RGL – Chapter 150

When he heard that Su Min was planning to return to her hometown, Xue Mian felt a pang of disappointment, though he didn’t dare show it.

He understood clearly just how much Su Min valued her family.

“Su Min, before your break, you should go see Grandma. She’s been thinking about you constantly. Last time you came to the house, she didn’t even get to see you.”

Su Min had also been thinking about the elderly lady. She just didn’t want another awkward encounter like last time, and with her busy schedule, she hadn’t had time to visit the Xue family. Now that Xue Mian had brought it up, she couldn’t refuse. “Alright, I’ll find time to visit her.”

“Su Min, I… have something I want to tell you.”

“Let’s eat first,” Su Min replied instinctively.

Hearing that, Xue Mian gripped his chopsticks tightly, then suddenly let go. The chopsticks clattered to the ground. “Su Min, I like you.”

“…”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Su Min’s hand paused mid-bite. Then she started eating even faster, half of her face hidden behind the bowl.

“Su Min!”

Xue Mian’s voice trembled with emotion.

He hadn’t planned to confess so soon. But lately, he’d been preoccupied with the company, his mind constantly restless. He kept imagining that Su Min might fall for someone else. Things were different now—Su Min had grown up, and he couldn’t guarantee that while he hesitated, someone else wouldn’t come along.

Su Min had no choice but to look up at him. Her expression was calm. She opened her mouth slightly, then sighed after a moment. “I’m sorry, Xue Mian.”

Buzz—

Xue Mian felt as if something had slammed into his head. His ears rang with static, drowning out all other sound.

Even Su Min’s face seemed to blur before him.

Seeing tears fall from his eyes, Su Min panicked. “Xue Mian, what’s wrong?”

Xue Mian shook his head and wiped his tears away himself. He forced a smile. “Just some dust in my eyes. It’ll be fine in a minute.”

Looking at him like this, Su Min felt a dull ache in her chest. But when it came to matters of the heart, she couldn’t force herself.

She admitted that Xue Mian was an excellent man—kind, dependable, and always good to her.

But when it came to feelings, she just didn’t feel that sense of wanting to live life together with him. Even if she ever decided to settle for someone in the future, it couldn’t be Xue Mian. After all, his family background was too complicated. Choosing him would mean a future filled with family drama.

She’d already had enough chaos over two lifetimes. In this one, all she wanted was for her family to live peacefully and harmoniously—not like her mother, who had been despised and oppressed by her grandmother.

Even though she believed she had the strength to protect herself, she didn’t want to expend that kind of energy on her own family. If a family had to constantly fight and scheme, then what was the point of being a family?

After that, neither of them could eat another bite.

They sat in silence for a while before Su Min took the initiative. She mentioned wanting to stop by the shop, and Xue Mian, wordless, took her there.

The entire ride was quiet. It wasn’t until they reached the mall where the shop was located that Su Min got off the bike, hesitating at the entrance, that Xue Mian finally spoke.

“Su Min, will we still be friends?”

“Mm.” Su Min nodded seriously, her lips tightly pressed together.

“Okay. Then today, let’s pretend I didn’t say anything.” Xue Mian smiled, stepped on the pedal, turned the bike around, and rode off.

Watching his retreating figure, Su Min suddenly felt like she had become the bad guy.

Since Xue Mian confessed and was rejected by Su Min, the two had agreed to remain friends, but Xue Mian hadn’t shown up for over half a month. Su Min actually felt relieved. She cherished him as a friend and feared that his confession might create a rift between them. But when they did meet, it was unbearably awkward. She didn’t know how to face him.

So for both of them, his absence was probably for the best.

With final exams approaching, Su Min didn’t have time to overthink anyway. She used the review period to stay home and focus on designing clothes.

Her classmates were already digging through resources for their final project.

Su Min was no exception. Although she was now quite knowledgeable about fashion, she didn’t dare let her guard down. In the final stretch of revision, she locked herself in her room to work on designs and also tried to keep up with the shop’s custom orders.

Liao Zhaodi was now her assistant and ran to the shop daily to report on things to Su Min. So even while staying home, Su Min still heard about the shop’s affairs.

Right now, the number of orders was starting to exceed their capacity. Sun Yan was overwhelmed and wanted to know if Su Min could reduce the order volume a bit.

Su Min was already feeling the pressure herself. Designing traditional clothing was something she had become good at—so long as it wasn’t a classic piece, most designs didn’t take much effort anymore. But she couldn’t keep up with the current volume of deliveries.

At the shop, the embroidery team now had four people, including Zhang Qingqing. Three of them were the girls from the orphanage trained by Grandma Zhang. They were only semi-trained and could help with some of the work, but their skill still couldn’t compare with Zhang Qingqing’s. Customers with discerning eyes would notice the difference. So when orders piled up, the shop just couldn’t keep up.

“Tell Sun Yan to stop taking new orders for now. I’ll go in soon to standardize our order intake process. From now on, we’ll only accept custom orders during the first few days of the first month of each season. We won’t take any after that. This way, we’ll have a schedule and won’t be scrambling all the time. Also, for our high-end custom orders, quality must be our top priority. If we keep mass-producing like this, it will lower the shop’s image and compromise quality.”

She was aiming for the high-end market. Traditional clothing couldn’t be mass-produced—there just wasn’t enough demand, and they didn’t have the manpower either. Rather than doing a half-hearted job later, it was better to set a clear direction from the start and position the shop accordingly.

Liao Zhaodi carefully noted down everything Su Min said, then added, “Oh right, Sun Yan also asked when you’ll be coming to the shop. She said she has something personal she wants to discuss with you.”

Su Min thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll go over a bit later. I just have a little left to finish here.”

“Alright,” Liao Zhaodi packed her things and was about to head out, but just before leaving, she turned back and added, “Oh, right, I also ran into Xue Mian downstairs at the mall today. He seemed to be… shopping with a girl.”

Liao Zhaodi felt uneasy as she said this. After all, it was Xue Mian’s private business, but things between him and Su Min had always felt a bit strange. She couldn’t tell what Su Min was thinking, and she was worried Su Min might be deceived, so after considering it for a while, she decided to just be honest.

Su Min was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then smiled and said, “Really? Maybe he was just shopping with a friend.”

Seeing that Su Min looked calm and unaffected, Liao Zhaodi sighed in relief and left.

As the door closed, Su Min’s smile faded slightly. Thinking of what Xue Mian had said to her a while ago, she sighed. “Being young is nice.”

“Why did Mianmian and Manli come back so early from shopping today? They should’ve had dinner outside. You’re both adults now, there’s no need to come home on time every day.”

Li Aiyun said this cheerfully while eating, smiling at the two of them.

Grandma Xue had just taken a sip of soup. When she heard Li Aiyun mention that Xue Mian and Sun Manli had gone out, she looked at Xue Mian in confusion. “Mianmian, didn’t you say you were busy? You didn’t even have time to go find Su Min for me, yet now you had time to go out for fun?”

Xue Mian clenched his chopsticks tightly and lowered his head without a word.

Sun Manli’s face also turned cold.

Even though Xue Mian had accompanied her for a stroll today, he hadn’t spoken a single word. In the car, he chose to sit in the front seat alone rather than sit beside her. She talked to him for half the day and got no response.

In her whole life, this was the first time someone had treated her so indifferently.

Li Aiyun noticed how one sentence from the old lady ruined the mood and her expression turned cold. “They’re young people just going out for a bit. You’re being too controlling. Anyway, I’m also Mianmian’s mother.”

“Aiyun,” Xue Jun tugged her sleeve beside her, hinting that she should stop there.

Grandma Xue had just made a casual remark, yet Li Aiyun snapped back at her, leaving her feeling completely uncomfortable. Her hand, holding the chopsticks, trembled a few times as she pointed at Li Aiyun. “You just can’t stand having me around, huh? Are you only satisfied if I, this old woman, just die already?”

“Mom, Aiyun didn’t mean that,” Xue Jun quickly tried to explain.

Li Aiyun turned her face away and said nothing. With Sun Manli present, she didn’t want to create a scene or let others think she was disrespectful to her elders.

Just as Grandma Xue was about to say something, her hand suddenly lost strength and the chopsticks fell to the floor with a clatter. Her whole body began to tremble.

“Aping, what’s wrong?” Grandpa Xue, seated beside her, panicked and quickly helped her.

Xue Mian reacted swiftly and rushed over to support her. “Grandma!”

Seeing her trembling worse than ever, he quickly shouted to Xue Jun, “Call an ambulance, now!”

Only then did Xue Jun come to his senses and rush to the living room to make the call.

This time, Grandma Xue’s condition was serious. She was in the operating room for a long time before she was finally stabilized. However, due to the stroke, half of her body was paralyzed, and she would no longer be able to get out of bed or walk on her own.

Grandpa Xue looked visibly aged and worn down.

Seeing his father keeping vigil at the bedside, Xue Jun grew worried he might fall ill too and tried to persuade him. “Dad, go home and rest for a while. Mianmian and I will stay here.”

“You leave,” Grandpa Xue didn’t look back. “Go pack your things and move back into your own house. Don’t come to the old house anymore.”

“Dad,” Xue Jun frowned.

“Back then, your mother nearly died several times just to give birth to you. Times were tough—you didn’t even have milk to drink. She wished she could feed you with her own blood. After all that hardship, she raised you, only for you to make her suffer like this?”

“Dad, I haven’t done anything wrong. Aiyun has a bit of a blunt personality, but she means no harm.”

“I don’t care. Just leave. Don’t come here again. Your mom and I have our pensions. We have a place to live. We don’t need you. I’m this old now. My only wish is for your mom to live the rest of her life in peace.”

Seeing his father insist, Xue Jun could only walk out the door.

Outside, Li Aiyun was waiting. When she saw him come out, she asked, “How’s the old lady?”

“She’s still sleeping. Dad asked us to pack up and move out.”

Li Aiyun frowned. “The old lady has never been in good health. This wasn’t my fault, and yet now it’s all blamed on me. I must’ve been fated to clash with her in this lifetime.”

“Enough, stop talking,” Xue Jun grew a bit impatient. “She’s sick now. Can’t you show a little consideration? Aiyun, all these years I’ve been accommodating you—can’t you show a bit of consideration to my mom for once?”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Xue Jun? That you’ve been putting up with me all these years?”

Li Aiyun stared at him, eyes filled with disbelief. “So all these years, your tolerance was just putting up with me? When I gave up everything to come back to the country for you, my sacrifice wasn’t big? I left my parents and married you, and how did your parents treat me? They looked down on me, they never welcomed me.”

“Alright, alright. It’s my fault, okay? Let’s just drop this.”

Xue Jun felt his head pounding.

When Xue Mian arrived at the hospital with Xue Nian, he saw the two of them arguing.

Xue Nian was furious. “If you want to fight, take it outside. Don’t disturb Mom’s rest. She’s already in this state—how much more do you want to torment her?”

“Nian Nian,” Xue Jun frowned at her.

“Don’t talk to me. I’m going to check on Mom first. We’ll talk later,” Xue Nian said angrily and stormed off.

Xue Mian was about to follow her when Li Aiyun stopped him. “Mianmian, your dad and I are moving out of the old house. Come live with us.”

She had already made up her mind—she wasn’t going to be separated from her son.

Xue Mian glanced coldly at her and walked straight into the hospital room without saying a word.

Watching him walk away like that, Li Aiyun’s temper flared. “What kind of attitude is that? So rude! After all these years, how did he turn out like this?”

Grandma Xue remained unconscious for several days before finally waking up slowly. But one side of her face was no longer controllable—her mouth was permanently crooked. Xue Nian, red-eyed, gently wiped the drool from her mouth with a handkerchief. “Mom.”

Grandma Xue tried to speak, but no words came out. She grew anxious and began to cry.

As she cried, more drool streamed from the crooked side of her mouth. Seeing this, Xue Nian finally broke down in tears too. Her mom had always loved cleanliness—she wouldn’t leave the house without being neat and tidy. Now, she drooled constantly. She must be feeling terrible.

After Su Min submitted her graduation project, she called home to let Su Changrong and the others know that she planned to stay a bit longer to finish things at the shop, then return home with Sun Yan to celebrate the New Year.

Although Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang both missed her and hoped she’d come back sooner, they understood that she now had responsibilities and couldn’t just leave everything behind to come home for the holidays. So they didn’t object, only reminded her to dress warmly in the cold weather.

Before hanging up, Su Changrong mentioned the family supermarket.

“Our current supermarket is too small. Your mom and I are thinking of opening another one in the city—two floors this time. We want to open a big store.”

“Dad, are you confident you can manage it? Can you handle that many stores?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. Do you remember the store manager from our county store? I visited a few times recently—she’s doing a great job running it. I plan to bring her to the provincial capital to manage the big store. She’s very capable.”

Hearing her father mention the old store manager, Su Min remembered her. She had once suspected this woman might be the same real estate tycoon she’d heard of in her past life. But later she got too busy to follow up on it.

Now, hearing her dad speak so highly of her, the suspicion resurfaced. She began to wonder again—just how capable was this woman? Could she really be the same formidable businesswoman from before?

Su Changrong called her name a few times when she didn’t respond.

Su Min came back to her senses. “Dad, it’s almost New Year. This is something for after the holiday. When I’m back, we can talk it through. If you think you can manage it, then let’s go big. We don’t have any burdens at home now, so whatever you and Mom decide is fine.”