“Ah, I still can’t believe he broke up with me.” Li Ming sighed and rested his chin on his arms, watching his mother cook.

“You said it was a nice break-up though.” She looked over her shoulder and raised her brows, still trying to figure out which part of a break-up could be described as ‘nice’. As a teacher, she had watched so many of them and usually, there were lots of tears and often screaming involved. Nice was the furthest word from describing a break-up that she could imagine.

“Yeah.” Li Ming pursed his lips. “He was nice about breaking up and I guess this reason is also …” He trailed off, finally shaking his head and sitting up straight again. “I mean, he didn’t break up with me because of me. That should count for something, right?”

His mother nodded. “I’d assume so. So … what are you going to do now?” Knowing her son, he probably wouldn’t date for at least another half a year. Ah, it really was a pity about Zhao Chen. Li Ming had introduced him to her just a while ago and she had really thought that he would be a reliable partner in the future. But now, look at how fast things had changed! At this pace, it’d take years before she saw her son truly settle down.

Li Ming watched her expression and had a rough guess of just what was going through her mind. He simply smiled and ignored it, thinking about her question instead. “Well, I guess I’ll focus on my job instead. There’s no need to get right back into dating, is there?”

His mother glanced at him and nodded, biting her tongue before she could tell him something like ‘you’re not getting younger though’. Anyway, if he forced himself to date just because she wanted it, he also wouldn’t be happy in that relationship. If he needed the time, he should take it.

“From what you’ve said, your job is going really well. I guess investing a little more in that can’t hurt either.” She put the lid on the pot and nodded to herself, glancing at the clock before sitting down opposite him. “Your boyfriend was right about you working with Zhu Yi though. It’s gotten a lot, right? Aren’t you tired?”

Li Ming thought about that for a moment but then shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean … it’s not always easy, yes. But I like it. Working with him is almost fun.”

“Working at the hotel probably isn’t in the same way, is it?”

Li Ming shook his head. “No, it’s not. But honestly, I don’t think there is a chance to change the current setup. I’m only doing the self-defense courses with Zhu Yi and while he doesn’t pay badly, it wouldn’t be enough to live off. Not with so little hours.”

His mother nodded and sighed. “I guess good things don’t come easy. Well, don’t give up hope! You got this chance out of the blue. Who knows if there won’t be some development that’ll allow you to go full-time with this as well? It’s not completely impossible.”

Li Ming nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

In fact, if he brought up to Zhu Yi that he was thinking about this, he could imagine that Zhu Yi would try to make it work. The problem was … he didn’t want to inconvenience him that way.

Zhu Yi was working hard and probably more hours than he should. But while he could support him with the self-defense courses and might even be able to take one over himself if Zhu Yi didn’t insist on doing this together, he didn’t think he was capable of doing any of the other courses. He didn’t really want to either. But this meant that Zhu Yi would have to come up with other ways for him to help out and he didn’t think that this was right.

His mother looked at him questioningly but he didn’t explain himself and just shook his head. “No, it’s …” He shook his head again, not sure how to explain. “I guess it’s just a lot right now. Ah Chen and I just broke up. I shouldn’t make any decisions regarding my job. That might just be me trying to compensate for something. It’s not a good basis for any sustainable development.”

“You’re not wrong with that. Well, take your time then. Anyway, this isn’t running away.”

Li Ming gave a hum but he still couldn’t help continuing to think about it. Just what was there that he could do? Wasn’t there some way to work around this dilemma? For the time being, he couldn’t think of anything but maybe he could come up with something else later on. Anyway, there was enough time. Nothing needed to be decided immediately. Maybe it was just as his mother had said as well and he would get lucky once more. If that was the case, he really would have worried for nothing.

Li Ming sighed, feeling that his nature of being a worrywart really hadn’t reduced much even though he had tried hard. Well, each step in the right direction was still a step well taken. He couldn’t give up just because of some setbacks. Yes, whether it was his job or his love life, everything would turn out fine in the end. He simply had to believe in that and keep his eyes and ears open so he wouldn’t miss it when the right opportunity came knocking.

Of course, he might have felt differently if he had known just which kind of opportunity would come knocking on his door.