My Youth Began With Him

“Yes, Zhixin’s right. Ha,” Huo Mian replied vaguely.

“Why would I yell at you if it’s just a bag? Buy it, your husband’s rich.”

“So, you’re not going to yell at me?” Huo Mian wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck, acting cute.

“Of course not. You’re now the vice director of a hospital. You can’t be carrying around a 100-yuan bag, right?”

“Mom, you’re really becoming more and more understanding…” Huo Mian planted a kiss on her mother’s cheek.

“Alright, alright, the two of you, get out of the kitchen. I need to cook.”

Yang Meirong was the happiest when her children ate at home. Although it was tiresome, it brought her a great deal of joy.

After their mother returned to the house, Huo Mian and Zhixin came to an unspoken agreement of putting a stop to their previous conversation subject.

Instead, they began to chat about random things in the living room, accompanied by fruits and snacks.

-Before lunch –

Huo Mian’s phone beeped. She took a look and saw that it was a message from Huo Yanyan.

There was only a photo in the message, of Qin Chu and Zhang Manlin drinking coffee. Although the photo was taken from far away, the resolution was high enough

“What’s this?” Huo Mian asked.

“I just saw them while I was shopping. From afar, I thought it was you… but the style looked off… You would never wear short skirts and sneakers. I took a closer look and realized that it’s a college student. Do you know about her having coffee with Qin Chu?”

So, Huo Yanyan was messaging Huo Mian to give her a heads up.

Ever since her daughter’s kidnapping, where Huo Mian and Huo Siqian met alone, the two had stopped contacting each other. Their dynamic shifted subtly.

Huo Mian didn’t really understand why Huo Yanyan was telling her all of this.

“Yes, I know.”

“Who’s that woman? Your relative?” Huo Yanyan asked.

“No.”

“That’s weird. She looks so much like you… like a younger version of you…” Huo Yanyan added.

“Really? I don’t really see it.” Huo Mian played along.

“Oh，then I”ll let you get back to work. I just wanted to give you a heads up…just in case you were still oblivious to all of this.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll pay attention to it.”

Huo Mian and Huo Yanyan had become formal and distant. The latter knew that Huo Mian wasn’t her biggest fan.

Qin Chu and Zhang Manlin’s coffee meeting wasn’t a planned thing.

Qin Chu was out for a business meeting but his client was late due to a delay in flight. He was simply waiting in the coffee shop.

Zhang Manlin went to the coffee shop at the same time and they bumped into each other. She left after the exchange of a few sentences; she didn’t stay for long.

But, Huo Yanyan arrived just in time to see it, so she passed on the information directly to Huo Mian.

Other than Huo Yanyan, Su Yu also witnessed the meeting.

He and An saw them as they drove past in their car.

In contrast to Huo Yanyan, Su Yu chose not to tell Huo Mian. He didn’t think that it was honorable to drive a wedge between Qin Chu and Huo Mian.

Plus, knowing Qin Chu for so long, Su Yu didn’t peg him as someone who’d easily stray from his relationship; coffee didn’t mean anything.

“President Su, the light’s green. We can go?” An reminded his distracted boss.

Su Yu stepped on the gas without replying…

“An, question for you.”

“Sure.”

“Can two people who are unrelated look alike? Can they share the same personality traits? Is it possible that it’s just a coincidence?” Su Yu thought about Zhang Manlin’s behavior; everything about her was too similar to Huo Mian.

“That’s hard to say. I would think there’s something funny going on. Why, President Su, did you discover something strange?”