Huo Family Fish Restaurant

"Xie Xie, are we there yet?"

"Almost."

Five minutes later.

"Xie Xie, are we there yet?"

"Almost, almost."

Half an hour later.

"All right, we're here."

Xie Xie stood with his hands on his hips and looked ahead. "See? This is the snack street."

"Xie Xie, thank you so much." Tang Wulin glared at Xie Xie resentfully and said irritably, "You could've told me it was a half-hour walk earlier!"

"Who exactly is short on money, you or me? Why didn't we just take a cab for a half-hour walk?"

Xie Xie's expression stiffened. "Sorry, I... forgot."

"Don't take it too seriously. After walking for so long, you must be hungry. Come on, eating comes first."

This was a fairly narrow street, with food stalls and snack shops lining both sides. The enticing aromas of all kinds of food filled the air, making passersby salivate.

The old-fashioned clay-pot beef Xie Xie had mentioned was in the middle of the snack street. Right beside it was the other snack shop he had brought up, Huo Family Fish Restaurant.

Clay-pot beef was a delicacy cooked in brownish-yellow earthenware pots.

The beef was cleaned and stewed with sliced scallions and ginger. The earthenware pot preserved the beef's moisture and fresh flavor exceptionally well. Once the beef changed color, more than a dozen spices were added and it was simmered for a long time. By the time the beef became completely tender, the spices had perfectly melded with the meat. It was a famous East Sea City snack.

There were quite a few snack shops in East Sea City that made clay-pot beef, but this shop's version was the most authentic. Its business was therefore excellent, and it was always packed at mealtimes.

Huo Family Fish Restaurant was a new shop that had opened three years ago. Its signature dishes all revolved around fish, such as charcoal-grilled fish, fresh fish soup, and fried fish strips... The food was so delicious that people never got tired of it, and it had many returning customers.

The two snack shops stood side by side, making it convenient to go between them with just a step across the doorway. Diners who liked both places could order dishes from both shops while sitting in either one. There were quite a lot of such diners, Xie Xie included.

The clay-pot beef shop was small, with only five small rectangular tables. Xie Xie and Tang Wulin had arrived rather late, and the place was already full. Fortunately, Huo Family Fish Restaurant next door still had one empty table.

"Uncle Li, two servings of clay-pot beef and two bowls of white rice."

Xie Xie naturally led Tang Wulin over. He was different from his usual self at the moment, without the slightest air of a young master. He looked no different from an ordinary child.

"Oh, Xie Xie's here, and he brought a friend too."

The owner of the clay-pot beef shop was a middle-aged man. In the midst of his work, he turned to glance around the shop. "I don't have any seats here. Take your friend over to Huo Family Fish Restaurant and sit down. I'll bring the food over in a bit."

As he spoke, he reached out and rubbed Xie Xie's head.

Tang Wulin blinked. Xie Xie was a clean freak, yet he hadn't resisted the man's head pat. It seemed his new friend had quite a story.

He did not ask any further questions and followed Xie Xie to the empty table at Huo Family Fish Restaurant.

"Xie Xie's here, and you brought a friend too. What would you like to eat today?" The owner of Huo Family Fish Restaurant came over.

She was a middle-aged woman with refined, delicate features. Her neatly coiled hair was wrapped in a headscarf, and she wore an apron, giving off the strong, homely air of everyday life.

She looked at Xie Xie and Tang Wulin with a smile all over her face.

"Yes, Aunt Huo. Two charcoal-grilled fish and two fresh fish soups, please."

"All right, coming right up. Please wait a moment."

Aunt Huo came to the table and poured each of them a cup of tea before heading into the kitchen to get busy.

Tang Wulin watched Aunt Huo's retreating figure disappear through the kitchen door, and something gradually appeared in his eyes.

Aunt Huo gave him a feeling much like his mother. It was not that they looked alike, but that her temperament and certain other qualities were similar. Both gave people the impression of mothers who managed a household and cared for their children.

"Xie Xie," Tang Wulin leaned close and whispered, "do you know Aunt Huo's full name?"

"Ah?" Xie Xie seemed slow to react. "Oh, Aunt Huo's full name is Huo Yun'er."

"Isn't that a lovely name?"

As he spoke, he leaned close to Tang Wulin's ear and said mysteriously, "Let me tell you, Aunt Huo is single. If Uncle Li weren't already married, I'd want to play matchmaker and set Aunt Huo and Uncle Li up."

"Kid from the Xie Family, what nonsense are you spouting now?"

Something struck Xie Xie's head. He and Tang Wulin looked up in the direction of the voice to see a burly man in a public security uniform, who had already sat down at their table.

"Isn't that basically wishing Boss Li's wife dead?"

"Captain Guanglong," Xie Xie said, clutching his head. "Sorry, I was just joking with my friend. I really didn't mean it that way. I promise I won't do it again."

Tang Wulin watched the two talking, then looked at Aunt Huo, who had emerged from the kitchen again upon Captain Guanglong's arrival. Understanding dawned on him.

Single? Then why can I see the radiance only a mother has in Aunt Huo?

So, by single, they mean divorced?

The dishes at the fish restaurant were all made to order, so they would take a while. Thus, the clay-pot beef from next door arrived first.

Before eating, Xie Xie picked up his cup, intending to take a sip of tea to moisten his throat. Then—

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Choking on the tea, Xie Xie coughed nonstop in utter misery.

After recovering for a while, he took another sip, only to choke again. Refusing to believe it, Xie Xie took another sip—and choked once more.

"..."

Tang Wulin and Guanglong, who had been about to start eating, watched Xie Xie's miserable state in speechless silence.

Guanglong disgustedly wiped the tea that had splashed onto his face. "How about you stop drinking for now? Don't eat yet either. Wait until you're not so unlucky before you start."

At the same time, in the fish restaurant's kitchen, Huo Yun'er sent a message through her spiritual sense while cooking. "Son, that's enough of a lesson. Don't affect the other customers' meals."

Huo Yuhao replied through spiritual sense from afar, "No! No! Who told him to play matchmaker so recklessly? That little brat actually dared find me a stepfather. This lesson is already too light."

"All right, you're already so grown up, yet you're still throwing a child's tantrum." Huo Yun'er's spiritual message carried a hint of indulgence. "Mom will sing you a nursery rhyme, so don't be angry anymore."

A light, cheerful melody rang beside Huo Yuhao's spiritual sense, followed by his mother's gentle singing voice.

As Huo Yun'er sang the nursery rhyme, she too sank into memories.

Ten thousand years ago, after her death, Tang San had captured fragments of her soul. After her son became a god, Tang San resurrected her.

She and Dai Hao had taken up two of the slots belonging to her son's Emotion God and remained in the God Realm. Their cultivation had also broken through to godhood, and they became the lowest-ranking divine officials in the God Realm.

In the God Realm, she was Dai Hao's wife, but she had not forgotten that she had another identity—her most important identity: Huo Yuhao's mother.

As a mother, she had watched helplessly as her son was summoned and ordered about by Tang San like a dog, stripped of all dignity. Her heart had been torn apart with grief.

Yet Dai Hao, as his father, had remained indifferent. That allowed Huo Yun'er to see his true nature clearly, and the love in her heart for him vanished along with it.

Nothing was more important than her son. Thus, during that civil strife in the God Realm, she had cooperated with her son's main body to kill Dai Hao and seize his divine official position before descending together to the Douluo Continent.

The one who inherited the position of Emotion God was her son's secondary body. To conceal the main body's existence, it had not dared break through to godhood in the God Realm all these years.

Dai Hao's divine official position was meant for Huo Yuhao's main body, allowing him to escape the limits of a human lifespan and live until now.