With the two of them working together, the crowd outside was soon taken care of in about an hour.
His father, after finishing up, grabbed his medical kit and said, “Xiao Ze, I’m heading to Linshan for a house call. You stay here and watch the clinic. I’ll be back soon.”
“Alright, Dad. Be careful.” Xu Ze nodded. “I’ll start cooking. Mom should be back soon too.”
As the sound of his father’s motorcycle faded into the distance, Xu Ze sighed softly. His father was always so busy, rarely taking a break. But Xu Ze understood—this was the nature of their profession. Saving lives was urgent, even if the current case wasn’t critical. His father had barely rested before rushing off again. It was a responsibility Xu Ze had understood since he was young.
Standing at the door, Xu Ze watched his father’s retreating figure with a warm smile. Time to cook. When Mom and Dad get back, they can have a hot meal.
In the kitchen, he found a pot of soup already prepared in the pressure cooker. Lifting the lid, the familiar aroma of chicken soup filled the air. Seeing the whole chicken simmering inside, Xu Ze felt a wave of warmth.
He washed the rice cooker carefully and started cooking the rice. From the old refrigerator, he pulled out a few eggs, some meat, and two bunches of greens. He stir-fried three dishes, though he sighed slightly at the slightly overcooked greens. “I’m still a bit rusty,” he muttered.
Just as he set the table, he heard the faint rumble of wheels outside.
“Mom’s back!” Xu Ze rushed out and took over the specially modified food cart his mother was pushing. “Mom, go rest. Dinner’s ready when Dad gets back.”
His mother smiled at him. “Ah Ze, you’re such a good boy. Did you drink the chicken soup I made for you?”
“Not yet. I just got back and helped Dad. We’ll have it together when he returns,” Xu Ze replied with a smile.
As the sky darkened, his father returned on his motorcycle. The family sat together, enjoying the warm chicken soup.
His mother, worried about her thin son, ladled three or four bowls of soup for him, each filled with chunks of chicken breast. It seemed like half the chicken had ended up in Xu Ze’s bowl. “Ah Ze, you should rest at school on weekends. We can manage here. Riding over a hundred miles is hard on your body and unsafe.”
“It’s fine, Mom. It’s good exercise. Besides, I have nothing to do at school. I’d rather come back. Tomorrow, I’ll take over your stall so you can rest,” Xu Ze said between gulps of soup.
His father sat quietly, sipping his soup, his eyes filled with warmth as he watched the scene. No one noticed that as Xu Ze drank bowl after bowl of soup, a prompt appeared in his mind:
Beep… Large intake of biological energy detected. Cellular energy overflow increasing. System energy storage accelerating…