Chapter 111: What’s the Big Deal?

“Dad, it’s him!” Yan Xin angrily charged forward to hit Su Chunfeng, but was yanked back by his father, who scolded him, “Stop messing around!”

“Dad…” Yan Xin looked at his father, confused and unwilling to back down.

Several tough young men who had already rushed over to block Su Chunfeng and his two friends froze in place, looking at Yan Xin’s father in surprise.

At that moment, looking at the calm Su Chunfeng, who seemed both amused and exasperated, General Manager Yan Hongqiang of Hongyun Construction Co., Ltd. felt extremely awkward. He forced a similarly puzzled and surprised expression and admonished gently in a tone of an elder, “Hey, Chunfeng… how could it be you?”

“General Manager Yan, is this your son?” Su Chunfeng glanced at Yan Xin with a smile.

“Ahem…” Yan Hongqiang could only nod.

Yan Hongqiang was someone who had started early in the underground circles of Pingyang City and was lucky enough to rise without ever getting arrested. In the past, he had been very protective and indulgent toward his naturally timid and well-behaved son. But in the last two years, whenever his son got into fights, Yan Hongqiang usually just ignored it or sent a couple of his men to help his son teach the other youngsters a lesson. Today, while at a construction site outside the city, he received a tearful phone call from his son and rushed back into the city. Seeing his son’s bruised and swollen face, he felt heartache and trembled with anger. In a rage, he led his men to search for whatever country bumpkin dared to cause trouble in Pingyang City and beat up his son, Yan Hongqiang’s boy.

Who could have imagined…

The troublemaker turned out to be the son of Su Cheng, the general manager of Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd.

Su Cheng was now Yan Hongqiang’s money god!

The Wantong Logistics Park project was worth millions, and that was just phase one. How much more would phase two cost? In a couple of years, there was talk of rebuilding and expanding it—all huge sums of money.

Especially since one of Su Cheng’s partners was his relative Chen Yufang, who was the daughter of Chen Xian, the former Deputy Municipal Party Secretary of Pingyang City, who had retired just over a year ago. People like that were not someone Yan Hongqiang—who might seem influential and command respect in the so-called underworld—could afford to offend.

Even leaving aside Su Cheng and Chen Yufang, the two unoffendable money gods, just Su Chunfeng himself, a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old who would just start his second year of high school after the summer break, left a deep impression on Yan Hongqiang.

This was a mature, steady, extremely strong-willed, shrewd, and very intelligent young man. Even someone as self-assured as Chen Yufang couldn’t help but praise him in casual conversation, telling a somewhat puzzled Yan Hongqiang that her father Chen Xian had also repeatedly given Su Chunfeng high praise, saying, “This young man will never be an ordinary person in the future.” Because of this, ever since Yan Hongqiang first met Su Chunfeng at Chen Yufang’s house, he had never treated Su Chunfeng as just a high school kid. From the groundbreaking of the Wantong Logistics Park to now, whenever Yan Hongqiang occasionally ran into Su Chunfeng at the construction site, he would politely discuss a few matters about the logistics park project.

“Chunfeng, how did you and Little Xin get into a fight?” Yan Hongqiang still maintained the demeanor of an elder as he asked with a smile.

Su Chunfeng glanced at the tough young men surrounding him and said with a smile, “General Manager Yan, how do you plan to discuss this? Beat me up first to let your son vent his anger?”

“Hey, don’t get the wrong idea, don’t get the wrong idea. This really is like water flooding the Dragon King’s temple—a misunderstanding among family.” Yan Hongqiang quickly laughed it off. Not to mention that Su Chunfeng was not someone to mess with, just the fact that an adult would rush over to side with his son in a fight with other teenagers without knowing the full story was embarrassing enough if word got out. He waved at his underlings and ordered, “Go on, why did all of you follow me here? I already said it wasn’t a big deal. Hurry back and do your own work.”

“Alright, Brother Qiang, we’re leaving then.”

“We’re off, Brother Qiang.”

“General Manager Yan, call us if you need anything…”

The young men, looking puzzled, said their goodbyes to Yan Hongqiang one by one, then turned and left.

Yan Xin and his friends were completely dumbfounded.

Su Chunfeng turned to Zhang Lifei and Wang Haifei, who looked surprised and still worried and a bit scared, and said, “You two go play around here for a bit. I’ll go talk with General Manager Yan over there.”

“Chunfeng…” Wang Haifei tugged at Su Chunfeng’s arm, her eyes full of worry.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Su Chunfeng gently patted Wang Haifei’s small hand and pulled his arm free.

Seeing this intimate scene, Zhang Lifei immediately forgot there were other people present. She turned, grabbed Su Chunfeng’s hand, and shook it hard. “Chunfeng, don’t be scared… or I’ll go call my dad right now.” As she spoke, she glared at Yan Hongqiang, Yan Xin, and the others and let out a “hmph.”

“Alright now, go play with Haifei for a bit. I’ll find you later.” Su Chunfeng pulled his hand free, walked over to Yan Hongqiang, and pointed to a small pavilion not far away. “General Manager Yan, let’s go talk over there.”

“Okay, okay.” Yan Hongqiang smiled, turned, and walked away.

Su Chunfeng walked alongside him, then turned back like an elder and called out to Yan Xin and his friends, “Hey, you guys come over too. It takes two to tango, and you all must have grievances too, right? Come over and talk it out… clear things up.” Then, Su Chunfeng turned to Yan Hongqiang as if making small talk, “General Manager Yan, come on, what’s the big deal? It’s just a hot day, young people get short-tempered and had a fight. Was it really necessary to call the parents?”

“Hey, exactly! On the way here, I even scolded this kid.” Yan Hongqiang shook his head as if disappointed, then added with a hint of complaint, “But Little Brother Chunfeng, you hit a bit too hard. Look at how you beat the kid up; you almost disfigured him.”

Su Chunfeng smiled. “Alright, first let me apologize to you.”

“No need, no need. What are you talking about? Haha…”

Well, these two were talking back and forth like they were equals—nothing like a conversation between an adult and a teenager. It was more like two old buddies or acquaintances on equal footing gossiping about trivial family matters and kids being disobedient and hard to manage. Yan Hongqiang even affectionately called him “Little Brother Chunfeng”; they were almost about to put their arms around each other’s shoulders.

Following behind, Yan Xin was so annoyed he wondered if he’d have to call this country bumpkin “uncle” later.

Gao Shenghan and the others had no choice but to follow along.

Su Chunfeng and Yan Hongqiang chatted and laughed as they walked into the little pavilion and sat on the bench between the pillars. Then Su Chunfeng said with a hint of apology, “General Manager Yan, today’s incident was really a misunderstanding. Who would have thought we were all on the same side… Since you’re here, we should get everything out in the open so there won’t be any lingering misunderstandings later. Don’t you think?”

“Actually, you don’t even need to say it. I know my Little Xin is too immature.” Yan Hongqiang said quite magnanimously—by this point, of course, he could figure out that his own son must have been at fault first.

“It’s still better to talk it out.” Su Chunfeng turned to look at Yan Xin. “Little Xin, now with your dad here, tell us what happened from beginning to end…”

Yan Xin felt incredibly awkward. He hung his head and pouted, “I have nothing to say.”

“Heh.” Su Chunfeng pointed at Yan Xin, then turned to Yan Hongqiang with a smile. “Well, after all, they’re young. They all have a bit of a temper, haha.”

Yan Hongqiang shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Su Chunfeng then looked at Gao Shenghan. “Hey, Little Fatty, you’re the most honest. You tell us, whose fault is this?”

Even though Su Chunfeng smiled and spoke gently, Gao Shenghan couldn’t help but shudder. The scene earlier, where Su Chunfeng effortlessly fought three of them and knocked them all to the ground, was too terrifying. And now even Yan Xin’s father, Yan Hongqiang—who was like an idol figure of strength in the eyes of these young men—had to treat Su Chunfeng politely and even call him “brother.” This made Gao Shenghan even more scared.

So he didn’t dare hesitate and obediently said, “It’s all my fault…”

Gao Shenghan was really a coward. Without even bothering to look at Yan Xin, who was frantically signaling him with his eyes, he spilled everything that had happened from start to finish.

Yan Hongqiang grew more and more embarrassed and angry. He never expected his usually timid and well-behaved son, who got good grades, would turn into this under his overindulgence. But now that he thought about it, ever since his son Yan Xin was in his third year of middle school, under his domineering protection and encouragement, Yan Xin had become arrogant and bossy, even collecting followers under his father’s name. At the time, Yan Hongqiang not only didn’t stop it but was somewhat pleased and tacitly allowed it…

“General Manager Yan, did you hear that clearly? It really was just a misunderstanding, a small matter.” Su Chunfeng smiled and pointed at Gao Shenghan. “This little fatty here has the least sense of responsibility. If he had just listened to me back then, admitted his mistake, and apologized to my friends, wouldn’t it have been over?… And Little Xin, there’s nothing wrong with being loyal to friends, but don’t be blindly loyal, okay? If your brother is wrong, you should correct him, not help him bully others.”

“Did you hear that?” Yan Hongqiang harshly scolded his son, who hung his head stubbornly.

Yan Xin could only nod and mumble, “I heard.”

“Actually, Little Xin didn’t really do anything too wrong. It’s this little fatty who’s the least reliable.” Su Chunfeng said. “Your two buddies fought me because of you, but you, you didn’t even dare to throw a punch… I think you’re just a coward, the type who’d become a traitor, not worth getting close to. Little Xin, and that other guy, you two need to exercise more usually. You’re so grown up already, two of you fighting me, didn’t win, got beaten up—so you should accept it and reflect on yourselves. As the saying goes, shame leads to courage! You’re so big already, how can you cry and snitch to your parents, acting like you’re still elementary school kids?”

Yan Hongqiang felt ashamed—as the saying goes, a tiger father doesn’t have a dog son. How did he end up with such a disappointing son?

Yan Xin and the other boy who had also been beaten both blushed, lowered their heads, and stayed silent.

Honestly, it was really embarrassing.

And now it was even more frustrating—this guy named Su Chunfeng was so irritating, looking down on them and lecturing them like he was their dad.

“Alright, it’s no big deal. It turns out we’re all on the same side after all this fuss; people would laugh if word got out.” Su Chunfeng stood up with a smile. “General Manager Yan, I’m really sorry about today. I hit a bit too hard. It was all a misunderstanding, and I troubled you to come all the way here. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

“Hey.” Yan Hongqiang quickly said politely, “I should be the one apologizing. Chunfeng, I failed to educate my son properly…”

“It’s nothing. They’re young. Having a bit of temper and being loyal to friends isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Su Chunfeng politely waved his hand. “Well, I’ll go now. My friends are waiting. We’ll see each other again.”

“Okay, see you.” Yan Hongqiang stood up and saw him out of the pavilion.

Once Su Chunfeng was far away, Yan Hongqiang gave his son a hard kick in the butt. “Worthless thing! Look how useless you are! Go home now!”

After cursing, Yan Hongqiang walked away with a stern face.