After the turmoil in Aslan Star City, the apparent blame was shifted to Staff Officer Duke to appease the people’s hearts. The newly-appointed Inspector carried out drastic internal purges, the remnants of Duke’s party were punished accordingly, and Major Zheng Yue, who was wronged, was reinstated to his original position.
This incident quietly spread throughout the streets, and became the most common topic among the people after meals.
Only Jiang Jianming knew in his heart that the Duke’s subordinates he had picked out were just cannon fodders, and couldn’t even be asked for any information.
As for Duke’s escape route that day, the result of the dispatch personnel was that a secret basement and a small starship parking lot were found…..Obviously, Duke was planning to find a way to hide here and escape on a starship. Unexpectedly, he died halfway through the journey.
But these details were of no use to the overall situation.
In order to find the missing real crystal ores, Golden Sun Wheel carried out a comprehensive search in the entire Aslan Star City, but so far nothing had been obtained.
Even the Eldest Young Master of the Brandon family quickly submitted his resignation to Golden Sun Wheel and fled back home.
So now……
Holding the banquet invitation letter in his hand, Jiang Jianming stood in front of Prime Minister Laurent’s house and breathed a gentle sigh of relief.
The only way to catch a tiger cub was to go into the tiger’s den, thus he still came.
It had been snowing these two days, but once the light blue sensing screen film rose above the head, the snow did not fall on the body.
In this evening, Jiang Jianming was dressed in a pure black dress, with his other hand, he put away his long umbrella, and followed the bustling crowd to the spacious mansion in front of him.
Contrary to his expectation, there were not only nobles but also many civilians among the pedestrians around. Family members hand in hand, friends hooking each other’s shoulders, with simple and genuine smiles on their faces, as if looking forward to something. The atmosphere was completely different from the Lance family banquet.
Soon, Jiang Jianming spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
He walked over and pressed the shoulder of the boy in front of him, “Kevin?”
The civilian youth Jiang Kevin he met at the Kaios Military Academy was currently squeezed into the crowd, nervously stroking the non-existent wrinkles of his clothes while walking.
He turned his head startled, and immediately showed a surprised expression. “Jiang? You’re here too.”
Jiang Jianming said lightly, “How many times have I said it, call me senior.”
He hung up the umbrella and walked side by side with Kevin.
The mansion in front of them was covered with bright colored lights, and the guards maintaining order wore red-gold woven uniforms to check the identities of those who came and went.
In the spacious front yard, a white dining table was erected, and the waiters in black uniforms were smilingly distributing delicious food and gifts to each visitor for free, making it extremely lively.
“We are grateful, Your Excellency the Prime Minister.”
“Thank you very much, thank you very much.”
“Honor the glory of the empire through the ages.”
“Thank you very much, we are grateful, Your Excellency…”
Some people turn around and go home after saying thank you with food in their arms, but more people stood aside, talked and laughed while eating the food.
Farther away was the dining table of the nobles, and men and women in formal attire could be vaguely seen passing through and proposing toasts, brewing a festive atmosphere before the New Year’s Eve.
“Jiang, this way!”
Kevin skillfully pulled Jiang Jianming’s arm and walked in, raised his eyebrows proudly and smiled. “The grand banquet held by His Excellency Laurent, even ordinary people can get New Year’s gifts, isn’t it great?”
“Hm…is it like this every year?” Jiang Jianming looked around, pondering about the matter of Prime Minister Laurent, while following Kevin absent-mindedly.
After not seeing each other for several days, he found that this awkward kid actually missed him a lot, and the words in his mouth were endless…..although most of them were praises for the prime minister.
“Of course! You studied at the Kaios Military Academy, haven’t you been here before?”
“His Excellency Laurent is different from those stinky nobles who despise the poor and love the rich. His Excellency treats everyone equally.”
“We can even go to the dining table. But I’m too lazy to go over, the hypocritical atmosphere makes me want to vomit…..It’s impossible for the nobles to approach our side either, that’s what happens when we look at each other with hate.”
The young man snorted softly as he spoke, with a deep look on his face that didn’t match his age. Kevin raised his head slightly, “Look, it’s like an invisible high wall…”
“—Jiang? You are here.”
A call interrupted the young man’s exclamation, and Jiang Jianming turned his head when he heard the sound.
A faint inhalation sounded from all around, and a handsome silver-haired young man walked slowly, surrounded by a noble temperament destined to attract the attention of the people, and even caused many civilians to turn sideways one after another, feeling ashamed of their ungainly appearance.
Audrey—of course, her current apparent identity was Audrey—came to Jiang Jianming gracefully.
She stretched out her white silk gloved hand to trim his neckline, and said with a smile, “This dress suits you very well. How about it, I said you should just keep it.”
“Of course, you have a good eye.”
Jiang Jianming warmly and gently greeted, and patted the frozen boy beside him, “This is Kevin, Jiang Kevin, my junior…”
“Ah right, Kevin, what did you just say about the high wall?”
Kevin’s eyes were sluggish, and he stammered, “Lan…Lan…”
Audrey showed a smile, and also reached out to the young man, “No need to be cautious, Jiang is my friend, if you are friends with him, then we are also friends now.”
Kevin: “……..”
The young man, who had his face rubbed by his senior for countless times, blushed in embarrassment and fell into autism.
Not far away, a group of girls who dressed up beautifully to attend the banquet were quietly observing Jiang Jianming.
While stuffing small biscuits into their mouths, they gossiped with a flushed face.
“It’s him, the temporary inspector of the Golden Sun Wheel.”
“His Excellency Lance’s best friend.”
“Ah, isn’t it said that he is a disabled human being?”
A girl retorted, “How could it be possible! I witnessed with my own eyes the inspector firing at the villains with a mecha that day.”
The other was drinking a drink, then blinked her freshly curled eyelashes, “But how come I heard that he is Miss Bei Man’er’s comrade in Silver Big Dipper…?”
“Pfft, what, Silver Big Dipper and a disabled human being, don’t you think it’s inconsistent when you say this?”
“But wasn’t it a rumor back then, that the young master of the Tang family ran after his roommate every day in the military academy……Isn’t it this His Excellency Jiang?”
Finally, the several girls looked at each other in dismay——
“Sister, are we really talking about the same person?”
The interlude music sounded with the words. His Excellency Laurent began to raise his wine glass and waved around his hand with a smile on his face.
The guards followed him and handed some expensive candies to the children from time to time. The cheers of the children made the atmosphere even more heated.
Kevin squeezed excitedly to look at His Excellency the Prime Minister, while Audrey gave Jiang Jianming a wink, and then followed her to a secluded corner with few people.
The dim light in the distance fell on the youth’s silver hair, her expression suddenly became melancholic, and the corners of her lips tightened, “…Jiang, bad news.”
Jiang Jianming was stunned for a moment, “What’s the matter? Tell me.”
Audrey considered for a long time before speaking, she hesitated to speak twice, and finally spoke out mixed with sighs.
“The ‘removal of disable proposal’ proposed by the Society for the Protection of the Non Crystal Human Race, and the proposal to increase the number of ‘mecha pilots’ units and the proposal to accept disabled humans to join the army…..were all rejected.” (TL: ‘removal of disable proposal’ here meant to remove disable in disable human being and replace with non crystal human being or race)
Jiang Jianming looked at her sideways in astonishment. In the distance, a burst of laughter suddenly rose, intertwined with the noise of dead branches rubbing and swinging in the wind. All of it poured into the ears.
It took a few seconds for him to make a sound. “Rejected? So…suddenly.”
Audrey bit her lip, turned her face away and buried her expression in the shadows, her voice was a bit hoarse. “The news hasn’t reached the public yet, but the matter should be a foregone conclusion.”
Jiang Jianming: “Why?”
Audrey: “I don’t know. It was vetoed by senior military officials. It was said that the proposal was not even presented to the emperor.”
Jiang Jianming remained silent for a long time, didn’t turn his head and only let out a sigh. With five fingers inserted into the black hair, he supported his forehead, gritted his teeth and smiled bitterly, “I thought that even if it was rejected, we could still use a softer approach…”
A fleeting pain flashed across his brows, and he turned around to cover his lips and coughed.
Audrey was taken aback, and quickly stroked his back. “God, don’t get so angry and ruin the body.”
“It’s not going to get any worse.” Jiang Jianming pushed her hand away, took a deep breath to restrain his emotions, “It’s nothing, I already knew it would not be easy. But…..it’s just….just really sudden.”
He sighed, and looked at the twilight clouds in the distance with a somewhat lost gaze, “This road, I don’t know how long I can still accompany you.”
“Jiang…!” Audrey’s expression suddenly changed. She looked around and urgently whispered after confirming that no one was there, “But you have already seen His Highness Ryann, haven’t you! His Highness is still alive, even if he has lost his old memories as you said, but he cares about you just as much as he did back then…”
Jiang Jianming smiled helplessly, and said with difficulty, “We were all too young back then, Audrey.”
He pinched the ring finger of his right hand and said to himself, “Actually, if it were now, I might not necessarily…..agree.”
Audrey stood there stunned.
“Jiang? What are you talking about…”
She almost doubted her ears. Of course she understood what Jiang Jianming was referring to, but because she understood that she couldn’t believe it even more.
Jiang Jianming shook his head, frowned and said in a low voice, “I’m not afraid of those difficulties and obstacles, Audrey. It’s nothing, those are nothing, it’s just……disabled human beings…are very likely to have short lives.”
“I can watch him go, but he can’t, he won’t be able to take it.”
I can watch him go.
Jiang Jianming’s throat choked, and the words that slipped out of his mouth inadvertently gave him a lingering pain in his heart belatedly. Jiang Jianming closed his eyes, lowered his head and thought to himself: Yes, I can.
Because of his calm and introverted nature and a tolerant mentality, no matter how overwhelming the sadness in his heart was, it could still be resolved by himself one lonely night after another.
But Ryann, or rather Garcia…the Little Highness was so proud, tyrannical and haughty, and pure as a solitary child, always wild and unruly, and always loved with absolute sincerity.
Letting such a person, letting such a person who seemed to be born to be invincible like the son of god.
Just like himself, to suffer miserably in front of the invisible giant hand of fate, be pressed to the ground in embarrassment, and watch as his lover’s life was being completely stripped away.
Jiang Jianming didn’t dare to imagine such a scene at all.
“You regret it.”
All of a sudden, Jiang Jianming’s arm was held. When he opened his eyes, he met Audrey’s reddish eye sockets, and she said word by word, “You said you wouldn’t regret it back then.”
“We promised not to obstruct each other, but Jiang,” Audrey held his arm tightly, and pleaded with wide eyes, “Jiang, turning around, there is still time.”
“…Don’t talk nonsense.” Jiang Jianming’s eyes were deep, he patted the back of Audrey’s hand, and said in a low voice, “I don’t regret it.”
“…….”
A few seconds of silence passed, and Audrey let go of his hand slowly.
No more words were spoken between the two of them.
After a long while, Jiang Jianming went to ask for a glass of juice drink, and looked at Laurent who was surrounded by everyone out of the corner of his eye.
While he estimated Laurent’s purpose for inviting him to the banquet, he wondered whether he should reveal to Audrey some of his doubts about the Prime Minister.
But when he turned back to look for Audrey with the glass in his hand, the people in the distance started to stir again.
It seemed that an aristocratic lady got off from a high-end private air vehicle at the entrance and walked slowly into the luxurious mansion.
“That’s…” Jiang Jianming squinted his eyes, and vaguely felt that the graceful figure of the lady was a bit familiar.
He felt like he should have met her before, but since he couldn’t remember…..it probably wasn’t someone important.
Audrey said appropriately from the side, “It seems to be Madame Sekt. Oh, little Emilia is also here.”
Jiang Jianming showed a sudden look.
The graceful figure got closer, and everyone could see it clearly: it was a tall and glamorous lady, her black hair was permed into gorgeous vertical curls, and her small face was covered with delicate makeup.
She was wearing lace gloves and a ring on her index finger, holding a fair skin little girl in one hand.
Madame Donna von Sekt, and Emilia von Sekt…
This was the Silver Big Dipper’s youngest and most promising general, the supreme commander of the First Fortress’——Major General Xie Yuduo’s wife and daughter.
Four Sekt family guards stood beside the madame and the young lady until the madame waved her hand to signal them to step back.
Laurent was already holding a red wine, and greeted her with a gentle smile, “Madame Donna’s visit really adds brilliance to a humble home. Please forgive my poor reception, Madame. Come in, please.”
Donna gave Laurent a subtle smile, raised her skirt and saluted. The girl she was holding happily hugged Laurent’s thigh, apparently quite on intimate terms.
Laurent first kissed Donna’s finger, then put the wine glass aside, smiled happily and picked up the girl.
“……” In a corner nearby, Jiang Jianming frowned subtly, always feeling that this kind of relationship was a little too ambiguous.
Anyhow, Audrey beside him was not an outsider, thus he couldn’t help but whisper, “Is it my illusion? Why do I think…”
Unexpectedly, Audrey seriously said, “Yes, it’s not an illusion, it’s what you see.”
Jiang Jianming was even more at a loss, then Audrey asked back in wonder, “Don’t you know that Major General Xie and his wife are in disharmony?”
Jiang Jianming was confused for a long time. For a moment, a thousand words rushed to his lips, but didn’t know where to start. He could only hold back a sentence with a bitter smile: “…But all I know is that they’re not amicable with each other.”
However he didn’t know that the couple had reached a point of “disharmony”…
Is Madame Xie actually capable of publicly weaving a green hat for the major general at the banquet?
