Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lu Man placed the box down and slowly opened it. She saw that inside it there was a rather old violin, but the violin was very well-maintained by Xia Qingwei.
Xia Qingwei carefully and cautiously took the violin out. From the body of the violin to the strings, she touched it gently like she was touching a child.
One could tell that Xia Qingwei really had a lot of love and feelings for this violin.
Not only because it was given to Xia Qingwei by her late father, but also because playing the violin was her passion.
“Can the strings still be played?” Lu Man asked. After all, it had been a long time already.
“Yes, they can.” Xia Qingwei took the violin over. “Let’s head over.”
“Oh my, I almost forgot. I’ve finished making the dishes. I’ll go and tell them, let’s have dinner first,” Lu Man said hurriedly.
Xia Qingwei smiled resignedly. “You little child.”
However, Xia Qingwei didn’t scold Lu Man for being careless.
Many times, Xia Qingwei had hoped that Lu Man could be more careless, like a child. She didn’t want her to always do everything perfectly, and also Lu Man was maturity and wise way beyond her age which made Xia Qingwei’s heart ache.
Xia Qingwei, too, wanted to be like a mother who would occasionally support her child and put her mistakes behind her back, helping her to clean up any mess she made.
However, Lu Man had never given her a chance to do so.
Thankfully, Xia Qingwei had never voiced out this opinion of hers, otherwise, should other mothers hear about it, it would only invite hate and animosity.
Who wouldn’t wish that their child would be more responsible and make them worry less?
Xia Qingwei sure was lucky, but she wanted Lu Man to make her worry more.
Lu Man hurriedly placed all the dishes on the table. Meanwhile, Xia Qingwei carried the violin and the case along with her to the living room.
“Let’s have lunch first. After lunch, I’ll give it a try,” Xia Qingwei said.
Therefore, they had lunch first.
This lunch was completely prepared by Lu Man.
Since all the four women didn’t have much appetite, Lu Man had prepared 6 dishes and 1 soup.
Old Mrs. Han first tried every single dish, and then kept nodding her head. “I didn’t expect that this little girl’s culinary skills would be so good. Young girls nowadays rarely know how to cook, let alone have such great culinary skill.”
In the midst of her happiness, Xia Qingwei was a little heartbroken.
If it were other pampered and spoiled girls from other families, they definitely wouldn’t know how to cook.
But what kind of environment had Lu Man grown up in?
Since she was young, her family conditions weren’t really good, but Xia Qingwei had never let Lu Man suffer with them.
Back then, Lu Man really didn’t know how to cook.
However, eventually, after she divorced Lu Qiyuan, Lu Man stayed in the Lu family house.
When Lu Man stayed in boarding school, she could eat in the school canteen so that was fine. However, during the school holidays, the school canteen didn’t open either.
Thus, Lu Man had to save up money herself to buy a stove and pot and secretly hide in the dormitory to cook for herself as that was cheaper.
Eventually, Lu Man left university and became Lu Qi’s assistant.
Not only she stayed by Lu Qi’s side to be at her beck and call, but there were also many times when Lu Qi had already gone home and Lu Man still had to stay behind to clean up after her and would be so busy that she couldn’t bother with eating.
And by the time she reached home, everyone had already finished dinner.
They entertained themselves by surfing on the internet, going through their phones and watching television, but no one checked on Lu Man’s well-being.
Even the family’s maid Auntie Chen would boldly and proudly say, “I’m here to prepare three meals a day only and it doesn’t include supper.”
Therefore, Lu Man didn’t have dinner before and by the time she got home, it was already very late.
Yet Xia Qingyang could still stand by the side and nonchalantly blame her. “In the future, you should come back earlier for dinner. It’s so hard to manage your children when they’re older. They would always stay outside and party until the wee hours, they don’t have any self-love or self-respect at all.”
