RGL – Chapter 81

Anyway, no matter who was being selfish or not, she didn’t want to wrong herself for the sake of others. Even if people called her selfish, she’d rather feel comfortable herself first.

After a while, the rest of the class gradually arrived. Su Min was surprised to find that she had ended up in the same class as Wen Heping.

Wen Heping’s eyes lit up when he saw her. Happily, he walked over and sat in the seat that Zhang Panpan had occupied before.

“Su Min, you’re in this class too? When did you get here? I didn’t see you when I was registering.”

Su Min was also quite happy to see an old classmate, but she still felt a bit awkward facing Wen Heping. She smiled and replied, “I registered yesterday. There were a lot of people.”

“Oh. I came the day before yesterday. After registering, I went to stay at my aunt’s place. My aunt lives in the city, so I’m staying with them.”

“Is that so? That’s good. Having relatives around does make things more convenient,” Su Min responded in a lukewarm tone.

Wen Heping originally wanted to chat with Su Min a bit more, but he sensed that their conversation wasn’t really getting anywhere. He didn’t know how to keep it going, so he gave an awkward laugh and said, “Then I won’t bother you while you’re reading. I’ll tidy up my desk first.”

With that, he turned around and started wiping down the desk.

Liao Zhaodi also knew about the previous rumors involving Wen Heping and Su Min. Although it was later proven that the gossip had come from Su Wenwen, the whole thing was still rather embarrassing. When she looked at Wen Heping, she glanced at Su Min too. Only when she saw that Su Min was fine did she feel relieved.

After a while, the bell rang for class. The homeroom teacher, Mr. Huang, wore black-rimmed glasses and looked very strict. Compared to Wu Yong, he had a completely different style.

In the first class, the teacher introduced himself and gave a long speech encouraging the new students. After that, he started rearranging the seating.

It seemed like teachers all liked to assign seats based on academic performance. As soon as Mr. Huang mentioned the seating adjustment, he brought out the report cards.

The students were all curious as they looked at the grades, wondering how they ranked in the class and which tier they fell into.

Su Min perked up her ears as the teacher started reading the list. When she heard Zhang Panpan’s name at fifth place, she was quite impressed. She had attended middle school in the village, where the quality of education was far behind that of the city. For Zhang Panpan to achieve such results, she must have put in a lot of effort.

When Su Min heard her own name at eleventh place, she finally felt relieved. It wasn’t too far back in the rankings—if she worked hard, she might break into the top ten. Ranking in the top ten of an elite class in a key city school meant that getting into college wouldn’t be a problem. Though getting into a university in B City might still be a stretch.

Wen Heping was ranked fifteenth, Liao Zhaodi twenty-eighth, while Tang Man and Yin Jing were further behind. Su Min didn’t pay much attention to count their exact rankings.

Later, when seats were reassigned, Zhang Panpan ended up at a spot toward the back.

Su Min remained in her original seat as usual, and Wen Heping didn’t move either. Since the seat next to Su Min was further back and no one else wanted it, Liao Zhaodi got to keep her spot too.

Tang Man and Yin Jing sat next to Zhang Panpan. That’s when Su Min realized that Zhang Panpan had taken the back seat earlier to accommodate Tang Man and the others.

Once the seating was sorted out, the students began introducing themselves. Su Min hadn’t planned on getting chummy with everyone in the class, but she still listened carefully to each person’s introduction and made an effort to remember their names.

By the end of it, she managed to remember about a third of the students. As for the rest, she remembered their faces—if she saw them outside of school, she’d at least know they were her classmates.

Just the seat rearrangement and self-introductions took up two class periods. Su Min felt this was a bit of a waste. Every time a new semester started, neither teachers nor students could immediately get into study mode. It usually took at least half a month to really settle into the new environment.

At noon, when class was dismissed, Wen Heping wanted to ask Su Min to have lunch with him.

But Su Min shook her head and declined. “Zhaodi and I are heading back to the dorm. Aren’t you going back to your aunt’s place? You shouldn’t eat out either. We’ll head back first.”

With that, she took Liao Zhaodi by the hand and walked out of the classroom.

Wen Heping watched in the direction Su Min had left, feeling a little disappointed.

But then he remembered that they were now in the same class. They still had three years ahead of them, and if he could follow Su Min and get into the same university, she would gradually get used to his presence over time.

After eating in the cafeteria, Su Min and Liao Zhaodi returned to the dorm to rest. When they arrived, Tang Man and Yin Jing were already back. Seeing Su Min and Liao Zhaodi walk in, Tang Man walked over with a stern face and said, “Su Min, why didn’t you wait for us after school?”

Su Min put her books on the desk by the bed and replied in confusion, “We never said we’d walk together. Besides, it’s not like there was anything important that we had to do together.”

“But we’re in the same dorm! It’s only natural to eat and go back together. Yin Jing and I even went looking for you everywhere,” she said, sounding increasingly displeased.

Hearing her tone, Su Min didn’t feel like continuing the conversation. She took out a book and started reading.

Tang Man clenched her fists, fuming inside. The teacher had read out the high school entrance exam scores in class today. When she got into the city’s top school, her friends and relatives had praised her for being smart and good at studying. She believed that herself, too. But after joining the class, she realized her grades were near the bottom. In their dorm alone, three people had better scores than her. What confused her the most was how a girl like Zhang Panpan, who came from the mountains, could be the top student in the dorm. Because of that, she hadn’t felt like walking with Zhang Panpan after school, but she didn’t want others to think the dorm wasn’t united, so she endured it and walked with her anyway. Yet, Su Min and the others had already taken off early, completely lacking any sense of dorm unity.

Seeing Tang Man’s upset expression, Yin Jing quickly tried to smooth things over. “Su Min, from now on, let’s stick together, okay? Don’t go off on your own. We’re all in the same dorm — it’s good to have each other’s backs.”

She looked back at Zhang Panpan, who was silently reading, and asked, “Right, Panpan?”

Zhang Panpan finally looked up at Su Min, hesitated a bit, then gave a slight nod before lowering her head to continue reading.

“You see? Even Zhang Panpan knows we should stick together. Why don’t you?” Tang Man said, emboldened.

Hearing that the dorm girls were all starting to talk about this, Su Min glanced coldly at Tang Man and said, “I came to school to study, not to join some dorm clique. Why do I have to sit with you, eat with you — what next, go to the bathroom together? If that’s how it is, then how about this — you all follow me to sit in the last row, and walk faster when we go eat. Sound good?”

“How can you think that way? If everything is done your way, what about everyone else’s opinions?”

Tang Man found Su Min’s words unbelievable. She had initially thought Su Min seemed like a composed and like-minded girl, but now she realized she was selfish at her core.

Su Min smiled. “And who exactly are ‘everyone’? Yin Jing? Or Zhang Panpan? Even though we share a dorm, we all have our own thoughts and habits. I don’t see why we have to be the same. Of course, if you want to stick together, that’s your choice. But I won’t change myself for someone else.”

Liao Zhaodi chimed in as well, “I don’t want to either.”

Hearing both Liao Zhaodi and Su Min say that, Tang Man suddenly felt her face burning with embarrassment and anger, but she had no way to vent it. She glared at Su Min and said, “With a personality like yours, you’ll never fit in anywhere.”

Then she walked over to her bed and sat down.

Su Min didn’t even look at her. After putting her book down, she lay on her bed and closed her eyes to rest.

From that conversation on, the dorm was split into two sides. Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan stayed with Tang Man, always going places together. Liao Zhaodi and Su Min stuck together. Back in the dorm at night, neither side talked to the other. Occasionally, if Zhang Panpan said a few words to Su Min, Tang Man would throw in a cold remark that made Zhang Panpan fall silent.

That night, while lying in bed, Su Min decided that since school had just started and classes weren’t too intense yet, she would find time to go into the city and look at some housing.

Even though she wasn’t afraid of Tang Man and the others excluding her, she also didn’t want to keep stifling herself in this kind of environment.

On Saturday, Su Min called home and said she wanted to spend the weekend in the city and do some exploring.

Sun Qiufang was reluctant to let her daughter not come home, but hearing the joy in her daughter’s voice, she couldn’t bring herself to say no. She just thought maybe she’d find time to go visit her instead.

On the phone, Sun Qiufang also told Su Min about her father planning to get a driver’s license.

It turned out that Su Changrong had seen some parents drive their daughters to school in private cars. Many people around were looking on with envy. He wanted his daughter to be admired like that too. Since they had enough money, he started looking into getting a car and learning to drive. That way, when school breaks came around, he could pick her up and drop her off — it would be so much more convenient.

Su Min hadn’t expected that her dad was actually planning to buy a car. In her memory, he’d always been proud riding around on his rickety old tricycle. Hearing her mom say it was all for her, Su Min couldn’t help but feel moved.

“What do we need to show off for?” she asked. “Dad’s already at his age and he’s still learning to drive.”

“Your dad said you’re our only child, and he wants to make sure your life is better than others’. Don’t worry, your dad might not say much, but he’s a quick learner. Who knows, by the time you’re home for winter break, he might be able to come pick you up in the car.”

“No way it’ll be that fast. Getting a license isn’t easy,” Su Min replied. She remembered it usually took around half a year to get one. Plus, even if he did learn to drive, she wouldn’t let him come all the way into the city on his first try.

After chatting with Sun Qiufang for a bit, Su Min hung up the phone, paid the bill, and turned to head back to the dorm to find Liao Zhaodi and go house hunting.

She didn’t want to stay in the dorm anymore. Since she had money, finding a decent place wouldn’t be a problem.

When she got back to the dorm, only Liao Zhaodi was there.

Seeing Su Min walk in, Liao Zhaodi closed her workbook. “The others all went out shopping. Zhang Panpan was even crying earlier and still agreed to go. I really don’t get her.”

Liao Zhaodi used to think she was already pretty weak, but now seeing Zhang Panpan, she felt like Panpan had even less self-esteem than she did.

Su Min sat on her bed, packing her bag to head out. “Forget about other people. Let’s go look for a place. I want to move out too.” She didn’t know Zhang Panpan that well—she’d already spoken up twice for her, and that was enough. As for doing more, she didn’t feel the need. And besides, it wasn’t up to her how others wanted to live their lives.

Hearing that Su Min wanted to move out, Liao Zhaodi was surprised. “Huh? Move out? But didn’t Auntie and Uncle say it’s not safe for us to live outside?”

“We’ll rent in a neighborhood with good security. Most residents are decent folks, so there won’t be any issues.” Anyway, she had more than enough money. Forget renting a nice place—even buying one in the city would be doable. Unfortunately, home purchases were tightly regulated at the moment, and with her county-level household registration, she wasn’t allowed to buy in the city yet.

Liao Zhaodi felt tempted after hearing that. She wanted to move out too—the dorm wasn’t a comfortable place to live. But she didn’t have any money and couldn’t afford the rent.

Lowering her head, she said, “Su Min, you go ahead and rent a place on your own. I can’t move out right now.”

Su Min understood that money was the issue for her. Smiling, she said, “We’ve both come all the way here—don’t treat me like an outsider. Weren’t you always saying you wanted to earn money? I’m planning to restart that little business of ours. We’ll rent a spacious place so we can both live there and make clothes.”

“You mean go back to the clothing business?” Liao Zhaodi’s eyes lit up.

Su Min nodded with a smile. “Yeah, but this time it’ll be harder than before. Last time we just bought clothes and modified them for the county market. This time, I want to start from scratch.” After the conflict with Ye Ling last time, Su Min knew she wouldn’t last long at Sanye, so she no longer planned to focus her efforts there. Instead, she wanted to develop her own clothing brand. This time, she’d take her time figuring out her own style. Whether it succeeded or not, she was determined to try. After all, she was still young—she had time to fail and learn.

Liao Zhaodi’s sewing skills had improved a lot—especially after helping with several batches of Su Min’s clothing. Now she could work a sewing machine like a real professional.

Still, she voiced her concern, “What if we can’t sell anything?”

“We’ll give it a try. Worst case, we wear the clothes ourselves. As long as you don’t mind how they look.”

Liao Zhaodi laughed. “Even if they’re ugly, I’ll wear them—since we made them ourselves.”

The city was nothing like the county. Su Min and Liao Zhaodi walked around for over an hour and still only managed to explore a small portion of the area. Though Su Min wanted to rent a place, she didn’t want to be too far from school, so she focused on nearby neighborhoods.

Most of the nearby apartment complexes were where teachers lived. The residents had no plans to rent their homes out.

The two of them asked around many places but couldn’t find anything suitable. There were a few single-story houses nearby, but they were run-down and didn’t appeal to Su Min.

By noon, the two were exhausted and stopped at a small local eatery for a stir-fry meal.

“Su Min, what if we can’t find anything?” Liao Zhaodi asked. “We can’t live too far away or commuting will be a pain.”

She was worried too—if they couldn’t find a place, their business plan would fall through. She didn’t have much money left either. Once this semester ended, between tuition and living expenses, she’d need quite a bit. With two and a half semesters of high school left, she had to find a way to make money. She also hoped to attend college afterward.

Su Min was anxious about it too. She and Zhaodi didn’t get much free time, and if they couldn’t find a place in the next couple of days, they’d have to keep looking next week, which meant staying in the dorms for another two weeks. Thinking of Tang Man and the others’ behavior, she really wasn’t looking forward to it.

After lunch, Su Min didn’t return to the dorm. Instead, she brought Liao Zhaodi along to visit more nearby apartment complexes and ask the security guards if there were any units for rent.

The two girls were polite and sweet, so no one ignored them. The problem was, there really weren’t many rental options. Maybe in other parts of the city there were more places, but near a high school? Not easy. Most nearby apartments were either teacher housing or places where families stayed for their children’s schooling—they couldn’t rent those out even if they wanted to.

They kept searching until the sun began to set and still had no luck.

Then Su Min suddenly thought of real estate agencies. If there were agencies nearby, they wouldn’t have to do all this legwork—they could just ask an agent for available listings.

The issue was that housing right now was in high demand. It wasn’t like the future, when wealthier families would own multiple homes and had extra properties lying around. Back then, there were more second-hand homes, and renting was easier too.

After checking a residential complex for power company employees and still not finding anything, Su Min glanced at the sky, realizing it was getting late, and decided to take Zhaodi back.

They had just turned to leave when someone came walking toward them. Su Min glanced over—and found the person looked oddly familiar.