Hope City.
An utterly ordinary apartment building.
As evening approached, lights flickered on one after another among the honeycomb-like blocks. From Zhang Shen's kitchen on the third floor drifted the rich, savory scent of braised fish. The clatter of stainless-steel bowls mingled with reminders to "use less salt." On Li Shu's sixth-floor windowsill, a pressure cooker hissed steam, and the aroma of stewed ribs tempted the stray cats downstairs into throwing back their heads and yowling.
Cooking fumes billowed out through the exhaust fans, weaving into a thin mist in the dusk and creating a profoundly real sense of everyday life.
"Dad, Mom, how many times have I told you? Stop coming downstairs to pick me up. You're nearly a hundred already. Those kids outside practically want to call me an Old Monster. What, are you still going to treat me like I'm a teenager?"
Su Chan rubbed her shoulder as she walked, grumbling under her breath.
"Hey, you can't put it that way. You're a lord now. By all rights, the two of us common folk should greet you at the entrance, shouldn't we?" Su Ba chuckled, holding a large palm-leaf fan.
"Besides, Gu An insisted on showing off his cooking today and wouldn't let us stay home. If we weren't going downstairs to pick you up, was I supposed to wander around the square with your mother?"
"Sound reasoning. Impossible to refute."
Su Chan smacked her lips. "It's rare enough for that brat to cook, but why's he making it so mysterious?"
"Who knows? He called this afternoon to remind us." Su Ma glanced behind her. "Where's Gu Chen? Still busy?"
"Yeah. There's no set schedule at the research institute. I'll pack some up for him after we eat."
"Ah, that won't do."
Gu An's voice came from