Chapter 635: A New, Fresh Start
"GOT IT!"
Su Xiangfei happily rushed into the house to take the firecrackers and then came back to the courtyard. This, however, made Su Yaning, who had just stepped out of the kitchen, dumbfounded. Though she had seen how Su Xiangfei acted when he was with Tang Xiu and could tell that her younger brother—Su Xiangfei had a good relationship with the former, yet it never crossed her mind that he would actually listen to Tang Xiu to this extent.
Tang Xiu was someone powerful now, and Su Yaning was well aware of it. Not only did he establish the very prominent Magnificent Tang Corporation, he was also a member of the Tang Family from Beijing. She also knew her own brother—of what form of relationship her family had with Tang Xiu; and yet, how could her little brother Su Xiangfei possibly act like that?
Bang bang bang…
The firecrackers sounded and the busy Su Lingyun and Zhang Shi began to make dumplings. Taking the time while the firecrackers were being set off, Su Yaning came to Su Xiangfei's side and asked with knitted brows, "Brother, you seem… to be very obedient toward Tang Xiu?"
Su Xiangfei smiled, "Naturally. I must listen to him since he has the ability to make me to."
"But our Dad and Mom…" Rebuked Su Yaning angrily.
Upon hearing that, Su Xiangfei suddenly remembered something. He then looked at Tang Xiu, who was at the kitchen, and spoke with an undertone voice, "Sis, it's my fault that I didn't tell you before. Tang Xiu called some people in Star City to make them find a way to release Dad and Mom on bail. Ah, right. When I just woke up before, he told me that Mom and Dad are already on the way here. They should be here in less than two hours."
"What?" Su Yaning looked at Su Xiangfei in disbelief. This revelation was like a thunderclap to her.
"Sis, I know you're still angry at Tang Xiu," said Su Xiangfei again. "You think that he's the cause for us to end up like this. But, have you ever thought about how we treated him and auntie back then? Yeah, that time our family was indeed rich, and auntie had to go through a difficult life while raising him as she often borrowed money from our family. But we were the ones who looked down at them arrogantly, despising them and even making life difficult for them. We also nearly harmed Tang Xiu and got him thrown into jail, remember?
"Now look at how things are unfolding, Sis. Tang Xiu now has wealth that is more than a hundred times ours back then. But how does he act and treat us now? As long as we are close to them, he and auntie won't look down on us with contempt, neither will they make our lives difficult. Back when Dad tried to commit suicide and got hospitalized, do you know why he did that? It was because he was regretting his treatment of Tang Xiu and auntie."
When he spoke up to there, Su Xiangfei silently took out half a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. After lighting it up, he took a few deep puffs, let out a bitter smile and spoke again, "You know, it made me realize that the problem lies in our family. It was us who were problematic all those years. Do you want to know the reason?"
"What is the reason?" Asked Su Yaning.
"When I just returned to the Su Family Village, the people here still hadn't learned that our family had gone bankrupt and neither did they know that Mom and Dad had been imprisoned. And yet, their eyes, when they looked at me, were full of loathing and despise, and they even looked down on me. But why did they do that? Isn't it because of what we've done, forgetting our roots?"
"Our roots?" Su Yaning felt that her heart was fiercely struck, and a faint pain was born inside.
That's true! Her root was the Su Family Village. Even if her family once possessed tens of millions in assets, what about it? Could you forget where your ancestors were? If they did forget their own ancestors, then what had their family turn into?
Su Xiangfei gently hugged Su Yaning's shoulder and sighed, "Sis, we were in the wrong in the past. We must admit our mistakes. The way we treated Tang Xiu and auntie and our attitude toward the folks of the Su Family Village. People say that admitting our own mistakes and reforming ourselves are one of the greatest virtues. Only last night did I really feel the change of attitude from them toward me. Even Su Quan told me something last night after he got drunk. Do you wanna know what he said?"
"What is it?" Su Yaning's face was a bit pale as she asked in a whisper.
"You are familiar with the neighboring Little Village of Wang, right?" Asked Su Xiangfei. "We grew up there when we were small. When I had a drink with Su Quan and he got drunk, he told me that we must recognize our ancestors, cherishing and treasuring our family members, and be united with all the villagers in this village. It's because all of us bear the same family name of Su—all of us, up to the several generations above us, are of the same ancestors and are one whole family.
"You should have heard about Wang Xinke from the Little Village of Wang, right? He could socialize well back then, as he went to the city, set up his own business that went big, and then made a fortune for him and his family. Every time he returned to the village, however, all he did was boast and swagger before others. What happened in the end, then? Just two years ago when Wang Xinke's father died in the Little Village of Wang, no villager went to help with the funeral processions on the funeral day, and not even one went to carry his coffin. All of it was because their relationship with the villagers was so bad. You wanna know what happened afterwards? His uncle, who's the village chief, brought him to kowtow and apologize to the villagers from house to house before they were finally willing to help carry the coffin and deliver the old gramps to his burial resting place."
Su Yaning could comprehend it, as a regretful expression then appeared on her face. She fell into silence for a long period of time. Furthermore, she came to the realization that her little brother had grown up, no longer the previously same child who relied upon the power of the dirty money their family once had in the past, and neither was he the same child who was out of tune all day long.
"I understand, Brother." Su Yaning hugged Su Xiangfei, and then released him before striding into the kitchen.
Two hours later…
A police car parked outside the Su Family Village, as its doors opened and Su Shangwen and Zhang Meiyun came out of the car. Coming out with them was a middle-aged man in his duty uniform.
"Thanks a lot, Officer Hu. Thank you for sending us back here personally," Su Shangwen shook hands with the middle-aged policeman and said with a grateful expression.
"You are welcome. This is what I should do, to begin with." The middle-aged policeman smiled. "Also, please send my regards to Mr. Long and Mr. Chen."
"Sure, will do!"
Although Su Shangwen knew that Long Hanwen and Chen Zhizhong were the ones who got them—husband and wife out of prison, he did not have any friendship with the two whatsoever. The credit went to the main actor of the script, which ought to be Tang Xiu, and yet he still coped with it and replied to him.
As the police car left, Su Shangwen squatted down and opened the travel bag on the ground to take out two cartons of cigarettes from the inside. He opened them up and stuffed several packs into his pocket, and then stuffed the rest back into the bag. Then he turned around to look at Zhang Meiyun and lightly said, "Don't blame me for not reminding you. The Su Family Village is my family, and my mother lives and comes from this place. We were at fault in the past, so it's my wish for you to follow my step and how I speak, to be content for everything we have. That is if you still pass our days and live together."
"Shangwen, I know that I used to have a bad attitude, and I realized my mistake." Zhang Meiyan squeezed a smiling face. "Please don't worry. I will not regard anyone as beneath me anymore from now on."
Su Shangwen nodded in response, after which, he picked up the bag and walked toward the village. When he first entered the village, he saw that several villagers had woken up early and paid New Year visits to their elders from house to house.
"Brother Dazhu, Jianxi…"
After walking toward them, Su Shangwen greeted them with a full smiling face, as he then took out the cigarette pack from his pocket and offered one to each of them.
They did not look at or respond to Su Shangwen at all and even ignored him. But upon seeing his warm attitude, they still nodded at him, though feeling surprised inwardly, and took the cigarettes handed over by him.
"Hi, you're back." Su Dazhu nodded.
With an attentive smile, Su Shangwen replied, "I was at fault back then, Brother Dazhu. I forgot what meaning it was to bear a family name just because I had a little bit of wealth. Don't worry, though, I will correct myself and make a fresh start. The Su Family Village is my family, and everyone here is also my relative."
Su Dazhu and the rest exchanged looks, as he then nodded with satisfaction. A smile appeared on his face as he said, "Great, for one to realize their own mistakes is never easy. And your son is great, he's already a man. Anyhow, come to my place if you have some time, I'll tell your big sis-in-law to make some dishes and we'll have some drinks too."
My son?
Su Shangwen was stunned for a moment, but still, he replied profusely with a smile on his face.
Shortly after, he bade them farewell and entered the village, meeting many villagers all the way and stopping each time to greet them, offering cigarettes for everyone and smoking with them. What puzzled him was that each and every villager always mentioned his son, Su Xiangfei, with a full appreciation expression. He wanted to ask the reason, but since he kept meeting more people and greeting them unceasingly, he didn't have a chance to ask about it.
After more than half an hour, the couple—Su Shangwen and Zhang Meiyun came to the entrance of his parent's courtyard. When he saw the SUV parked outside, his pace came to a halt as he looked at his wife and asked, "Have you realized that this time the villagers treated us differently than when we came back here in the past?"
Zhang Meiyun also could tell the sincere attitude of the villagers toward the couple and nodded silently, saying, "Yeah, they have become… more amiable. When we came back the last time, they just ignored us."
"It was us who looked down upon them before," said Su Shangwen. "Hence we had a bad reputation in the village. Anyhow, let's go! Though I don't know the reason for the change, let's just cherish it. After all, whatever is said and done, this place is our family's home!"
"En!" After a series of incidents, traces of arrogance could no longer be seen on Zhang Meiyun. She carried the bag and followed Su Shangwen into the courtyard.
"DAD, MOM!"
Su Xiangfei and Su Yaning, who had long been waiting in the courtyard, almost jumped out of their chairs as they rushed over upon seeing their parents.
"Little Fei, Little Ning."
Zhang Meiyun burst into tears after she saw her children. She hugged the siblings and was unwilling to let them go. Su Shangwen only watched his children as his eyes fell on Tang Yunde and Tang Xiu in the courtyard.
He paced a few steps forward and then came before the expressionless Tang Yunde, as he then straightly knelt in front him, "Brother-in-law, I'm sorry."
Tang Yunde sighed inwardly, and slowly lifted Su Shangwen up from the ground. He shook his head and said, "There's no need for you to apologize to me. The ones you need to say apologize to are your younger sister and nephew."
Su Shangwen turned to Tang Xiu.
"There's no need to apologize," said Tang Xiu straightly. "Being able to correct oneself, you are still relatives. But if you can't change yourself, the road to the sky is large enough and each of us can take half and go our own ways.
With a firm nod, Su Shangwen said, "I've changed."
At this moment, Zhang Shi, who was inside the house and heard the voices outside, came out with Su Lingyun and Mu Qingping. When she saw her son, Su Shangwen, her whole being was stunned on the spot.
Chapter 636: Raking in Money
Needle and thread in a loving mother's hands, mending holes of the clothes of her soon wandering son. Her sewing picks up the pace as the date approaches, worries of belated return echoing inside her heart [1]. It was maternal love, the greatest existence of love in the world—the love that was like the highest peak of a mountain ridge.
The son did something wrong and came across the disaster of being imprisoned. Though Zhang Shi did not speak out her feelings, yet restlessness and worry resided inside her. Longing and anticipation that her son could soon be released from the prison to appear before her eyes. Half a year passed by with countless fantasies and countless prayers. When that dream had finally come true, her whole being trembled, feeling both excited and scared.
She was afraid that she was dreaming, and two lines of tears fell down.
Putong…
Su Shangwen's knees slammed on the ground and he repeatedly knocked his head on the ground, speaking with a bitter expression, "I'm back, Mother."
Finally, Zhang Shi was sure that she was not dreaming, as a dream would not be this real. She bit her lips and went before Su Shangwen.
Pa…
She slapped Su Shangwen's face.
With a loving and distressed expression, Zhang Shi angrily asked, "Have you already realized your wrongs?"
Su Shangwen kept kneeling. He nodded silently and replied, "I've already realized and admitted my wrongs, Mother."
Zhang Shi slowly closed her eyes, yet her tears flowed down from the corner of her eyes. When she opened them again, she sighed and said, "Get up! It's good that you still have the conscience that your family is here."
"Mother, I'm sorry."
Zhang Meiyun also hurriedly came over and said with a face full of remorse.
Zhang Shi did not speak but looked at Su Lingyun instead.
Su Lingyun glanced at Tang Xiu quickly before she pulled Su Shangwen from the ground and said, "It's great that you came back, big brother. Xiu'er did not do it to you with discretion, please don't be angry with him."
"How can be I angry with him?" Su Shangwen shook his head. "On the contrary, I should be thanking Tang Xiu. I wouldn't have repented if it weren't for him. Mother, please don't worry. We will change and start a fresh life and regard our family members as family members. As it should be."
Even in her dreams, Zhang Shi did not expect that she would hear her son say such words. She could not stop the tears flowing from her eyes, as she repeatedly nodded before replying, "That's good, great. It's great that you can change."
The atmosphere in the Su Family became slightly different with the return of Su Shangwen. Tang Yunde's attitude neither showed that he couldn't forgive him or pursued his responsibility.
In the evening, the mother and daughter, Mu Qingping and Gu Yin, returned back to Star City by a car driven by Su Quan, whereas Tang Xiu left the Su Family Village with Tang Yunde and Su Lingyun for Beijing. It was at two o'clock in the morning as the family of three arrived at the capital. They did not go directly to the Tang Family residence, however, but went to the house recently bought by Tang Yunde in Beijing.
At the Rivers and Mountain Blossom Garden…
It was a relatively upscale residential complex in the Third Ring Road. The most notable thing was the double compound house that was luxuriously decorated. It was Tang Xiu's first time coming to this place despite him having been to the capital several times.
"Xiu'er, your mother and I will stay downstairs. Are you going to take a room downstairs or upstairs?" Tang Yunde put down the luggage, lit up a cigarette and said with a smile.
"I'll take the one upstairs." Tang Xiu smiled. "Anyways, this house is quite big. It should be around 200 square meters wide, right?"
"It's 260 square meters, to be exact." Tang Yunde smiled. "I was originally planning to buy a villa directly. But your Mom doesn't like spacious villas, not to mention that we seldom stay in the capital either. Buying such a big residence would be a waste, so we picked this one. Anyways, we'll leave the master bedroom upstairs for you. The house keys are on the bedside table, remember to take them with you."
"Got it!"
Tang Xiu casually observed the house as he took his travel bag to the second floor. Though he had an interspatial ring, he still did not want to have his parents know this secret for the time being. He changed into clothes that were temporarily stuffed into the travel bag prepared by his mother, Su Lingyun.
The master bedroom was around 30 square meters wide. It was luxuriously decorated and was especially spacious. Tang Xiu put the travel bag on the cabinet and walked towards the window. The building had 20 floors and their apartment took the 11th and 12th floor, which was in the middle of the building. Therefore, by standing on the window, he could see the commercial street outside the residential complex.
"It's going to snow again, it seems!" Tang Xiu looked up at the sky in a good mood.
For him, the definition of home was very simple. Wherever his mother was present, it was home—and he was more than satisfied now that he found his father and was with them.
The next morning was the New Year's Day. Tang Xiu got up very early and followed his parents to the Tang Family's ancestral residence. The residence was now very lively, as nearly all the core members of the Tang Family had arrived, including his aunt, Tang Min.
Paying a kowtow and making a ceremonial visit to wish the family a Happy New Year.
What surprised Tang Xiu was that his grandparents also gifted him a thick red envelope.
In the backyard of the ancestral home, Tang Tang pulled Tang Xiu to a remote spot. The latter grinned while shaking her mobile phone and spoke in a whisper, "Brother, gimme a red envelope."
Tang Xiu stuffed his hand into his pocket and forced a smile, "I didn't prepare it. How about I give you the one grandma gave me, is that okay with you?"
"No need to be that troublesome." Tang Tang laughed. "It's more convenient if you send me a red envelope via WeChat, you know."
Sending a red envelope via WeChat?
"What exactly is that?" Asked Tang Xiu, confused.
Tang Tang's face stilled. "It can't be true, right?" There was a disbelieving expression in her eyes as she asked, "You… you don't know what a WeChat Red Envelope is?"
"I know WeChat is a messaging and chatting platform app, but I don't know what a WeChat Red Envelope is!" Tang Xiu shook his head. "Ah, that's right. I don't seem to have a WeChat account either."
The way Tang Tang looked at Tang Xiu was as though seeing a monster from an alien star, an extraterrestrial. With disbelief painted her face, she said, "OMG! It's unbelievable that you don't have a WeChat account, brother! Who doesn't use WeChat nowadays? Who doesn't know what a WeChat Red Envelope is? You…"
Inwardly, Tang Xiu could only force a smile. He just returned from the Immortal World for half a year and had to tend to various matters. How could he have time to spare to care about these things, anyway? He knew what the WeChat apps were from Yue Kai's group, but he did not know that this app could also be used to send red envelopes!
Tang Tang shook her head, giving Tang Xiu a look like she was defeated. She reached out her small hand and said, "Gimme your mobile phone, I'll help you download the WeChat app. Then, I'll teach you to link your bank card to the account. After which you can send red envelopes to your WeChat circle of friends."
Ten minutes later, Tang Tang asked Tang Xiu about his information, then helped him download the WeChat mobile app and linked his bank card to the account. Afterward, she smiled and said, "You can now send red envelopes, brother. Now you must send me a thick one, right? Oh, that's right. You can directly transfer the money to the Red Envelope app, or else you will look like a miser of low class."
Tang Xiu could only dumbly laugh, "Okay! By the way, what's the maximum amount for the transfer via the WeChat account? You taught me this thing, so you'll be my first friend in WeChat. I'll gift you the maximum amount of red envelope."
Tang Tang's eyes brightened up as she extended her hand with a grinning face, "It's 50,000 yuan!"
"Alright, then I'll send you 50,000 yuan," said Tang Xiu with a smile.
After a while, Tang Xiu transferred 50,000 via WeChat to Tang Tang. After the girl left with a happy face, Tang Xiu recalled all the people listed on the phone book and sent them a text containing his WeChat account number to let them add him as their friend.
This time was a new age, and one must catch up with the new tides and trends.
Now that he returned to Earth, Tang Xiu was perfectly aware that he must not isolate himself from society. There were many people using WeChat now, thus he could no longer linger outside alone.
Beep Beep…
Beep beep beep…
Notification sounds set by Tang Xiu kept beeping. Although the cell numbers saved in Tang Xiu's phone were not many, about less than 100 people's cell numbers in total, it took only a few minutes after he sent the message before 40-50 people applied to be added as his friends.
"Hahaha, what a rare matter! Boss Tang unexpectedly signed in the WeChat!"
"Tang Xiu, I'm Long Hanwen."
"Divine Doctor Tang, I'm Li Hongji."
"Boss, you finally have a WeChat account!"
"Brother Tang Xiu …"
After sending the application to everyone, Tang Xiu kept receiving WeChat's notifications; some were text messages and some were voices. There were many messages, however, and he would be left exhausted if he were to reply to each one of them. Therefore, he turned his eyes from it and straightly sent a red envelope to each person, 200 yuan each.
"Man, playing with WeChat is hella expensive."
Despite Tang Xiu now being a rich man, he felt slightly squeezed out after sending so many red envelopes all of a sudden. What he did not expect afterward, however, was that the moment he sent his red envelopes, he also received notifications that his WeChat account received red envelopes as well, making him stunned.
200!
20,000!
Most of the amount he received was, 6666 and 8888 yuan and so on. After spending more than half an hour, he found that all the red envelopes he received from everyone amounted to more than 800,000 yuan. Among them, the likes of the Big Bosses such as Long Hanwen, Chen Zhizhong, Jin Xingkui, Miao Wentang, and the rest, were as though having an agreement in advance between them, as they sent him the same maximum amount: 50,000 yuan! [1]
"This… one can also use this to get rich, no?"
While looking at the total amount of money displayed in the WeChat wallet, he shook his head with an expression that was at a loss whether he had to laugh or cry.
Just as he was preparing to close the WeChat app, Kang Xia called him. After a happy conversation, he was directly added to the Magnificent Tang Corporation's top executives' WeChat group.
"OMG! Did I see the name correctly? It's the B-… Boss? Our Big Boss was added to the group?"
"Whoa, Big Boss was added? Is he going to give us a New Year's bonus or something?"
"Hooray! Long live the Boss!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR, BOSS!"
Tang Xiu immediately realized Kang Xia's intention for adding to the company's senior management group. It seemed that she wanted him to send out red envelopes to them! After some thinking, Tang Xiu checked it out and found that the number of people in the group was more than 40 altogether. He immediately sent more than 40 envelopes with 200 yuan at once, letting all of them grab it.
As a result, the red envelopes were welcomed with cheers in the WeChat group! Amid innumerable messages of flattery and praise, Tang Xiu sent blessings and greeted everyone before closing the app.
"What are you smirking and grinning at, Sonny?"
Su Lingyun came out of the room as she looked up to the falling snow. Her eyes finally fell on Tang Xiu and asked with a cheerful expression.
"I got red envelopes, Mom! I made quite a fortune from it," answered Tang Xiu with a smile.
"Did you see the red envelope Mom sent you?" Su Lingyun could not help laughing. "I sent 50,000 yuan via WeChat. It was Wan… umm, someone taught me to use it. We were so poor in the past, so Mom did not understand how to use those sophisticated mobile softwares, so Mom only gifted you a little pocket money every year. But now that our family has money, Mom wants to make it up to you, and gifted you all at once this time."