Chapter 4: Retrieve the Compensation Money

Wang Factory immediately said, "Good, I'll take you to get it."

Su Ruo's parents had only this daughter, Su Ruo; the money was originally meant for her, and now with the help of the factory director, Su Ruo quickly got the money.

The finance department gave Su Ruo one thousand yuan and some vouchers, after all, having money without vouchers meant you couldn't buy anything.

Su Ruo carefully put it away, holding this huge sum, she felt excited.

After all, this amount was enough for her to live without worry about food and clothing for several years in this era of scarcity.

The factory director, however, said with guilt in his eyes, "After your parents passed away, the factory had originally decided to arrange a logistics job for you as compensation, but now you're going to the countryside—how do you plan to handle this job?"

Upon hearing this, Su Ruo's eyes lit up; she had come only to collect the compensation money, but she hadn't expected such an unexpected blessing.

Thinking about how, in her previous life, not long after she went to the countryside, her cousin Su Jinjin from her uncle's family had entered the Cotton Spinning Factory, she realized this job would probably end up with her uncle's family again.

Su Ruo decided that no matter what, this job could not continue to benefit her uncle's family, so she immediately said:

"Uncle Wang, I don't know when I'll be able to return after going to the countryside; even if I keep this job, my uncle's family will snatch it away."

"So could you trouble me to sell this job? That way I'll have more money on hand, and life in the countryside will be a bit easier."

"Good!" The factory director nodded in agreement; he could see that the young girl was calculating, and this would let her suffer a bit less.

"I can take care of the job matter within these two days; come back then."

Upon hearing this, Su Ruo nodded repeatedly, seeing only gratitude in the factory director's eyes.

This made the factory director feel even more pity and concern, and he cautioned, "Little girl, when you're out and about, you must understand not to flaunt your wealth; once you're alone in the countryside, be careful about everything."

Su Ruo understood the factory director's good intentions and nodded firmly.

After leaving the Cotton Spinning Factory, Su Ruo's face was filled with an uncontrollable smile; with a thousand yuan in hand, she could be considered a proper little rich lady in this era.

After relaxing, Su Ruo's stomach growled rebelliously, and she realized she hadn't eaten all day.

In her previous life, whether before or after going to the countryside, Su Ruo's days were extremely bitter; going hungry was a regular occurrence.

Now that Su Ruo had money on hand, she decided not to wrong herself anymore; seeing a nearby roadside stall, she decisively went over and ordered a bowl of wonton and two large meat buns.

The buns had thin skins and generous fillings; as Su Ruo took a bite, her mouth filled with fragrance, and Su Ruo felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

Thinking of the storage space mentioned by the system, Su Ruo immediately ordered another twenty meat buns to keep for later eating slowly.

After finishing her meal, Su Ruo did not go home but instead went to the place to sign up for going to the countryside.

Su Ruo arrived at the Educated Youth registration office; the duty aunt warmly received her.

After all, nowadays nobody wants to go to the countryside; being able to get one more person to sign up lets her finish her task sooner.

After filling out the form, Su Ruo reported the address from her previous life where she had gone to the countryside: Black Province, Da Qing Shan.

The procedures went smoothly; upon learning that no ID was needed for registration, Su Ruo also signed up Su Da Bao together, filling in the address as Great Northwest.

In her previous life, Su Da Bao had seized her parents' compensation money and job, living a prosperous life; his days were extremely comfortable.

But Su Ruo would have him suffer in the countryside in her place; in this life, she absolutely would not let Su Da Bao take any advantage of her.

If Su Da Bao doesn't want to go to the countryside, then let him go to the harshest place! It's just uncertain whether his flesh can withstand the wind and sand of the northwest.

After leaving the Educated Youth Office, Su Ruo gained another two hundred yuan and some industrial rolls; this was the subsidy from the Educated Youth Office for her and Su Da Bao's countryside registration.

In her previous life, Su Ruo never saw this money; it all went into the hands of her uncle's family.

Su Ruo only brought a blanket and a few sets of torn clothes when she went to the countryside; now that she has money, she naturally won't shortchange herself, so she turned and went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

But as soon as she entered the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, she saw her uncle's family's daughter Su Jinjin picking out things with her sisters; Su Ruo muttered a curse—what a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road.

The sisters beside Su Jinjin looked at her with envy and said, "Jinjin, I heard you're about to start work in the logistics department of the Cotton Spinning Factory; that job isn't tiring and pays well—many people would fight tooth and nail to get in, so you're really lucky to have this position."

Upon hearing the sisters' praise, Su Jinjin held her head high, full of pride.

Seeing this, Su Ruo curled her lip in a sneering smile; in her previous life, Su Jinjin had relied on this job to meet a high-ranking cadre's child at the factory, and later her uncle had even sold his own five hundred yuan to provide Su Jinjin with a dowry, enabling her to marry into a noble family.

But who knows whether, in this life, without the job and this stepping stone of her own, Su Jinjin could still marry into a noble family as before and enjoy a happy, fulfilling life.

At this moment, Su Jinjin also saw Su Ruo, silently cursing "Bad luck!" and strode over with her head held high to ask Su Ruo, "Jinx, what are you doing here?"

"This is the Supply and Marketing Cooperative; if you can come, why can't I?" Su Ruo replied indifferently and headed straight for the counter.

Su Jinjin hadn't expected that her weak and incompetent older cousin would dare to talk back today; she felt angry but couldn't refute.

Su Ruo looked around; the goods in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative were pitifully scarce, and with Su Jinjin beside her, she also lost the desire to buy anything.

She asked the sales clerk and learned that cotton and fabric were being prepared to make thicker cotton clothing and bedding, because the winter in Black Province was especially cold.

Upon learning that cotton and fabric were hot commodities, each time they arrived they would be snapped up immediately; it wasn't something you could buy just because you had money.

Su Ruo felt a bit disappointed, thinking that she couldn't buy anything here, so she could only go to the Black Market to have a look.

After asking, Su Ruo turned to leave, but Su Jinjin grabbed her arm.

"Su Ruo, how did you end up here and still want to buy things? Are you saying you stole money from home?"

There were many people in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative; Su Jinjin's shout immediately drew a lot of attention, and everyone looking at Su Ruo did so with strange looks.

Su Ruo said with an icy gaze, "Let go!"

Seeing the people around looking over, Su Jinjin instantly felt even more pleased; there was no way she would let go.

She shouted even more arrogantly, "Su Ruo, you actually dare to steal money from home—I'll go tell Grandma, and see if she doesn't beat you to death!"

The surrounding discussion grew louder and louder, as they seemed to have already decided that Su Ruo was a person of bad character, a thief who stole money from home.

Su Ruo originally didn't want to bother with Su Jinjin, but now she wasn't going to endure it any longer, and she said coldly:

"Su Jinjin, my parents died accidentally at work; you all see that I have no parental protection and want to force me to go to the countryside in place of your brother, and you even want to snatch the job my parents left me—now you even want to control my buying something?"

Su Jinjin hadn't expected that Su Ruo, who was usually inarticulate and couldn't utter a word even after being beaten with eight sticks, would today become so sharp-tongued; what frightened her even more was that Su Ruo actually knew about the matter of her parents letting her substitute for the job.

Flustered, she retorted, "You're talking nonsense."