Outside the restaurant.

With some office workers joining in, the line was still very long.

Ye Wen and Liu Menglin were in the line as well.

This time they didn’t go in ahead of time, but queued up with the other diners, waiting together.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go straight in, but since Ye Wen hadn’t been invited, she felt embarrassed to just cut in line and walk into the shop like that.

After all, it wasn’t like she was anyone special to Huang Tao; there was no reason she could just stroll in without even saying hello!

When it was their turn, the two of them walked into the shop together.

As soon as they stepped in...

Ye Wen spotted Huang Tao at a glance; her eyes lit up instantly and she called out to him, "Huang Tao, morning..."

"Morning..."

Seeing that it was Ye Wen and her bestie who had lined up to come in, Huang Tao smiled and nodded at them. Remembering that Ye Wen was Xuanxuan’s teacher, he subconsciously blurted out, "You can come anytime, no need to line up."

Hearing that voice so close, Ye Wen’s heart thumped wildly.

Was he... talking to me?!

Ye Wen was secretly overjoyed. To hear the always-slightly-distant Huang Tao say something as intimate as "You can come anytime, no need to line up," made all that waiting in line completely worth it.

Her pretty face flushed red. With her eyes shimmering, she let out a soft "mm" before she spoke, and reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear to hide her shyness.

Huang Tao smiled faintly.

The Ye Wen in front of him didn’t feel like a woman in her twenties, but more like a girl of eighteen or nineteen, just awakening to her first crush.

As for Liu Menglin, she was a bit surprised by what Huang Tao had just said.

She stared at Huang Tao, looking thoughtful.

Under Liu Menglin’s scrutinizing gaze, Huang Tao suddenly felt a little awkward for no reason.

He instinctively touched his own face and couldn’t help asking, "Miss Liu, what is it?"

"Nothing~"

Liu Menglin curved her lips into a smile. "I just wanted to ask, Boss Huang, if I could also ride on my Wen’s coattails, and come in to eat without lining up next time?"

As she spoke, she hooked both hands around Ye Wen’s arm and gently nudged Ye Wen a bit closer toward Huang Tao.

Ye Wen sneaked a glance at Huang Tao. When she saw him looking over, she quickly lowered her head.

But she soon realized—wait, no, why am I dodging?

I should channel my inner brave little bull and face him head-on!

Huang Tao gave a gentlemanly smile. "Of course."

"Go sit first, order whatever you want."

"Thanks!"

Liu Menglin thanked him, then pulled Ye Wen over to an empty table to sit down, and scanned the QR code to order.

Just then.

Gu Zhihao showed up again at Huang Tao’s shop with his girlfriend, Zhang Linya.

Before the man arrived, his voice came first.

"Tao, I got held up by something and came a bit late. Still got any left?"

Huang Tao smiled.

He thought to himself: Whatever held you up... was it serious or not?

He nodded and said, "Yeah, I saved some for you!"

"Ya, go grab a seat first!"

After telling his girlfriend that, Gu Zhihao slung an arm around Huang Tao’s shoulders and joked shamelessly, "My Tao really treats me right! All those four years of sleeping with you weren’t for nothing."

Huang Tao: "..."

Hearing that, anyone who didn’t know better would think the two of them had something going on...

He quickly raised his hand and smacked away Gu Zhihao’s "dog paw," giving him a small punishment for talking nonsense.

"Tss~"

In pain, Gu Zhihao bared his teeth and hissed, shooting Huang Tao a pitiful little look.

Which Huang Tao completely ignored.

"Oh right, Zhihao,"

Huang Tao casually asked, "You got time later?"

"Gotta go to work later!"

Gu Zhihao answered instinctively, then, still incorrigible, teased, "Why? You asking me out? I’m a decent guy, you know!"

"Get lost!"

Huang Tao lifted his hand in a half-slap gesture and shot Gu Zhihao a look that said, "Decent, my ass. I could smack you to death. Now get out of here," then said, "If you’re busy, forget it."

"Tao, what exactly do you want? Saying half of it like that—are you trying to stress me out so you can inherit my Huabei credit?"

Gu Zhihao patted Huang Tao’s shoulder and said with a serious face, "If you’ve got something going on, I’ll skip work to be there for you, man!"

Huang Tao told him the truth: "I’ve got my eye on a storefront on Zhonghua Road. I’m meeting them at nine to go take a look."

Not bad!

He wouldn’t have to keep running all the way to the West City Old Street anymore.

"Damn, that’s fast! Tao, you already found a new place?"

"Yeah!"

"That’s great, then I definitely gotta make time."

Grinning, Gu Zhihao said, "My Tao is moving into downtown; I have to witness it for myself."

"By the way, how big is this new place?"

"About a hundred and seventy square meters."

"Tsk, that’s pretty big!"

While feeling happy for Huang Tao, Gu Zhihao couldn’t help a wave of melancholy in his heart. He hadn’t expected his bro Tao to rise again in such a short time—expanding his business and opening such a big branch—unlike him, dragging himself to work every day, earning fifty or sixty thousand a month, driving an Audi A4 and just muddling through life.

Compared to Tao, he just felt like a useless piece of trash...

"Tao, so this shop, are you planning to rent it or buy it?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Zhihao felt he was being redundant.

It had to be renting.

For a storefront this big in the city center, it’s gotta be around ten million or so.

There’s no way he can afford to buy that!

Huang Tao shared his thoughts with his good bro: "I’m thinking of buying it, but I’ll check the price first."

Gu Zhihao was stunned: "A place like this is probably around ten million, right! Tao, do you have that much cash?"

Huang Tao grunted: "Nope!"

"Then how are you buying it? A loan? As far as I know, that apartment of yours can’t get you that big a loan, right? Two million would already be pushing it."

Gu Zhihao thought for a bit and said, "Tao, how about I lend you some."

This time it was Huang Tao’s turn to be stunned: "You have that much money? Your family got a demolition payout or something?"

"No demolition payout!"

Knowing Huang Tao was thinking along the wrong lines, Gu Zhihao waved his hand, then put on a fake-cool smile: "Not that much, but I do have four or five hundred thousand."

Huang Tao: "???"

Like, seriously.

Are we even talking about the same thing here?

Gu Zhihao chuckled: "Tao, your wallet’s pretty stuffed, huh! To think you’ve got that much money. How about you lend me some instead!"

"Your little bro here has his eye on a sports car lately, but I’m just a bit short on budget."

After saying that, he looked at Huang Tao with the slavish, dogleg expression of a flunky.

Huang Tao gave him a look that said "What makes you think I won’t hit you": "This ’bit short on budget’ of yours, how much is that?"

"Mm, not much, just about two million."

Good god!

Do you have some kind of fundamental misunderstanding about the words "not much"?

"Get lost, go stand over there somewhere..."

"Tao, you’re being mean to me..."

Gu Zhihao turned and called out: "Ya, Tao’s being mean to me. My fragile little heart is wounded, I need a hug."

Zhang Linya opened her arms, and Gu Zhihao dove straight in, his face pressed against those magnificent mountains and rivers.

That expression...

There really was no limit to how shameless he could be!

Huang Tao: "..."

He couldn’t even watch...

If he’d known this bastard would act this cheap, he never should’ve played divine wingman for him back then...

He seriously regretted it~

Hearing bits of Huang Tao and the others’ conversation, Ye Wen couldn’t help starting to ponder.

She was thinking about how she could help Huang Tao, do her little bit.

Just then.

"Daaaaddy~"

Xuanxuan’s sweet, milky voice echoed inside the shop, filling Huang Tao’s heart with warmth.

He turned around and looked...

And saw the little girl taking tiny quick steps as she ran toward him.

"Slow down..."

He quickly crouched down, reached out, and scooped her up into his arms.

He couldn’t help asking, "Xuanxuan, did you miss Daddy?"

Xuanxuan’s eyes curved into smiles as she nodded: "I did!"

Huang Tao tapped her little button nose and said, "I think what you really missed was Daddy’s breakfast!"

Wow, Daddy, you’re amazing!

You can even guess that!

Are you the big tapeworm living in Xuanxuan’s tummy?

She giggled "hee-hee," trying to bluff her way through.

Huang Tao went on: "But this morning’s breakfast was made by Uncle Xu Hao and Uncle Jiang Chao!"

"Huh..."

Xuanxuan’s little mouth fell slightly open, her face full of disbelief.

How could this happen...

Is this punishment for only missing Daddy’s breakfast and not missing Daddy himself?

If that’s really the case...

If she starts missing Daddy now, is it still in time?