Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 102: Chapter 99: You Are My Daughter

When Vice General Du saw Chen Xing approaching, he told his men to wait and went to speak with her. ”Young Master Song said my parents are staying with you. Have you seen them? I’m too swamped over here to get away!” He had been worried.

”Yes! They were worried about you, so I came to check on you for them!”

Vice General Du was filled with gratitude.

He owed Chen Xing a favor.

”Please tell my parents I’ll go see them as soon as I’m done here!” With that, he went back to his duties.

These outsiders were harder to manage than the people from the National Capital Safety Zone.

Luckily, his stern, dark face was intimidating when he kept quiet. Otherwise, he’d never be able to keep things under control.

Chen Xing didn’t stay either and immediately started heading back.

There were too many people here; it felt suffocating to stay even a moment longer. It must be tough on Vice General Du and the others.

Although Captain Lu wasn’t under the Capital City’s jurisdiction, he was still doing his best to assist Vice General Du.

After passing seven or eight stops, she reached the transfer point for Line Two.

This area was the most crowded, filled mostly with people from outside the Capital City. Some had even come from within the National Capital Safety Zone, thinking it was too packed in there and that it would be better out here. Little did they know, everyone had the same idea.

Luckily, Chen Xing was strong, so she reached the transfer point without too much effort.

Just as she was about to press on, she felt someone’s gaze.

Following the gaze, she saw a man of about fifty, staring at her with a look of utter astonishment.

It wasn’t just astonishment; it was utter disbelief.

Chen Xing stared back at him with an icy gaze.

’He must know me,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, why would he look at me like that?’

To test this theory, she stopped walking and waited.

Slowly, the look of disbelief transformed again. ’Into shock? No... more like a pleasant surprise. But the look in his eyes is wrong.’

’I probably only look like that when I see food,’ Chen Xing thought.

The man was so agitated that his hands, held out in front of him, were trembling.

When the man made no other move, Chen Xing looked away and started to walk on.

But then, the man’s impassioned cry shattered the surrounding din, casting a sudden silence over the crowd. Only his choked voice remained: ”Xue... You’re Xuexue... My daughter, Xuexue!”

As he spoke, he disregarded everyone and shoved his way through the crowd toward Chen Xing.

’My daughter?’

After hearing those two words, Chen Xing froze as if she were rooted to the spot.

She didn’t turn around.

’Why would this middle-aged man who just appeared out of nowhere claim I’m his daughter?’

’If... If he really is my father, why don’t I feel anything? Why can’t I remember him at all?’

Cao Guangrong, now standing behind Chen Xing, had tears blurring his vision. ”Xuexue... I know it’s you, Xuexue...” His voice trembled. ”The search for you has been agonizing... I’ve finally found you. I’ve finally found you, Xuexue!”

All eyes in the crowd fixed upon the two of them.

It was the scene of a long-lost daughter being found.

The man’s tear-jerking cries tugged at everyone’s heartstrings.

Chen Xing felt a large hand on her shoulder, but... aside from the touch of a stranger, she felt nothing.

Reluctantly, she turned around.

The man before her was tall and thin, and seemed to have aged a great deal in an instant.

The paternal love in his eyes was overflowing, pouring out and enveloping her completely.

Chen Xing remained unmoved.

’Even if this man might be my family...’

Her eyes remained devoid of warmth.

Cao Guangrong unconsciously lowered his hand as Chen Xing turned. ”I can’t be mistaken. How could I be mistaken about my own daughter?” He wiped away the tears streaming down his face. ”You’ve been gone since you were six. How many years has it been? I thought I’d never see you again, but heaven has been kind to me, delivering my precious daughter right to my doorstep! Thank the heavens...” With that, he actually bowed toward the station ceiling.

Chen Xing: ”...”

Seeing the sincere expression on the man claiming to be her father, she began to feel a little apprehensive.

’In my last life, I searched for so long and found nothing. This life, he shows up before I’ve even started to look?’

’Of course... whether he’s telling the truth or not remains to be seen.’

”How are you so sure I’m your daughter?” Chen Xing didn’t want to seem too cold, but her words still came out without a trace of emotion.

Some of the onlookers were already starting to disapprove of Chen Xing.

Even the bystanders were moved. For her, the one who had just found her own father, what kind of attitude was this?

”Because of the familial bond that runs bone-deep!” Cao Guangrong declared with absolute certainty. ”After you went missing, I never stopped looking for you for a single moment all these years. I searched all over the country, even abroad, but I never found you. To think that heaven would let me find you here!”

’Give me a break,’ Chen Xing thought.

’What kind of nonsense is this? In this age of advanced technology, he’s relying on a feeling?’

”I think you’ve got the wrong person. I don’t feel any sort of familial connection to you!” She didn’t want to waste her emotions.

’Without a shred of evidence, there’s no way I can just accept this.’

’Besides... why should I believe a word he says?’

’If he really cared about me as much as he claims, how could he have lost me in the first place?’

”How can this girl be so cold-hearted?”

”She was probably never taught any better. She’s gone astray.”

”Of course no one taught her, with her parents gone!”

”A kid like that would be nothing but trouble even if you did get her back.”

”...”

The bystanders, on the other hand, were feeling indignant on Cao Guangrong’s behalf.

Cao Guangrong seemed oblivious to the crowd’s murmurs, his face filled with only guilt and self-reproach. ”I know you blame me for losing you and making you suffer so much. But it was an accident, Daddy was just careless. If I could do it all over again, I swear I’d never let you out of my sight!”

Though Chen Xing felt a flicker of hope, she didn’t want to waste any more time when he couldn’t produce any proof. She shook off Cao Guangrong’s hand and continued on her way.

But Cao Guangrong refused to give up and chased after her. ”Xuexue... don’t go! It was so hard to find you. I will absolutely not let you leave me again!”

Chen Xing didn’t stop.

”You have a pale gray birthmark on your lower back, about the size of a fingernail!” Cao Guangrong finally blurted out, as if after a long internal struggle.

Chen Xing froze, whirling around to face the man.

Cao Guangrong gazed at her, his eyes a mixture of sorrow and anxiety. The tenderness in them was the kind a father could only have for his own flesh and blood.

”Am I right?” he asked, his expression a complicated mix of desperation and hope.

Chen Xing clenched her fists.

She did, in fact, have a birthmark on her lower back. It was pale gray and the size of a fingernail.

Though Chen Xing’s face appeared as placid and unruffled as a calm sea, a tempest was raging within her.

’Is this gaunt man standing before me really my father?’

’But... but why don’t I feel anything at all?’

’Shouldn’t you feel something when you meet a long-lost relative? Something special?’

’How can I explain this... utter lack of connection?’

”You really are my daughter, Xuexue!” Cao Guangrong burst into tears again, a heart-wrenching sight. ”You were only six when you got lost. As of today, it’s been eighteen years, six months, and five days!” He was smiling through his tears.

How much must he have missed his daughter to have counted every single day?

Many people in the crowd were moved to tears as well.

”Xuexue, your mom, and your grandma and grandpa... they’ll be so happy to see that you’re back!”