Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

At the end of August, Song Xingye returned his meal card, access card, and pass, and left the Fucheng Road residential compound with his luggage.

The next morning, he arrived in Jinan, looking travel-worn.

As soon as Li Chunxia opened the unit door, she saw her son holding a suitcase with one hand and raising the other hand high, smiling and greeting her.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the ends of his jet-black hair were damp, glistening with moisture.

"mom!"

Li Chunxia covered her mouth in surprise. After realizing what had happened, she snatched the luggage and stepped aside to let the person into the house.

"Hoshino, why did you suddenly come back?"

Song Xingye smiled gently, "The Dongyu Group's summer camp is over, so I came back. I'll stay with you until the Mid-Autumn Festival, okay?"

"Anything is fine!"

Li Chunxia hurriedly took out slippers for him to change into, and then pushed the suitcase into the living room. "Oh, you child, you haven't been home for more than half a year, why are you being so polite? This is your home, you can stay as long as you want. Whenever you come back, that's when we'll celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival!"

Song Xingye smiled as he watched his mother's overjoyed and flustered expression.

At the same time, it's a little heartbreaking.

It's not like he hasn't been home for more than half a year; he hasn't seen this face for more than a decade.

At this time, Li Chunxia looked to be in good health, but a few years later she was diagnosed with cancer and eventually died in agony. A few years later, her father also died of depression.

Song Xingye always regretted that in his previous life he was too busy with work and spent too little time with his parents. Even his marriage failed, and his parents didn't even get to hold their grandson before they passed away.

He sometimes thought that if his mother had a child to keep his father company after she passed away, perhaps he wouldn't be so lonely.

As my thoughts drifted, another person walked out of the bedroom, whose features were exactly like my son's.

This is naturally Song's father, Song Zhenhua.

"Hoshino is back?"

The bond between fathers and sons is often subtle. Song Zhenhua didn't ask his son how long he would be staying, but simply complained, "Why didn't you give me a heads-up? Your mother and I could have picked you up at the station!"

He paused, then asked, "Didn't you eat breakfast this morning?"

"No."

Song Xingye kept looking at the two old people and grinning foolishly.

Song Zhenhua glanced at the time, turned around and went to change his clothes, saying he was going downstairs to buy breakfast and some cooked dishes for lunch. Li Chunxia scolded him for this.

"Who sells cooked food so early in the morning? Besides, the child hasn't been home for over half a year. You're feeding him cooked food as soon as he comes back? What kind of father are you?"

After being scolded, Song Zhenhua obediently bought breakfast and then went out with his vegetable basket to the market to buy chicken and fish.

Song Xingye quickly finished the steamed buns and soy milk on the table. When he looked up, he saw Li Chunxia already wearing an apron and sleeves and getting busy.

"Your cousin just left yesterday. If I had known you were coming back today, I would have insisted she stay another day. She's been talking about you the whole time."

Li Chunxia grumbled, her words tinged with concern, "Look at you, you must not have been eating properly these past few months, you've lost a lot of weight since the New Year..."

Song Xingye shrugged helplessly, "Of course I'd lose weight. With our family's New Year's food standards and your cooking skills, anyone who comes here would gain ten pounds."

"You're such a chatterbox! I need to rest up and get back to my pre-pregnancy figure these next few days."

Li Chunxia kept nagging, and Song Xingye listened quietly with a smile, watching her bustling around in the kitchen and living room.

She took out frozen ingredients from the refrigerator and started tidying them up in the kitchen, and Song Xingye followed her to watch.

"Go away, you don't need to help!"

Li Chunxia waved her hand to shoo people away.

"Hey—can I just stand here and talk to you for a bit?"

Li Chunxia turned and glared at her son, but her eyes and brows were full of laughter. "This silly boy!"

The sound of running water filled the kitchen. Song Xingye, leaning against the doorframe, suddenly spoke:

"mom."

"Um?"

"In a while, people from Dongyu Group may come to visit."

Li Chunxia was washing a basin of vegetables when she heard this, she paused, then burst into a hearty laugh, "Did you pass the interview?"

"Yes, I'll sign the three-party agreement when I get back to school. If nothing unexpected happens... I'll start working right after graduation next year."

"Great! My son's got guts! Those foreign devils won't let us into the space station, so we'll build our own and make them furious!"

Song Xingye couldn't help but laugh. "You even know about the Wolf Clause?"

Li Chunxia laughed even harder, gesturing towards the living room, "It's all because of your dad. Ever since you started your doctoral studies, he's become a space enthusiast, watching the news about rockets and satellites every day. When those new regulations from those foreign devils came out a while ago, the old man cursed them at home for days."

As she spoke, she tapped the cutting board with a cleaver, "You'd better work hard from now on, bring honor to the country, and make our family proud!"

Song Xingye smiled faintly, "Okay!"

Not long after, Song Zhenhua returned with chicken and live fish, rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen, where the elderly couple worked together.

By noon, Mom had prepared a huge table full of dishes, such as sweet and sour pork balls, steamed crab, and braised pork hock with rock sugar, all of which were Song Xingye's favorites.

There are also various steamed meats, braised chickens, and braised fish, garnished with vegetables and fruits.

Song Xingye felt that even the emperor's Manchu Han Imperial Feast was no better than this.

Song Zhenhua pulled a bottle of Wuliangye liquor from the bottom of the cabinet. Just as he was about to pour the liquor, Li Chunxia shouted that he was not allowed to.

However, Song's father argued that it would be a waste of all the good food if they didn't drink some wine.

Song Xingye chimed in with a smile, "Mom, I'm almost 25, not a kid anymore. How can I not have a drink? Besides, I secretly tried it when I was in junior high. Dad always liked to hide alcohol in my room."

Mr. Song glared at him. "You little rascal, I knew the wine didn't taste right back then. Did you secretly add water after you finished drinking it?"

Old grievances were brought up again, and the dinner table was filled with laughter and joy.

Song Xingye had a few drinks with his father.

He gnawed on the braised pork hock with rock sugar until his mouth was glistening with oil, then downed a bowl of spicy soup. He ate until his stomach was bulging, and only then did the two elders show satisfied smiles.

After lunch, Song Xingye chatted with his parents for a while before returning to his room.

Although no one had lived there for more than half a year, the air inside was fresh, and there were a few flowers that Li Chunxia had picked and put in a glass bottle on the windowsill, which smelled very fragrant.

Cicadas chirped and sparrows chattered outside the window, and the sun shone brightly through the glass of the building opposite.

Song Xingye's bedroom wasn't large and faced north.

He spent his entire teenage years here, and since he went to university, he has rarely come back, so everything is still the same as it was in high school.

The books on the bookshelf, such as "The Legend of Wukong," "The Condor Heroes," and "Science Fiction World Magazine," were all extracurricular reading materials at that time. The cabinet was neatly filled with all kinds of awards and certificates he had received from childhood to adulthood.

Song Xingye stood there in a daze for a moment, then took out a book, flipped through it for a while, and put it back.

Everything in the room felt both familiar and strange.

Song Xingye was touching and fiddling with things in the room, reminiscing about his lost youth, when his mother came in with half a watermelon and a spoon stuck in it.

My son has been mischievous since he was a child, always picking the sweetest part in the middle and never touching the edges.

This time, Song Xingye obediently ate the melon, but he started eating from the very edge.

Li Chunxia sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her son aside and asking him all sorts of questions about his school life over the past six months. Song Xingye answered in a disjointed manner, his head almost buried in the melon rind.

How's the school food?

"It's fantastic! We have beef stew with potatoes every meal, with only beef and no potatoes. Even at the instant noodle stand, we have to add three eggs and two oden. The cafeteria ladies serve the food with perfect precision, as if they're afraid your son will go hungry."

"Did you rest well? Were your roommates noisy?"

"It's great. There aren't any particularly heavy research projects. I can sleep for ten hours a day in the dorm. The rats in the doctoral building are all running away from my dorm when they rebel. Why? Because I'm grumpy when I wake up. They're afraid of me. If anyone disturbs my sleep, I'll smack them into a pancake with my slippers."

"Have you been studying diligently with Professor Xu?"

"Of course I take it seriously. Whenever there's a task, Lao Xu always thinks of me first. Every time, Lao Xu praises me, saying, 'Whose child is this? How did he raise him to be so smart and hardworking? His mother is truly blessed!'"

Upon hearing this, Li Chunxia couldn't help but laugh, and twisted Song Xingye's ear around in the air.

"You silly child, what's gotten into you this time? Why are you so talkative? Are you the Six-Eared Macaque in disguise? Where did you hide the real Great Sage?"