Jiuduan Cooking Restaurant is a long-established place with a solid reputation—generous portions, bold flavors, and affordable prices. It’s quite popular with the locals.
During the dinner rush, the place was bustling with people coming and going.
Lin Xiaohe carefully shielded her shoulder bag, afraid of being knocked over.
At the same time, she also had to look out for the two elderly folks, worried they might get bumped into.
In Room 203, an old man with graying hair, well-proportioned features, and a straight-backed posture looked out the window at the scene below and gave a slight nod.
“Old Chen!”
“Old Liu! Hahaha, you’re still looking hale and hearty!” The old man in the room and Professor Liu embraced tightly.
After a few pleasantries, Professor Liu introduced both parties: “Old Chen, this is my prized student, Lin Xiaohe. Once a teacher, always a father—in my heart, she’s like my own daughter.”
“Xiaohe, this is your Uncle Chen, my closest brother. If you ever run into any trouble, go to him.”
Lin Xiaohe obediently bent forward in greeting: “Hello, Uncle Chen.”
Old Chen shot Professor Liu a sideways glance. This old Liu!
Professor Liu rubbed his nose sheepishly.
Everyone took their seats.
Two young men had followed behind Old Chen. Professor Liu invited them to sit, but they insisted on standing, positioning themselves behind Old Chen like a pair of door guards.
Professor Liu immediately understood and didn’t push further.
The main purpose of this meal was for Old Chen and Professor Liu to catch up, and incidentally to meet Lin Xiaohe.
The position Lin Xiaohe was applying for was cafeteria logistics—no involvement in procurement, no involvement with the head chef, and certainly not a confidential post.
As long as Lin Xiaohe met the hard requirements, had no character flaws, and a clean background, there wouldn’t be any problems.
At the table, the two old men chatted enthusiastically.
The two young men handled the serving duties, so Lin Xiaohe didn’t need to do anything—she just quietly ate.
Her left hand was under the table, reaching into her shoulder bag, gently stroking a small ceramic bottle.
Ripples in her mind flowed through Lin Xiaohe’s fingertips into the seed.
Crack, crack.
The seed accelerated its hatching.
Lin Xiaohe’s lips curled up into a subtle, knowing smile.
When the meal was nearly finished, Lin Xiaohe caught Professor Liu’s eye and knew they had private matters to discuss: “Teacher, Uncle Chen, I’m going to use the restroom.”
“Alright, take your time, no rush.”
Lin Xiaohe: …
When it came to social graces, Professor Liu was just as much a rookie as she was.
Perfect—she could go find some water to nourish the little bean.
The door to Room 203 closed, and the two young men stood guard on either side.
Professor Liu’s left eyelid twitched, and he said nervously, “Old Chen, what are you doing?”
Old Chen looked at Professor Liu deeply and said in an odd tone, “Old Liu, there’s something off about your student.”
Professor Liu and his wife stiffened, a flicker of panic crossing their faces.
“What nonsense are you talking? Old Chen, you can’t just say things like that.”
The abnormality in both of them was far too obvious.
Old Chen put on a stern face and said with authority, “What kind of place is mine? It’s not just a military academy—there are plenty of secret research projects there! If anything goes wrong, the impact would be enormous. You asked me to vet her precisely because you couldn’t be sure yourself, right?!”
“Old Liu, I understand your loving heart as a parent, but you need to think about Xiaoliang too. He and his wife are at a critical juncture right now, about to move up another step. You two as parents can’t afford to drag your child down at a time like this, can you?”
Professor Liu’s tears started falling instantly. He grabbed Old Chen’s hand and sobbed and sniffled.
“Old Chen, I didn’t want to hide it from you either. Xiaohe—maybe because she suffered a head injury—after she woke up, her mental state has been a bit… off.”
Old Chen pulled out a tissue and handed it to the Liu couple: “Off in what way?”
Professor Liu: “It’s freezing cold out, but she acts like she can’t feel hot or cold—still wearing short sleeves.”
His wife retorted: “That’s because she’s young and has a strong constitution.”
Professor Liu continued: “What season is it now?! How can you plant peas? We’re not in the northern region where you can do spring planting.”
His wife objected: “So what? If it’s cold, build a greenhouse; if it’s hot, turn on the AC—either way, you can grow them. Besides, the child was bedridden for so long—isn’t it forgivable that she misremembers a tiny bit of professional knowledge?”
Professor Liu sniffled: “Whenever the topic of the current international situation comes up, she talks about nothing but having the country unify Blue Star.”
His wife shot back immediately: “That’s called patriotism, you know?! Xiaohe is just a tiny bit radical.”
Old Chen chuckled: “Alright, you two, enough of this good-cop-bad-cop act. You said a whole bunch of things—the real point is the last one, isn’t it?”
Professor Liu coughed twice, his eyes darting around: “Are we really that obvious?”
Old Chen rolled his eyes dramatically: “All that cleverness of yours has gone into this one issue. And that last point—it’s not really a big deal.”
As a military man, he actually liked young people with that kind of fighting spirit and ambition.
With Old Chen’s reassurance, Professor Liu finally relaxed completely: “See, I told you—our Xiaohe is a good kid. What could possibly be wrong with her?”
Old Chen’s mouth moved slightly.
Just now, the testing equipment had shown a slight fluctuation.
But this kind of thing was a state secret, and the project had only just begun—many of the test data weren’t accurate yet.
Old Chen couldn’t divulge this to the Liu couple, so he decided to wait and see.
Keeping Lin Xiaohe under his own watchful eye—surely nothing could go wrong.
“Let me be clear upfront: the probation period doesn’t include meals or housing, and we’ll still need to observe Lin Xiaohe.”
“Sure, sure! Spend more time with our Xiaohe and you’ll see—she’s a wonderful kid! Smart, clever, obedient, and filial.” Professor Liu raised a toast to Old Chen.
As the saying goes, wine loosens the tongue. After resolving the weight on his mind, Professor Liu relaxed completely and let everything spill out.
“Xiaohe has had a hard life—stuck with that family of hers. In agricultural sciences like ours, how many people make big money? The other students all have places to go, but Xiaohe’s path has been rough. If I don’t get her settled properly, I won’t be able to close my eyes even in death.”
“You have no idea—that day when Xiaohe said those things, she scared the living daylights out of us old folks. We couldn’t sleep all night. We were afraid Xiaohe had gone down the wrong path, and also worried about causing trouble for the country.”
“I even worried she might have delusional disorder—going on about the South Gate Plan, the Luan Bird aerospace platform, so detailed and convincing, she even cited the parameters. Later I searched online for ages and found nothing!”
“That kid was fooling me.”
Thud.
The wine glass in Old Chen’s hand fell to the floor and shattered.
He stared fixedly at Professor Liu, his voice hoarse and trembling involuntarily: “The South Gate Plan—besides the Luan Bird, what else is there?”
Professor Liu was slumped over the table, not noticing Old Chen’s odd behavior, still counting on his fingers.
“Chengying tactical mech—orbital drop shock troops for cross-planet assaults.”
“Xuannü aerospace fighter…”
Old Chen shot to his feet and looked at the two men by the door: “Quick! Report to the higher-ups!”
