Su Ma was astonished. “Li Li called you a fox?”
Su Man furrowed her brows and thought it over carefully. “…No wait, he was actually calling Lu Yuwen a smooth-talking fox.”
Su Ma burst out laughing.
“Mum! What’s funny about this?!” Su Man’s brow stayed tightly knitted, her face full of displeasure. “Whether he’s calling me or someone else a fox doesn’t make it okay! What gives him the right to say something like that?! He’s absolutely unhinged!”
Su Ma was still cheerful and breezy. “Anyway, you two fight every few days — that’s perfectly normal. Ah, never mind all that — forget it, quickly tell me: how was the Japanese restaurant with Xiao Lu today?”
Su Man pressed her lips together. “It was fine. The food was really good…”
“And? What else?”
Su Ma looked at her daughter expectantly.
Su Man frowned. “And what? What else could there be? We ate, and then we came home.”
Su Ma was speechless.
“I’m going to my room.” Su Man went upstairs in a sullen huff, muttering, “So annoyed — why did I have to run into Li Li? He completely ruined my mood.”
Su Ma couldn’t help but follow her, calling after her: “Surely you didn’t just eat the whole time? What did you two talk about? Tell your mother…”
“We just chatted about this and that.” Su Man replied matter-of-factly. “We talked about ingredients, about drinks and wine — oh right, we also talked about dipping sauces! Mum, you wouldn’t know, but there’s actually a lot of art to dipping sauces. A good dipping sauce can take the natural freshness of an ingredient to a whole other level.”
Su Ma listened for ages and still couldn’t get to the point. Her face fell. “Other than food, did you talk about anything else?”
“What else would we talk about?” Su Man turned and looked at her mother with a puzzled expression. “He’s opening a restaurant — of course that’s what we’d talk about.”
Su Ma immediately felt a wave of breathlessness, and stared at her daughter with the particular exasperation of someone watching iron refuse to become steel:
“Couldn’t you have asked about how many people are in his family? Where he’s originally from? What his parents do? What he studied in university? What his hobbies are? What his views are on current social issues? Whether he has any religious beliefs…”
Su Man stopped walking. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at her mother, as though completely taken aback.
Su Ma: “……”
Even she herself probably realized she’d overdone it. She gave a slightly sheepish smile and played it off casually: “I just think that understanding his family situation means we can better help him, you know… Xiao Lu saved your father’s life, and to this day we haven’t had a chance to really express our gratitude. Now that you’re accompanying him to check out different restaurants every day, this is a great opportunity to get to know him better.”
Su Man thought it over for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll ask for you next time.”
Su Ma felt like she couldn’t breathe…
What does she mean, ask for us? Don’t you have even a shred of curiosity yourself?!
Ah!
How did she end up with such a completely oblivious child!
“Right, Mum.” Su Man suddenly spoke.
Su Ma startled and looked at her.
Su Man reached the door of her bedroom, pushed it open, and asked in a natural tone: “Why have you been home every day lately? Don’t you need to go to the hospital to be with Dad?”
“Oh… your father, your father is doing better lately…” Su Ma answered evasively. “He… doesn’t really need much company.”
The moment she finished speaking, a phone ringtone suddenly sounded from the other end of the hallway.
Su Ma immediately said: “That must be your father’s call! I’ll go get it. Manman, go take a shower and then go to sleep — don’t stay up late.”
Saying so, she made her way toward her own bedroom.
Su Man watched her mother’s disappearing figure with suspicion, muttering under her breath: “So strange.”
……
Su Ma answered the call, and Su Ba’s voice came through the other end with barely-contained urgency:
“What took you so long to pick up?! Where’s Manman? Is she back? How did the date go?! Tell me everything!”
—