152: Chapter 152 Is something wrong with that old man?

He then raised an eyebrow, walked forward, pulled Su Yi up, and helped him sit on the steps to the side. He then took an unopened bottle of electrolyte water from the sports bag around his waist, twisted off the cap, and handed it to him.

Before Su Yi could catch his breath to say thank you, Su Ye felt that his breathing had stabilized enough that he wouldn't just kick the bucket, so he got up and continued his morning run. Since he was already out, Su Ye didn't intend to end it just like that.

So, Su Yi watched Su Ye run lap after lap on the scenic track until the time slowly reached eight o'clock, when Su Ye finally came to a slow stop.

When he passed by Su Yi again, Su Yi hurriedly waved and called out, "Young man, come over and sit down?"

Su Ye picked up the towel hanging around his neck, wiped his face, and plopped down beside Su Yi. Su Yi took a bottle of mineral water from behind him, handed it to Su Ye, and said with a smile, "Little brother, if you don't mind, drink this."

Su Ye didn't mind; he picked up the mineral water and drank more than half the bottle in one go. The sweat on his hair tips radiated a white halo in the morning light. As for what some fitness experts say about drinking water slowly after intense exercise, Su Ye didn't care at all; this amount of exercise was just a warm-up for him.

Su Yi kept saying from the side, "Drink slowly, drink slowly. If it's not enough, I'll go buy you more." The tone was just like someone talking to their own child.

After finishing the water, Su Ye wiped the water droplets on his chin with the back of his hand, smiled, and said, "Uncle, you're not from Sichuan Province, are you? Thanks for the water."

Su Yi smiled and said, "I was before, but I spent over twenty years in Beijing and have only just returned. Also, don't thank me; I haven't thanked you yet. If you hadn't helped me up just now, I probably would have had a hard time catching my breath."

Speaking of this, his eyes were full of memories: "If it were when I was younger, let alone running for ten minutes, I would have been fine even if I ran for an hour."

After speaking, Su Yi patted his forehead and said to Su Ye, "Oh, that's right, my name is Su Yi. May I ask what your name is, little brother?"

Su Ye thought to himself that the real show was about to begin, so he played dumb and said, "My name is Su Ye. Uncle, we have quite the connection; we share a surname. Who knows, maybe we were the same family five hundred years ago."

Perhaps it was Su Ye's mention of being the same family that touched Su Yi, who slapped his thigh: "Good, the same family. Yes, maybe we are the same family. Meeting is fate, especially since we share a surname. From now on, I'll call you Little Su."

Su Ye shrugged indifferently, though he was frantically holding back laughter inside. This feeling of being the only sober person while everyone else was drunk was a bit bizarre; if he were a blabbermouth, he would probably be dying of anxiety.

Su Yi then asked, "By the way, Little Su, how many people are in your family?"

Although Su Yi knew all the intelligence about the Su Family, he still wanted to hear the information about the family firsthand from Su Ye.

Su Ye pretended to be ignorant and said straightforwardly, "Uncle, in my family, my grandparents' generation is still around. Then on my mom's side, there are four sisters. I also have one older sister and three younger sisters. As for my dad's side, there are..." Su Ye deliberately drew out the sound while looking at Su Yi.

At this moment, Su Yi didn't look like someone about to become the most important person in Sichuan Province at all. Instead, he asked impatiently, "There are what? Little Su, you don't even know how many people are in your own family, do you?"

Su Ye decided not to tease his Fourth Uncle in front of him anymore and said quickly, "I guess four? I used to have a Fourth Uncle, but he went missing later. My dad and the others waited for ten years and searched for ten years, but in the end, they couldn't find him, so they reported him dead."

Su Yi was silent for a moment and then asked, "Is everyone in your family doing well?"

Su Ye nodded and said, "They're all doing pretty well. My grandparents usually just play mahjong and farm when they have nothing to do, and my dad and the others are in decent health."

After chatting for a few more sentences, Su Ye made an excuse that he had something to do and left. He exchanged contact information with Su Yi before departing, leaving Su Yi staring at Su Ye's back in a daze for a long time.

The first thing Su Yi did upon returning to the hotel was to call his wife, Su Wan. After it rang twice with no answer, Su Yi remembered that it was Monday and Su Wan should be in a meeting.

Just as he was about to hang up, the call was surprisingly connected. Su Wan's voice came from the other end, "Hello, I knew that after you went to see Su Ye this morning, you would definitely call me, so I asked Minister Li to help me preside over the meeting."

Su Yi couldn't help but smile. Sure enough, the person in this world who understood him best was the one who had been by his side for over twenty years.

Su Wan continued, "How was it, Old Su? After actually interacting with Su Ye, what do you think?"

Su Yi said with a hint of pride in his tone, "Not bad, he's a good young man. He's handsome, talkative, unreserved, and has strong physical fitness. Most importantly, he has a kind heart. Just now during the morning run, when he saw I wasn't doing well, he took the initiative to come up and help me to rest."

Su Yi's tone lifted, and he said excitedly, "He even called me Uncle."

Su Wan found it funny. A dignified vice-minister, someone about to become a high-ranking regional official, was actually acting as excited as a child because of the word "Uncle."

So she teased him, "In my opinion, you should just go ahead and acknowledge Little Su. Then he'll have to call you Fourth Uncle."

"No, no." Su Wan could already imagine Su Yi shaking his head like a rattle-drum.

"Now is not the time to acknowledge each other. After all, I haven't seen my parents or my siblings yet. I can't just rashly acknowledge relatives. Today, I just came to see how Little Su is doing and meet him in person. Next, I plan to go back to my hometown first."

"I've thought it through these past two days. Whether I stick my head out or pull it back, it's still a blow. I'll tell the truth, but for my status, I'll just say I hold a section-level idle position to see how they react first."

Su Wan thought for a moment and said, "That works, too. Anyway, there's no better way right now. The best way is to meet in person and see what the family has to say first."

Su Yi was silent for a moment and then said, "I'll buy a ticket and leave now. I can arrive in Chang City tonight, and I'll go home tomorrow morning."

———— The next morning, Su Ye arrived at the community's scenic track as usual, but he didn't see Su Yi's figure until he finished. Su Ye sat on the steps in the courtyard and lit a cigarette, feeling a bit worried: "Could something have happened to this old man?"

After all, yesterday, after seeing Su Yi, Su Ye had spent the rest of his running time observing the entire community. He hadn't seen any traces of other suspicious individuals, so he could basically determine that Su Yi had come alone.

"Hiss!" Su Ye sucked in a cold breath, feeling a bit of a toothache. If his Fourth Uncle had any problems, he didn't know how big of an earthquake it would cause. This was someone about to become a high-ranking regional official in Sichuan Province; by then, the entire Chengdu would be shaken to its core.