RGL – Chapter 14

Liao Zhaodi was a sensible girl. After crying for a while and being comforted by Su Min, she gradually relaxed.

“I need to go back and help out, so I won’t chat with you any longer. I’m staying with my mom at a small restaurant over on Civil Affairs Street. She helps out in the kitchen there. If you ever need to find me, come there.”

Su Min also gave her own address. “If you ever feel upset, you can come find me too.”

Liao Zhaodi smiled and nodded, then turned and left.

Watching Liao Zhaodi’s departing figure, Su Min suddenly became curious. In her past life, had Liao Zhaodi really lived a good life in the city like their middle school classmates had said? If so, why did she look the way she did the one time they briefly ran into each other?

At noon, just as Su Min finished cooking, Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong came back. The two had run into each other on the way and returned together.

“Minzi, come take a look at what we got today!”

Su Changrong called out excitedly to his daughter the moment he reached the door.

Su Min came out and saw that the cart Su Changrong had pushed home was piled as high as a small hill. And the items were much neater and cleaner than what they had collected before. At least there wasn’t any mud on them.

“There’s so much! Dad, how many places did you go?”

Su Changrong laughed. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you—I’ve only covered about half the area. I’m going out again this afternoon. I think we’ll have to go even farther, maybe check out some nearby rural villages to see if they’re selling scrap metal or other junk. The wider the range, the more we can collect.”

Sun Qiufang saw he was getting carried away and smirked, “Look at you, acting all pleased with yourself. You’ve only got two legs. If you really go all the way to the villages, a round trip will take the whole day.”

Su Changrong scratched his head sheepishly. “You’ve got a point there.” He thought to himself that having a bike would be great—but a bicycle costs several hundred yuan, which just wasn’t worth it. He quickly dismissed the idea.

They had gathered so much stuff that the family didn’t even have time to eat lunch. They all pitched in to unload and sort everything quickly, then rushed it over to the collection station to exchange for cash so they could go out collecting again in the afternoon.

This time, they’d filled an entire cart.

It took the whole family the entire lunch break just to sort everything. Besides scrap metal, there were also discarded cardboard boxes, glass bottles, and some old books.

Su Min picked out two fifth-grade textbooks, planning to review them herself.

Seeing this, Sun Qiufang sighed with emotion, “Once we make more money this month, we’ll buy you a whole new set of books. As long as you’re willing to study, we’ll make sure to spend that money.”

Su Min smiled. “I just wanted to take a look and see how much I still remember.”

While loading the cart, Su Changrong chuckled, “At this pace, our Minzi will be back in school by next September. I saw the city kids all wearing matching uniforms to school—they looked so nice. It’d be great if our Minzi could wear one too.”

“We definitely will. No matter how poor we are, we can’t let Minzi fall behind others,” Sun Qiufang said firmly. In the past, their family had been under someone else’s control, but now that she was in charge, of course she wanted to give her child the best.

After Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang left to sell the scrap, Su Min stayed home and began flipping through the books she’d kept.

She remembered that she’d done quite well in school in her previous life. Back then, she had actually liked studying. If the family hadn’t run into trouble, she surely would’ve made it to high school.

Thinking of those past regrets, Su Min felt even more determined to continue her studies.

The fifth-grade textbooks were fairly easy for her. There wasn’t much that was difficult. Although she hadn’t read a book in years, the basics of elementary school were still things she encountered in everyday life, so it wasn’t hard for her to pick up.

Taking advantage of the quiet time, she quickly read through the books from start to finish. When she finished, she was surprised by how sharp her memory was. Maybe it was because her body was only thirteen years old, but her learning ability was far stronger than she expected. She could recall almost everything she had just read.

Su Min figured she wasn’t exactly a genius, but maybe her mental maturity gave her an edge—she now understood how to focus on the key points when studying.

Still, this kind of advantage would only help with simple material. To really keep up, she’d need to work twice as hard. Self-study wouldn’t be enough. She had to find someone to tutor her.

After thinking it over, she remembered Liao Zhaodi. Zhaodi had good grades and was living in town now. She could ask her for help when needed, so she wouldn’t fall too far behind when school started again. She figured Zhaodi would also be returning to school. There were two middle schools in the county, but she wasn’t sure which one Zhaodi would attend.

“Minzi, we’re back!”

Just as Su Min was thinking about her study plans, she heard Sun Qiufang’s cheerful voice.

Su Min put down her book and was about to go out when she saw her parents pushing the cart back.

As soon as they came in, Sun Qiufang closed the door behind her and happily pulled her daughter over. “Minzi, guess how much we made selling that stuff?” She smiled at Su Min’s curious look and held up eight fingers. “How about that? Pretty good, huh?”

And that was just the morning haul! If they went out again in the afternoon, they’d easily make ten yuan a day. Over a month, that’d be double what they used to earn.

Sun Qiufang was so excited she could hardly sit still. She almost wanted to skip lunch and get back to work right away.

Su Min was happy too. She’d never done this kind of business before, and though she’d heard it could make money, she hadn’t been totally sure. Now that they were making real money, this could be a sustainable way forward.

She smiled brightly. “Mom, Dad, let’s eat quick so we can go back out this afternoon.”

“Exactly, let’s eat!” Su Changrong, having washed his hands, came in. “I’m starving.”

Su Min quickly set up the small table and brought over the dishes that had been kept warm in the pot.

While they were eating, Sun Qiufang shared her plan with Su Min.

“Minzi, your dad and I decided we’ll go together this afternoon to collect scrap. We’re not just out picking up junk anymore—we’re going to do this seriously. Your dad’s too honest and not great at calling out to people, so I’ll go shout and help expand the route. The weather’s getting cold, so you stay home. No need to come with us anymore.”

“You don’t need my help?” Su Min asked in surprise.

Sun Qiufang smiled. “You’re still a kid. You shouldn’t be doing this kind of work anyway. Before, we weren’t comfortable leaving you alone, and we were short-handed too. But now that we’ve decided to treat this like a real business, your dad and I will handle it properly. We’ve got to save up for your schooling next year.”

Su Changrong sipped his hot soup and added with a smile, “Exactly. Your mom and I are good workers—no reason for you to be following us around all day. You stay home and study. Don’t go wandering. Even if you’re familiar with the city now, it’s still not totally safe for a young girl to be out alone.”

Hearing that, Su Min remembered—she was only thirteen. It really was an awkward age. She thought about it. Since she wasn’t needed for the business now, this was the perfect chance to go find Liao Zhaodi for tutoring.

She looked up at her parents. “Then I’ll go visit my classmate Liao Zhaodi. She’s moved to town too, not far from here.”

“Your classmate’s in town now too? Great, now you’ll have a friend nearby,” Su Changrong said with a cheerful grin.

After lunch, Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong went off again to collect scrap. Su Min tidied up the house, then went to look for Zhaodi.

The address was in the busy part of town, at a newly opened small restaurant.

When Su Min arrived, the place was bustling. She peeked inside but didn’t see Zhaodi. A middle-aged woman in an apron walked over. “Little girl, who are you looking for?”

Su Min paused and said, “I’m looking for Liao Zhaodi. Auntie, is she here?”

“Oh, that girl,” the woman’s face soured a bit and she pointed toward the back. “She’s in the back room. Go on back yourself.” Then she turned and went back to her work.

Su Min didn’t think much of it and went around to the back to look for Zhaodi.

Behind the restaurant was a row of rundown single-story buildings. Compared to the buildings nearby, they looked quite shabby. Su Min searched for a bit and finally spotted Zhaodi squatting by a door, doing laundry.

“Zhaodi,” Su Min called out. Zhaodi looked up, her face red from the cold.

“Su Min? What are you doing here?” she asked, surprised.

Su Min raised the book in her hand. “I came to study with you.”

Zhaodi widened her eyes in astonishment. “You even brought books?” She glanced down awkwardly at the basin of laundry. “But I haven’t finished this yet. I can’t study until I’m done.”

“I’ll help you,” Su Min said with a smile, squatting down beside her. Seeing Zhaodi’s shy smile, Su Min felt a pang in her chest. In her previous life, she had envied Zhaodi, thinking she was living the good life in the city. Even though both of them had suffered from being undervalued girls in their families, at least Zhaodi had managed to leave. But now it turned out that life in the city was even harder for her.

Back in the village, Zhaodi had two older sisters to share the load. But here, everything fell on her shoulders.

Looking at the laundry, Su Min noticed that many of the clothes didn’t seem to belong to Zhaodi or her mother. She asked, “Whose clothes are these?”

“They’re the boss’s wife’s,” Zhaodi said, head lowered. “I’m too young, so they didn’t want to let me work out front. But I still need food and a place to stay, so they let me work in the back.”

Then she smiled and added, “But my mom said that after New Year’s, she’ll marry Uncle Zhu. Then we’ll live at his place, and I’ll be able to go to school.”

She was smiling, but her eyes held an uneasy look. Su Min pretended not to notice and smiled back. “That’s perfect. I’m planning to sign up for school next year too—I want to start junior high again. Maybe we’ll even be classmates.”

At that, Zhaodi finally broke into a genuine smile. “That’d be great! Just like old times—same class.”

“Yeah,” Su Min nodded seriously, her hands working faster.

Looking at the current Zhaodi, Su Min couldn’t help but think of her past self—taking on the burden of the whole family at such a young age, just trying to hold everything together and keep it from falling apart.

“Zhaodi,” she said softly, “We’re going to have a better life than before. I promise.”