After falling from the sky into the deep sea, Song Han hid beneath the seabed for a week. He only dared to crawl out from the seabed when he detected that the nuclear explosions outside had ceased and the electromagnetic storms had gradually subsided.
He got into a small spaceship that had just rolled off the production line at the lunar base. Without attracting the attention of the nearby warships that were carrying out salvage operations, the spaceship soared into the sky.
"Set the course for Binhai City. Jian'an, take me home!"
At noon on a sunny day, standing in front of that old and shabby small building, Song Han looked at his mother's face as it was a year ago. A relieved smile spread across his face, and he felt as if he had traveled through time.
"Mom, I'm back."
Mother Song was overjoyed. She grabbed her youngest son and quickly took off her apron to tie it around Song Han.
"You're back just in time. There's a city-wide vacation recently, and both your eldest and second brothers are at home. I was just worrying about what to cook for the whole family at noon.
Come on! Let the family have a taste of the cooking skills of a five-star chef today!"
"Dear, Xiao Han is back!"
Father Song came out of the house. When he saw Song Han, he was also filled with惊喜.
"You naughty boy! You didn't even let us know in advance that you were coming back. Eldest, Second, stop cutting the vegetables. Go and buy some wine. Hurry up and let the third one cook. Today, we'll all savor the cooking of a five-star hotel chef!"
Greeted joyfully by his family, Song Han held a kitchen knife and stared at the potato on the chopping board, lost in thought.
"I've just finished a life-or-death war with aliens, and now I have to struggle with this potato?
Why does it feel like I've opened the wrong door?"
His mother, who was scaling fish by the sink, chattered on, "It's so chaotic outside nowadays. I heard that aliens have emerged in the southern sea. The fighting has even caused the price of seafood here to go up.
Don't go out again after you're back this time. Just find a job in Binhai. In the past two years, with earthquakes and aliens around, there hasn't been a single peaceful day."
"Mom, where did you hear all this nonsense?"
Song Han's eldest brother came in from outside, carrying beer.
Upon hearing his mother's words, he laughed and said, "The government has already refuted those rumors. Last week, a volcanic eruption on the seabed in the south caused a massive magnetic storm. I heard it even ignited several natural gas tankers and oil tankers at sea.
It was so loud that you could hear it thousands of miles away. It must have been even more spectacular if you saw it at night."
Mother Song frowned and said sternly, "Nonsense! Aliens really did invade!
The husband of our team leader's daughter on the production line is a soldier in the south. I heard that the entire army was mobilized at that time, and they specifically called him and told him to rush back to the inland. He left without even taking his salary for that day.
Now he's still pestering the factory to let him come back to work."
"That's nothing!"
The second brother, who had been keeping his head down reading a novel, looked up and said, "These are just minor incidents. In 1993, Earthlings had an even bigger battle with aliens, and we're still fine now.
I think it would be even better if aliens really came to Earth. By then, they definitely wouldn't be interested in our meager monthly salary of just a few hundred yuan. Maybe our salaries would even increase.
It doesn't matter who we work for. Since aliens are capable of interstellar travel, they surely wouldn't pay us just a thousand yuan a month to do menial jobs for them, right?"
Song Han, who was cutting vegetables with his head down at the chopping block, nodded silently upon hearing this.
Compared with the life under the rule of artificial intelligence, if aliens really ruled the Earth and needed humans, no matter how poor the treatment they offered, it would definitely be better than the pricing system under the backward production relations of human society.
However, the concern was that the other side might no longer have a need for humans.
In stark contrast to the extremely relaxed chat within his family, the security command center that had been on guard around their house was in a state of chaos.
"Have you found out how he showed up?"
"We can't find anything!
There are more than a hundred observation points within a three-kilometer radius, but none of them detected his trace. He just suddenly appeared out of that dead-end alley."
"Damn it! Has there been any instruction from the headquarters?"
"Here it is, here it is!"
A team member rushed over in a panic with a freshly printed fax. The captain in the command center took the fax and took a deep breath when he saw the numerous stamps densely covering it.
"Contact the local military region and the government. Evacuate all the residents within a ten-kilometer radius of the target immediately!"
"What about us?"
"Activate Level 1 alert. Open the armory! Equip live ammunition!
Wait for the special commissioner from Beijing to communicate with the target before making any further plans!"
As he spoke, he took the lead and led the team members towards the firearms room. In the room filled with a dazzling array of firearms, the captain, thinking of the battlefield where nuclear bombs had flashed the previous week, strapped on a man-portable thermobaric bomb with a heavy heart.
A team member who had recently joined the team looked at the captain's exaggerated equipment and asked in confusion, "Captain, isn't this too heavy and inconvenient?
Aren't we going to carry any guns?"
The captain looked at the equipment of the other team members—anti-sniper gear, man-portable grenade launchers, high-explosive rocket launchers. After some consideration, he picked up a Type 95 rifle and solemnly handed it to the new team member.
"We can't go without a single gun. You take this rifle. From now on, you're the assault member of our team."
"Come on, everyone, sit down quickly!"
In the small rented courtyard of the urban village in Binhai City, the Song family spent a long time preparing a sumptuous feast. Mother Song urged Song Han and the others to sit down quickly.
Father Song poured a glass of beer for each of his three adult sons. Raising his glass happily, he said, "Our working hours haven't matched up for years, and with Xiao Han always being away in other places, our family hasn't been together for a long time. Let's have a toast!"
Song Han smiled, clinked glasses with his father and eldest brother, and then drained his glass in one gulp.
After putting down their glasses, everyone couldn't wait to start eating.
Song Han looked at his family with anticipation. Counting it up, he hadn't cooked for almost a hundred years. "How does it taste?"
Mother Song smacked her lips and silently put down her chopsticks.
Father Song chewed for a long time and finally, with some difficulty, swallowed the unchewed piece of streaky pork in his mouth.
Song Han's eldest and second brothers also looked at the chicken in their bowls, which still had traces of blood, with complex expressions and silently put down their chopsticks.
Song Han looked at his family in confusion and asked, "What's wrong? Everyone takes a bite but says nothing?"
Mother Song hesitated for a while and then was the first to speak, "Xiao Han, you haven't been wronged at the hotel, have you?"
Song Han thought for a moment and then smiled, "It's great! The salary is high, the benefits are good, and they provide meals and accommodation. How could I be wronged?"
"That's good, that's good!"
Mother Song let out a sigh of relief. "Well, it's not easy to find a job nowadays. They say the financial crisis hasn't passed yet. You must work hard at the hotel in Shancheng and don't resign!"
Song Han was a bit puzzled upon hearing this. "Didn't you just say that I should find a job in Binhai? Why are you telling me not to resign now?"
Mother Song gave an embarrassed smile. "Did I? I just think your cooking skills are quite unique. It might not be easy to find a job elsewhere except in a five-star hotel. So, don't resign for now and keep working hard!"
While everyone was chatting, a tall figure walked into the courtyard with heavy steps as if going to his doom.
At this moment, the Song family, who were having a reunion in the courtyard, all turned their heads instinctively when they heard the sound.
Wang Wei had taken a helicopter fighter jet and endured crazy overload all the way. He flew at high speed across thousands of miles from Beijing to Binhai. In order to save time, he made an emergency landing on a not far from this urban village.
The series of high-mobility impacts had left Wang Wei's head feeling dazed, and even his steps were unsteady.
He looked at the figures of the people in the courtyard, and upon meeting Song Han's calm gaze, he suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
This was someone who, after being besieged by aliens and bombarded by more than a hundred hydrogen bombs, still had the mood to cook and drink.
Wang Wei's lips twitched, and just as he was about to say something, Song Han immediately stood up and greeted him.
"Brother Wang! Why are you here?"
Song Han smiled and pulled him to the dining table. Introducing him to his family, he said, "This is my colleague from Shancheng. He has taken great care of me. His family is also in Binhai, so he came back with me this time."
As he spoke, Song Han quickly fetched a stool.
Since their family hadn't been together for a long time, there were only a few commonly used stools. In the end, Song Han pulled out a three-legged plastic stool from the pile of sundries and placed it beside Wang Wei.
Song Han pulled Wang Wei to sit down, poured him a glass of wine, picked up some food for him, and then, holding his own glass with a smile, looked at Wang Wei. "What made you think of coming to have a drink with me?"
Sensing the unstable balance of the stool under his buttocks, Wang Wei quickly took a firm stance.
He held his glass, clinked it with Song Han's glass at a lowered angle, and then drained his glass in one gulp without caring how much Song Han drank, to soothe his stomach, which still had some vomiting reactions due to the high-mobility overload.
After putting down the glass and feeling his stomach gradually return to normal, Wang Wei glanced at Song Han's family members. After some hesitation, he slowly opened his mouth and said, "The head chef asked me to ask you how long you plan to stay this time and if there's anything I can help you with."
Song Han smiled and took a sip of his beer. Instead of answering the question, he asked with emotion, "How are you and your colleague Liu Xi now?
Back then, when you had that incident in Shanghai, Liu Xi almost killed me."
"Shanghai?"
Father Song asked in confusion, "When did you go to Shanghai?"
Song Han smiled and made up an excuse, "Our boss also has a hotel in Shanghai. Sometimes, he asks us to go on business trips there to help out."
Song Han's words left Wang Wei a bit confused. When had he ever been to Shanghai?
Ignoring Wang Wei's confusion, Song Han looked at the sliced boiled chicken he had picked up for Wang Wei in the disposable chopsticks container and raised an eyebrow. "Have a taste and give me your opinion?"
Under Song Han's calm gaze, Wang Wei didn't dare to ask the question in his heart. Holding the small disposable chopsticks, he forced himself to eat the pale chicken. In the end, he didn't even dare to spit out the bones and swallowed them whole.
"How does it taste?"
Wang Wei forced a stiff smile and nodded. "Good... very good."
Wang Wei's words made Father Song and Mother Song quickly stand up and move the plate of sliced boiled chicken with traces of blood in front of him. They smiled and said, "If you like it, eat more. Our Xiao Han is young and inexperienced. You colleagues will have to take more care of him when you're working in the future."
Under Song Han's calm gaze, Wang Wei forced himself to finish all the chicken in front of him.
Song Han looked at the smile on Wang Wei's face after he finished eating the chicken and nodded in satisfaction.
It seemed that his cooking skills hadn't declined much even though he hadn't cooked for a hundred years.
At this moment, he also noticed the restrained atmosphere as none of his family members was touching their chopsticks. He thought that they were just feeling because of the presence of the stranger Wang Wei.
After Wang Wei finished eating the chicken, Song Han stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go for a walk together?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Wei immediately let out a sigh of relief and quickly got up to follow.
As soon as the two of them left the courtyard gate, Father Song quickly said, "Honey, quickly re-cook these dishes. I didn't even bother to scold him just now. After learning for a whole year, this is all he can do.
What a waste of all the vegetables I bought!
By the way, why didn't you keep an eye on him when he was cooking?"
Mother Song gave Father Song a glare and said, "You didn't see the way Xiao Han was cutting the vegetables just now. He made such a racket and looked so much like a master chef.
Who would have thought he could just cut the vegetables?"