RGL – Chapter 55

Such talent would be hard to recruit once she grew up.

That’s why today, Ye Yongfu had made up his mind—he was going to convince Su Min to stay at his factory.

This time, however, Su Min didn’t reject him outright.

After participating in the production and sales process at the clothing factory, Su Min had gained a deeper understanding of garment-making. At the same time, she realized how complex the industry truly was.

Previously, she had thought that as long as she could draw good designs and apply smart promotional strategies, everything would go smoothly. But after getting involved for real, she discovered that she lacked so much to truly step into this field.

Take fabrics, for example—different seasons and styles required different materials, each with their own intricacies. She needed to know how to source them, what channels were available, and how to control costs at the source. Then there was managing workers during production, and how to seize market opportunities once the products were completed.

Step by step, all she knew was just surface-level knowledge—merely a bit more than others, thanks to her ten-plus years of future experience.

Joining Sanye might actually be a good choice.

She smiled and said, “It’s still early. Even if we agree now, who knows what will happen in the future. If your factory still needs me after I graduate from high school, and I haven’t found a better path, I hope we can continue to work together.”

Hearing Su Min’s reserved response, Ye Yongfu was a little disappointed, but it made him respect this teenage girl even more.

She had ability, knew how to handle things, and was calm and composed. With a few years of experience, someone like her could definitely accomplish great things. The factory needed people like that.

Although Su Min didn’t immediately agree to Director Ye’s offer, she still received a 10% commission on the first batch of clothing sales, just as stated in the agreement.

The total sales of that first batch reached 10,000 yuan, and Su Min received a 1,000-yuan cut.

That batch was only meant to test the waters, so Su Min was quite satisfied with the figure. Once production increased and sales channels expanded, volume would go up too—she had no worries about making money.

It was the first time she had earned a dividend, and she was thrilled. She went to the shop to find Sun Qiufang and invited her out for a meal.

When Sun Qiufang heard that her daughter had really made money—and such a large sum at that—she was excited but didn’t dare shout about it. She just held Su Min’s hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Save it well. It’ll be your dowry in the future. When your in-laws see you making your own money, they won’t dare look down on you.”

Su Min laughed. “Mom, if they really look down on me, I won’t even marry them. Don’t worry about that.”

“You cheeky girl. Go play with Zhaodi first. When your dad gets here, we’ll take the bus to visit your uncle and them.”

“Oh right—how’s the renovation going on my uncle’s shop? The weather’s turning cold, which is the best time for hot pot season.” After giving her uncle suggestions last time, he had taken some of her furniture and tableware designs. Since then, she’d been busy and hadn’t followed up—she had no idea how it was going now.

Sun Qiufang smiled. “Still working on it. Your uncle’s been busy with that every day. He said the things you designed can’t be found in stores and need to be custom-made by a master craftsman. That takes time. I told him to just leave it for now, but he refused. He says if he’s going to do it, he wants to do it right.” Her brother was a stubborn one, and as his older sister, she couldn’t convince him. Luckily, he was married now and had a wife to manage him—so she didn’t worry anymore.

Su Min said, “Mom, sharpening your knife won’t delay chopping wood. Once the shop is renovated well, business will be easier too. I’m not so busy now—I’ll find some time to go take a look.”

“Alright, I won’t bother with you two. You both have your own ideas anyway.”

After chatting with Sun Qiufang, Su Min went to find Liao Zhaodi.

She had been quite busy lately, and since she no longer lived nearby, she hadn’t seen Zhaodi in a while.

When she arrived at the Zhu family home, Zhu Xiaobing was standing outside smoking with a group of boys. When he saw Su Min approaching, he even whistled at her. Su Min ignored them and went straight into the house.

One of the boys with curly hair glanced at Su Min and said, “Who’s that? She’s kinda cute.”

Zhu Xiaobing spat on the ground. “Cute where? She’s flat where she should have curves.”

“Your girl’s the same,” Curly replied, taking a drag.

Zhu Xiaobing glared at him. “What do you mean my girl? That’s my wife. My aunt said this girl is going to take care of me for the rest of my life. Bet you don’t have that.”

“Take care of you for life? Dream on. What—she’s not getting married to anyone else?” another boy with a buzzcut teased.

Zhu Xiaobing was immediately displeased. “She’s going to marry me in the future and be my wife. She eats our food, lives in our house—that makes her my child bride. You know what a child bride is, right? In the old days, that’s basically a servant. My grandma and aunt both said that she’s meant to serve me for the rest of my life.”

“Yo, that actually sounds pretty good. Hahaha.” The curly-haired boy laughed.

The buzz-cut boy nodded as well. “Xiaobing, you’re doing well. We don’t even know who our future wives are, but you already have a child bride. Hahaha.”

Zhu Xiaobing looked smug after hearing that.

Inside, Su Min was watching Liao Zhaodi cook in the kitchen and said, “Those guys outside really don’t look decent. They didn’t come into the house, right?”

Liao Zhaodi sighed. “They came in. How could they not? Whenever they come, I just stay out of sight.”

Su Min frowned. “Wasn’t Zhu Xiaobing learning how to do business? Why is he mixing with those types again?”

“He was interested at first. Followed Uncle Zhu to the market for a few days, then got bored and stopped going. Uncle Zhu can’t control him, so he just lets him mess around now.”

“If he’s like this already, it’s going to be hard to change him in the future. And if Uncle Zhu won’t put in the effort to teach him, how will he ever improve? Honestly, once you get into high school, it’d be better for you to leave this place as soon as you can.”

Liao Zhaodi put the rice into the pot, closed the lid tightly, and sat by the stove to tend the fire. “It’s not that easy. My mom’s here—where else could I go?”

Su Min knew Zhaodi was a filial child. Back then, she’d willingly left their hometown to follow her mom around, not because she wanted to leave her relatives behind, but because she didn’t want her mother to be alone out there.

“How about this—I’m aiming for one of the top high schools in the city. Let’s both apply. If we get in, we’ll go to high school in the city. We could come home once a month.”

“The city’s top high school? I heard that’s really hard to get into. I’m afraid I won’t make it.” Her current ranking was outside the top twenty in her grade. The city high school only offered a few spots to each county, and within the county, there were so many township schools. The county school got very few slots.

Su Min pressed her lips together and said seriously, “Zhaodi, the test hasn’t even happened yet—why are you already giving up? I don’t believe that if we study hard and put in more effort than others, we still won’t make it. I asked Mr. Wu before—if we can get into the top eight of our school, we’re basically guaranteed a place. It’s our final year in junior high. Let’s give it our all and push forward.”

From twentieth to eighth—Zhaodi felt uneasy. That was a big leap.

Plus, she needed to earn money. Her second sister was now studying at the county high school, and she had to figure out how to help cover her living expenses. She didn’t dare tell Su Min about this, afraid it would become her burden too.

Zhaodi suddenly felt utterly useless. She had to rely on others for everything and didn’t have any real ability of her own.

Su Min noticed her looking down and distracted and asked worriedly, “Zhaodi, what’s wrong? If it’s about studying, don’t worry. Just come to my house after school and we can review together.”

Zhaodi shook her head. “I can’t. I have to come back and cook dinner at night. Honestly, it’d be good enough if I can get into the county high school. My second sister is already there—if I get in, I can be with her.”

Hearing that, Su Min remembered that the reason Zhaodi worked so hard before was all for her second sister.

Not just her second sister—there was also her eldest sister who was of marrying age, and their soft-hearted mother. Su Min realized that Zhaodi was carrying far too much on her shoulders.

“Zhaodi, instead of giving someone fish, it’s better to teach them how to fish. Helping them earn money like this is fine, but it’d be better to teach them how to support themselves. That way they’ll have skills of their own. If they always rely on you, no matter how hard you work, it’ll never be enough.”

“We’re too young to work in restaurants, but your eldest sister could find a job. My uncle’s wife met him while working in a restaurant. Your second sister’s in school in the county—on holidays, she could make some handicrafts and earn a little extra. It might not be much, but it should at least cover her living expenses.”

The key is that if someone keeps receiving help without giving anything back, even close family will start to feel entitled. Over time, that mindset grows and becomes hard to change. In the end, all of Zhaodi’s care and love for her sisters might only bring complaints and blame.

Su Min had experienced enough of the highs and lows of human nature in her past life. In this life, she didn’t want the people around her to repeat those same mistakes.

Zhaodi didn’t know how much she understood—she just absentmindedly nodded.

Su Min didn’t press further.

In the end, it wasn’t her place to interfere too much in matters between sisters.

A while later, Sun Qiufang came to call her for dinner.

On the way, Sun Qiufang brought up Zhu Xiaobing. “You didn’t see it, but that Zhu Xiaobing was leading a gang of shady boys—smoking, fighting, and even harassing young girls. Tell me that’s not sinful. Zhu Qiang can’t control him anymore. He’s basically given up.”

“I saw it too. He was at the door when I went to find Zhaodi.”

Sun Qiufang frowned deeply. “That poor Zhaodi. First she had a useless father at home, and now she has to deal with someone like that here. If I were Zhang Hui, even if I had to raise a child alone in the city, I wouldn’t have let my daughter suffer like this.”

Speaking of Zhang Hui, Sun Qiufang didn’t even know what to say. She was a good person, but just cared too much about her reputation. Always wanting to be seen as a respectable and virtuous stepmother—this only ended up wronging her own daughter.

The neighbors all praised her, but she never looked at the kind of life her daughter was actually living. Doing chores was one thing, but constantly serving Zhu Xiaobing tea and water all day—was this raising a child or training a maid?

After a few more words, Sun Qiufang didn’t dwell on the matter further.

After all, it was someone else’s family business. No matter how much she disapproved, she couldn’t interfere.

When the mother and daughter returned to the shop, Su Changrong had already locked the door and was waiting for them in the vehicle.

Su Min quickly climbed into the car and sat on the small bench inside. “Dad, where are we going to eat?”

“To that place we often go. Didn’t your uncle work there before? That place is pretty good.”

The three of them arrived at Sun Hai’s restaurant. Grandma Sun was helping tidy up, and when she saw them arrive, she smiled. “Oh, you all came.”

“Minzi earned money today. We thought we’d go celebrate a bit.”

Sun Hai was clearing the tables. When he saw Sun Qiufang and the others arrive, he came over too. Upon hearing they were going to eat, he smiled and said, “Great, I was just about to take Mengmeng and Mom back early to rest. Once I finish cleaning up the tables and chairs, we’ll head over.”

Grandma Sun felt it was a waste of money to eat out. “If you ask me, there’s no need to spend that unnecessary money. Just eat a few dishes at Xiaohai’s shop—that’ll be enough.”

Sun Hai chuckled, “Mom, this place is just for regular stir-fried dishes. Minzi made money today—she wants to go try something new.”

“You young people these days, I really don’t understand anymore. Fine, I’ll go help Mengmeng pack up so we can leave early.”

It wasn’t that late yet. In the past, Sun Hai wouldn’t have closed the shop at this time. But now that Li Meng was heavily pregnant, he didn’t want her to get too tired. Plus, his mother’s legs had just healed, and he worried that overworking her would cause problems again. Also, since the new shop was about to open, he figured it was better to rest now and focus on doing things well when the new shop launched—even if they earned a bit less in the meantime.

Sun Hai had a vehicle now too. The two families rode in a three-wheeled cart and arrived at the restaurant together.

As soon as they got off, Li Meng said to Sun Hai, “I’m going to chat with them for a bit. I’ll join you soon.”

Sun Hai nodded, “Go ahead. Come over soon for dinner.”

The restaurant’s decor had changed since their last visit. The colors were warmer now, and even the lighting was brighter.

Sun Hai took a good look around. He thought that if his small restaurant could one day reach this level, he’d be truly content.

“Come on, order whatever you like—don’t be polite,” Su Min said with a smile as she handed out the menu.

Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong didn’t hold back. They ordered a few of Su Min’s favorite dishes and then each picked one more for themselves.

Seeing that Sun Hai and Grandma Sun weren’t ordering anything, Su Qiufang quickly added, “This is the first time the child has earned money. If you don’t order something, she’ll feel upset.”

Only then did Grandma Sun look at the menu and order the cheapest item: steamed egg. She thought to herself, We can make steamed eggs at home for just twenty cents—here they’re charging eighty cents. What a rip-off.

While they waited for the food, Li Meng was chatting with an old friend, Song Xiaomei, in the lounge area. Song Xiaomei saw her pregnant belly and her nice clothes, and said with a smile, “You’re really luckier than all of us. Not only did you marry well, but your living conditions seem pretty great too. I heard Sun Hai opened his own shop now.”

Li Meng smiled, “It’s all just hard-earned money.”

“Well, at least you have something to earn. Just look at you—decked out in gold and silver. That necklace on your neck is way nicer than Liu Li’s.”

The mention of Liu Li made Li Meng a little uncomfortable.

Although Liu Li had mostly brought it on herself back then, Li Meng had played a significant part in it. So now, she didn’t want anything to do with her.

Seeing Li Meng’s expression change slightly, Song Xiaomei thought she was upset about Sun Hai’s past with Liu Li and quickly tried to reassure her. “You’re married to Sun Hai now. Don’t dwell on the past. I think Sun Hai’s treating you really well—just look at all the things he buys you. Besides, Liu Li’s not doing so well these days. Do you remember Miao Ling?”

Li Meng nodded. “I remember. What about her?”

“Well, Liu Li gave birth recently, and Miao Ling went to visit her a few times,” Song Xiaomei lowered her voice. “And it’s said that Miao Ling and Liu Li’s man are now seeing each other. People have seen them out shopping together.”

“Didn’t her man really like her?” Li Meng was shocked. She knew Gao Jianfeng used to spoil Liu Li endlessly.

Song Xiaomei shook her head. “Men just like novelty. And Liu Li had a baby girl this time—her in-laws aren’t too happy about it. Things are a mess over there now.”

Hearing this, Li Meng felt a bit worried. If Liu Li just lived her life quietly, it’d be best for them never to cross paths again. But what if Liu Li came back to look for Sun Hai?

Her face turned anxious. She quickly told Song Xiaomei, “Don’t let Sun Hai know about this. I don’t want him thinking about the past anymore.”