pr: roki
To be honest, such a relationship was something Chu Si had never imagined before.
Back then, his body was damaged to the point where his chances of survival were very slim. In that kind of situation, no one was willing to take him, a hot potato, in. This was partially because his identity was a little special and the affairs he was involved in were also a little special. If he died in anyone’s hands, they would have to follow procedure and be investigated, which was very troublesome.
So when he woke up, after finding out it was actually Old Master Shao who ultimately took responsibility for him, he felt a little astonished. After all, once Old Master Shao passed the age of 140, he no longer accepted new patients and would only occasionally provide guidance. He usually worked on the top floor of a research center, and most of the hands-on work was done by his own student and assistant, Miller. His signature and seal were also under Miller‘s name.
Chu Si always thought that the reason why Old Master Shao personally took over was because of pressure from the training camp. He’d been a little puzzled at the time, thinking that with Old Master Shao’s family background and status, even if the training camp came forward, they wouldn’t be able to pressure him at all.
Now, thinking about it, it was probably because of his relationship with Jiang Qi.
But…
It was really difficult to use the word “classmate” to link Old Master Shao and Jiang Qi together. After all, Jiang Qi’s image in Chu Si’s heart had always remained as it was decades ago. He’d always looked young, and in middle age, he didn‘t look much different from his prime. The traces on him, left by time, were softened by his temperament…
And Old Master Shao… likely due to his bad temper and particularly serious demeanor, the wrinkles on his brow were very clear and very deep. Most importantly, his hair was grayish-white, making his old age obvious.
These two people… had actually been classmates?
For once, Chu Si couldn’t hide the surprise in his expression. He was stunned for a while before he opened his mouth and said, “I remember… if I’m remembering correctly, Old Shao, you—”
Old Master Shao’s face hardened: “What about me? I look older than him?”
Chu Si: “…”
“Alright, I won’t lie to you, I was indeed older than him. Otherwise, how could I stand you guys calling me Old Master and Old Doctor?” Old Master Shao lifted his chin at the photo that had started replaying. “Most of the people in this photo were older than him, quite a bit older, except you couldn’t really see the gap at that age. He was also tall, so it was even less obvious.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Chu Si was taken aback: “Why? Isn’t this a graduation photo?”
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In Chu Si’s eyes, Jiang Qi was always like an elder. Although sometimes he didn‘t speak in a proper manner, his demeanor was profound. Even if he joked around, his polished temperament wouldn‘t become brash.
So at this moment, when he suddenly heard Old Master Shao use this tone to describe Jiang Qi, Chu Si was a little unused to it, but also felt a little curious.
Old Master Shao only talked a lot in the hospital, and wasn’t a very talkative person in his spare time. He wouldn’t strike up a conversation with someone out of the blue, let alone mention past events. Otherwise, Chu Si wouldn‘t have been unaware of his relationship with Jiang Qi.
From Chu Si’s perspective, Old Master Shao was a highly respected doctor, serious and professional, but somewhat conservative. Adding Shao Heng’s usual description, the old master was also a father who spoke confidently and a man of great power and influence. Even when facing his son, he would very rarely mention memories of his youth.
At present, Old Master Shao seemed to have suddenly become a little emotional. It was unknown what aroused his desire to look back on the past, but coincidentally, Chu Si was the adopted son of an old friend, and there was a faint connection between him and the memories of the past, so the old master couldn‘t help but open up a conversation with Chu Si——
“Actually, I can’t say ‘them,’ either. The only one who was really full of bad intentions was Jiang Qi.” Old Master Shao laughed and pointed at the person whose chair was dragged away. “This one was more well-behaved, timid, and would squeak when teased. But his scientific research was first-class, so I won’t say anything more about his personality. That kid Jiang Qi would sometimes like to play pranks to stir up trouble and watch the fun, but sometimes he would seem particularly mature.”
Old Master Shao glanced at Chu Si. “You probably can’t imagine him searching for cigarettes, can you?”
Chu Si laughed and thought to himself, I can, after all, it wasn’t an uncommon sight. But before those words could be spoken, Old Master Shao pointed to the first row of classmates tumbled into a heap in the photo and said, “He was the one who hatched the idea of pulling away the chairs. People usually followed along with him, and the moment he spoke they all agreed. After taking this photo, everyone in the second row except for him was beaten up. Of course, it wasn’t a real fight, but this kid just sat on a tree and watched the excitement.”
“…” Chu Si subconsciously said, “You guys really spoiled him.”
When Jiang Qi teased him back then, even as a little kid, he could still fight back. It was strange that those who were years older than him were the ones being teased in circles.
“Who let him take advantage of his age? We weren’t so shameless as to bully those younger than us.” Old Master Shao spoke with disdain, but his expression showed a hint of nostalgia.
The photo was a little different from a normal graduation photo in that it was not labeled with people’s names. There were a few people in the first row who hadn‘t had time to look up at the camera before they were jerked out of their chairs and then tumbled into a heap of laughter, so their full faces weren’t quite visible. Apart from those few, everyone else had a frontal shot. After watching it a few times, Chu Si found several slightly familiar people.
“These people…” Chu Si stretched out his hand and pointed to a few of them.
“En, they’re all people who are familiar with the general government and military,” Old Master Shao said. “The highest ranking is this one, one of the three major generals of the military, Millard, but that old man is soon to retire. These were in the general government, this one was originally in the Security Building, like you, but died in a negotiation accident during the last few years of the Great Chaos. This young lady was very impressive. The special training camp you stayed in before, she was its founder.”
Chu Si looked at the beautiful young woman with long, dark brown curly hair. She was one of the few that looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen her before. After listening to Old Master Shao’s words, perhaps she was in one of the training camp‘s historical documents? Or somewhere else.
He looked at the video for a while longer, and only then did he find that after all the excitement, Jiang Qi had also spoken to her, seemingly warning her of a sneak attack behind her. The young woman’s eyes were clear and bright. She curved her eyes and laughed very happily, then instead of avoiding it, turned around and twisted the sneak attacking classmate‘s arm and pressed him to the ground. The person who had been pressed to the ground covered his face and laughed as well.
“Elena brilliantly completed many missions, but later disappeared on a level 5S mission and never appeared again…”
Old Master Shao went silent for a moment, and then shifted his finger to Jiang Qi and the person whose chair he had pulled away. “These two were equally outstanding, but of course that’s obvious, as they wouldn’t have been able to skip grades otherwise. Before they had even graduated, they were involved in military engineering. You might’ve heard of a batch of aircraft called the Black Swans. He, Fergus, was the chief designer, and Jiang Qi was also involved. Of course, the designer information released to the public didn’t reveal this, as they were too young at the time. Unfortunately, the Black Swans were sealed away due to some issues, so you will probably only see them in some historical documents…”
Older Master Shao had just arrived at the White Wolf Ship not long ago, and he probably didn’t know that Chu Si and the others had captured a Black Swan, otherwise he wouldn’t have mentioned this so offhandedly. Later on, when Chu Si tried to ask more questions about the Black Swans, Old Master Shao raised his guard and was unwilling to say more, dismissing Chu Si with the words “it’s a top-level military secret, how could a doctor like me access it?”
Once someone’s guard rose, it was difficult to press it back down. So when Chu Si asked the old master who he was hiding from, his answer was exactly as Shao Heng had said. “Wait a little longer, there’s no need for you young people to intervene right now. Wait a little longer.”
For the rest of the conversation, Chu Si remained somewhat absent-minded. He received a message from Sa’e Yang, and when he returned to his office, his thoughts were still focused on the Black Swan.
Snap—
Sa’e Yang reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Chu Si, drawing his attention back. “How was your conversation? Was the brainwashing successful?”
Chu Si shook his head. “Not really. There are a lot of things the old master is reluctant to talk about, and he keeps saying to wait a little longer. I plan to go visit him again tomorrow.”
He rubbed his brow and continued. “It’ll probably be a tough battle, but there were a few sentences that I paid attention to. One of them was when he refused to let me know who was tracking him. He said, ‘there’s no need for you young people to intervene right now.’ Why would he mention the adjective ‘young’?”
Sa’e Yang casually said, “Probably because he’s old and jealous.”
Chu Si: “…Shut up.”
The nonsense-speaking Mr. Yang pouted and shrugged his shoulders.
“Also, there was something that was completely unexpected,” Chu Si said.
“What?”
“Mr. Shao said that Jiang Qi was involved in designing the Black Swans.” Chu Si frowned. “How could things… be so coincidental? I may need more information about the Black Swans. Do you have a way to get it?”
Sa’e Yang freed a hand and touched it to his own brow, saying lazily, “I promise to get the job done, Executive.”
After finishing this roguish salute, he reached out and pointed to the optical computer. “Here, take a look.”
Only then did Chu Si step forward and stand at his desk, leaning down with both hands propped up against the edge. “Look where? At the scanning lens? What are you up to?”
“Halfway through decrypting the draft, a facial authentication popped up.” Sa’e Yang stood bent over the optical computer, bracing his fingers on the desk and tapping rhythmically on it as he waited for the optical computer’s progress bar. “So, as usual, I’ll lower the threshold and use your face, Executive.”
Chu Si frowned and looked at Sa’e Yang like he was stupid. “Shouldn’t I kindly remind you, Mr. Yang, that Jiang Qi and I are adoptive father and son and have no blood relationship? Using my face to replace his… did you eat something rotten?”
Sa’e Yang: “…”
He lowered his head and oh-ed, saying, “I forgot.”
Chu Si simply leaned sideways against the edge of the table, looked down at Sa’e Yang in his office chair, and said unkindly, “Tell me, what logic drove you to do such a foolish thing?”
“Who knows? Maybe I don’t have enough brainpower because I’m lacking stimulation,” Sa’e Yang said, curving his eyes as he gave a mischievous smile. Just as he was about to say something else, Chu Si suddenly pinched his chin and said seriously, “That smile just now, won’t you show it to me again?”
Sa’e Yang: “??????”
I love this so much. Thanks for the update. 😁
Nah why did my eyebrows jump at that last part 👀
wait so the person that skipped years with jiang qi is possibly related to sa’e yang??? omggggg
Lots of info revealed in this chapter! I have a feeling that Elena will come up again somehow
The flirting at the end tho 🫣 Chu Si the rizzler confirmed