Chapter 254: Li Wei’s Observations
Xiang Chuan and Li Wei chatted intermittently, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the small plaza for resting.
Although the entire military base used sand, soil, or steel materials as common venues (supposedly to simulate the environment of moving on a planet), this small plaza was built lush and green. With the intersection as the dividing line, a green belt completely encircled the small plaza, with a fountain in the middle and rose bushes or roses planted on both sides, looking just like a small park.
There were already quite a few people in the small plaza, mostly Nongda Affiliated High School students who came to aid digestion, with occasional scattered figures from Caida Affiliated High School.
“Xiang Chuan—Ainuo—”
Not far away, Mandy, the Cultural Committee Member who first spotted the A Bite of China Club’s friends and family group, waved at them. Looking closely, one could see that Class President Lu Daiqing and their group of buddies were all there.
“Classmates are calling us, we’ll head over first. Take your time strolling.”
Xiang Chuan slightly bowed to Li Wei, then dragged Ouyang Yating and Chou Manman quickly over. Ainuo didn’t really want to go that way, but Nancy, who had spotted their escape intent first, grabbed the back of their neck, and under Liang Gong’s speechless gaze beside them, followed behind Xiang Chuan to join the class.
Watching the lively Class Eight Grade One crowd dancing and jumping around energetically, Li Wei couldn’t help but smile knowingly. He touched his stomach, feeling that the things he ate in the evening had mostly digested, so he casually found a stone bench by the fountain and sat down.
He looked at the Nongda Affiliated High School students around the small plaza; their faces showed various expressions, but their eyes all sparkled with excitement and satisfaction, something Li Wei rarely saw in the eyes of junior or senior high school students.
At school, the people around him had all been blandly discussing the current situation of various fleets’ industries, or the school’s entrance examinations, university major prospects, and so on, with almost no such vibrant and expectant colors in their eyes.
The most eye-catching area in the entire small plaza was still the spot where Nongda Affiliated High School Class Eight Grade One was. Li Wei’s seat was quite far from them, so he couldn’t clearly hear what they were talking about.
Although the military equipment attached to his personal terminal could enhance his hearing, Li Wei felt it wasn’t suitable to use now, and if detected by the Third Military Escort Ship, they might think he intended to eavesdrop on the Third Fleet’s military secrets, which would truly be sending a pillow to Captain Noah for sleepiness.
Li Wei looked toward where Class Eight Grade One was. Their dozen or so scattered people had formed a small circle, with Xiang Chuan, who had just been chatting with him, at the center. Xiang Chuan watched the tall boy beside her gesticulating animatedly, nodding or shaking her head from time to time, then speaking while gesturing some things herself, followed immediately by an “Oh—” exclamation from their little circle.
Occasionally, other students nearby said something that made her show a dazed or helpless expression, but Li Wei could tell Xiang Chuan wasn’t really annoyed about anything, because when they had talked about Class Eight Grade One on the way over, the look in her eyes was similar to the way Kenny occasionally looked at these newbies of theirs, like an elder silently indulging the young juniors.
But this little girl should only be fifteen or sixteen this year, right? Generally speaking, would girls of that age look at peers with such eyes?
Li Wei doubtfully touched his chin, then opened his personal terminal.
When leaving the meeting room in the afternoon, Captain Noah’s deputy officers had helped him and Kenny connect their terminals to the Third Fleet’s local area network. Though the performance couldn’t compare to the space-time network, it still had basic social functions and military affairs processing capabilities.
Looking at the inaccessible space-time network sites, Li Wei sighed and began to zone out while registering a Third Fleet SNS account to scroll.
——
Just as Li Wei followed the online discussions to find the binge-watching site “Drama Watching Fun” and was hesitating whether to click on an episode of Empresses in the Palace, voices suddenly came from behind.
“…I said those things were troublesome, see, hasn’t it come knocking?”
This was Xiang Chuan’s voice.
“You say we just ditch them and leave like this… is that okay?”
“What’s not okay about it? Don’t forget last time I got dragged in and became the gossip female lead. If I go closer now, with our school’s gossip-loving bunch, who knows what it’ll turn into… Eh, Military Officer, you’re here?”
As Xiang Chuan and Chou Manman passed by the bench, they happened to meet Li Wei who had turned his head. Li Wei bowed in greeting, and the two naturally walked over.
“Why aren’t you with your classmates? I just saw you all chatting happily.” Li Wei casually asked.
“Because my cute and handsome club member is having romantic luck, and I don’t want to become the next gossip protagonist.”
Xiang Chuan said, indignantly sucking two mouthfuls of fruit milk from the takeout water cup in her hand.
“What, you’re dating in high school already?” Li Wei widened his eyes.
“It’s not me dating.” Xiang Chuan quickly distanced herself, “And it’s the kind written as secret crush but read as open pursuit. After being rejected by my handsome little club member last time, this time it’s even more blatant. It makes my teeth ache watching.”
Li Wei turned to look at the small circle where Xiang Chuan had been; just as she said, at some point a quite pretty girl had arrived there, talking about something with the brown-haired boy who had followed Xiang Chuan earlier. The two girls beside him didn’t seem very friendly toward this stranger girl.
How to put it, a classic traditional romantic emotional dispute scene common on SNS, the only difference being the protagonists were minor high school students.
“Are young people nowadays so bold?” Li Wei remarked.
“Young people have always been pretty bold no matter the era; puppy love is practically a traditional skill etched into human DNA.” Xiang Chuan glanced gossipy-like at Ainuo’s situation, “At least us modern ones are somewhat restrained, still knowing to drop hints only in high school. Back in the 21st Century, even elementary school kids wanted to stick close to the opposite sex and play guerrilla war with teachers and parents, having a blast.”
Hearing this, Li Wei turned to Xiang Chuan and asked, “Tianyuan 20th century? The information turbulence you contacted is that ancient?”
The Dark Virus Crisis erupted around Tianyuan year 5000, so records before that were a blank slate for modern people. Li Wei didn’t know what era the cooking techniques Xiang Chuan provided were from, and hearing “20th century” now, he couldn’t help widening his eyes.
“Even earlier. If it were Tianyuan year 2000, it might be more convenient.”
This was Xiang Chuan’s sincere thought.
After all, around Tianyuan year 2000 was when humans were building homes on the fleets; not only had they not lost Common Era culture, they also retained early Tianyuan Era technology.
From history class, Xiang Chuan had learned that after the Dark Virus Crisis, some advanced technologies born after the Tianyuan Era also vanished along with the disappearance of Common Era civilization and culture, such as agricultural technology and food processing technology, leading later generations’ cuisine to consist only of solid food and liquid food like emergency rations during cosmic voyages.
This was also why the Third Fleet’s various food processing groups and Agriculture Bureau, after receiving the recipes and ancient literature from Xiang Chuan, hurriedly established various new technology projects and departments. Though they might not reach pre-Tianyuan year 5000 levels, they could at least rely on this information to achieve a certain degree of recreation.
Li Wei widened his eyes, trembling as he said:
“Could it be… Common Era?”
“Yeah, it’s not really a secret here.” Xiang Chuan smiled and shook the personal terminal in her hand, “Space-time turbulence from around Common Era 2022, amazing, right?”
