RGL – Chapter 143

Time always flies particularly fast in the third year of high school. After the first monthly exam passed, the second one quickly arrived. Once it was over, everyone began counting down the days.

There was only one month left until the college entrance examination. For every senior student, this was a crucial moment.

In order to give it her all in this final sprint, Su Min stopped going to the shop altogether and focused entirely on her studies, determined to endure and give her all for this last month.

By June, the weather had started to heat up.

Su Changrong bought several large freezers for the family supermarket, specifically for selling fruits and popsicles.

Now, Rongfang Supermarket’s business had become quite stable. It had even become known as the number one supermarket in the city.

With some extra money on hand, Su Changrong began thinking about buying a car.

He had been learning to drive for a while and had already gotten his license. He had just kept putting off actually buying the car. Now that his daughter was about to graduate, he thought he should buy the car while she was still at home, so she could enjoy it a little too.

So one evening, just as Su Min stepped out of the school gate, she saw her father wearing a flashy floral shirt, standing beside a shiny little car. His hair was neatly combed with a side part, giving off a vibe reminiscent of the stylish gangsters from the Bund TV dramas.

Of course, her dad wasn’t quite as handsome.

“Dad, what’s with your outfit?”

“How is it? Looks good, right?” Su Changrong touched his hair. “Your mom fixed me up—said all the guys driving cars on TV dress like this. Look, we bought a car! Picked it up today. Spent a lot of money on it.”

As he spoke, he walked to Su Min’s side, his face full of excitement as he pointed to the car.

Only then did Su Min realize the car was theirs.

“It really is quite nice.” Su Min looked at it. It resembled a vintage car. She had seen that model on the street before, and it didn’t seem cheap. She never quite understood why these older models were even more expensive than modern ones.

“Hurry up and get in. Let’s go home,” Su Changrong said, itching to get behind the wheel.

Su Min was practically pushed into the car. Once she was seated, she looked at her dad, who was preparing to drive, and asked, “Dad, are you sure you can drive?”

“You’re underestimating me, aren’t you? I didn’t get my license for nothing,” Su Changrong said with a serious expression.

Su Min quickly pressed her palms together, “Dad, I don’t ask for much—just one thing: please, drive slowly.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t you trust your dad?”

With that, Su Changrong started the car.

After a while, Su Min realized her words were unnecessary. The car wasn’t just slow—it was practically at walking speed.

Usually, she could take a shortcut home in just thirty minutes, and if she took a taxi, it would be just a few minutes. But this ride? Her dad drove for nearly forty minutes.

By the time they finally got home, Su Min thought to herself that she’d better speak up tomorrow—she’d rather take a taxi. At this pace, it was just a waste of precious time for a senior student.

Sun Qiufang, on the other hand, found it all quite novel. After dinner, she asked Su Changrong to take her out for a ride.

Seeing that someone appreciated him, Su Changrong didn’t hesitate. He changed his shoes and took Sun Qiufang out the door.

Not long after Su Changrong bought the car, Sun Hai also bought one.

Sun Hai’s car was a more conventional sedan—sleek and black. On their days off, the two families would often go out for drives together.

After a month of practice, Su Changrong finally got up to speed.

On the day of the college entrance exam, he personally drove his daughter to the exam site.

After two days of exams, everyone felt completely liberated. Many students didn’t go straight home afterward. Instead, they grouped up to hang out downtown.

Su Min had already made plans with Tang Man and the others to meet up one last time.

The few of them had built a strong bond over the past three years of high school. Now they were parting ways, and who knew when they’d see each other again? It might very well be a once-in-a-lifetime farewell.

They found a private room, ordered a few bottles of chilled soda, and picked out a few dishes.

But when the food came, none of them even touched it. The atmosphere in the room felt heavy.

After a while, Tang Man began to wipe her tears. “After this meeting, who knows when we’ll see each other again. Don’t you all dare forget me. You have to write to me often. As soon as I get to school, I’ll write to you guys.”

Everyone nodded.

Yin Jing said, “My mom wants me to stay in the provincial capital for college. If you ever come back here, drop by and visit me.”

Tang Man added, “I think I’ll probably go to school somewhere in the southwest.”

Hearing this, Su Min felt reluctant and sentimental. Although they had all joked before about going to university in City B together, she knew that wasn’t realistic. Everyone had their own considerations, and their families would have their opinions too. It simply wasn’t possible for them all to study at the same place.

Zhang Panpan said, “I still don’t know where I’ll end up going. Probably in the provincial capital too—can’t go too far. Otherwise, the travel expenses would be too much.”

“Panpan, with your grades, it’s a real shame if you don’t go to the capital,” Tang Man said with regret.

“It’s too far. I don’t want to go.” She couldn’t bear to leave her family. If she stayed in the provincial capital, she could at least go home once a month. But if she went to City B, she’d only be able to return once a year.

Liao Zhaodi said, “I’m planning to go to City B. Don’t know if I can get in. If I don’t, my second choice is somewhere in the south.”

She looked at Su Min. “Su Min, are you applying only to schools in the north?”

“Yeah.” Su Min nodded. “I’m planning to work there in the future, so it’ll be more convenient to go to school there.”

When Tang Man heard that everyone had someone to go with, and she was the only one heading southwest, she felt quite down. “So I’m the only one going to the southwest…”

Seeing her upset, Liao Zhaodi laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Tang Man. I heard from Wen Heping that he’s also going to the southwest. Maybe you’ll end up together.”

“Him? No way! I’ve got a grudge with him.”

Hearing Tang Man talk about her grudge with Wen Heping, the others laughed. Back when it happened, they were like fire and water—Tang Man almost did something reckless. That time, Wen Heping even gave up his class leader position and let Tang Man take over.

Who would’ve thought three years would pass in a flash?

Thinking back on all the things that had happened, it all felt like it was just yesterday.

“Ah, I really miss those days,” Zhang Panpan sighed.

“Stop it. I don’t want to repeat high school ever again,” Tang Man quickly waved her hand. “Once in a lifetime is enough. Any more and I definitely couldn’t take it.”

Su Min watched them talking and laughing, her heart filled with emotions. This was her first time experiencing the feeling of classmates parting ways and going in different directions.

She remembered a song she once heard. Although the lyrics hinted at a secret crush on a deskmate, the mood of the song perfectly matched her feelings.

“Back then the sky was always so blue, the days passed too slowly. You always said graduation was far, far away. In the blink of an eye, we all went our separate ways…”

After summer break began, Ke Wan, who was far away in B City, called Su Min and asked her to come visit. She suggested Su Min get an early look at the school. Additionally, the storefront over there had already been arranged for her, so she could check that out too.

In her previous life, Su Min had never been to B City. What she had heard most about was the jaw-dropping real estate prices. For example: inside the Third Ring Road, the Fifth Ring Road…

So when she thought about how she was about to open a store in such a place where every inch of land was as valuable as gold, she couldn’t help but feel excited.

As soon as she got off the train, Ke Wan was already there to pick her up. The two hadn’t seen each other in a long time. As soon as they met, Ke Wan gave her a hug.

“I told you to come earlier. You took forever to get here,” Ke Wan teased.

Su Min smiled and linked arms with her as they walked out of the station. “I had to wait for the exam results to come out and fill in my college application. If I hadn’t sorted that out first, I wouldn’t have felt at ease coming here.”

Speaking of Su Min’s exam scores, Ke Wan was also pleased. “You did really well this time. Your mom said you ranked among the top in your school, didn’t you?”

“It was alright, kind of exceeded expectations,” Su Min replied.

“That still takes a strong mindset. If you didn’t have it, how could you have done better than usual? Lots of people do great normally but fall apart at critical moments. Hey, you finally got into the university you wanted. I’m honestly happy for you.”

After getting in the car and once it started moving, Ke Wan asked again, “By the way, what major are you planning to study?”

“Fashion design.”

Ke Wan was surprised. “I thought with what you’ve already achieved, you wouldn’t want to study it formally.”

“Learning never ends. I’m not formally trained in this field. If I don’t keep learning, I’ll run out of knowledge fast. And since this is what I’m doing now, I want to be better than everyone else at it.”

“That’s a great mindset. Once you finish studying, maybe go abroad too. That William is doing really well in the international fashion scene. If you ever want to gain some overseas experience, just follow him. Oh, by the way, he didn’t come with me this time.”

Su Min laughed, “He’s stuck at my shop now and won’t leave. I might as well start paying him a salary.”

“He’s serious this time. I wonder if he’ll get what he wants.”

Hearing this, Su Min looked at her in surprise. “Sister Wan, you know what he’s thinking?”

“He’s so obvious about it, only a fool wouldn’t notice. At first, Shu Qing and I weren’t optimistic. We thought the gap between them was too big. But no matter how we tried to talk him out of it, he only got more serious. Shu Qing thinks maybe it’ll turn out to be a good match. What do you think? Has Zhang Qingqing accepted him?”

“Nope. Even though William’s pretty obvious, Qingqing hasn’t thought in that direction at all. I think there’s still a long road ahead.”

Ke Wan chuckled with a hint of schadenfreude. “It’s good for him to suffer a little. A man chasing a woman should put in effort, otherwise he won’t cherish her in the future.”

Su Min joked, “Then my brother-in-law must’ve put in a lot of effort and got bullied a fair bit by you, huh?”

“That’s true,” Ke Wan admitted straightforwardly.

The Wu family had a house in B City too—and not just any house, but in a very prime location. What surprised Su Min even more was that it was a traditional courtyard house (siheyuan).

However, this courtyard had clearly been renovated. The bathrooms were as modern as those in apartment buildings, and all the furniture had been replaced with new ones.

After putting down her luggage, Su Min carried Ruirui and wandered around.

It was her first time inside a traditional courtyard house, and she found it very novel.

“This house is quite old. When Wu Zhe and I came back, we were worried it wouldn’t be livable. Luckily, after the renovation, there were no issues. When the house was repossessed back then, I heard it was a complete mess.”

As Ke Wan talked about the past, she grew a little sentimental. Although she didn’t remember everything clearly, whenever the elders talked about it, she found it quite startling.

“There’s no way you can find a place like this in such a prime location nowadays. This is a great house, Sister Wan. You can even see the Forbidden City from here.”

“After living here for a long time, it feels normal. I’m just too lazy to move. Besides, it’s close to where Shu Qing lives. Zhang Ning also has a place nearby, but she’s currently living in the Prosecutor’s Compound. Her husband works at the procuratorate, so it’s more convenient for them to stay there. But during holidays, they come back to stay here for a few days. Makes meeting up easy.”

Su Min knew that Shu Qing’s husband was in real estate, but this was her first time learning what Zhang Ning’s husband did.

She asked curiously, “Sister Wan, how did you meet them?”

Ke Wan munched on some cookies as she said, “Shu Qing and I met abroad. We both came from here, so our families kept in touch. Shu Qing returned to China earlier, and when I came back, I met Zhang Ning through her. We got along right away. As for Shu Qing and Zhang Ning, they’re cousins. Zhang Ning’s background… well, it’s kind of a sad story.”

“Oh?” Su Min was intrigued.

“Forget it, it’s someone else’s private matter, so it’s not appropriate to talk too much. Come on, let’s go out and look around the neighborhood and check out your school.”

She stood up while glancing at the setting sun outside. “We can grab something to eat along the way and then go see the school.”

Since Ke Wan clearly didn’t want to elaborate, Su Min didn’t press the issue. If someone doesn’t want you to know something, it only becomes awkward once you find out.

She went along and said, “I’ll just follow your arrangements while I’m here. Oh, right, I have to head out tomorrow to help my mom meet an old friend.” Before leaving, her mom had repeatedly reminded her to visit Grandma Xue. Come to think of it, it had been a while since they’d heard from Xue Mian. She wondered how things were going.

Ke Wan didn’t ask whom she was going to meet. She just nodded and said, “No problem. I’ll have Old Zhu drive you there tomorrow.”

Thanks to Ke Wan’s help, Su Min didn’t have to worry about much after arriving. She temporarily stayed at the Wu family home. After visiting the school, Ke Wan also took her to see the store that had already been arranged. Unlike the provincial capital, this commercial building had been running for quite some time and had a bustling flow of customers.

Su Min knew that having a 30-square-meter shop in a place like this meant every inch was precious. “The rent must be expensive.”

“This is the best location—you can’t even find a spot here with money sometimes. Sure, the rent’s not cheap, but with your shop’s reputation and the profits you’ll earn from collaborating with William in the future, the rent is nothing. You just got here. You can’t afford to take things step by step. If there’s a shortcut, take it.” As she spoke, Ke Wan patted her shoulder with the tone of an older sister giving heartfelt advice.

Although Su Min wasn’t too worried about the rent, she still nodded cooperatively.

The shop was already renovated. As long as Su Min added some of Xiuse’s unique features according to her vision, it could be officially opened.

Su Min just needed to draw up a layout, and the decorators would handle the rest.

That evening, she finished the design drawings. Ke Wan handed the task over to her brother-in-law Wu Zhe to oversee.

Early the next morning, she called Su Changrong and asked them to pass a message to Sun Yan—it was time to start relocating the store. Before coming to B City, Su Min had already held a meeting with the staff. Though B City meant leaving their hometown, it was a necessary step for the business to grow. Those who were willing to follow could come to B City; those who weren’t could stay and continue working at the city branch and take local orders—but the business wouldn’t be as good, and the income would drop.

Su Min hoped everyone would come since they were all familiar colleagues. Doing business with people you know is always better. However, the two master tailors were locals and didn’t want to leave, so only Sun Yan and a few others decided to move. As for Zhang Qingqing and Grandma Zhang, although they were reluctant to leave the city, after listening to Su Min’s reasoning, they also decided to come along.