Now Rati had started going to school directly from her father's shop. Father had told both the bus driver and the conductor to drop Rati at his shop and Rama at home, as before.
After getting down from the bus, Rati says goodbye to Rama. She eats food from Father's tiffin and then sits there, watching Father sell items in the shop. During this time, she notices that Father speaks differently to each customer and is not telling the truth to any of them.
After some time, when the shop becomes empty, Father says to Rati, "Child, I'm going to eat paan. You keep an eye on the shop."
Saying this, he leaves.
Rati opens the cash box and sees that there is a lot of money inside. She feels like taking some of it, but then she remembers her vow—not to steal. So she closes the cash box again.
After a while, some food inspectors arrive. Seeing Rati, they ask, "Child, where is your father?"
"He has gone to eat paan."
They jokingly say, "Oh, so you are handling the shop today? Then let us inspect the shop through you."
Rati confidently replies, "Yes, go ahead. I know everything."
Hearing this, they laugh and then ask, "Alright then, tell us—how many expired items are there in your shop?"
They assume Rati will say "none" or try to defend the shop. But instead, Rati says,
"There are many expired items in our shop, but you won't be able to find them."
The inspectors are surprised. "Why?"
"Because Father has repacked many items, and from some, he has even erased the manufacturing dates."
Hearing this, they try to get more information from Rati, and she ends up revealing everything about which items in the shop are expired.
The inspectors start taking out all those items and throwing them outside the shop. Just then, Father returns and, seeing this, asks them what they are doing.
They explain everything in detail and say, "We didn't expect you to be doing such things."
Father feels deeply hurt. He doesn't talk to Rati, and for a few days, the shop also remains closed.
When Grandmother and the others find out about this, they tell Father to send Rati back home, but he refuses.
Then Grandmother herself comes to the shop and slaps Rati, saying, "Do you even know how hard your father works to run this shop? Because of this shop, we are able to eat and live, and you are able to study. And look what you've done—you made your father shut down the shop!"
Rati replies, "It's not because of me. The shop was closed because of Father's dishonesty. If he hadn't kept expired items in the shop, they wouldn't have shut it down. According to your logic, if someone cuts your throat, then they shouldn't be punished—because the fault would be yours for having a throat and being alive."
Hearing this, Grandmother slaps Rati again, but it has no effect on her. In her eyes, she has done nothing wrong.
After that, Grandmother says to Rati,
"So, do you think that just telling the truth is enough to survive?
Do you even know how much loss your father would face if he didn't do all this? Of course, how would you know? Whenever you need something, your father provides it, doesn't he? Otherwise, you would have been begging on the streets."
These words hurt Rati deeply.
When Father hears Grandmother speaking so harshly to Rati, he says,
"Amma, what are you saying? She is my child. You know her mind works differently. And what are you saying—that she would beg? Am I dead that something like that would happen?"
He then signals Rati to leave from there and takes Grandmother away, trying to calm her down.
But that night, Rati keeps thinking only about one thing—
Would she really have to beg if her father wasn't there?
Could she really not run the shop on her own?
Is it truly necessary to lie in order to run a shop?
Rati is unable to sleep the entire night. By morning, she starts thinking about opening her own shop. She makes a firm decision that from now on, she will not ask her father for anything. She will bear her own expenses, and until she is able to do that, she will not eat anything.
In the morning, when Father is sitting outside the shop drinking tea, the bus arrives to pick Rati up for school. But Rati does not come outside, because she is busy planning how she will open her own shop.