Falling For The Contract Bride

Chapter 299

Chapter 299 Your Mom Might Still Be Alive

Mu Xiaomu sized up Xie Xiu for some moment before agreeing to the casual dinner. Xie Xiu proposed either Chinese or western cuisine. Mu Xiaomu was excited to hear about having Chinese food, so she went for it without hesitation.

Then, Xie Xiu brought the two of them to a Chinese restaurant. Mu Zhi let Mu Xiaomu take the order first. As soon as Mu Xiaomu got the menu, she ordered a serve of squirrel fish before moving onto the rest.

When the fish was served, Mu Zhi could not help but wonder out aloud at the fish’s appearance. She asked, “Are people from your country accustomed to having this dish?”

Upon finishing her question, Mu Zhi was suddenly reminded of Lu Jinye. The woman of his memories loved squirrel fish too. So he offered to her some as supper.

“This is a common fish, but most importantly, it’s my mother’s favorite.”

Mu Xiaomu would always order squirrel fish when she missed her mother.

After witnessing her emotional breakdown a few days ago, Mu Zhi knew better than to bring up the topic of Mu Xiaomu’s mother. Thus, she steered the subject away yet another time, “This dish looks quite complicated to prepare.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how to make that.”

Mu Xiaomu chuckled.

As the other dishes were served, Mu Xiaomu helped Mu Zhi to some of those, and they appeared to get along pretty well.

Mu Xiaomu had very little knowledge of Xie Xiu when she was little, so she could not recognize him.

Meanwhile, it had not occurred to Xie Xiu who Mu Xiaomu was to Mu Zhi. However, after observing their interaction for a while, he asked casually, “What’s your name?”

“Mu Xiaomu.”

Mu Zhi answered before Mu Xiaomu had the chance to.

While Mu Xiaomu nodded in acknowledgement only to find Xie Xiu peering at both her and Mu Zhi.

The girl’s name was Mu Xiaomu, a Mu. He continued asking, “Where did you come from?”

“I was born in City A.” Said Mu Xiaomu.

City A, surname Mu.

Xie Xiu did not show any emotion on his face, but he had been privately deducing the little girl’s identity and thinking of ways to separate Mu Zhi and her.

Mu Zhi had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. She went along delightfully, “My husband’s company is based in City A too, perhaps we could frequently meet each other at your hometown. In that case, it feels like destiny has brought us two together.”

“Yeap, sure!”

Mu Xiaomu was pleased.

The two of them started chattering while Xie Xiu spontaneously reached out for his phone.

He browsed the phone for a few seconds before letting out a frown, “Apologies, Xiaomu, I have some urgent matters to take care of at work, I need to go.”

“My dad does this a lot too. I suppose fathers are usually quite busy.” Said Mu Xiaomu.

Xie Xiu rose to his feet and turned his face to Mu Zhi, “Let’s go.”

“I want to stay for a dinner with Mu Xiaomu…”

“Let’s go.” There was a tinge of somberness despite Xie Xiu’s smile.

Then, he reassured Mu Xiaomu chivalrously, “Just quote my name to settle the bill. Dinner’s on me, please help yourself. Apologies, we must leave.”

Following that, Xie Xiu grabbed Mu Zhi’s hand and left.

Mu Zhi turned around reluctantly while Mu Xiaomu felt that it was quite a pity that they could not finish the dinner, but she didn’t press on.

She quietly tasted a bit of everything they ordered before getting up and preparing to head out of the restaurant.

As soon as she was on her feet, her phone went off.

Mu Xiaomu peered at the screen as the caller’s name read, ‘Lu Jinye’.

She put on her coat while nonchalantly answered the call, walking out of the restaurant.

It was a snowy day in Los Angeles, and Mu Xiaomu was greeted by flakes of snow pouring from the sky.

“Dad,” she greeted as she picked up the call.

“How was your play? Do you need dad to be there to support you?” Lu Jinye’s voice was as calm as they come.

“Humph.”

Mu Xiaomu pouted her lips involuntarily when she heard Lu Jinye’s voice. She reverted to the mischievous demeanor of a little girl, saying, “Dad, you promised to come to support me, why weren’t you here? Now that the show is over, don’t you find it a little hypocritical to say things like this?”

The father and daughter behaved like close friends when they were talking to each other.

When Mu Zhi was gone a few years back, Lu Jinye went through a period of deep sadness and grief.

But Mu Xiaomu gave him the courage.

Without Mu Zhi, Lu Jinye had to learn to become a father, and he would always remind himself how strong and persistent Mu Zhi was to give birth to Mu Xiaomu alone.

If it wasn’t for Mu Zhi’s decision, he wouldn’t have had a daughter.

It was Mu Zhi who gave their daughter a chance to live. Lu Jinye was accountable for raising Mu Xiaomu as a single parent, to bring her up to be herself.

During all these years, Lu Jinye did not treat Mu Xiaomu as his daughter when they interacted with each other.

They felt more like close friends.

Mu Xiaomu knew at the time that Lu Jinye was going to marry Xiao Qingqing. She had agreed to it.

Lu Jinye had a conversation with Mu Xiaomu when she was five.

Mu Xiaomu chose to go to the States to further her studies, to learn to perform. She loved performing on stage and singing to an audience.

Lu Jinye supported her decision. Although Mu Xiaomu had spent her time in the States over the past years, it felt like Lu Jinye was continually keeping her accompanied. They would chat about her growth and other trivial subjects.

Lu Jinye gave Mu Xiaomu a proper name, Si, as a remembrance for Mu Zhi.

He did not change Mu Xiaomu’s surname to Lu and opted to keep her surname as Mu.

That was the only way Lu Jinye could feel that Mu Zhi was always with him.

Lu Jinye giggled as Mu Xiaomu teased him. He said, “You know that I have important things to attend to, so I can’t make it to your play.”

“What’s more important than your daughter? Do you have a son now?”

Mu Xiaomu continued her banter with Lu Jinye.

But Lu Jinye’s tone suddenly turned solemn over the phone. “Xiaomu, have you ever thought that your mom might still be alive? That she’s still somewhere in the world?”