RGL – Chapter 79

“You little girl, you sure have a sharp tongue. You’re already like this at your age—what’s going to happen when you grow up?” Ye Ling widened her eyes and stared at her.

Seeing Ye Ling like this, Su Min curled her lips. “I’m going home now. If you need anything, go find your dad. I’ve got things to do too.” After saying that, she walked past Ye Ling.

Ye Ling called after her, “Little girl, don’t overthink things too much.”

As Su Min walked away, she showed a bored expression. It seemed like Factory Director Ye’s daughter didn’t like her very much.

But she wasn’t in a rush. After all, it wasn’t like she had to work with Sanye. If things didn’t go well here, she could just drop it. Now that she had money in hand, she could open her own shop or find another factory to collaborate with. The only thing was, there was no guarantee another factory would offer her the same benefits. Nor could she be sure the new partner would trust her the way Director Ye did.

When she got home, Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong hadn’t returned yet. Su Min turned on the fan and sat on the sofa reading. She had only been reading for half an hour when there was a knock at the door.

Su Min got up to open it, and to her surprise, it was Liao Zhaodi who had come back.

“So early? I thought you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.”

Liao Zhaodi entered the room, her face looking awful—like she wanted to cry but couldn’t.

“What happened? Weren’t you going back to spend time with your sisters? Why the long face? Did you have a fight?”

Su Min sat down on the sofa and asked as she settled in.

Liao Zhaodi sat down too. “No, I didn’t even get to see my sister. Friends from my hometown told me that my dad wants to marry my eldest sister off to a thirty-year-old mute from the neighboring village. She didn’t agree, and my second sister ran off with her. Someone saw them get on a bus, and they haven’t come back since.”

Su Min was genuinely surprised. Seeing how anxious Zhaodi looked, she said, “Maybe your second sister took her to her school? Isn’t the new term about to start?”

“No, I already checked—didn’t see them there.”

“Maybe they went to find your mom? With something this big, they’d probably want to get an adult involved.”

Zhaodi shook her head. “My second sister is really strong-willed. She said she’d never see our mom again in her life, let alone ask her for help if something bad happened. Now I have no idea where they’ve gone.”

Su Min also found the whole thing unsettling. Two teenage girls running off to the county town, with no one to rely on, probably not much money either. “Wait, does your second sister have any money?”

“I did give her a hundred yuan last time for her school registration. Not sure if she used it.”

“Your sister’s thrifty—she probably saved it. If they’ve got some money on them, they should be okay,” Su Min comforted her. “The county’s not that big. We can go look around tomorrow—we might be able to find them.”

Hearing this, Zhaodi seemed to find her footing again and nodded. “I’ll go look tomorrow.”

Su Min said, “But your dad—what was he thinking, trying to arrange a marriage like that for your sister?”

“It’s all for his son. My stepmother gave birth to a boy, and I heard she wants to save money for her son. So she came up with this idea.”

As Zhaodi spoke, her eyes were filled with resentment. “If it weren’t for my dad, our family wouldn’t be like this. I want a family like yours, Su Min—where everyone works together to make a better life. We sisters aren’t afraid of hardship, we can all work. If our parents could just live properly, we’d definitely be better off than we are now.”

Su Min also felt it was unfair to Zhaodi’s eldest sister. The girl wasn’t even grown up yet, and her father was already planning to sell her off for his son. Was that really a father?

Compared to Zhaodi, Su Min felt she was actually pretty lucky. Even though her grandparents favored boys over girls, at least her parents still loved her.

The next day, Su Min took Zhaodi to the county town to search. Before they started looking, Zhaodi went with Su Min to ask Zhang Hui first.

Sure enough, after asking Zhang Hui, it turned out her two sisters weren’t staying there.

When Zhang Hui learned what had happened to her two daughters, she was extremely worried. She asked Zhu Qiang to watch the stall while she joined Su Min and Zhaodi in the search.

Since Su Min didn’t know what Zhaodi’s sisters looked like, the three split up and scoured the county.

Thinking the girls would need food and lodging, they checked all the hotels and guesthouses, as well as some restaurants and job recruitment spots, asking if anyone had seen the sisters.

After a whole day of searching, they still hadn’t found them.

When they regrouped at the town square and saw that Zhang Hui hadn’t found them either, Zhaodi realized her hopes had been dashed.

As Zhaodi turned to leave, Zhang Hui quickly said, “Zhaodi, when are you coming back? I want to have a proper talk with you.”

“Mom, are you finally letting me go to high school?” Zhaodi looked at her.

Zhang Hui sighed. “Zhaodi, you’ve seen it too. Your sisters stayed behind and now look what’s happened—they’re being ruined by your dad. Life in the city might not be as good as it is for city kids, but at least Uncle Zhu is giving you a decent environment.”

Zhaodi’s eyes reddened, tears brimming as she stared at her. “Dad is selling my sister for his son, and you… you’re selling me to the Zhu family for Uncle Zhu. Isn’t it the same thing?”

When Zhang Hui heard that, her heart ached. “Zhaodi…” In fact, over the past couple of days, she had thought about many things. At first, she figured she might as well let the child go to school—as long as she worked hard to earn money, it would be fine. But yesterday, relatives from Xiaobing’s grandmother’s side came again, and things got so tense that Zhu Qiang nearly got into a fight with them. She didn’t want Zhu Qiang to be troubled because of her and her daughter.

Zhao Di didn’t want to say anything more. She pulled Su Min along to leave. As she was about to go, she turned back to glance at Zhang Hui. “Mom, from now on, I’ll rely on myself. I’ll just treat it like I’m a child with no parents.”

Hearing Zhaodi’s resolute words, Zhang Hui couldn’t hold back her tears and started crying.

Zhaodi didn’t turn back at the sound of her crying. But Su Min did glance back and sighed. Aunt Zhang was usually such a good person—why was she so stuck when it came to something like this?

Once a person got stuck in a dead end, even pulling them out was hard.

In the days that followed, Zhao Di and Su Min searched the county town for several more days but still couldn’t find her sisters. With the school term about to start, Zhao Di became increasingly anxious. Her older sister was about to enter her second year of high school—if she didn’t register in time, she might not even be able to continue studying.

It wasn’t until a few days later that a friend of Zhao Di’s second sister found Su Min’s house and told her what had happened.

It turned out Zhao Di’s second sister had already left the county town. Before leaving, she had specifically asked this high school friend to pass a message to her sister: she had taken their eldest sister and left the county, so Zhao Di shouldn’t worry.

“Your sister said she wanted to take your eldest sister to work in a big city. She had prepared everything well—their luggage was packed neatly, and they had money too. So don’t worry,” the friend said before leaving.

Zhao Di sat on the sofa in silence for a long time.

Su Min didn’t know how to comfort her. These were girls who should have been living peacefully at home with their parents, yet they were forced to run away and wander outside.

After a long while, Zhao Di finally said, “Su Min, I’m going to study hard and make money. I’ll definitely earn a lot so my sisters can live better. We won’t rely on our dad or mom—we’ll rely on ourselves.”

Hearing her tear-choked voice, Su Min couldn’t help the redness in her eyes.

After that incident, Su Min noticed that Zhao Di became even more quiet—but she also worked harder. With no more searching to be done, Zhao Di stayed home to help Su Min with housework, and spent the rest of her time reviewing high school materials.

Su Min knew this change in her came from what her sisters had gone through. Her state of mind was different now. Su Min wasn’t sure if this change was good or bad, so she didn’t try to advise her—she just let Zhao Di follow her own path.

Thankfully, even though Zhao Di had changed, she didn’t cry in secret anymore.

A couple of days before school registration, Su Min accompanied Zhao Di back to the Zhu household to collect her things. Zhao Di knew when the family would and wouldn’t be home, so she picked a time when no one would be around.

The two of them packed everything up, and Zhao Di also left a note for Zhang Hui and Zhu Qiang. In the note, she explained her determination to attend high school in the city, and promised to repay Uncle Zhu once she earned money in the future.

After doing all that, Zhao Di finally left the place she had lived in for three years—what she had once called “home”—with her luggage in hand.

On the way, the two of them stopped at a stall selling iced mung bean soup and each ordered a bowl.

After a couple of spoonfuls, Zhao Di sighed. “Su Min, I’m really lucky to have you. If it weren’t for you, I honestly wouldn’t have known what to do on my own.”

Su Min looked at her, thinking about how Zhao Di might have dealt with all of this in her past life. If things hadn’t changed, she would have listened to Aunt Zhang and dropped out of school to sell vegetables at the market. And now, with her sisters running away, she would have faced all this alone at such a young age—she must’ve been heartbroken.

Thankfully, like Su Min, Zhao Di had changed her fate.

“Zhao Di, let’s study hard together. Don’t worry about the money. Once we’re in the city, we can run a small business during the holidays. The city is bigger than the county—there are more opportunities. And if it comes to it, I’ve saved up some money. I can lend you whatever you need—you can just pay me back later.”

Zhao Di looked at Su Min, moved to tears. “Su Min, thank you for being so good to me.” When she thought about it, even her own father hadn’t helped her the way Su Min had.

Su Min smiled. “Friends are supposed to support each other. If I run into trouble one day, I’ll come to you for help too.”

She meant it partly as a joke, but Zhao Di nodded seriously. “As long as it’s within my ability, I’ll do my best to help you.”

Su Min smiled and held out her pinky. “Then it’s a promise.”

Zhao Di hooked her pinky with Su Min’s and smiled with her lips pressed together. “I won’t forget.”

They thought they wouldn’t need to deal with the Zhu family anymore—but unexpectedly, Zhu Qiang and Zhang Hui showed up at the door that very night.

Zhao Di didn’t want to see them, so she went straight into the room to hide.

Su Min and Sun Qiufang received the Zhu couple instead.

Speaking about Zhao Di’s situation, Zhu Qiang looked helpless. “This whole thing was a mistake on Hui’s part. I told her that if the child can go to school, let her go—but Hui had her own wild thoughts. I came today to take Zhao Di back. I’ll make sure she finishes school. Not just high school—if she can get into university, I’ll support her all the way.”

Sun Qiufang had assumed they’d come to force Zhao Di back. But Zhu Qiang’s straightforward statement surprised her—it left her unsure of how to react.

So it turned out Zhang Hui had been pushing for Zhao Di to quit school all on her own—she’d been too eager in the wrong direction.

Su Changrong said, “Well, now that everything’s out in the open, it’s good. Zhang Hui really didn’t handle this well. The child got into high school—she should be happy. Saying she shouldn’t go, how could the kid be anything but upset?”

Zhang Hui kept her head down and didn’t speak, only glancing at Zhu Qiang from time to time.

Sun Qiufang looked at Zhang Hui and couldn’t help but feel more and more that things were unfair to poor Zhaodi. Even at a time like this, her mother was still only concerned about her own man.

But since Zhu Qiang had already said his piece, Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong, as outsiders, didn’t think it was their place to say more. So they told Su Min to go ask Zhaodi to come out.

Su Min was reluctant. Uncle Zhu was a good man, but Zhu Xiaobing was definitely not. She didn’t want Zhaodi going back there—what if one day Zhu Xiaobing got bolder and did something worse?

More importantly, she just didn’t trust Zhang Hui. What if she lost her mind again and insisted on marrying Zhaodi off to Zhu Xiaobing?

Seeing that Su Min wasn’t moving, Sun Qiufang nudged her arm and said, “Go call Zhaodi out to talk. Whether she goes back or not, it’s still up to her to say it herself.”

Only then did Su Min purse her lips and head toward the room to persuade Zhaodi to come out and talk things through.

Her mom was right. Whether Zhaodi went back or not, it had to be her decision—and it needed to be clearly said.

Zhaodi didn’t want to come out at first, but after Su Min talked to her for a while, she finally came out, albeit unwillingly. As she stepped out and saw Zhu Qiang and Zhang Hui, she instinctively lowered her head, hands clenched tightly—a look of determined resolve on her face.

“Zhaodi, why won’t you come home? Don’t listen to your mom—your uncle wants you to keep going to school,” Zhu Qiang said hurriedly upon seeing her.

Hearing his words, Zhaodi was moved. Though she was never close to Uncle Zhu, he had, to be fair, always treated her decently. He supported her education, and when Xiaobing bullied her, he had tried to help.

Even so, going back… that was something she no longer even considered.

She looked up at Zhu Qiang and said, “Uncle Zhu, I know you’re a good person, but I don’t want to go back. I’m about to go to the city with Minzi to study. I won’t be living with you anymore. You don’t have to worry about school fees either—Minzi’s doing business and she’ll take me with her. I’ll earn money and support myself.”

Zhu Qiang frowned. “You’re still a kid. How are you going to make money? Zhaodi, listen to your uncle. Don’t be so stubborn.”

Zhang Hui also sighed. “Zhaodi, don’t be mad at your mom. I’m doing this for your own good. Since your uncle is saying all this, just come back home. Stop being angry at us.”

“I’m not angry,” Zhaodi suddenly raised her voice. “My sisters have already left. They can take care of themselves, and so can I. Uncle Zhu, I’m not your biological daughter. I always feel guilty spending your money. I’m older now. I want to live on my own.”

Seeing Zhu Qiang still unconvinced, she added firmly, “I know you’ve been good to me, and when I’m able, I’ll repay you. But this time, I won’t go back with you.”

She had come to understand—her biological parents couldn’t be relied on. If she couldn’t count on herself, who else could she rely on?

Zhang Hui saw that she wasn’t listening and, for once, lost her temper. “Zhaodi, why are you being so unreasonable? Your uncle came all this way and said all this to you. Why won’t you listen? What exactly do you want?”

Zhu Qiang quickly stepped in. “Hui, don’t scold the child. Let’s talk this through calmly.”

Zhaodi looked at Zhang Hui. “Why do I have to listen to you? Why can’t I decide for myself?”

“You’re still a child,” Zhang Hui said seriously.

“Well, I don’t want to go back, no matter what.” Zhaodi’s face was full of determination. Her sisters leaving had made her see things clearly—family couldn’t always be counted on. She had to depend on herself. If she kept relying on her mother, maybe one day, she’d be forced to go through the same pain again.

She was tired. She didn’t want to argue with her family anymore.

Zhu Qiang saw that he had tried everything, said everything he could, and still, Zhaodi refused to return. He let out a deep sigh. “Ah, this child is so stubborn. If you’ve got something on your mind, you can just tell us—why go about it this way?”

“Uncle, I know you’re a good person. But I don’t want to go back. My parents are divorced. My sisters are gone. I don’t want to live with you all anymore. I’m already sixteen. I’m practically an adult. I can take care of myself.”