24. Grievances of the Previous Generation

Xu's wife immediately perked up, her entire expression becoming lively and animated.

"Baike's father was a live-in son-in-law. Originally, Baike's grandfather hired him as a worker. The family had many sons and was poor, so he came from the countryside to work at Qinjie Noodle Shop. Baike's mother was the only child, spoiled since childhood and notoriously temperamental in this neighborhood. She was nearly thirty and still hadn't found a partner. You don't know," Xu's wife looked at Tang Yiyi and emphasized, "in the 1980s, a woman reaching thirty without a suitor faced enormous pressure. Baike's father was twenty-five when he came to the shop, four years younger than her, tall and thin, a handsome young man, quiet and diligent, always engrossed in his work."

"Baike's grandfather thought this young man was decent and hardworking, so he asked if he was willing to marry into the family. Baike's father had just arrived and didn't know much about Baike's mother. He saw that she was quite pretty, thought about his own poverty and inability to marry, so he agreed."

"At first, the two were newlyweds, deeply in love. Their relationship was wonderful. We all said Baike's mother had waited so long because fate hadn't arrived yet. If two people are meant to be, every step before meeting must have led them toward each other. Though she married at thirty, she finally found happiness."

"Later, Baike's mother became pregnant with Baike. Pregnant women tend to be moody, but Baike's father had a good temperament, always accommodating her. But people shouldn't be spoiled too much; gradually, Baike's mother reverted to her old bad-tempered ways. So it went, one fiery, one tolerant, and they made it work."

"What happened after?" Tang Yiyi hadn't expected such a dramatic history.

"Afterwards, the honest man couldn't take it anymore. In 2000, when Baike was fifteen and his grandfather passed away, Baike's father asked for a divorce. He took nothing, just two changes of clothes, and left. He was gone for over a decade, only returning a couple of years ago to open the Ran Noodle King shop at the alley entrance."

"Oh, Brother Bai looks more like his father, doesn't he?" Tang Yiyi was particularly sensitive to handsome features.

"Exactly. If he looked like his mother, he wouldn't be so attractive. Though his father left the alley, he always kept Baike in his heart, often calling your master to ask about his son. Before phones, he wrote letters. He truly is a good father."

"You big mouth! Xiang Shengli asked you to keep it secret," Xu Mingtang reproached his wife.

"It's all in the past—what's the point of secrecy? If he wanted, he could see his son every day."

"Did Uncle Xiang remarry and have children?" Tang Yiyi asked.

"He has a daughter, who looks so much like Baike."

"Well, she's Baike's half-sister. Genetics say that the child resembles whoever has the stronger genes. Their father must have strong genes," Tang Yiyi affirmed.

"Xu Bin looks like me, so does that mean my genes are stronger than your master's?"

"..."

Xu Mingtang snorted from the side, "So you're strong. Should I award you a gold medal?"

Tang Yiyi got up from her nap, drank a large glass of homemade lemon honey water, and heard the sound of bones being chopped downstairs. She walked to the railing and looked down. The one wielding the knife was still Qin Baike, swift and decisive. Beside him, Liu Xin was washing pig's trotters.

Sunlight bathed the platform gently. Behind them, a small tea table held a plate of sliced fruit. Qin'