Su Ma looked at her own daughter.

Su Man was scrolling through WeChat with focused attention, determined to pass along the trainer’s contact information to Lu Yuwen.

The gap in strategic awareness was enough to make anyone anxious!

Clearly her daughter couldn’t be counted on. She’d have to rely on herself.

Su Ma cleared her throat and asked as if it were a casual question, “The restaurant business isn’t easy. With Xiao Lu managing several restaurants, does someone help out at home? Otherwise it must be exhausting.”

Lu Yuwen replied warmly, “It’s manageable. I have business partners who help, and the managers at each of the restaurants are quite capable. They all came over from my mother’s old restaurant — they’re longtime staff I can trust.”

“Oh, I see……” Su Ma nodded. “So you’ve essentially inherited the family business.”

“Yes.” Lu Yuwen said. “My parents divorced when I was very young. I grew up in a single-parent household. My mother ran a home-style restaurant to make ends meet, but she worked herself too hard in her early years, and she became ill and passed away while I was in college. After graduating, I took over and reopened her restaurant, and I’ve kept it going ever since.”

He understood perfectly well what Su Ma really wanted to know, so in a few brief words, he laid out his circumstances clearly and completely.

Su Ma couldn’t help but feel moved. “Your mother really had it hard — raising you and working at the same time.”

Lu Yuwen smiled with a trace of bitterness. “She did. By the time we want to repay our parents, they’re already gone. Every time I think of her, I tell myself — no matter how difficult it gets, I have to keep her restaurant going. Fortunately, the restaurants are doing well now, and I’ve even opened branches. At least I haven’t let her down.”

The look in Su Ma’s eyes, without her realizing it, had softened. She said with feeling, “Your mother’s sacrifices weren’t in vain. If she could see how outstanding you’ve become, she’d be very proud.”

Lu Yuwen smiled warmly.

Su Ma asked further, “And your father — do you still keep in touch with him?”

At that, Lu Yuwen’s lips pressed together slightly. He didn’t answer right away, as though there was something he was reluctant to say.

Su Man glanced at Lu Yuwen, then at her mother, and quietly said, “Maybe we should change the subject……”

It felt like the conversation was getting too heavy.

And it was touching on private matters……

The corners of Su Ma’s mouth stiffened almost imperceptibly.

She was in the middle of gathering crucial information, and her daughter wasn’t even helping — she was just getting in the way.

Lu Yuwen gave a light smile. “It’s alright. It’s just been so long that when he comes up, I don’t quite know where to begin.”

Su Ma couldn’t help asking, “How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

Beside her, Su Man furrowed her brow slightly, puzzled. Lu Yuwen had already said it was hard to explain, so why was her mother still pressing? These were personal matters — what was there to pry about? Really now, had she gotten more nosy with age?

If Su Ma had known what her daughter was thinking at that moment, she might have coughed up blood.

“I can’t quite remember clearly……” Lu Yuwen said, choosing his words carefully. “He moved out to live with another woman when I was probably five or six. After that, we never had any contact. So many years have passed — even if I ran into him on the street one day, I probably wouldn’t recognize him.”

Su Ma frowned deeply. “Your father was really something else — leaving all the hardship of raising you to your mother alone.”

Lu Yuwen said, “When I was born, I wasn’t in good health, and he felt I was an embarrassment to him. He kept pressuring my mother to have another child, but she refused. They quarreled on and off for years, and when he finally moved out, the house actually became far more peaceful than when he was there.”

“Better off without a father like that.” Su Ma said, firmly on his side. “Your mother was capable, and you’ve turned out to be someone to be proud of. He’ll surely regret it one day!”

Inwardly, she thought: No wonder this young man has such a careful, measured way of thinking — growing up without a father, you’d have to be, or you’d be walked all over.

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