Liuliu Restaurant is the most ordinary and yet the most extraordinary Chinese restaurant on this street. It's ordinary because in Cholon, there are just too many Chinese restaurants. As for being extraordinary, it's because the business at Liuliu Restaurant is truly booming.
Not only do the neighbors on this street love to eat here, but many Chinese tourists visiting Vietnam also come.
Every day at noon, the restaurant is packed.
Today, like usual, they opened the door a little after nine. The owner's wife, Liu Hui, was at the front desk doing the accounts for a while when the vegetable delivery arrived, and Ah Sen walked out from the kitchen.
He is the owner of the restaurant and used to be the head chef, but later they hired a more experienced chef.
By around eleven, the restaurant started to get customers.
The success of Liuliu Restaurant is partly due to the beautiful and charming owner's wife, Liu Hui, who as usual greeted the new guests.
But this time, she was really a bit surprised.
Because the couple who came in were really good-looking, the kind that made a perfect match. The man was tall, handsome, and exuded an air of nobility and restraint.
As for the girl, Liu Hui not only thought she was beautiful but also felt familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.
However, such an eye-catching couple ended up only ordering the most common sausage fried rice.
Liu Hui, having been in business for so many years, had seen all kinds of strange guests and didn't pay much attention to it, just passing the order to the kitchen.
In a short while, more guests arrived. But this time, they were acquaintances.
As soon as Pan Zai came in, he shouted, "Sister Liu, lend me Brother Sen for a while. Our boss said he only trusts Brother Sen."
"Forget it, don't treat my man as free labor, working for you for free."
Liu Hui snorted. Ever since people found out Ah Sen could do accounting, everyone wanted to get him to help out, thinking it was too expensive to hire a professional accountant and trying to get a free ride.
She was beautiful and charming, and even when she rolled her eyes, it didn't make people dislike her.
Pan Zai was still talking.
Liu Hui glanced at the kitchen and said, "Forget it, I won't talk to you anymore, I'm going to serve the dishes first."
Today, coincidentally, the waiter was on leave, so she served the dishes herself.
When she brought the plate of sausage fried rice to the guests and put it in front of them, the girl stared at her for a long time, making Liu Hui wonder if there was something ugly on her face.
Fortunately, the girl lowered her head soon.
When Liu Hui returned to the cash register, Pan Zai went over to pester her again.
After taking a bite with a spoon, Emma suddenly smiled. Jason, sitting opposite, looked at her smile until she scooped up a spoonful of rice and brought it to Jason's mouth.
Jason took a bite.
Emma asked, "How is it?"
"Very delicious," Jason said with a light chuckle.
Emma looked at the plate of sausage fried rice in front of her, the rice grains were plump, and the eggs were golden yellow, and smiled again, "People used to say that my dad's cooking was so good that he could open a restaurant."
She didn't expect that it would really come true.
Behind her, Liu Hui was still refusing Pan Zai until she said, "Brother Sen won't go, he would rather stay at home with me."
Her tone was full of sweetness and intimacy.
Suddenly, she heard a clear voice call out, "Mistress."
This call made everyone look over.
Liu Hui naturally walked over and saw the girl sitting there staring straight at her, "Who made this fried rice?"
"It was my man," Liu Hui said habitually. She was a woman with a bit of a swashbuckling demeanor, always referring to Ah Sen as "my man."
Emma finally couldn't bear it any longer. She stood up abruptly, her hands still pressing on the table. The soy sauce and vinegar dishes on it shook.
Liu Hui looked at her expression and thought she was dissatisfied with the fried rice, immediately saying, "Miss, if you have any dissatisfaction, you can tell me first."
"No, I want to talk to the person who made it directly," Emma looked at her and said very seriously.
Just as Liu Hui was thinking about how to prevaricate, someone came out from the kitchen.
He walked step by step until he stood still and looked at Emma, saying, "Miss, I made this fried rice. Is there any problem with it?"
At this moment, Emma's vision seemed to be in slow motion.
She turned her head bit by bit, looking at the man in front of her. So many years had passed, and she was not yet eighteen when he left.
Emma thought he would be old, unrecognizable.
But time seemed to have stopped on him, and he was still as gentle as jade.
Emma suddenly choked, forgetting what she wanted to say, until tears gradually accumulated in her eyes, looking at him and saying, "My name is Emma."
Do you still remember that there is a girl named Emma in this world who has been trying to find you, waiting for you to come home.
She is the continuation of your blood with Gu Mingzhu.
Liu Hui turned her head and looked at the man beside her, his face was as confused as her own.
No, he had more sadness than her.
An unexplained sadness, as if he felt sad when he saw the girl in front of him with tears in her eyes.
Emma still looked at him and said again, "You said that mom was the apple of grandpa's eye, and I am your little star."
Finally, she couldn't help but blink.
Tears fell down her cheeks.
She looked at Ni PingSen and said, "Dad, I am the star."
Emma had managed to keep her emotions in check, but when she saw Ni PingSen looking at her with a blank expression, she couldn't bear it. The father she had been longing to find, the only blood relative she had left in this world, was looking at her with such a strange expression.
As if... as if she truly was just an insignificant person to him.
But she wasn't.
She was Emma, bearing his surname, the continuation of his bloodline in this world, and his only family.
"Dad," Emma couldn't help but step forward and gently embrace him. Through the passage of time, she could finally hold him again.
Finally, Ni PingSen seemed to sense something from deep within, and he slowly raised his hand, but his palm hovered in mid-air for a moment before finally resting on her back.
His daughter?
All this time, he had no memory, no past, and didn't even know where he came from or what his name was. From the moment he woke up in that dilapidated little hospital, the only person by his side was Liu Hui.
He never knew that he actually had a family.
Ni PingSen gently held the girl in his arms; although he truly knew nothing about her before this moment, when she threw herself into his arms, his heart ached.
It genuinely ached.
After an unknown period, when Emma released him and looked at him, she softly asked, "Do you really not remember me?"
Ni PingSen was silent for a moment, his eyes filled with hesitation.
He seemed to sense Emma's anxious mood, and after a long while, he slowly said, "I know you will be sad when I say this, but I'm sorry..."
He really didn't remember.
Emma took a deep breath; she was not surprised by this outcome. She knew her father wouldn't leave her and her grandmother without reason; they were his greatest concerns in this world.
He wouldn't abandon them.
With her tear tracks still wet on her face, Emma forced a smile and shook her head, "It's okay, I know there must be a reason why you couldn't come back for so many years, I understand."
Ni PingSen let out a soft chuckle, his expression less guilty.
After all, if she truly was his daughter, and he didn't remember her...
At this moment, Ni PingSen scrutinized her and suddenly asked, "What is my name?"
Emma was also taken aback.
After a moment, she looked at him seriously and said, "Your name is Ni PingSen, the 'Ping' of peace, and the 'Sen' of three woods."
Ni PingSen silently repeated this name; it was, in fact, the first time he had heard his own name. Life's encounters were truly strange.
At his age, he felt like he was hearing his own name for the first time.
At this side, Liu Hui didn't say a word; her eyes were fixed on Emma. From the moment she called out "Dad," Liu Hui's heart had been sinking.
It was as if a person had been enveloped in a beautiful dream for too long, forgetting that dreams are just dreams.
Once the outer bubble is punctured, she must face reality.
Only now, as she looked at Emma's face, did she realize where the familiarity came from; she didn't look much like Ni PingSen, but sometimes her expressions were eerily similar.
Emma glanced around and said, "This isn't the place to talk. Can I talk with you?"
"Of course," Ni PingSen also had too many things he wanted to ask, but he looked around the restaurant and hesitated, "It's about to be the busiest time for lunch today, and we have a waiter on leave."
He was worried about not having enough staff in the restaurant.
Liu Hui immediately said, "Don't worry about it, I can handle it here."
Ni PingSen still wasn't reassured, "Can you manage alone?"
He wanted to talk with Emma immediately but was also concerned about this side.
Finally, Liu Hui smiled softly, "Go ahead, they are all regular customers, what's there to worry about?"
Emma quietly glanced at Liu Hui and didn't say a word.
Until finally, Ni PingSen took off his apron, but at this moment, he also noticed Jason, who he had been wanting to ask about: "Is this your boyfriend?"
The two of them standing together looked so compatible that no one would believe they weren't a couple.
Emma turned her head to look at Jason, took the initiative to hold his hand, their fingers interlocked, and she smiled, "No, he's my husband."
Ni PingSen looked at Jason in surprise.
At that moment, Jason looked at him and said respectfully, "Dad."
Ni PingSen couldn't help but ask, "How old are you that you're already married?"
His eyes widened in disbelief, and his tone was somewhat urgent, as if to say, how could you be married already.
Emma was dressed very simply today, in a T-shirt and shorts. Her long hair, probably because it was too hot here, was tied up into a bun, making her look very youthful.
She was only twenty-six years old to begin with, and at this moment, she looked like a girl in her early twenties.
He guessed she hadn't graduated from college yet, at most a junior or senior.
"I'm twenty-six this year," Emma said, glancing at Jason with a hint of a smile on her face because his expression was somewhat helpless.
Ni PingSen's tone was completely that of someone who felt like their young one had been taken away too soon.
Even Jason couldn't help but touch the tip of his nose; although his father-in-law didn't even remember his own daughter, upon hearing that Emma was married, his tone was genuinely something a father-in-law would say.
As the one who "deceived" the precious daughter away, he naturally felt a bit guilty.
Ni PingSen was obviously shocked by Emma's age; he really thought she was only in her early twenties, so he asked again, "And me? How old am I this year?"
Emma glanced at Liu Hui, who was too young, looking no more than thirty-five years old.
So she said, "Fifty, you are exactly fifty this year."
Ni PingSen seemed completely shocked by this age; he had always thought he was only in his early forties because both his appearance and physique looked particularly young.
Now, hearing the number fifty, Ni PingSen was somewhat speechless.
Even when they got in the car, Ni PingSen still looked preoccupied.
This time, it was still Old Sun who drove them back to the hotel.
"Go up and talk to Dad," Jason handed the room card to Emma and patted her shoulder.
Emma took the room card and nodded.
Jason did not follow them upstairs but left the private time for the father and daughter.
In the room, Emma poured a glass of water for Ni PingSen, who held the glass and looked at Emma, hesitating for a moment: "Your mother..."
Emma looked at him and suddenly felt a bit sad. She turned her head away from his eyes, her voice a little hoarse: "She passed away when I was ten, and you had been single since then."
Ni PingSen suddenly had an indescribable feeling; it couldn't be relief, but there was indeed a sense that he hadn't failed two women.
After all, if he had a wife, it would be too unfair to both his wife and Liu Hui.
But looking at Emma's sad expression, there was an unspeakable emotion in his heart.
Since they recognized each other just now, he has been in a state of being pulled by emotions.
"Your mother..." Ni PingSen wanted to ask about their past, but suddenly Emma stood up.
She said, "Please wait for me a moment."
Then she turned and walked into the adjacent room. Soon, she took out a lot of letter paper and notebook-like items. Until she put them all on the coffee table in front of Ni PingSen.
"These are some of my mother's diaries and some letters you wrote to her. Please read these first, and then I will tell you what kind of person Gu Mingzhu is."
Ni PingSen looked down at the many letters and notebooks in front of him.
Until he opened them according to the year, and at the first glance, he was attracted by the beautiful handwriting in the notes. The person who could write such beautiful and pretty words must be a very outstanding person.
Then he started to read, and these notebooks were all written by the same person.
Although it was a personal diary, Ni PingSen seemed to see the life of a woman. In college, she met that handsome young man in white. Although he was poor, he was upright and excellent.
They experienced such a green youth until they got married.
Soon they had a lovely daughter, and he gave the daughter a small name, Xingxing, because his wife was Mingzhu, and his daughter was Xingxing.
The same precious, the same want to call him to hold in the palm of his hand.
If the notes in the book could always be happiness, it would be nice, but unfortunately, in the last few books, her font not only became weaker and weaker but also became messy in the end.
She couldn't even hold a pen.
Until the notes stopped on the last page, behind the last note, there was a line of black font.
"My wife Mingzhu, one pair of people in a lifetime."
Signed: Ni PingSen.
This is a sentence he wrote.
When Ni PingSen opened the letters with trembling hands, he realized that these were written by him after Gu Mingzhu's death. Every year on her birthday and the anniversary of her death, he would write a letter.
Stroke by stroke, each word seemingly described his life with Jing Xi and his mother-in-law, yet every line was filled with his longing. Even when eating something delicious, he wanted to share it with her.
She was gone, yet she was always there. Because as long as he thought of her and missed her, Gu Mingzhu lived on in his heart.
Finally, when Ni PingSen finished reading the last letter, the man who had been holding back his emotions finally shed tears. He looked up at Emma as if seeking help and asked, "I loved her very much, didn't I?"
I must have loved her very much.
When he read these letters, he seemed to suddenly feel the emotions of the person who wrote them. Because that was his feeling.
But he forgot the one he loved so much.
In the end, Ni PingSen covered his chest with the letter and cried out.
He forgot his.
The heavy atmosphere in the room made Emma's heart ache. Perhaps after going through so much, her eyes were red, but she did not shed tears.
She slowly walked to Ni PingSen's side, reached out and placed her hand on his knee, and said softly, "Dad."
Ni PingSen had controlled his emotions by this time, and he looked at Emma in a hoarse voice, "Are you Xingxing?"
This sentence was so ordinary.
Just a few seconds, and Emma's eyes, which were just red, suddenly filled with tears. She turned her head to the side, not wanting Ni PingSen to see her crying.
She tried to open her eyes wide, not wanting the tears to fall.
Until she reached out and covered her eyes, her palm was wet in an instant.
She didn't want to appear so vulnerable. She had gone through so much before, and she should be stronger. At least if she didn't cry, Ni PingSen wouldn't feel more guilty.
But she still couldn't help it.
No matter if she was eighteen or her current twenty-six years old, in front of Ni PingSen, she would always be that somewhat stubborn yet in need of protection little girl.
Over the years, she had packaged herself as unbreakable, as if no one could hurt her.
She didn't need to be protected, even when she was with Jason at first, she acted so strong.
But seeing Ni PingSen was different.
Because he was her dad, the one who brought her into this world and had always shielded her from the wind and rain. After Gu Mingzhu passed away, Ni PingSen practically raised her single-handedly, acting as both father and mother.
She used to rely on him so much.
"Don't cry, I'm sorry, it's... it's dad's fault," Ni PingSen said to her, filled with guilt.
No one had taken care of her for so many years; how she got by was a question Ni PingSen found heartbreaking to think about.
Emma shook her head, pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and then asked, "How did you get from Israel to here?"
Vietnam and Israel are almost separated by half of Asia, no wonder Jason's people couldn't find him in various countries in the Middle East. Over the years, Jason had spent a great deal of manpower and resources just to find him, to the point where Emma felt hopeless.
After all, if such a needle-in-a-haystack method still couldn't find him, the outcome wouldn't be good.
Unexpectedly, he was found in a place so close to China.
Ni PingSen was taken aback for a moment, then slowly said, "I was rescued by Kurdish forces from the hands of terrorists. At that time, Liu Hui..."
He fell silent, seemingly unsure how to explain Liu Hui's identity, which was actually quite simple.
It's just that he didn't understand how to talk to Emma at this time.
And Emma also tacitly did not ask, but said, "Did you lose your memory when you were rescued?"
Ni PingSen nodded.
The beginning of his memory was in a dilapidated hospital, where Liu Hui was already by his side, taking care of him.
Liu Hui told him that they were captured by terrorists together and had been detained.
Unexpectedly, a few months later, the Kurdish forces defeated these terrorists, not only occupying their places but also rescuing many foreign hostages.
At that time, Ni PingSen was severely injured, almost all external injuries, and he had been abused during the capture.
He was almost dying.
Emma couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you contact the Chinese embassy at that time?"
The embassy had been looking for him and had even offered a reward for any information leading to his whereabouts. If he had contacted the embassy then, even if he couldn't remember his own name or identity, they would have brought him back to Shanghai, back to his family.
Emma's question plunged Ni PingSen into silence.
Why didn't he go to the Chinese embassy? Because Liu Hui told him that she was his family. If family was already by his side, what else was there to look for?
When he was in the hospital and couldn't remember anything, Liu Hui was the one who remembered, so he never doubted a word she said.
Even before today, he never questioned it.
Seeing his silence, Emma guessed at some of the issues. Over the years, if he had sought help from any Chinese embassy, his identity would have been quickly confirmed.
But he didn't, not because he didn't want to, but because someone by his side deceived him.
"Did you ever ask the embassy for help?" Emma asked softly.
Ni PingSen covered his face with his hand and let out a long sigh. Not only did he not ask for help, but when they were in the hospital, the Kurds were planning to contact the Chinese embassy for them.
But that day, the hospital caught fire, and Ni PingSen was practically dragged out by Liu Hui.
She said the terrorists had come again and she had to take him away.
In the chaos of the hospital, Ni PingSen didn't know what was happening and was taken away by Liu Hui. Those days were really tough; they had no money or identity.
Ni PingSen felt they could die at any moment, but they somehow survived and things even got better.
Eventually, they decided to smuggle out of the Middle East; the tickets to Europe and America were too expensive. After the Syrian war, the entire Middle East was plunged into a massive refugee crisis, with countless people wanting to escape the vortex.
Because they were of Asian descent, they decided to go to East Asia, where the cheapest tickets were to Vietnam.
They saved for a very long time to have the money.
After arriving in Vietnam, they had to do odd jobs because they had no identity. Until Ni PingSen discovered he had a talent for finance; he once speculated that he might have been an accountant before his memory loss.
Because he helped a person of great status in Chinatown, they gradually established themselves in this place.
Eventually, they not only gained legal status but also a small shop.
At this moment, when Emma asked him, Ni PingSen fell into a long silence again.
Why didn't he ask for help? Because someone didn't want him to.
Emma took a deep breath and said softly, "Dad, I don't care what happened before, but now that I've found you, I hope you can come back to China with me. That's our home."
Ni PingSen looked up, his eyes filled with confusion.
Before this morning, he was thinking about how the business in the shop was getting better and whether he should lease a larger storefront, but now everything was different.
"I'd like to think about it," Ni PingSen said after a long time.
Emma didn't press him immediately; she knew every decision now was difficult, especially since his life was in Vietnam, and he now had others in his life.
But Emma still said, "I know I should be grateful that you're alive. But I can't be grateful because you had countless opportunities to reunite with us. Grandma was calling your name until her last breath; she couldn't see you one last time."
This was a regret for grandma and also for Emma.