Mr. Zhou reached out and held Luo Huimei’s hand; this came as a surprise to her. She could not wrap her head around the sudden change in his behavior and looked at him like he had two heads.
“Did you forget your medicine?” she asked.
Mr. Zhou did not respond. She continued to stare at him. “Did you hit your head in the accident? Should I go get the doctor to come to look at you?”
Mr. Zhou remained silent. The smile on his face slowly disappeared and the positive mood he had also disappeared. I should not act like this in front of her.
“No, but what happened to you? Why are you suddenly acting like this? Don’t scare me, Zhou. Are you—”
“Enough.” Mr. Zhou cut her off and went on, “Since I encountered death, I’ve been able to see things more clearly. There is nothing that should be taken too seriously amongst family members. Past mistakes were already made, but it’s not too late to admit them now. Do you have to make it seem like there’s something wrong with me?”
Luo Huimei was dumbfounded. When she finally came around, a look of realization appeared on her face. “I see. You suddenly seem more human now.”
Mr. Zhou was speechless. Forget it. I shouldn’t try anymore or I might pass out from anger.
“Oh, right. Zhou, I realized Mrs. Zhang has been coming over to our house on purpose recently. Whenever she comes, she would ask about Yan. I think she wants to introduce someone to Yan.”
Mr. Zhou frowned. “She wants to introduce someone? She can’t even manage her own life and here she is trying to play matchmaker for someone else. It’s hard enough to get Yan to come home so we shouldn’t bother her with these things.”
Luo Huimei nodded in agreement. “I see your point. But I think I should still put in a good word for Yan. What if there’s someone who fits the criteria? We can always reject him if we don’t think it will work out. But if we find someone decent, we can let Yan meet him and see how it goes. At her age, she’s going to get married at some point. There’s nothing wrong with testing the waters now.”
Mr. Zhou thought it was reasonable and nodded his head. “Okay. You can handle that. Just don’t scare her away.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not you.”
Mr. Zhou was speechless. Sigh. Looks like I’ll keep getting picked on from now on. But after what he went through, he felt lucky to have days like these. He only realized now how precious it was.
Yan arrived in the afternoon with food that she made herself instead of food made by Luo Huimei. The Zhou couple previously ate a meal that Yan had prepared and realized how much her cooking skills had improved. Luo Huimei was especially impressed. Since then, she insisted that Yan made food every day and did not take another step into the kitchen herself.
At that moment, as she was eating the delicious food, she said, “Yan, what sort of work have you been doing the past few years? You’ve grown thinner but your cooking skills have improved so much. Did you work as a cook for someone overseas?”
“How can that be? I’ve been working as a designer all along. I used to eat out with my friends a lot. But I had a lot of free time as well so I decided to cook. That way, I can satisfy my cravings and that of others.”
“I see.”
Mr. Zhou looked at Yan. “I heard from your mom that you’ve been—”
Yan seemed to have caught on. She cleared her throat to cut him off then looked at the both of them. “Dad. Mom. I have something to discuss with you.”
“What is it?”
“Go on.”
Yan drank the bowl of hot soup in her hands, then said, “I want to look for a place in our neighborhood and open a restaurant. What do you guys think?”
Both of them were stunned. “Open a restaurant?”
Yan nodded. “Yes. As you know, my cooking skills are commendable now. I want to open a restaurant somewhere in our neighborhood. If it’s nearby, it also makes it more convenient for me to take care of you guys. If everything works out, I’m planning on settling down here.”
The Zhou couple looked at each other and did not say a word. Yan went on, “I also love cooking. Dad, because of your accident this time, I think it’s best if you stopped working. Working at the Ye Group might not be bad but it’s quite burdensome. I want the both of you to be like other old people with a lot of free time from now on—going out for walks, watching TV, and even joining a community dance from time to time.”
Luo Huimei blinked. Our daughter has planned out the rest of our days for us. She then asked, “Enough about us. Have you thought about how you’re going to run your business after you open this restaurant? After all, you’re a woman and you’re still unmarried. How will you manage when you’ll be busy with your restaurant?”
“Mom, I can still open a restaurant without getting married. I don’t need to depend on a man to open a restaurant. If I need help, I can always hire people. I’ve stored up some savings over the past few years, so you don’t have to worry about that. I just wanted to discuss a good location to open a restaurant with you guys.”
Mr. Zhou understood her. “I know what you mean. Since you want to start a business, we, as parents, will definitely help you. You don’t have to worry about financial problems either. You’re our only child. We will definitely give you our full support.”
“You’ve worked hard to earn all that money. You can keep it to buy whatever you want and stop working from now on. I have enough money to open my own restaurant.”
“You’re a woman. How would you have that much money? You need money to open a restaurant. Purchasing things such as furniture and appliances will all cost a lot of money. You—”
“Don’t worry. I really do have money.” Indeed, she had made a lot of money from following Han Muzi around all this time. Han Muzi was a designer, and since Yan had always stuck by her and helped her out, Han Muzi never under-compensated her for her work. When they started the new company, Han Muzi even increased Yan’s salary.
Salary aside, Han Muzi also gave her various bonuses. The year-end bonuses were especially generous. Whenever Yan felt like she had been lucky, Muzi would tell her that she deserved it.
Yan told her parents all of that. Otherwise, they would have assumed she spent her time overseas fooling around and would not be able to comprehend how she had so much money. The Zhou couple felt slightly bad after they came to know the truth.
Nonetheless, Luo Huimei was rather delighted. “You have such a good boss. She’s also so talented to be a designer at such a young age. You should invite her over some time so we can thank her properly.”
