Chapter 11: Majestic Feast (Part Middle)

ecially prepared for Xia Hai's bid to become a tourist city. We produced 1,000 of them. Last time was my bad for damaging your shade; I didn't think about it then but now that I have, I thought we'd b...Chapter Eleven: Dignified Dinner (Part 2)

The family's dinner conversation quickly shifted to focus on Little Brother Zeng Yuan. At that time, Zeng Yuan was still young, five years younger than himself. However, he was undoubtedly the epitome of early maturation among his generation. Despite being only around eleven years old, he was extremely clever and practically the center of attention for all maternal relatives; everyone doted on him as their cherished little treasure. Additionally, due to Zeng Yuan's good looks when he was young—curly hair and a prominent nose that made him resemble an expatriate—he had excellent relationships with girls from kindergarten through elementary school. His elder sister, Zeng Na, naturally adored him dearly.

Under the family’s pampering, back then Zeng Yuan didn’t care about this brother of his at all; he would give orders and spit on him whenever the mood struck, indirectly tormenting Su Can's fragile nerves. One day, Su Can brought Zeng Yuan to a swimming pool. Surprisingly, while usually quite confident, the boy turned into a lamb awaiting slaughter in water. After entering the pool, he clung onto Su Can desperately with an expression seeking help, which finally unleashed Su Can’s long-suppressed resentment...

After swallowing numerous gallons of pool water, Zeng Yuan became extremely fearful of Su Can and willingly became his shadow.

Zeng Yuan's current academic performance was still quite comparable to Su Can's in terms of overall ranking. The frequency at which he invited his parents to school showed a trend surpassing even that of Su Can’s past performances. After the family began discussing him, they could not stop talking about it.

Zeng Yuan stuck out his tongue and gave Su Can a thumbs up: "How did you talk to our sister just now I've never seen your aura be so imposing!"

Su Can suddenly understood. Back then, his excellent academic performance and the fact that he was in a key middle school made him appear stern and always lecturing others in everyone's minds, especially those of his younger brother Zeng Yuan and his maternal relatives. In reality, although Su Can had some ideological clashes with her, she always emerged victorious. Now, he responded to his sister without being servile or defiant, which even surprised his little brother.

Zeng Yuan only recently learned the term "aura" in school, so everything reminded him of it. His younger brother’s behavior made Su Can feel a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"Alright! Let's do it this way!"

Uncle Zeng Quanming and Uncle Zeng Zhao Ding, who rarely agreed on anything, surprisingly came to the same conclusion at once.

"If you, Zeng Yuan, can get a double 90 in the final exams, I'll buy you that gaming console you like!" Uncle Zeng Zhaod-ing cheerfully said.

"Really!" Zeng Yuan was already pleasantly surprised. The first generation of Gameboy was black and white back then, but being able to play Super Mario on it had amazed countless people. At the time, owning such a gaming console made one feel utterly superior to everyone else. Zeng Yuan had once been looked down upon by another kid his age who came from a family that owned a Santana sedan. Now hearing that he could have one too, he was naturally thrilled.

"Well..." Uncle Zeng then spoke up, "Su Can, if you can smoothly enter the Third Middle School this time and perform outstandingly beyond expectations, I'll reward you with a bicycle of your choice!"

A bicycle back then cost around three hundred yuan. But since it was Uncle Zeng speaking, he would at least be talking about the price range of racing bikes, which might have been six to seven hundred yuan. At that time, most students cycled to school; those who got car rides were rare in Xia Hai city, as it was small and central areas were only a thirty-minute walk from the third ring road. Students mostly took buses or rode bicycles, with car rides seeming too ostentatious. No one was so bored as to daily pick up their children in cars just to show off.

So most students cycled, each middle school boasting impressive parking lots for bikes. Owning a mountain bike at the time would have been like driving a BMW or Audi to school in 2009—a real head-turner.

"Alright then, it all depends on whether you can make it! It's already great if you don't have your parents pay extra for it!" Zeng Na shot a glance at Su Can. Although she had always wanted a mountain bike herself, first, as a girl, cycling in summer would be inconvenient wearing skirts, and secondly, she was used to taking the bus to school; switching to riding a bicycle would take some getting used to. So even though she felt somewhat resentful inside, if Su Can could successfully enter high school, she wouldn't mind her father buying him a bike, despite disliking this brother of hers. After all, Zeng Na was well aware of the bigger picture: although she didn’t like this little brother much, he was still her brother.

In his memories, Su Can knew that he had never received the bicycle promised by Uncle Zeng, and neither did his younger brother Zeng Yuan get his dream gaming console. The two of them were brimming with hope at this moment, but after the summer vacation, these hopes would dissipate like smoke.

"Haha, it's Director Zeng! Didn't know you'd be having dinner here too!" A voice came from the side.

"Oh Director Xiao, your family is here as well" Uncle Zeng Qianming immediately smiled. Appearing was Director Xiao Fei of the Construction Bureau’s Tendering and Bidding Office; the two were notorious rivals within the bureau. The source of their conflict stemmed from a relative of Director Xiao being involved with a construction company in Xia Hai City, whose development would directly benefit Manager Xiao, who oversaw the tendering office. However, due to conflicts arising from approval processes and planning procedures, Uncle Zeng Qianming was rigid and wouldn’t bend; moreover, he disapproved of Director Xiao's style at work, enforcing regulations strictly on land use approvals, which pushed that relative’s construction company out of Xia Hai City. Thus, their feud had begun.

This conflict continued thereafter. Later, due to stock trading, Uncle Zeng used public funds—funds his family did have but were temporarily tight—and though the money could be repaid within days, a shortage was spotted by Director Xiao, who promptly reported it to city authorities. The incident had grave repercussions, even if the investigation later found no major issues and only resulted in a minor disciplinary note for Uncle Zeng. Yet this affected how upper management viewed him.

In those two years, Uncle Big was in a constant low mood. Around them, he rarely lectured himself or Zeng Yuan; during the period when the inspection team came down to investigate, Auntie would often break into tears while talking with Mom. Uncle Big seemed to have aged considerably, and his cerebral hemorrhage likely worsened during this time. Consequently, it was only natural that he was sidelined and transferred to the administrative center.

In contrast, Xiao Fei's position grew stronger over time; he later became the Director of the Construction Bureau and was eventually appointed at the provincial level, though later on, a series of major events led to his downfall. Otherwise, if given more time, Uncle Big would have had an even harder road ahead.

Now, seeing how the other party was being polite but secretly wary towards Uncle Big, Su Can couldn't help but pay closer attention. Actually, based on Uncle Big's work capability, if he hadn't been involved in embezzling public funds, he would have had the ability to be promoted further up; at that time, even government committee members were discussing this topic. It was merely due to Xiao Fei’s denunciation that his situation suddenly turned dire.

For Su Can, who truly wanted to surpass Uncle Big and whose hard work had been poured into them, he quietly resolved to reverse the misfortunes of the future.

The daughter of Xiao Fei, Xiaoyunyun, immediately cast a flirtatious glance at Su Can.

Seeing Xiaoyunyun before him, Su Can couldn't help but be taken aback. He recalled when he was playing at his elder sister’s house as a child and how, due to his mischief and liveliness, he led all the kids in their construction bureau neighborhood into a flurry of excitement. Among them was also Xiaoyunyun; Su Can naturally basked in glory then, with many little girls having secret crushes on him, including Xiaoyunyun, who even expressed her fondness for him openly before adults.

This incident had caused quite a stir in the construction bureau neighborhood. Everyone was eager to learn about Su Can's background; being well-known among children there might mean he was someone important’s child. It turned out later that he was Zeng Quanming's nephew, and his family were local employees with no connections worth leveraging.

The outcome was predictable: even Xiaoyunyun was sternly forbidden by her parents from interacting with Su Can any further. As she entered the First High School, there were many outstanding students in middle school, among whom Xiaoyunyun was known as a beauty. Over time, she gradually forgot about that boy who left an impression on her childhood.

However, seeing Xiaoyunyun now clearly evoked past memories, causing her to look at Su Can with extra care.

"Zeng Na is getting more and more outstanding," Xiao Fei asked in a seemingly friendly tone. "I heard that Yunyun speaks highly of her senior’s grades, which are the best in the entire school. Now that she's entering Grade 12, has Nana chosen any particular university or is she still planning to study medicine"

Talking about his daughter, the uncle can't help but feel proud: "Yes, I told her to pay attention to the Third Military Medical University; otherwise, Sichuan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine would also be fine. However, it ultimately depends on her own decision. After all, she's now in Senior Three and needs to focus on her studies. The environment at No. 1 High School is highly competitive! So, how are Yunyun’s mock exam results She should aim for the top high school!"

This mindset is somewhat amusing. In daily life, both parties like to create minor obstacles for each other but neither can overpower the other. Even during a family gathering, they still engage in petty comparisons. For such people, comparing anything else feels too narrow-minded. Only their children, who represent all their hopes for the future, become the tools by which they vie for superiority.

Of course, it's impossible to foresee future developments, but under the examination-oriented education system, academic performance becomes the sole criterion of overall quality in their eyes.

Hearing Zeng Quanming talk about these prestigious medical universities with such ease, Xiao Fei secretly seethes. He thinks to himself that these schools are not Zeng Quanming's territory for him to say his daughter can get into them at will as if they're up for selection. Naturally, he doesn’t want to be outdone: "Yunyun’s mock exam results aren't too bad; she’s among the top ten in her key class across the school. There should be no problem getting into No. 1 High School... Yeah, I'm also considering contacting institutions in Britain or Australia for next semester's enrollment as she keeps talking about wanting to study abroad. By the time these young people return from their overseas experiences, we might already be old! Haha!"

Seeing Xiao Yunyun’s surprise, Su Chen knows that this is merely Xiao Fei trying to one-up him with empty boasts. Now he has silenced his uncle thoroughly: while Zeng Na chose a prestigious university in China, Xiao Fei's daughter had already started looking overseas before even graduating from junior high!

Zeng Quanming wanted to say something overly aggressive but, unfortunately, the children were present and it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to directly attack them. He could only sullenly take a drink of his wine.

Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Fei finally turned his gaze toward Su Chen as his daughter’s flirtatious eyes remained fixed on him, causing unease to flicker in his eyes: "Oh, this must be Director Zeng's nephew. I heard your nephew is quite excellent in class; for someone so young, he’s very impressive! Did he receive the title of 'Top Academic Star'"

The term 'Top Academic Star' was merely a relic from the 1980s at No. 3 High School and had long been discontinued at No. 1 High School. Hence, using this title carries an implicit distinction between top-tier high schools like No. 1 High School and third-rate ones.

The sarcastic tone was even more biting.arned, "What are you running around for! The guests in there have big connections, you better take good care of them or I will make sure to put your lives on the line if they get upset!"The other girl...