The recent experience of disciplining a bear child reminded Yan Xueshan of the time when Arthur had just come to his side.

At that time Arthur wasn’t much older, but much better behaved. He would be very polite everyday, addressing him as ‘Master’ all day long, but also took the initiative to make his bed and fold the quilt. He was so used to this, that he found this bear child strange in comparison. He immediately thought about how well-educated Arthur was.

He missed little Arthur so much.

Song Chao asked him, “Do you want me to help you drive the agricultural mecha?”

Yan Xueshan directly refused him. “No.”

Song Chao said, very unhappy, “You have forbidden me from taking any combat mecha classes for two months, and now you are also not allowing me to operate agricultural mechas.” 

He asked suspiciously, “Has this machine of yours been modified?”

Yan Xueshan: “No.”

Polly already noticed how displeased Song Chao was and said with a sigh, “Brother, you are being punished, not a Master, so why are you still trying to pick and choose?  I haven’t seen you doing a good job, but I have seen you complain a lot.

“You’ve made such a big mess that it already good enough you didn’t get expelled”

Song Chao grunted. “I’m the best mecha student this school has ever seen, they begged me to come here so how could they just let me go now?”

Polly was so embarrassed by his confidence that she got goosebumps and said teasingly, “What’s the point of you coming to an agricultural school and bragging about being Number One? Is it so great to be Number One in our agriculture specialized school?’

Song Chao, whose defense was broken, jumped to his feet and said, “I am still better than you, who wanted to get admitted into the Mecha Department, but failed and could only learn farming!”

Polly, whose sore spot was also poked, said stiffly, “What’s wrong with farming? Farmers can also pilot the agricultural mechas, and drive well enough to beat you!”

She wanted to seek approval from Yan Xueshan, so she turned her head to look over.

Yan Xueshan was quietly watching their quarrel, and said leisurely, “Now that the war is over, the galaxy has been unified, and some of the necessary armed forces are needed to deal with the unknown dangers in space. However, at this stage, it’s more important to farm, to feed more people.”

Polly ignored Song Chao and asked, “Is that why you decided to learn farming?”

Yan Xueshan answered, “My father’s wish was to return to his home planet Vega to farm after the war was over.”

Song Chao heartlessly asked, “What about your father?”

Yan Xueshan said, “He died in the war.”

Song Chao was startled, choked, opened his mouth, and said, “I’m sorry.”

Yan Xueshan said gently, “It’s okay.”

After thinking for a while, he said to the child, “You should treat your parents better. They love you very much, and bowed down to apologize for you.

“I wanted so much to have my own mother and father, but when I was five years old, my home was destroyed by the war and my parents died on the spot, leaving me as an orphan. Later, my father adopted me, but just a few years after that, he also died because of the war.”

Song Chao gradually stood up straight, feeling as if a razor had been stuck in his throat.

Yan Xueshan looked at him with calm eyes, like a ray of light piercing the dark clouds that was able to penetrate his soul, and said, “The fact that you can be so willful is proof that you are a lucky child. Only children who are pampered by their parents dare to be willful like this.”

At that moment, Song Chao felt that his secondary illness was cured without any medicine.

He was really ashamed, and there seemed to be buzzing in his ears. He spoke dryly. “I’m sorry.”

Polly saw his silly look and was about to laugh at him.

Yan Xueshan added, “It’s okay. Warriors put their lives on the line to fight so that the children can grow up happy.”

Both children looked at him with silly eyes.

Polly’s eyes were full of admiration. “I used to think that farming wasn’t as powerful as driving a mecha.”

Yan Xueshan looked down at her and said, “Good farming is also very powerful. You are very good at farming, better than me.”

Polly nodded her head vigorously, so excited that her face turned red. “Mmm!”

Yan Xueshan squatted down, picked up a flower pot, and wrote two letters ‘SC’ on the outside with an oil-based marker. Handing it to Song Chao, he said, “This is the first seedling you planted with your own hands, and it’s yours to take care of alone. From now on, neither they nor I will take care of it.”

Song Chao took it, and said blankly, “Oh.”

Song Chao faintly felt that he didn’t hate Yan Xueshan so much anymore, and it seemed that Yan Xueshan was a very good person. He was a veteran who wanted to farm after retiring from the military.

Yan Xueshan stood up, patted the dust from his body and said, “Moreover, I think you really aren’t suitable for learning mecha. Your qualifications are average, so even if you work hard in the future, you can get a B-class license at most.”

Being so humiliated, Song Chao’s face turned red before he turned around and ran away in anger. He thought to himself, ‘I really shouldn’t have a good impression of Yan Xueshan for even a moment! That guy was too sinister!’

Polly asked, “Really? How do you judge qualifications?”

Yan Xueshan thought about it and said, “Intuition.”

Polly asked again, “What about Mr. Arthur?”

Yan Xueshan replied, “He is different.”

Becoming a Master in this line of work was in a sense quite cruel, Yan Xueshan thought. No talent was no talent, even if physical fitness and thinking ability was there and they worked hard, their growth still had a limit.

When Arthur was fifteen or sixteen years old, he was already very powerful.

He didn’t realize it when he first met Arthur, but when they were partnered for the first time he felt that this kid seemed to be pretty good.

After that, he tried to teach Arthur a few tricks. Even without demonstration, with just a few words, he understood him easily.

Sure enough, Arthur’s progress could only be described as rapid.

It took him almost seven years to go from Master Sergeant, who barely got an A-class license, to an S-class, but it took only one year for Arthur. Having a good matched partner might’ve also helped him and since he was very comfortable with Arthur, he also improved tremendously.

Without Arthur, he probably still could have risen to S-rank Master Sergeant, but Arthur accelerated this process for him.

He thought Arthur was both a little monster and a little genius.

It’s just that Arthur himself never seemed to think so.

Maybe it was due to tutoring.

A while ago, Arthur’s mother also came to Vega for a short trip. She met with Yan Xueshan and bought him a lot of gifts.

She was a petite woman, but not frail, with brown hair, green eyes, and a baby face. She appeared both youthful and motherly.

When Yan Xueshan saw her, he felt inexplicably fond of her.

When he went back that night, he dreamed of his mother for the first time after a long time.

In that dream he was a child again and his parents wanted to celebrate his birthday.

He asked, “Why hasn’t it started yet?”

Mom and Dad said, “Little fool, have you forgotten? Didn’t you invite other children? You have to wait for others.”

Invited other children?

Who?

Then there was a knock on the door.

He jumped off his high chair, stood on his tiptoes, and opened the door expectantly.

Standing outside the door was a boy in a small suit, with blond hair and golden eyes, holding a bouquet of roses in his arms. He was very cute, just like a doll, with big eyes twinkling. When he saw him, his eyes became brighter. Passing the flower to him he said, “Yan Xueshan, I wish you a happy birthday.”

He took the flowers and tilted his head. Liking the flowers very much, he said, “Thank you. I like them very much, Arthur.”

Little Arthur was overwhelmed with joy. “It’s good that you like them.”

“I want to hug you.” Yan Xueshan then gave the flowers to his mother beside him first, so that she could help him to hold them and then opened his arms. Little Arthur came closer and the two children hugged each other for a moment.

Little Arthur also kissed him on the cheek.

Yan Xueshan then took him by the hand and brought him to the table, letting Arthur sit on the chair beside him.

They held hands until the dream was over.

When he woke up the next day, Yan Xueshan knew why. It was because Arthur was sleeping next to him, holding his hand.

It was all because when he met Arthur’s mother, he saw a picture of Arthur when he was a child. It caused such a bizarre dream.

Yan Xueshan added Arthur’s mother’s contact information.

She was more enthusiastic than Arthur, and she would ask him what he wanted to do about the wedding from time to time.

Yan Xueshan said that it will all happen soon, but they need to wait until the Charity Mecha Competition is over.

She became kind of angry at that. “You two always say something, putting it off. Do you want to get married or not?”

Yan Xueshan: “It depends on Arthur’s convenience.”

Yan Xueshan has some guesses now, but they may not be accurate.

He felt that maybe Arthur was pulling the strings with his old Presidential father, trying to get benefits for himself.

He didn’t understand these things, so it was better to leave it to Arthur.

 After class in the Villa dormitory, the holographic simulation equipment sent by Lin Qi was installed. It was agreed that all contestants would meet that night.

This was a high-tech product, produced by the military. When he was still in the army, they would use this simulator to perform combat calculations.

Yan Xueshan changed into a generic model of the mecha suit, entered the simulation cabin, and put on a helmet.

Connecting…

He went online, his consciousness falling into the digital world.

Scatter, gather again; shuttle, stop again.

Because the procedures were all set up and the operation was very simple, he was directly teleported to an empty, pure white square room.

There were already four or five people there, standing in groups of twos or threes.

As soon as Yan Xueshan appeared, someone immediately noticed.

 “Isn’t this Yan Xueshan?”

“Yan Xueshan is here!”

Instantly, people gathered around, observing and speaking.

 “You retired. I thought you wouldn’t come. Well, Lin Qi is amazing enough to make even you appear.”

“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, Yan Xueshan is here, so there goes my first place.”

“Go away, even if Yan Xueshan wasn’t here, I’m still here.”

“Where do you live now? I seemed to hear you are a farmer now? Do you own a farmhouse? I want to visit you to play. Let me experience a little bit of farming too, okay?”

“Old Yan, why is there no movement between you and Arthur? Did you change your mind? I already told you, I would wait for you obsessively, ah!”

As Yan Xueshan said, the top sergeants were all geniuses.

The small group of people in front of him were all the elites of the elites. In the Federation, standing on the top of the pyramid of the Masters’ Alliance, each of them have their own shocking event.

In the beginning, everyone came together to win the war, and swore to protect the country and fight against powerful enemies.

 After the war, they went their separate ways, looking for their own new lives.

Now, for the sake of raising money for war orphans, they come together again without hesitation, gathering here without seeking a single benefit for themselves.

This was the first time they had gathered since the end of the war, except for the celebration.

There were no politics and no lives at stake, so everyone was relaxed and looking forward to this cutthroat event.

From behind the crowd, a hand stretched out, and pulled the man acting shyly in front of Yan Xueshan. Pulling him away by his collar, he said, “What are you doing? Don’t even think about it! Yan Xueshan is my partner!”

Arthur appeared angrily.

“Master, I’m a bit late. I’m sorry.”

Arthur turned around, and immediately changed his expression so it would no longer be fierce. In front of him, he was as obedient as he could possibly be.

Bystanders melted away. “You are already together but you still call him Master?”

No way. Yan Xueshan seriously said, “I prefer him to call me this way, I’m used to it.”

 Arthur blushed silently and no one knew what came to his mind.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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