Great-Aunt

Wen Jifei and the other two went back downstairs a short while later. Seeing that lunchtime was fast approaching, Mother Xin held back her daughter, who was also just about to leave, and pressed for a little more. "Are you really not going to invite them up for lunch? Entertaining ordinary friends is perfectly fine, you know." "Nope," Xin Yaoqiao replied. Naturally, she had many reasons, the most important being that Wu Xu and Shen Yixiu did not have visitor passes. Ditching two teammates outside while the other four came up to make merry at her home was something Han Qingyu would never do. Just like how he had chosen to stay downstairs with them right now without even making a point of it—how thoughtful, how considerate of him. *I certainly wouldn't do that either,* Xin Yaoqiao thought to herself. But aloud, she told her mother, "I'm afraid you guys will scare him." Mother Xin was caught between laughter and tears. "Me scare him?! He fought his way out of that canyon of death all on his own with twin blades. Our home isn't a dragon's pool or a tiger's den, and your mother isn't some super expert." "What if you suddenly burst into wild laughter? That would definitely scare him." Xin Yaoqiao said it with a straight face, and after exchanging a look, mother and daughter both laughed. That really was a very likely possibility. *So if my daughter can handle him and doesn't get worked up to death when he's aggravating, someone like that might actually be pretty interesting?* After her daughter left, Mother Xin couldn't help pondering it on her own. *Then again, the boy doesn't seem to be thinking along those lines at all. His head is entirely filled with where his blades are pointing—he's destined for glory on the battlefield... Bah, forget it. Why am I letting my mind run wild? With our Qiaoqiao's status—argh, this is infuriating.* *** Lunch was had in the cafeteria of the reception area. Since she already knew Shen Yixiu's condition, Xin Yaoqiao had booked a small private dining room and didn't bring any colleagues or friends along. Observing them as they ate, Xin Yaoqiao found the people around Han Qingyu immensely entertaining. Even the taciturn Wu Xu was fascinating, and despite being confined in a suit of iron armor, Shen Yixiu's optimistic and resilient nature made her very endearing. She wished so much that she could be their teammate, go to the trial with them, fight their way out of the canyon together, and then charge to the sighting frontline to chop off some Great Spike bastards' heads. Thinking this, Xin Yaoqiao felt a touch of sorrow about her own circumstances. She was clearly a powerful Grade A, yet she had never swung a blade at a Great Spike, confined forever to offices and laboratories. *I'll just do my own part well,* she resolved earnestly in the end. Xin Yaoqiao had no idea that Wen Jifei, Liu Shiheng, and He Tangtang were also feeling disappointed right now—because Comrade Yaoyao-huanghuang hadn't brought a couple of young female scientists along. "Hey, Qiaoqiao," Wen Jifei took the initiative to ask, "are there many young female scientists around here?" Xin Yaoqiao shook her head. "Not many. Very few, actually." "Oh, that makes sense. Then the gender ratio here must be terribly skewed, right?" "Not really. The institute has a science outreach troupe, which is kind of like a cultural ensemble. It's mostly young people, and there are lots of pretty girls." Without thinking much of it, Xin Yaoqiao added, "They're all talented too—singing, dancing, stage plays, you name it. It helps combine education with entertainment when popularizing new scientific concepts for the soldiers." *Gulp.* The three men around the table hastily took swigs of water to mask their reactions. "If there's a chance, we really ought to get acquainted and learn some knowledge," said Liu Shiheng. Having resigned himself to staying in Azure long-term, he had come to realize that the beauties in Azure—whether soldiers, nurses, or female scientists—carried a distinctive aura far beyond anything the women in nightclubs or vanity fairs of his past could compare to. "Yeah, I'm uncultured, sorely in need of scientific outreach," He Tangtang chimed in. Just like Han Qingyu, he was constantly keeping an eye out for a future wife. Wen Jifei was more direct, asking, "Would it be convenient? If it is, we'd love to drop by and meet them." "Totally convenient." Xin Yaoqiao was about to say she knew them quite well. "Ahem, ahem." Shen Yixiu coughed twice beside them, reminding him, "Comrade Plague-Chicken Fei, only yesterday were you reluctantly bidding farewell to the little nurses at the medical station. Several of them even had teary eyes." She was speaking the truth. The female doctors and nurses at Medical Station 209 had all started out most keen and enthusiastic about Han Qingyu, but by the end of their stay, they had ended up on the warmest, most familiar terms with Wen Jifei. "And not long before that, he had a tearful farewell with the female equipment officers at the training base's equipment grounds. That scene was much grander than the one at the medical station," Han Qingyu chimed in to join the fun. Wen Jifei chuckled sheepishly, utterly shameless. In any case, he just loved messing around and had never actually made a real move. Still, if things kept going like this, imagine one day when the existence of Great Spikes and Azure was made public, and that girl he had promised himself to actually married him... The wedding scene would be something else: *All female equipment officers of the Sole Witness Legion Ninth Army War Training Base Equipment Grounds tearfully wish Wen Jifei a happy marriage and a long life together.* *All female doctors and nurses of Azure Huaxia Front Medical Station 209 tearfully wish Wen Jifei a happy marriage and a long life together.* *All female members of the Azure Huaxia Research Institute 2 Science Outreach Troupe tearfully...* "So just ignore him," Han Qingyu said to Xin Yaoqiao before steering the conversation back to serious matters. "What about Wu Xu?" "The surgery has been arranged. My great-aunt said she'll perform it personally. She was one of the people in charge during the Great Refit back in the day." Xin Yaoqiao paused. "As for the other matter... that's being worked out too." She used the phrase "worked out," but in reality it meant throwing tantrums, acting spoiled, and pestering her grandfather—and if that failed, feigning grievance before her grandmother. Progress was proving a bit tricky, however; the old men were far too rigid in their principles. "Thank you," Han Qingyu sighed in relief, thanking her sincerely. *** After lunch, Xin Yaoqiao led them to the guesthouse. A large six-person suite had been booked in advance. Xin Yaoqiao decided she would also stay outside for the next few days, sharing a room with Shen Yixiu. Unlike hotels and guesthouses in the civilian world, which mainly featured single, double, or triple rooms, guesthouses within the Azure system most commonly offered multi-person suites. Let alone six-person rooms, suites accommodating a dozen or twenty people were commonplace. This was a safety measure. In this world, fewer people often meant greater danger, and sleeping was itself a high-risk activity. Moreover, according to past statistics, double and triple rooms were even more dangerous than single rooms. *** Once settled in, they followed Xin Yaoqiao that afternoon to see Great-Aunt. Looking through the window from afar, everyone began to feel a little uneasy. "How old is Great-Aunt? How long has she been retired?" Shen Yixiu asked. "In her eighties. Retired for... a very long time." In Xin Yaoqiao's memory, for as long as she could remember, Great-Aunt had already been retired, only occasionally taking part in research projects. Realizing how that sounded right after saying it, Xin Yaoqiao looked at Shen Yixiu, then Wu Xu, and finally Han Qingyu. "It's fine. Even though Great-Aunt is getting up there in years, she's remarkably nimble... Look, she can still thread a needle on her own." Everyone took another look, and sure enough, at this very moment, Great-Aunt was by the window, holding a needle up to the light to thread it. Her left hand held up the needle while her right made a wide sweep, about twenty centimeters away... stabbing, stabbing, and stabbing at empty air. Realizing she had missed, Great-Aunt pursed the end of the thread between her lips, took careful aim, and stabbed again... "If my eyes aren't deceiving me," He Tangtang said slowly, "is there actually any thread in Great-Aunt's hand right now?" "Nope," Liu Shiheng said. "She left it on her lips." The rest of them nodded silently, not saying a word. "Maybe we should forget about this?" Wen Jifei whispered, looking at Wu Xu with deep concern.