RGL – Chapter 90

Wang Mingsong looked at her seriously.

“…Mm.” Gao Hong nodded.

After finishing her meal at Sun Hai’s restaurant, Su Min went home with Sun Hai and the others.

As they passed the mall, she instinctively glanced in its direction. Thinking about Gao Hong and that man from earlier, she felt a bit strange inside. In just four years, her third uncle and aunt had gotten divorced and each remarried.

To be honest, she now hoped they would both live well from here on out and stop all the drama.

When they got home, Sun Hai asked her about what had happened with Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong after they went to the city.

Upon hearing that Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong were planning to open a store in the city, Grandma Sun laughed and said, “Who would’ve thought there’d be a day like this? They opened such a big supermarket in the county, and now they’re heading to the city. Life is better than it was for landlords in the past.”

Li Meng added, “I haven’t even been to the city yet. I should find time to go have a look too.”

Su Min smiled and said, “The city has beautiful scenery. My mom even wants to retire there. You’ll definitely like it if you go.”

Sun Hai started having thoughts too.

Their current restaurant business was doing quite well. If they wanted to expand, they’d need a bigger space. But truthfully, even if they did expand, the foot traffic in the county would still be limited.

He had thought about opening more branches, making a name for their restaurant chain. Like Minzi had said before: create something unique, so no matter which city people were in, they’d recognize their brand.

Now that his sister and brother-in-law were off to the city, he couldn’t help but feel tempted too.

But it still felt too early. He needed to wait and see. After all, he had a wife and child now. The kid was still young—he had to be more cautious.

That night, Li Meng helped Su Min make up a soft bed, then carried the child back to her room.

“Your sister and brother-in-law have already gone to the city. When do you think we’ll go check it out too?” Li Meng placed the baby in the cradle and got into bed herself.

Sun Hai reached out and pulled her into his arms. “No rush. Our business is still holding up. We’re not like your sister and brother-in-law—they have more resources. We need to be careful.”

“I know. But I still think it’s great. Look at them—they said they’d open a supermarket and just did it. Said they’d go and left. That kind of decisiveness takes guts,” Li Meng said. She’d been reading a lot lately and felt that doing business required courage.

Sun Hai chuckled. “It’s not that I don’t dare, I just want to observe a bit more. Opening a store in the city isn’t cheap, and things aren’t even stable in the county yet. Going now wouldn’t be wise.”

Li Meng was a bit disappointed hearing that Sun Hai didn’t plan to go.

Even though life was good these days, she couldn’t help but worry. What if someday Sun Hai ran into Liu Li and found out the truth about the past? Would he still treat her as well as he did now?

If they moved to the city, they wouldn’t run into Liu Li anymore.

She remembered hearing from Song Xiaomei that Liu Li and Gao Jianfeng were going through a divorce, and her anxiety only grew.

With all these worries on her mind, she didn’t sleep well that night and got up early the next morning to make breakfast.

Su Min also got up early. After washing up, she went to the kitchen to help Li Meng with breakfast.

Li Meng, knowing that Sun Hai usually got along well with his niece Su Min and often took her advice seriously, decided to try sounding her out. She smiled and said, “Minzi, do you really think the city is that great?”

Su Min nodded while eating a fried dough cake. “Yeah, it’s really nice. The scenery is beautiful.”

“Hey, ever since your mom and the others went to the city, your grandma has been thinking about it all the time. She hasn’t said anything, but I know she’s not feeling too happy about it. I was thinking, if we could go to the city too, that’d be great. But when I brought it up to your uncle, he didn’t seem interested.”

Su Min was a bit surprised—she knew her uncle very well. If nothing else, he had ambition. There was no way he wasn’t thinking about these things.

“Auntie, I think Uncle probably has a plan in mind—he just hasn’t said it out loud yet.”

Li Meng felt a bit hurt hearing that.

Between husband and wife, if you’ve got plans, why not just say them out loud? Why keep it bottled up? In the end, it just feels like he doesn’t really consider her.

She lowered her head and sighed, not saying anything more.

Su Min felt something was off. During breakfast, she observed the couple closely. Her uncle seemed normal, but her aunt clearly looked like she had something on her mind.

After breakfast, Grandma Sun stayed home to watch the baby. Su Min was preparing to take care of business at the factory before heading back to the city.

She deliberately left with Sun Hai so that once Li Meng headed off to the supermarket, she could follow Sun Hai into his restaurant and find a chance to talk to him.

While setting up the shop for the day, Sun Hai said in confusion, “No way. Your aunt and I are doing just fine. Why would she be unhappy?”

Su Min shook her head. “I don’t know about that,” she said, then asked, “Uncle, are you really planning to move to the city?”

“I’ve got a rough idea in mind, but if you’re asking for something definite—no, I don’t have any concrete plans in the short term.”

“Did you tell Auntie about that? You’ve got a ‘rough idea,’ but you should at least tell her. Uncle, honestly, my dad always shares things with my mom. If you don’t tell Auntie anything, how do you expect her to feel?”

Sun Hai laughed. “You kid, what are you thinking about all the time? Your aunt’s not the petty type.”

Su Min couldn’t help showing an awkward expression. She really hadn’t heard of a woman who wasn’t at least a little petty.

Clearly, her uncle was still a bit too naïve.

She said, “Anyway, just communicate with Auntie more. It’s not a bad thing to talk more. Why hide things?”

Sun Hai smiled. He was the type who liked to wait until things were settled before saying anything. If something wasn’t certain yet, he didn’t want to talk about it—otherwise it’d just sound like he was boasting.

Su Min didn’t want to push too hard. Even though her uncle trusted her, meddling too much in a couple’s relationship could backfire. Especially since when she said just a little, he immediately started thinking about whether or not his wife was petty. If she said more, he might get the wrong idea.

Granted, her aunt did tend to overthink—but it wasn’t her place to comment.

She’d only said a few things because she didn’t want her uncle’s hard-earned happiness to be shaken by poor communication.

After leaving Sun Hai’s “Sihai Restaurant,” Su Min headed to the factory.

Ye Yongfu hadn’t slept all night—he’d stayed in the workshop to oversee things. Now that a batch of finished products had been made and they looked pretty good, he finally felt at ease. Just as he was about to return to his office, he saw Su Min walking over from outside the workshop.

Seeing this young girl, Ye Yongfu felt a bit sad. He’d originally hoped she could stay at his factory for a while longer. He hadn’t expected her to be leaving so soon.

Thinking about this matter, he just couldn’t bear it. Especially after seeing the finished products that came out of the factory today, he felt even more strongly that Su Min was definitely a promising talent. Once she received proper training in the future, she would definitely become even more capable than she was now.

When Su Min walked up to him, she saw that he looked like he had been sighing endlessly.  “Director Ye, did you not sleep all night?”

“With everything that happened at the factory, how could I sleep?” Ye Yongfu sighed. “Come on, let’s talk in the office. I’ve already drafted the agreement.”

With that, he led Su Min toward the office.

This time, the agreement Su Min signed with Sanye was purely a cooperative relationship, and did not include handing over any of her designs to the factory in the future. The agreement clearly stated that if Sanye wanted to use Su Min’s clothing designs, they would have to obtain her written consent; otherwise, it would be considered a breach of contract. It also specified the penalty fee for breach.

After signing the contract, Su Min took both copies, planning to bring them home and have Su Changrong or Sun Qiufang sign them.

By the time she got home, it was already afternoon.

Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang had gone out. At home, only Zhaodi was there, lying on the table doing homework. When she saw Su Min return, she immediately dropped her homework and ran over.

“You’re finally back! How did it go?”

“We reached an agreement. They’ll help us make the clothes in the future. It’s just for one shop’s worth of clothes anyway—it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“That’s great. Now you don’t have to worry about rushing to get everything done yourself.”

“I’m not sure if it’ll work out yet,” Su Min said, taking a sip of water. Realizing she was a bit hungry, she hurried into the kitchen to find something to eat and filled her stomach.

After eating, Su Min went back to sketching clothing designs.

Liao Zhaodi watched her busying herself with fashion stuff again and asked worriedly, “Su Min, isn’t the monthly exam coming up soon? Aren’t you going to study at all?”

“No rush,” Su Min replied, continuing her work.

Liao Zhaodi sighed. She sat nearby reading her book but kept glancing at Su Min, worried that Su Min was putting her studies aside for her clothing work. Although Zhaodi also wanted to earn money, she knew that studying was the most important thing at this stage. If they gave up their studies for the sake of making money, it wouldn’t be worth it in the long run.

But Su Min seemed different lately—more anxious than before.

Su Min stayed busy all the way into the evening and never once left her room.

When Sun Qiufang and Su Changrong got back and saw Su Min still cooped up in her room, Sun Qiufang called her out to discuss the matter of opening their store.

Although the family now had enough money, Sun Qiufang was a cautious person. She was worried that since they were unfamiliar with the city, opening a big store would attract too much attention. So she suggested they start with a small, modest shop and slowly expand later on.

Su Changrong didn’t see it that way. He believed they should strike while the iron was hot. The big store they had in the county was doing well, so why not go big from the beginning? Even if you can’t become rich overnight, at least you’ll have enough to eat.

The couple had some disagreement about it, so they decided to let their daughter make the decision.

“Dad, Mom, I think we should take things slowly,” Su Min said, then turned her attention back to thinking about her own shop.

Sun Qiufang smiled. “See? Our daughter agrees with me.”

Su Changrong wasn’t convinced. “I still think my way is better,” he said, turning to Su Min. “Tell me, why do you think we need to go slow? We’ve already learned how to run—why go back to learning how to walk? Isn’t that a waste of time?”

Su Min had other things on her mind. Hearing them argue made her a bit anxious. She simply went into her room and brought out the contract. “Dad, Mom, can we put that on hold for a second? Help me sign this contract first.”

“You went to sign a contract again, huh.” Su Changrong glanced at his daughter’s contract. When he saw that she wanted to open a shop, he immediately frowned. “No, you’re still in high school. Wouldn’t opening a store interfere with your studies? Before, just doing some sketching was fine, but now you want to open a shop? I don’t agree with this.”

Sun Qiufang also nodded. “I think so too. You got into a key city high school — there are so many top students there. If you lose focus even a little, your grades might drop.”

Su Min said helplessly, “I know what I’m doing. I’ll just get the shop started for now.”

“This isn’t acceptable.”

Su Changrong was firmly opposed. The family wasn’t short on money — why should their daughter work so hard? He and his wife worked so hard precisely so that their daughter could live a carefree life.

Sun Qiufang added, “Minzi, I won’t support you on this either.”

Su Min felt a heavy weight in her heart and placed the contract on the table. “Dad, Mom, why don’t you believe in me? Haven’t I been doing fine all these years? Besides, once the shop is open, I won’t be managing it every day. I’m planning to ask Yanzi to help watch over it. And Zhaodi is skilled — she can help too. It won’t take up much time. Didn’t you both agree before to let me sell clothes?”

“That’s different,” Sun Qiufang said with a frown. “Before, you told me you and Zhaodi would make clothes and sell them on the weekends. I thought of it as you two just having some fun, a way to relax. But opening a store is different — once it’s set up, even if you’re not there, your mind will always be on it.”

“Dad, Mom, I really won’t let it distract me. I know what I’m doing. I haven’t had any personal hobbies all these years, and now I’ve finally found something I love. Just let me try. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll shut it down.”

“Let’s think about it for a few days,” Sun Qiufang said. “Zhaodi mentioned your monthly exams are coming up. Let’s see how you do in them first.”

Sun Qiufang felt she had been too lenient with her daughter before. The things her daughter was doing now were getting more and more beyond what most kids would even think of. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Seeing how firm Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang were this time, Su Min felt a weight settle in her chest.

She was absent-minded during dinner that night.

After dinner, she wanted to find a chance to talk to her parents again, but Sun Qiufang didn’t give her the opportunity at all.

Back in her room, she collapsed powerlessly onto the bed. She hadn’t expected her parents to oppose her opening a clothing shop so strongly.

Liao Zhaodi pushed open the door and called out through the crack, “Su Min?”

Hearing the voice, Su Min sat up. “Come in.”

Only then did Liao Zhaodi walk in, closing the door behind her and sitting beside Su Min. “Su Min, don’t be upset. Actually, if you think about it, Uncle and Auntie have a point. I’m short on money now because of college expenses too, but if we sacrifice college for the sake of earning money now, wouldn’t that be even more of a loss?”

“Zhaodi, I won’t let that happen. I know what I’m doing.” Su Min felt she was already an adult. She should have her own thoughts. She shouldn’t waste this precious time. She had already endured three tough years of middle school. Now she was sixteen. Once she finished high school, she’d be legally an adult. At her age, she could already do a lot.

Liao Zhaodi had always found it hard to argue with Su Min. She also saw Su Min as someone who had her own ideas. Although she initially thought Su Min’s decision wasn’t right, she couldn’t find the words to refute her. All she could do was offer encouragement. “Then we have to do well on the monthly exams.”

Su Min nodded seriously.

Since Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang hadn’t given their approval, she couldn’t take the contract back, and the shop couldn’t be opened. So the matter of starting the shop had to be postponed for now.

But Su Min didn’t give up. Every day after school, she worked on designs at home. Sometimes, even during class, if an idea for a design came to her, she would start sketching right away.

Before, when she was designing clothes for Third Master, it had felt like just a job, so she hadn’t been too invested. But now that it was for herself, she was fully committed — she poured her heart into it.

Sometimes Zhaodi would sit beside her, watching her draw, and couldn’t help but remind her to pay attention to the lesson.

“Tang Man, what’s up with Su Min lately? She seems even quieter than before.”

At lunch, Yin Jing brought it up with Tang Man.

Tang Man had noticed too. Although she didn’t particularly like Su Min’s personality, Su Min had helped her out once, which left her feelings toward her mixed. So she’d been paying a little more attention and did notice that Su Min was definitely different these days.