C13

　Meng Jinhuai, who had just finished his work, was wearing a black double-breasted military uniform and had leather gloves of the same color on his hands, and at this time he revealed an unusually dangerous atmosphere all over his body… Duan Hengxing, who was sitting on the ground and had yet to get up, immediately turned pale after seeing the other party, and he somewhat nervously and panickedly lowered his head and called out, “Lord Yuan… Marshal…”

Meng Jinhuai ignored Duan Hengxing and didn’t even give him an unnecessary look. In the midst of the silence, the Marshal walked straight up to Duan Hengye’s side, “Are you okay?” When he said this, Meng Jinhuai was like a new person, he lowered his head and spoke in an extremely gentle tone. However, probably because he had just come out of the military department, Meng Jinhuai’s momentum wasn’t all restrained as it had been in the past, and although he had intentionally slowed down his tone, there was still an extremely strong sense of unfamiliar oppression.

Some uneasiness suddenly arose in Duan Hengye’s heart, although his previous life was far away from family strife, he had also once faced the heads of various ancient martial families all day long. In Duan Hengye’s opinion, Meng Jinhuai’s aura was far superior to theirs.

This kind of momentum and oppression could only be found in those who came out of the battlefield, washed out from countless blood and death.

Pushing down the few moments of uneasiness within his heart, Duan Hengye tried to look up as calmly as usual and said, “It’s fine.”

“That’s good,” Meng Jinhuai said with a smile towards Duan Hengye, “In the future, such matters can be handed over to a personal assistant to handle.”

“Alright.” Duan Hengye didn’t want to pay attention to this dude’s younger brother anyway, and he made a mental note of the people who could handle the trouble. And seeing Duan Hengye nodding, Meng Jinhuai finally patted his shoulder gently and said, “Alright, let’s go to the banquet hall for a walk.”

As the marshal’s spouse, appearing at the banquet together with Meng Jinhuai was certainly an essential part. Duan Hengye put away his light-brain and walked towards the crowded place with Meng Jinhuai. The two of them no longer paid any attention to the wretched Duan Hengxing, but when they passed by the person who had fallen to the ground, Duan Hengye was incredibly clear about his uncontrollable trembling….

When he was about to walk into the crowded hall, Meng Jinhuai suddenly took two steps forward slightly and took Duan Hengye’s hand.

　　……
　　
　　Instantly Duan Hengye had numerous exclamation marks brushing past his brain, and he reflexively wanted to pull his hand out, but reason and old memories told him that the original owner and Meng Jinhuai would indeed often appear arm in arm in public.

After all, who called them legal partners?

In his last life, although Duan Hengye didn’t have the same strange temper as the original owner, he was still a very withdrawn person in the eyes of the people around him. Although he had realized his sexual orientation when he read dog blood fiction in his early years, this was the first time he held hands with someone else in his adult life.

Meng Jinhuai’s hand was not only beautiful, but the cool body temperature coupled with the thin calluses on his palm created the illusion that he was touching a jade sculpture when he held it. At this moment, Duan Hengye’s fingertips also reflexively trembled slightly, so he admired Meng Jinhuai even more… He was really worthy of being the Shadow Emperor of his heart, and could actually hold a person who was trying to kill him so naturally. Duan Hengye couldn’t help but continue to quietly shift his gaze upwards, Meng Jinhuai still didn’t change his face and even had a smile in his eyes, as if the one holding his hands was really his lover.

No matter what kind of twists and turns these two people had in their hearts, this look was indeed very intimate in the eyes of outsiders. By the time they reached the center of the banquet hall, almost everyone’s eyes were locked on them.

“Good afternoon Marshal Meng and Professor Duan, I’ve heard a lot about you.” A slightly chubby man stepped forward to greet the two. The speaker was the Prime Minister of the Ye Tian Empire, and probably because of the war, his presence was low compared to the military commander, Meng Jinhuai, but he was one of the Ye Tian Empire’s political . . one of the top figures in the world of governance .

However, neither the original owner nor Duan Hengye had much interest in the imperial political world. When Meng Jinhuai and the Prime Minister started chatting, he slowly pretended to be unconscious and pulled his hand out of the other’s hand . When he finally removed his hand, Duan Hengye finally noticed that beside that Prime Minister, there had been someone who was silently observing him while drinking.

And when he saw Duan Hengye looking back, he also very generously raised the wine cup in his hand and said, “Good evening.”

Duan Hengye finally remembered that the man across him was named Wen Mujia, the heir of a well-known interstellar technology company. As a typical rich generation, Wen Mu Jia lived a low-key life, and the most famous deed in his previous life was probably – he had chased Meng Jin Huai in his early years.
　　
Almost all of the interstellar citizens had heard, and even a large part of the gossip lovers also knew, as a “rival” Wen Mujia and the original owner didn’t like each other…….

If it was in the past, receiving this provocative look, the original owner would definitely argue with him. But as a transmigrated person, Duan Hengye was eager to be able to divorce Meng Jinhuai… So provoking the other party for an unknown number of times, Wen Mujia first experienced the feeling of punching cotton.

Although the two hadn’t met officially, the magical intuition between the rivals still existed. After seeing the other party’s indifferent appearance, Wen Mujia immediately realized – Duan Hengye had changed. His smile slowly faded, and his gaze at Duan Hengye also turned inquisitive.

However, Duan Hengye really didn’t want to pay attention to this “former rival” anymore. Unlike his indifference, from turning around to leaving the hall completely, Wen Mujia’s sight never left Duan Hengye’s back…….

Outside the banquet was a patch of grass, and only once Duan Hengye went out did he see that a large group of children had come on the lawn that was just incomparably quiet at some point. The children who were brought to the banquet by their families were able to stay at first, but after a while they ran out because they were bored. At this point, there were a bunch of kids in fancy dresses chasing each other around the garden, and from time to time, someone would accidentally fall to the ground. There were a few robots around that looked a bit anxious and kept their orange cue lights on, circling around behind their young hosts.
　　
　　……
　　
　　It was true that Duan Hengye liked cute children, but that didn’t mean he could tolerate the noise. He only took a glance at the lawn before planning to go back, but before Duan Hengye could fully turn around, a loud cry pulled him back.

Only to see Dongfang You, who had just met him, sitting on the ground on her butt, her pretty blue dress also torn at the corner, and she looked very messy. And the person standing opposite Dongfang You was… Meng Jinhuai’s nephew.

Duan Hengye’s right eyelid jumped violently.

This was a character that hadn’t been mentioned in Dumping Interstellar, but fortunately, his existence could be found from the original owner’s memories. Meng Jinhuai’s family had been in the military for generations, and over the years, the Ye Tian Empire was in a bad situation, and the family had sacrificed many people as a result. The child in front of him was Meng Jinhuai’s older brother’s child, Meng Hexian, who had followed Duan Hengye after his parents died in battle.

The Marshal wasn’t omnipotent, and because of his busy business schedule, Meng Jinhuai didn’t have much time to look after this child. In Duan Hengye’s opinion… he was afraid that Meng Hexian would become the same type as the original owner’s brother if this development continued.

Although he didn’t want to get involved in these children’s conflicts, but Dongfang You had clearly seen Duan Hongyu. The little girl not far away flattened her mouth somewhat in aggravation, then she shouted out in the direction of Duan Hengye, “Professor Duan…”

Almost all the families of the children present were high ranking members of the military, so naturally this wasn’t the first time they had seen Duan Hengye. When they saw this uncle, who was always very serious in their impressions, coming over with a straight face, the children immediately became nervous.

Duan Hengye didn’t care about the others, he quickly walked over and lifted Dongfang You up and asked, “What’s wrong?” After he finished speaking, he suddenly felt that this scene was somewhat familiar… his own exchange with Lan Jingchi a while ago seemed to be like this.

After being helped up by Duan Hengye, the little girl immediately rolled her eyes and confessed, “It’s… it’s Meng Hexian, he pushed me!” After hearing this, Duan Hengye first looked at the other children who were watching. He slowly walked up to Meng Hexian’s side and frowned, asking, “What’s going on?”

Although not as deadly as Meng Jinhuai’s all-consuming aura, Duan Hengye’s cold temperament was still terrifying to a child. Little Meng wasn’t really a real dude after all, he was silent for a while before biting his lip and lowering his head to admit, “Yes, but it’s not like I did it on purpose…”

Hearing the other party’s words of defense, Duan Hengye said, “It’s useless to explain, apologize.” Because the nominal guardians Meng Jinhuai and Duan Hengye had been away from home, young master Meng Hexian had been brought up by the family servants as well as schoolmates. Now that Duan Hengye suddenly asked him to apologize to Dongfang You, Meng Hexian was naturally unwilling.
　　
　　”No, her father is an admiral, my uncle is…”

Children generally didn’t care about the status of their family members, and now that Meng Hexian was able to say that, it must be someone repeating the status in his ears all day long. Duan Hengye’s face became even uglier, “Because your uncle is Meng Jinhuai, you’re able to bully others?” He couldn’t help but raise his voice.

Meng Hexian was shocked by Duan Hengye’s voice that suddenly became louder, but that wasn’t all, Duan Hengye raised his voice and asked, “According to this, your uncle is out on the war in order to come back and bully, or rule over others?”

After hearing Duan Hengye’s words, Meng Hexian suddenly couldn’t help but shed tears. The tears fell so fast that Dongfang You didn’t even realize what was happening. She carefully pulled the hem of Duan Hengye’s shirt when she saw Meng Hexian crying and said, “Professor Duan… It’s fine, I won’t cry now, so don’t be mean to Meng Hexian.”

“……. “Duan Hengye was silent, did it really seem like I was bullying a child so much?

Nevertheless, he still felt that Meng Hexiao’s words just now were very excessive. Duan Hengye didn’t speak anymore, but stood there silently watching Meng Hexian. After an indeterminate amount of time, the child finally stopped crying with a sniffle, and he wiped his face then hiccupped and said, “Right… I’m sorry.”
　　
Hearing the apology, Dongfang You also froze, and she opened her eyes wide and returned a “It’s okay.” Duan Hengye finally squatted down and handed over the handkerchief to Meng Hexian.

After receiving the handkerchief, Meng Hexian sniffed his nose and wiped the tears and snot from his face. After his emotions calmed down a bit, the child handed the handkerchief back to Duan Hengye “Thank you auntie.” He said very naturally.

Auntie?

Upon hearing that, Duan Hengye even forgot the dirty handkerchief in his hand, he only felt a basin of cold water pouring down from his head. “Change the name,” he got up and said to Meng Hexian seriously, “Call me Professor Duan.”

“Huh?” Meng Hexian flinched, then called out “Professor Duan” in a low voice as he sniffed.

……..

What Duan Hengye didn’t know was that everything that happened over here had been seen by Meng Jinhuai.

At a certain moment, the figure of Duan Hengye in Meng Jinhuai’s eyes seemed to reunite with the young man from the banquet more than ten years ago… The marshal’s eyes couldn’t help but reveal a trace of tenderness – not mixed with a single falsehood. It was just that that tenderness only existed for a moment.