After the divorce, he took care of his child and sold fried rice; his ex-wife was filled with regret

Sun Peng suddenly raised his voice, his face filled with disbelief and shock: "Old Lin, are you out of your mind?!"

"Back then, countless people across the province were scrambling to get into architectural design institutes, but the old director insisted on giving you a spot. You not only refused, but you actually went to work as an apprentice in the kitchen?!"

Zhou Yun, standing nearby, was also somewhat surprised: "Being a restaurant apprentice is the hardest and most tiring job! Washing vegetables, cutting meat, and scrubbing dishes all day long, what are you doing this for?"

Even Su Xiaoxiao, who was sitting to the side, was stunned.

She always thought that Lin Fan's superb cooking skills were a family tradition. She never expected that Lin Fan had worked his way up from the bottom as an apprentice after giving up his promising future!

Faced with the three people's shocked and speechless gazes, Lin Fan simply smiled faintly.

"Back when she first graduated, Su Qing was running her own company. She was a strong-willed person, and she would go out before dawn every day to run business and attract investment. She would get up early and come home late, and her meals were never on a regular schedule."

Lin Fan spoke calmly and slowly, "She's had a bad stomach since she was little. Eating too much oil and salt from restaurants or fast food would cause her stomach to hurt so badly that she couldn't sleep all night."

"Back then, someone in the family always had to take care of things at home. Since she wanted to go out and make her way in the world, I wanted to take care of cooking at home."

"But just knowing how to cook instant noodles and fry eggs isn't enough, is it?"

Lin Fan looked at the tea leaves floating in the teacup: "If you want to regulate your body, you need to know how to combine meat and vegetables, how to make a stomach-soothing soup, and how to process whole grains and remove the fishy smell from meat."

"Without someone to teach you, you simply can't grasp the intricacies of those proper white and red dish cooking techniques outside."

"So I found a long-established restaurant's kitchen and started learning knife skills, cooking techniques, and soup-making skills from the basics: washing vegetables, scaling fish, and chopping meat."

The entire round table was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All that remained was the soft bubbling sound of pork rib and lotus root soup simmering in the clay pot beside them.

Sun Peng sat in the chair, his mouth slightly open, looking at Lin Fan who seemed completely at ease. His teacup remained suspended in mid-air, not being put down for a long time.

He knew all too well how ambitious Lin Fan was back then.

In college, Lin Fan was the kind of perfectionist who would tear up the entire drawing and redraw it if he made a single mistake in drawing a line.

A top student who considers his major his life's work was willing to spend his time in the kitchen for the sake of a woman's stomach.

Sun Peng leaned back in his chair, looked at the composed Lin Fan, and sighed heavily:

"Old Lin, you really went all out to start a family back then."

Sun Peng picked up the teacup on the table and slowly took a sip, his tone full of sighs and感慨:

"Back then, you even sacrificed your promising future at the provincial architectural design institute for her. Everyone thought you two would have a smooth and successful life together, but we never expected you'd still end up apart..."

Zhou Yun sat to the side, watching Tuantuan quietly eating her ribs, and couldn't help but sigh softly:

"If two people can't get along in terms of personality and goals, forcing it will only torture each other. It's better to separate. As long as the children are doing well and you can move forward steadily, that's better than anything else."

Su Xiaoxiao kept her head down, her hands gripping the seams of her pants tightly, her eyes red-rimmed.

She used to only know that Boss Lin had exceptional skills and a calm personality, but now she realizes that behind his god-like craftsmanship lies a past of being betrayed.

On the contrary, Lin Fan, the person involved, remained calm and composed throughout the entire process.

He picked up the serving chopsticks and placed a soft and plump pearl dumpling in Sun Peng's bowl, then scooped half a spoonful of tender and sweet stewed lotus root for his daughter beside him.

Looking at Lin Fan's calm face, Sun Peng felt a mix of emotions.

He looked around and saw Zhou Yun helping the two little ones cut ribs, so he leaned forward and lowered his voice:

"Old Lin, speaking of which... the Su family's business has grown so big now, it's almost a multi-billion dollar conglomerate."

Sun Peng frowned, glanced at Tuantuan, and muttered under his breath, feeling somewhat indignant on Lin Fanming's behalf:

"Their family is so wealthy; even a single hair from their head could feed an ordinary person for a lifetime... Didn't the Su family do anything for their child?"

"Has the child support been paid? Su Qing, that mother, hasn't come to see her daughter since the divorce?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Fan recalled the 500,000 yuan check Su Qing threw at him on the day they went through the paperwork, how she later snatched the child from the kindergarten with the old marriage certificate, and her aggressive demeanor in court.

He simply smiled faintly, picked up his teacup, took a sip of warm water, and said nothing.

That nonchalant smile conveyed a thousand unspoken words.

Sun Peng, who had lived in the same dormitory with Lin Fan for four years, immediately understood the situation when he saw Lin Fan's expression.

Old Lin didn't want to talk about it, simply because he disdained to dwell on those so-called past grievances.

"Back then, I thought settling down and starting a family was more important than my future, so I put all my effort into it. Later, when things didn't work out, we broke up, and I don't have much to say about it."

Lin Fan picked up his teacup, took a sip of warm water, smiled, and continued, "Besides, the knife skills and craftsmanship I learned in the kitchen over those two years have now become my livelihood."

"I just want to raise my daughter with my own hands and live a peaceful life every day."

Sun Peng looked into Lin Fan's calm and insightful eyes, remained silent for a long time, and then slapped his thigh hard:

"That's right! For a real man, having a clear conscience is more important than anything else! You can take things on and let them go easily. Old Lin, you're even more admirable than you were back in college!"

Sun Peng picked up his wine glass, filled it to the brim, and poured Lin Fan half a cup of hot tea, shouting, "Come on! Old Lin! Let's have another one!"

The two men clinked their glasses heavily and drank them down in one gulp.

Zhou Yun sat to the side, looking at Lin Fan's calm and composed profile, and then at Tuantuan quietly chewing on the soft and tender ribs next to her. A complex feeling welled up in her heart.

She was a woman, and she knew very well how strong a man's pride could be.

He was once the top student in the entire department, but he gave up his promising future for love and worked as an apprentice in the kitchen for several years under an assumed name. In the end, he ended up raising his five-year-old daughter alone.

Judging from Lin Fan's simple clothes and the child beside him, he must be having a tough time.

Seeing that Sun Peng had put down his cup and was about to ask more questions, Zhou Yun quickly reached under the table and gently tugged at the back of Sun Peng's coat.

She turned slightly to the side, and under the guise of reaching for a tissue, lowered her voice and quickly whispered in Sun Peng's ear, "Old Sun, that's enough. Stop asking so many questions."

"Lin Fan is a grown man with a child who just got divorced. He must be short of money and embarrassed."

"Don't be so blunt and unfiltered. You always bring up things that are hard to talk about and always try to hurt people's feelings."

Sun Peng paused for a moment after being pulled by his wife.

He patted Zhou Yun's hand under the table, indicating that he knew what he was doing.