This kiss gently caressed Yan Xueshan lips and with this one touch, he left.

It was like a child’s prank, only to express a fondness he didn’t know how to place.

Before the warmth on his lips had dissipated, Arthur had jumped down nimbly from the balcony, just in time for a refreshing breeze to pass by.

Satisfied and overjoyed, he darted away, his blown-up blond hair reflecting the early morning sunlight.

After running for a few steps, Arthur turned his head, and saw Yan Xueshan still standing by the railing of the balcony with his eyes wide open as if slightly surprised.

Yan Xueshan was born with a pair of beautiful eyes, with dark large black pupils. Just like two black diamonds immersed in the stream water, the water and the luster of the gems sparkled as he was looking at him with a little confusion.

Arthur felt his heart melt at him acting so cute.

Waving to him, he said, “Goodbye! See you the day after tomorrow!”

Arthur kept his promise.

Two days later, he came to school for a mecha training class.

He disguised himself as a brown-haired, brown-eyed man with a big beard that made him ten years older all of a sudden.

He first went to Yan Xueshan’s experimental field to have a look.

When he arrived, he saw Yan Xueshan supervising the student who had made the mistake in planting the field. What was his name again? He seemed to have seen him before but he couldn’t remember.

He had no time to care, he gave all his attention to Yan Xueshan.

Today the sun was a bit strong so Yan Xueshan was wearing a straw hat crookedly, his fair cheeks slightly red, with sweat at the tip of his nose.

They used to stay in space for years, so that Yan Xueshan’s fair skin was almost as white as snow on the mountains, frail but also bitterly cold.

There was a trace of mud on Yan Xueshan’s face and mud spots on his body, sleeves, and trouser legs, but Arthur thought he was beautiful.

This was the moon he always looked up to and admired, that fell to the ground without dissipating.

It was now growing into a small sapling.

The child had a bruised nose and a swollen face. He worked reluctantly, unfamiliarly and clumsily, so he was scolded every few minutes.

Yan Xueshan put on a serious expression, teaching him solemnly and patiently.

The fact that Yan Xueshan went back to Vega and bought a farm, because of his previous matchmaking dates, had long been spread in the circle of the top Masters of the Federation.

After the end of the war, everyone changed careers and got promoted, but no one could let go of their fame and fortune. Only Yan Xueshan suddenly became a farmer.

Some people said that he wasn’t serious about farming. Wasn’t a pair of hands that used to pilot a mecha now touching soil a waste? So they came to jokingly ask Arthur.

Arthur always informed them, “He is serious. He is always serious about every decision he makes.”

When he was a military officer, he was serious about fighting; when he was a farmer, he was serious about farming.

At this time, Yan Xueshan raised the brim of his hat, wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and just happened to see Arthur. He became stunned for a moment. Then he recognized Arthur, squatted on the ground and stared at him with his head tilted. “Why are you here?”

Arthur walked over and squatted down next to him. “I have a class today.”

Looking at the puffed up boy beside him he asked, “This is the one who ruined your field, huh? Did you make him pay for all of your seedlings?”

Yan Xueshan nodded. “All compensated, same with the mecha repairs. It was paid by his parents.”

After thinking about it he added, “He was beaten for it by his mom and dad, so I negotiated with the school to postpone his mecha classes for two months and let him help out in the agricultural and animal husbandry departments, with a full schedule from the morning till night.”

Yan Xueshan counted on his fingers. “At seven in the morning he would need to get up to feed the chickens and pigs, as well as milk the cows. In the afternoon, he would need to work in the fields until seven at night. If he didn’t accept, he would need to drop out of school.”

Arthur gleefully laughed, causing Song Chao to blush even more. Then Song Chao looked at Arthur angrily.

Yan Xueshan reminded him, “Be careful, pay attention to your hands, and don’t dig the roots.”

Song Chao had to angrily lower his head, burying it in work. These two days he felt ashamed of himself and humiliated at home. He was even embarrassed to walk outside and meet people.

With his pride and arrogance, he would rather drop out of school than agree to such a punishment.

He thought, however, that with close contact with Yan Xueshan, he might be able to find out who Yan Xueshan really was and turn his defeat into victory. So he could only accept.

It was also the peak of his rebellious period.

Song Chao did intend to tell the people around him about his doubts and suspicions. He tried to tell his mother, who only thought he was sick. Adults never believed in what children had to say. So he was fighting alone for justice and truth.

His pocket money would also be withheld for the next three years. His parents told him that if he got into trouble again, the more than 100 mecha models in his home study would be thrown away.

After actually working in the experimental fields of Yan Xueshan, he had to admit that Yan Xueshan definitely acted like a hardworking farmer and not like a fake.

Arthur also recognized him. 

Wasn’t this the male student who stopped Yan Xueshan at the opening ceremony? He had an impression of him probably because this student also turned out to be the  top student in the mecha class. He was a very young child, aged fourteen or fifteen, who didn’t quite get along with the classmates in his department and would always be standing alone on the side during classes.

Arthur had a feeling that this child hadn’t been defeated. He knows this look too well.

He was like this when he was thirteen or fourteen. When he recalled it just two years later, he wished he could travel back to the past and strangle his childish and stupid self to save himself from embarrassment, but now it only felt funny and not shameful.

Maybe there will be more obstacles for Yan Xueshan? Arthur thought about it and said hello to him. “Hey.”

Song Chao didn’t bother to engage in conversation with him.

He despised everyone, except for Admiral Arthur, and even he was a person he intended to surpass in the future.

Arthur didn’t feel displeased. His beard just curled up in a smile. “Little friend, I heard that you are the top student in the mecha department, right?”

Song Chao snorted coldly. “You can mock me if you want.”

Arthur said, “No, just want to ask you a question, what do you think is the most important quality to become a Master Sergeant?”

Yan Xueshan looked over.

Arthur tapped his finger on his lips and made a silent gesture. Shhh.

Song Chao thought for a moment with a frown on his face and said smugly, “Of course it’s talent.”

“No.” Arthur said with certainty. “It’s respect for life.”

Song Chao became stunned for a moment.

Artur continued: “If you don’t respect life, then you are just an ordinary murderer. Did you think about the possibility of hurting your classmates when you did that?”

Song Chao felt shame pouring over him as he tried to argue. “I was paying attention, I wouldn’t have hurt them.”

Arthur said sharply, “You don’t have the ability to say such big words, kid. Not even I do. Combat mechas are murder weapons, not toys for you to play with. Fortunately, there was no accident this time. If something had happened, you would have to carry those unforgivable sins for the rest of your life.”

After Arthur finished speaking he didn’t wait for his response. He just spoke to Yan Xueshan. “It’s lunch time, honey. I’ll cook for you, let’s go.”

Song Chao silently looked at the back of the two of them leaving, and felt that this man looked a bit familiar, right? Who was that person?

Suddenly coming to preach to him!

The point he made… kind of made sense.

They really didn’t look like bad guys.

Still, Yan Xueshan wasn’t an ordinary person no matter what, so who was he?

Arthur walked to the door and said to Yan Xueshan again, “This kid is going to fail his mecha classes this semester.”

Yan Xueshan thought about it and said matter-of-factly. “Just grade honestly. I think he will fail his ideology class. My experimental data field is fine. If it wasn’t, I would want him to fail every class.”

When Arthur returned to base, this incident was written in a journal.

Arthur was almost finished writing when his communicator rang.

He looked at it and saw that it was sent from Lin Qi.

He put down his pen for the time being.

Lin Qi: “Is it Arthur? I have completed almost everything you entrusted to me. Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing. When do you plan to start?”

Arthur fiddled with the pen with his finger, tapping it on his table.

Finally he said, “I have to pretend not to know anything, ah. Just go and invite Yan Xueshan.”

Lin Qi: “I’m afraid he won’t agree. Doesn’t he just want to retire? Will he come out and show his face? I can’t guarantee that I can convince him.”

The pen stopped.

Arthur confidently said, “He will agree. I know it.”

“Then I will go ask to see. If he doesn’t agree, I will come back to speak to you.” Lin Qi said with little confidence. Yan Xueshan was notorious for being as hard as stone.

He teased Arthur again. “Tell me, didn’t Yan Xueshan agree to marry you? I thought you guys had already got your marriage certificate, but I didn’t expect that you still haven’t. Weren’t you worried to death before, that I would introduce someone to him?

“When I first introduced someone to Yan Xueshan for a blind date you were so angry that you wanted to beat me up, so what are you afraid of now?

“You’re making trouble up to this day. Just hurry up with the wedding to tie him down.”

Arthur grunted twice, making people confused.

He half-heartedly said two sentences, almost plausible. “Probably because it’s the nature of human beings. To get what you want, to be greedy and insatiable.”

“In the past, when I was unrequitedly in love with him, I thought, as long as he is willing to marry me it would be fine.

“Now, we will definitely get married, so I think and hope that he can also love me, or at least, begin to like me a little. Not just because I am the most suitable one for him.”

Lin Qi: “Huh?  The signal wasn’t very good just now. All I heard was you talking shit. I will hang up now goodbye.”

Arthur could almost imagine him rolling his eyes, speechless. “…”

A few days later, It was the end of semester.

Yan Xueshan received an invitation. 

Lin Qi: [We have organized a not-so-serious mecha competition. It’s an online simulation competition. As long as the Internet speed of the interstellar network is good, do you want to participate? I will send you the holographic simulation equipment.】

Yan Xueshan refused without hesitation: 【I’m not participating. ]

Lin Qi: [All proceeds will be donated to the War Orphans Relief Organization as a charitable fund to support war orphans and fund their education.】

Yan Xueshan: 【Wait】

Let’s think about it again.

Lin Qi continued to say: [Vinnie and Old Zheng have already agreed to participate. I have invited the others as well. They’re all old acquaintances, so you don’t have to deal with strangers. I plan to build a top-level lineup of S-class Divisional Sergeants for this competition.]

Yan Xueshan asked: [Then what? Partners against partners?]

Lin Qi replied: [No. individual battles.]

What? Without partners?

Yan Xueshan hesitated again and asked: [Is Arthur going to participate?]

Lin Qi: [He said he will participate if you participate]

Yan Xueshan: [Send me the specific content of the competition, I’ll take a look and think about it. ]

The plan describing the tournament system wasn’t long, and it took him only half an hour to read through it.

Well, it really wasn’t a serious mecha competition. The other sergeants might even find it funny that he read it so seriously, right?

Yan Xueshan went to reply: [Okay, I will participate.】

 

Edited by: Antiope1

Support translation: