TN:
Yoooooooo!! Long time, blame the painfully long chapters, but updates for this is back, I made stockpiles for it. I almost forgot how sweet these two were.
Duan Hengye finally felt that the scene was a little weird now-he was too familiar with Meng Jinhuai and the event was very formal. It was nothing if it was with someone else, but it happened that this person was Meng Jinhuai … So it was really strange.
The last time a new Mecha designed by Duan Hengye was delivered, the state of the empire was far more chaotic than it was now. And even because there was a war on the Empire’s border planets at the time that didn’t calm down, both Meng Jinhuai and the other two admirals of the military department weren’t on southern star, so the delivery ceremony and related activities were naturally cancelled.
So by this reckoning, such a grand mecha delivery ceremony like today, Southern Star hadn’t had one for many years.
Not only Duan Hengye, at this time, the rest of the audience also noticed this. The ceremony was supposed to be an incredibly serious and formal event between two major intergalactic organizations, but since they knew the relationship between the two people in front of them, the atmosphere of the originally serious event surprisingly had a “warm” feeling.
It could even be said to produce a little “wedding” atmosphere.
Because Duan Hengye had been sitting, so the body of the black cloak wasn’t eye-catching. But when he stood up, the existence of that clothing instantly multiplied by several times.
The ankle-length black cloak draped beautifully, because Meng Jinhuai’s bone structure was a little bigger than Duan Hengye’s. The cloak belonging to the marshal was extra loose on Duan Hengye’s shoulders. But it was also because it had a larger cut, it looked serious and dull, but on Duan Hengye, it added a “lazy” temperament. Although it didn’t fit well, this cloak looked like it should belong to Duan Hengye.
After the next activity started, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai stood up together and took two steps forward. At this time, another familiar staff member from the military department began to introduce the content of the session as written in the flow sheet. After his words stopped, Duan Hengye picked up the metal box just like the previous process.
At this time, the high-definition live cameras from various media outlets all focused on Duan Hengye’s hand. The lens of the interstellar era was unimaginably high-definition, but even so, the hand under the lens didn’t have the slightest flaw – it really was like a work of art.
In fact, this part very simple, but Professor Duan took his time. After picking up the box containing the mecha opening medal, Duan Hengye didn’t have time to care about where the attention of the audience watching the live broadcast was actually placed, but was recalling the process behind.
He didn’t know exactly what metal the box was made of, Duan Hengye had been holding it in his hands for half a day, but it was still as cold as an ice lump. When this part of the event officially began, Duan Hengye hurried to open the box.
The silver-white tiny medallion was now quietly lying on the dark purple velvet texture of the lining cloth, looked extraordinarily exquisite. Duan Hengye’s hand couldn’t help but pause there for a moment, and finally he slowly took it out of the box.
Duan Hengye had just noticed when he was checking the flow sheet that what he needed to do later wasn’t as simple as handing the mecha’s opening medallion to Meng Jinhuai.
The opening medal of this mecha was special, after getting it in his hand, Duan Hengye immediately figured out the mystery of it. Then his hand used a little bit of dexterity to split that medal in two.
After taking the medal out, the assistant standing beside Duan Hengye, Ye Pu, took the box from his hands. At this time, Duan Hengye turned around slightly and then faced the huge Mecha docking pad.
Under the eyes of countless people in the interstellar world, Duan Hengye slowly raised his hand, and then he gently threw one of the silver medals in the direction that he was facing. In the blink of an eye, a huge silver mecha appeared on the mecha docking pad that was empty just a moment ago.
That was today’s main character, the new mecha “Nanzhu”.
The guests on the viewing platform had been watching the event for several hours, but their enthusiasm didn’t diminish. After seeing the new mecha appear, a burst of applause erupted from the observatory. And under such background music, Duan Hengye also turned around again, and then presented the other medal to Meng Jinhuai according to the process.
The Lord Marshal also extended his hand, and Duan Hengye took the medal with both hands and then gently placed it on top of the other person’s palm. And at this time, Duan Hengye suddenly noticed something – the ring that Meng Jinhuai was wearing on his hand, seemed to be the same as his own?
The military stylists were always very conscientious and responsible, in addition to preparing the clothes for Duan Hengye in advance, they would also match the accessories together, and even carefully mark the way to wear it on the box of the accessories.
Just like this ring that Duan Hengye was wearing today, it was marked in detail to be worn on the left hand …… although it wasn’t as detailed as to say which finger, after trying it on, Duan Hengye naturally wore it on the most suitable ring finger.
As a person who wasn’t very particular about dressing and accessories, Duan Hengye wore the ring in an extremely natural way and didn’t feel there was any problem. So when he saw the same ring on Meng Jinhuai’s finger, that was almost identical to his own ring, he reacted.
Duan Hengye couldn’t help but freeze for a moment, but then he thought, he and Meng Jinhuai were originally legal spouses …… so wearing the same ring, there was nothing wrong with it, right?
However, Professor Duan was obviously ignorant of the extent of the netizens’ madness.
In fact, right after Duan Hengye’s hand appeared in the camera, the netizens sighed that he could go straight to being a hand model, the rest of them were putting the focus on that one ring on his hand. Compared to the wedding ring which was slightly exaggerated, the ring Duan Hengye wore at this time was much more low-key. The silver-white ring body in addition to some fine diamonds, when the light hit it, it emitted a dazzling silver flash, the rest of the time, it looked like an ordinary plain ring.
When Meng Jinhuai hadn’t stretched out his hand to receive the medal, the netizens attention was still only on the object itself. But when the close-up of the marshal’s finger also appeared in the picture, their focus ran away ……
It was a fact that Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai had obviously been “old husband and wife” for a long time. But after noticing the small detail of the ring, everyone once again had the feeling of being blinded …… the handover just took a moment, but soon after it appeared, they screenshotted it and directly posted it online.
The handover of the medals took only a few seconds in total, and after Meng Jinhuai received the medals on behalf of the imperial military, he followed the process and had an unexpectedly serious handshake with Duan Hengye. At this time Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai both had a very serious expression, but the more they were like this, the more everyone wanted to see something else from them.
Although Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai came here today hand in hand, the activity of “shaking hands” was very new to them both.
“Thank you, Director Duan.” After putting down his hand, before Duan Hengye could sit down, Meng Jinhuai came to him with this sentence.
Although Duan Hengye was the director of the Ye Tian Empire’s Mecha Research Institute, everyone usually preferred to call him “Professor Duan” rather than “Director Duan”. If people normally called Duan Hengye this way, it would definitely make him feel old.
…… but the person who called him this today was Meng Jinhuai.
The atmosphere, which had gradually become serious, changed once again. Duan Hengye paused as he was about to sit down, then he looked up at the other.
And after discovering that Duan Hengye was looking at him, the Lord Marshall…… smiled at Duan Hengye in full view of everyone, and also slightly raised his eyebrows.
Was this still Meng Jinhuai! Everyone who saw the other’s actions were taken aback. However, the flow of this event was very tight, and the media had to follow the shots that were reported in advance while the handover event was going on, and it couldn’t be adjusted at will. So when the two Duan Hengye sat down, they reluctantly moved the camera away and started filming the aerial images again.
The mecha that Duan Hengye just opened took the lead, and the mechas that were parked on the side of the observatory just now all appeared in the air and surrounded the mecha that was only temporarily hanging there because no one was driving it.
Duan Hengye saw that the small half of the sky he was facing was full of new mechas. Unlike the two old mechas he first saw, which moved in an awkward manner and had simple and basic movements on display, the new mechas were very responsive. And because the display program was written in advance, the scene was also much more gorgeous now compared to the plain test flight he had seen a while ago.
Although the background of the mecha was still the empty docking area, the bright light and the magnificent trajectory of the mechas created the illusion that he was in the middle of the stars.
As the designer, Duan Hengye was amazed by this, not to mention the guests who had never had deep contact with mechas before.
Unlike the lively photo scene just now, everyone’s light computers were no longer working at this time. They stared intently at the sky, eager to record this moment of beautiful and spectacular scenery with their eyes.
There were times when the ultimate technology didn’t represent the ultimate beauty. After noticing the expressions and demeanor of the people around him, Duan Hengye’s mood became pleasant.
As a technology worker, the sense of accomplishment was incredibly important to their work. And now, when seeing the mech “Nanzhu” officially flying in the blue sky, Duan Hengye was naturally more emotional.
……
Although the mecha delivery ceremony didn’t take long, but Duan Hengye’s mood was really relaxed because of this event as Meng Jinhuai had hoped. In short, compared to the time when he came, the big stone weighing down on Duan Hengye’s heart was a lot lighter.
After these few hours of activity, Duan Hengye didn’t stay in Southern Star, he once again boarded the return starship and arrived at the Institute when it was the working time of the hemisphere where the experimental building was located. In fact, in this day and age, the difference between the various planets was too great, so the problem of jet lag was inevitable. But after all, Duan Hengye was the director of the research institute, and half master of the Southern Star, his schedule was sorted by a professional team. Duan Hengye’s schedule for every trip to and from Southern Star, Duguang Star and the Institute waz carefully planned by his assistant and team, so basically he no longer needed to spend too much time to adjust his work and rest.
But the recent period was special, whether it was Duan Hengye’s research work or the deciphering of documents, a whole lot of things were all crammed together. Duan Hengye’s schedule was no longer as scientific as before, for example, this time, he went to the Southern Star to participate in the delivery ceremony of the Mecha, it was hard to squeeze out the time.
After a few hours of simple rest on the starship, Duan Hengye was once again refreshed. He didn’t go back to rest, but went directly to the office of the experiment building. Because his nervous mood was slightly adjusted by the activity just now, the current Duan Hengye felt as if he saw the end of his bottleneck period. Inspiration was something that disappeared and never came again, although he was still a little sleepy, Duan Hengye still chose to continue working.
At this time, the research institute had just reached the afternoon working hours, as the vice president Su Mingge didn’t participate in the delivery ceremony on Southern Star, but stayed in the research institute to continue to keep an eye on the work here. After nearly a year of cooperation, the handover between Su Mingge and Duan Hengye was now very skilled. So after hearing the news of Duan Hengye’s return to the research institute, Su Mingge brought his light computer and walked to Duan Hengye’s office as he always did.
Although he rested on the road, Duan Hengye left the Institute today exactly in the early hours of the morning here. Eyebags appeared under his eyes. Duan Hengye didn’t have much requirement for fashion, but he did care about his image on a daily basis. At least in the past, Su Mingge had never seen Duan Hengye this haggard.
When Duan Hengye was lowering his head to confirm the progress of the research institute this morning, and studying the problems they encountered. Su Mingge, who was standing on one side, finally couldn’t help but sit on the chair opposite, he carefully sized up Duan Hengye again, then hesitated for a while and said: “Professor Duan, if you are very sleepy now, go back and rest first. There’s nothing important in the institute now, I’ll just keep an eye on it here.”
Although his daily outfits were very feminine, Duan Hengye had long realized that the vice president was not actually a “gentle” person. On the contrary, Su Mingge was a person who would say whatever he had to say, and he would often put his subordinates on the spot – he even scolded his staff members till they cried more than once.
When he spoke just now, because of hesitation, Su Mingge’s tone of voice subconsciously dragged a little. So in Duan Hengye’s hearing, it was extraordinarily different from the usual.
As a person with a very low level of speech perception, Duan Hengye didn’t react to the meaning of Su Mingge’s words at first. However, after hearing the other’s tone which was different, Duan Hengye still couldn’t help but raise his head, then slightly looked at Su Mingge and said, “I’m not sleepy right now.”
Su Mingge felt that Duan Hengye’s words, together with his noticeable dark circles under his eyes, was really contradictory. But after all, they had worked together for so long, Su Mingge understood that Duan Hengye wasn’t a person who could be persuaded by just talking. So after seeing Duan Hengye’s reaction, he skimmed his lips and shrugged his shoulders towards the other and said, “…… okay.”
Although Duan Hengye left the Institute for a while, he left when work hadn’t started. During this period of time, the Institute hadn’t accumulated much work and problems. Just when Su Mingge was talking, Duan Hengye also happened to finish reading the documents he had on hand, and after seeing that there were no problems in these documents, he returned the light computer back to Su Mingge.
Seeing that Duan Hengye was a person who really couldn’t be persuaded, Su Mingge also had to take the light computer and leave his office. But Su Mingge couldn’t have imagined that …… this was just the beginning.
Although there were now two things he needed to do at the same time, in Duan Hengye’s opinion, it was more important to crack the file. After all, he had long had the idea of installing new weapons on a mecha, although the general framework of the mecha had now reserved the location of the weapons, the estimation wasn’t accurate after all, and the final design needed to wait for the file to be cracked.
After the event on Southern Star, Duan Hengye finally slowly found the state and rhythm of cracking the file. Although there was an agency and Meng Jinhuai’s assistance, the most important work still needed to be done by him. Therefore, during this period of time, Duan Hengye, in addition to going to class in An Luo, spent all his time on cracking the files, and even his mecha design was temporarily put off.
But for Su Mingge and a bunch of colleagues in the research institute, Duan Hengye had always been mysterious. They didn’t know exactly what Duan Hengye was busy with now, they only knew that he had once again entered a frenzied state of work.
At 7:30 a.m. Star Standard Time, staff members arrived at the research building one after another. Because they came by hover car, from a distance they noticed through the window – the lights were still on in the director’s office in the office building.
“…… The director has been getting up really early lately, I thought I was the first one to come to work.” A staff member said to a colleague standing next to him. After hearing his words, the person first took a sip of coffee that had just been brewed on the table, then shook his head and said, “I was on duty a few days ago, and when I left the building in the morning, it was about five o’clock, and the lights were on in his office at that time.”
Hearing the words of their colleagues, several people who arrived at the office early all came together and began to talk about the recent state of Duan Hengye.
“So how long does the director rest in a day, anyway? I’ve always felt before that I’ve been hardworking enough, and now I’m really ashamed to be compared to him ……” another person said.
“Eh, but do you guys remember?” Someone sat down on the table with a glass of water and continued, “I remember that ages ago – no, it was last year – Professor Duan seemed to have been living inside the research building. Do you guys think he also lived here recently and then left the lights off the office area?”
At that, the one who first spoke also sat backwards in his chair, he hugged the back of his chair and shook his head and said, “What are you thinking, the lights in the office area are automatically adjusted …… but I think the director must have started living in the building recently, otherwise if he came to work so early every day, who can stand it? “
As several of them chatted, other people came into the office, including the Institute’s Vice President Su Mingge.
Su Mingge’s office wasn’t far away from Duan Hengye’s, in order to go there, he had to pass the public office area. So inevitably, Su Mingge overheard everyone’s conversation. At the same time, some staff members who heard Su Mingge’s footsteps also turned around and greeted Su Mingge.
In recent times, Duan Hengye had been busy with the paperwork, so Su Mingge kept a closer eye on the work in the institute. Although his work was far less intense than Duan Hengye’s, it was difficult to come to work early in the morning after all, Su Mingge couldn’t help but yawn while walking here.
“What did you guys just say?” Su Mingge gently rubbed his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong with Professor Duan?”
Unlike Duan Hengye, who currently still gave a sense of distance, everyone felt comfortable in front of Su Mingge, and often even chatted with him as well. So when they heard Su Mingge’s question, the staff gave him a seat and then replied, “We were talking about the director who has been working early every day for some time recently, and when we came just now, we saw that his office was lit up.”
When this person finished, the staff member who had been in charge also gave Su Mingge another account of what he had encountered. Unlike the staff’s doubts, Su Mingge decided almost immediately after hearing their words – Duan Hengye hadn’t rested much this time, and he didn’t even wake up early at five o’clock, but didn’t sleep at all.
To be able to enter the Ye Tian Empire Mecha Research Institute, everyone here was bound to be hardworking, and he, the vice president, was certainly so. It was just that …… Su Mingge had worked for so many years, but it was the first time he’d seen someone like Duan Hengye who completely forgot to rest when he got busy.
After hearing the words of the staff, Su Mingge’s expression became somewhat ugly. He didn’t continue chatting with everyone this time, but nodded slightly seriously and then walked towards Duan Hengye’s office. After seeing Su Mingge’s expression, those staff members didn’t dare to speak anymore. Although it was still early before the official working time, single everyone sat back to their positions again in unison and silence, as if nothing had happened.
……
During the time they had worked together, Su Mingge had been to Duan Hengye’s office countless times. Especially in this recent period, because he had been watching the progress of his work, Su Mingge went to Duan Hengye’s office almost every day. After standing at the light screen on the side of the door, he very skillfully sent a request to Duan Hengye in his office and in a few seconds, the light screen in front of him lit up green – it was like the staff said, Duan Hengye was still working right now.
Su Mingge left the light screen and stood at the door of Duan Hengye’s office, and a few seconds passed before the silver door slowly opened.
As the director of the research institute, Duan Hengye’s office was extremely large, but the moment the door opened, Su Mingge still smelled the strong aroma of coffee. Although Duan Hengye liked to drink tea, sometimes during his research he drank coffee. But the quality he drank everyday wasn’t bad. The smell was usually mellow enough.
But now, the smell of coffee in Duan Hengye’s office was a bit too strong. As a person who liked to drink it, Su Mingge couldn’t help but wrinkle his eyebrows.
“Tch ……” Su Mingge muttered in a low voice while walking inside, “The smell of coffee is so heavy.”
Because he had been staying inside the office all the time, Duan Hengye himself couldn’t smell anything strange. So after hearing Su Mingge’s words, he reacted several beats slower. Duan Hengye finally took his attention away from the light screen, then suddenly looked at Su Mingge and said “sorry”, then opened his office window.
Instantly, the cold early morning breeze poured in from the window. Even Su Mingge, who hadn’t changed out of his coat, couldn’t help but be shaken by the wind. Su Mingge looked at Duan Hengye who was sitting across from him wearing only a thin sweater, and then asked him in doubt: “Aren’t you cold?”
Duan Hengye inhaled heavily, although his mouth said “okay”, he still got up from the side to take a white coat. Duan Hengye didn’t know that his face was already bad, and with this white coat on him, he looked like a wandering soul.
“What’s wrong?” After getting up and putting on the coat, Duan Hengye realized that this time Su Mingge didn’t come in with the light computer like before.
Su Mingge was already standing directly across from Duan Hengye, and in his eyes, the man across him was in a state that was simply too bad to be true. Duan Hengye’s face was paler than usual, and even his lips had become almost bloodless. Probably because of the lack of sleep, under his eyes were dark blue and it was expanding day by day – although these didn’t affect Duan Hengye’s face, but this extremely poor state still couldn’t be ignored.
Su Mingge sat in front of him with a serious ecpression then frowned and asked, “Did you rest yesterday?”
……
Although Duan Hengye and Su Mingge once had a very bad relationship, even at that time, Su Mingge didn’t informally call Duan Hengye “you”.
Somehow, facing this Su Mingge, Duan Hengye felt like a schoolboy who had done something wrong – although Duan Hengye thought he hadn’t done anything bad.
“I rested for a while.” Duan Hengye knew that even if he told a lie, it would be obvious, so his reply was extremely euphemistic.
Sure enough …… Su Mingge could tell that the recent period of time Duan Hengye’s rest was definitely extremely chaotic – Duan Hengye saw Su Mingge shake his head a little after listening to what he said, then sighed and said, “Your current state is too wrong, you really need to take a good rest.”
Duan Hengye didn’t expect that Su Mingge had come to find him this time for this matter. After hearing the other’s words, Duan Hengye first froze for a moment, then shook his head and said, “It’s okay, don’t worry, it’ll be finished soon, I will continue to keep an eye on the Institute’s affairs.”
“……”
Now not only did Duan Hengye feel like he was being lectured by his elder. Even Su Mingge suddenly felt – the Duan Hengye in front of him was really like a child who was looking over his shoulder.
Although Duan Hengye was Su Mingge’s superior, if his age was counted, Su Mingge was actually older than Duan Hengye. After seeing Duan Hengye’s performance, Su Mingge somewhat helplessly rolled his eyes and then said, “My focus is not on the matter of the Institute, it’s your mental state during the recent period of time ……”
Speaking of this, Su Mingge suddenly remembered his previous appearance when he witnessed Duan Hengye fainted in front of him. Needless to say, it did leave an extremely heavy shadow on Su Mingge’s heart …… and he knew it wouldn’t dissipate for a long time in the future.
As a person who was often described with the word “poisonous”, Su Mingge wasn’t a person who would patiently advise the next person. So after seeing Duan Hengye’s obvious uncooperative appearance, he unconsciously forgot about his initial “talk to Duan Hengye properly” mentality.
“If you faint again at the institute, what should we do?” Su Mingge asked directly. “If something happens, the Southern Star will hold us responsible.”
“It won’t ……” Duan Hengye was already a little sleep deprived, and now after hearing Su Mingge’s words, he had even more of a headache. Duan Hengye once again picked up the already cold coffee on the table and took a sip, then he said to Su Mingge, “I have my own measure.”
After such a long period of cooperation, Duan Hengye and Su Mingge had long become familiar with each other. After hearing Duan Hengye’s words, and then seeing his action of directly picking up the iced coffee and drinking it, Su Mingge was even more unforgiving and directly said coldly to Duan Hengye: “You don’t.”
Duan Hengye had often seen Su Mingge dislike staff like this before, although his blank expression made him look calm after encountering such a situation. In reality …… Duan Hengye was also a little afraid of such people.
This time, the person who was being “educated” changed to him, Duan Hengye immediately felt that the pressure was unprecedented. So …… Professor Duan finally stopped refuting, he sighed and then said to Su Mingge: “I’ve had an important project for a while, so I’ve been rather busy. But now that the most difficult problem has been solved, I will rest later.”
Hearing Duan Hengye’s words, Su Mingge also knew that he couldn’t say anything else. He took a deep look at Duan Hengye, then stood up from his position and said, “Okay, just remember to rest.”
Seeing Su Mingge get up, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but let out a long breath. He also stood up from his seat, and then sent Su Mingge all the way to the door of his office. He waited until the silver-white door closed again, and only then did he relax and return to his position.
But Duan Hengye wouldn’t have guessed that Su Mingge remembered someone after he left his office.
When Su Mingge entered, the staff in the surrounding office area pretended to be serious and started looking at their light computers, but in reality, everyone was watching the movements of Duan Hengye and Su Mingge.
As soon as Su Mingge entered just now, the door of Duan Hengye’s office automatically closed. Because of the good sound insulation, the staff couldn’t hear what was happening inside. But from Su Mingge’s expression after coming out …… he seemed a little happy?
What was the situation? The fire of gossip in the hearts of the staff immediately flared up.
But these people would probably never guess where Su Mingge’s “happiness” really came from. After returning to his office, Su Mingge didn’t rush to work at first, but took out his light computer and opened the communication bar.
Su Mingge crossed his legs and sat on the chair, his fingers slowly slid through a long list of contacts and stopped at a particular name – Meng Jinhuai.
In any case, Su Mingge was the vice president of the institute and was very good at weapons research. The company’s contact informations were of course available to him. The last time Duan Hengye fainted at his home, it was Su Mingge who sent the message to Meng Jinhuai.
So after clicking on the name, Su Mingge thought for a moment and then stretched out his hand over the virtual keyboard. In a short time, a text was sent from Su Mingge to Southern Star.
And looking at the sent text, Su Mingge suddenly felt the pleasure of …… snitching.
A few minutes later, Su Mingge received a reply.
“Meng Jinhuai.
Okay, thank you for your concern for Ah Heng, Professor Su. I will come over as soon as possible.”
…… Wait, Meng Jinhuai said “come over as soon as possible”? …… His mobility was so strong. After seeing this reply, Su Mingge froze.