Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins
Years of Heartflutter · Page 68 of 214
It seemed this unimpressive fellow, Sun Lin, owed that beautiful daughter of his entirely to Mother Sun. Though past forty, she still retained her charm, and one could tell she must have been a beauty in her youth.
Still, whose side of the family did Sun Jie get those breasts from? Auntie's weren't nearly as large as Sun Jie's. Could Sun Jie have drunk too much papaya soup? Yang Ce thought wickedly. While Yang Ce was sizing up Sun Lin, Sun Lin was doing the same to him.
The young man was quite spirited-looking, but Sun Lin had always scoffed at a man's looks. In his view, a capable man would be respected no matter how ordinary he appeared; conversely, without ability, no matter how handsome you were, you were fit only to be a kept man.
So Yang Ce had made no particular first impression on Sun Lin—a person's appearance revealed nothing. Only through his own scrutiny could Sun Lin determine whether Yang Ce was a suitable candidate for a son-in-law.
Yet the casualness and flippancy about Yang Ce made Sun Lin frown deeply. That kind of street-tough swagger made Sun Lin feel Yang Ce would never accomplish anything great.
After Yang Ce finished greeting him, Sun Lin gave a silent nod and said, "Lao San, tell the servants to pour tea."
"Master, I've already sent for it," Sun San said respectfully.
"No need to trouble yourself, Uncle Sun," Yang Ce said mildly. "Uncle Sun, Auntie Sun, Happy New Year."
Yang Ce didn't know Sun Jie's mother's maiden name, but calling her Auntie Sun was certainly safe—she was Sun Lin's wife, and therefore one of the Sun family.
"Happy New Year, heh heh." Sun Lin's face instantly turned cold. "Today is already past the fifteenth. The New Year has already passed, hasn't it?"
"Heh heh." Yang Ce looked a little awkward.
Though Sun Lin found Yang Ce's manner easygoing and not at all distant, he still didn't like him. After all, his impression of Yang Ce was poor—who came to pay a visit only after the fifteenth? That was far too disrespectful.
"You put on quite the airs, making an old man like me wait so long," Sun Lin snorted coldly.
Yang Ce could tell Sun Lin genuinely had complaints about him, but he was not the sort who liked to curry favor deliberately. Sun Lin might be a local magnate, but wasn't he one himself? So he said, somewhat coolly, "Uncle Sun, East Sea and Songjiang may be close, but the journey still takes over two hours. The New Year isn't like ordinary days—doesn't every family have matters to attend to?"
Yang Ce's implication was clear: I have my own affairs during the New Year too; surely I can't just drop everything to come see you in East Sea.
The moment the words left his mouth, the atmosphere turned frigid. Sun Lin was also taken aback—he hadn't expected Yang Ce to actually get sulky. He was left speechless. Sun Lin was a man whose single stamp of the foot made East Sea tremble; even the political dignitaries who spoke with him ordinarily had to wear ingratiating smiles. Yet Yang Ce, unexpectedly, refused to give him face.
This both startled Sun Lin and piqued his curiosity. Did Yang Ce not know who he was? Even if he didn't, surely he ought to show abundant respect to the father of his girlfriend?
Little did he know that Yang Cenbin's small venting of his dissatisfaction had, on the contrary, greatly raised Sun Lin's estimation of him. Too many people had been currying favor with him over the years, and Sun Lin had grown somewhat numb to it. In all these years, few had dared to go against his wishes—and those who did had vanished from the face of the earth.
Now, this move of Yang Juehuan's made Sun Lin feel that Yang Cenbin was, as a person, still full of backbone; at least he was not with Sun Jie out of greed for anything, nor would he deliberately try to ingratiate himself.
Still, backbone was backbone—it could only add a little to Sun Lin's favorable impression of Yang Ce, but what Sun Lin valued most was a person's ability.