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

"I think I understand now." Shen Man looked at the gray sky outside the window.

"Su Qing used to talk about social class and connections all the time, and I thought she was just being materialistic. Now that I'm out here on my own, I realize that you can't get anywhere without money..."

At this point, Shen Man paused and turned to look at Lin Fan.

"Speaking of which... Lin Fan, how did you manage to open this shop step by step?"

Lin Fan did not answer immediately.

He looked at the lukewarm water swaying slightly in the paper cup, and his thoughts drifted back to the day not long ago when he had just gone through the divorce proceedings at the Civil Affairs Bureau and was left homeless with his five-year-old son, Tuantuan.

At that time, he couldn't even afford a decent hot meal, so the father and daughter could only sit on the cold curb.

The biggest secret to his success in bringing this shop to where he is today is undoubtedly the culinary system in his mind that he can't share with anyone.

The system provided him with top-notch ingredients and impeccable recipes.

But even with the support of the system, this path was still paved with hard work and sweat.

It all started with that dilapidated secondhand tricycle in the university town night market. Braving the cold wind and the ridicule of the surrounding stall owners, I would pack up and go home in the middle of the night, and get up early in the morning to prepare vegetables.

I stood in front of the cutting board until my legs went numb, and held the iron wok until my arms ached from stirring.

A man who has been kicked out of his home and has no way out, with a five-year-old child, wants to gain a foothold in this materialistic city. There is no shortcut except to work hard at his job.

He couldn't tell Shen Manming about these experiences and the secrets of the system, and he felt there was no need to bring them up to complain.

Lin Fan put down his water glass, looked up, and spoke in his usual calm tone.

"Just lucky."

Lin Fan looked at her, his voice steady: "I don't ask for favors; I make a living with my skills. If I make good food, customers will naturally stay."

Looking at Lin Fan's calm and composed demeanor, she suddenly understood why this man could transform himself from a stay-at-home dad who had left with nothing into someone for whom even the wealthiest men in Jiangcheng were willing to line up at his door in just a few months.

Just then, the roar of a car engine came from outside the door.

A black Range Rover was parked on the side of the road. The door opened, and Qin Lang, wearing a long black cashmere coat, strode out.

He pushed open the glass door, letting in a gust of cold air.

"Brother Lin." Qin Lang walked in and immediately saw Shen Man sitting opposite him, pausing for a moment.

"Shen Man? What are you doing here? And that outfit... did you go on a famine escape?"

Shen Man rolled her eyes: "Off to do sales. What, haven't you ever seen working people before?"

Qin Lang walked over, pulled out a chair, sat down, let out a long sigh, and rubbed his throbbing temples hard.

"Sigh. I've been through a lot these past few days."

Lin Fan got up and went to the water dispenser to pour Qin Lang a glass of warm water as well.

"Didn't that project in the south of the city already get approved? Why are you still so busy?" Lin Fan asked.

"It's precisely because it landed that it's so deadly." Qin Lang picked up his water glass and took a big gulp.

"My dad entrusted me with the entire responsibility for this project. It included the construction team's entry, the bidding for building materials, and the smooth handling of various influential figures."

"These old foxes are all cunning. I drank so much at parties these past two days that I got a stomach hemorrhage, and I even threw up in the car just now. I just couldn't take it anymore, so I came here to find some peace and quiet."

Qin Lang leaned back in his chair, looking at the file folder on Shen Man's desk with a more serious expression.

"I've heard about your situation. You had a falling out with your family, sold your car, and went to the industrial park to set up a production line?"

"You're quite well-informed," Shen Man said without denying it.

"The industry is only so big. How could I not know that Liu Zhiyuan was going around saying he wanted to blacklist you?"

Qin Lang frowned. "That bastard Liu Zhiyuan is a treacherous villain. You can't just stubbornly stick to your guns like this. If you can't bring yourself to go home, I'll lend you a production line so you can test your formula first."

Shen Man shook her head.

"No need. I don't want to owe the Qin family a favor. Besides, if you get involved, Liu Zhiyuan will definitely use this as an excuse to cause trouble, which will involve the Qin family's and Liu family's businesses, which would be too much of a hassle."

Shen Man gathered the file folder on the table and hugged it to her chest.

"Since I've decided to go it alone, I'll have to bear the hardships myself. If I can't finish today, I'll go to the industrial park in the neighboring city tomorrow. I refuse to believe that Liu Zhiyuan can control everything."

Seeing her stubborn expression, Qin Lang didn't insist any further.

"Okay, that's tough. If you can't take it anymore, just say so. Don't suffer for the sake of saving face."

Qin Lang turned to look at Lin Fan, who was slumped weakly on the table.

"Brother Lin, get me something to eat. Nothing too greasy, my stomach can't handle it."

Lin Fan stood up.

"We're out of broth. I'll make you a bowl of clear broth noodles with an egg."

"Okay, as long as it's hot."

Lin Fan walked into the open kitchen and skillfully lit a fire to boil water.

The hall fell silent.

Shen Man leaned back in her chair and finished the last sip of water in her paper cup.

She turned her head and looked around, and suddenly noticed that there was less movement in the hall.

When she usually comes, Tuantuan is always drawing on the dining chair in the corner or playing with the cat with a feather, but today she is unusually quiet.

"Where's Tuantuan?" Shen Man asked casually, looking at the empty high chair. "Isn't school closed for the weekend?"

In the kitchen, Lin Fan was stirring the noodles in the pot with chopsticks.

He didn't stop what he was doing when he heard Shen Man's question.

"She's with her mother." Lin Fan's voice was completely flat.

"What about Su Qing?" Shen Man was stunned, and her brows immediately furrowed.

"Weren't you going through legal proceedings regarding custody these past few days? How could you hand the child over to her? Su Qing has been working non-stop to get the company listed; how could she have time to take care of the child?"

Lin Fan scooped out the cooked noodles, put them in a white porcelain bowl, and poured clear broth over them.

"I didn't give it to her." Lin Fan came out carrying a bowl of noodles and placed it in front of Qin Lang.

"She took the original invalid marriage certificate to the early childhood education center, lied that she and her husband had quarreled, fooled the principal, and forcibly took Tuantuan away."

Upon hearing this, Shen Man was so shocked that she sat bolt upright in her chair.

"An invalid marriage certificate? Has she gone mad?!" Shen Man exclaimed in disbelief. "She'd actually resort to such a tactic? She's breaking the law!"

Qin Lang, who was about to pick out noodles, also stopped eating and his face darkened.

"Brother Lin, Su Qing is blatantly robbing us! Why didn't you call me yesterday? I would have taken some men to the Su family to pick up the child."

"That's exactly what she wanted," Lin Fan said calmly as he sat down opposite her.

"She even sent me a text message to provoke me, trying to get me to cause trouble at the Su family villa so that she could accuse me of having violent tendencies in court."

After hearing this, Shen Man broke out in a cold sweat.

She knows Su Qing too well.

They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

But using children and the law to set up this kind of scheme is no longer ordinary business competition; it's a complete lack of ethical boundaries.

"Did you call the police?" Shen Man asked anxiously.