Moving to the Golden Courtyard

Xu Qi remained silent...

Mei seemed to realize that her request might have been a bit much.

She composed herself, looked up, and said in a joking manner, "At least when you encounter this kind of danger, think of me a little more..."

"Mm."

Mei might have been joking, but Xu Qi was serious.

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

Mei stared blankly at Xu Qi, at which point, she became shy.

She didn't dare to look him directly in the eyes, averted her gaze, and complained slightly.

"Seriously, what's wrong with people these days? They just say inexplicable things at the drop of a hat. You could have just made a joke and moved on..."

The corners of her mouth turned up, and Xu Qi thought that this Mei... was really cute.

"Oh, right!"

As if remembering something, Mei quickly took out her phone.

But just as she was about to dial, she hesitated.

"I should tell everyone at the Golden Courtyard... It's okay, I'll call the Professor. She definitely hasn't slept at this hour."

"I..." Mei scratched her head, "I only have Alysia's phone number."

What kind of socially adept yet socially awkward person is this...

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

"Okay!"

The call went through, and before long, Xu Qi heard the Professor's usual sarcastic tone.

"What? Did you just wake up and immediately think of calling me?"

"I haven't even said anything, and Professor already knows it's me?"

"Although I haven't saved it, are you underestimating my memory? This is Mei's phone number, right? Calling me so late instead of Alysia, it must be your idea, kid?"

"Because I'm familiar with the Professor's schedule."

Xu Qi instinctively made a flippant remark, and then he saw Mei's expression become a little strange...

Crap... I almost forgot there was a jealous person next to me.

If it were any other time, the Professor wouldn't mind bantering with Xu Qi for a while, but she also knew that Xu Qi was probably in a lot of trouble right now.

So she just chuckled and changed the subject.

"Everyone else should be asleep now, oh... no, maybe you can call Eden, it might be daytime there now."

"Professor."

"Mm?"

"Thank you."

After Xu Qi regained consciousness and replayed the events, he could easily analyze the reason he was still alive.

If an ordinary person were inside that exoskeleton armor, the moment they were hit by the train, their bones would have been crushed into powder, not to mention their internal organs.

But Xu Qi's sensations were very clear, he should only have simple fractures - damn it! Simple fractures! Is that even human?

His physical fitness is indeed a bit superhuman now.

Mobius's biological reagent is indeed terrifying enough, maybe he can already...

"Don't think about it, you can't even imagine how high V2V's output is. Vil-V, that madwoman... didn't design that armor with humans in mind at all. You should just rest and recover."

The Professor is really terrifying... She can even know what I'm thinking?

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

Mei understood this sentence clearly.

Blushing, she took the phone and tiptoed out, seemingly not wanting Xu Qi to know what she and Mobius were talking 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 good to be alive... Won't the company give me an award for this? This really took my life..."

Chapter 9: Xu Qi? Sounds like a woman's name...

Flowers filled the bedside, all brought by the company's top leaders when they came to visit Xu Qi.

Of course, there were also accompanying photographers and interviewers.

Fortunately, Mei was always there to take care of Xu Qi. Photos could be taken, but only one person was allowed to be interviewed, and everyone else was kicked out by Mei.

"The patient needs to rest, please leave!"

Originally, Su also wanted to come and help, but seeing Mei's fierce expression like a mother protecting her cub, he suddenly felt that if he went over, he would seem a bit redundant.

"If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have a moment to spare."

It was the third day after Xu Qi woke up. He was now able to sit up in bed, leaning against the headboard, and chat with Mei.

He could even manage to get out of bed and move around a little, though it was clear he still needed some time to recover.

"Those people, every single one of them, are just thinking about using you to make a name for themselves," Mei said, sounding indignant.

"They didn't even think about the fact that you saved everyone on that train and prevented 914 from derailing and causing even greater damage."

As Mei spoke, Xu Qi maintained a smile.

Watching her bustling around, often complaining on his behalf—even in the hospital, it felt like home.

"Speaking of which, you've taken time off work to take care of me these past few days. Is it okay with the school?"

"It's fine. Finals are in two weeks, and right now it's all review classes. I can still get a perfect score even if I don't listen."

What a genius thing to say...

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

As dashing and handsome as ever, the gesture of taking off his sunglasses after seeing Xu Qi only added to the mature man's unique charm—Xia Ya...

"Supervisor Xia..."

"Looks like he's someone you know."

Su put his hands in his pockets and said to Xu Qi, "Then I won't disturb you. You guys chat."

With that, he walked out. Before leaving, his usually narrowed eyes opened for a moment, giving Mei a meaningful look.

Mei understood, of course, and the two of them left the room one after the other.

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

"There are already enough people giving you gifts anyway."

"That's true."

After that, a bit of silence fell between them.

"Why..."

"If you're referring to the matter of replacing you as the person in charge of 914, I should have already..."

"Master, I'm not stupid."

"These past few days lying in bed, I've thought about it carefully, and I realized that I still want to believe in our relationship as master and disciple, because you've really been good to me."

Xu Qi looked directly at Xia Ya and said.

"A college student who's only been with the company for a little over a year could never be responsible for the cable overhaul of an entire train... even if you had already walked me through most of the preliminary work.

In the end, state-owned enterprises are all about seniority. No matter how strong my abilities are, they won't be of much use."

"My special circumstances are already prone to gossip, and you've always been the one backing me up. I respect you for nurturing me like this, so... I can't understand it even more.

Why would you make such a decision—it doesn't seem like you, and it's even less likely that it's something you would do! It wasn't until the 914 incident that I had a vague, bold idea."

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

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

Xia Ya looked out the window and suddenly said, "How many months do you think you'll need to recover?"

Xu Qi hesitated for a moment and said, "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, but actually... this kind of ending is also pretty good.

The following matters will have nothing to do with you. Just stay in the hospital and recover well. When you've recovered... remember to go back to work as usual."

The following matters...

Xu Qi frowned.

"Why won't you answer my question?"

Xia Ya turned to leave, and as he was about to exit, he said.

"I'm no longer your master, and just like how you treated me before, we... should be considered enemies now. I personally stripped you of your project results, so you can just continue to hate me."

"Xia Ya..."

Outside the ward, Su motioned for Mei to find an empty seat and sit down.

Mei knew that he seemed to be a tenant living with Xu Qi, and that this Dr. Su had performed Xu Qi's surgery. Speaking of which, she hadn't had a chance to thank him yet.

"Miss Mei seems to have a very good relationship with Xu Qi. Are you two already in a romantic relationship?"

"Huh?"

Mei's pretty face flushed red, and she said a little shyly, "I... I don't think so yet."

But it's not far off—Su added in his mind.

"Is that so... Xu Qi often mentions you."

"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 the Golden Courtyard, the most common thing he says is—I often benefit greatly from you all.

And that 'you all' includes you, Mei."

Mei scratched her head in embarrassment. She really didn't expect Xu Qi to feel that way.

"Can you tell me about it?"

"Hmm? What does Doctor Su want to hear?"

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

Indeed... the closeness of that relationship was clear with just a glance.

"But that kid always glosses over his past whenever it's brought up, and instead digs up a lot of our pasts."

Mei couldn't help but chuckle—Xu Qi was indeed like that, he liked to hear about other people's pasts, other people's stories, but he didn't talk much about his own.