We moved to Golden Courtyard

Xu Qi remained silent...

Mei seemed to know that her request might be a bit unreasonable.

She composed herself, looked up, and said jokingly, "At least think of me a little more when you encounter danger like this..."

"Ah."

Mei might have been joking, but Xu Qi was serious about the crowdfunding group 456127940.

He tried to nod forcefully and said, "It's because I'm thinking of you that I absolutely cannot die."

Mei stared blankly at Xu Qi, and at this moment—she became shy instead.

Some dared not look the other person in the eye, averting their gaze and uttering a slight complaint.

"Honestly, what's wrong with people these days? They just say all sorts of weird things all the time. You should just joke around like usual..."

With a slight upturn of her lips, Xu Qi thought that Mei was... really cute.

Oh, right!

Seemingly remembering something, Mei quickly took out her phone.

But just as I was about to dial the number, I hesitated.

"You're going to tell everyone in the Golden Garden, right...? It's okay, just call the professor. She's definitely not asleep right now."

“I…” Mei scratched her head, “I only have Airi’s phone number.”

……

What kind of social anxiety sufferers are these...?

Xu Qi sighed and said, "I said, you dial, and then put the phone to my ear."

"Ok!"

……

The call connected, and soon Xu Qi heard the professor's usual sarcastic remarks.

"What? You just woke up and you're already thinking of calling me?"

"The professor knew it was me before I even said anything?"

"Even though I haven't saved it, are you underestimating my memory? This is Mei's phone number, right... Calling me so late instead of Airi, it must be your idea, isn't it?"

"Because I am familiar with the professor's schedule."

Xu Qi unconsciously made a suggestive remark, then noticed that Mei's expression was a little off...

Oh no... I almost forgot there was a jealous person next to me.

Normally, the professor wouldn't mind making some risqué jokes with Xu Qi, but she knew that Xu Qi must be in a real bind right now.

So he just chuckled and changed the subject.

"Everyone else should be asleep by now. Oh... wait, maybe you can call Eden; it might be daytime for them now."

"professor."

"Ok?"

"Thank you."

……

After Xu Qi regained consciousness, he was able to easily analyze why he was still alive by rethinking the situation.

If an ordinary person were inside that exoskeleton armor, the moment they were hit by a train, not only would their internal organs be shattered, but their bones would also be reduced to dust.

But Xu Qi's feeling was very clear; he probably only had a simple fracture—damn it! A simple fracture! Is that even human language?

His physical abilities are indeed somewhat superhuman now.

Möbius's biological reagents are indeed terrifying enough; perhaps he can already...

"Don't even think about it. You can't even imagine how much power V2V can generate. That madwoman, Velvet... didn't design that suit of armor for humans at all. You should just focus on recovering from your injuries."

That professor is terrifying... How can he know what I'm thinking?

"Give the phone to your girlfriend, I need to tell her something. You should just go to sleep."

Mei understood and heard those words clearly.

She blushed as she took the phone and tiptoed out, seemingly not wanting Xu Qi to know what she and Mebius had talked about on the phone.

Professor... that's not right of you...

Xu Qi looked at the pitch-black ceiling, suddenly smiled, and even laughed out loud.

"It's so good to be alive... The company isn't going to reward me? This is really killing me..."

Chapter Nine, Xu Qi? That sounds like a woman's name...

Fresh flowers were placed all around Xu Qi's bedside; these were gifts sent when the company's top leaders came to visit him.

Of course, the filming crew and interviewers were also present.

Fortunately, Mei was there to take care of Xu Qi the whole time. Photos could be taken, but only one person was allowed to be interviewed. Everyone else was kicked out by Mei.

"The patient needs to rest. Please leave!"

Su originally wanted to come and help, but seeing Mei's fiercely protective expression, she suddenly felt that if she went over, she would seem a bit superfluous.

"Without you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have a moment's rest."

On the third day after Xu Qi woke up, he was able to sit up on the bed and chat with Mei.

He can even manage to get out of bed and move around a little, but he clearly still needs a period of rehabilitation.

“Every single one of these people is just trying to use you to their advantage,” Mei said, still somewhat indignant.

"They never considered that it was you who saved that train of people and prevented 914 from derailing and causing even greater damage."

Xu Qi maintained a smile throughout Mei's speech.

Seeing the other person busy running around, and occasionally complaining a little on his behalf—even in the hospital, it felt like home.

"Speaking of which, you've been taking time off these past few days to take care of me. Has everything been alright with the school?"

"It's okay, finals are in two weeks, and these are just review classes. I can get full marks even if I don't listen."

What kind of academic genius's comments are these...?

As they were talking, the door suddenly opened, and Su walked in with another middle-aged man.

As always, he was dashing and handsome. The way he took off his sunglasses after seeing Xu Qi revealed a unique charm of an older man—Char Aznable…

"Manager Xia..."

"It seems to be someone you know."

With his hands in his pockets, Su said to Xu Qi, "Then I won't disturb you any longer, you two chat."

After saying that, he walked out. Before leaving, he opened his eyes, which had been squinting, for a moment and gave Mei a wink.

Mei understood, and the two walked out of the ward one after the other.

"I really didn't expect you to come see me, Manager Xia." Xu Qi looked around Xia Ya. "You didn't even bring anything with you, you came empty-handed."

"Anyway, you've received enough gifts from people already."

"That's true."

After he finished speaking, a brief silence fell between the two of them.

"Why……"

"If you mean replacing you from the person in charge of 914, I should have already..."

“Master, I’m not stupid.”

……

"These past few days lying in the hospital bed, I've thought about it carefully, and I've found that I still want to believe in the teacher-student relationship between us, because you've been really good to me."

Xu Qi looked directly at Xia Ya and said.

"A college graduate who has only been with the company for a little over a year could never possibly be in charge of the cable overhaul of an entire train... even though you've already guided me through the initial stages of the work."

Ultimately, state-owned enterprises are places that value seniority; no matter how capable I am, it won't be of much use.

……

"My special circumstances make me an easy target for gossip. You've always been there for me, and I respect you for nurturing me in this way. So... I just can't understand it."

Why would you make such a decision—it's unlike you, and it's something you could never do! It wasn't until the September 914th incident that I had a vague, bold idea.

Xia Ya remained silent, while Xu Qi... took a deep breath.

"I don't believe that September 914th was just a coincidence, that such a big accident happened right after I was replaced—Master, what exactly do you know?"

……

Xia looked out the window and suddenly said, "How many months will it take you to recover?"

Xu Qi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Three months."

For some reason, he chose to lie.

"Just as I predicted—of course, I didn't expect you to go crazy and use GD-78-2 to stop the train from moving forward, but actually... this ending is pretty good too."

What happens next is none of your business. Just stay in the hospital and recover. Once you're healed... just remember to go back to work as usual.

What happened next...

Xu Qi frowned.

"Why won't you answer my question?"

Char turned to leave, and as he was about to go out, he said something.

“I am no longer your master, and just like how you treated me before, we are now… enemies. I personally stripped you of your project results, so you can continue to hate me.”

……

"Char..."

······

Outside the ward, Su gestured for Mei to find an empty seat.

Mei knew that the other person seemed to be a tenant living with Xu Qi, and that Dr. Su was the one who performed Xu Qi's surgery. In fact, she hadn't even had a chance to thank him.

"Miss Mei seems to have a very good relationship with Xu Qi. Are they already lovers?"

"Ugh?"

Mei blushed slightly and said somewhat shyly, "It shouldn't be... that's not quite it yet."

But it's pretty much the same—Su added to herself.

"Really... Xu Qi mentions you quite often."

"Huh? Me?"

Mei couldn't help but be curious, after all, she found it hard to imagine how Xu Qi would talk about her in front of others.

"Yes. Xu Qi is actually a humble person at heart. After arriving at Golden Courtyard, the sentence he said most often was: I have benefited a lot from you all."

"This 'you all' includes you, Mei."

Mei scratched her head sheepishly; she really hadn't expected Xu Qi to feel that way.

Can you tell me about it?

"Hmm? What would you like to hear, Dr. Su?"

"Let's talk about Xu Qi's past. To be honest, everyone living in Golden Courtyard is like family. I think you can feel Xu Qi's attitude towards us."

Indeed... the intimacy of that relationship can be understood with just a glance.

"But that kid, every time he mentions the past, he glossed over it, but he dug up a lot of our past."

Mei couldn't help but chuckle softly—Xu Qi was indeed like that; he liked to listen to other people's past and their stories, but he didn't talk much about his own affairs.