Beijing airport.
A girl in a cardigan and a light coat stood at the entrance of the airport with a suitcase in her hand. She said goodbye to the two people who were sending her off.
“Sis… Teacher, I have to go.”
Lu Zhou looked at Han Mengqi and gave her an encouraging look.
“Okay, safe travels.”
Unlike the emotionless Lu Zhou, Chen Yushan spoke with a worried look on her face.
“Remember to be safe, send me a message when you land, also message me every night before you sleep.”
“Okay, I know… I’m not a kid anymore.”
Han Mengqi grabbed the suitcase in her hand, turned around, and went to the check-in gate. Her petite figure soon disappeared in the crowd.
Chen Yushan watched her disappear into the crowd. She looked at Lu Zhou with worry and spoke.
“Meng Qi… is going to be fine, right? I heard America is in a mess right now.”
“Don’t worry.” Lu Zhou smiled, stopped waving, and put his hand down. He said, “Everything will be fine, this is an opportunity for her.”
Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou and asked confusingly, “Opportunity?”
“Well, the Mars landing plan has progressed until now, yet NASA hasn’t reacted at all. Do you think they’re secretly hiding a big move?”
Chen Yushan pinched her chin with her right hand and thought for a moment. She then suddenly raised her head.
“No, so do you mean…”
“Yes, your guess is correct.” Lu Zhou smiled faintly and nodded. “There is nothing they can do. If I’m correct, the White House should be waiting for an opportunity to release a friendly signal, to fix the tension caused by the previous space race. If everything goes according to plan, she will receive a high-level treatment when she lands in America… There might even be a gift waiting for her.”
In fact, this wasn’t his own thoughts, Director Li had told him this after he rejected the award from the International Union of Materials Research Societies.
“What gift will it be?”
“Probably an award suitable for young scholars or a similar honor. I’m not sure either. Anyway, it should be very helpful for her future career.”
Han Mengqi was already sitting and waiting at the boarding gate.
She didn’t know that her trip to the United States was far more complicated than she had imagined. Even though her flight hadn’t even taken off, the convoy for her pick-up was already waiting outside the airport in America…
After sending his little student to the airport, Lu Zhou took Chen Yushan to the maglev station.
They had been in Beijing for almost two weeks. Every day over the past two weeks, they were dragged by Lu Zhou’s father-in-law to drink. It was the kind of drinking that didn’t stop until someone collapsed.
Out of consideration for the old man’s health, Lu Zhou and Chen Yushan decided to bid farewell to the old couple. When they were leaving, Chen Yushan was still talking about how he couldn’t succeed in getting Lu Zhou completely plastered and how they should drink again in the future.
The couple finally sat on the maglev train back to Jinling. Lu Zhou, who didn’t sleep well last night, rested his head on the seat and closed his eyes quietly. As for Chen Yushan, who was sitting next to him, she supported her head with her hands, her elbows leaning on the table in front of her, as if she was reminiscing about something.
“It feels like the past few days went by so fast.”
So many things had happened in the past few days; she felt like she was in a dream.
“Yeah, pretty fast.”
Chen Yushan didn’t notice that Lu Zhou was almost asleep. She was completely immersed in her own world as a happy smile appeared on her face.
“It is almost like…”
For some reason, she suddenly stopped talking.
Lu Zhou was curious about what she wanted to say. He half-opened his eyes and looked at her face. He then asked, “Like what?”
“Don’t laugh at me.”
“Don’t worry, when have I ever laughed at you?”
“Like all the time! Like ‘how can you not even solve such a simple problem’…” Chen Yushan said. She gave Lu Zhou a fierce stare as she recalled the past.
But soon, her menacing eyes softened.
She looked down at the table and brushed her hair as she whispered, “What I wanted to say is, this is like a honeymoon…”
What…
That’s it?
I thought it was something important.
Lu Zhou looked at how embarrassed Chen Yushan was. He couldn’t help but smile. However, he noticed that the pair of bright eyes was staring at him.
Lu Zhou remembered that, a second ago, he promised not to make fun of her. Lu Zhou quickly removed the smile on his face and forced a serious expression on as he nodded.
“Uh, yes, not bad.”
“What do you mean not bad?” Chen Yushan stared at Lu Zhou suspiciously and said, “Why do I feel like you’re acting weird today?”
Because I’m holding back my laughter…
Lu Zhou sighed in his heart as he held back his smile. He gave a dry cough and quickly changed the topic.
“Speaking of which, after we get married at the end of the year, where do you want to go for our honeymoon?”
“How about the Moon? The hotel that Star Sky Technology invested on the Moon is also almost completed.”
Lu Zhou glanced at her surprisingly.
“You really invested in a hotel on the Moon?”
“Yeah! I had this idea a long time ago! Don’t you think that vacationing on the Moon sounds like a very romantic thing?”
It was like her bright eyes began to emit light.
Lu Zhou looked at her and smiled.
“In that case, we’ll go with your plan.”
Chen Yushan: “Is there nowhere you want to go? We can discuss it.”
Lu Zhou sighed and said, “I prefer to stay in the laboratory… But if I suggest this, you’ll probably slap me in the face.”
“Then why did you bring it up!”
“Because I’m an honest man.”
His phone suddenly began to ring.
Lu Zhou picked up the phone and placed it next to his ear.
Chen Yushan secretly observed the changes on Lu Zhou’s face as he answered the call. After Lu Zhou hung up the phone, she asked him out of curiosity, “Who was it?”
“The Jinling launch site.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Xu Fu has entered the Mars system. If everything goes well, it will be in orbit in a few hours. Director Chang asked when am I going back, and I told him that I am already on my way back to Jinling.”
Chen Yushan spoke with a look of dismay.
“Looks like you’re about to get busy with work again.”
“I am already busy…”
Lu Zhou looked at the series of digital advertisement billboards flying past the window as he spoke with a sigh.
Whether it was the system missions or the piles of work waiting for him, it didn’t seem like he had any spare time.
He just hoped that, by the end of the year, he could finish the work at hand.
And then, he could go back to his hometown and get married…