On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, after the New Year’s Eve, Su Jianjun was not busy anymore. You can’t have money on your mind all year round; occasionally, you have to enjoy life.

In the morning, he borrowed his son’s car for a drive, and in the afternoon, he went to an old friend’s house to play mahjong.

However, this time he encountered an unexpected partner.

When Huang Hongbo walked into the mahjong room, Su Jianjun was slightly surprised.

The business and political circles have their distinct separations. Although Huang the tycoon is good at building walls, he isn’t part of Su’s circle; the people around him are either Jianglan’s richest businessmen from various industries or powerful city leaders.

Old Su considers himself a middle-class family with a little money, reaching nearly a million after investing in B shares last year. However, his status has not improved qualitatively, and his regular mahjong buddies are about the same tier, making it his first time encountering Huang Hongbo while playing mahjong.

Su Jianjun’s old friend, the host of the mahjong game today, actively introduced him to the other two: "Boss Huang is well-known in Jianglan, I think everyone knows him, so no need for further introduction."

Actually, the host felt a bit perplexed. Although he knew Huang Hongbo, they weren’t close, and he was very aware that it was pointless to try to squeeze into their circle, which would only lead to disdain.

Yet, for some reason, Huang the tycoon had recently taken the initiative to come to his house twice to play mahjong, and on the second occasion, specifically asked him to invite Su Jianjun to join.

That puzzled everyone even more, since as far as he knew, Su Jianjun and Huang Hongbo had no connections.

Su Jianjun felt somewhat uneasy.

He was always concerned that there might be some underlying issue, as Huang Hongbo wouldn’t join his circle without a reason.

Moreover, because of Huang Panpan’s relationship with Su Zelin, he felt a bit guilty.

Huang Hongbo was powerful and well-connected, likely aware of Panpan’s admiration for Zelin.

Although his son and the Huang family’s princess had nothing going on, even if there was, it was initiated by Huang Panpan. However, explaining this wouldn’t be easy, and they might not believe it.

Distraction marked the beginning of the game. Fortunately, Huang Hongbo was focused solely on enjoying the game without mentioning anything else. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Moreover, Su Jianjun soon discovered another thing: Huang Hongbo seemed to be deliberately giving him good tiles.

In mahjong, father-son dynamics don’t matter; handing out tiles typically occurs when someone has a favor to ask or is trying to win over someone, like forming ties with a leader.

But there wasn’t anything appealing about him for a big tycoon like Huang to win him over.

Su Jianjun was baffled.

It went on until dark when the game ended.

Su Jianjun needed to return home for dinner, or else Zhao Lixia would roar like a lion, which everyone knew.

Huang Hongbo lost over three thousand yuan, but the tycoon didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

Old Su earned the most, taking the lion’s share while the other two each got several hundred.

Despite winning nearly two thousand yuan, Su Jianjun couldn’t help but feel strange.

Tonight, Huang Hongbo seemed eager to give money away, and his main target appeared to be him.

As he left his old friend’s house, the Santana was parked outside. In 2002, private cars in small towns were scarce; unless downtown, most places would allow casual parking without being ticketed.

"Boss Su!"

Just as he was about to get into the car, Huang Hongbo’s voice came from behind.

Huang the tycoon walked briskly over, handed him a Zhonghua cigarette, and smiled: "Haha, speaking of which, my daughter Panpan and your son Su Zelin attend the same university."

"Yes, quite a coincidence indeed."

Su Jianjun took the Zhonghua cigarette, and seeing Huang Hongbo pull out a lighter to offer him a light, he felt a bit flattered: "I have fire; I can do it myself!"

Similarly, he understood that Huang Hongbo probably wouldn’t only have a one or two-sentence chat, at least not less than a cigarette’s time.

Both lit their cigarettes and smoked together by the roadside.

"Boss Su, I suppose you might have heard about the issues between my daughter and us as a couple?"

Huang Hongbo spoke up again.

"I’ve heard a bit about it."

Su Jianjun didn’t understand why he’d bring up family matters, but still nodded slightly.

"When Panpan was little, her mom and I were both busy with business, neglecting her care, and some very unfortunate things happened."

Huang Hongbo looked downcast.

He was referring to the night when his mother suddenly passed away from a brain hemorrhage, causing the loss of a close relative, and making it impossible to be forgiven by another important relative.

"Even though we’ve tried hard to make amends, our daughter resented us, becoming very radical. Luckily, she’s very obedient to your Zelin. Because of your son’s influence, our relationship with our daughter greatly improved."

"After Panpan went to university, she’s matured significantly, even entering the student council, which I believe was thanks to Zelin’s help. This winter break, it was Zelin who escorted her back home, so my wife and I are quite grateful to him."

Huang Hongbo’s words enlightened Su Jianjun.

No wonder the tycoon was handing him tiles all night; turns out it was for this reason!

Yet, even he didn’t know about Zelin escorting Panpan back home or helping her join the student council; his son never mentioned it.

Once the cigarette was finished, Huang Hongbo took out a "Good Fortune" envelope from his pocket, slipping it into Su Jianjun’s hand: "Just a token, wishing Zelin academic excellence. Boss Su, please pass it to him for me when you get home."

Su Jianjun weighed it; the envelope wasn’t light, containing at least seven or eight hundred yuan bills.

No surprise if it contained eight bills, as Zhejiang Province had a tradition of giving lucky envelopes in multiples of six or eight.