Chapter 277: Our Son-in-law Has Made It Big!

Chapter 277: Our Son-in-Law Is a Success Now!

Su Shiming and Wen Qing had been busy minding the shop all day, so they hadn’t paid attention to the newspaper. Normally, Su Shiming (Da Ming) would go to the park and discuss the day’s headlines with a group of elderly friends. But these past few days, minding the shop had been so exhausting that he hadn’t had the energy for it.

Unexpectedly, the next day, several neighbors came to visit Su Shiming, bringing gifts.

“What’s—what’s all this?” Su Shiming opened the door, confused by the sight of friends and relatives standing outside.

“Oh, Da Ming, you really don’t know? Your son-in-law was in the newspaper!”

“Exactly! How’d you miss this?”

“What kind of father-in-law *are* you? Such happy news, and you’re still out of the loop?”

“Fu Tinghua—he’s your student and son-in-law, right? I remember you mentioning him. As soon as I saw the name in the paper yesterday, it felt familiar. If he weren’t from around here, I wouldn’t have connected the dots, but I recall you saying your son-in-law was a doctor.”

“That’s right, Da Ming! Can you hook us up? I heard your son-in-law’s appointments are backed up till next month. My arthritis is flaring up again—can you get me in sooner?”

“And me! My mom’s always complaining about her backache. Can you squeeze her in?”

“Me too! My problem is...”

“Count me in! Can you get us in line?”

Su Shiming stared at the scene before him, his head pounding.

What was happening? He couldn’t make sense of a single word.

“Wait, what are you all talking about? What newspaper?” Su Shiming was totally lost.

“Here, look—isn’t this your son-in-law? There’s even a photo! Wow, he’s quite the looker!”

Someone handed Su Shiming yesterday’s newspaper.

As he took it, a mix of pride and panic washed over him.

Now that everyone knew his son-in-law was the man in the paper, they’d all be coming to him for favors and appointments.

No way—he’d shut this down.

“Look, uh, I really didn’t know about this. And my son-in-law’s hospital has strict rules—absolutely no cutting the line. If you want to see him, you’ll have to get in line like everybody else.” With that, Su Shiming tried to close the door.

At this point, he didn’t care about offending anyone.

These were just chatty, blowhard neighbors.

Compared to them, his son-in-law was family.

Making the newspaper was a huge deal.

Even if Fu Tinghua weren’t his son-in-law, he was still his student.

So Su Shiming would never allow himself to become a roadblock for Fu Tinghua’s path to success.

Though, given how much Fu Tinghua looked up to him and how crazy he was about Su He, he’d probably find a way to help him.

But was Su Shiming the type to be so unreasonable?

"Hey! Why’re you shutting us out?"

"Seriously! If you won’t help, just say no. Why ignore us outright?"

"Ugh, whatever. Let’s bounce. So unreliable—we’re better off on our own."

"Alright, let’s scatter. Who says we need his son-in-law anyway?"

The crowd had come rushing for help, only to scatter dejected after Su Shiming turned them away.

Wen Qing had heard the commotion outside earlier. As soon as Su Shiming sent them away, she hurried over and asked, "What happened? What’s going on?"

Su Shiming, beaming, replied, "Our son-in-law—he’s hit the big time!"

With that, he whipped out the paper he’d just grabbed and showed it to Wen Qing. He hadn’t even had the chance to read the details properly earlier.

"This—it really is about Ting Hua!" Wen Qing exclaimed excitedly.

Both of them were educated people and naturally understood the significance of a technical expert being featured in the People’s Daily, let alone occupying half a page. This showed just how much recognition and importance the top brass placed on the report.

"Ting Hua’s really done it now. And here I thought he’d peaked already, but I never expected him to reach this level."

Su Shiming recalled the ridicule he’d faced from fellow teachers back when he first sponsored Fu Tinghua. They mocked him for struggling financially himself, with a daughter to raise, yet still dedicating half his salary to support a child with no blood relation. Back then, he’d took so much flak under that pressure.

"Let’s go! We’ll visit Ting Hua tonight and have a drink," Su Shiming blurted out.

"Whoa, right now?" Wen Qing couldn’t help but groan.

"Of course! What was our girl thinking yesterday? She didn’t even mention it to us."

"She must’ve figured we knew. Don’t blame her," Wen Qing immediately defended their daughter, Su He.

"I’m just saying—of course I wouldn’t blame her."

Over at the shop, Su He had just arrived at noon when she ran into Fu Guoqing and Fu Ziyao, who were delivering durians.

This delivery was huge—close to 200 durians. Due to delays from the Mid-Autumn Festival, many of the durians had ripened too much, leaving them no choice but to harvest and deliver them all to Su He.

"Su He, these are all overripe—they won’t last long. Is that alright?" Fu Guoqing said, eyeing the durians in the bags with a hint of regret.

Admittedly, this batch reeked worse than ever.

......

"No sweat," Su He replied without hesitation, "We’ll just put the ripe ones out first—I’ll mark ’em down."

"Alright, you’re the boss."

No more talk. The three of them got to work, jumping to do whatever Su He said.

After helping Su He arrange all the durians, Su He offered them water.

The two of them drank quickly and prepared to leave.

"Big brother, second brother, why don't you stay for a quick bite to eat before leaving?" Su He urged.

Such polite exchanges were naturally indispensable.

"No, we have to hurry back for the autumn harvest. This afternoon, I have to help two families transport their rice harvest—can’t afford any delays," Fu Guoqing said with a smile.

"Alright, then I won’t keep you. Drive careful."

After seeing them off, Su He took a piece of cardboard and wrote on it: "Special offer: Durians, one kuai per jin!"

These were already overripe and had to be eaten today—they’d spoil by tomorrow, so the discount was unavoidable.

Just then, Su Shiming and his wife came by the shop again.

"Honey, has Ting Hua finished work yet?"

Su He, busy handling the durians, replied, "He should have, but he hasn’t come to the shop. I don’t know if he’s putting in extra hours or eating at home."

Su He suspected he was putting in extra hours, as Fu Tinghua had also returned quite late the night before.

After the report about him was published, a VIP wanted him to do the surgery.

The person had sent all the examination materials over, and Fu Tinghua had said he was working late to prepare the treatment plan—it took quite a while.

So Su He felt he must be very busy these days.

"Huh? Why didn’t you tell us yesterday that he made the papers?"