RGL – Chapter 118

Seeing Ke Wan praising someone animatedly, Wu Zhe smiled and held her hand. “Why don’t you go talk to them and work together?”

“I’ve got this little one now—where would I find the time?”

Ke Wan smiled and gave him a sideways glance.

When Su Min arrived at the hospital, Wu Zhe was holding the baby and coaxing him. Ke Wan was leaning against the bed, watching her husband soothe their child, a smile on her face.

Hearing a knock at the door, Wu Zhe gently laid the baby on the bed before going to open it. Seeing Su Min standing outside, he looked a little surprised, but also like he understood, and smiled as he opened the door. “Come in.”

Su Min walked into the hospital room carrying a bag of fruit. Seeing Ke Wan lying on the bed, she smiled and said, “Mrs. Wu.”

Ke Wan laughed, put on a coat, and sat up straight. “Why call me Mrs. Wu? It makes me feel so old. You can call me by my name, though people here aren’t too fond of using names directly. How about this—since I’m older than you, you can call me Sister Wan.”

Su Min could tell that Ke Wan was trying to build a friendly rapport, so she didn’t hesitate and said, “Sister Wan.”

Ke Wan responded with a warm smile and motioned for her to sit by the bed.

As soon as Su Min sat down, Wu Zhe poured her a cup of hot water and then sat down beside the bed, picking up their son again.

“I heard from Manager Song that you don’t want those two shops?”

Su Min had come specifically to discuss this, so when Wu Zhe brought it up, she followed his lead. “It’s not that I don’t want them, I just don’t think it’s appropriate. Actually, I’d like to buy those two shops.”

“Buy them?” Wu Zhe looked at Ke Wan with a smile, then at Su Min. “We’re offering them to you for free, and you want to buy them?”

Su Min nodded. “As the saying goes, you shouldn’t accept rewards for no effort. I don’t want to receive such a big favor for nothing. I’m well aware of the value of those shops now, and what they’ll be worth in the future. That’s why I really shouldn’t just take them. But I do want the shops, so I was thinking—could we buy them from you? At market price.”

Hearing how serious Su Min was, Ke Wan tried to persuade her, “You saved my life, after all. Wu Zhe and I truly want to repay you. We’re offering the shops as a token of gratitude—how can we charge you money for them?”

Wu Zhe nodded as well. “I’ve already said we’re giving them to you, there’s no taking that back.”

Su Min quickly replied, “Sister Wan, Mr. Wu, I don’t have any hidden motives—I just truly think accepting them for free wouldn’t feel right. Anyone in my place would have helped after seeing Sister Wan’s condition. So what I did really wasn’t much. If you’re still set on repaying me, then please just sell us the shops. I know you weren’t planning to sell them publicly, so I’m probably causing trouble by even asking. Please don’t feel burdened by this anymore—otherwise, I’ll really feel too awkward to visit again.”

Wu Zhe realized that in just a few words, this young woman had shifted the responsibility back to him. Before, it was about whether she would accept the gift; now, it had become about whether he was willing to sell.

He gently patted the child and smiled. “Alright then. But even if you’re buying them, it can only be at cost price. If you insist on paying more, it’ll make both Ke Wan and me uncomfortable. No matter how you see it, the truth is that you helped Ke Wan and our child.”

Ke Wan tugged on his sleeve, clearly disagreeing with accepting money. They had agreed to give the shops as a thank-you—what sense did it make to take payment now?

Wu Zhe looked at Su Min with a helpless expression, as if to say he had no choice.

Just as Ke Wan was about to continue persuading her, Su Min suddenly smiled and said, “Then I won’t hold back. At cost price, we’ll buy the two shops.”

Seeing how decisively Su Min agreed, Ke Wan sighed in frustration and said, “You’re way too earnest.” After all, the building’s cost price wasn’t exactly low.

Thinking about that, she cast an annoyed glance at her husband—such a simple matter, and he still couldn’t handle it right.

Su Min felt a little embarrassed seeing Ke Wan like that. After all, she wasn’t entirely uninterested in receiving the shops; she’d just weighed things carefully.

After that, the group didn’t bring up the topic again. Su Min stayed a while chatting with Ke Wan before preparing to head home.

Because Su Min had saved her before, and was the first person she saw in that life-threatening moment, Ke Wan felt a natural closeness to her now. Seeing that she was leaving, she urged Su Min to visit often when she had time.

Su Min smiled and readily agreed.

After returning home, Su Min told Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang about the matter.

When they heard she was planning to buy shops, both Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang were shocked.

Being able to own a shop in the city was a huge deal for Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang.

After all, they were renting both their home and their business space, which never felt truly secure.

After hearing the full story, Sun Qiufang smiled and said, “You did the right thing. Our family may not be rich, but we have pride, and we don’t want to be laughed at. We have enough money for this. When your dad goes back to the county, he can withdraw the money we have in the bank there.”

Su Changrong nodded. “Yes, your uncle and them are coming to the city, and the supermarket will need to hire someone. I need to head back and find the right person for the job.”

Su Min also reviewed their finances. Though things would be tight, the money they had should be enough. Over the years, she had steadily saved up, along with dividends from Sanye and recently from the Xiuse Clothing Store—more than enough to buy the shops.

To get things settled quickly, Su Changrong set off early the next morning to return to the county.

As soon as he arrived, he went straight to talk to Sun Hai about buying the shops.

When Sun Hai heard they were planning to buy shops in the city, he laughed. “Where did you even find shops for sale in the city? I thought it was nearly impossible to buy property there.”

“Well, it’s because Minzi helped someone out. That’s the only reason they’re selling to us. Your sister and I thought, if we can buy a shop, we’ll finally feel more settled in the city. Plus, the location really is great.”

Sun Hai nodded. “Hearing you say that, the city’s commercial center will be a big deal in the future. Opening a supermarket there will definitely be more profitable than doing it in a county mall.”

“That’s true.” Su Changrong was also quite pleased. He really felt that his daughter was a little lucky star—everything the family had now was inseparable from Minzi’s contributions.

“Oh right, aren’t you planning to open a shop in the city? My wife and I still have our old supermarket storefront; the lease hasn’t expired yet. The place is really big. If you’re interested, why not take it over? That way, you don’t have to go around looking for a location. I used a lot of connections to get that space back then. If it weren’t for finding this new spot, I wouldn’t have moved out so soon. There’s quite a bit of foot traffic over there—it would be a good place for a restaurant.”

Hearing that, Sun Hai brightened up. “What a coincidence. I was just thinking about heading to the city to look for a place. Sounds good—when are you leaving, brother-in-law? I’ll go with you and check out the spot. How’s that?”

Su Changrong chuckled. “In two days. I still need to finalize a store manager for the supermarket here before I go. Otherwise, how would Li Meng be able to come with us to the city?”

Hearing this, Sun Hai smiled sheepishly. “Sorry for causing you extra trouble, brother-in-law.”

Su Changrong waved it off. “That’s my line. If Li Meng hadn’t agreed to help us look after the store, my wife and I wouldn’t have been so at ease expanding in the city. Now that you two are planning to move forward, we can’t hold you back. Don’t say that again—it makes me feel embarrassed.”

Sun Hai grinned and nodded. “Alright, I won’t say it anymore.”

Since Su Changrong was staying over, he naturally ate dinner at Sun Hai’s place that evening. After dinner, the two of them continued discussing development plans in the city. Sun Hai wasn’t too familiar with how things worked there, so he was eager to learn more from Su Changrong. He also quietly calculated his assets. After deducting rent and other expenses, the cost of equipment alone would be a hefty sum.

Starting from scratch wasn’t easy.

Sun Hai sighed inwardly, thinking about how he could save on expenses. Before, he might have considered borrowing from his sister and brother-in-law to get through the transition. But now he couldn’t bring himself to ask. His second sister’s family was also preparing to buy a storefront—that would cost a lot too. As her brother, not being able to help was bad enough—he definitely couldn’t be a burden on top of that.

That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Sun Hai discussed the financial situation with Li Meng.

Ever since the incident with Liu Li, the couple had agreed to communicate openly. Big or small matters, they would discuss things together to avoid future misunderstandings and arguments that could impact family harmony. So this time, Sun Hai laid everything out honestly.

Hearing that they were short on money, Li Meng said, “Then maybe we should delay the move a bit. We still have responsibilities here anyway.”

Sun Hai shook his head. “I was hesitant before, but after what my brother-in-law said about how fast things are changing in the city—I’m convinced. They opened one supermarket, and two or three competitors followed right after. The competition is going to be fierce. There are probably already a lot of restaurants like ours. Our current edge is having a unique style. If we go now, we still have a shot at establishing ourselves. But if we go too late and others have already opened similar places, we’ll lose that advantage. In business, you can’t wait. You have to act fast.”

Li Meng’s expression shifted to one of agreement after hearing this analysis.

“So… do we have enough money? How much are we short?”

“I’m not sure yet. I don’t think we’re far off, just a bit tight. Once we’re in the city, things definitely won’t be as comfortable as they are here. We’ll need to be careful with every expense.”

Li Meng playfully pinched his arm and pouted, “Why are you telling me this? Don’t you know who I am? When have I ever been afraid of hardship? Back when we got married, weren’t we crammed into a tiny single room? We hadn’t even hired help for the shop—I took care of everything myself.”

Sun Hai quickly hugged her with a grin. “My bad, I misspoke. I was just talking off the cuff. I remember everything we went through back then—don’t worry.”

“Hmph. As long as you remember. Don’t go forgetting once some young girl shows up.” Li Meng teased with a hint of jealousy. But in truth, she wasn’t worried at all. Even when Liu Li showed up, Sun Hai didn’t go running off with her. She had confidence that if any other girls showed up in the future, she still wouldn’t have to worry.

Sun Hai pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek, feeling thankful he’d had the courage to propose back then. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up with such a wonderful wife. If it were just him, he wouldn’t have had the strength to keep such a big store running.

Thinking back to those earlier days—though he hadn’t told Mengmeng much—she had always silently supported him from behind the scenes. With a wife like this and a cute son, he felt like his life was already complete.

This time, Su Changrong had come back mainly to find someone to manage the store.

But most of the people he knew in the county worked in factories—he didn’t know anyone with experience running a supermarket. So it was hard to find the right person on short notice.

After some thought, he decided it would be better to promote someone from within the store.

At least the longtime employees knew the store well, and they were people he was familiar with. After all, he wouldn’t feel comfortable handing over the store to someone he didn’t know well.

To find the right candidate, Su Changrong discussed the matter with Li Meng.

They agreed the person didn’t necessarily have to be from the current management. What mattered more was their character and courage.

The store was busy now, but the workload wasn’t overwhelming. The key was managing inventory and staff well—it didn’t require extraordinary talent.

After hearing his plan, Li Meng thought carefully and recalled someone.

“She’s someone I hired later on, also from the county. I recruited her through the local neighborhood office. We have her address and family info. She’s pretty reliable and works hard. Last time someone was stealing from the store, it was her who brought it up. She’s got guts. And she’s educated too—can read and write.”

“What’s her name?”

“Jiang Ping, in her early forties.”

“Alright, let’s go take a look. If she seems capable, we’ll give her a trial period.” Su Changrong was in a hurry and didn’t have time to conduct a lengthy search. Since Li Meng spoke well of her, he was willing to give her a chance.

Later, he called Jiang Ping into the office.

She looked alert and decent. Su Changrong asked her a few questions and saw that she could read the books and understood the store well. He was satisfied.

After some thought, he got straight to the point and laid out his plan.

Jiang Ping had thought the boss was calling her in to let her go. She never expected to be promoted—to manage the entire store no less. She was so stunned her hands didn’t know where to go and she just kept rubbing her fingers nervously.

“Boss, do you think I can handle it? I’m worried others won’t accept me.”

“If you’ve got the ability, don’t worry about what others think. Just tell me—can you do this or not?”

Su Changrong didn’t beat around the bush. If she didn’t have the confidence to do it, there was no point hoping she’d succeed.

Jiang Ping straightened up, energized. “Boss, I can do it!”

“Good.” Su Changrong nodded, pleased. He gave her a few tips and then smiled. “Let’s try it out for three months. If everything goes well, you’ll officially be the store manager for the county branch.”

“Thank you, boss!”

Jiang Ping’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

While still in the county, Su Changrong held a general staff meeting and announced Jiang Ping’s temporary appointment as acting store manager. He asked everyone to support her.

Some of the long-time employees weren’t happy about the decision and showed mixed expressions. But Su Changrong acted like he didn’t see it. After all, the store belonged to his family. Whoever he chose to lead, the staff had to follow his decision. If she didn’t perform well, he’d replace her. But until then, he didn’t want anyone causing trouble.

Since Li Meng was still around, she could slowly hand things over to Jiang Ping. With that settled, Su Changrong didn’t want to waste any more time. He withdrew their savings from the bank and returned to the city.

Sun Qiufang had been anxiously waiting at home for days. When she finally saw him return, she was relieved.

That night, the family counted the money together—50,000 yuan.

Looking at the pile of cash, both Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang felt a little heartache. But thinking about owning their own big store in the future, with a steady stream of income, they felt a lot better.