Chapter 106: Praise

The meal was soon ready, steaming and fragrant.

There was cumin lamb slick with oil, a hearty Northeastern-style mixed vegetable platter, vinegar-sautéed cabbage still puffing with heat, and a lighter dish of tomatoes stir-fried with turnip greens.

Two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, generous portions, well balanced.

Together with the ready-made appetizers they had bought earlier at the market, there were four large platters and four small side dishes in all.

For two adults and a child, eight dishes was already quite a spread.

After setting an unopened bottle of top-shelf liquor in the middle of the table, Chang Yu pulled Yang Yang, who was drooling toward the food, over to his side.

"Go downstairs and call Katherine over. Tell her to come eat with us."

Yang Yang's little face went pale with fright, and he shook his head so hard it nearly flew off.

"You go. I'm not going. What if that crazy woman suddenly decides on a whim to stuff me into some tea kettle and brew me like tea?"

Fine then.

Yang Yang was still too rattled to be over his fear of Katherine, so there was no easing that dread anytime soon.

"Chief Chang, should I go invite Chief Katherine?" Little Li volunteered eagerly, eager to play the forward scout.

"Forget it. No need to make such a fuss." Chang Yu had already had an idea.

He walked to the living room window, opened it along with the screen, and leaned out.

"Katherine! Katherine!" Chang Yu took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

After calling twice and seeing no response from the window below, Chang Yu resorted to his ultimate summoning technique.

"Comrade Guihua! Comrade Guihua!"

"Please respond if you hear me, please respond!"

What had been nothing more than a simple meal had somehow been given a kind of ritual solemnity by him.

"What's the matter?"

Sure enough, changing the name made all the difference.

Not long after, Katherine poked her head out from the downstairs window, frowning.

Perhaps she disliked the earthbound nickname Comrade Guihua, for her expression carried a trace of embarrassment.

One head upside down, the other upright, the two of them faced each other across only a few inches of air, their gazes meeting in a scene that rather resembled a secret underground rendezvous.

"How about we try a code phrase?" Before he could stop himself, Chang Yu said aloud what had been on his mind.

"What?" Katherine looked plainly baffled.

"Cough, cough..." Chang Yu cleared his throat and, after setting the mood, tossed out a code phrase. "The Yangtze, the Yangtze, I am the Yellow River!"

Hmm... that sounded oddly familiar, as if it stirred some childhood memory.

After hesitating for quite a while, Katherine finally ventured, "Sweet potato, sweet potato, I am potato!"

She got it that fast?

Chang Yu fell silent for a long moment, a little unwilling to accept that the code phrase he had racked his brains to invent had been answered so easily.

"Ah, the air trembles, as though the sky were burning!" He recited the mournful, tragic aria and leaned on the windowsill to begin his performance.

"Yes, the storm is coming!" Katherine said in a low, resonant voice, delivering the line that had once made countless young hearts swell with heroic ardor.

That too?

Chang Yu refused to yield and went on.

"Has Second Ya from Old Wang's family had the baby yet?"

"Second Ya hasn't. Third Ya did."

"Proceeding three, proceeding three, am I proceeding one?"

"Proceeding one, proceeding one, am I proceeding three?"

A look exchanged, the right person found.

Chang Yu nodded with satisfaction, his gaze toward Katherine growing ever warmer.

"Comrade, you're one of us!"

"Yes, definitely one of us." Katherine's expression was solemn.

Just then, the window beside Chang Yu suddenly opened, and a wrinkled-faced neighbor leaned out as well.

"Oh, that sounds pretty lively," the neighbor said, scratching the few wisps of hair on his head. "How about letting me join in too? I know code phrases too."

"Get lost!" Chang Yu and Katherine said in perfect unison.

...

In the not-so-spacious living room stood a not-so-spacious dining table, and at it sat three adults and one child in neat order.

"If you wanted me to come for dinner, why not just say so? Why go through all this trouble?" Katherine looked at the table full of lavish dishes and was utterly speechless.

"How did you know all those code phrases?" asked Chang Yu. Right now he cared about nothing else; he only wanted to know how Katherine knew so many of them.

"When I was little, my mom and dad were afraid I'd go astray later in life, so they had me watch every famous war film they could find."

"They wanted to awaken my patriotic feelings from childhood and make me someone with ideals and ambition, terrified that I might grow up and stop loving my country."

"If you'd watched tens of thousands of war movies since you were a kid, you'd definitely remember tens of thousands of code phrases."

"Well, I'll be damned. So this is what it means to shape education from childhood." Chang Yu immediately felt deep respect for the two elders he had never even met.

No wonder Katherine's outlook was so proper. It was all thanks to her parents.

Thinking of that, Chang Yu's eyes kept drifting toward Yang Yang with a not-so-innocent look, making the boy tremble in fear.

Maybe... he should arrange the same for Yang Yang too, Chang Yu thought.

Though perhaps it was a bit late now to have him watch those war films.

But wasn't there a saying? Better late than never.

"Come on, hurry up and eat before everything gets cold." Seeing the others glance at one another but no one dare to lift their chopsticks first, Chang Yu quickly urged them on.

"Then I'll try it first." Katherine picked up her chopsticks, took a slice of lamb, and chewed slowly.

"How is it? I made it myself." Chang Yu looked at her expectantly, waiting for praise.

"How should I put it..." Katherine thought for a long while, seemingly searching for a fitting word to describe the taste. "It's all right, I guess."

"What do you mean, all right?" Chang Yu had expected her to say something flattering after such a long pause, not a lukewarm assessment like that.

Yang Yang reached out his chopsticks, picked up a piece of ribs, and slowly chewed.

"Not especially tasty, and not exactly awful either." The child was always so blunt; Chang Yu admitted that at least in this, he took after him.

As the atmosphere around the table gradually stiffened, Little Li, ever quick on the uptake, picked up a piece of vinegar-sautéed cabbage and bit into it.

"So fragrant, truly so fragrant!" he exclaimed, setting down his chopsticks with a look of bliss. "I've never in my life had vinegar-sautéed cabbage this delicious. Chief Chang's cooking is excellent!"

Could that vinegar-sautéed cabbage really be that good?

Watching Little Li's animated face, Yang Yang and Katherine both thought the same thing.

"Let me try." Yang Yang sprang up at once, stood on his little stool, leaned forward, and picked a piece of cabbage into his mouth.

"Tch..." Yang Yang offered no comment at all. He merely made a sound to express his mood at that very moment.

He shot Little Li a resentful look and muttered under his breath, "Flatterer. Not tasty at all."

"Such a young age and already learning bad habits, yet you've picked up plenty of filthy words." Chang Yu had clearly heard Yang Yang's muttering.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll watch all those famous war films just like Katherine."

After dropping that harsh decree, Chang Yu happily added some more food to Little Li's bowl, his smile bright as the noon sun.

"Come on, Little Li, eat more. I've been wondering why it was that ever since the day we first met, I found you so inexplicably familiar. So it turns out you were the one with the discerning eye, the true judge of talent."

"And don't just focus on the food. Let's have a little drink too." Chang Yu twisted open the cap of the Maotai and filled Little Li's cup to the brim.

"My chief, I wouldn't dare have you pour for me. I'll do it myself." Little Li was a little flattered by the gesture of Chang Yu pouring for him personally.

"See that? This is the real thing, genuine Maotai. Costs a fortune." Chang Yu bared his large front teeth and slapped the label on the bottle as if showing off.

"I know, I know." Little Li nodded like a pecking chick, not thinking in the least that Chang Yu was boasting.

After all, this had been handed to Chang Yu by him from the logistics office, so there was no chance it was counterfeit.

After a few mouthfuls of white liquor, the atmosphere around the table gradually grew lively. Chang Yu and Little Li, for a time, were like wine-soul mates and worthy rivals.

The two talked more and more freely, more and more warmly, until they were nearly ready to swear brotherhood on the spot.

Once they were full and drunk, Katherine glanced at the time on her phone and asked Chang Yu, "Can we watch TV at your place? I want to see the news."

"Of course, absolutely." Slightly tipsy, Chang Yu turned on the television for her and switched it to the local news station.

"We now interrupt with a news bulletin," said the broadcaster, her voice elegant and pleasant. "In recent days, an incident involving a tourist boat capsizing on the River Song has drawn widespread concern among residents."

"In response, the relevant departments have already investigated and established the full sequence of events."

"After conducting on-site inspection, investigation, and evidence collection in accordance with the law and regulations, the authorities determined that the main cause of the tourist boat capsizing was a sudden turbulent current in the River Song waters."

"At the time, the vessel was in a curved section of the route. A surge of rapidly intensified current struck the starboard side, ultimately causing the hull to tilt and sink."

"Fortunately, all passengers on board evacuated in time by lifeboat before the capsizing, and no one was injured or killed at the scene."

"At the very first moment of the incident, the relevant authorities promptly formed a special task force to handle aftermath arrangements and related rectification work."

"Experts have analyzed that this intense underwater turbulence was caused by changes in the moon's gravitational pull, and we ask all citizens to remain calm."

"According to expert estimates, this change in gravity will continue for the next week. We therefore urge the public not to visit the River Song area in the near future."

The news ended there, yet everyone present stared blankly at the television before them, none of them saying a word.

Each expression was different: Katherine looked relieved, Little Li was calm and composed, and Yang Yang was dumbstruck.

The authorities had already come forward to debunk the rumors. Although a little tipsy, Chang Yu's eyes still remained bright and clear.

"Will people really believe such a flimsy explanation?" Chang Yu looked at Katherine, feeling that this attempt at damage control was rather... hasty.

"They will believe it." Katherine said evenly. "People only believe what they are willing to believe. They do not care what the truth really is."

"An ordinary person's life is actually very far removed from supernatural events. People are already used to explaining everything beyond their understanding with science."

"Perhaps for a while this matter will become a topic of casual conversation over tea, but that state will not last long."

"People are forgetful creatures. As time passes, they will forget this incident, and the truth will gradually be buried."

"But there were many people on the riverbank at the scene. They all saw what happened on the water." Chang Yu's small eyes remained fixed on Katherine without blinking.

"So what?" Katherine countered. "They all signed confidentiality agreements. No one would dare speak of what they saw that day."

"Besides, through the close cooperation of Zhen Youcai and the cyber-cleanup department, all videos and text related to this matter online have been blocked."

"Before the rumors could spread, our people had already snuffed them out in the cradle. This incident won't cause much of a stir."

"As for the people on that tourist boat..." Katherine paused here. "The reason they were able to survive without a scratch was entirely due to your efforts and assistance."

"It was you who, at the most critical moment, saved everyone on that boat. Each and every one of them owes you a life, and the members of each of their families owe you a good father, a good husband."

"Now that's a bit much." Though Chang Yu was speaking the humblest words with his mouth, his heart was already brimming with delight.

To him, neither the bonus from the bureau nor the survivors' thanks could compare to Katherine's simple praise.

Compared with Katherine, those survivors were simply not important in his heart.