"You… you… you!" Teased to distraction, Eldest Miss Chu Xuan was all shame and fury, her face flushed so red it seemed on the verge of dripping blood.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem…"
Just then, from the far side of the video window, came a burst of most ill-timed coughing. And how was it this voice sounded so familiar?
A figure appeared behind Eldest Miss Chu Xuan.
Old Master Chu!
The air, in that instant, seemed all at once to go still.
Zhao Chen was rather put on the spot… teasing a man's granddaughter right in front of the man himself. And he was, no less, the Governor of Chu River, a Five-Star Marshal! A terror of an existence who'd dared to drive his own interstellar fleet straight up to another's doorstep to "carry off a grandson-in-law."
"Chu Xuan, how have things gone with that first batch of T3 Flame Dragon-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers built and commissioned into service? If there's any problem, or anything you don't understand, you can come ask me directly." Zhao Chen's expression was grave — worlds apart from the grinning, clowning look of a moment before, the two utterly like different men.
Chu Xuan shot him a roll of the eyes; naturally she knew why he'd changed his face so quickly. And because her back was to her own grandfather, Chu Xuan worked her lips, a look of vicious promise on her face: Just wait till next time, and I'll settle with you. Then Chu Xuan, too, said in earnest, "The T3 Flame Dragon's production and manufacture are all going very smoothly. The reason I've sought you out this time is that the Starlight Empire is soon to hold a military procurement; I'll be attending it, by invitation, on my grandfather's behalf, and my grandfather hopes you'll go along together with me."
"Me, along too?" Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised. Li Yaqi had just been speaking to him of the Empire procurement, and here on this side Chu Xuan was inviting him to attend — the two matters had, of all things, come converging together.
"Getting out to see more is a good thing. At the procurement fair there'll be a great many interstellar warships; to look more and listen more is always better than building a cart behind closed doors." Old Master Chu spoke up at this point too.
Zhao Chen turned it over and thought — there was no loss to him in this affair. He'd nothing pressing to see to just now, in any case. And he could just take the chance to have a look, at the procurement, at the Starlight Empire's true present state of things — for with the rise of the Owl Dragon Fleet, in future he'd surely come into contact with some factions within the Starlight Empire. At the same time, should Li Yaqi run into any trouble on her end, he could deal with it promptly.
Zhao Chen had also guessed at Old Master Chu's intent in requiring him to attend the procurement together with Chu Xuan — to push him, beyond doubt, formally to the front of the Chu family's stage, and to bind him to the Chu family's war-chariot. But this was, at the same time, a kind of protection for Zhao Chen; the signboard of the Chu family was no small thing in its power.
"Very well, then. I'll get ready on my end. Give me a time on yours." Zhao Chen assented.
"Arrive before the end of September at the third star system of the Starlight Central Star Region — the main planet's starport," Chu Xuan said.
Only those star systems beneath the Starlight Central Star Region had no names. Perhaps once they'd had them, but after the establishment of the Starlight Empire's regime, the systems beneath the Central Star Region had had their names abolished, and all were prefixed with numerals instead. The nearer to the front the prefix, the higher, too, was that system's standing within the Central Star Region.
Zhao Chen made note of it. "Understood — I'll contact you once I've arrived."
After that they talked a while more of the T3 Flame Dragon; in the Chu family's hands, the T3 Flame Dragon was being put to very fine use. Of those 30 T3 Flame Dragons, 20 had already been assigned to serve within the border Empire military under the Chu family's command.
The comm ended.
"Then I'll go and get ready over here." Chu Xuan said this with rising eagerness; though there was still over a month till the appointed time, Chu Xuan had already begun to look forward to it.
Old Master Chu, meanwhile, looked at his granddaughter — and suddenly came out with a line that all but sent Chu Xuan sprawling flat on level ground. "When did you and Zhao Chen get to be on intimate terms?"
Chu Xuan, with great effort, steadied her own footing, and looked at her grandfather with a shame-reddened face. "Grandfather… that was all that fellow's nonsense. You… you said it yourself before — this identity of ours is only for… for keeping Zhao Chen in hand, for protecting him! It's all pretend! It doesn't count!"
"You know, letting the pretend become real would be quite all right, too," Old Master Chu said, careless and offhand.
"Grandfather! I'm not speaking to you anymore!" Chu Xuan, furious, stamped her foot, then hurried off at a quick step.
Old Master Chu watched his granddaughter's retreating back and settled into the reclining chair in the courtyard. The reason such a notion had come to him was, entirely, on account of the T3 Flame Dragon's actual performance! Before, he'd looked over the blueprints, and been struck with wonder at what those blueprints described — but that was, after all, only blueprints. And after seeing a T3 Flame Dragon truly rolled off the line and in service, Old Master Chu had, at last, come to truly feel just how terrifying that young man was. This T3 Flame Dragon was genuinely of surpassing cost-effectiveness; at so cheap a build cost, it could yet turn out a T3 interstellar destroyer this fine. Its showing on the border battlefields, so far, had likewise been excellent — worthy of every praise.
He looked forward, more and more, to that T4 interstellar destroyer Zhao Chen would one day bring forth; and in this moment he suddenly felt as though three years' time were somewhat long.
…………
End of August, Galactic Star Calendar.
This day, for Zhao Chen, and for the Owl Dragon Fleet and the Owl Dragon System alike, was a special one.
Why?
Because the Lion King System's T3 Radiant Moon-class star gate had been built, and today the gate connection could be carried out. This meant the Owl Dragon System would shake off the awkward straits it had been in, with no star gate to use.
T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser · bridge.
Zhao Chen and Lilith were both here just now, and Chief Engineer Annie besides. They kept their eyes on the display in the window before them — the T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1, holding at low-frequency running.
"10 minutes still to the appointed time." Annie's expression, just now, was likewise exceedingly grave; that T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1 before them was, after all, one she'd personally overseen the building of. It was, as good as, a child of her own. Earlier they'd completed 80% of the trial run, but the all-important gate connection had, for certain reasons, gone untried, put off and put off. Now at last there was this chance. A gate that hadn't undergone connection was an incomplete gate. And now this T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1 of the Owl Dragon System was about to formally become complete.
"Report — five minutes left. We can open the gate connection channel on our end." In the window beside Annie was Sister Bull, in charge of the work on-site.
"Open the gate connection channel!" Annie gave the order.
"Opening gate connection channel; awaiting the signal connection from the other gate," Sister Bull reported.
Just now, all anyone present could do was wait.
One minute…
Two minutes…
Three minutes…
For anyone present, this stretch of time might well be called a case of each second dragging like a year.
The five-minute estimate soon arrived. But the T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1 showed not the slightest reaction.
Zhao Chen said nothing; he knew this time was merely the agreed-upon expected time, and with the two places so vast a distance apart, some delay along the way was only normal.
Another five minutes passed.
The T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1 still gave no response.
Annie bit her lip, her look of anxiety truly as though she'd burst into tears the very next second.
The eighth minute!
The T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate No.1 suddenly welled up with a light, and in the middle of the two half-moon frames appeared a ripple of rosy radiance, for all the world like the surface of a lake.