From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

Starting from the third day, the bookstore was officially up and running.

Many of the books that had been rented out were returned, and customers immediately rented new ones.

Books were returned only to be rented out again, but overall, demand was starting to outstrip supply.

Because starting on the third day, it wasn’t just students from Communication University; students from other schools had started coming to rent books too.

They had all heard about the rental service and came to check it out. There weren’t many of them yet, but from the sound of it, more were on their way.

When classes let out in the afternoon, even some of the professors showed up.

”Su Li, we’re running out of books! What should we do?”

Chang E had been in a bit of a daze for the past two days.

She had dreamed of leisurely swimming in an ocean of books, but instead, she was constantly busy checking them in and out. Seeing how pitifully empty the shelves were, she was getting worried.

”Don’t worry. It’s just like this for the first couple of days. Things will calm down soon, and we won’t be so busy. But we definitely need to add more books.”

Business was booming beyond her wildest expectations. That evening, Su Li contacted her book supplier, adjusted her previous order by adding or removing some titles, and then placed an additional one.

”Sounds like business is great,” the book supplier chuckled. ”I’ll have to come see it for myself one of these days.”

”You’re always welcome,” Su Li replied with a smile.

In any case, she loved how well the bookstore was doing.

Most of the customers were her classmates or students from nearby schools. Over ninety-five percent of them were university students, and all were very well-behaved.

Although every returned book was inspected, so far, not a single one had been found with torn pages or drawings in it.

Everyone cherished the books as if they were their own.

This made Su Li feel both touched and gratified.

Just as Su Li had predicted, after the fifth day of business, the bookstore’s traffic stabilized.

It was no longer a case of everyone rushing over to help whenever they had a free period. Instead, they started following a proper work schedule.

Su Li also loved spending her free time at the bookstore.

That day, the senior who ran the campus work-study book kiosk came to check out the store, making Chang E very nervous.

The opening of the ’Love Reading’ bookstore had dealt a major blow to the kiosk.

Their kiosk used to be bustling with people, but now it was much quieter.

Because everyone was going to ’Love Reading’ instead.

Chang E was nervous and a little embarrassed. As soon as she saw Su Li come in, she quickly pulled her aside.

”What do we do? What do we do, Su Li?”

”Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

The senior looked around the store, his expression souring. He managed a strained smile for Su Li but didn’t say anything nasty.

”You’ve got a really nice place here,” he commented, his assessment fair.

He wasn’t there to cause trouble. Beyond being a decent person, he was, more importantly, rational.

For the first two days after ’Love Reading’ opened, business at the kiosk had ground to a halt—something that had never happened before.

But over the past couple of days, business had slowly started to pick up again. It was still less than half of what it used to be, but it was manageable.

Su Li’s business model was focused on rentals; she rarely sold any books.

So, the business of selling books still belonged to the kiosk. Students who wanted to buy books would still go there. The senior had spent two days mulling this over and had finally figured it out, which was why his attitude, while not friendly, was not hostile either.

”Thank you,” Su Li smiled.

”I’d like to rent this one... Here’s the deposit.” In the end, the senior couldn’t help himself and rented a book.

’He just couldn’t help it. The selection at his kiosk was pitifully small compared to what Su Li had, after all.’

After the senior left, Chang E came over, clutching her chest. ”That scared me to death.”

Su Li chuckled. ”What was there to be scared of?”

”Yeah, what’s there to be scared of? You’ve still got us,” someone chimed in with a laugh.

Su Li turned around and saw several of her classmates.

They had come by before, but she hadn’t had much time to talk with them. Today, she finally had a moment to chat.

”Su Li, you’re amazing.”

”Yeah, such a big bookstore.”

Several classmates chattered away in admiration, but the tall Qu An didn’t join their conversation. Instead, he quietly started helping organize the bookshelves.

When the classmates were about to leave, he finally brought a book to check out.

He was a member too. He handed his membership card to Su Li and said, ”Thanks for this.”

”No trouble at all.” After registering the book, Su Li handed it to Qu An.

Qu An took the book with a smile. ”If you need any help in the future, just let me know.”

His eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Su Li.

”Thank you,” Su Li said.

”Don’t mention it.” Qu An looked outside. ”It’s still a little hot. Let me treat everyone to some popsicles.”

Qu An went out and bought a bag of popsicles, and the group of classmates enjoyed them together amidst lively chatter.

After everyone left, Chang E started whispering to Su Li.

”Su Li, everyone’s saying Qu An has a crush on you and is trying to woo you. I think so too. We only got to eat popsicles today because of you.”

Su Li shook her head. ”I don’t think so. I’ll treat everyone to popsicles tomorrow to return the favor.”

Chang E blinked. ”Now that you mention it, if he does like you, he’d better confess soon. Otherwise, you treating him back every day is going to get expensive.”

”It’s fine,” Su Li shook her head.

Maybe Chang E had a knack for prophecy, because the very next day, Su Li received a love letter confession from Qu An.

Su Li, who had never received a love letter in her life: ”...”

She read the letter carefully, a strange expression on her face.

Qu An was quite talented; the letter was written in a beautiful, poetic style. But it all boiled down to one thing.

He had been captivated by Su Li on the very first day of the semester. After getting to know her over the past few days, his feelings had grown stronger. He felt they were a perfect match and hoped she would accept him.

Chang E, who had passed the letter to Su Li, was ecstatic.

”I told you Qu An likes you! Everyone could see it! Haha, Su Li, are you going to accept him? He’s a pretty great guy.”

Su Li shook her head. ”We’re not a good match.”

”How are you not a good match? You two are the perfect pair—a talented man and a beautiful woman!” Chang E retorted. ”I think you look great together.”

Qu An hadn’t made a big show of writing the letter, but because his interest had been so obvious, most of the people who knew them figured it out.

The dorm room was abuzz with discussion. Everyone urged Su Li to accept him, saying they were a perfect match.

The conversation drifted to other people—which guy liked which girl, who had a crush on whom, and who was pursuing whom.

In short... it was very lively.

In the dorm, some had crushes, and some were being pursued. Although dating wasn’t as open as it would be in later generations, everyone still talked about it excitedly.

Writing a love letter to confess your feelings, attending class together, eating meals together, taking walks together—that’s what dating looked like.

You had to be discreet just to hold hands. As for things like kissing, that was an even bigger deal.

The evening ended with everyone blushing and squealing with excitement as they discussed holding hands and stealing kisses.

Su Li got up early the next day and wrote a reply to Qu An.

She politely but firmly rejected him.

She once again asked Chang E to deliver her reply. When Chang E returned, she told Su Li,

”Qu An looked so hopeful and excited. He has no idea you turned him down. I can just imagine his face when he opens that letter... he’s going to look so pitiful.”

They saw each other again very soon.

Because they were classmates and had class together.

Qu An, who had never once been late, showed up late. The usually cheerful, smiling Qu An looked completely dazed and incredulous.

He couldn’t believe he had been rejected.

During the break, Su Li and Chang E went to the restroom. When they came out, Qu An was there, blocking Su Li’s way.

”Why did you reject me?”