RGL – Chapter 105

She recalled the maternity clothes she’d seen in her previous life — they were mostly casual styles. She hadn’t had the chance to see more formal ones. But she did remember that a certain type of clothing later became very popular among women — Korean-style loose dresses.

These dresses were cinched just below the bust and became looser below the chest, very similar to the ancient ruqun of her country. The advantage was that they completely hid the baby bump.

Su Min combined this Korean-style design with an evening gown. Since pregnant women were generally still young, the design could be kept relatively simple. She styled the upper part above the bust like a short-sleeved princess dress and followed the Korean-style concept below the bust, placing the fitted section just under the chest.

After finishing the sketch and before she could start coloring it, Su Min began to feel drowsy. Glancing at the clock on her desk, she saw it was already past ten. Knowing she had to get up early the next day, she didn’t continue drawing. Instead, she quickly packed everything into her schoolbag and went straight to bed.

The next morning, Su Min got up early, slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and rushed to school to meet up with her classmates.

This was the first time Su Min was participating in a class-organized outing, and she was a little curious and excited.

By the time she got to school, most of the students had already arrived. When Tang Man saw her, she curled her lip without greeting her and went straight to roll call.

Su Min frowned slightly, wondering what was up with that girl this time.

Once the roll call was done, Tang Man led everyone toward the park.

They’d all been living in the city for a while now. Even the out-of-town students who stayed in the dorms had already been to the park, so everyone was familiar with the way. Still, going together as a group made for a different atmosphere. So, despite having visited many times before, they were still in high spirits.

On the way there, Tang Man walked ahead, barely acknowledging Su Min.

Liao Zhaodi said, “Didn’t you two get along fine before? Why are you on the outs again?”

Su Min shook her head. “No idea.” She didn’t really take it to heart — she just felt the girl’s mood changed too fast. Su Min felt too old to keep up with all that teenage drama, so she decided not to think about it anymore.

As they walked, she chatted with Zhaodi about things at the shop.

To prepare for this outing, one of the students with a camera had secretly brought it from home. As soon as they reached the destination, the student holding the camera started yelling for everyone to pose for photos.

Zhaodi had never taken a photo before and excitedly dragged Su Min over.

After lining up and taking pictures, the boy with the camera noticed that their class monitor, Tang Man, hadn’t taken any photos yet. He quickly pulled her over and casually grabbed Su Min from the side, pushing her forward. “Hurry up and take a picture with our class monitor.”

When Tang Man saw it was Su Min, her face immediately dropped and she turned her head to the side.

Su Min frowned in confusion but still turned toward the camera when the photographer called out. Just as she turned her head, the shutter clicked.

The boy looked up and laughed, “What’s going on between you two? In this picture, Tang Man looks like you owe her a few hundred bucks! Hahaha. When you look back at this later, she’ll definitely think you were deep in her debt.”

Tang Man pouted awkwardly and went off to join Yin Jing and the others.

Su Min found Tang Man’s behavior baffling and didn’t bother trying to talk to her. Carrying her bag, she greeted another student helping organize the event and went off to find a quiet place to rest.

She wasn’t a fan of noisy environments. The reason she’d joined the outing was to try to act like a normal high school student and enjoy some group activities. But deep down, she still didn’t like crowds, so she figured she might as well find a spot to sketch.

Liao Zhaodi was about to follow her when some other girls pulled her over to take pictures. She glanced in Su Min’s direction, but Su Min was already out of sight, so she went along with the others for photos.

Because it was a holiday, the park was quite crowded. Su Min searched for a while before finally finding a bench near a flowerbed. She set her bag on the bench and pulled out the unfinished sketch from last night. After examining it carefully, she resumed drawing.

She’d only just made a few strokes when strange sounds started coming from deeper within the flowerbed. They were mixed with the sounds of people speaking in hushed tones.

Su Min thought she might be imagining things and continued drawing. But then the strange sounds started again, this time accompanied by hurried breathing. After that, she heard more speaking.

Su Min had never experienced it herself, but during a period when she stayed in the dorms and would return to class at night, she’d heard some married women telling risqué jokes. She realized that the sounds she was hearing now were similar to what they described, and immediately felt a bit embarrassed.

She quickly packed up her things and got ready to leave.

“Su Min, there you are!”

Liao Zhaodi ran over with a smile, not noticing Su Min’s uneasy expression. “I just got pulled away for pictures and totally lost you. What are you doing here all alone?”

“Nothing much, I just came here to rest for a bit. I didn’t sleep well last night. Let’s go.” She hurriedly stuffed her things into her bag, grabbed it, and was about to pull Zhaodi away.

Suddenly, footsteps came from inside the flowerbed. Su Min silently cursed and tightened her grip on Zhaodi.

“Su Min, stop right there.”

Su Min was anxious to get away when a familiar voice came from behind. She turned and saw Su Wenwen standing there. Next to her was a boy — fairly good-looking, but he didn’t seem like someone respectable.

Though the weather wasn’t too hot yet, Su Wenwen was already wearing a pink short-sleeved dress. Her hair was styled up, and she was even wearing makeup. She stared at Su Min with provocation in her eyes. “What were you doing over here? What did you see?”

Hearing that, Su Min immediately thought: “Well, if I didn’t know what was going on before, I sure do now.” This was practically a confession. Even if she hadn’t figured it out already, Wenwen’s guilty tone gave everything away.

She said calmly, “I didn’t see anything. I was here drawing the whole time. I was just about to go look for the others with Zhaodi.”

“Liar! You left in such a hurry just now — you definitely saw something!”

Su Wenwen clenched her teeth and stared at Su Min.

Seeing how aggressive she was, Su Min retorted, “Then why don’t you tell me—what exactly did I see?”

“Yo, this girl’s got a fiery temper,” a teenage boy nearby suddenly commented.

Su Min frowned and shot him a look. “I don’t want to cause trouble, and you shouldn’t make things difficult for me either. Otherwise, none of us will come out of this looking good.” She was ready to risk it all—if Su Wenwen insisted on harassing her, she wouldn’t let Su Wenwen off easily either.

Su Wenwen had been questioning Su Min, and upon hearing those words, it confirmed that Su Min had seen what had just happened. Her face instantly flushed with anger and embarrassment, and she ran toward Su Min in a rage.

Su Min was just about to dodge, but Su Wenwen moved faster and managed to catch the strap of her backpack, yanking it off her.

Su Wenwen threw the backpack aside with force. “Su Min, I’m warning you—if you dare say anything, I won’t let you off.”

“Why the hell are you hitting people?” Liao Zhaodi pulled Su Min toward her, glaring fiercely at Su Wenwen.

“So what if I hit someone?” Su Wenwen glared back, as if venting all the hostility in her heart.

Seeing her like that, Liao Zhaodi started to feel a little scared.

Su Min, worried that Su Wenwen might hurt Liao Zhaodi, pulled her behind her protectively.

She was about to speak when someone shouted, “What are you doing? Planning to fight?”

Su Min turned her head and saw Tang Man leading a group of boys and girls running toward them.

Earlier, Tang Man had gathered everyone to take a group photo, but noticed Su Min was missing. After asking another classmate who was helping with the event, she learned that Su Min had come this way with her backpack. Knowing it’d be hard to find someone alone, she called a few classmates to help look—only to stumble upon this scene.

Tang Man was full of momentum. Seeing that Su Wenwen looked like she was about to hit someone, she pulled Su Min and Zhaodi behind her and stood in front, saying, “What, planning to fight? There’s more of us—we’re not afraid of you.”

Seeing Tang Man and the others arrive, the boys who had been planning to stay out of it began to worry things might escalate. If the police got involved, it wouldn’t look good. One of them walked over to pull Su Wenwen away. “Alright, that’s enough. Stop making a scene.”

“Aren’t you a man? Scared of something like this?” Su Wenwen glared at him in displeasure.

Hearing that, the boy’s face turned red with anger. “Whether I am or not—you already know, don’t you?”

With a snort, he turned and walked away.

Watching him leave just like that, Su Wenwen felt utterly humiliated. Then she saw Tang Man glaring at her with wide, imposing eyes, and fear crept into her heart. Gritting her teeth, she threatened, “If this gets out, you’ll regret it.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Su Min replied coldly.

Su Wenwen stomped her feet in anger a few times before finally turning and running off.

Once Su Wenwen was gone, Tang Man turned to Su Min. “Why were you wandering off alone? If we hadn’t shown up, what would’ve happened if you got beaten up? We’re the ones responsible for this event, you know.”

Hearing Tang Man’s scolding, Su Min understood she was just worried. She had indeed caused trouble, so she apologized sincerely. “I’m sorry.”

Now that Su Min had apologized, Tang Man couldn’t continue scolding. She simply grabbed Su Min’s arm. “Come on, everyone’s still waiting.”

Liao Zhaodi, who had also been startled earlier, hurriedly grabbed Su Min too, and the three of them returned to the group.

On the way back, Tang Man continued to scold them. “When something like that happens, why don’t you yell? That girl looked fierce—if it had turned into a real fight, she’d probably overpower you. You have to shout so we can help!”

Su Min didn’t say anything, but in her heart, she thought that if a fight really broke out, she wouldn’t want her classmates to get dragged into it because of her. If anyone got hurt, she’d feel terrible.

Once they rejoined the group, the class took a group photo.

After the photo, everyone gathered in a circle on an open patch of ground and began doing group activities.

Su Min sat on the rough ground, feeling uneasy, like she’d forgotten something—but she couldn’t remember what. When Liao Zhaodi reached into her bag for a drink, Su Min suddenly recalled—she had left her backpack behind!

She quickly informed Tang Man and ran back to look for it.

Seeing her dash off, Tang Man muttered, “She’s such a handful,” but told the others to keep playing and followed to help find the bag.

Su Min ran back to the spot and searched around the bushes where Su Wenwen had thrown it, but couldn’t find the backpack.

Tang Man helped look as well but came up empty. “Someone must’ve taken it. Was there anything valuable inside?”

“There was a wallet with money. And some sketches I drew.” The money wasn’t a big deal—it was the drawings she really cared about.

“If there was a wallet, someone probably took it. Let’s go check the newspaper kiosk. Sometimes people drop off found items there.”

Su Min didn’t hold much hope for that, but it was their only option. So she followed Tang Man to the kiosk.

As they walked, seeing Tang Man drenched in sweat, Su Min couldn’t help but ask, “Why were you angry at me earlier?”

Tang Man pursed her lips and said, “Why did you say your family runs a small grocery shop? Why hide the truth?”

She had assumed that the roommates were honest with each other, and Su Min’s lie made her feel deceived and untrusted. Tang Man had always thought she was the best off among them, and only now learned that Su Min was quietly the one with the better background. That made her feel embarrassed and a bit resentful.

But later she realized she was being petty—it was just hard to admit it to herself.

Su Min replied, “I didn’t mean to lie. My family does run a grocery shop—it just got bigger over time. And I don’t think money matters between friends. Whether rich or poor, we can still get along, right?”

Tang Man was too embarrassed to admit what she had really felt, so she simply muttered, “Got it. Come on, let’s check the kiosk.”

With that, she walked ahead.

She suddenly felt like there were still a lot of things she needed to improve about herself.

At the kiosk, after asking around and learning no one had turned in a bag, both girls were disappointed.

Su Min sighed. “Forget it, it wasn’t anything that important.” She could always redraw the sketches—but it wouldn’t feel the same.

Before leaving, she gave the kiosk manager her contact details and school address, asking them to keep the bag if it showed up. Then she left with Tang Man.

The trip that was supposed to be fun ended up a mess—she ran into Su Wenwen, almost got into a fight, and even lost her bag. Su Min no longer had any interest in joining the others and headed home after going through the motions with the group. In her heart, she felt even more disgusted with Su Wenwen.

She had thought Su Wenwen was just a spoiled, self-centered girl. But after everything that happened, it was clear she had only become worse. Su Min thought to herself that, in this life, Su Wenwen might do something even more disgraceful than becoming someone’s mistress like she had in the previous life.

“Wenwen, why are you just getting back now?” Gao Hong frowned as she opened the door and saw Su Wenwen outside. “Your uncle’s been asking about you. Wandering around outside all day isn’t a good look.”

“I was hanging out with friends,” Su Wenwen replied as she entered the house. When she saw Gao Hong’s slightly bulging belly, her face twisted in disgust. “Besides, don’t you already have another kid? Why would you still care about me?”

Hearing the noise, Madam Wang came out of her room. When she heard Su Wenwen’s words, she snorted coldly. “Good, at least you know. Your mom is pregnant now and still worrying about you all the time. If anything happens to the baby, I won’t be polite to you.”

Su Wenwen dared to talk back to Gao Hong but was afraid of the Wang family elders. Although furious, she didn’t dare say a word.

Madam Wang, seeing she was silent, turned to Gao Hong and said, “And you—now that you’re pregnant, you’d better start behaving. When you and Mingsong got married, I was against it. Now that you’re pregnant and want to live well, your father-in-law and I have reluctantly agreed. But if anything goes wrong, I’ll have Mingsong divorce you immediately.”

With her son’s excellent qualities, he could do way better than Gao Hong.

Hearing this, Gao Hong quickly smiled apologetically. “Mom, don’t worry. I’ve been feeling fine these past few days. Please go rest, I’ll be heading to bed soon too.”

“Hmm.” Madam Wang looked at the two with disdain and went back to her room.

Only after she left did Su Wenwen angrily brush past Gao Hong and storm into her own room.