Chapter Four: Father

  Xu Secretary saw Su City still dazed, frowning, and didn't say much, just walked away after a few words.

  When Su Cheng heard the title "Su Secretary", he felt a strong sense of disgust in his heart. He didn't know what this "Su Secretary" was, and it could be said that this must have been the emotions of the previous Su Cheng.

  After Secretary He left, Su Cheng finally calmed down. The so-called Secretary Su... was Su Dongyuan, the man who abandoned them mother and son, now with a wife and daughter living a happy life, the biological father of this body.

  He didn't bring any news in the morning, nor did he bring any news at night. It wasn't until after he had confirmed his trip to the Petroleum Department that Su Dongyuan sent someone over with a message, which was probably about 80% related to the cancellation of the Petroleum Department.

  From Secretary Xu's words, it can be inferred that Su Dongyuan may have already intervened in the distribution.

  In his eyes, going to other ministries is just a difference of good or bad, but entering the petroleum department would be equivalent to entering a state-owned enterprise, which is completely different in nature.

  Locals graduating, mostly rush to enter large state-owned enterprises, but Beijing is the capital after all. No matter how big a state-owned enterprise is, it can't be bigger than central ministries and commissions. The treatment of the Ministry of Petroleum and CNPC are worlds apart, and their future development prospects differ even more drastically.

  From Su Cheng's perspective, Su Dongyuan's expression of concern was not convincing, and the ambiguous message delivered by his secretary only further proved his indifference. A kind of absolute power, or even a benevolent gesture, was something that Su Cheng would never accept.

  Originally, Su Cheng thought that the original owner was a bit out of his mind. With such a good relationship, he didn't know how to take advantage of it. After all, he's your biological father. If you just gave him some face and a way to save face, the relationship wouldn't be so awkward. But instead, he ended up starving himself into a coma, a classic case of wanting face but not substance.

  But from this matter, Su Cheng understood that feelings are not the original owner's brain being stupid. This kind of father, even if it were him, would not be able to show his face, and even his personal secretary did not know his own identity. It was clear that he had no intention of recognizing this son, but since that was the case, why didn't he just abandon him directly? Instead, he came out to interfere when he chose to graduate.

  He was an ordinary college student in his previous life, but he still had a backbone. You don't want to see me, I don't want to see you either. He didn't believe it, relying on the knowledge he had learned over the years, and in such a good era, he couldn't stand out.

  Su Cheng still went to the Oil Department with full confidence.

  Liu Zi was also impressed, seeing Su Cheng's casual attitude towards his job, he thought to himself that he had a lot of respect for him. Lao Yao didn't like to talk much usually, but he studied hard and had a warm heart despite his cold appearance. He had helped Liu Zi several times before, but never asked for anything in return. Now that graduation was near, Liu Zi wanted to return the favor.

  Soon after, an article titled "The Choice of Peking University's Talents: Become a Petroleum Man!" appeared in the university newspaper, causing quite a stir.

  Students of this era are at the intersection of idealism and reality, mainstream thinking still adheres to dedicating oneself to the country without considering personal gains or losses, but when making choices, people often consider more personal interests.

  The latter is justifiable, while the former represents the direction of propaganda.

  As it is graduation season, the school's higher-ups also attach great importance to this and actively contacted Beijing media outlets for further publicity.

  When Su Dongyuan saw the report in the Beijing Youth Daily, he was furious. His first feeling was that this son was indeed useless, what's the use of being able to read books, and that he was making a fool of himself by trying to help him. He had even given advance notice, but his son still dared to go against him. It wasn't that he didn't respect his old man, it was that he was playing with his own future.

  Secretary Xiao Xu saw the secretary staring fiercely at the newspaper, his forehead was sweating, afraid that the leader would blame him for not bringing the news, he carefully asked: "Secretary, do you want me to go find him again?"

  Secretary Su didn't look at Little Xu, but stared at the newspaper. After a while, he closed the paper and shook his head: "No need, this matter ends here."

  Xiao Xu felt a sense of relief, fortunately the secretary didn't blame him. However, he had a grudge against that Northern University student Su Cheng, what kind of person is this, just a student, yet he dared to refuse the secretary's kindness, and didn't know whose relative was so lacking in tact.

  In the evening after work, Su Dongyuan returned home to find both his children there, and he was delighted. His wife Wang Limei came out of the kitchen wearing an apron, helping her husband hang up his clothes while happily saying: "Dongyuan, I made some delicious food tonight to celebrate Su Xin's successful trip to the Central Propaganda Department."

  At this time, Su Zhen jumped up and ran forward, coquettishly hugging Su Dongyuan's arm and said: "Dad, brother is a high-achieving student at Peking University, what's the point of going to the Central Propaganda Department? Mom is just biased, I scored 95 points on my exam, but no one celebrates for me."

  "Dad, you're back." Su Xing stood up and greeted him.

  Looking at his young and energetic son, not only is he doing well in school, but also very mature in his dealings with others. Su Dongyuan was deeply proud of this son, while another son who had chosen to work in the petroleum industry had already forgotten where he had gone wrong.

  Su Cheng's mother was someone Su Dongyuan met when he went to the countryside, and getting married and having children in such an environment was not a good thing for him. He even felt ashamed to mention it, let alone acknowledge her. Compared to his current beautiful and educated wife Wang Lijun, his ex-wife was simply a rural woman.

  Similarly, Su Cheng had no hope for Su Dongyuan either. He got drunk with his dormitory mates, hugging each other and crying loudly, while feeling the emotions between roommates and bidding farewell to another identity of his own.

  The last week of school was filled with non-stop singing, laughter and reminiscing.

  For Su Cheng, this was more like a carnival at the node of life. Although he didn't spend the four years of college with these guys, they still moved him in just a few days.

  Compared with modern people's indifference towards each other, they truly treat you with sincerity and kindness.

  On Monday, everyone left, and the dormitory was empty. Last night was the final farewell.

  Su Cheng picked up his things and saw a small paper package on the bed that he didn't remember, it seemed to be given by Wang Ting, saying it was something to eat, asking him to have it as breakfast tomorrow.

  It's a bit hungry, Su Cheng smiled and opened the paper package, but unexpectedly found a stack of change inside... There was also a line of words: Lao Yao, we've left first, don't refuse this money, send it back to our hometown first, mother's body is urgent.

  Su Cheng's eyes suddenly blurred, this was the most fragmented money he had received from childhood to adulthood, after counting several times, it was only 49 yuan and 5 jiao, but this was also the largest amount of money Su Cheng had received since childhood, which was pieced together by his brothers one coin at a time.

  He had originally approached this with a gaming mindset, watching others' passion and hesitating about how to become part of Suzhou City and take on his responsibilities. But at this moment, he was truly moved; he felt the friendship of this era, the sincerity of this era, and also felt his own responsibility.

  He didn't pretend, and accepted the money. His mother in Suzhou was not well, in a rural area of Anhui Province, originally he had some resistance, but now he felt that he must work hard, make a name for himself, strive to bring his mother over as soon as possible, since he had taken her place in life, he should take on the responsibility.

  Su Cheng carried his luggage and walked out of Peking University, looking back at the Yan Garden, he couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to leave. Although he had only stayed for a short time, this was indeed a place that brought happiness and purity. Once he walked out of the school gate, everything would be different.

  While he was still in a state of shock, someone gently patted his back.

  Su Cheng turned his head and saw a somewhat familiar face with a scar above his eyebrow, but he couldn't recall who he was.

  "Su Cheng, I heard you went to the Petroleum Department. Without my dad's help, you could only get into a small place like that. What do you have to be proud of? You're just a Beida cai zi! Let me tell you now, the Petroleum Department is definitely going to be downsized, so just wait for being laid off!"

  "You've got the wrong person." Su Cheng didn't even want to bother with Su Xing, his half-brother.

  Su Xinglian smiled a few times, and with a gesture of waving his hand, a small sedan drove over. The day before, when facing Su Cheng, the usually expressionless Secretary Xu had a smile on his face as he bowed to open the door for Su Xing.

  The sedan sped away.

  Su Cheng smiled slightly and didn't take it to heart.