Grandma Su looked at Yu Ruiyuan, who was acting mysteriously, and chided her with a smile, “What good news is it that you’re being so secretive about?”
“Heaven-sent good news!” Yu Ruiyuan’s eyes were filled with joy.
“Grandma, hurry up and tell us, my grandma is impatient!” Su Xiaotian said with a smile.
Seeing the eagerness of the Su family, Yu Ruiyuan stopped playing coy.
“I just received news, Ciliang’s painting won an award.”
This statement was almost earth-shattering, and the Su family members were indeed overjoyed.
Su Taohua quickly said, “Gaga Dad, Gaga Mom, aren’t you happy? Ciliang, this child, has truly brought honor to the family!”
“Really? Ciliang has only been studying for a few years, and he’s already won an award? Ruiyuan, you’re not tricking us, are you?”
The Su family all knew that Su Ciliang had signed up for the competition, but at the time, they didn’t have high hopes for him winning.
Grandma Su was still in a daze when she heard this.
“Ciliang has been studying for several years, and this child is talented.”
When they were at the Hongxin Brigade, Yu Ruiyuan had taught Su Ciliang diligently, and coupled with Su Ciliang’s natural talent for painting, it was normal for him to achieve results.
While happy to hear her grandson praised, Grandma Su maintained a humble demeanor.
“What talent or not, I just thought it would be nice if he could paint a picture for us to hang on the wall in the future!”
“After winning this award, you can hang Ciliang’s paintings in our restaurant,” Yu Ruiyuan said, clapping her hands.
“Alright, I’ll have Ciliang paint a few to hang up then,” Grandma Su said happily.
“Both of Ciliang’s paintings won awards, one is a first prize, and the other is a third prize!” Yu Ruiyuan continued to deliver the good news.
Su Xiaotian was also surprised that her brother had such capabilities.
Both paintings winning awards was a tremendous honor.
“I must congratulate my second brother for achieving his goal!”
“The awards ceremony is next weekend, you’ll come with me then!” Yu Ruiyuan said with a smile. “Let’s go cheer for your second brother together!”
“Why don’t we all go?” Shen Zizhen also became interested.
“Anyone who isn’t busy on the weekend can go!” Yu Ruiyuan said with a smile. “The more of us who go, the more imposing we’ll be.”
Achieving such results in a national competition was truly not easy.
The Su family members celebrated and discussed enthusiastically.
“What a shame, I can’t leave the shop, otherwise I would definitely go to see my grandson receive his award,” Grandma Su lamented.
“Mother, why don’t you go see Ciliang receive his award, and I’ll stay at the shop!” Liang Xiu offered.
A flicker of joy crossed Grandma Su’s face, but she then said, “Still, it’s better not to. It will be crowded on the weekend, and I need to keep an eye on things.”
“Grandma, it’s okay. In the future, when second brother wins more awards, there will be plenty of opportunities to see him receive them.”
Grandma Su suddenly thought of something and asked, “Are there any prize monies for winning?”
The simple Grandma Su cared most about this question.
It would be great if there were prize monies for winning.
Although the family’s restaurant business was good, who would complain about having more money?
Besides, the children were growing up day by day, and getting married would be expensive.
“Grandma, there should be, but not much!” Su Xiaotian said with a smile.
This was not the future; even if they won awards, the prize money wouldn’t be much, it was just a token.
“I heard that the first prize is two hundred yuan, the second prize is one hundred yuan, the third prize is fifty yuan, and the excellence award is only twenty yuan.”
Yu Ruiyuan immediately answered their questions.
“One first prize and one third prize, that adds up to quite a bit, two hundred and fifty!”
After saying this, Grandma Su felt that the number seemed rather strange.
“Two hundred and fifty!”
Su Xiaotian bent over with an unknowable laugh, and the others couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Even Grandpa Su, who always had a stern face, laughed heartily.
After the laughter subsided, Grandma Su said with emotion, “The prize money isn’t that much, but whatever the children earn from this, it’s theirs to keep.”
Grandma Su was now someone who had seen a lot of money and didn’t really care about such a small amount.
However, to be able to openly give so much money to her grandchildren was quite generous.
Yu Ruiyuan chuckled and said, “The prize money isn’t much, but the fame is great.”
This was a national competition!
Grandma Su nodded, “That’s true. If he can bring back a medal, it won’t be a waste of the paper we bought for him to paint.”
Thinking about how this second grandson used more paper than all the other grandchildren combined, Grandma Su felt a pang of heartache.
Everyone chuckled.
The other brothers of the Su family were quite envious upon hearing this news.
The number two hundred and fifty might not sound good, but did it matter if it sounded good or not?
What mattered was that their second brother had money.
Their eldest brother worked as a manuscript translator, and how much had he earned with all his hard work?
Who said painting was expensive and didn’t make money?
Clearly, it was also very profitable.
Grandpa Su was happy and waved his hand, saying, “Everyone is eating at our house tonight to celebrate this brat in advance!”
No one in the family disagreed.
“I’ll make Ciliang a set of clothes to wear when he goes to accept the award,” Su Taohua immediately declared.
For a moment, the atmosphere was very warm, as if they could already see the medals and prize money.
“Why aren’t they giving out awards tomorrow?” Grandma Su expressed her regret.
“This is a national competition, and some authors are from out of town, so we have to give them time to travel!”
After Yu Ruiyuan explained, Grandma Su understood.
“Yes, yes, it’s nationwide,” Grandma Su said gleefully and went to the kitchen to prepare the celebratory feast.
“Grandpa, I’ll go buy some wine,” Su Xiaotian said happily.
As it happened, she had recently obtained some wine coupons.
Grandpa Su was a bit worried about his little granddaughter going alone, but his granddaughter was exceptionally lucky and might even find better wine.
“Go, go! Grandpa will give you money.”
Su Xiaotian declined.
“Grandpa, I don’t want it! I have money,” Su Xiaotian said with a smile.
She had the most money in the family, so she didn’t lack this small amount.
Grandpa Su knew that Su Xiaotian had money, so he didn’t insist.
Su Xiaotian went to the department store, and coincidentally, there were four bottles of Maotai wine there. Su Xiaotian bought all of them in one go.
The salesclerk was quite surprised to see such a young child buying four bottles of Maotai wine at once.
Are children these days so wealthy?
Su Xiaotian, however, was secretly happy. Two bottles of wine would be enough for today, and she would store the remaining two bottles in her system’s storage box, waiting for a promotion.
Thinking about the appreciation of Maotai wine, Su Xiaotian also thought that perhaps in a few years, she could also stock up on some red wine.
For the rest of the week, the Su family was in exceptionally good spirits.
The final decision was that Yu Ruiyuan and Du Tong, the couple, would take a group of children from the family to watch.
As for the others, they would continue with their own affairs.
Chi Ge declared his intention to go as well, stating that he was the one who had discovered Su Ciliang’s talent in the first place.
Then, Su Taohua’s family also made time to go.
On that day, Su Ciliang wore a blue military uniform made by Su Taohua, looking particularly spirited.