RGL – Chapter 124

Su Min also found it strange. She remembered that in her previous life, she had heard of cases where people bought food from supermarkets and ended up getting food poisoning.

She wasn’t worried that her parents were unscrupulous merchants, but it was hard not to suspect that maybe the supplier had provided problematic goods. Perhaps her parents had been careless and accidentally put them on the shelves, and they were sold just like that?

Food poisoning was a serious matter—if one wasn’t careful, it could even cost someone their life.

She hadn’t expected such an issue to arise from running a supermarket, and her heart tightened with worry.

A little later, Su Changrong and Sun Hai returned. Though both looked exhausted, they seemed quite pleased, indicating that the store renovation talks had gone smoothly. But upon hearing that something had happened at the supermarket, their expressions changed drastically, and they rushed over without hesitation.

With Su Changrong and Sun Hai handling the matter, Su Min felt a bit more at ease.

After all, her father and uncle were both experienced—surely they’d be able to manage the situation well.

It wasn’t until late at night that the group finally returned, faces full of fatigue. Sun Qiufang’s hair was disheveled, and there were even some bruises on her face.

Seeing her, Su Min’s heart ached. She quickly rushed over and asked, “Mom, what happened? Did those people lay hands on you?”

“It’s nothing. Their family member was in trouble, so they got a bit emotional,” Sun Qiufang said, shaking her head. Though she had been hit and suffered a silent loss, she could understand their agitation. After all, they bought food from her store, and someone in their family ended up in the hospital—getting emotional was natural.

She touched the bruise on her face and, along with Li Meng, sat wearily on the sofa, looking puzzled. “This whole thing seems strange to me. I don’t remember stocking that bag of flour. The production date on it doesn’t match either. I’ve been busy with Minzi’s matters lately—how would I have had time to restock? Those goods weren’t even ours.”

She turned to Su Changrong. “Did you stock anything recently?”

Su Changrong also found something fishy, though he had indeed restocked some goods recently. “Yes, I did bring in a shipment, but I’m not sure if that batch was part of it. I’ll contact the manufacturer tomorrow and check my records.”

Still, he knew that since the incident happened in their supermarket, the manufacturer might try to push the blame away to protect themselves.

Sun Hai said, “I think we need to look into our internal staff. If there was a problem with the goods, and neither of you stocked them, then where did they come from?”

Hearing her uncle say that, Su Min also began to suspect foul play. Competition in the same line of business could be intense. She remembered a news story from before—some restaurant, jealous of a competitor’s success, had thrown rat poison into their place and actually killed someone.

When people acted without conscience, there was nothing they wouldn’t do.

This matter could have been due to problematic stock on their end, but it could also have been sabotage from the inside.

Grandma Sun looked worried. “So what are you going to do now? Will the police arrest you?” She looked at her daughter’s face again. “And they even hit our Qiufang. What if they come and cause more trouble tomorrow?”

Sun Qiufang gently took her hand to comfort her. “Mom, it’s okay now. The police said they’ll investigate. We’ve already paid the medical bills up front. The patient was stabilized. We even went to visit them at the hospital. The family isn’t as agitated as before. Now we just have to wait and see how the police investigate this.”

“Ai, why is running a business so full of trouble?”

Grandma Sun sighed and shook her head. She had thought life was getting better, but making money was so hard, and now something this serious had happened. Luckily, no one had died—what would they do if that happened?

After a whole night of chaos, no one had the energy to do anything else—they all went to bed.

Grandma Sun shared a room with Su Min that night. She was getting on in years and couldn’t sleep well. Thinking about everything that had happened during the day, she tossed and turned restlessly.

Seeing Su Min reading, she didn’t want to disturb her, so she simply closed her eyes to rest. Only after Su Min put down her book, turned off the light, and lay in bed did Grandma Sun softly ask, “Minzi, are you going to sleep now?”

“Mm. I couldn’t focus on the book. I’ll go to school tomorrow to read.”

Su Min lay down, but her whole body was still tense. What had happened at home was even more serious than the time someone smashed up their shop. How could she focus on her own matters right now?

Grandma Sun, knowing she was worried about the family, was afraid this would affect her studies. She gently consoled her, “These are grown-up problems. Don’t worry about them. Things will get resolved.”

“I know, Grandma. You don’t need to worry either. My parents know what they’re doing.”

“Ai, I know.”

Though both of them were hiding worries in their hearts, they still tried to comfort each other with words. After a while, they stopped speaking and just lay there silently, eyes closed, lost in their own thoughts.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Sun Hai and Li Meng couldn’t fall asleep either.

They had originally planned to head back the next day after settling everything. But with this incident, Sun Hai no longer wanted to leave.

Lying in bed after turning off the lights, Sun Hai suddenly said, “Mengmeng, I can’t leave the city now. My sister and brother-in-law are in trouble—we have to stay and help. If anyone comes to cause trouble again, at least we’ll be here to lend a hand.”

Li Meng turned over to look at him. “I was just about to say the same. This is a serious matter. It’s only right that we stay and help. Don’t worry about things back in the county. I’ll go take a look tomorrow, make the necessary arrangements, and then come back. Someone’s keeping an eye on things over there anyway.”

Hearing her say that, Sun Hai felt much more at ease. At least someone was supporting his decision.

“Mengmeng, Sister and Brother-in-law have been so good to us. We have to repay that kindness as much as we can.”

Under the covers, Li Meng held his hand. “I know.”

Though she sometimes liked to be calculating, she always remembered those who treated her well. She didn’t have any close relatives on her side of the family, and among her in-laws, it was only this sister and brother-in-law who were genuinely close. She had seen with her own eyes how they had looked after her in recent days. How could she ever be an ungrateful person?

The next morning, during breakfast, Sun Hai announced the decision he and Li Meng had made.

Hearing that Sun Hai didn’t plan to return and wanted to stay to help, Sun Qiufang immediately tried to persuade him to go back with Li Meng.

“You staying here won’t help much. You’d be better off going back with Mengmeng. She’s a woman—how can she handle everything on her own?”

“Sis, just let me stay. At least it’s one more person to help think things through,” Sun Hai said firmly.

Li Meng also spoke seriously, “Sister, having one more person to discuss things with means more solutions. I can handle things at home on my own. Besides, since Sun Hai and I are going to move to the city soon, it’s time to test whether the folks back in the county can handle things themselves. Just let him stay.”

“Ai, you two…” Sun Qiufang sighed and, after thinking it over carefully, finally nodded.

After finishing her meal, Li Meng casually grabbed a backpack and headed back to the county town.

Everyone was busy this time, so no one saw her off. Sun Hai simply called a cab for her to take her to the bus station, and then went to the supermarket with Su Changrong and the others.

“Minzi, did something happen at the supermarket yesterday?”

When Su Min arrived at school in the morning, Zhaodi was already in her seat. Upon seeing Su Min, she leaned over and asked in a low voice.

She had been at the store yesterday and heard someone causing a scene at the supermarket. She knew the only supermarket in the entire shopping mall was Su Min’s family’s, so she panicked and rushed over with Sun Yan to check it out. Sure enough, someone was making a fuss. One of the women had even grabbed Auntie Sun and was hitting her, all while shouting that her son had gotten food poisoning and was still in the hospital.

Zhaodi and Sun Yan had helped pull them apart.

Later, when the police arrived, Auntie Sun told them not to get involved, so they returned to the store to keep watch.

Su Min knew Zhaodi often helped out at the store during breaks, so she wasn’t surprised that she knew about the incident.

“Someone said they got food poisoning from something they bought. The situation hasn’t been fully investigated yet. My parents are still looking into it.”

Upon hearing that, Liao Zhaodi quickly asked, “Is it serious? What did they eat?”

“They bought a bag of flour. The person’s out of danger now but still being treated in the hospital,” Su Min replied, sounding a bit tired. She didn’t feel like continuing the conversation. She had tossed and turned all night before finally falling asleep, and her head still felt heavy.

She was planning to visit the supermarket in the evening to get a clearer picture and maybe help her parents find some clues. Just waiting around like this made her feel anxious.

Seeing that she didn’t want to talk more, Liao Zhaodi stayed quiet too. But as she thought back to something from a few days ago, she couldn’t help voicing her confusion. “How could there be a problem with the flour? I remember someone inspecting the shelves that day. That auntie said everything had to be checked daily to make sure it hadn’t gone bad.”

“Someone was inspecting? When did you see that?”

Su Min immediately turned around upon hearing that.

Their family did have someone responsible for quality checks, but it was only done once a month. If there had been a recent inspection, there was no way a bag of spoiled flour would still be sitting on the shelf.

Seeing how agitated Su Min was, Zhaodi hesitated for a second. She lowered her head and thought for a moment before saying, “It was last Friday. We’d run out of rice and flour at home, so I went to the supermarket to restock. When I went to get flour, I saw an auntie moving bags around. I was going to help her, but she said no, that she was checking the flour.”

Hearing that, Su Min’s mind lit up.

Their stock checks were done at the end of the month, and Friday had only been a few days into the new month. No way there would be another inspection so soon. And this person wasn’t checking anything else—only the flour. And coincidentally, it was the flour that ended up causing problems.

Whether or not this person had tampered with it, they surely knew more.

Su Min had a strong hunch that this “auntie” Zhaodi mentioned was somehow involved in this incident.

She thought they had no leads, but now she had a solid clue. She couldn’t wait to tell her parents and get them to investigate this angle.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, she dragged Zhaodi with her to the supermarket to look for the woman.

Because of the incident, Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang had been staying in the supermarket, questioning employees and investigating the situation. The grain section—rice, flour, and other staples—had always been handled by Zhang Lihong. Nothing had ever gone wrong before, and the monthly inventory check hadn’t turned up any issues. So how had this happened?

“Why didn’t you notice this bag of flour was different before? The packaging was the same, but the production date wasn’t,” Sun Qiufang asked sternly, staring at Zhang Lihong.

Though she knew it wasn’t entirely the employee’s fault, Zhang Lihong had been in charge of this section. She had a responsibility to spot problems early. For something this serious to slip through—either she had noticed and ignored it, or she hadn’t been thorough during inspection.

“Boss lady, I really don’t know what happened. The date was different, sure, but that bag came with the rest of the batch when we restocked. It wasn’t expired, so I didn’t think it was a problem. If I reported every little thing, you’d say I was making a fuss,” Zhang Lihong said, clearly defensive.

Seeing her attitude, Sun Qiufang was furious. She had always seemed like a diligent and honest worker. But now that something had gone wrong, her attitude changed so quickly.

“No matter what, this incident happened under your watch, and it’s caused major losses for the supermarket. Once this is all sorted out, you can settle your accounts and go home. We won’t be keeping you on.”

She was done with this kind of employee.

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Zhang Lihong replied, looking completely indifferent.

“Mom, you can’t let her go.”

Su Min had just entered the store and overheard her mom saying she wanted to fire Zhang Lihong. She immediately stepped in, dragging Zhaodi along behind her.

“Minzi? What are you doing here?” Sun Qiufang looked at her daughter in surprise. It was Monday—Su Min should have been in school.

Su Min noticed a flicker of discomfort on Zhang Lihong’s face, deepening her suspicions. She turned to her mother. “Mom, I heard something from Zhaodi today.”

“What is it?”

Su Min turned to Zhang Lihong. “Last Friday, did you check the flour?”

Zhang Lihong had started feeling uneasy the moment she saw Zhaodi walk in. Now, hearing Su Min’s question, she knew she had been exposed. But seeing that both of them were just kids, she calmed herself quickly and replied, lips pressed together, feigning indifference. “Yes, I checked it. I was just making sure the bags hadn’t been chewed by rats. I usually take initiative and do a bit more. What’s so strange about that? Are you trying to accuse me of something?”

But Su Min hadn’t even said anything yet, and here she was rushing to explain. It was suspicious.

With a calm smile, Su Min replied, “I never said it was you. Why are you so quick to explain? Feeling guilty?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? You just don’t want to take responsibility and are trying to pin it on me!”

“Minzi, what’s going on?” Su Changrong could tell something wasn’t right. His daughter wasn’t the impulsive type, and Zhang Lihong’s reaction was too defensive. It was hard not to suspect something.

Su Min explained, “On Friday, Zhaodi saw her moving the flour. Our store only checks inventory at the end of the month, and it had only been a few days. For her to check again so soon, and only the flour, is very strange. So I came to ask. But judging from her reaction, the truth seems pretty clear.”

As she spoke, she stared steadily at Zhang Lihong. The woman’s face grew increasingly anxious and uneasy.

“Don’t spout nonsense! I moved the flour, yes—but that bad batch wasn’t put there by me! Don’t you try to blame me!”

“Whether or not you’re responsible, we’ll have to investigate. There are plenty of people in the store. I don’t believe no one saw you bringing things in. And even if no one in the store saw you, there are security guards at the mall entrance. You can deny it, but we’ll ask them.”

Only now did Su Changrong remember the security guards.

Up until now, they hadn’t suspected their own employees. They’d assumed the issue was with the supplier. But now that suspicion had fallen on one of the staff, the mall’s security team could be a key witness. The incident wasn’t that long ago—someone should remember something.

Su Min looked straight at Zhang Lihong and said, “If you really have nothing to hide, don’t leave. Come with me to the security office and we’ll ask them if they saw you moving anything. Flour bags aren’t small—you couldn’t have made them appear out of thin air.”

Su Min had started with just a suspicion, but Zhang Lihong’s reactions had only made her more certain. Everything had become much clearer now. There might not be surveillance systems in place yet, but that also meant the guards paid more attention. Carrying in something that big, especially by someone familiar like Zhang Lihong, wouldn’t go unnoticed.