RGL – Chapter 125

After the verdict was announced, Zhang Lihong immediately burst into tears, clutching her head.

Although Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang were disappointed that the mastermind hadn’t been caught, they didn’t feel that the punishment Zhang Lihong received was unfair. Someone like her, who could take another’s life for a bit of money, deserved whatever punishment came her way.

After the case concluded, Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang carried out a major reform of the store.

Previously, inspections were done once a month, but now they were changed to once a week. The first round of inspection involved checking the products each person was responsible for, and after that, they would do cross-checks. This way, it would prevent situations like before, where items were switched out without anyone knowing.

Su Changrong even specially set up a suggestion box at the entrance. If customers were dissatisfied with anything in the supermarket, they could write it down and drop it in.

Although what Zhang Lihong did had greatly tarnished the supermarket’s reputation and caused significant business losses, Su Changrong soon clarified the entire matter through a newspaper statement. He explained how things had unfolded and proved that their supermarket had not sold toxic products, but had instead been framed.

While many people were still affected by the incident, at least the supermarket was no longer labeled as one that sold harmful flour.

“Mom, our school is holding a New Year’s Eve gala and inviting parents. Are you guys going to come?”

During dinner, Su Min brought up the school event to her family.

Sun Qiufang, who was discussing moving houses with Sun Hai, smiled when she heard it and said, “Of course we’ll attend something like this. Tell me the date so I can prepare in advance.”

“You don’t need to prepare anything. It’s just the New Year’s gala. We’ve been really busy this year and didn’t have time to rehearse, so we’re not performing this time.”

“I thought you were going to perform,” Sun Qiufang said with a hint of disappointment. She still hadn’t forgotten her daughter’s amazing performance during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It had been truly brilliant.

Sun Hai, on the other hand, was quite interested. “Around New Year’s, your aunt should be here too. We can all go together as a family.”

“Great! I’ll inform my homeroom teacher in advance so they can reserve us seats.” Su Min felt very content with her family’s support. Although she felt much older inside, compared to her peers, she truly felt incredibly lucky.

Of course, it would be even better if she didn’t have to keep running into Su Wenwen at school.

Lately, Su Wenwen had been acting strange—nervous and agitated like she was sick. She always glared at Su Min as if she held a grudge, making Su Min very uncomfortable.

“Mom, we’re having a New Year’s gala, and I have a performance. Can you come?”

At the Wang family dinner table, Su Wenwen also looked at Gao Hong with anticipation while she held little Ying’er in her arms.

“Go for what? Your mom has to stay home and take care of Tianci. Where’s the time to go with you?”

Mother Wang grumbled as she ate, clearly displeased with Su Wenwen. Her eldest grandson, Tianci, had just been born and was like a precious treasure. His health hadn’t been good from the start, and with Gao Hong being an older mother, the family still wasn’t sure whether it had affected the baby or not.

Gao Hong was about to agree, but upon hearing that, she swallowed her words.

Although the baby was a boy, his health had been poor since birth for unknown reasons. Her in-laws blamed her for not taking care of herself during pregnancy, saying that’s why the child had to suffer.

As the family remained in a standoff, Wang Mingsong walked in with his briefcase. Seeing the tense atmosphere, he placed the case on a chair and sat down at the table.

“What’s going on here? Why is everyone so quiet?”

Wang Mingsong’s business had been mediocre lately, so his mood wasn’t great. One recent task, which should’ve been simple, ended in failure, making him feel frustrated and defeated. Seeing the disharmony at home only added to his irritation.

However, upon seeing the baby in Gao Hong’s arms, he reached out and gently touched his son. “He’s grown quite a bit.”

“Isn’t that thanks to me, feeding him nourishing soups every day? If it were up to Gao Hong’s milk alone, do you think he’d be this healthy? I really don’t know how she calls herself a mother—she ate and drank well throughout her pregnancy, yet still managed to have my grandson come out like this.”

Gao Hong felt both wronged and angry hearing this, but facing her mother-in-law’s overbearing tone, she didn’t dare talk back. She could only silently wipe her tears.

“Crying again? What a sight. Eat your food. Tonight Tianci will sleep with me.”

Upon hearing this, Gao Hong glanced at Wang Mingsong, who looked indifferent and didn’t say a word in her defense. With no choice, she lowered her head and quietly continued eating.

Su Wenwen, however, wasn’t satisfied. “Mom, can you go or not? I’m in the performance.”

“Go where?” Before Gao Hong could respond, Wang Mingsong suddenly asked.

Although Su Wenwen didn’t like him very much, she quickly seized the opportunity since he was speaking up for her. “Uncle, our school’s having a New Year’s gala, and I signed up to perform a dance. Can you come watch? All the other students will have their parents there.”

As she spoke, she was secretly calculating. Her uncle had a car. If he showed up at the school in it, the other students would be so jealous. Just imagining it filled her with anticipation.

“Uncle, why don’t you come with my mom?” she asked, looking at him expectantly.

Gao Hong saw her daughter still pestering Wang Mingsong and was worried he’d be annoyed, so she quickly said, “Your uncle works every day. Why are you bothering him with this?”

“It’s fine. I’m not busy every single day. Family matters are important,” Wang Mingsong replied with a warm smile.

Mother Wang, hearing that her son was planning to go, was about to object, but Father Wang gently tapped her arm. Seeing him shake his head, she held back her words.

When Wang Mingsong returned to the room that night, he lay down and went straight to sleep, completely ignoring Gao Hong.

Gao Hong, still thinking about what had happened at the dinner table earlier, leaned over and said, “You shouldn’t have agreed to Wenwen today. She’s going to get spoiled.” Though she said that, deep down she was happy that Wang Mingsong cared about her daughter.

Wang Mingsong responded with a quiet “mm” without opening his eyes and said nothing more.

Seeing the tired expression on his face, Gao Hong assumed he was exhausted and didn’t want to talk, so she said nothing further and lay down beside him to sleep.

Before New Year’s Day, Sun Hai finally moved his family to the city.

The house was found with the help of Sun Qiufang. For now, they had rented a two-bedroom place.

Luckily, the child was still young and didn’t need a large space. Since they had just moved and were about to open a store, they didn’t buy new furniture either. They just used what was already in the house.

Sun Qiufang specifically took a day off from the supermarket to help Li Meng and Grandma Sun clean up the new place.

That evening, Sun Hai personally cooked a table full of dishes to celebrate their first day living in the city.

Since last year, Sun Hai and Li Meng had been planning this move. Although this was just the first step, they had finally made it. Once they got through this transition period, they could settle down in the city. The two of them were clearly very happy. Sun Hai, who usually didn’t drink, even had a few extra drinks with Su Changrong.

“Xiao Hai, I’ve watched you work your way up step by step over the years. Seeing you where you are now, I’m genuinely happy for you,” Su Changrong said, patting his chest. “When I think about those hard days in the past, I get scared. Just imagine if we hadn’t come to the city—wouldn’t we still be stuck in the village, without even a proper place to live?”

He had drunk quite a bit and became talkative. The mention of old times made him a little emotional.

“When you gave money to your sister and me back then, my heart felt so warm. Even my own brothers never treated me that well. Now that you’re doing so well, I’m happier than anyone for you.”

Sun Qiufang, listening on the side, wiped the corner of her eyes with some emotion. “Alright, life is good now—why keep talking about the past? And no more drinking! You both still have work to do tomorrow.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Sun Hai said, cheerfully stopping her. “I’m happy today too, sis. Being able to come to the city makes me really happy. Look at us—we’re living just as well as anyone else. We don’t rely on anything but our own hands and feet, working hard step by step. Now that our two families are together again, we can look out for each other.”

“Exactly, we’ll support each other. And if anyone tries to mess with our stores again, we’ll beat them till they’re picking their teeth off the floor.”

Laughing, Su Changrong raised his glass to clink with Sun Hai’s again.

The two men each took another sip.

Fortunately, Li Meng was clever—she took away the bottle of alcohol and refilled an empty one with cool boiled water, letting the two of them “drink” to their hearts’ content.

It was already quite late by the time dinner ended.

Their two homes were only separated by one street. Sun Qiufang wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She let Su Changrong sleep on the couch, told Su Min to keep Doudou company, and joined Li Meng in the kitchen to wash dishes.

While washing, Li Meng said, “Sis, I heard about the supermarket situation from Sun Hai. Is the case really over just like that?”

Sun Qiufang wiped down the stove and sighed. “What else could we do? Zhang Lihong’s already in jail. Now your brother-in-law and I don’t dare relax for a moment—we keep our eyes on everything, worried something might happen again. But this incident really served as a wake-up call. Business isn’t easy in the city. You have to be extra cautious.” She turned to Li Meng and added, “Same goes for you and Sun Hai. You’re running a food business, and that’s a sensitive area. You need to watch everything carefully—don’t let outsiders get involved.”

Li Meng nodded. “We’ve decided to take turns keeping an eye on the shop, especially the kitchen. That area needs close watching.”

“That’s right. It’s better to be cautious. Otherwise, if something does happen, you won’t even know who did it. We were lucky that Zhaodi saw it this time, or we wouldn’t have known Zhang Lihong was behind it. The mall also helped out a lot.”

Speaking of this, Sun Qiufang remembered she still hadn’t properly thanked Ke Wan. Her daughter had gone to the Wu family’s place a few days ago but didn’t find anyone home. She figured she’d have to find another time to go over and thank them properly.

After returning home, Sun Qiufang settled the drunken Su Changrong, then brought up the matter with Su Min.

Su Min said, “I went looking the night before last, and I called yesterday but no one answered. I think I’ll go see Sister Wan again after New Year’s.”

“Sounds good. They helped us so much—we have to show our appreciation. I’ll make some of that pickled cabbage she likes, and you can bring it to her.”

“Alright, she mentioned that last time too,” Su Min said with a smile.

As one of the city’s top high schools, the school held major events every Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year’s Day.

These were usually led by the first-year students, since second- and third-years had heavier workloads and no time to rehearse.

Although Su Min wasn’t performing this year, she and Tang Man helped the school’s logistics team organize costumes and props. Since Liao Zhaodi and Su Min had impressed everyone last time with their skills, the teacher in charge of costumes specifically asked Teacher Huang to have the two of them help with organizing the stage costumes—to avoid another emergency like last year.

Because the weather was cold, they couldn’t set up tents outdoors like before. The school arranged for an office to be used as a changing room and hung thick curtains for privacy.

Su Min had just finished checking the costumes with Liao Zhaodi when Su Wenwen came in with a few girls.

The moment she saw Su Min, Su Wenwen’s face turned sour. “What are you doing here?” Then she spotted Su Min holding the costume she needed for her dance performance. Her eyes widened, and she rushed over to snatch it. “So I finally caught you! You were planning something nasty with my costume to embarrass me!”

The other girls looked at Su Min suspiciously. They usually followed Su Wenwen around and had heard all kinds of gossip about Su Min—how she was cunning and came from the countryside. None of them liked her.

Su Min rolled her eyes. “Just because you’re twisted, you think everyone else is too? You think I’m as petty and calculating as you?”

Liao Zhaodi chimed in, “We’re here because the teacher assigned us to check the costumes. Don’t be so paranoid. I’ve never seen someone so unreasonable. And you’re going to perform on stage? Don’t embarrass yourself.”

“Oh, just because you say the teacher assigned you, we’re supposed to believe it? Why would they choose two nobodies like you?” Su Wenwen sneered.

“What’s all the noise about?”

Tang Man walked over. Recognizing Su Wenwen as the girl who had tried to fight Su Min in the woods, she narrowed her eyes and said sternly, “This is the changing area. What are you doing here causing trouble? If you don’t stop, I’ll call a teacher right now.”

Su Wenwen looked wary. She remembered this girl—the one who had threatened to get boys to deal with her last time.

Just then, the teacher in charge, Mr. Zhang, entered the office. Seeing a crowd gathered, he frowned. “What’s going on here? The performance is about to start. Why are you wasting time?”

Seeing the teacher, Su Wenwen didn’t dare speak further and began to leave with her group. But Su Min wasn’t about to let it slide and said, “Teacher, Su Wenwen accused me of tampering with her costume just now. I was sent by the school to help—I can’t accept being accused like this.”

Liao Zhaodi added, “Yes, she looked really fierce. She scared both of us.”

Hearing that, Mr. Zhang frowned deeper and turned to Su Wenwen. “Which class are you from? The school is a place for proper conduct. Thoughts like yours are unacceptable. Su Min and Liao Zhaodi are second-year students—your seniors—and they’re here to help. Accusing them without proof is completely inappropriate.”

Teenagers these days sure think too much. Tampering with costumes? Where do they even learn that?

Being scolded like that in front of her usual followers made Su Wenwen feel deeply embarrassed. She lowered her head and walked off to the side.

Seeing her walk away, Mr. Zhang was even more displeased. A student who can’t accept criticism clearly had character issues. He turned to Su Min and Liao Zhaodi. “Let’s just leave it at that, so we don’t delay the performances.”

Su Min hadn’t planned to pursue it further anyway. Even if she did, at most the teacher would just say a few more words. For someone like Su Wenwen, it wouldn’t have much effect. She’d only spoken up so it wouldn’t seem like Su Wenwen could get away with anything.