“Officer Zhou, you…”
When the police motorcycle stopped in front of her, Mother Shen saw Zhou Muchuan first.
“Mom,” Shen Zhiyi called out.
“Zhiyi, you really went to Lu Village?” Seeing her daughter, the heavy weight of worry finally lifted from Mother Shen’s heart.
When she had asked Zhou Muchuan to pick Zhiyi up, he had said they would arrive before lunch. But she and Zhilan had waited and waited at home with no sign of them. Worried sick, she had gotten on her bicycle to look for them.
Perhaps it was a mother’s intuition, but as soon as she left the house, she headed straight for Lu Village.
Shen Zhiyi got off the motorcycle, and Mother Shen parked her bike. The two embraced tightly right in front of Zhou Muchuan.
“My good daughter… you’ve suffered so much all these years.”
“It wasn’t hard,” Shen Zhiyi shook her head, not wanting her mother to worry or blame herself.
“Your sister and I have missed you terribly.”
“Me too.” In her mother’s arms, the original owner’s emotions surged, and Shen Zhiyi felt them deeply too.
“Come, let’s go home.” Mother Shen held her daughter’s hand tightly. She didn’t even ask what she had been doing in Lu Village; her only goal was to bring her baby home.
Then, as if remembering something, she turned to Zhou Muchuan, still holding Zhiyi’s hand. “Officer Zhou, thank you so much for picking her up today. To celebrate, let’s go to Fumanlou Restaurant in town. My treat.”
“Could I trouble you to help us bring this chest back to the house first, and then pick up Zhilan and the little one to meet us at the restaurant? Would that be okay?”
“Of course, Auntie,” Zhou Muchuan replied. “But Fumanlou is quite expensive. How about we go somewhere simpler? Old Jia’s Tofu Shop is good, tasty and cheap.”
He didn’t want her to spend her hard-earned money.
Mother Shen saved every cent she could. Their house was run-down, yet she refused to spend money on repairs or new things. She never spent anything on herself, saving it all for her children. She was truly a selfless mother.
“It’s fine! Today is a happy day, a special occasion for our family. Officer Zhou, please come and share our joy!”
“Alright.” Zhou Muchuan didn’t refuse.
Shen Zhiyi rode on the back of her mother’s bicycle, while Zhou Muchuan headed to Lihua Village to pick up Shen Zhilan and her daughter.
At Fumanlou Restaurant in Jitian Town.
Shen Zhiyi’s niece, Little Miao Miao, who was almost five years old, wasn’t shy at all. She called her “Auntie” repeatedly, sounding warm and affectionate.
Although she was old enough to sit on her own, Shen Zhiyi loved the child so much that she held her in her lap throughout the meal.
When the menu arrived, Mother Shen let Zhou Muchuan order first. He simply picked tofu and a cold vegetable dish, choosing the cheapest items.
Mother Shen was generous. She ordered several meat dishes that the children loved, plus pumpkin cakes for Miao Miao.
For four adults and one child, the table was piled high with food.
They had arrived past the usual lunch rush, so some items were sold out, but no one minded; they were happy with whatever was available.
The tofu dish Zhou Muchuan ordered happened to be the last portion. The owner was kind and simply gave it to them for free.
They ate and chatted for about an hour and a half.
When it was time to pay, Mother Shen happily handed over 48 yuan.
That was almost equivalent to an average person’s monthly salary it was an expensive meal indeed.
To Shen Zhiyi, however, the food was cheap and the taste was merely average.
Yet Zhou Muchuan had said this was the best restaurant in town.
After the meal, Zhou Muchuan told Shen Zhiyi they needed to go to the station to fill out the forms for reopening her case. Mother Shen fully supported her daughter’s decision to clear her name immediately upon release.
During the meal, Shen Zhiyi had also casually mentioned she planned to divorce Lu Yusheng. Both her mother and sister supported this wholeheartedly.
After all, even without an official wedding, Lu Yusheng and Jiang Ruochu were already acting like a couple, openly walking together and ignoring the family completely.
Mother Shen and Shen Zhilan had been furious. They had gone to argue with Lu Yusheng before, but he had sneered that Shen Zhiyi was just an ex-convict and didn’t deserve him.
Mother Shen had been so angry she tried to scratch his face, and Jiang Ruochu had actually called the police. In the end, Lu Yusheng “let her off” and they settled it through mediation.
From that day on, Mother Shen stopped acknowledging Lu Yusheng as her son-in-law. She would pretend not to see him even if they passed each other in the market.
At first, during the first year Zhiyi was in prison, Mother Shen had often sent food and gifts to the Lu family, hoping that Lu Yusheng would remember their marriage and try to help Zhiyi get out early.
Instead, the Lu family accepted the gifts but laughed behind her back, calling the Shen family fools.
She realized then that Lu Yusheng was utterly worthless and untrustworthy.
A man like that? If Zhiyi hadn’t been willing to divorce him, Mother Shen would have forced her to do it anyway.
She herself had divorced Zhiyi’s father. People thought it was hard for a divorced woman to raise two daughters alone.
But looking back now, the road was tough, but she had made it. And she was happier now than she had been then.
It was far better than suffering and swallowing her pride in a bad marriage.
With her family’s full support, Shen Zhiyi felt no hesitation in her heart.
She knew that whatever she decided to do, her mother and sister would always be her strongest backing.
With that support, she was ready to take on the world.
Mother Shen left her bicycle for Shen Zhiyi to use. Zhou Muchuan first drove Mother Shen, Shen Zhilan, and Miao Miao back.
Shen Zhilan’s in-laws lived in another village, but today she wanted to stay with her sister, so she planned to spend the night at her parents’ house and return tomorrow.
While Zhou Muchuan took them home, Shen Zhiyi stayed behind and struck up a conversation with the staff at Fumanlou.
“Excuse me, comrade. If I wanted to work here, what would the salary be?”
“We’re fully staffed. The boss isn’t hiring,” the waitress cleaning the table replied dismissively, not wanting competition.
“What about chefs? Are you hiring chefs?” In Shen Zhiyi’s opinion, a restaurant like this should always be looking for good cooks.
After all, every chef has their own specialty.
When customers get tired of one style, a new chef brings fresh flavors, improving the experience and bringing customers back more often.
“No, we’re always looking for chefs,” the head chef walked over, smoking a cigarette and smiling at her. “Miss, what dishes are you good at?”
In their line of work, there were very few female chefs.
Women could cook decent home meals, but restaurant cooking was different it required strength. Not many women could even lift the heavy iron woks, let alone toss and flip the food.
“Are you the boss?” Shen Zhiyi raised an eyebrow.
“No, I’m the head chef,” he said. “But I have the final say on hiring assistants.”
“I don’t want to be an assistant. I want to be the Head Chef.”