—Boom!
The stadium lights were brightly lit, and everyone stood up and applauded. The host raised Heinrich's hand high and said loudly: "The evaluation value is the highest in history! Congratulations to Captain Seth Heinrich from the Marshal's Guard for winning the entire army! Champion of the mecha micromanipulation competition! Breaking the best record in history!"
The applause flooded the hall like a tide, and the brilliant lights made people dizzy. Heinrich narrowed his eyes and looked through the crowd. He saw Aaron waving excitedly, Kaleyan clapping vigorously, teammates happily hugging each other, opponents with unwilling but helpless faces, and reserved but reserved faces. I can't hide my admiration from all the army commanders...
Then his eyes fell on a point in the crowd.
Celia stood on the judges' seat, applauding in a slow and unhurried manner, neither too excited nor too indifferent.
The young commander was wearing a pure white military uniform, with the silver military emblem symbolizing the highest authority of the three armed forces pinned on the neckline. Probably because the lights were too bright, the light reflected by the military emblem swayed slightly, making it difficult to see the expression on his face.
Heinrich narrowed his eyes, but at this moment Celia turned around and walked off the judges' bench without looking back.
"..."
All the voices were swallowed into his throat without leaving his mouth, and Heinrich looked at the scoreboard left by the marshal as if he lost something—
He scored full marks.
·
"Do you have any guidance for my mecha micromanagement?"
The floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the marshal's office were cracked, and the breeze was mixed with the unique fragrance of plants in early summer. In the afternoon, the sun shines through the treetops, leaving colorful light and shadows on the floor. When the wind passes by, it shakes slightly and makes a soft rustling sound.
Celia looked up from the star map, "What do you mean?"
Heinrich looked down at his feet and tried to keep his voice steady and natural: "After winning the championship that day, many teammates and people from other legions came to ask for advice, but I felt very panic in my heart because my level was only that..."
"There are champions every year," Celia turned her gaze back to the star map, "but there is only one record breaker in half a century."
Heinrich felt slightly nervous.
"You deserve it," Celia continued. "I have nothing more to teach you in this regard."
Heinrich closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he heard the commander say: "Go out if you have nothing to do."
The captain turned and left without seeing him behind him. The expression of concentration on the commander's face gradually disappeared. After a while, he let go of his tense shoulders and sighed almost silently.
·
Aaron's comment on the matter at dinner that night was: "Ah, what, you think the marshal is not happy? Do you think he will be unhappy because you broke his record with mecha micromanagement and put you in small shoes to show your face? See? Hahahaha—”
Lieutenant Anders Aaron slapped the table and laughed wildly. He had never laughed so hard when Kaleyan yawned and swallowed a fly in his mouth last time: "Hahahaha! Kissing you is so fun! He is a commander in chief of the armed forces , do I need to argue with you about this small matter of buns and pickles? Is your bonus enough for him to pay for gas for a day, and if you have a champion, everyone really thinks that your mecha micromanagement is better than him? Dear! Excessive self-awareness You have some limits, okay?"
Heinrich said angrily, "Slow down!"
Fortunately, there were not many people in the cafeteria, even so, a few officers turned their heads from a distance.
Aaron managed to hold back his laughter, and continued to say: "If this is all about you, the marshal doesn't do anything all day long, just think about you, okay? What' I have nothing to teach you"—isn't it Is it a compliment? You’re only happy if you force the marshal to criticize you, you’re M, brother!”
"You are m." Heinrich said.
The people at the last table other than them also left, and Aaron immediately put his feet on the edge of the table comfortably, took a sip of coffee and enjoyed it: "I didn't say it, buddy, you have been too suspicious recently Last time, he told me that the marshal didn't want you to walk beside him in the military parade? Why do you think he didn't want to, because he thought you were tall? Although you are a little taller, there are not many people in the entire bodyguard team who are shorter than him Well. And the last time you asked for leave from a blind date, maybe he wouldn’t be able to—I wouldn’t be sure if I changed the eldest brother, okay, you asked for leave to go on a blind date on the eve of the battle, your mind is filled with straws!”
"That was arranged by the commander of the Ninth Corps, not me..."
"I think you are just a shadow of a snake. Just like the last time I met the marshal head-on, I thought he was normal. Turning around, you said that he looked at you with 'hostility'! How can you make people hostile to you? Ah dear! Last time he gave everyone the newly issued marshal's sword and didn't let you play, isn't that because you weren't there when everyone was playing? Then you went to ask for it alone, of course you didn't give it to me, how strange!"
"I just wanted to see..."
"You went alone to see what someone's saber means. Do you know that it's illegal to hold an edged weapon in front of the Marshal? And did the Marshal scold you later?"
Heinrich: "…"
"You see, I didn't even scold you, so there's nothing to complain about. Like the last time I just had a fight with Kaleyan, I was scolded bloody, and I was punished to stand four times downstairs in Kaleyan's dormitory. Hours..." Aaron said depressedly, "Did you really not scold you?"
Heinrich hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
Indeed, he didn't scold, but he couldn't describe to Aaron the subtle and tense atmosphere at that moment.
Just after he managed to muster up the courage to ask "Can you show me?", Marshal Celia did not show his usual closeness to others as he expected. If you had to find an adjective, the marshal's subtle expression and eye changes at that moment can all be described as vigilance, vigilance, or even hostility.
—but it's almost impossible.
Just when Heinrich suspected that he was wrong, Celia turned her head and said, "Now is not the time."
"… what?"
"It's not time for you yet."
It must be admitted that the tone of this sentence and the situation at the time gave Heinrich the illusion of "Can you give it to me in the future?"
— but for some young people, it is better not to give them the illusion.
Heinrich's illusion was so real that he replayed all the details of that moment in his mind many times. For quite a long time later, he couldn't help but interpret Celia's sudden abnormality that day as the protection of the existing position by the superior, the monopoly of power, and the... unconscious fear of the younger generation.
— But will this kind of overstepping speculation be true
It was so bold and provocative that Heinrich didn't even dare to think about it. Even if a faint shadow surfaced in the depths of his mind, he couldn't help feeling a severe dizziness.
He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly and thoroughly, as if with this breath, he expelled all the outrageous ambitions out of his body.
He didn't look at Aaron again, just stared at the table in front of him quietly, and said softly for a while, "You're right, maybe I'm just... thinking too much."
I might just, kind of dislike him.
·
In the 3254 year of the Milky Way Era, Kaleyan made a long-distance surprise attack in the battle of guarding Venus, winning a textbook-like absolute victory with less and more, and once again added a lot to his merit list. After the war, the military department announced that he would take back his position as the captain of the Guards, and instead appointed him as the commander of the Eighth Division of the Glory Legion, conferring the rank of Brigadier General, and Marshal Celia personally hosted the conferring ceremony for his favorite student.
The later deputy commander of the alliance and the chief think tank finally graduated from the first springboard of his professional military career. The most important legacy he left behind was the position of captain of the Marshal's Guards.
——The pro-guard is equivalent to the marshal's students, so it goes without saying how important the role of captain is. For a moment, the eyes of the entire military department were focused on the guards, and various gossips spread, and most of them believed that the most promising candidates were only two: Anders Aaron, who was favored by the marshal, And Seth Heinrich, a professional soldier with excellent qualities.
Is this a suspense? The entire army, and even Aaron himself felt so.
According to Heinrich, no.
He trained, was on duty, fought, and sailed under the ever-increasing attention... He didn't see any abnormalities in his words and deeds, as if he didn't have any feeling for the surrounding environment.
Everyone thinks that he is calm and calm, and only he knows that it is because he has no hope at all.
From the very beginning, it was impossible for that position to fall on his head.
Aaron should have seen something, but he also tacitly kept silent. Only one day before departure, when the two of them were waiting to board the plane together under the battleship, he suddenly said in the wind: "Brother, I recently..."
"I know," Heinrich said.
The two of them looked at each other, and after a while Aaron reached out and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "I'm sorry."
After all, how many years of comrades in arms, people who almost died together, anyone can see the sincerity in these words. They just stood facing each other, looked at each other and smiled for a while, and each other was relieved.
—However, what Heinrich did not expect was that the military department issued a letter of appointment for the captain of the Marshal's Guard the next day, and the name written on the document was his Seth Heinrich!
When the appointment was made, Heinrich was still on the battleship. He didn’t react after seeing the screen for a long time. The teammates around him thought he was overjoyed, and they all came to push him to make fun of him, and they all congratulated him and asked him to treat him. Heinrich finally came to his senses amidst the noise of the crowd, and his first reaction was to look back for Aaron, only to see Aaron standing not far away holding his chin, with a very regretful expression on his face.
"After all, I failed to win you... Is this the victory of strength?"
Heinrich was taken aback for a moment, and Aaron gave him a hard hammer on the back, laughing loudly.
Aaron didn't mind, but Heinrich felt unreal like a dream.
During the half month of duty on the battleship, I was constantly congratulated, and even many colleagues from other legions sent congratulatory messages. Every day I opened the mailbox, a bunch of new emails flooded in like a flood. Heinrich's attitude towards this is very cautious—his words and deeds were as usual before the result of the promotion came out, but after the successful promotion, he became more cautious in his words and deeds.
Of course, this attitude won him a lot of praise, but Heinrich didn't have the energy to care about it.
why me? This idea is turning in his mind every day-why was I chosen in the end
·
The duty period was finally over, and on the day the warship returned to its voyage and landed, Heinrich returned to the dormitory and gently placed the military uniform and luggage on the sunny ground. The sounds of teammates laughing and fighting in groups, and the noise of cicadas chirping in midsummer can be heard outside the window, reflecting the quietness and emptiness of this single dormitory. Standing in front of the window, Heinrich suddenly remembered that he had just left the low-level military academy, received a letter of appointment signed by the marshal, and came to the guards to report to the day... At the age of eighteen, he was young, reckless, ignorant, When he stood in front of the window and looked at the dormitory nervously and expectantly, did he ever think that one day he would be able to climb to the height he is now
Heinrich closed his eyes in contemplation, feeling the sun penetrate his eyelids, and the whole world was brilliant golden. The excitement that had been carefully concealed after being promoted finally leaked out from the bottom of my heart, crawling through the nerve endings like an electric current.
Where will I climb in the future
I am still so young, if I work hard, maybe I will eventually become a general like the previous captains, right
…
Heinrich took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled it completely, as if this movement completely calmed his surging heart. He opened his eyes and looked at the brilliant afternoon sun, and then turned around to pack his luggage, but he was stunned as soon as he turned around.
Celia leaned against the door frame and looked at him with folded arms.
"..." There was an awkward silence, and Heinrich asked, "You... why are you here?"
"I passed by, and the door of your dormitory is open." Celia said succinctly, "I think you are quite depressed, so I don't bother you."
Heinrich instantly had a feeling of nothing to hide from, and conditioned reflex denied: "I didn't—"
"I thought you would come to me as soon as you landed. It seems that I was too worried." Celia was wearing a white shirt and black military trousers, with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and her arms were thin and without any extra decoration. From the outside, she was completely invisible. out of any characteristic of the Marshal. He walked into the dormitory, looked around, and sat down on the single bed casually.
"I heard people say that you are so low-key that you can't even refuse to go to the celebration party of the SS. Is it true?"
“…” Heinrich said, “I just don’t think there’s anything to celebrate, I haven’t accomplished anything yet…”
"Don't want to attract attention?"
"well enough."
"Afraid that I think you are flamboyant?"
"No I—"
Heinrich tied his tongue, and stared at Celia. It took several seconds before the latter showed a smile that didn't make any sense.
"My cold reception..." Celia asked slowly, "Does it make you so... at a loss?"
The dormitory suddenly fell into a frozen atmosphere again, as if an invisible hand kept pulling the air out. The low air pressure hit Heinrich's chest cavity, and he could even clearly hear the sound of his heart beating—thump, thump, thump ,thump.
"Denial," said the voice in his head, "just deny it, say no, say you're fine."
But I don't know why, but this answer that concealed peace seemed to be suppressed by another inexplicable emotion. He looked into Celia's eyes. These calm black eyes were looking at him from bottom to top because of his sitting posture. The eye sockets were slightly dilated, giving people a feeling of expectation.
Heinrich opened his mouth, and after a while he heard his own voice say: "... yes."
The voice seemed to come out of his mouth, echoed in the room for a few times, and then slowly fell from the air to his own ears.
Celia was silent for a while, then said, "I guess so."
They stood and sat, and suddenly the sounds on the playground and the chirping of cicadas in summer were very clear, as if they were echoing in their ears. Heinrich suddenly felt very hot. He wanted to unbutton the second button of his shirt, turn around and open the window to let the wind blow on his red face, but he stopped tightly as soon as he moved his hand.
Every minute, every second, is like time reverberating in the quiet and deep deep water, shaking out slow ripples.
"... I didn't treat you with the right attitude from the beginning..." Celia said slowly, "I brought you and Aaron out of the military academy together, but I didn't treat you with equal eyes..."
He paused and said, "But I have great expectations for you. I hope you learn more from me, and I hope you don't care about my trivial likes and dislikes, and become more independent and strong..."
Heinrich's pupils dilated with surprise and surprise.
"Like Mo Wen and Kaleyan in the past, they are my most valued students, and they have implemented my opinions into their own code of conduct... This will of course ensure that they do not make big mistakes, just like Aaron today The same... But I still hope to see more things from the students, because my personal behavior and thoughts will eventually be left in the past. I want to see from you the way to continue in the future... "
Celia's deep voice gradually stopped.
He slid his Adam's apple up and down, and took a deep breath:
"It's the first time I educate a student like this, so I'm also learning from you."
A feeling of recovery slowly spread from Heinrich's heart, just like the first ray of warm sun finally ushered in the frozen ground in winter, and the undercurrents under the ice layer gurgled out from the cracks.
"Marshal..."
Celia stood up and held out her hand to Heinrich.
The well-known alliance marshal and the newly promoted captain held hands solemnly in this ordinary single dormitory.
This is their first handshake. It is different from the embrace of the marshal when the captain took office in the past, it is different from the condescending reception during the previous military parades, and it is different from the salute in the smoke of the battlefield... This is a handshake between two people who look at each other as equals. It is not so much a marshal and a soldier, a student and a teacher. Rather, they are equal partners and comrades-in-arms.
The young captain's palms were still slightly damp with sweat, but he was firm and firm.
"Why me?" he finally asked the question.
Celia smiled slightly:
"I don't know, I'm betting too."
·
In the 3254th year of the Milky Way Era, in midsummer, Lan Xixing, the capital of the Alliance.
Heinrich, who was born in a low-level military officer's family and a low-level military academy in the Union, is under thirty and has just reached the rank of captain. His life has once again undergone a dramatic turning point.
The wheels of history crush the past, and the future slowly unfolds a glorious journey full of thorns.
The handshake that afternoon, solidified into a yellowish light and shadow many years later, was completely obliterated in the fragments of history. If someone can penetrate history and see hundreds of years later, they will find how wonderful and ironic fate is. Like an invisible giant hand, it stirs up personal secret love and distorted hate, overturns the prosperity of the entire country and the change of the times.
In the 3400th year of the Galactic Era, Marshal Gavin Silia died in battle on Red Saturn, and the alliance fell apart.
In the same year, Seth Heinrich ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, ushering in a great era of the Gemini Empire.
As prophesied, the thoughts and actions of one are ultimately left in the past, while the other leads his followers into the future of the Empire. The short handshake in the long history is like undertaking some kind of mission in the dark, bringing history to an unfathomable distance.
"From the very beginning, I didn't treat you with the right attitude..."
——All obscure and secret feelings were wiped out in a century of changes, and finally buried in the sea of sand in the constellation of Ophiuchus.
Only in the new Versailles of Egret Gemini, mint blossoms under the twin red moons.
"Your Majesty, the peppermint flower was considered a harbinger of reunion in the ancient earth era, and its flower language is—"
"May I return at last."
"—hope to see you again."