Po approached the noodle shop where his dad was waiting for him. Scorpion came out and gave the goose a kiss before waving goodbye and setting off down the road.

"I'll see you in four days, Pingy!" Scorpion called out as she went away.

"Where's she going?" Po asked as he approached his dad.

"Scorpion has to go to one of the harbors to get fresh supplies," Mr. Ping explained. "She needs to take them home immediately and put them somewhere so that they don't dry out."

"Are you sure?"

"Po...."

"Sorry. Still getting used to her not being evil and stuff."

I'm sure you two will get along perfectly fine, someday," Mr. Ping assured him, going into the noodle shop. "Scorpion really enjoys spending time with you."

Po sighed. "I'm sure she does," he replied. "But that doesn't mean that I'm comfortable with her."

"You'll be fine with it soon. In the meantime, we have hungry customers to feed and I want your help in serving lunch."

"I know dad. You were screaming it halfway across the valley."

"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't gone up the stairs before I got to you."

The two reached the kitchen where Mr. Ping directed him to the soup pot that was currently cooking on the stove. Po stirred it for a moment before turning to help his dad with some of the vegetables and the dumplings that the customers ordered. The two talked as they served lunch, discussing the new training that Po was doing, some of Scorpion's new friends and newly discovered medicine, and Mantis' girlfriend Quan-Ying. (They wanted to avoid mentioning anything about Po's crush on Tigress after the rumor that had occurred over a month ago). Mr. Ping was curious as to whether or not anyone else in the Jade Palace had a new date, but not wanting to mention Crane or Viper, Po kept his mouth shut and feigned innocence on the subject. When the lunch rush hour began to slow down, the Dragon Warrior took to cleaning the counters and keeping the kitchen in order for later.

"Thank you, Po," Mr. Ping told him with a smile, serving another customer some soup. "This old shop gets busier every day!"

"Hey, it's no problem!" Po assured him. "I love cooking!"

"And I know that my future grandkids will love it too," the goose said happily. "Broth runs through our veins!"

"I know dad," the panda replied. "But I'm not even in a relationship yet; you don't need to keep bringing up grandkids!"

"I'd like to be a grandfather some time soon and I'll keep bothering you until I see him! Or her."

Po shook his head with an amused smile and said nothing else.

"Oh, Po," Mr. Ping said suddenly. "I just remembered: I found that old blanket you used as a kung fu cape when you were thirteen. I put it on your bed if you want it."

"Seriously?!" Po exclaimed happily. "I've been looking for that thing! Thanks dad!"

"You're welcome, son!" Mr. Ping called up as the Dragon Warrior went dashing up the stairs. He continued to chop and serve food when a loud and boisterous voice called out, "Excuse me! Is the food here decent?!"

The old goose looked up with a scowl on his face, seeing a giant panda standing in the doorway. He wore green pants that were tied around him with a thick, brown rope and he wore a long, short-sleeved coat that fell nicely around him.

"I beg you pardon, sir," Mr. Ping complained. "But I'd like you to that Ping's noodles are the best in all of China! How dare you call it decent!"

The panda tipped his straw hat to the old goose. "I apologize, good sir," he said sincerely. "The last place I ate at had horrible food and I want to make sure I'm eating somewhere with good taste."

"Well come on over and have a taste, if you dare. Two yuan a sample."

"Two yuan?" the panda asked in surprise.

"I have a business to run. I can't afford free samples."

The guest shrugged. "Fair enough," he replied. He walked up to the counter, all eyes on him in surprise and amazement, as he requested a sample of a dumpling. Mr. Ping quickly whipped one up and watched him eat it with unblinking eyes. The panda chewed and swallowed the dumpling.

"Well?" the old goose asked suspiciously.

The panda smiled. "This is delicious!" he exclaimed happily. He proceeded to take out some more yuan and added, "I'd like thirty bowls, please."

"Thirty?!" Mr. Ping cried in happy surprise. "Coming right up!"

The noodle maker began to prepare the many bowls of dumplings, calling out, "That will be eighty-seven yuan!"

"DAAAAD!" Po called from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, son?!" Mr. Ping responded, gathering the dumplings into five separate bowls.

"Have you seen my little panda that was on my bed?!"

"I haven't seen it since you first brought it home! Are you sure it didn't fall behind the bed?!"

Silence fell as Mr. Ping gave his hungry customer his thirty bowls of food and was paid the money for it.

"Oh, there it is!" Po called down. "It was in my closet!"

"Your closet?! How on earth did it get in there?!"

"How should I know?!"

Po came downstairs with his green blanket and his stuffed panda bear, laying it down on the counter. He gently touched the panda's ears, saying, "I wonder what my parents would think of me if they could see me today."

"I'm sure they'd be happy with who you are," the old goose assured him. "You're an excellent cook, and great son, and the Dragon Warrior! I know I'm proud of you."

Po smiled. "Thanks, dad," he said. "And my real dad could still be alive, so you never know."

"After that attack, I doubt anyone survived," Mr. Ping told him gently. "But I suppose there's no real way of knowing."

"Hey, Mr. Ping!" some of the pigs exclaimed, putting a ton of yuan on the counter. "Can you give us about twenty more bowls? We want to see this guy stuff all the dumplings into his mouth!"

"Absolutely!" Mr. Ping replied happily. He turned to Po and added, "Some traveler came into my shop and asked for thirty bowls of dumplings! What do you think of that?!"

"Thirty?! That's more dumplings than I eat in a week!"

"I know! Imagine the new repairs I can make with this money!"

"That sounds awesome," Po said. "I can take the bowls out if you want. I want to see this!"

"If you want to."

Mr. Ping quickly prepared another bowl of noodles where Po headed outside to hand it the pig. As he watched him go to the crowd, he noticed someone he had never seen before: a panda, like him, with his back turned to him at the moment, stuffing dumpling after dumpling into his mouth. As the villagers cheered him on, Po looked at him carefully, trying to see what he looked like. Mr. Ping, drawn by the action, came out as well. After a few more minutes of cheering, the panda finally turned around, almost all of the ordered dumplings stuffed dangerously inside of his mouth. By this point, the Dragon Warrior was pretty speechless. He hadn't seen another panda since the attack by Shen almost thirty-three years earlier and to see one of his own kind alive took him by surprise. The other panda eventually swallowed the food in his mouth, allowing him to talk to his new friends. Upon seeing Po, he looked at him with a small smile.

"Who...are you?!" Po asked him slowly.

The other panda took off his hat as a way to friendly introduce himself. "I'm Li Shan," he told Po, his face now sad and slightly serious. "And I am looking for my son."

Upon hearing this, the villagers gasped and looked immediately to Po. They had heard the panda talk about his trials at Gongmen City and about how he remembered his parents. After hearing the story countless times and knowing it by heart, they almost instantly knew who Li was. Mr. Ping, who had been noticing during the eating competition that the panda looked somewhat similar to Po, nearly started hyperventilating in panic.

Po gasped, remembering himself the loss of a family member. "You lost your son?" he asked.

"Yes," Li replied, his mind flashing back to the attack on his old village and the vision he had of his son surviving the attack in the radish basket. "Many years ago."

"I lost my father," Po told him, his voice cracking at the sad memories.

"I'm very sorry," the panda replied gently.

"Thank you."

Silence fell over them for a moment before Li said, "Well, good luck to you."

"You too," Po told him. "I hope you find your son."

"And I hope you find your father."

The villagers, baffled by how on earth the two didn't get the connection, darted their heads back and forth, trying to communicate in some way that father and son were looking at each other. But Li turned to leave the restaurant and Po went back inside the noodle shop, causing them to place their heads in their hands in utter amazement. Li disappeared from sight as Po collected the things he took from his room. The gong rang, indicating lunch was over and he quickly darted out to make it to the training hall.

"Gotta' go, dad!" he called out. "See you later!"

Mr. Ping, unsure of what to do with Po's real dad being back, just stood there whimpering the bottom of his beak, thinking about what he was going to say to Po the next time they talked. Or the next time Li popped back up to talk to Po.