RGL – Chapter 121

Moreover, his wife had such a tough attitude. After all these years, he and his wife had finally made it to where they were now. He didn’t want to stir up trouble over this kind of matter and make their once-peaceful home a place of constant conflict.

Still, to say he’d completely ignore it wouldn’t be right either.

Su Changrong lowered his head and thought for a while before saying, “How about this—let’s have Cancan go work as an apprentice at the factory. The pay isn’t much, but at least he’ll have a place to eat and sleep, and he can learn a skill.”

Anyway, helping the child find a place to settle was enough. Once he was settled, he could visit him from time to time.

Sun Qiufang didn’t object to this suggestion. As long as he wasn’t staying in her house, she didn’t care where he went.

Grandma Su, however, was unhappy the moment she heard that they planned to send him away instead of keeping him at home. “Changrong, how can you think like this? Cancan only has you as a relative here. How’s he supposed to get by on his own out there?”

Sun Qiufang gave a mocking smile and said, “Didn’t our Minzi come to the city alone for school back then? Why is it okay for her but not for him? He’s a boy, isn’t he?”

Su Can could hear the sarcasm in her tone and immediately snapped, “Fine, I’ll go. Who wants to stay here anyway?”

Li Yulan quickly patted his hand. “What nonsense are you spouting? This place is much better than outside.” She was well aware—this place had good food, good living conditions. If her son could stay here, he’d be a proper city dweller in the future. What kind of future was there in going to a factory?

Su Changrong pressed his lips together, his brows tightly furrowed, and his face took on a look of determination. “Cancan came to the city to learn a trade—those were your words. I made this arrangement because it’s best for him. The factory provides dorms for workers; it’s more convenient for commuting. Otherwise, if he stays with me, he won’t be able to make it on time every day. I’ll go see him every week.”

Hearing that, Li Yulan immediately regretted her earlier words.

She had only said it as an excuse, but now Su Changrong had used it against her. She cursed to herself that businessmen really were cunning. The once honest man had become as slippery as an eel.

She looked over at Grandma Su, signaling her to say something.

Grandma Su hurriedly said, “I think there’s no need to go to any factory. Just let him work at your supermarket. Cancan has always been good with children—he knows how to manage people. Let him manage the staff at your store.”

Sun Qiufang had already noticed the little gestures between the two. Now hearing the old lady’s completely unreasonable suggestion, she sneered. “Manage people? Who exactly is he going to manage? Me and Changrong? If you don’t want to go to the factory, then just go back to the village. To put it bluntly, the boy still has his parents. No matter what, it’s not up to Changrong and me to raise him.”

Grandma Su was choked by the words, her face instantly turning red with anger, but she didn’t dare argue with Sun Qiufang like before and could only suppress her frustration.

Su Changrong didn’t want more conflict in the family and tried to mediate. “It’s not that easy to get into the factory. I’ll still need to pull some strings. Whether he can stay or not depends on Cancan himself.” As he spoke, he looked at Su Can. Seeing the boy with his arms crossed, clearly unhappy, his heart sank.

This child was probably going to be hard to manage in the future.

Grandma Su could see that the couple had already made up their minds. And after several arguments before, she also knew that no matter how much she yelled or pleaded, they wouldn’t back down. So she looked over to Li Yulan, hoping she’d come up with an idea.

Li Yulan lightly shook her head. If it were just Su Changrong, it might be easier to handle. But with Sun Qiufang there, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Sun Qiufang had deep resentment toward them, and ever since coming to the city, her temper had grown stronger. She was definitely not someone who would admit defeat.

After a moment of thought, Li Yulan forced a smile and said, “Then I’ll have to trouble you both with this matter.”

Su Changrong nodded and didn’t say anything more.

Now that the matter was settled, Sun Qiufang didn’t want to sit around with them anymore and went inside to cook.

But after all the fuss, she didn’t feel like making anything special. Instead, she asked Su Changrong to order a few dishes from the restaurant downstairs and bring them up. They’d just have a simple meal at home.

Grandma Su didn’t realize this was for convenience. She thought it was because they had come, and Sun Qiufang had specially ordered food from a restaurant, so she felt a bit better. She figured that even though Cancan wasn’t staying in the eldest son’s home, at least he had been brought to the city. That made things easier. If she just kept mentioning it to the eldest son in the future, maybe one day it would work out.

This big house, and that large supermarket—they all belonged to the Su family. How could they be handed over to some girl to take into someone else’s household?

Su Min, hearing the noise outside quiet down, returned to reading her book.

Although Su Can was staying in the city, she didn’t think much of it. A person who could lay hands on his own doting grandmother—how much could one really expect from him?

The standard of living in the city was better, but it was also a melting pot of every kind of person. Su Can, with his personality and no one to supervise him, who knew what he’d turn into. He might as well have stayed in the village like in the previous life. Life wasn’t great there either, but at least it was passable.

After a while, Sun Qiufang called her out for dinner through the door.

Things hadn’t gone as planned, and both Grandma Su and Li Yulan were feeling quite upset.

When they saw Su Min come out for dinner, neither of them had a smile on their faces anymore. They looked as if someone owed them money.

Sun Qiufang couldn’t stand the sight of them acting like that, so she served Su Min some food and quietly ate her own meal. She was already unhappy knowing they’d be staying the night at her home.

Meanwhile, Su Can was eating heartily, picking out all the tasty food and stuffing it into his mouth without care.

Grandma Su, just like back in the village, brought the plate with chicken drumsticks over and placed it in front of Su Can.

Seeing this, Su Min lost all appetite for the chicken and just picked at her rice before going back to her room.

After dinner, Sun Qiufang didn’t feel like cleaning up the dishes. But seeing the three of them still sitting in the living room, she had no choice but to get the guest room ready.

There was only one guest room in the house. The old lady and Li Yulan could share it. As for Su Can, a half-grown boy, the sofa in the living room would have to do.

When Grandma Su heard that Su Can would be sleeping on the sofa, she immediately objected.

“The weather is so cold—how can he sleep on the sofa? He’ll catch a chill. I say let Cancan sleep in a room. There are three rooms in this house—surely one of them is free for Cancan.”

“I’m sharing a room with Changrong, Minzi has her own, and this is the only room left. If we don’t let Cancan sleep on the sofa, then are you and Yulan going to sleep there instead?”

“Qiufang, what are you talking about? I’m still Changrong’s mother, and you’re actually suggesting I sleep on the sofa?” Grandma Su had already been holding in her anger, and now she took this opportunity to scold Sun Qiufang to assert her authority as the mother-in-law.

She sneered and said, “You dare act like this and aren’t afraid people will point fingers at you behind your back?”

Sun Qiufang wasn’t someone easy to deal with either. She gave a cold laugh. “Fine. There’s just one room anyway. You all figure it out yourselves. Sleep however you like. I’m going to rest.”

With that, she turned and headed for her room.

Seeing her leave, Grandma Su was furious. She quickly turned to Su Changrong and said, “Have Minzi come out and share a room with us. Let Cancan sleep in her room for the night. Why insist on making the child sleep on the sofa?”

Sun Qiufang overheard and said to Su Changrong, “If you actually do that, you and I are done.” Then she went straight into Su Min’s room.

Su Min had already been listening to the commotion outside but didn’t want to argue with the old lady. She quietly read her book in the room. When she heard a knock on the door, she quickly opened it and saw her mother enter.

“Mom, why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“I’m not in the mood to sleep right now. I’ll rest a bit later,” Sun Qiufang replied with a troubled expression.

Su Min put down her book and sat on the bed with a blanket wrapped around her. “Mom, how did Grandma and the others find us? I don’t think we gave them the address.”

When Sun Qiufang heard her bring up the old lady, she snorted, “They got off the bus and asked for the name of our supermarket. They followed directions and came straight here. When they got to the store, they grabbed whatever they saw, like it was all free. If everyone acted like them, how could we run a proper business? The staff didn’t even know how to keep track of the accounts.”

Hearing that the old lady managed to find them on her own, Su Min sighed.

Even after moving so far to the city, their relatives from the village still found a way to show up. Some things just couldn’t be avoided.

Seeing her mom upset, Su Min thought for a moment, then started talking about the event she attended that day—the full-month celebration for Ke Wan’s baby.

When Sun Qiufang heard that Ke Wan wanted to form a sworn sisterhood with her daughter, she was surprised. “Why does she suddenly want to become family with you? Her family doesn’t seem like ordinary folks.”

Su Min smiled. “Sister Wan said she feels a special connection with me. I think it has something to do with how I helped her last time. No matter what, since she brought it up, I didn’t want to reject her, so I agreed. What do you think?”

“That’s definitely a good thing. From what I’ve seen, Mrs. Wu’s family doesn’t seem bad. It’s good for you to build that relationship. Ever since we moved to the city, I’ve realized how important connections are. If your dad hadn’t traveled here so often for supplies and made all those contacts, we wouldn’t have settled down so quickly. Even buying the storefront this time was thanks to your connections. It’s never a bad thing to know more people. Just remember, now that you’ve sworn kinship, don’t treat her like some free ride. Treat her like a proper relative. No matter how tough life is, we need to live with a clear conscience.”

Listening to her mom’s long lecture, Su Min nodded seriously like a child, then rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. Life didn’t always go smoothly, but in this life, she was already content.

As for those other people—well, you reap what you sow. It wasn’t her concern anymore.

When Sun Qiufang left Su Min’s room, Grandma Su and Li Yulan had already gone to bed, and Su Can wasn’t in sight either.

In the bedroom, Su Changrong was already on the bed reading the newspaper. Now that the family business had grown, he felt his knowledge was lacking, so he made a point to read the paper every morning and evening to learn about current policies and improve his literacy. When he saw Sun Qiufang enter, he placed the newspaper on the nightstand.

“Minzi’s asleep?”

“She is,” Sun Qiufang replied, looking tired. “Seeing her like that makes me feel guilty about arguing with the old lady. No matter how angry I am, I shouldn’t argue in front of Minzi. She already has so much pressure from her studies and work. She finally gets a break at home, and now we’re fighting—it must be hard on her.”

Hearing this, Su Changrong felt a twinge of guilt too. His parents and brothers had made his wife and daughter suffer enough over the years, and now they were even chasing them to the city to stir up more trouble. No matter how you looked at it, he owed his wife and daughter.

“I’ll go find a job for Cancan tomorrow. Once he settles down and moves out, we’ll wash our hands of it.”

“As long as you think that way,” Sun Qiufang gave him a sideways glance. Then she asked, “By the way, why didn’t I see Cancan just now?”

Su Changrong pulled the blanket up over her and tucked himself in too, his face tired. “Mom didn’t want Cancan to sleep on the sofa, so she took him into her room to sleep.”

“He’s already that old, and he’s still sleeping in the same bed as an adult? That’s not right,” Sun Qiufang frowned. “Cancan’s a boy—there are boundaries to observe. If he doesn’t learn that now, he’ll become too casual with girls in the future.”

“You know what Mom’s like. If you don’t give in, she’ll make a scene. Forget it—let’s sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

Sun Qiufang was clearly tired too. She yawned and rolled over to sleep. After all, Cancan wasn’t her own son—whether he turned out good or bad wasn’t her problem.

The next morning, Su Changrong went out and brought back some buns and fried dough sticks. After the family finished eating, he took Su Can out to meet a friend at a food factory to look for a job. Grandma Su and Li Yulan decided to stay until Cancan’s job was sorted. After sleeping comfortably and enjoying good food, they figured they’d hang around for a couple more days. After all, it was the eldest son’s money they were spending—why not just relax and enjoy?

Sun Qiufang had assumed they would leave, so she was quite upset when they didn’t. Knowing what those two were like, she didn’t dare leave them at home alone. Instead, she took the initiative to bring them to the supermarket and stroll through the mall.

Hearing they were going to the supermarket, Grandma Su was actually excited.

The Su family had never run such a big store in generations, and they had even hired so many workers. As the matriarch, she had to go check it out.

After they left, Su Min returned to her room to work on her designs.

By noon, Sun Qiufang didn’t feel like coming home to cook, so she called Su Min and told her to buy lunch for herself.

Since finals were approaching, Su Min stayed home to study instead of going to the store.

After finishing her revision, she started thinking about the custom orders she’d received at Ke Wan’s banquet.

While the inspiration lasted, she began sketching designs on paper again.

“Go back, go back! Hurry up and pack your things and leave!”

Su Min was sketching when she heard shouting from outside. She quickly rushed out and saw her mother, Sun Qiufang, tossing Grandma Su and Li Yulan’s luggage into the living room.

Grandma Su and her second aunt Li Yulan stood there, their faces flushed red.

Su Min hurried over. “Mom, what happened?”

Sun Qiufang had been about to explode with rage, but when she saw her daughter, she held back and said instead, “Your grandma and second aunt got caught stealing outside today. If it weren’t for the fact that the manager knew Mr. Song, they would’ve been sent to the police station.”

“Stealing?” Su Min widened her eyes and looked at Grandma Su in disbelief.

Grandma Su looked both ashamed and angry. Since what Sun Qiufang said was the truth, she had nothing to say in her defense and could only stew in silence. Li Yulan, on the other hand, said, “Sister-in-law, we just forgot to pay because the clothes looked so nice. Why make such a big deal out of it?”

“What’s the point of telling me that? If you have the guts, go say that to the police. You’ve barely been in the city for a few days and already started stealing. Great—now the entire mall knows that Changrong and I have a thief for a mother.”

Just remembering that humiliating scene made her regret not sending them back earlier. Now it was too late—they were infamous.

Without waiting for Su Changrong to come back and discuss it, Sun Qiufang directly kicked the two of them out.

Normally, Grandma Su wouldn’t back down so easily, but today she had been caught red-handed. The threat of being reported to the police still scared her, so she didn’t dare argue with Sun Qiufang.

“You call yourself a daughter-in-law? You’re actually kicking us out? Fine, we’ll go! I don’t care about staying in this place anyway. I never expected you or Changrong to take care of us in old age—we can’t count on the likes of you!”