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

Zhou Yun turned her head and looked intently into Sun Peng's eyes:

"Think about Lao Lin's demeanor just now. What big boss would act so frugally when taking his daughter out for a holiday?"

Upon hearing these words, Sun Peng's previously feverish mind instantly calmed down.

Sun Peng stood there, frowning and pondering for a moment.

indeed.

This is completely illogical.

Having worked his way up over the past few years, Sun Peng has met many real big bosses and investors.

Those people travel in either high-end business vans or large-displacement luxury cars; their every move exudes the pomp and circumstance cultivated by capital.

And what about Lin Fan?

He left the Su family a few months ago, and was all alone with his five-year-old daughter.

Moreover, Lao Lin has been an orphan since childhood, with no family background in Jiangcheng.

No matter how talented you are at cooking, it's impossible to transform yourself into a top female celebrity's boss on Weibo in just a few months.

This simply doesn't make sense in real society.

"Then... how come the store name and address match perfectly?" Sun Peng scratched the back of his head, somewhat puzzled.

Zhou Yun sighed softly, a knowing look in her eyes:

"Didn't Lin Fan just say that after graduating, he worked as an apprentice in the kitchen of a long-established restaurant for two whole years?"

Sun Peng blinked sharply: "You mean...?"

"That's probably the case."

Zhou Yun lowered her voice and analyzed with great certainty:

"The owner of Lin's Shop is definitely someone else. As for the shop name, it might just be a gimmick for branding, or the owner might just happen to have the surname Lin."

"Lin Fan just happened to work at that store."

Zhou Yun leaned against the glass door of the mall, her voice even softer:

"Just now at the dinner table, you kept asking him what he was doing now, whether he needed to borrow money to tide him over, and you were talking about your annual salary and stuff... Lin Fan was so successful in college, he must have a strong sense of self-esteem."

"He just got divorced and is struggling to make a living raising his child alone. How can he possibly admit to you that he's actually just a back-of-house kitchen worker, toiling away from dawn till dusk?"

"That's why he vaguely mentioned it was his shop—just to save face in front of his old classmate and retain a shred of adult dignity!"

After hearing Zhou Yun's reasonable and airtight reasoning, Sun Peng froze on the spot, his lips trembling slightly, unable to utter a word for a long time.

The wind blew past the mall entrance, making people's cheeks sting with cold.

Sun Peng recalled the bread truck and the image of Xiao Tuantuan peeling oranges so thoughtfully.

For a moment, his eyes welled up with tears. He felt no resentment at being kept in the dark, but rather a deep sense of heartache and sorrow for his old brother.

"That silly boy..."

Sun Peng gritted his teeth, wiped his face hard, and said in a hoarse voice:

"What's wrong with working in the kitchen? Earning a living with your skills, making a few thousand dollars a month through hard work, what's shameful about that? Why do you insist on claiming it's your own..."

"He works from dawn till dusk every day and has to raise his daughter Yangyang, who is already so big, all by himself... His life must be incredibly tough."

Sun Peng suddenly turned to look at Zhou Yun, and instructed her in an extremely serious tone:

"Honey, when we go to that shop on Golden Street this weekend, keep this a secret from everyone!"

"A man's pride is more important than anything. If we expose this, Lao Lin won't even be able to be my friend anymore!"

Zhou Yun nodded: "I know, I know what I'm doing."

"Once we get to the restaurant, we'll pretend we know nothing. Even if the food they serve is just average, we'll still rave about how delicious it is!"

"Let's order the most expensive set meal, and Lao Lin will cover everything!"

"If we eat more and spend more money, Lao Lin will get a few more bonuses at the end of the month when the kitchen calculates performance bonuses or production commissions!"

"If we can lend a hand, we'll do so discreetly!"

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Zhou Yun's eyes also welled up with tears as she pulled her down jacket tighter in agreement.

……

at the same time.

The Wuling Hongguang drove smoothly on the wide asphalt road of the South Suburb Industrial Avenue.

A warm breeze was blowing inside the carriage.

In the back seat, Tuantuan held the soft body of the orange cat Xiajiao with her two little hands, her little head tilted to one side, making soft and even breathing sounds, sleeping very soundly.

Su Xiaoxiao sat in the passenger seat and turned to look at Lin Fan, who was focused on driving:

"Brother Lin, where is this central kitchen? This area looks like it's mostly large heavy industry and modern logistics parks, right?"

In her original expectation, the "central kitchen that Brother Lin took over" was probably a farmhouse with a large freezer in the suburbs, or a small processing workshop that specializes in cutting and preparing vegetables and meat for people.

After all, Lin's shop is just a street-side restaurant of about 200 square meters. No matter how much food they prepare every day, a few people in the kitchen can handle it. There is no need for them to come to this kind of heavy industrial park that is tens of thousands of square meters.

Lin Fan held the steering wheel with one hand, turned on the right turn signal, and the car slowed down smoothly.

"In order to seize the chain supply in the Central China market, Dingfeng Group built a standardized supply chain base here."

"Later, when their Central China branch ran into trouble, Qin Lang took over the entire factory and its qualifications, and put them under my name."

"I happen to have some free time today, so I'll take this opportunity to check out the automated packaging line, the 500-ton deep-freeze warehouse, and the cold chain logistics vehicles in the workshop, and also pick up the management accounts."

Su Xiaoxiao nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

The Wuling Hongguang drove off the ring expressway and turned onto No. 3 Avenue in the South Suburb Industrial Park.

After driving a few hundred meters, a huge factory area surrounded by a solid white wall came into view.

The entire factory area covers dozens of acres, and inside stands a four-story modern office main building, two large-span light gray steel structure sterile workshops, and a towering silver-white refrigeration tower at the rear.

The Wuling Hongguang stopped in front of the factory's electric retractable gate.

The two young security guards standing in the guard booth at the entrance stared blankly at the ordinary bread cart with a few scratches on its paint.

One of the security guards pushed open the door and came out, raising his hand to signal the car to stop:

"Sir, are you delivering goods or running errands? This is a closed food production park; vehicles without permits are not allowed in. Who are you looking for?"

Lin Fan rolled down the car window: "I'm looking for your factory director, Zhang Defa."

The security guard glanced at Lin Fan, noticing his simple attire and the student-looking girl with a backpack sitting in the passenger seat, and asked in a businesslike manner:

"Director Zhang is in the workshop. Did you make an appointment in advance? What is your surname? I'll call the factory office to verify."

"No appointment."

Upon hearing the words "no appointment," the young security guard's previously polite expression immediately darkened slightly.

He glanced at the silver-gray Wuling Hongguang, its paint bearing several scratches, his brows furrowing deeply, and waved his hands repeatedly.