Their conversation was interrupted by the owner’s wife bringing the dishes.

Ruan Yu originally had no appetite, but the moment she smelled the aromas, she felt hungry again.

The dishes on the table were all home-style cooking with a simple presentation, but perfect in color, fragrance, and taste. Remarkably, every dish matched its menu photo, with even more generous portions.

Teng Yi pushed a bowl of bone soup in front of Ruan Yu.

“Try it.”

Ruan Yu nodded and took a spoonful.

The broth was rich and savory, not the artificial flavor from MSG, but a natural umami taste that warmed her entire body with just one sip.

“It’s made from marrow bones. My husband and I picked the freshest ones from the market early this morning and simmered them all morning,” the owner’s wife added.

“It’s delicious.”

“If you like it, have more. All the dishes are here now, take your time eating.”

The owner’s wife said as she retreated to the kitchen.

The hall fell quiet again, but their previous topic had completely ended.

Ruan Yu ate silently while Teng Yi barely touched his food.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“You eat,” he took a sip of tea. “Didn’t you hear earlier? Mainly to thank you. Without you, Teng Hao couldn’t have improved so much.”

“You heard it too – I should be thanking you. Without this job, I wouldn’t have been able to gather enough tuition fees.” Ruan Yu’s chopsticks played with the bone in her soup bowl, her curved bangs hiding her eyes and emotions.

“Stop, no more thanks back and forth,” Teng Yi pushed the dish in front of her eyes. “Just eat.”

Ruan Yu’s lips curved slightly upward as she lowered her head to continue drinking the soup, taking small sips, still appearing deeply troubled.

After a while, she suddenly spoke: “I really envy your relationship with your mom. You’re family, but also like friends. That’s wonderful.”

Teng Yi didn’t respond.

She didn’t seem to need him to respond.

“I hate my mom. After my dad passed away, she abandoned me… Her leaving completely turned me into what others call a wild child with no parents.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Teng Yi could see that saying these words and holding back the tears in her eyes had already cost her all her strength.

“I once hated my mom too,” he said.

Ruan Yu was caught off guard, and in that moment of distraction, tears rolled down her cheeks. She hurriedly wiped them away, as if crying was something she was extremely uncomfortable with and found embarrassing.

“Why?”

Their mother-son relationship seemed so harmonious.

“Because of my father,” Teng Yi turned the teapot beside him casually. “Teng Hao and I never knew who our father was, only that his surname was Teng.”

Ruan Yu was stunned.

She had never heard Teng Yi or Teng Hao mention their father before. She thought that someone who never appeared in conversation had either left this world or left their lives, but she never imagined that this person had never had a name from the beginning.

“Compared to not having a father, the stigma of being illegitimate children is worse.” Teng Yi gazed at the departing black-awning boats outside the window, his thoughts seeming to drift far away.

There was a time when everyone around them discussed his and his brother’s background, discussed their mother Shen Bing’s disgraceful past. Although few people mention it now, actually everyone in the business world knows Shen Bing’s story.

Yes, Shen Bing had fallen in love with a man in her naive youth and then became that man’s hidden mistress for six years.