Ran Qiuye was overwhelmed with mixed feelings. She fought back her tears and said to him, "But you just won't change!"

"Change it, it has to be changed. Tomorrow I'll throw away this dressing table and all the furniture in this room, and replace it with a new set."

Xiao Dang and He Sui looked at each other, instantly feeling like they were superfluous.

Unable to bear it any longer, Xiao Dang stood up and pulled He Sui away, saying, "I'm taking my brother for a walk around the area. I won't be a third wheel for you two!"

He Sui was also clever. Although he didn't understand what a light bulb was, he made a face at his mother and then happily followed Xiao Dang.

Only after Sha Zhu and Ran Qiuye were left in the room did he foolishly make them a cup of tea.

Ran Qiuye looked at him with a half-smile: "This tea wasn't bought by Qin Huairu again, was it?"

"Don't mention her to me! It was her who, in front of Xu Damao and all these people in the courtyard, reported that you and I were having an affair, and even tried to get that bastard Xu Damao to take me down..."

Once they started talking, they couldn't stop, and the two of them chatted back and forth for over an hour.

Ran Qiuye, her mouth dry from talking and having drunk a lot of tea, concluded, "So the culprit who caused our breakup is Qin Huairu! Let me tell you, He Yuzhu, if I hadn't asked around and found out that you haven't gotten married after all these years, especially not married to Qin Huairu, I wouldn't have come to see you today! Not only would I not have come, but I also wouldn't have let you see He Sui. Anyway, he's never seen his father since he was born, and he's gotten used to it all these years!"

Suddenly, Sha Zhu seemed to have a flash of insight: "That's right, back then you left without a word, as if you suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared. I thought it was a dream, and I was afraid to wake up, afraid that if I woke up, I would never remember you again..."

Ran Qiuye hadn't expected him to be so emotional. Tears streamed down her face like a collapsing dam, bursting forth: "It was that vicious, heartless woman! She threatened to tell the neighborhood committee, the school, and even the workers' disciplinary team at your factory! I'm willing to risk everything, but what about my parents? They were back then…"

When she got to the heartbreaking part, Ran Qiuye broke down in tears. Sha Zhu's heart ached, and he couldn't help but reach out and hug her waist: "I know, I know everything. I just miss you. I've been missing you all these years."

Ran Qiuye slowly nestled into Sha Zhu's arms. The two of them had feelings for each other. During those darkest days, it was Sha Zhu, and only Sha Zhu, who dared to say without hesitation that he couldn't live without her.

Ran Qiuye had feelings for Sha Zhu, otherwise she wouldn't have given birth to He Sui. After escaping, her family first traveled to Anhui and hid in the home of an old friend.

Then, relying on the connections and favors of her parents' former classmates, she carefully traveled north to Inner Mongolia, then crossed the border to Outer Mongolia, and finally arrived at Da Mao's home, where she lived in anonymity.

Ten years later, Ran Qiuye and her family seized another opportunity and moved to Singapore through a talent recruitment program, where they settled down.

Sha Zhu stammered, "You, you haven't done anything all these years..."

Ran Qiuye suddenly punched him: "I didn't cheat on you, right?"

His appearance and expression completely stunned Sha Zhu!

Ran Qiuye spoke slowly, like a whisper, like a murmur: "I've been teaching at the university all these years, and it's not that no one has pursued me; there have been men from all walks of life. I didn't expect I'd be so popular."

Sha Zhu was so moved that he burst into tears: "Ran Qiuye, let's get married?"

Ran Qiuye sat up and smiled gently: "He Yuzhu, are you proposing to me?"

Sha Zhu replied without hesitation, "Yes! Absolutely! Let's register our marriage tomorrow. I'll have a big celebration. I want everyone in this courtyard to see that I, He Yuzhu, have a wife and a son!"

Ran Qiuye stared at him blankly for a long time before saying with shame, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't agree to you... Please listen to me first. Ever since that incident, especially when I was pregnant with He Sui, everyone pointed fingers at me; those looks, and the life of wandering, caused me to suffer from a serious mental illness. I received treatment in Singapore, and the psychologist said that I have an extreme fear of marriage. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Although Sha Zhu doesn't understand what mental illness is or what a psychologist is, this is a mental illness, and mental illness needs to be treated with mental medicine.

Clearly, he was not Ran Qiuye's cure...

But it doesn't matter. He's waited all these years and bowed 99 times, so what's one more tremor?

Ran Qiuye gave birth to his eldest son! He already had a son, what more could he want?

※※※※※※

Sha Zhu and Xu Damao look exactly alike; sometimes Fatty really suspects they are brothers.

They're just as selfish, just as vindictive, and even their attention-seeking tendencies are exactly the same!

When Sha Zhu arrived at the restaurant at 5 p.m., his appearance was simply an eyesore.

His son, He Sui, was actually being carried on his back. Seeing the handsome little boy's utterly hopeless expression, the fat man knew that he must have been "forced" by Sha Zhu again.

A 16- or 17-year-old boy still having his father carry him on his back—a feeling of shame mixed with a strange emotion.

When she was little, He Sui could only watch enviously as other children played with their fathers, rode on their fathers' shoulders, and had their fathers carry them...

When his mother told him that he had a father and that she was going to take him to see his father, He Sui felt an indescribable mix of emotions!

He hated his father for abandoning him and his mother, for never visiting them from childhood to adulthood; on the other hand, he felt a pang of pain in his heart, and he couldn't help but wonder what his father looked like and what his abilities were.

Today, He Sui finally met his father, and to be honest, he was quite disappointed.

Well, his father's clothes and appearance can no longer be described as "outdated".

He looked like someone who had stepped out of an old black and white photograph, giving He Sui a sense of incongruity.

But after he and Sister Xiaodang went out into the streets and truly immersed themselves in the local life and the hutongs of Beijing, He Sui suddenly understood that her father should be like that, just like the people living here.

Now, He Sui has seen his father's abilities even more clearly.

Turns out, he's also a "chef"!

In Singapore, "chef" holds a very high status. They can often single-handedly make a high-end restaurant popular, and people usually patronize the restaurant because of the chef's reputation.