Chapter 597: Meeting Zhou Laozi

But he still said: "Where did you get these bracelets? Surely you didn't pick them up from a wholesale market or a second‑hand market, right? Otherwise, how could others have so many, even a whole string?"

He expressed doubt about this, after all Fang Jingwen had once really brought several bracelets, which forced him to deeply suspect the origin of the bracelets.

Su Yang said: "What are you thinking? Heirlooms like this aren't just given away randomly. The ones you saw before were deliberately made up by them to anger you—with your wisdom and intelligence, could you really fall for their trick? Do you want it or not? If not, I'll put it away, and when our son grows up I'll give it directly to our daughter‑in‑law."

Zhou Ruohan immediately became unhappy: "What kind of talk is that? I don't even have one, and you're already giving it to the future wife of your son who doesn't even exist yet?"

Saying that, her snow‑white slender wrist had already reached out in front of Su Yang.

Su Yang was just about to put it on her when Zhou Tong interrupted inopportunely: "Can you two change the subject? Ah, I don't mean it that way—you know I'm inarticulate and can't express myself. Wait a bit, you put them on in front of Grandpa and Grandma; showing them to just me is useless, right?"

His comment made Su Yang feel it was necessary, and Zhou Ruohan felt the same—after all, Grandpa and Grandma had never met Su Yang, so through this they could also witness it.

"Fine, since that's the case, then later in front of Grandpa and Grandma you'll put it on me—but you still need to behave well, otherwise if Grandpa gets angry and wants to discipline you, I can't do anything about it."

At that moment Zhou Tong winked and said: "Don't worry, I'll protect my brother‑in‑law, and later I'll expect some favors in return."

Don't be fooled by how boastful this guy usually is—around Zhou Ruohan he's completely a loyal lackey. If you said he'd go asking for favors, unless you heard it yourself, those princes and princesses of the Jingcheng circle wouldn't believe it at all.

"Sure, just tell me what favors you want; if I can give them, I definitely will, and if I can't, I'm sure you won't push me," Su Yang said with a grin.

Because he also wondered deep down—last time Zhou Tong saw him he was still thoroughly dissatisfied, so why has he suddenly changed like a different person? He initially thought Zhou Ruohan had straightened this kid out, but now it seems the guy has other motives, no wonder.

Zhou Ruohan said from the side: "Don't go overboard just because my brother‑in‑law is easy to talk to, trying to extort him; if I find out, I'll deal with you however I see fit."

Zhou Tong said: "Come on, am I really that kind of person? My integrity is guaranteed, everyone knows that. Alright, no more talk—Grandpa and Grandma are waiting, let's hurry inside."

Zhou Ruohan didn't wait for Zhou Tong to finish, she linked arms with Su Yang, leaned on his shoulder, and walked into the courtyard with small quick steps.

Zhou Tong voluntarily opened the trunk and lifted the gifts Su Yang had brought; this sort of rough work was perfect for him.

The layout of siheyuan courtyards in Jingcheng is basically the same—only the size and interior decoration differ. Zhou Lao's residence looks very plain; he even felt like he'd entered a farmyard, seeing a vegetable plot in the courtyard. Others' courtyards might have redwoods or ginkgos, but theirs just has an apricot tree.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Su Yang has come to see you."

As his words fell, a thin old man with snow‑white hair appeared at the doorway; though his eyes looked muddy, they flashed with waves of killing intent.

Before Su Yang even approached, he felt as if his whole body had plunged into an icy cave. He suddenly realized this chill was the natural result of the old man's years of brutal warfare on the battlefield, piled with corpses and blood, not aimed at him, so he straightened his back and said: "Grandpa, hello, I'm Su Yang."

Zhou Lao's deep gaze fixed on Su Yang for a full half‑minute before he slightly nodded and said: "Good kid, not bad—you didn't faint at the sight of me. Come in and sit."

Su Yang breathed a sigh of relief—turns out the old man had been testing him just then; thank goodness his spine was straight enough to bear that invisible pressure. Well, he wishfully misjudged it as an aura innate to the old man's bones.

"What are you doing? What era is this, still pulling this stunt? People don't go to war on battlefields anymore—hurry up, Xiao Su, we've been waiting for you ages."

While speaking, a grandmother with frosty white hair also smiled and came out to greet them.

Su Yang quickly said, "Grandma, hello," then took the gifts from Zhou Tong's hands and carried them inside.

"You brat, where did you learn this bad habit of bringing gifts when you come home? Your position isn't that high, yet you're quite skilled at the whole gift‑giving‑receiving game."

Seeing Su Yang actually holding gifts, the old man's face fell again.

Zhou Ruohan explained from the side: "Grandpa, you can even find fault with this—it's only natural; when someone comes to our house for the first time, they can't show up empty‑handed. Besides, with your habit, if they came empty‑handed you'd surely accuse them of lacking manners."

She tried to smooth things over for Su Yang, but he wasn't worried at all, saying: "Grandpa, this isn't a gift I specially bought, nor was it given to me by someone else. It's from the first village‑collective enterprise I oversaw in the town where I used to work."

"Because the previous village was poor, the only thing growing there were apples that rotted in the ground each year, so I set up an apple processing plant in the village, turning those apples into canned apples, apple vinegar, etc., for sale. Today I specially brought apple vinegar and canned apples for you and Grandma to taste, to see how our pure, natural, harmless green product differs from the so‑called big‑factory goods on the market."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Laozi's previously stern face instantly broke into a smile: "Not bad, not bad—you really do have ideas. Being an official means exactly this: always putting the common people's interests first; otherwise, what's the difference between you and those parasites? We fought and shed blood back then to win all this, and it would be meaningless otherwise. Come on, open it up—I'll have a taste and tell you how your self‑produced canned goods actually taste."

Hearing Zhou Laozi say that, Zhou Ruohan immediately felt more relieved and secretly gave Su Yang a thumbs‑up. You see, anyone meeting Zhou Laozi for the first time either gets so scared they bend over and can't even stand straight, or they stutter and can't keep up with his pace, getting torn apart in a single encounter.

That's also why, when Old Zhou came last time, he didn't directly bring Su Yang home—of course, another reason was that his schedule was indeed tight then, and lingering here might have disrupted his normal arrangements.

Furthermore, last time Su Yang and Zhou Ruohan had indeed not yet broken through their relationship, and Zhou Ruohan had not explicitly told Old Zhou to bring Su Yang to meet Grandpa.

"I say, you old geezer, you're impatient to taste their canned goods—just now you were putting on that old face for whom to see?"