s SUV (Toyota Prado). He said smilingly, "Where do you live, Su Can I'll drop you off first."

Chengdu had a chilly climate.

When Su Can arrived at the gate, he saw his father, Su Licheng, waiting there in a woolen coat. By the entrance of their residential area was a banyan tree. When Su Can left last year, it was lush and verdant; now that he had returned home, however, he noticed many of its leaves had turned yellow and fallen off, like an elderly person. Yet seeing this street made him feel inexplicably close to home.

Standing at the entrance, Su Licheng still stood out. People passing by the compound gate greeted him one after another. When they saw Tang’s father's car stop, many wondered who would be coming back from the Tang family as guests of Su Licheng's son.

Now his own father was clearly the general manager兼chief engineer of Great Banyan Construction; this was a far cry from when they first arrived here and were unfamiliar with both people and places, being shunned by others.

Su Licheng’s rapid rise within a short period had much to do with his status as the direct descendant of Xu Zheng, the former chairman of Great Banyan Construction. On the other hand, internal scandals within the construction group coincided with major personnel changes in management; Su Can enjoyed full support from Wang Bo, secretary of Chengdu Municipal Committee, which everyone knew was instrumental in solving last year’s case of hiring an assassin to injure someone. Although Su Licheng's abilities were merely average within Great Banyan Construction, he had devised a personnel system that effectively addressed the issue of seniority-based appointments common in state-owned enterprises, and he was good at setting trends. This was one aspect praised by Xu Zheng.

Tang’s father dropped off Su Can at his compound entrance before driving away immediately. Su Licheng did not have direct contact with Tang's father; however, when the car started moving, both elders outside the compound and those inside could feel each other sizing up through the window.

"Another girl came to pick you up" said Su Licheng teasingly to Su Can. "I originally wanted Xiao Wang to come get you. He has volunteered many times already. Since you’re coming back with Tang Wu, it wouldn’t be right for someone else to drive all the way here just for that."

While Su Can was at Nan Da University, he gradually learned about his father’s recent situation through phone calls. Xiao Wang was called Wang Zhuo, a native of Chengdu; he was one of twenty drivers in Great Banyan Construction whose qualifications were mediocre. After the group company provided a car for Su Licheng, he chose Wang Zhuo as his driver. In Su Licheng's eyes, Wang Zhuo’s most unremarkable background indicated that he had minimal entanglements within the deep waters of the group company; hence, Wang Zhuo naturally felt deeply grateful to Su Licheng. He lived across from a girl with whom he grew up and who was once intended as his future wife. However, her family had disapproved because he was still just a driver at age thirty without prospects. Now, as times changed, Wang Zhuo drove the car for the head of Chengdu’s prestigious Zunyi Club (a state-owned enterprise), attending various occasions that broadened his horizons; this greatly boosted his status. It was rumored that he planned to get married in mid-year, and her family was very satisfied with him, praising his promising future.

Su Can nodded, unable to resist Su Licheng’s urging as the latter took over his bag with a large hand. The two walked into the compound one after another, their silhouettes stretching long under the streetlights.

Nowadays, the courtyard was quite lively in the evenings; many middle-aged women organized fitness exercises down below. Seeing Su Can and his father, they all greeted them enthusiastically. Some of the noisier ones couldn't help but tease Su Can with a chuckle: "Su Can is back! Oh my, he's already such a big young man now and looks so handsome."

Su Cun awkwardly chuckled and rushed back home while the aunts were busy commenting. He thought to himself that everyone in the company must now know he's back, wondering if Guo Xiao Zhong had already returned home yet It was rumored that Wu Shirui was selected as an air stewardess in her freshman year of college and is probably working now.

Air stewardesses were still considered a scarce resource during this era, with generous benefits and high social status. They symbolized elegance and romance in people's eyes - many girls from families with backgrounds or connections managed to secure these positions through family ties. During the open recruitment for Middle East Gulf Airlines in Chengdu back in 2000, thirty of a hundred positions were reserved for postgraduate students.

In 2001 when Eastern Airlines was recruiting in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, there were 1400 girls who applied, with around twenty percent being college students. They would rather give up their university diplomas than miss out on this career opportunity. However, air stewardesses during this period generally had high standards, especially in appearance. The few flight attendants Su Cun encountered on his trip could all be considered beauties picked from a hundred candidates, but compared to the clear and refined Tang Wu, they were slightly inferior. It's no wonder that they paid such close attention to Tang Wu while flying.

In 2001, Sichuan Airlines initiated negotiations for restructuring. This year’s negotiation includes the possibility of Dayong Construction becoming one of the mysterious shareholders in Sichuan Airlines. Wang Bo believes that Chengdu needs a partially-owned airline to expand its investment attraction and internal and external cooperation requirements, which aligns with Chengdu's growing interests in external exchanges. Sichuan Airlines has been operating at a loss and is short on funds; Wang Bo urgently wants to broaden the city’s outlook by attracting more foreign investments. For Dayong Construction, China's first billion-dollar company, to invest in Sichuan Airlines is undoubtedly a wise decision.

Against this backdrop, many people have benefited. Wu Shirui's father likely used some connections for his daughter to enter the aviation industry.

In addition, internal children of the company such as Zhao Xin and Yang Zhao are one studying in Nanjing, an ancient city with six dynasties’ history, while another is reading a preparatory course at Chengdu University. There's inevitable competition among various departments within large companies, but generally speaking, everyone acknowledges that Su Liceng’s son, Su Cun, stands out the most throughout the entire corporation.

When she got home, Zeng Ke instructed Su Cun to take a shower and served him bone soup specially prepared for his return. She asked him various questions about life in Shanghai, food, accommodation, studies, etc., before finally Su Liceng said, "Su Cun, I didn't have time to go into detail on the phone, what's the story with your magazine"

Su Cun knew that his father had put a lot of effort into this. The dinner auction by Zhan Hua was due to Su Cun’s influence over Zhan Hua through Dayong Construction during the Western Summit Conference. This year, events in Shanghai were naturally within Su Liceng's knowledge; as long as one wasn't ignorant, they would know about this magazine and its connection with Zhan Hua’s dinner.

In the eyes of Su Liceng and Zeng Ke, their son was dining with Zhan Hua and discussing business matters.

Even though they recognized Su Cen's mature mindset and knew that he was懂事and considered an adult, their actions still seemed inexplicable. Su Licheng went around advocating for Su Cen to take on the role of詹化with a mix of skepticism and hopefulness. In recent years, he had interacted with many CEOs of listed companies and high-ranking officials; often, seeing how mature and seasoned these officials' children were made him feel envious.

The maturity of those kids was influenced by their families' background and upbringing, much like how the company car he used was a帕薩特(Passat), but some CEOs drove豪華轎車like賓利(Bentley) or凱迪拉克(Cadillac). In this country, buying any luxury car required paying prices two to three times higher than on international markets. Therefore, it was understandable that he felt content with his own ride despite its price and recognition not matching those of others.

However, for Su Cen, to a certain extent, apart from the position of General Manager at Grand Poplar Construction which had rekindled his ambition, Su Cen represented all of his hopes. Seeing him grow steadily was naturally comforting, though he felt this child was too折騰(to troublesome).

Su Cen laid out materials related to the magazine on the table; by now, it was already in its fourth issue. Some corporate legal documents and tax records were prepared, even with prior mental preparation, these still left his parents momentarily speechless.

Su Cen thought that if he told his mother that his company, Shushan Stationery, which had gained a good reputation nationwide and whose products faced difficulties entering the domestic market from South Korea and Japan, was now her child's business, she might not sleep all night out of excitement, questioning everything in detail until satisfied.

Seeing the materials Su Cen brought back, even Su Licheng and Zeng Ke, who still felt a sense of unreality like dreaming, no longer had doubts. Their spirits were naturally lifted; this meant that after graduation, perhaps Su Cen would not need to worry about employment.

There were at least three more years before university was over, and afterward, Su Cen might already be a wealthy individual with substantial assets. Originally, Zeng Ke had planned to set guidelines for him, saying if he wanted to take over her chain stores, he should work hard first and earn it through his abilities. But now, she couldn't bring herself to do that; who knew if Su Cen wouldn't even want to inherit the family business.

Uncle Zeng Quanming arranged a family banquet; in recent days, restaurants in Rongcheng were busy due to students returning from universities abroad. Almost all large hotels had dinner parties scheduled.

The day before the banquet, Auntie YIN Shuying called and chatted with Zeng Ke about daily life, smilingly saying, "All those from Zeng Quanming's office are asking when they can have a meal just for your family, to meet this nephew son that Director Zeng talks so highly of. Even my niece Zeng Na’s labmates in their first and second years are constantly hearing her talk about Su Cen, the student in your family; one of them is even tentatively planning on introducing him to her cousin's daughter, who is the daughter of a provincial hospital director and someone I know. They suggested meeting up for mahjong sometime so that both families can get acquainted."to disintegration. Su Can thought that one day they’d be dealt with.Seeing that Su Can wasn’t as gloomy as before, Tang Wu relaxed and nodded her head, "We should make it through this crisis, I hope y...