Chapter 422 A Disguised Refusal

Zhao Shucheng was startled awake. Seeing him, he yawned and said, "Senior Jin, you're finally back. It wasn't easy to catch you."

Jin Nan, "..."

He gritted his teeth. "I need to rest. You should get up and leave now."

"That won't do, you haven't agreed yet..."

Seeing Zhao Shucheng's shameless expression, Jin Nan regretted it once again. He shouldn't have taken him seriously because of his sycophantic manner. "I can't agree. There are so many people at the interview. Vice Minister Li can easily find out the truth with a simple inquiry. Besides, do you think Yao Jianshu is some kind-hearted person? If she finds out that I helped you deceive Vice Minister Li, we'll both be finished."

"...Then we'll all perish together."

Zhao Shucheng sneered, "If you hadn't added fuel to the fire and instigated me, I wouldn't have made a scene. I can't get into Vice Minister Li's graduate program, and neither can you. It's better if we both go down together. Tomorrow I'll go and turn myself in to Vice Minister Li..."

"Zhao Shucheng, are you fucking crazy?"

Jin Nan clenched his fists, his forehead veins throbbing with anger, his face turning ashen as he groaned loudly.

Zhao Shucheng looked at him coldly.

Jin Nan was forced into a corner and had no temper left. He gritted his teeth and said, "There's another way. You can apply for a job as a waiter at the investment promotion conference."

"What?" Zhao Shucheng was taken aback.

Jin Nan glanced at him. "Waitresses, the kind who push carts with water and drinks around, or those who provide water at a fixed location and need help pouring water..."

Zhao Shucheng's eyes widened.

Huo Dadao said, "Jin Nan, you want me to do servant work? Or serve foreign devils?"

Jin Nan was also furious. "Go or don't go, it's up to you! Deputy Minister Li is a man who only cares about results. If you get in, he won't specifically ask what your status was when you got in. But if you go for the interview and don't get in, he'll find out what stupid thing you did during the interview as soon as he finds out!"

Zhao Shucheng hesitated for a moment.

He asked Jin Nan, "Will this really work?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Jin Nan gritted his teeth, "If you don't have it, go try it; if you do, then pretend I didn't say anything."

"Is there no other way?"

"No!"

Zhao Shucheng glared at Jin Nan for a long while before gritting his teeth and saying, "I'll go, you help me think of a solution."

"How can I help you find a solution? You go for the interview yourself."

Seeing that Zhao Shucheng was about to cause trouble again, Jin Nan quickly said, "You have the advantage of being an English major and have a clean background. If you go in as a waiter, the investment promotion conference won't reject you."

When Zhao Shucheng went for the interview, the interviewer's eyes lit up when he heard that he was a graduate student of Vice Minister Li. After asking a few simple questions, they gave him some materials and asked him to participate in the training.

Zhao Shucheng was incredibly proud of himself. When he returned to Jin Nan's place, he beamed with pride, "...those waiters, when they heard I was a first-year graduate student under Vice Minister Li, their eyes were full of envy..."

Jin Nan was too lazy to listen to his nonsense, so he gave him a few perfunctory replies and sent him away.

As soon as the training began, Yao Jianshu resumed his pattern of leaving early and returning late every day, spending little time with his family.

She was busy, and so was Boss Su.

She was busy with training, absorbing knowledge, and engaging in one-on-one oral English training with her team members, working together seamlessly.

Boss Su is busy...

Hiding from Su Xiaosi.

But the campus is only so big, and no matter how he hid, Su Xiaosi still caught him in the grove by the lake.

"Big brother!"

Upon hearing the voice, Su Laoda dropped the book in his hand in fright. He looked up and saw Su Xiaosi's face filled with the ecstatic joy of finally seeing a relative. He closed his eyes, then opened them again, then closed them again, then opened them again.

He didn't understand how Xiao Si could still find him even though he changed places to hide every day.

Don't fourth graders have to attend classes?

Su Xiaosi ran up to him, wiped the sweat from his forehead, let out a long breath, and laughed, "I finally found you, Big Brother! Where is your classroom? I'll go directly to your classroom next time."

Boss Su, "..."

"Did you need something from me?"

Su Xiaosi shook her head, "It's nothing. Didn't I promise my older brother a few days ago that I would give gifts to my nephew and niece? The next day, I looked all over the library but couldn't find my older brother. When I went to look for you on campus, a teacher found out and reported me to my counselor. I got a good scolding and they almost canceled my monthly stipend..."

He sighed dejectedly as he spoke, calling out to Boss Su.

"Big brother, are you... trying to avoid me? Are you deliberately hiding from me?"

Su Laoda licked his lips and gave a dry laugh. He wasn't good at lying, and he felt incredibly guilty as soon as he opened his mouth.

"...No, didn't I tell you to return the gift and get cash instead? Dad won't give you money, so you're living on that little bit of allowance. There's no need to buy the child a gift; the child doesn't need it. You should save the money and spend it wisely, don't waste it..."

"Big brother!"

Su Xiaosi feigned anger, "This is a tough situation. As the uncle, I already feel guilty for not having enough money to buy expensive gifts for my nephew and niece..."

He paused halfway through his sentence and looked at Boss Su.

"Brother, do you think the gift is too cheap and not presentable enough?"

Boss Su shook his head.

No, that's not true.

"...So that means you've chosen Mom and I'm choosing Dad, and you don't want me as your brother anymore!"

After saying that, Su Xiaosi's eyes reddened, and there was a faint glimmer of tears in them.

He glanced at Boss Su with a wronged and sad expression, but then, afraid that Boss Su would see, he turned his head away and raised his hand to wipe his tears.

Boss Su, "..."

He recalled what Su Laosan had said to him in the taxi that night, and looked at Su Xiaosi, who was wiping away tears and stealing glances at him, and sighed softly.

He knew Su Xiaosi was acting, and he felt both sentimental and helpless.

I do feel a little sorry for him, but after learning that Xiao Si was trying to scheme against him, that feeling of sorry for him became complicated.

"Xiao Si, you don't need to be like this. Big Brother didn't say he didn't want you as a brother. We were born of the same parents, and blood ties can never be erased."

Boss Su sighed again, took out a handkerchief and handed it over, "Wipe your hands."

"Brother, please don't laugh at me. If you don't want the gift I gave to the child, I'll think you don't even want me as your brother anymore. I'm thinking about how my parents got divorced, and how we've rarely seen each other in the past few years. I feel sad and scared, knowing that I'll never have a brother to support me again..."

Su Xiaosi spoke tentatively, wiped her tears with a handkerchief, forced a pitiful smile with red eyes, and returned the handkerchief to Su Laoda.

Old Su glanced at it, then pretended to put the handkerchief back in his pocket, lowered his head, and said, "The child doesn't lack toys; the family has as many as he wants. This subsidy of yours is hard-earned; life is more important."

Su Xiaosi's face turned ugly in an instant.

When adults speak, not giving a direct answer is tantamount to a rejection.

My older brother is no longer the same brother who used to give me whatever I wanted.

Su Xiaosi gave Su Laoda a deep look. When he looked up, Su Xiaosi regained his obedient and pitiful appearance. Fearing that continuing the stalemate would backfire, Su Xiaosi stopped insisting on giving the gift to the child.

The plan to bring gifts home for the children naturally fell through.

Su Xiaosi's mind raced, trying to figure out what she could gain from this meeting. Seeing Su Laoda get up, grab his book, and leave, she hurriedly spoke up, "Big brother, I haven't had breakfast yet, and it's almost noon. Could you treat me to lunch?"

He started thinking about what he could get out of his older brother.