RGL – Chapter 86

Shao Yun couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. She gritted her teeth and turned to leave.

Su Changgui looked at her storming off, her back full of anger, and felt even more uncomfortable. No matter how bad Gao Hong had been, she would never say something as meek and weak as “drink thin porridge.” Shao Yun’s background had shaped her into this kind of person—ultimately, she still couldn’t compare to someone like Gao Hong, who was confident and proud.

“Let’s pack our things and head to the city. I’m helping you out this time for your sake, but if this happens again, just take your money and go live with your parents. I’ll go find our daughter.”

Back at home, Sun Qiufang dove into the room and started packing while warning Su Changrong.

Su Changrong helped pack his own things too. “Didn’t we make it clear already? There won’t be a next time.”

“Hmph, next time. It’s only because Can Can is underage this time. Watch him—if he does this kind of thing again, the police will come and arrest him. That old woman has spoiled her eldest grandson all her life, and now that he’s hit her, she still can’t bring herself to discipline him. Just wait and see, there’s more trouble coming for her.”

Su Changrong had nothing more to say.

Meanwhile, Su Min in the city had no idea any of this had happened at home.

She and Zhaodi had already spent the entire day walking through the streets and alleys of the city, as well as the shopping malls downtown.

Exhausted and drained, they finally found a street stall and sat down to eat a bowl of noodles and drink some soy milk while chatting.

“You see, the city is really different from the county. The clothes here even come from the south. The styles are different from those at Sanye’s.”

Su Min spoke seriously, her face full of focus.

After visiting the clothing market today, Su Min became even more cautious about the path she wanted to take in the future.

Clothing always had potential as a business, but to truly succeed in this field wasn’t something that could be done overnight. Right now, she could still design some standout styles thanks to what she had seen in her past life, and her own ability to come up with ideas. But in a while, when she had nothing new to rely on, she would fall behind.

If she wanted to continue in this industry and do it professionally, she had to keep learning.

“Zhaodi, next week let’s go buy some materials and try making a few sample pieces ourselves.”

This time, Su Min planned to be more cautious. Instead of producing a large number at once, she would make just a few of each style and see how they sold.

Liao Zhaodi nodded in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing. I just worry I won’t be able to keep up with the pace.”

Back at their place that evening, Su Min buried herself in designing clothes again. This time, it was entirely her own effort, and she felt a bit unsure of herself, needing to revise a lot.

The next day, during class, Tang Man stood up and announced that they were going to go hiking.

Su Min and Liao Zhaodi already knew about it in advance, so they weren’t surprised. Some classmates were excited and cheered, while others who didn’t like outdoor activities weren’t interested at all.

“Every student in class has to participate. I’ll be taking down names,” Tang Man said loudly from the podium.

Back in primary school, this tactic of “taking names” might have worked—once names were taken down, no one dared misbehave. But now in high school, students were far more concerned about falling behind in grades than about getting their names written down.

So many students who were determined to study hard just ignored her.

Seeing some students criticizing Tang Man, Liao Zhaodi leaned over and whispered, “Minzi, look, there are a bunch of people who don’t want to go. People like her always want to force others to go along with her. Who does she think she is? Let’s see what she does now.”

Su Min looked at Tang Man’s flustered and angry expression, then lowered her head and continued reading.

She had already moved out of the dorm and wasn’t planning to argue with Tang Man and her group anymore. Tang Man could do whatever she liked—it had nothing to do with her.

She figured she’d be better off spending her time doing more practice questions or thinking more about fashion.

“We just don’t want to go. Whoever wants to go can go,” a few girls with stubborn personalities shouted, joined by some others stirring things up.

Soon, Tang Man couldn’t handle the situation anymore.

She looked toward Wen Heping for support, only to find that he was lying on his desk, completely ignoring her.

“Wen Heping!” Tang Man shouted loudly from the podium.

But Wen Heping acted as if he hadn’t heard her at all, continuing to keep his head down, not responding.

Seeing his attitude, Tang Man was so frustrated she stamped her feet and ran out of the classroom.

Liao Zhaodi whispered, “She’s definitely gone to find Teacher Huang. So old already and still only knows how to tattle. Su Min, do you think the teacher will do anything?”

“I don’t know, but the law doesn’t punish the majority. So many people don’t want to go—probably the teacher won’t force it either.”

Tang Man ran out of the classroom. The other students were still discussing what had just happened. Some were talking about where to hang out, while others were annoyed, thinking the class monitor was just making a fuss. Who would even be in the mood to play at a time like this?

After a while, the bell rang for class. Tang Man returned to the classroom with red eyes and immediately lay on her desk as if to sleep.

Yin Jing, sitting beside her, asked what had happened, but Tang Man didn’t say a single word.

Everyone in class glanced over at them, and even Su Min couldn’t help but take a look.

“What’s wrong with her?” Liao Zhaodi asked curiously.

Just as Su Min was about to reply, Teacher Huang walked in from outside with a stern expression.

Everyone stopped looking at Tang Man and focused earnestly on the front of the classroom. Teacher Huang glanced at Tang Man and saw that she was crying. He frowned and addressed the class:

“Right now, your top priority should be your studies. School has only just started, and your minds have only just settled down. Don’t start thinking about going out and playing already. Instead, spend your time figuring out how to build a strong foundation for your high school courses. Our school already has plenty of recreational activities. There will be events during the Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year’s that are organized by the class. So there’s no need to rush. As for private activities, they must be approved by your parents—especially riskier ones like outdoor excursions. These absolutely cannot be organized privately. If something happens, the consequences won’t be something you can handle on your own.”

Though Teacher Huang’s words were delivered calmly and without naming names, everyone could tell he was criticizing Tang Man for not handling this matter properly.

Why organize activities now anyway? There’s barely enough time to study, and organizing dangerous outdoor activities is asking for trouble. If anything were to happen to a student, their parents would storm the school.

Some students who had earlier been blaming Tang Man started to feel bad when they saw her crying so hard. After all, she was just a girl. Her intentions had been good; she just hadn’t handled the situation well.

Once Teacher Huang finished speaking, he started the lesson.

Throughout the entire class, Tang Man stayed slumped over her desk. It was clear the incident had hit her hard. After class ended, Tang Man pulled Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan out of the classroom with her.

For the rest of the afternoon, the three of them didn’t show up to any of the classes. Since the remaining classes weren’t taught by the homeroom teacher, the other teachers just asked around, then informed Teacher Huang and went on with the lessons without bothering to go look for them.

By the end of the school day, there was still no sign of Tang Man and the others.

In the dormitory:

“Tang Man, let’s go to class this afternoon. If we don’t, Teacher Huang is going to scold us. And the monthly exam is coming up. What if we don’t do well?” Yin Jing looked at Tang Man anxiously.

Zhang Panpan didn’t say anything but nodded in agreement.

Tang Man acted like she didn’t hear, crying under the blanket.

After a while, Zhang Panpan got hungry—she’d only had a steamed bun in the morning and hadn’t eaten lunch.

Tang Man said nothing, and both Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan didn’t dare move. They held their stomachs in silence for a bit. Finally, Yin Jing couldn’t take it anymore and spoke to Tang Man.

“We’re going to eat.”

“I’m not eating. You go by yourselves,” Tang Man replied.

Hearing that, Yin Jing quickly dragged Zhang Panpan out to get food.

By the time they got to the cafeteria, there was no food left. If they wanted to eat, they’d have to go out to the street stalls, where the portions weren’t as filling, and the prices were higher.

“This is just too much. She drags us along for everything, and now we’ve missed lunch. And we missed this morning’s classes too—Teacher Huang is definitely going to bring it up again,” Yin Jing complained as she led Zhang Panpan out.

Zhang Panpan was also unhappy but didn’t dare badmouth Tang Man. She just quietly listened to Yin Jing vent her frustrations.

The two bought some food and sat by the school’s flowerbed to eat. When Yin Jing saw that Zhang Panpan had only bought two plain steamed buns, she frowned. “Why didn’t you get rice? There’s no oil in this. You’re not getting enough nutrition.”

“It’s fine. This is enough for me,” Zhang Panpan replied, biting into the bun and eating quickly.

Yin Jing didn’t say anything else. She wasn’t like Tang Man—she didn’t like to get involved in other people’s business. She took a few bites of her food, then suddenly looked up. “Are you going to the afternoon classes?”

Zhang Panpan nodded. “Yeah. They’ve been teaching new material these past few days. If I don’t go, I’ll fall behind.”

“That’s what I think too. My parents are counting on me to get into college,” Yin Jing smiled. “Let’s just go straight to class later and skip going back to the dorm.”

“What about Tang Man?” Zhang Panpan asked nervously. She had grown afraid of Tang Man’s overbearing attitude. Even just a frown from her made Zhang Panpan nervous, worried that she had done something to upset her.

“I don’t care anymore,” Yin Jing said with a pout. “If Tang Man yells at me, I’ll just switch dorms. If I can’t afford to confront her, I can still avoid her. It’s not like we’re her maids. We’ve been tagging along with her every day—don’t we have to study too?”

She looked at Zhang Panpan and said, “Honestly, you should switch dorms too. Look at your clothes and shoes—worn out and you still don’t want to replace them. But you’ll go shopping with her to buy useless stuff. I’m already out of money this month. I’ve had to ask my parents twice. They said if I ask for money again, they’ll talk to Teacher Huang to see where all my money is going. Our family isn’t like Tang Man’s. Her family runs a business and has money. We can’t afford to waste like that. I bet you’re also out of money, aren’t you?”

Zhang Panpan nodded gently, worry in her eyes.

She really didn’t have much money left. The few bucks she had now still needed to last her for the next two months.

After finishing their meal, the two of them went to wash their hands. Instead of going back to the dorm, they headed straight to class.

Neither of them noticed that Tang Man, who had come out looking for them, was crying behind the flower bed with her hand covering her mouth.

Tang Man squatted beside the flower bed and eventually slowly sat down on the ground.

She couldn’t understand why. She was clearly doing everything for the good of the class, so why did she always get such harsh criticism? Her classmates didn’t understand her. She had thought that Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan, who used to be close to her in the dorm, were people who understood how she felt. But to her shock, they seemed to find her completely insufferable.

During the afternoon class, Su Min noticed that Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan had shown up, but Tang Man hadn’t. The three of them were usually inseparable, and now they were suddenly apart.

Halfway through the class, Teacher Huang called Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan out. The students all snuck glances outside, whispering guesses about what was going on—was it something to do with Tang Man?

After a short conversation in the hallway, Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan left with Teacher Huang.

“Do you think something’s happened?” Liao Zhaodi asked with a frown.

Su Min also had a bad feeling.

By the time school ended, Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan still hadn’t returned. As students began packing their bags to go home, Teacher Huang walked in to deliver a piece of news—Tang Man had gone missing.

According to what Yin Jing said, Tang Man was still in the dorm when they left, but after they came back from lunch, she was gone. No one had seen where she went.

“If you see her on the way home, try to persuade her to come back to school. It’d be best if she could come find me. I’ll be staying at the school,” Teacher Huang said, worry etched all over her face, before heading out again to continue searching.

As soon as she left, the classroom erupted in a frenzy.

This wasn’t a small matter. Based on Tang Man’s state that morning, who knew what she might do in the afternoon? What if she really couldn’t take it anymore and did something drastic? There were past cases of girls unable to cope with a teacher’s scolding, and… well…

“Su Min, you don’t think something’s happened to Tang Man, do you?” Liao Zhaodi asked anxiously. She didn’t like Tang Man much—found her overbearing, unreasonable, a bit selfish—but it wasn’t hate. So when she heard Tang Man had gone missing, she couldn’t help but worry.

Su Min frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know. She’s a strong-willed person. Teacher Huang probably gave her an earful in the office today, so maybe she just couldn’t take it all at once.”

“She’s really fragile then. Isn’t she usually so fierce?”

Liao Zhaodi sighed.

As the two stepped out of the classroom, they saw Wen Heping shouldering his backpack and hurrying off too.

“He’s probably going to look for Tang Man too. She called out to him this morning, and he didn’t respond,” Liao Zhaodi whispered.

Su Min looked up at Wen Heping’s back, thinking that he’d always seemed like a responsible guy. Maybe now he was feeling guilty—he’d avoided her once, and now she had gone missing.

“Minzi!” Just as Su Min was lost in thought, she heard a familiar voice. For a second, she thought she was hearing things—until she saw Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong walking toward her. Only then did she believe her parents had actually come to the school.

“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?”

Su Min looked at them in surprise.

Sun Qiufang had a small black purse slung over her shoulder, her hair permed into soft curls that gave her a somewhat fashionable look. She smiled and said, “Your dad and I arrived this morning. We’ve been busy all day looking for a place to rent. We finally got it all sorted this afternoon, so we came to find you.”

“Renting a place? You’re going to live here?” Su Min’s eyes widened in shock. She hadn’t seen this coming at all. She had just moved out on her own, and now her parents were moving in too? If they found out about her calling a parent earlier…

Liao Zhaodi, also a bit tense, tugged on Su Min’s sleeve.

Su Changrong didn’t notice anything strange between the girls. He smiled broadly and said, “Your mom and I have been planning to move here for a while, so we can be close to you. We’ve already handed over the shop back home to your aunt to manage. Now that we’re settled here, you can just stay at home with us. Go grab a couple of outfits from the dorm—we’ll spend the night at the house, and tomorrow we’ll come back and move the rest of your things.”

Then he turned to Zhaodi, saying, “You’re coming too.”

Sun Qiufang laughed. “We’ll go out for dinner tonight—make it a little celebration!” Seeing her daughter made her feel better, her bad mood from earlier completely gone.

Su Min quickly gathered her thoughts and said with a smile, “Mom, Dad, we actually made plans to have dinner at a classmate’s house today. It wouldn’t be right to suddenly cancel, so how about you two go ahead, and we’ll just stop by real quick to say hello before joining you?”

Liao Zhaodi quickly chimed in, “Yes, Uncle, Auntie, we need to go meet our classmate first.”