"A little later, when my mom comes, can you just say I ate all the shrimp, okay?" The little girl smiled brightly.
"No way. You're lying to me, and then you want me to lie to your mom? What's going on in that little head of yours?"
Chenchen pouted, "Hmph, stingy!"
Meng Yu raised his hand to swat, and Chenchen laughed as she ran away.
"Daring to run!" Meng Yu got up and chased after her.
While Meng Yu and Chenchen were playing in the backyard, Su Zhu came over carrying a bowl of Hand-pulled Noodles and a plate of braised beef.
"Chenchen, stop fooling around and let Brother Meng Yu come eat."
Meng Yu carried Chenchen over and sat down. After shoveling several mouthfuls of noodles, he looked up and said to Su Zhu, "Su Zhu, I came this time to ask you for a favor."
"Go ahead."
"A relative of mine is turning seventy tomorrow. I want to ask you to help make some longevity noodles for the celebration."
"He's here in Zhonghai?"
"Tomorrow, right? No problem."
Su Zhu agreed quickly for two reasons: first, it was a small favor, and Meng Yu had come specially to ask; she had no reason to refuse.
Second, networking!
Through recent conversations, Su Zhu had come to roughly understand Meng Yu's background. Anyone he respectfully called a senior must be someone important.
Her business would only grow bigger, and in the commercial world, troubles were inevitable. Having a big tree to lean on could save her a lot of headaches.
"Thanks!" Meng Yu said, then continued eating.
He quickly finished the bowl of noodles and half the plate of beef. Wiping his mouth, he casually asked, "Su Zhu, do you plan to raise Chenchen all by yourself forever? Aren't you thinking of finding someone to give Chenchen a complete family?"
"No." Su Zhu's eyes softened as she watched Chenchen playing on a swing against the wall a short distance away. "Chenchen just recovered. I'm raising her and running the business. I don't have time for anything else. This is fine."
"I think that's selfish!" Meng Yu said after taking a sip of water.
"Selfish? What do you mean?" Su Zhu looked puzzled.
"Think about it," Meng Yu capped the water bottle and set it on the table. "That's just your subjective idea. Have you asked Chenchen what she wants?"
"If you haven't gotten her consent, what right do you have to deny her the chance to have a father's love again?"
Su Zhu frowned but said nothing. She felt Meng Yu had a point.
Meng Yu continued,
"You're the one hurt emotionally, not the child. Maybe you're afraid of getting hurt again, but have you considered Chenchen's feelings? Do you know what growing up without a father's love can do to a child?"
"You haven't thought about these things!"
"And you still say you're not selfish?"
Su Zhu's frown deepened as she realized she had indeed overlooked this very serious issue.
After a moment, she rubbed her face hard, looked up at Meng Yu, and forced a bitter smile. "I admit, you're right about everything."
"But," she continued, "you know my family situation. Even if I wanted to rebuild a complete family for Chenchen, where could I find someone who truly loves and cares for her?"
"It's too difficult. I don't even hold out hope."
"How do you know if you don't try?" Meng Yu leaned forward and looked intently at Su Zhu. "I'll tell you a way."
"What way?"
"Let Chenchen find out herself. Kids have the keenest instincts. She can tell who truly loves her and who really treats her well."
For some reason, when Meng Yu said this, an image of Ouyang Yunjian suddenly flashed through Su Zhu's mind. She then bitterly shook her head — no way!
After the meal, Meng Yu and Su Zhu agreed to meet the next day. Meng Yu got up and took his leave.
Getting into his car, he looked at the long line outside the Hand-Pulled Noodle House across the street and smiled, muttering to himself, "Brother, this is as far as I can help. She probably won't be so resistant to finding a husband now. The rest is up to you!"
After saying that, Meng Yu sighed inexplicably, started the car, and drove off.
Running the noodle house is stable money, but there's a bottleneck — it's hard to develop it into a massive national chain!
Even if the Automatic Dough Mixer ran 24 hours a day, it could only produce enough dough for forty branches at most.
Su Zhu couldn't watch the dough mixer 24/7 either — she had to take care of Chenchen!
But the machine was so advanced that Su Zhu dared not reveal it or hire someone to watch it.
So even if she opened more branches, five hours of work per night was already her upper limit!
Five hours of dough mixing could supply six large branches!
But Su Zhu was now considering another problem: having only Hand-pulled Noodles was too monotonous. No matter how delicious, people would eventually get tired of it.
Take the past few days, for example. Many regular customers hadn't shown up — after all, no one can eat Hand-pulled Noodles every day.
Looks like she needed to add more projects!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。