"That's right, that's right. It's a lie to the consumers!"
Meng Xiaolang said with a grin, "However, grandpa, please calm down. My father is my father, and I am me. This time, you have to do your best, dearest grandson a favor."
"Oh?"
Meng Jiang smiled. "I knew that nothing good could come out of your kindness. Tell me. What's the situation?"
"Well, didn't I tell you last time that the 'competition' for the graduates of our batch is about to begin, and that we may be selected to the 'Burning Prairie Fleet' if we perform well?"
Meng Xiaolang paused for a moment and held his head high. Grinning, he said, "I've been selected!"
"That's great news! I knew it!"
Meng Jiang was both surprised and delighted. "The Burning Prairie Fleet is the trump card of the trump cards of the Union Army. Why don't you go home and tell your parents about such great news? Do you want grandpa to tell them for you?"
"No. Don't be angry if I tell you. I've indeed been selected, but your grandson's performance was too outstanding. Now, the management has given your grandson another choice."
Meng Xiaolang lowered his head and said, "If there's a chance, he can go to … another fleet."
"What do you mean? The Burning Prairie Fleet is already the strongest trump card of the Union Army. Didn't you say that you were going to the military school for the Burning Prairie Fleet and that you would rather pack up and go home if you couldn't?"
Meng Jiang asked suspiciously, "What are you up to now? Is there a better place than the Burning Prairie Fleet?"
"Well —"
Meng Xiaolang shook his head. "I can't tell you."
Narrowing his eyes, Meng Jiang stared at his grandson for a long time. Thinking for a moment, he asked, "Then, where is your new fleet going?"
"I don't know."
Meng Xiaolang continued shaking his head. "I can't tell you even if I know."
"Okay. Let's have another guess," Meng Jiang said.
"The dangers and hardships of your new fleet must be much higher than those of the Burning Prairie Fleet, right?"
"I still can't say."
Meng Xiaolang said, "Grandpa, I'm sorry. I can't say anything, but I do hope that you can ask my parents to let me go. You know that they grumbled for a whole year when I applied for the military school years ago. If they knew that I did not go to the Burning Prairie Fleet, the main force of the Federation, but went to a mysterious new fleet, and there was no telling when I would return, it would be a miracle if they agreed!"
"Hehe, I understand."
Meng Jiang smiled and said, "Are you going to fight at the center of the cosmos and risk your life for real?"
Meng Xiaolang sucked in a breath of cold air.
Although he didn't say anything, his round eyes and shocked expression betrayed everything.
He almost blurted out, "Grandpa, how did you know?"
"Of course. Do you really think that your grandpa is old?"
Meng Xiaolang did not open his mouth, but Meng Jiang knew what the boy was going to say. Taking his razor from his grandson's hand, he scratched his face and mumbled, "Right now, loudspeakers are blaring every day, and the news is changing again and again about the expedition to the center of the cosmos. The regular customers in your grandpa's shop have all been soldiers for decades. How can they not understand the situation?"
"Then —"
Meng Xiaolang's face was burning with fury now that his concerns were exposed. However, he stole a glance at his grandpa's face, only to find that he was not anxious or infuriated. So, he asked carefully, "Then — Then — Grandpa, if — and I'm saying if — I really go to the center of the cosmos, will you support me?"
"Let's put aside whether or not I will support you. Tell me why you have to go first."
Meng Jiang put the razor away properly and secretly took out a bottle of shaving foam from the secret compartment at the bottom of the tool cabinet. He opened the cap, only to be greeted by the fragrance of wine.
He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, he smacked the can of frozen bamboo shoots that his grandson brought back and hinted at his grandson. "Go and wait at the gate. Send a signal to grandpa when your grandma enters the neighborhood. Yes, just squat there and tell grandpa everything. What was on your mind exactly? Why did you have to risk your life at the center of the cosmos when you could've lived a comfortable life at home?"
"What — what else can I think about? The Federation values martial prowess in the first place, and Floating Spear City is the place where martial arts are most popular in the entire Federation. It is the 'City of Vultures', after all. Which man of Floating Spear does not want to fight for glory with their sabers and spears?"
Meng Xiaolang made up his mind. Holding his head high, he said, "Grandpa has taught me since I was a child that I should do my best in whatever I do. Now that I am in a military school, I have to join the best fleet and be the most distinguished soldier! Before, I thought that the Burning Prairie Fleet was the best fleet in the Federation. That was why I wanted to join the Burning Prairie Fleet. But right now, I have a better choice. Normal people don't even have a chance to go there. The elimination rate is above 99%. There is no reason why I should give up the rarely-seen opportunity after passing the trial after all the trouble!
"Besides — besides —"
"Besides what?"
Meng Jiang stared at his grandson.
"Besides, I want to help grandpa hold his head high!"
Meng Xiaolang took a deep breath. Seeing that nobody was around, he clenched his fists and declared resolutely, "I want everybody to know that 'Meng Jiang' is not just Li Yao's classmate but also the grandfather of 'Meng Xiaolang'. You have a super awesome grandson who will certainly make great contributions at the center of the cosmos and become the new God of War of the Federation. He will be a legend in the next hundred years. Hahahaha!"
Yes. Meng Xiaolang had a great secret since he was little. Vulture Li Yao, the dominator of three Sectors who was regarded as a glory and a miracle by the entire Federation, a hero who had created countless glories and legends, and a symbol of Floating Spear City. He was actually his grandfather's classmate in high school!
However, at that time, his grandfather did not seem to be in a good relationship with Li Yao. Before, his grandfather vaguely mentioned that the two of them had some conflicts, and his grandfather even … bullied Li Yao!
Therefore, his grandfather barely mentioned the name 'Li Yao' at home. Occasionally, when Meng Xiaolang's father mentioned it, his grandfather would even glare at him angrily.
Ever since Meng Xiaolang could understand things, he had always had a weird feeling that … a historical figure recorded in a textbook had some sort of conflict with the people closest to him. It was quite a weird feeling.
He also had the uncanny determination that if his grandfather's classmate could do it, there was no reason that he couldn't.
Besides, Meng Xiaolang sometimes had the uncanny thought that his grandfather must've been very frustrated if he had really had conflicts with 'Vulture Li Yao' when he was a teenager, because faced with such an unparalleled expert as' Vulture Li Yao ', his grandfather would never be able to get back at him.
But it didn't matter. If his grandfather couldn't get back at him, his grandson would do it for him. One day, Meng Xiaolang would create greater glories than 'Vulture Li Yao'!
Meng Xiaolang's face flushed red. He awkwardly told his grandfather about his little thoughts in full detail.
But out of his expectation, Meng Jiang suddenly burst into laughter after staring at him for a long time. He was laughing so hard that he almost spilled the wine that was stored inside the shaving foam.
"Hahahaha. Good grandson. What a good grandson. It's all my fault. Haha. Hahahaha. It's all my fault!"
Meng Jiang laughed for a long time before he finally stopped in front of his grandson's stunned eyes. He took a few deep breaths, but his face was almost purple. After calming himself down for a long time, he finally winked at his grandson and asked him to come closer. "Come on. Let me tell you a secret. If you want to go to the center of the cosmos because you want to win glory for your grandfather and surpass Vulture Li Yao, you don't have to do that.
"Grandpa was indeed Li Yao's high school classmate, but there was no conflict between us. On the contrary, we were very close to each other at that time. We were best friends of best friends.
"Grandpa even attended Li Yao's wedding. After he returned from a hundred years in the Ancient Sages Sector and stopped the scourge of the Black Wind Fleet, he never stopped contacting grandpa, either. So, just stop overthinking!"
"W-What?"
Dumbfounded, Meng Xiaolang felt that the whole world was collapsing in front of him. He stammered, "Grandpa and Li Yao are best friends? How is it possible? I remember that Grandpa told Dad that you were not in a good relationship at that time. Grandpa even asked someone to beat up Li Yao, only to be slapped in the face brutally by Li Yao!"
"That was a lie to your father."
Meng Jiang blinked and said, "You know your father better than anyone else. Like I said just now, he is so obsessed with money that he can't get out of it! He had been racking his brains to figure out how to take advantage of the fact that his old man and Li Yao were high school classmates to expand his business. If he were to find out that his old man and Li Yao were best friends, wouldn't that be terrible? If he is bold enough to invite Li Yao to be the spokesperson of our store and help him promote the 'Fully-Automatic Image Design Cabin' and the 'Random Posts', will you believe it?
"Li Yao is actually a very casual man. With grandpa's friendship with him, it won't be a problem even if he is invited to promote the hair growth drugs in our store. But it is my friendship with him. How can I let the son of a b * tch waste it? I might as well tell him that grandpa and Li Yao have a grudge against each other and completely cut off his thoughts. Haha, you didn't see his expression when I said this for the first time. It was so heartbroken that his eyebrows were about to fall off! "
Meng Xiaolang was speechless. He really couldn't understand his father and grandfather's extremely strange brain circuits.
"Why didn't you tell me about such a big thing earlier? You made me grit my teeth and wanted to help you hold your head high!"
Meng Xiaolang complained, "It's fine if you hide it from my father, but there's no reason to hide it from your closest grandson, right?"
"In grandpa's life of more than a hundred years, this is just a trivial matter. What's there to mention?"
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