Chapter 10 The Backbone
Upon hearing this, Li Mei instinctively replied:
"What can Huiting and the others do? They're clumsy and incompetent. They can't even get one important task done. Don't let them drag you down."
The house wasn't soundproof, and Li Mei unconsciously raised her voice when she spoke, which Wang Huiting heard clearly from outside, and she was immediately displeased.
"Mom! Don't look down on us, why can't we do it!"
Li Mei said loudly, "I know you too well. You're always so irresponsible. Ruyi is here to do serious things, not to fool around like a child."
"When did I act recklessly?" Wang Huiting opened the door and stood in the doorway, looking indignant.
“Look at your grades. You have the college entrance exam next year, and all you do is play all day. You've had such a long vacation, but you haven't spent a single day at home studying. You're always running around outside.”
Wang Huiting was speechless upon hearing this: "My grades are bad, but that's because my strength isn't in studying, but that's not what we're talking about. Yesterday, when I gave a gift, Sister Ruyi said I handled it very well."
That's just how her mom is; if you talk to her about this, she'll talk about that, and she always manages to bring up grades.
“As a student, if you can’t even study properly, what can you expect to do?” Li Mei didn’t think there was anything wrong with her.
"Even though Sister Ruyi didn't get into university, she can still do good deeds!"
Su Ruyi blinked; she had really been dragged into this for no reason.
Li Mei glanced at Su Ruyi subconsciously, took a deep breath, and glared at Wang Huiting:
"Can you compare to Ruyi? If you were as reliable as her, I wouldn't worry about you all the time."
After saying that, he turned to Su Ruyi and said apologetically:
"Don't listen to Tingting's nonsense. She's just like that, she can't keep her mouth shut. You just didn't perform well this time, otherwise it wouldn't be difficult for you to get into university. Besides, the education level in your hometown isn't good. If you went to school here like Tingting, you definitely wouldn't be such a good-for-nothing like her. Anyway, she doesn't study properly. If you need anything later, just ask her, so that she won't cause trouble for people all the time."
Wang Huiting realized she had said the wrong thing and didn't say anything more this time, glancing at Su Ruyi from time to time.
Su Ruyi smiled and said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony."
"You can order them around as you please; they're just sitting around doing nothing anyway. This is your home; you can do whatever you want with them."
Seeing that Su Ruyi wasn't angry, Li Mei breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously said:
"Ruyi, your grades are good. Why don't you repeat a year and take the exam again? Tingting School has a good educational level and has a special class for repeat students every year. They hire good teachers. I heard that you can also enroll there for a fee. Why don't you go and study there for another year?"
Su Ruyi refused without hesitation. Although these days, if you don't get into Tsinghua or Peking University after time-traveling back, you're embarrassed to say you've time-traveled, Su Ruyi had no interest in going through the college entrance exam again.
If she could have tried to get in when the college entrance exam was first reinstated, now that it has been so many years since it was reinstated, the difficulty has increased, but universities have not expanded their enrollment, and the admission rate is much lower than it was back then. In her previous life, she only managed to get into an ordinary undergraduate program, and now she would have to put in several times more effort to get in.
She has already attended university once and plans to start her own business, so she doesn't need any further education and shouldn't make things difficult for herself.
She is a devoted person and just wants to be a landlady like in her previous life, free and happy.
If they need to enhance their resume later, they can just enroll in a correspondence course to get a degree. This kind of operation is quite common among some older generation private entrepreneurs who are starting to make their fortunes now.
Li Mei felt a little regretful, but she didn't say anything.
Wang Huiting stepped forward and took Su Ruyi's arm. "Sister Ruyi, what do you want me to do?"
"Just you wait, you'll be busy later. By the way, are there any plastic factories in our county?"
Wang Huiting shook her head: "No."
"Do you know if there are any in the province?"
Su Ruyi didn't have high hopes, after all, Wang Huiting had only been to the provincial capital once, and she had only asked about it casually.
Unexpectedly, Wang Huiting knew: "Yes, there is a privately owned plastics factory that was recently established."
"How did you know?" Even Wang Huizhen was quite surprised, as she hadn't known this even while studying in the province.
Wang Huiting glanced at Li Mei furtively and said, "I saw a job posting in the newspaper."
She was immediately interested and really wanted to apply. She wasn't interested in studying and struggled a lot in high school, finding math, physics, and chemistry classes completely incomprehensible. But her mother insisted on forcing her to study science and wouldn't let her study humanities; going to school felt like torture.
At that time, her stepfather had another accident, so Wang Huiting thought that instead of wasting time and money, she might as well go to work to ease the burden on her family. Her older sister liked to read and could continue her studies after graduating from vocational school.
But as soon as she expressed any reluctance to go to school, her mother berated her mercilessly, even making her cry, so she dared not mention it again.
Li Mei could tell what she was thinking as soon as she saw her like this: "Don't even think about it! You only have one year left, you have to get a high school diploma no matter what."
Wang Huiting pursed her lips. She knew this too, which was why she reluctantly gave up, thinking she could endure another year.
But she really wanted to do something to earn money. She was just idling at home during the summer vacation, but she didn't know what to do.
Wang Huiting asked curiously, "Sister Ruyi, why are you asking this?"
"I have an idea, but I'll go and take a look first."
Su Ruyi had a plan in mind, but whether it would work out depended on the situation in the province.
With Su Ruyi's confirmation, Li Mei went to the factory that afternoon to pick up the job.
Huang Ling, who was handling her onboarding, was an old acquaintance of Li Mei, and said irritably:
"I've been waiting for you to come. What are you dawdling about for something this important? So many people are scrambling to get it, and you're taking your time."
Li Mei chuckled awkwardly, "I'm here now, aren't I?"
Huang Ling rolled her eyes at her, but despite her bad attitude, she still quickly completed the formalities.
"If you don't come soon, this good spot will be yours."
Li Mei was assigned to the logistics department, where she was specifically responsible for the cleanliness of the workshop.
This job would be considered quite arduous by today's standards, because the factory wasn't doing well and many people were just coasting through their workdays, but the cleaning work had to be done every day.
There's a lot of waste in the workshop, which is quite troublesome to clean up, and we don't have much money.
But this job also has its advantages. The leftover scrap wood and wood shavings can be taken home to burn as fuel, which can save the family money on coal.
Li Mei thanked them repeatedly.
Huang Ling waved her hand, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and whispered:
"How is the girl in front of Accountant Tong? I heard she's really fierce and will start a fight at the drop of a hat."
"That's all just rumors. She's perfectly fine. Just like her mother, she's always ready to stand up for what's right and wrong, and she's more capable and outstanding than any man."
Huang Ling looked her up and down: "It seems you two get along well?"
"With her around, I don't feel so uneasy anymore. I feel like I have a pillar of support."
Huang Ling's lips twitched; she didn't know what to say to her.
She'd seen stepmothers and stepdaughters get along well before, but she'd never seen this kind of relationship.
Other stepmothers can't wait for their stepdaughters to leave home, but Li Mei is different. She just hopes her stepdaughter will come and take over the household. If it were her stepson, it would be fine, but to expect a teenage girl is really... I don't know where to begin.
"But she really knows how to treat people. The fruit she brought to my house yesterday, oh my, I've never seen so many of them before. It's amazing that she carried them all the way here."
Huang Ling couldn't bear to eat it herself, so she gave half of it to her husband to give away.
This rare southern fruit is a very prestigious gift.
“Her mother is very capable; she grows everything herself and has leased the entire mountain,” Li Mei said with emotion when she mentioned Su Ying. “If it weren’t for her mother, who knows what my family would be like now.”
"You're lucky to have met such kind people. If it were anyone else, it would be kind of them not to bite you. Your mother-in-law's family, on the other hand, would love to devour you and your daughter whole. They've caused quite a bit of trouble at the factory before, trying to get this job."
Li Mei couldn't help but frown. The reason she had been making a scene at home before was because of work and money.
Although the factory said that the job would only be given to their family and that it would be fine if it were given to someone else, the other side did not believe it and thought that as long as she pleaded, she would definitely be able to transfer the job.
Now that she's got a job, they'll definitely find out and cause a huge scene again.
It was fine when she was at home, but if she went to the factory and caused trouble, affecting her work, her supervisor would have a worse impression of her.
Seeing this, Huang Ling comforted her, "Don't worry too much. As long as your stepdaughter is around, they won't get away with it."
The Tong family quickly received the news, which caused quite a stir once again.
"That slut is really bold! She actually took the job behind our backs. This worthless wretch deserves this wealth!"
Zhang Cuihua cursed and swore, throwing things around the house.
"No, we can't let her get away with this so easily. I have to go to the factory and reason with the management. That's our Tong family's job, why should an outsider like her take it!"
"Come back!" Old Man Tong snapped. "We've been there before, haven't we?"
Zhang Cuihua retorted indignantly, "We can't just let her get away with this like this. She has to give us all the money back and compensate us with five thousand, no, ten thousand yuan!"
"There's no rush," Old Man Tong said, putting down his pipe.
"We need to get Aihua to change her surname to that of her daughter from her previous marriage so she can be recognized as part of the family and we can't let her be fooled again."
Old Man Tong was quite disappointed that the two of them didn't fight and that Li Mei was able to get the job smoothly.
That country girl is so clueless. She can be tricked into giving up something as important as her job without even complaining, which prevents them from watching the show.
This also shows that Li Mei is more scheming than he thought, and it's easier to deal with Su Ruyi than to deal with her.
Zhang Cuihua pouted: "What's the point of a little girl's business compared to work?"
They have no shortage of grandchildren.
Old Man Tong glanced at her sideways, took a puff of his cigarette, and then spoke:
"If this girl acknowledges her ancestors and joins our ranks, this job can come back to us."
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
