“Look at you—what’re you talking about? Marriage is one of the greatest things in life; why is it not a route that one has to take? Let me tell you; if you haven’t found the love of your life and don’t get married, then so be it. But, if you deliberately stay unmarried for the rest of your life, I’ll be the first to beat you to death.”
Yan was rendered speechless. Whatever. I’m just going to stop telling them about how I feel. And who says that I don’t want to get married? I do want to—but only with the person that loves me and that I love back. Only a marriage like that would be a happy one. But now, the person I love does not love me back. I feel I’ll never fall for another person other than Han Qing for the rest of my life. Maybe I might end up being unmarried.
“There’s still a long way to go for you since you’re still young. Stop thinking about all that nonsense. Once you reach a certain age, you’ll find that there are no setbacks too great for you to overcome. Life is full of ups and downs.”
Speaking from experience, Luo Huimei was able to see the bigger picture of things. After all, Yan was her daughter, and she could tell how different she had become ever since she came back. Just that, as a mother, there were certain things that she would not want to ask; things that were too private and sensitive.
“I understand, Mom. Let me go check on Little Bean to see if he’s up.” Yan went to wake Little Bean, who had been following her around these couple of days.
Since Mr. Zhou found out that Little Bean had moved in, he had been pestering them to get him discharged. It was obvious why Mr. Zhou wanted to get discharged, but his injuries had not fully recovered, so Yan and Luo Huimei would not let that happen so soon. For this reason, Mr. Zhou became moody for a long time. He would stare at Yan faintly each time she went to send him food and ask her when he could be discharged.
This incident made Yan chuckle each time she thought about it as she did not expect her father to be this childish. To prepare for the grand opening of the ramen shop, Luo Huimei decided to pick a special day, but it seemed like there was no such day until next month.
That would mean that they would have to wait until next month for the grand opening.
Being impatient, Yan wanted to quickly get the business up and running, so she could distract herself from all the nonsensical thoughts. “Can we just skip picking a special day? Dad still has one more week before he gets discharged. We can pick the day when he gets out of the hospital as that’ll be a special day.”
Luo Huimei gave it a thought. “I can pick him up from the hospital and head to the shop directly.”
Yan nodded. “Sure.”
…
A week later, the shop was all ready. For the grand opening, Luo Huimei bought some firecrackers which Yan thought were too dangerous, so she sent them back and got a refund. In the end, she purchased some balloons and flowers instead.
Since the contract had been signed, Yan did not spare any money and hired two assistants to help her out. Besides, special grand opening deals were underway today. For example, if one snapped a picture of the food and uploaded it on Instagram, they would be entitled to a free meal as long as they had 88 or more likes on the post. This deal was valid if the total price of the meal was within 500. Anything in excess would have to be borne by the customer.
There were also some gifts to be given out so long as one spent a certain amount. Yan had been staying up late to work on all these promotions. Even though the dark circles around her eyes were evident, she was still in good spirits on that day.
She had also lost considerable weight in these past few days. Yan did not have an oval-shaped face, but a round one. After she lost weight, her cheeks had become angular, which made her features, especially her eyes, stand out more. Even though she looked somewhat thin and pallid, she was more stunning than before.
After picking up Mr. Zhou, Luo Huimei headed to the ramen shop. When they were getting out of the car, Luo Huimei charged Mr. Zhou, “Please be careful! You’ve just got discharged. I don’t want you to fall and get admitted to the hospital again.”
Mr. Zhou remained silent. She’s a good life partner in every aspect if it wasn’t for her words! Can’t she say something nicer?
Mr. Zhou staggered and almost fell as he started walking. Seeing this, Luo Huimei quickly went up to support him before starting to scold him again. “Look at you. What did I say earlier? Be careful so you don’t fall and get admitted again. See what happened—you almost fell! You’re lucky I’m here to save you.”
Mr. Zhou was rendered speechless. I wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t said that! As much as he wanted to say this, he thought he should just remain quiet so that they would not get into a fight in public.
Customers had started flooding in when they two arrived at the shop. Looking at the design and renovation work, Mr. Zhou nodded in approval. “I like this style. What did Yan do to get a place in this golden area at such a rate?”
Luo Huimei thought otherwise. “What do you mean by what she did? Didn’t I tell you everything already? That Mr. Lin doesn’t need the money, so the high rent that he set was probably to deter those who have ulterior motives from renting this place. Our capable daughter managed to leverage on the fact that Mr. Lin misses his wife dearly.”
“That’s strange. How do you think Yan managed to tell what was on Mr. Lin’s mind? Even if she did, how could she be entirely sure about it? Perhaps she knows what it feels like to miss someone close to her heart.” Mr. Zhou was trying to convey something. They glanced at each other and were well-coordinated in not responding to one another.
“Dad, Mom, you’re here.” Seeing the two from the inside, Yan quickly came out and held Mr. Zhou by his arm. “How’s everything? Did the doctor say anything? Are you feeling much better today?”
“Nothing much. He just told me to get some more rest at home. Also, I’m not allowed to do any physical exercises any time soon.”
Upon hearing that, Yan let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
“Where’s little President Ye?” The first thing Mr. Zhou asked about after he glanced at his daughter was to ask about the whereabouts of Little Bean. This annoyed Yan as her dad did not come here straight out of the hospital for the grand opening, but to see Little Bean.
“Dad, you can just call him Little Bean as I do. Please don’t address him as little President Ye. It’ll sound odd if the customers hear that.”
Mr. Zhou nodded. “Sure. He won’t hold it against me, would he?”
“What are you talking about? He’s just a kid. After all, he’s been calling you Uncle Zhou. Stop with all that nonsense.” Then, Yan helped Mr. Zhou walk to a chair to have a seat and poured him a glass of water.
However, Mr. Zhou was looking around for Little Bean. Seeing this, Yan commented helplessly, “Alright, Dad. Stop looking around. Little Bean’s helping out in the kitchen.”
Mr. Zhou’s eyes widened as he heard that. “Helping out? Helping out with what? Yan, you’re not mistreating little President Ye, are you?”
“Why would I mistreat him?” She could never mistreat Little Bean because he was so smart and witty. However… she felt like recently he had been going through something as he was a lot more obedient than usual.
