RGL – Chapter 154

The food at home had already been prepared by Sun Hai and Li Meng. Chen Juan welcomed Sun Qiufang and the others, helped them settle in, and then introduced them to her mother-in-law, Granny Li.

Granny Li had some mobility issues and her health wasn’t great. She looked quite old and frail. When she saw Sun Qiufang and the others, she seemed a little reserved and uneasy. She kept praising Grandma Sun, saying what a good person she was, and also mentioned how well Sun Bing treated her.

Seeing that the old lady was uncomfortable, Sun Qiufang didn’t force interaction and instead went into the kitchen to chat with Li Meng.

Su Min stayed by Grandma Sun’s side and chatted with Granny Li.

Listening to Granny Li talk about the past, Su Min learned that Chen Juan had once been pregnant, but after hearing some tragic news, she hadn’t been able to keep the baby. Over the years, others had tried to persuade her to remarry, but she had refused. She truly treated this child (Sun Bing) as her own daughter.

Grandma Sun held her hand and said, “You’re a good person, and Chen Juan is too. The fact that she treats you well shows how well you’ve treated her.”

Granny Li took out a handkerchief and wiped the redness from the corners of her eyes.

During the meal, Sun Qiufang’s expression didn’t look too good, as if she was suppressing something. Even after dinner was over, she hadn’t smiled once.

In the afternoon, right after eating, Sun Qiufang didn’t stay long. She exchanged a few pleasantries with Chen Juan and then prepared to return to the county town.

Considering how inconvenient it was for Grandma Sun and Doudou to travel to the town in the middle of winter to catch a ride, she suggested taking them back with her.

Li Meng had also been thinking about going back, so she brought it up to Sun Hai, suggesting they head back early too.

Sun Yan also wanted to go with them, but Grandma Sun stopped her and told her to stay home and spend more time with Chen Juan.

Although Sun Yan wasn’t happy about it, Sun Qiufang also spoke up and told her to stay, saying the car didn’t have enough room and she could return in a few days. So Sun Yan had no choice but to agree, albeit with a sullen face.

After the car left the village, Sun Qiufang remained silent the whole way. Once they got to the county town and saw Sun Hai and the others off at the station to head back to the city, and then returned to their own place in the county town, Sun Qiufang finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and started complaining to Su Changrong.

“I really can’t take it anymore. How could Yanyan do something like this? And my big brother actually went along with it. What the hell is going on?”

“What happened?” Su Changrong looked confused. “You didn’t look like yourself earlier.”

“Yanyan actually made Chen Juan get sterilized.”

In the village, women were usually the ones who underwent sterilization if they weren’t allowed to have more children. Back then, Zhang Guihua had also gotten sterilized. But it was a procedure that harmed the body. Unless someone truly didn’t want more children, no one would willingly go through with it.

Chen Juan hadn’t even had a child yet, so it was clear she’d want children in the future. Getting sterilized now meant giving up that possibility forever.

“That’s just foolish!” Su Changrong was furious too.

Sun Qiufang had once wanted to have children herself but was never able to, so she was particularly sensitive about this subject. Thinking about it now made her very upset. She felt that even if Chen Juan wasn’t going to marry her older brother, she shouldn’t have made such a sacrifice.

Su Min pretended not to understand and didn’t speak up. She also couldn’t figure out why Chen Juan had agreed to this. She didn’t believe that Chen Juan had suddenly become so devoted to her uncle that she’d be willing to give up everything for him.

Clearly, there was more to this story.

After spending a night in the county town, Sun Qiufang’s mood had improved somewhat compared to the day before. Although she was still upset, her relationship with Chen Juan wasn’t that close, so she didn’t let it ruin her entire mood. Besides, this was a matter of mutual consent — one willing to hit, the other willing to take the blow — and she couldn’t let it spoil the holiday for everyone.

Early in the morning, she got up and went out to buy breakfast.

After the family of three finished eating, Su Changrong drove them straight to the supermarket in the county town.

The supermarket had changed locations and was now much bigger — two floors, nearly double the previous size. The staff were well-arranged, with someone manning every section. There were also dedicated security at the entrance and by the stairs. Trying to sneak anything out unnoticed was basically impossible.

The employees all recognized Su Changrong and the others. As soon as they arrived, someone went to get Jiang Ping.

A little while later, Su Min finally saw the legendary Jiang Ping — the one who not only shared a name with a well-known female tycoon but might very well be that woman herself.

Jiang Ping wore a bright orange padded jacket issued by the supermarket, with her hair neatly tied up in a bun. She looked very sharp and capable. When she saw them, she quickly greeted them, “Boss, Ma’am. You’re here today — is there something that needs arranging?”

Su Changrong smiled and said, “We went back home for the New Year, and we’re heading out from here on the way back. My daughter heard that our supermarket was expanding and got very interested, so she wanted to come talk about the details. Her mother and I are getting old — eventually, she’ll have to take over, so I brought her to talk to you about the future of the supermarket.”

Only then did Jiang Ping realize who Su Min was. She smiled and said, “Let’s head to the office and talk.”

Su Min had originally thought Jiang Ping would be a very shrewd person — after all, she dressed quite sharply. But after talking to her, Su Min realized she was actually quite down-to-earth. At the very least, many of her suggestions and plans were practical and actionable.

As for the supermarket’s current development, Jiang Ping proposed expanding its scale. To ensure good management, she also recommended hiring additional personnel to oversee the branches and implementing formal store management policies.

This would indeed be a step forward for Rongfang Supermarket.

After hearing her plans, Su Min smiled and said, “Your proposal is pretty good, but I think it needs a bit more refinement. If we formally establish a company, we can assign professionals to handle procurement, store operations, promotions, and event planning — everything can be done by dedicated personnel.”

“Formally establish a company?”

Jiang Ping found the idea quite bold. And it would certainly require significant investment.

Su Changrong, listening from the side, was also quite surprised by the proposal.

“Daughter, aren’t we making this a bit too big? I just wanted to open a few more stores — but opening a whole company, that’s a bit too official.”

Su Min shook her head. “Since we want to grow, the scale of the stores will only get bigger and the number will increase. We can’t just rely on one or two people to check up on everything — that’s not sustainable. And when we open stores, we’ll need to run events, and someone needs to be responsible for stocking and deliveries. Dad, you can’t do all of this yourself forever.”

Su Changrong wanted to say he could still handle it, and he didn’t feel comfortable handing over such important responsibilities. But he also felt that his daughter had a valid point.

“I’m just putting the idea out there for now. We’ll need a proper plan. Once I get things sorted out at home these next few days, we’ll discuss it in detail.”

Although she had the idea and had seen others manage things this way, she wasn’t yet an expert. If she wanted to do it well, she’d need to think it through more carefully.

Jiang Ping was surprised by Su Min’s suggestion but also impressed. Despite her young age, she had guts and vision. No wonder the boss often mentioned his daughter studying in the capital whenever he talked.

After they finished discussing the main topics, Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang went outside to look at the products on the shelves.

Su Min found an excuse to keep Jiang Ping behind. “Manager Jiang, how are things going for you at the store? Are you still enjoying it?”

“It’s going great! Thank you for giving me this opportunity — I’ll definitely do my best.”

Su Min couldn’t be sure whether this Jiang Ping was the same strong-willed woman from before, so she probed, “Manager Jiang, I’ve heard that a lot of people are making money by building houses these days. If you’re not planning to keep working at our store, what do you think about getting into that business?”

Hearing this, Jiang Ping’s eyes flashed with anxiety, though she forced herself to remain calm on the surface. “Did I do something wrong? Or is the boss thinking about something else?”

To be honest, Jiang Ping didn’t want to leave this job. Her family’s financial situation wasn’t great, and it hadn’t been easy to land such a good opportunity. On top of that, she was the store manager, with a high salary, and life was going very well. If she lost this job, she really didn’t know what she would do.

Seeing her anxious, Su Min quickly smiled and said, “No, I was just asking casually, nothing else. It’s just that seeing how capable you are reminded me of a story I once heard. It was about a very capable woman who, because of her family’s struggles, forged a path on her own and eventually became the richest person in the county. With your abilities, if you find the right direction, you could also have a great life in a few years.”

“I don’t have such big ambitions,” Jiang Ping thought Su Min was worried she might have other plans, so she quickly explained, subtly hinting, “If there were an easier path, what woman would want to struggle like a man? Even if you can earn money in the future, the process will definitely be full of hardships. Life is short—we should just live well if we can. I don’t want to become like a man. Besides, my current job is great, and I’m content. I’m not thinking about anything else.”

Although Su Min still couldn’t be sure if this Jiang Ping was that same strong woman from her past life, from her words, it was clear she didn’t have the intention to become one now.

Thinking about the stories she had heard in her previous life—about that woman who carved out a place among men—Su Min realized just how much hardship such a path would require. Even if Jiang Ping did one day become rich, looking back at her journey might not bring her happiness.

With that thought, Su Min felt relieved.

Whether or not Jiang Ping had been the successful woman from her past life, whether or not her presence had changed Jiang Ping’s original destiny, it was clear now that Jiang Ping didn’t want to endure that kind of suffering. If she kept obsessing over this, she’d only be bringing trouble to herself.

By the time they returned to the city from the county, it was already afternoon.

After a whole day of running around, Su Min felt exhausted. She went straight to sleep once she got home and only got up when it was already dark. After eating dinner, she went to her room and began organizing some materials related to establishing “Rongfang Supermarket Management Co., Ltd.”

She had thought that if her parents didn’t want to expand the business, just holding on to the two current supermarkets would still be enough for them to live comfortably. After all, she wasn’t chasing great wealth anymore—her own clothing business could support her. And with her parents managing the stores, they wouldn’t lack food or drink. So she hadn’t voiced any opinion about expanding the supermarket.

Now that her parents wanted to go big, she naturally had to contribute more effort.

Drawing from the supermarkets she had seen in her past life and the management models she had heard about, she carefully organized everything and managed to put together a decent plan.

Su Min now deeply appreciated the benefits of education. Before going to university, she had felt that many things were hard to express in words. But now that she was in college, she could articulate her ideas clearly. Just like the business plan she had put together—there’s no way she could have written this in her past life.

She made this proposal very detailed.

It included what positions the company should set up, the specific responsibilities, and the criteria for hiring.

To make it easier for Su Changrong and the others to understand, she even drew a company organizational chart, clearly showing the structure and especially highlighting how the general manager would oversee everything.

To be honest, Su Min still had some concerns. Although her father had made a name for himself in business, managing a systematic company required broader knowledge.

But then she thought, in this era, the general education level wasn’t that high. Many successful businesspeople hadn’t even graduated from primary school, while many highly educated people were chasing government jobs. So the competitors were all at a similar educational level. Her father still had room to grow.

By the time she finished the proposal, it was already past midnight. After organizing her materials, she snuggled under the covers with a hot water bottle and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, during breakfast, Su Min took the opportunity to explain her plan to Su Changrong.

Although he hadn’t had much schooling, he was able to grasp most of it because the plan was written so clearly.

“Daughter, if we follow this plan, we’ll need to hire quite a few people.”

“These days aren’t like the past. University students can’t all get government jobs anymore. We can publicly recruit—whether they’re high school or college grads, we should aim to hire people with strong overall abilities. If we can get some with relevant majors, even better. My suggestion is to hire mostly newcomers since our company is so new. One, they’re easier to manage. Two, we can instill our company values in them more easily.”

This second point came from her experience with pre-job training at the factory in her past life. She had felt those trainings had a subtle but effective impact on employees.

Su Min also recommended that both Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang do some learning themselves.

“Mom, Dad, policies are changing fast these days. A lot of things aren’t like before. You can’t just blindly run a business anymore. We need to embrace new knowledge.”

Hearing talk of learning, both Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang looked a bit uneasy.

Sun Qiufang said, “Your dad can go learn. What do I need to study for?”

“Dad learning alone is too tiring. If you each learn a bit, it’s like one person learning the whole thing. And in the future, you’ll have someone to discuss things with.”

Su Min smiled.

Su Changrong looked conflicted. “I’m already this old. Won’t people laugh at me?”

“Learning doesn’t have an age limit, Dad. You don’t know this, but at our university, there are students your age too. They took the entrance exam many times and finally got in. Don’t they study just as confidently? They’re not afraid of being laughed at. Knowledge becomes yours once you learn it. You can use it when you need it. If others laugh, it’s because they’re ignorant.”

Su Min spoke with firm conviction.

She truly understood the value of knowledge now. She had been lucky enough to return and attend university again, but her parents wouldn’t get that chance. Still, it wasn’t too late to start learning now. Just recognizing more characters and reading more business books would be much faster and more practical than preparing for exams.

To Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang, studying had always seemed far removed from their lives. But hearing their daughter say they could still learn stirred a bit of longing in their hearts.

They admired educated people. Even though their third sibling didn’t live as well as them now, they still envied his ability to teach and mold young minds.

Of course, Su Min only brought up the idea of learning as a suggestion. Whether or not her parents wanted to take it up was entirely up to them. After breakfast, she discussed the company matters more specifically with them and also recommended transferring Jiang Ping to the head office.

She stayed home until the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, then began preparing to return to City B.

The shop there was about to start taking spring orders. Both she and Sun Yan were based there, so they had to go.

Sun Yan arrived on the afternoon of the sixth day. When she got to the Su household, her face looked calm, as if nothing had happened at all.