There was no welcoming ceremony, no written commendation order, no news report, not even a single gathering.
Xu Le returned to his apartment in the Wangdu district and sat alone on the sofa, eating his instant meal box and staring blankly at the news on TV. Only after several hours had passed did he finally shake off this somewhat absurd state of mind.
No matter what the colour of the dream was, since that dream kept happening, then it was really not a good choice to keep thinking about it, to the point where his face was pale, his body was thin, and in the end, he had coughed up blood and died. Xu Le used his own coarse nerves to temporarily forget that great existence, but he still could not get used to the silence of his apartment.
Developing the MX mecha and participating in Ka Qifeng's mecha combat test — Xu Le had wanted to make Professor Shen's name belong to Professor Shen. He had wanted to give some big shot a slap in the face. He had wanted to indirectly strike a blow at the joint election of Governor Ross and Senator Macklin.
However, he was still a young man after all. After Nutshell Company had successfully obtained the Federation's new mecha standards, as the most important participant, he had actually been forgotten by the entire Federation. Not to say that he would feel resentment, but it was still somewhat difficult to understand.
He lowered his head and ate the vegetables in his meal box in big bites, crunching them loudly. Then, he drank a mouthful of water and raised his head to look at the news on TV. On the news screen, the spokesperson for the Federal Academy of Science was currently dodging the reporters' questions in an extremely awkward manner.
The Federation had sealed off the details of the MX mecha's testing, but they had not sealed off the news of the MX mecha's passing of the standards. After all, this was an event that could greatly increase the Federation citizens' sense of honour and confidence.
Unlike the details of the mecha battle being hidden, Shang Qiu had accused the Federal Academy of Science of plagiarism in the command hall that day. Under the evidence, Dean Lin Yuanhu had been forced to quietly admit it. This scene had been seen by too many people, and for some reason, the Federation government did not seem to spend too much effort to cover up this scandal.
During the days that Xu Le had been at the Old Moon circular base, the entire Federation news community had been hyping up this plagiarism scandal. Many media outlets had begun to show their spirit of beating the dog while it was down, digging up the plagiarism controversy that had caused a stir on the public network a month ago. Some had even begun to directly discuss which parts of Dean Lin Yuanhu's academic achievements when he had entered the Academy of Science many years ago and received the Nebula Award had been copied from Professor Shen Yulin....
The mindset of the media was different from that of the citizens of the Federation, but they could better grasp the mindset of the citizens of the Federation. The Federal Academy of Science was the most respected top-level academic institution within the Federation, and Dean Lin Yuanhu was the most revered scholar. This scandal would hurt the feelings of many citizens, but it was also the most eye-catching event. The media naturally would not let go of such a major incident.
Who knew how many people were grieving at home as they watched the news, but the media would only continue to discuss it in depth. Unfortunately, they did not manage to find any more details of the incident, and the Academy of Science did not have the face to make any more excuses.
Xu Le looked at the news, smiled, and then lowered his head to begin eating. Then, he raised his head again to glance at the news, and ate another mouthful of rice. His mood was incomparably joyful.
...
...
As he was clearing away the dishes, Xu Le received a call from Major Jiao. He knew that this strange silence would soon disappear. After this call, he received a call from Zou Yu, inviting him to eat at Linyuan.
He rubbed his stomach. After Uncle Feng Yu had taught him that set of martial arts, his appetite had indeed increased by the day, so there should be no problem for him to eat another meal. Of course, even if he did not have the appetite to eat, this invitation was inevitable.
In Linyuan Bamboo Residence, clear spring water slowly flowed past. Zou Yu used two slender fingers to hold a maroon clay cup, gently sniffing the fragrance of the plum wine in the cup. Her eyelashes slightly blinked, and she secretly glanced at Xu Le across the table.
A year ago, when they first met at the entrance of the nightclub in Linhai, Zou Yu played the role of a cold and rude rich girl. At that time, her eyes actually paused for a moment on Shi Qinghai's stunning face, but she did not pay attention to this ordinary looking young student at all, even though he had already displayed a rare persistence and loyalty to his friends.
Later, because of some very strange things, the two of them actually lived under the same roof. It was during that time that Zou Yu was incomparably amazed by Xu Le's way of doing things. It was really difficult to find someone like him in the current Federation. At that time, she also came into contact with some of Xu Le's secrets, and knew that this guy would one day shock the entire Federation.
She just did not expect that day to come so early. Zou Yu smiled slightly and raised her head. On that unadorned face, there was a faint scar on her lower jaw that was no longer clear. Her postpartum figure had recovered extremely well, but because she had to breastfeed herself, she could not even smell a hint of perfume.
"I heard that you are now Madman Li's uncle?" Zou Yu asked with a smile, but there was a trace of lament in her words. Even that little lunatic who had defeated the unrivalled in the military and dared to charge into Parliament Hill to beat people up had actually been defeated by Xu Le's hands. This was really hard to imagine.
"There's something wrong with that mecha he's piloting." Being too familiar with Zou Yu, Xu Le did not care about his manners. He casually leaned back in his seat and shook his head, saying, "Otherwise, I'm not his match when it comes to mecha piloting."
"What about close-range combat?" Zou Yu narrowed her eyes and asked curiously. That day at the entrance to Tiger Mountain Road, she had personally seen Xu Le charge up the cliff, and had also seen him kill Madman Li in three strikes in Linyuan. She knew that this guy's individual combat strength was also extremely fierce.
"You'll only know after we actually fight," replied Xu Le with a smile.
"You, ah. You're just a person who looks gentle on the outside, but in reality, you won't tolerate the slightest bit of bullying." Zou Yu looked at him quietly, thinking of that rumoured bet. "Probably only you would let the Lees of Philadelphia suffer such great humiliation and not worry about anything at all."
"He wants to kill me. It's not like you don't know." Xu Le took a sip of wine and asked, "I heard that the military did an excellent job of keeping this a secret. How did news of this bet leak out?"
"Any secret is not a secret in certain circles." Zou Yu put down her wine glass and said seriously, "I'm seeing you today because some people have a few words for you."
"There are many people who don't know, but you're now already a captain in the Ministry of Defense's general assembly base. Based on your results this time, it wouldn't be a problem for you to be directly promoted to lieutenant colonel, but … it was suppressed by the higher-ups."
"Major Jiao already called me just now to explain," replied Xu Le.
Zou Yu said with a trace of apology, "The Nutshell Company originally prepared a very generous reward, but other than the bonus, the rest … was also suppressed. Even now, many people still don't know that the person who defeated the mecha from the Federal Academy of Science was you. "
Xu Le was silent for a long time, then suddenly opened his mouth to say, "I feel a little uncomfortable, but you also know that I don't really care about these things."
"I don't like this attitude. When it's time to fight, you should fight." Zou Yu paused for a moment, then said, "But this time, you really shouldn't fight. This should be the Madam's intention."
Xu Le's expression didn't show much surprise. He had heard Zhou Yu mention this once at the Old Moon base. After returning to S1, he had also thought about this problem in his apartment. Using the Federation government and the military to protect the reputation of the Lees of Philadelphia, while at the same time hiding himself as much as possible, the only person who had the ability to do this was that Lady Tai.
However, he didn't know why Lady Tai did this. Xu Le thought of Shang Qiu. Could it be that the accusation of plagiarism in the command hall made the Tai family feel that he was too difficult to control? However, Lin Yuanhu's loss of power would be a great help to Senator Pabre's presidential campaign. The Tai family should be very clear about this, and the reaction of the Federation's press these past few days also proved this point.
"I haven't seen the Madam recently, but according to my speculation, part of the reason should be related to your accusation of Lin Yuanhu." Zou Yu lowered her eyes slightly and ate the food that Xu Le had ordered for her. She said, "You probably didn't pay attention to the name Lin Yuanhu … Dean Lin is actually a distant relative of the Lin family. There may be disputes between the seven major families of the Federation, but it's very rare for them to be as ruthless as what you did this time. You directly knocked Dean Lin down to the ground and even stepped on him a few times. The Madam might be a little unhappy with your behavior of acting on your own without asking for permission. "
Lin Yuanhu? Lin Banshan, Lin Douhai … Xu Le's eyes narrowed. There were too many people with the surname Lin in the Federation. He really didn't think that Lin Yuanhu would be related to one of the seven major families, the Lin family. He suddenly remembered that he was sitting in the middle of Linyuan. In this world, how could there be so many Linyuan?
He lowered his head, laughed at himself, and said, "Ask for permission? The Madam really does think of me as a member of her family. "
"Isn't that so?" Zou Yu quickly retorted, bringing with her a bit of original aggressiveness.
Xu Le had long since gotten used to her tone of voice. In the past year, Zou Yu had always acted as his analyst, helping him analyze the situation and determine which way to go. Even as early as when the conflict of data in the laboratory had just occurred, she had pointed out that there was a presidential election behind this matter, which had been a great help to him.
"Of course not," Xu Le said after a moment of silence, "everyone is an independent person, isn't that right?"
"People are people of society." Zou Yu shook her head and reminded him, "If you just want to muddle along for the rest of your life, you can still protect yourself. But if you want to rise up in the Federation and stick to your principles, you will only suffer a lot."
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Xu Le suddenly thought of something important and said seriously, "Two days after Liu Huo was born, I received a message from Shi Qinghai. That guy is secretly investigating Senator Macklin. I have already passed some important evidence to Shen Li. After that, I couldn't contact him anymore, but I believe that he should be living quite well. "
Zou Yu's thin eyebrows furrowed beautifully. After a long silence, she laughed softly and said, "What can that hooligan find out? I have said before, you better not mention this name in front of me. "
Little Liu Huo's parents were a very unfamiliar couple, but Xu Le kept telling Shi Qinghai's story in front of Zou Yu. In Zou Yu's heart, that Shi Qinghai's appearance gradually became clearer, and he didn't seem like a stranger.
But she would often rationally think that the spy wandering in the Federation would definitely not be as familiar with her as she was with him. This was a tongue-twisting sentence, but it explained a heart-wrenching truth. Thus, she didn't want to hear that name again, and didn't want to have anything to do with that person.
"Mr. Shi is a very impressive guy." Xu Le thought of his good friend, who had always been taking great risks and doing things that couldn't be exposed in the dark for the sake of the light, and a sense of respect welled up in his heart.
Zou Yu and Xu Le were so familiar that with just one sentence, she knew what Xu Le was trying to express. She laughed softly and said sarcastically, "Is it really impressive to be as stubborn and stubborn as a rock like you?"
Linyuan's dinner time was very short, because Zou Yu still had to go home to feed the baby. Xu Le sent her to the entrance of the Xishan Compound. Thinking that this young and beautiful girl's most important daily life now was to take care of the child, he couldn't help but have some complicated feelings.
"Come home for dinner the day after tomorrow. My father probably has something to tell you. Also … my mother keeps asking when you will be back from your business trip," Zou Yu said helplessly after alighting from the car.
Xu Le smiled and agreed, just like how he had promised Deputy Minister Zou in the cemetery that he would be the scapegoat. His life might not be considered exciting, but it was definitely strange enough. How long would he have to be the scapegoat?
…
…
The night at the back of Mochou Mountain was so quiet. The picturesque scenery during the day, under the blowing of the cold night wind and the illumination of the two bright moons, lost a bit of the aura of a king and gained a bit of the charm of a young lady.
The image currently being broadcasted on the holographic screen was not the plagiarism incident that had caused such a stir in recent days. In the dim image, two of the Federation's newest MX mecha were engaged in an intense battle. It was the very significant test battle that had taken place a few days ago on the summit of Old Moon Kaqi Peak.
The Federal military and the Bureau of Proclamation had worked together to seal off the details of this mecha battle. All of the video footage and data had been sealed up after going through the necessary research at the main assembly base. Logically speaking, the appearance of these images on the holographic screen was already a serious violation of the Federation's confidentiality regulations. However, the person watching these images was that lady, so this matter seemed so natural.
With a light touch of a button, the holographic screen slowly retracted into the wall. Lady Tai stood up from her chair and walked towards the kitchen, a trace of melancholy mixed within the calm expression on her face. The matter of sealing off the video footage of the battle was a suggestion that Lady Tai had made to President Sieg. On the surface, it was for the sake of the reputation of the Lees of Philadelphia, but in reality, only she knew what the most important reason was.
The slightly trembling body of the white mecha in the image was so familiar. Although it was only for an instant, it was deeply imprinted in her eyes.
Most of the people who had seen that person operate the mecha were already dead, but there were still some people who were still alive. That daring brat, was he not afraid of dying a horrible death?
Lady Tai thought to herself with a sigh as she gently stirred the white fruit porridge in the white porcelain pot.
…
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