Although it is still holiday time, with the end of the celebration of Interstellar Day, the Yetian Empire Mecha Research Institute has also come to the time to close the holiday. But what is strange is that Duan Hengye did not rush back to work as soon as he did in the past.
On the contrary, Su Mingge received news from Duan Hengye as soon as he returned to the courtyard. Duan Hengye told Su Mingge that he had encountered something and would delay returning to the academy for a day or two.
Duan Hengye was not someone who would be absent from work for no reason. After receiving the news, although Su Mingge was puzzled, he temporarily took over the work in the hospital. However, after hearing about this later, the staff of the research institute couldn't help but speculate—what happened to Duan Hengye
As everyone knows, not only Duan Hengye, but also Meng Jinhuai, who can be called an "interstellar model worker", temporarily handed over his work to the two generals.
Only a few people in the entire interstellar knew that this day, in the Marshal's Mansion on Nanzhuxing, we welcomed a very special guest.
At ten o'clock in the morning, Nanzhuxing Standard Time, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai were already waiting early in a tea room in the residence of the Marshal's Mansion. As time passed, in order to suppress the tension in my heart that was hard to ignore. After sitting for a long time, Duan Hengye suddenly began to play with the tea set on the table involuntarily.
After many years of practice in the previous life, even though he has changed a shell now, Duan Hengye's movements are still as smooth as a cloud. After seeing Duan Hengye's actions, Meng Jinhuai's eyes also showed some appreciation.
Just when Duan Hengye poured the tea into the cup, the door of the tea room finally opened.
An old man in a gray jacket with a cane stood in the doorway. As the door opened, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai also stood up from the sofa together, and then walked to the door to greet him.
The visitor is no stranger, he is the long-retired old reporter who appeared in the test fly star a while ago.
"Old Yan, I'm sorry to call you all the way here." Meng Jinhuai said apologetically while shaking hands with him after walking over.
After hearing Meng Jinhuai's words, Mr. Yan smiled and shook his head and said, "There is nothing to be sorry for. It is my honor that the Marshal invited me to the military headquarters." After speaking, Duan Hengye also said He stepped forward and shook hands with Mr. Yan and said, "Good morning, please take a seat first."
"Okay, thank you Professor Duan." The old man sat down on the sofa at Duan Hengye's invitation. After seeing the tea that had been brewed on the table, he raised his head and glanced at Duan Hengye in surprise, and then asked, "Did Professor Duan make this tea?"
Duan Hengye was stunned for a while after being asked, then nodded and said, "Yes."
Mr. Yan slowly picked up the teacup, then took a sip and said, "It tastes good. Remember... When you were very young, Professor Duan, the institute held an active mecha display event. At that time, I was fortunate to be a reporter. I went to report and was invited by your parents to chat for a while." He smiled and raised his head slightly as he spoke, as if he was caught up in memories of the past.
Speaking of which, Old Yan was clearly just recalling a very ordinary past episode, but after hearing what he said, Duan Hengye became nervous again.
Sure enough, Mr. Yan continued: "At that time, you also came out to make tea. I didn't expect that after so many years, Professor Duan, who has been busy with his work, did not forget his previous tea art." The matter of Duan Hengye brewing tea for himself was written down by Yan Lao.
Although the badge on the Tize star had already made Duan Hengye realize something, but at this time he heard Yan Lao talk about "my" when he was a child, and his heart sank involuntarily. . However, due to some psychological preparation, Duan Hengye's expression still did not change much when he heard Old Yan suddenly mention this matter.
He nodded to Yan Lao, and then said calmly, "Yes, although I haven't forgotten it, I haven't practiced for a long time."
However, even the slightest change in Duan Hengye's emotions could not escape Meng Jinhuai's eyes.
After seeing this scene, Meng Jinhuai immediately brought the topic back. "Old Yan, to be honest, this time we suddenly invited you to Nanzhuxing, because there is something I want to ask you." Meng Jinhuai's expression was a little serious, but after seeing his appearance, Yan Lao also immediately sat down He straightened up, and then listened to Meng Jinhuai's words seriously.
After all, having been a reporter all his life, Mr. Yan is a very smart person who knows how to watch words. Meng Jinhuai did not directly clarify the purpose of this time when they invited Mr. Yan to Nanzhuxing, but after hearing a few simple words from the marshal, he vaguely guessed the other party's purpose.
After Meng Jinhuai's voice fell, Yan Lao took a sip of tea, and then slowly leaned on the back of the sofa. He was silent for a while, as if thinking. When the hot tea on the table was already a little cool, Yan Laocai finally said slowly: "Thinking about it, the old marshal and I, Jin Huai's father, should have known each other for the longest time..."
Yan Lao glanced at Meng Jinhuai, and then continued: "When I met him, I was already a war correspondent, but the old marshal had just entered the army. At that time, he hid his identity and background, like all soldiers. Charge into battle." Just like the royal family, in the book "Dumping the Stars", Nanzhuxing is also passed down from generation to generation by a large family.
It is different from Meng Jinhuai, who has been exposed in front of everyone since childhood and inherited the military at a young age. His father had been training in the military under a pseudonym in his early years, and his true identity was not revealed.
"... However, because of his outstanding mental strength and repeated military exploits, I chose him for interviews among all the soldiers at that time." Speaking of this, Yan Lao's face also showed a proud look. After all, as a reporter, it is indeed a life-long proud thing to be able to discover and interview a big person who has influenced the interstellar space in the future when he is still young.
During the conversation, Duan Hengye couldn't help but cast his eyes on Meng Jinhuai. I saw that Meng Jinhuai looked very serious at this time. When Yan Lao spoke, the corner of his mouth could not help but raise a shallow arc. Although Duan Hengye crossed over halfway, he had also heard some things about the old marshal. For example, he knew from Yu Xinlan that Meng Jinhuai's father was a very serious person, and he treated his only son with extraordinary strictness.
In fact, it is not difficult to imagine that Meng Jinhuai may never have had a good communication with the old marshal in the short period of more than ten years spent with the old marshal. After all, before Meng Jinhuai could understand the age of the old marshal, he had already disappeared from his son's life because of the war...
Now suddenly hearing someone mention a young father he had never seen before, Meng Jinhuai's eyes couldn't help softening.
Having said this, Old Yan suddenly smiled and turned around and said to Duan Hengye: "Oh, by the way, Professor Duan's parents and I met at the Mecha Research Knowledge Contest. At that time, they were just students, more than you. Young now."
Hearing this, Duan Hengye also remembered that when Old Yan saw him for the first time, the other party said that he and his mother looked more like him.
After saying what he just said, Yan Lao looked at Meng Jinhuai again, and continued to recall: "I often reported some news about the military in those years, so I often got in touch with the Marshal's father. A while back... around the time he was about to marry your mother, at an event of the nature of an Imperial Youth Seminar, I only knew his identity a little earlier than Interstellar."
"Oh, that's right!" The old man suddenly raised his tone, and then patted his knee with his palm very happily. He smiled and said to Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai, "It sounds like a lot of fate! It was also that event, I Only then did I realize that the four young people I admired before—that is, your parents, have known each other for a long time and are still friends.”
As an excellent reporter who has read countless people, Yan Lao has always been very satisfied with his ability to discern talents. So when he recalled the young man he was optimistic about before, he was particularly excited. This beautiful memory made Old Yan excited, but unlike the slightly excited look after he fell into the memory, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai were silent together after involuntarily looking at each other.
Duan Hengye was fine, after all, he still lacked many memories of his youth.
But Meng Jinhuai is different.
Lord Marshal's memory has always been very good, but no matter how he recalled it, he couldn't find any memory in his mind that his parents and Duan Hengye's parents had known each other for a long time. He had always known that Old Yan was acquainted with him and Duan Hengye's parents respectively. But he didn't know that there was still a "friend" relationship between his parents.
It stands to reason that as the high-ranking officials of the Imperial Army and the top researchers of the research institute, it is strange that they do not know each other. But before today, Meng Jinhuai never knew that his parents and Duan Hengye's parents had known each other so early.
People in the interstellar era have a long lifespan, which is different from Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai, who were considered young and famous. When their fathers truly had names on the interstellar, it was already in their 40s and 50s. Logically speaking. They should have known each other at that age.
And Yan Lao's words pushed the time forward one step further - and pushed it directly to the time when the old marshal was incognito.
Seeing that Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai did not respond for a long time, Old Yan also realized that something was wrong. He sat up straight again, then glanced at Meng Jinhuai and said solemnly, "Master Marshal, do you have any questions about what I just said?"
Yan Lao is an old friend of Meng Jinhuai. After hearing the other party's question, the Marshal didn't beat around the bush any more. He asked directly: "Can you continue to tell the story between my parents and A-Heng's parents?"
Hearing Yan Lao nodded silently, then took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, "I didn't ask the specific things, but I heard... They seem to have known each other from a mecha research activity. That At that time, the empire was the most chaotic time. Although the royal family was low-key, its hidden strength was greater than it is now. Young people like your parents, although they had not reached the upper level of the empire at that time, could already vaguely feel it. It's a little bit windy. So although they look peaceful, there is a kind of blood in their hearts that people of your generation can't understand. "
Recently, Duan Hengye took advantage of his spare time to make up lessons on the history of the empire. So now he knows that in his parents' generation, although the empire's internal and external troubles are more serious than now, because the military and other forces have not fully risen, the scope of the royal family's control is actually larger than it is now.
Duan Hengye had almost no memory of the original owner's parents, but Meng Jinhuai was different. In his impression, his parents always seemed to be indifferent and distant. Today was the first time he heard someone use the word "hot blood" to describe his parents.
"They got along very well, and their relationship has been good since then..." In those unknown years, the story of Duan Hengye's parents was not recorded by Xingwang. Because time has passed for so long, Yan Lao's memory is also a little fuzzy. However, this morning, he was still sipping tea while slowly telling Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai the stories of those young people who had passed away.
Listening and listening, Duan Hengye slowly bent down. He put his hand on his knee involuntarily, then propped his chin and looked at Old Yan. From Old Yan's sporadic and intermittent memories, Duan Hengye probably drew a complete story in his mind.
In the early years, little-known teenagers became friends because of their common aspirations, but as their strength gradually increased - especially after Meng Jinhuai's father became a marshal. They began to be suspicious and suspicious of the empire, and in order not to affect each other, the young people who used to be close friends slowly began to avoid suspicion after achieving success. After all, they all know that both the research institute and Nan Zhuxing are constantly being monitored by the royal family.
Duan Hengye could understand this approach. After all, the relationship between the military department and the Mecha Research Institute was too special. As a royal family with some rights, they will definitely pay special attention to the relationship between the two parties. It is conceivable that the royal family would not have easily let themselves marry Meng Jinhuai if it wasn't for the fact that they were undercover who had been brainwashed and controlled for many years.
In fact, although decades have passed, the marriage between the original owner and Meng Jinhuai is still a symbol of the royal family's surveillance of the military. If it wasn't for the "variable" Duan Hengye, they would have been really successful...
Let's go back to that year, because from the beginning of gradually stepping up to the top of the empire pyramid, Shuangfang deliberately avoided suspicion. Later, except for people like Yan Lao who knew them at an early age, and the royal family who had been paying attention to these things, almost no one knew that the senior management of the research institute and the Marshal's Palace were old friends.
…
Speaking of this, Yan Lao's eyebrows wrinkled deeper and deeper. He took a long puff of cigarette, then glanced at Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai, and finally asked as if he understood something, "Don't tell me, you don't know?"
Meng Jinhuai didn't speak, but nodded quietly. After a while, he said to Mr. Yan, "I didn't know they knew each other in private or were friends."
Although it can be seen from Meng Jinhuai's reaction in the conversation just now, he really knows very little about his father's generation. But after hearing Meng Jinhuai directly say that he had no idea that they had known each other in private, Old Yan still showed an unbelievable expression. Then he turned to look at Duan Hengye.
Although he didn't have childhood memories, Duan Hengye could probably guess from Meng Jinhuai's reaction that his parents never said anything about their relationship. So under the watchful eyes of Yan Lao, Duan Hengye also nodded silently...
In the process of recalling, Yan Lao had already smoked more than a dozen cigarettes unknowingly. Although the ventilation in this tea room is very good, but after a while, there is still a smoke smell that can't be dissipated in the room.
Yan Lao slowly shook his head and said, "Their relationship in the early years was really good. Although I always knew that they were deliberately acting strange in front of the outside world for the development of the military and research institutes. I didn't expect that they didn't even tell their own children..."
Probably because of his age, after sighing this sentence, Old Yan couldn't help but chat with Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai about a few small things when their parents got along. Although those things are of no help to the ongoing investigation, it can be seen that the relationship between them is indeed as good as Yan Lao said.
…
After lunch, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai sent off Old Yan. Although Old Yan's clue was basically over, they did not continue to work in the afternoon, but returned to the tea room in the morning.
After Meng Jinhuai sat down, he was silent for a while, and then directly said to Duan Hengye, "I think the accident at the research institute may not be called an 'accident' anymore."
After hearing Meng Jinhuai's words, Duan Hengye nodded silently.
Although Meng Jinhuai didn't say it, after listening to Mr. Yan's words in the morning, he could actually guess that while the contact was no longer on the surface, the private cooperation between the academy and the military should be deeper than what he knew before. As for them not telling themselves and Meng Jinhuai about these things, they are probably worried that if the children are involved, it will bring unnecessary trouble to their future.
At this time, Heng Ye picked up the teacup made of sapphire on the table, and while subconsciously playing with the teacup in his hand, he said to Meng Jinhuai, "After I return to the research institute, I will carefully check the previous experimental records... The information has not been completely destroyed, even if there are only a few traces left, I will restore them."
Although the "recovering data" in Duan Hengye's words was simple, Meng Jinhuai knew how difficult this work was. But looking around, maybe only the person in front of him can do such a thing.
"Thank you for your hard work, A-Heng." Meng Jinhuai said.
Perhaps it was because of listening to Mr. Yan's story this morning for a long time, Meng Jinhuai's temperament was unexpectedly soft, and Duan Hengye felt a little embarrassed when he heard him say that. But before he could continue to say anything, Meng Jinhuai spoke again: "By the way, A-Heng, do you still remember the day when the accident happened?"
After hearing Meng Jinhuai's question, Duan Hengye was stunned for a moment. Except for the memory of the "badge", he has almost no memory of any pre-experimental accident. So after hearing Meng Jinhuai's question, Duan Hengye shook his head reflexively.
But at this moment, Duan Hengye suddenly felt that a certain part of his brain that had been in a blank state suddenly appeared a fragmented picture.
Duan Hengye suddenly recalled what happened back then! Although only a little blurry picture.
Meng Jinhuai saw that Duan Hengye, who was shaking his head gently, suddenly widened his eyes. His hand stretched out subconsciously. The teacup that was originally in his palm also fell to the ground, and then collided with the floor, shattering into countless pieces. piece.
But the sound of the cup breaking did not attract Duan Hengye's attention, and Duan Hengye began to slowly say to himself: "Their office is not in the research institute building, but separate. I stayed in the outer part of the office almost every day. Sometimes I study by myself, and sometimes they will come over to answer me some mecha-related questions." Duan Hengye said, his eyes slowly moving. Squinted. His expression involuntarily took on a bit of pain, as if he was exhausting his memories.
Meng Jinhuai wanted to interrupt Duan Hengye, but the other party shook his head as if he knew what he wanted to do.
Duan Hengye continued: "That day... As usual, I was there reading a book, and then suddenly there was a loud noise not far away. Then I saw that their office suddenly emitted a burst of blue light, and then half of the walls were melted. Dropped - a mecha suddenly lost control and started attacking the house. That's the last picture I saw before I fell unconscious..." Having said this, Duan Hengye couldn't help but stretched out his hand and pressed his temple heavily.
I don't know if it has anything to do with the recovery of this memory, but Duan Hengye's temple felt a tingling pain. He couldn't help shaking his head laboriously, then raised his head and said to Meng Jinhuai, "...I can only recall so much."
Just as Duan Hengye finished speaking, the sofa beside him suddenly sank. Before Duan Hengye could react, he fell into a familiar embrace. Meng Jinhuai gently hugged Duan Hengye in his arms, then lowered his voice, and whispered to Duan Hengye in a tone that seemed to be telling a bedtime story: "Okay, don't think about it. You believe me ?"
Although she didn't know why Meng Jinhuai suddenly asked this question, Duan Hengye nodded slightly.
"Alright, as long as you give me time, I will find the answer." Meng Jinhuai promised, then he stretched out his hand and slowly tucked Duan Hengye's hair behind his ear. The Marshal said: "If you don't want to remember something, just forget it completely."