Chapter 65 Chapter 65 Let yourself go.

After hanging up the phone with the club staff, Lin Mo called Wang Qian immediately, but in fact Wang Qian was in the club and had just listened to her conversation with the staff.

The boss had been away for the past two days, drinking alone in this club to drown his sorrows. Wang Qian saw it all. He knew the boss's feelings for Lin Mo best, so he took the initiative and asked the staff to contact Lin Mo.

Unexpectedly, Lin Mo was not in the city.

Wang Qian found out as quickly as possible and realized that there would be an important test at the flight base tomorrow. Lin Mo and the team were still working overtime at the base. It would be unkind of him to force them to rush back.

So, after receiving Lin Mo's call, he immediately agreed, "I'm near the club and will pick you up right now. Don't worry about your work, and be careful on your way back."

On the other side, Lin Mo thanked him and walked into the meeting room without distraction.

When I finished all the work and drove back home, it was already past midnight.

The house was pitch black, and the car keys were placed on the shoe cabinet. It seemed that Wang Qian had already sent Lu Yanxiao back.

Not wanting to wake him, Lin Mo turned on the flashlight on her phone, used it to change into slippers, and then tiptoed to Lu Yanxiao's bedroom door. She grasped the handle and gently pushed the door open a crack. After confirming that someone was lying on the bed, she went upstairs with peace of mind.

Although they were living one upstairs and the other downstairs, she felt inexplicably at ease knowing that Lu Yanxiao was well at home. In addition, she had not slept the whole night before, so she lay on the bed and fell asleep quickly. She slept very deeply and sweetly, and even had an unspeakable dream.

In her dream, she was floating on the deep blue sea, with her upper body above the water and her lower body submerged. Her body rose and fell with the waves. The water seemed to have human nature, gently protecting her and allowing her to maintain a comfortable balance.

She was happily swam in the water. At this time, many small fish slowly gathered towards her, and their wet and sticky bodies brushed against the skin of her legs from time to time, getting closer and closer, and more and more, until they were completely stuck to her, licking her with their soft lips. The tingling feeling went straight into her spine, making her forget to float for a moment. She was almost pulled to the bottom of the water. She couldn't help but clench her hands and screamed.

She instinctively wanted to swim upwards, and when she pushed her feet downwards, she kicked against something solid, warm and firm, like a human shoulder.

She started suddenly, opened her eyes, and finally realized what was happening.

"Lu Yanxiao, you..."

Lin Mo pulled back the quilt. In the dim light, she saw the man raise his head and smile at her. Then, he slowly climbed up and touched her nose with his nose.

"Are you comfortable?"

She smelled a strong odor of alcohol and saw that the man had dazed eyes and was clearly still drunk and unconscious.

"When did you come up here?" Lin Mo cupped his cheeks with both hands, letting him look into her eyes. She asked softly, "How did you get up here when you were so drunk?"

Lu Yanxiao shook his head, his face full of grievance: "Yeah, I was drunk, but you didn't care about me and just pushed me to someone else."

"I'm at the Nantian Base and can't get back." Lin Mo explained to him patiently.

The drunk Lu Yanxiao didn't hear a word she said. He grabbed her hand and kissed her lips: "You are my wife. I didn't come home at night, and you didn't even call to ask."

Lin Mo was in the wrong and didn't say anything.

"I promise, I will never force you again." The man was too drunk and spoke vaguely, "As long as you like, I can do anything, anything..." The arms that supported her sides could no longer support him, and his head fell on her shoulders, and the murmured words reached her ears more directly.

He said, "Be a male PR, as long as you like it."

His voice was hoarse, with a faint cry.

Unexpectedly, after two days of "cold war", Lu Yanxiao actually compromised on his own initiative.

Lin Mo couldn't help but feel soft-hearted and guilty. She clearly wanted to do it with him, but for some reason, she always became timid at the last step, as if she had put herself inexplicable shackles and was trying to show off.

How about trying again next time?

After a moment of silence, Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief as if she had made up her mind, and stroked the man's back. However, when she was about to speak, she heard the man speak again.

"Do you know that I've liked you for more than ten years and I think about you every day, but why can't you warm my heart to me? Can't you like me a little bit? Hmm?"

Lin Mo was stunned.

It turned out that he wasn't talking about her! The person he wanted to be gentle with wasn't her either.

But it was the girl he had liked for more than ten years.

Lin Mo pushed the man away with all her might, sat up and looked at him, asking again and again, "Have you liked her for ten years?"

Lu Yanxiao nodded dazedly: "Yeah, longer than ten years."

What was the truth? Which words did he say to her? Which words did he say to that girl? Every time he was close to her, was he thinking of someone else? What was the meaning of his kindness to her?

Lin Mo covered her chest with her hands, unable to tell whether it was all an illusion.

Tears fell down my face in big drops, and my heart ached so much that it felt like it was about to break.

But she didn't dare make a sound. After calming down for a while, she walked out of the bedroom and slept in the guest bedroom on the second floor.

*

After two days of living in a drunken stupor, Lu Yanxiao finally had a long sleep. He woke up at noon the next day, but Lin Mo was no longer at home.

He pondered for a while, and roughly recalled why he was in the bedroom on the second floor. He couldn't remember the specific details, but he clearly remembered that the girl did not sleep with him in the end, and she never came back after she left.

Lu Yanxiao closed his eyes dejectedly and wanted to beat himself up.

What on earth was wrong with him that day? He must have scared her.

Maybe he was not in his right mind last night and did not express himself accurately. He had to formally apologize to her.

Lu Yanxiao went downstairs and quickly packed himself up, ready to head to the company to find Lin Mo. Just as he was leaving the house, his phone rang. It was Su Luoang. He took a few steps forward and pressed the down button on the elevator to answer the call.

"Boss Xiao, something happened. You may have to come to the Nantian Base."

Su Luoang's voice was serious in the receiver, and there was a lot of noise in the background. I could vaguely hear someone asking, "What's going on with Engineer Lin?" "Where's Engineer Lin?" "Lin Mo, hurry up and take a look..."

Lu Yanxiao's expression suddenly changed.

Su Luoang said that today was the first taxiing test of the 2L prototype. The team had worked hard for several days for this, but unexpectedly something went wrong in the middle of the test. The aircraft lost control and crashed into the runway protection net. No one was injured, but the wings and fuselage were damaged to varying degrees.

However, Lin Mo's condition seemed not to be very good.

After that, Su Luoang sent him the video of the on-site shooting.

Lu Yanxiao didn't even bother to click on it.

He deserves to die!

He knew very well how much Lin Mo valued her work, and how much she was afraid of disappointing others, but he completely neglected the progress of her project, made her angry, and scared her, which was clearly causing trouble for her.

Lu Yanxiao blamed himself to death. He reached out and frantically pressed the down button of the elevator. When the elevator door opened, he rushed in immediately.

When he arrived at the base, the accident plane had already been moved to the hangar, and everyone was urgently investigating the cause of the accident. Su Luoang, Lin Mo, the base engineer, and Zhao Zhengrong led his team, all busy and divided into orderly divisions of labor. So much so that no one at the scene noticed him for a long time.

"Mr. Xiao." The person coming in from outside shouted in surprise.

The others in the hangar then looked towards the entrance. Except for Su Luoang, no one expected the big boss to come. After all, the company had more than one project. Although accidents like those in the testing phase did not happen often, they would not alarm the boss.

Could it be that the boss is here to hold someone accountable?

The atmosphere at the scene instantly became solemn and tense. Su Luoang walked over first and greeted Lu Yanxiao.

The confused employees all looked at Lin Mo. She was the person in charge of the project's Party A. Now that there was a problem, she should be the one reporting to President Xiao.

When the accident first happened, Lin Mo was indeed panicked and confused.

She had clearly confirmed everything was correct last night, so why did the plane suddenly lose control?

She recalled the day before yesterday when she accidentally entered the wrong data in the company's lab. Although Li Ningxin reminded her and she corrected it at the time, what happened next? She had been feeling really down the last few days. Could it be that she had missed something in a moment of distraction?

An accident during aircraft testing or test flight is her most terrifying nightmare every night, and she didn't expect it to really happen today.

How should I explain this to the research institute?

How do I tell the director?

Lu Yanxiao will also be disappointed in her, right?

Zhao Zhengrong always felt that she became the head of the overseas assignment through improper means, and he wanted to prove it. Now this is the result of her proof?

For a moment, the overwhelming sense of shame almost swallowed her up. Facing the "questioning" of many people on the scene, she seemed to have suddenly suffered from respiratory alkali poisoning, her whole body numb and unable to speak.

It was not until Su Luoang and Li Ningxin sent the others away that she stayed quietly for a while and gradually came to her senses. Her thoughts gradually became clearer. Now that the mistake had been made, she had to think about what to do next.

Now, she has completely calmed down and is unusually lucid.

Seeing Su Luoang coming over, she also stepped forward and walked in front of Lu Yanxiao.

"Mr. Xiao." She greeted him.

Lu Yanxiao's eyes were filled with pity, so much so that he forgot there were other people around. He asked her with concern, "Are you okay?"

Lin Mo shook her head and continued Su Luoang's mid-sentence, adding, "Technicians are still inspecting the damage. Our preliminary assessment suggests it may involve a machine malfunction or a programming issue, but we're not completely certain at this point and need further investigation. Please give us a little more time so we can determine the specific cause as soon as possible."

The girl's businesslike attitude brought Lu Yanxiao back to his senses. He suppressed his emotions, hummed, and said to everyone, "Thank you for your hard work."

With other people around, Lu Yanxiao couldn't stay any longer so as not to put pressure on everyone, and he couldn't say anything to Lin Mo. However, he was worried and anxious like never before, so he spent the whole day in the office at the base, sending messages from time to time to ask Su Luoang how Lin Mo was doing.

Dinner, midnight snacks, fruits and drinks were delivered on time.

Yet, Lin Mo seemed oblivious to hunger and fatigue, concentrating intensely on each test like a robot. Even as the wee hours ticked by, and she heard her colleagues were leaving for bed one after another, she persisted in front of the instrument.

Lu Yanxiao couldn't help but worry and went to see her quietly.

Looking through the glass above the door, the girl was the only one in the room filled with various instruments. She held a folder in her hand, her eyes focused on the documents and the screen in front of her, checking them over and over again.

The Nantian Base is far away from the city, and it is particularly dark and quiet late at night. The girl is thin and has a frown on her face. Lu Yanxiao feels as if he can hear her slight sigh.

He held the door handle with his hand, the urge to go in was about to burst out.

"Boss Xiao?" Someone behind him called out hesitantly.

Lu Yanxiao looked back and saw that it was Li Ningxin, holding the coffee she had just bought from the vending machine. Three or five meters away, there was Zhao Zhengrong walking towards them, so he let go of the door handle and resumed the aloof demeanor of a boss.

"Just passing by to see your progress."

Li Ningxin had originally wanted to invite Lu Yanxiao in to accompany Lin Mo, but she didn't expect Zhao Zhengrong to come back. She quickly said respectfully, "We're halfway through the investigation. Thank you, Mr. Xiao, for your concern."

Lu Yanxiao nodded, glanced inside the door, and warned meaningfully: "Don't stay up too long, go to bed early."

Li Ningxin understood: "Okay, I'll tell Engineer Lin as soon as I get in."

Lu Yanxiao nodded, turned and left.

However, Lin Mo did not "rest early" as he instructed, so he did not dare to disturb her and continued to work in the office. It seemed that only in this way could he feel like fighting side by side with her and accompanying her.

As the sun rose in the eastern sky and the employees started their second day's work, Lu Yanxiao's phone vibrated.

He pinched his brows and glanced around. It was Su Luoang.

"The cause of the accident has been found. A component between the gyroscope and the mainboard was loose, and the program parameters were slightly off, causing the aircraft to lose balance." This was the result Lin Mo had just reported to Su Luoang. After leaving the meeting room, Su Luoang immediately called Lu Yanxiao. "Lin Mo admitted her mistake and is willing to bear the consequences. But I personally think further investigation is needed to determine exactly where the problem occurred and who was involved. Once the investigation is complete, we can clearly divide the responsibilities."

Lu Yanxiao hummed thoughtfully, "Ask her to come to my office."

Su Luoang: "Okay."

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in." Lu Yanxiao responded.

Lin Mo pushed the door open and walked in. Her face was pale, her hair was casually tied behind her head with a shark clip, and she looked exhausted, but her eyes were exceptionally clear, even excited, as if she was forcibly hung by a rope and unable to relax.

He knew how uncomfortable this feeling was.

Lu Yanxiao felt distressed and stood up. Before he could say anything, Lin Mo put the folder in her hand on the table in front of him.

"Boss Xiao, Boss Su should have already briefed you on the situation. Time is limited. Here's our preliminary accident investigation report. Please review it. We'll come up with an improvement plan as soon as possible." The girl finished her report respectfully and methodically, then asked, "Do you have any instructions?"

Lu Yanxiao shook his head: "No."

"Then I'll go out first." There was still a lot to do and she didn't want to delay.

Unexpectedly, as she turned around, someone grabbed her arm. She froze in thought: "Boss Xiao?"

"You need to rest now." Lu Yanxiao glanced at the rest room in the office and said firmly, "Go in there and get some sleep."

Lin Mo pushed his hand down and forced a smile: "I'm not sleepy."

"You have to sleep even if you are not sleepy." Lu Yanxiao pushed her towards the rest room without saying anything. The girl did not resist and let him pull her. When she reached the bed, she turned around and raised the corner of her lips slightly.

"Lu Yanxiao." The girl spoke in a low, cold voice, "Let's separate for now."

Lu Yanxiao was stunned and asked uncertainly, "What did you say?"

"I say, let's break up." The girl was calm and almost indifferent, as if she was narrating a very ordinary trivial matter.

"Why?" Lu Yanxiao felt heartbroken.

She went over everything that had happened recently. Was it because she was upset with her friend at the environmental exhibition? Was it because she had been forcing herself on her at home that day? Or was it because she had been in a two-day cold war with him and had disturbed her the night before the test?

He could apologize and vow never to do it again.

But the girl spoke first. She looked at him and said, "It's my own fault."

Before coming here, Lin Mo had already thought it through clearly. Regardless of the final results of the plane accident investigation or the specific cause of the error, she knew she hadn't been in the right place recently. It all stemmed from her overestimating herself, thinking she could balance work and her one-sided relationship. The facts proved she couldn't.

During the two days that Lu Yanxiao disappeared, she couldn't help but miss him, worrying about him to the point of being unable to sleep all night. She would cry because she was jealous of a girl she had never met. She also couldn't help but worry, wondering if that girl came back to find him, would he leave her? ...

Just like her parents back then, even though they gave her a wonderful childhood, they still left her without hesitation in the end.

In the end it's all in vain.

Although she wasn't sure whether these disturbing feelings were related to her work omissions, she really didn't want to get bogged down in them anymore, so after careful consideration, she made this decision.

"We originally just agreed to get married, and it has come to this. I was wrong first. I'm sorry."

"Are you too tired?" Lu Yanxiao forced a smile, pretending to be calm, and didn't respond. "Let's talk about it after you've rested up. I'll go talk to everyone and give them a few days off."

Without waiting for the girl's reply, he planned to leave the lounge.

"Lu Yanxiao." Lin Mo called him. She took a half step forward and stood in front of him. "I am sober and serious."

Lu Yanxiao's eyes were red, and his voice was low and hoarse as he tried to endure it: "Can't we just stay like this?"

"I originally thought I could maintain the current situation, but it has affected my work and I can't do it."

It turned out that the trigger was yesterday's test accident, and she stubbornly believed that she was responsible.

Lu Yanxiao was both distressed and angry: "It was just an accident, not a big deal. Besides, this is the work of the entire team: the company team, the base flight team, the base engineering team. Everyone has their own division of labor. There's no need to put all the blame on yourself."

Lu Yanxiao took her hand, his dark eyes filled with pleading: "Lin Mo, everyone makes mistakes at work, it's okay."

"But I'm really not in good shape. I almost input the wrong data when I was doing an experiment a few days ago."

Lin Mo pulled the corners of her lips helplessly and apologized again, "I'm sorry."

"I'll move back to my own home first. My assignment will end in less than a month, and I'll move back to Changli after that. During this time, you'll have to deal with Grandpa Lu and Auntie on your own. If they ask anything, you can push it onto me and say I'm busy with work and want to focus on it first."

Lu Yanxiao's face grew increasingly pale, her eyes reddening to a frightening degree, but she had made up her mind. After a pause, she said firmly, "If you're not easy to deal with, we can terminate the agreement right now and treat it as a divorce..."

"Okay, I can handle it." Lu Yanxiao suddenly interrupted her, clutching her wrist as if he would burst into tears in the next second. He looked away, not daring to look at her again, and repeated her words, "Separate for now."

"Thank you. That's it. I'll go out first." Lin Mo pushed his hand down and walked out the door without looking back.

Lu Yanxiao turned around and reached out subconsciously, but grabbed nothing.

The girl's attitude was so resolute, and it was obvious that she had planned everything. She had even thought about canceling the agreement, but he had only the agreement as a bargaining chip from the beginning to the end. If he didn't even have the agreement, he might really lose her completely.

He could only agree to her as a concession.

As she walked out of the office and the door closed, Lin Mo couldn't hold back any longer, tears streaming down her face. How could she not be heartbroken? This was the man she loved so much.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, raised her head, wiped away her tears, and strode forward.

As she turned into the corridor, someone blocked her way.

She rubbed her eyes quickly and pretended to yawn: "Director Zhao, are you looking for President Xiao? He's in the office."

"I came to see you." Zhao Zhengrong glanced at her eyes and could easily tell that she had just cried. She pretended not to notice and handed her the computer in her hand, saying calmly, "It wasn't caused by anyone's negligence. The accident was man-made."

Lin Mo was stunned for a moment, then quickly took the computer and pressed the play button.

There are two surveillance videos on the computer.

A scene takes place at the base's ground control station. A man wearing a mask and a hat sneaks in and sits in front of the control panel. The camera zooms in and you can vaguely see the man debugging something in front of the console. The time displayed in the upper right corner of the screen is 3:10 yesterday morning.

The other scene took place in the hangar. It was still the same figure, holding tools in his hands, wandering around the prototype. The time showed that it was four o'clock in the morning yesterday.

Lin Mo moved closer to the screen and enlarged the man's face. She couldn't see it clearly, but it looked familiar.

"It's Ma Binbin, the base's project manager," Zhao Zhengrong said. "He studied flight control in college and initially worked in a technical position at the base. Later, he was transferred to become a project manager."

Lin Mo was shocked and puzzled: "Why did he do this?"

Zhao Zhengrong shrugged: "I don't know. I've called the police and they're on their way."

"I'll go and take a look." Lin Mo was anxious to leave and returned the computer to Zhao Zhengrong, but the latter did not take it.

Zhao Zhengrong hesitated for a few seconds and said, "Let's have a drink together."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. It was obvious that Zhao Zhengrong had something to say to her. Lin Mo replied with a "Okay" and said as she walked away, "Thank you for coming to help last night. I'll treat you."

Zhao Zhengrong: "You're welcome. It was originally my project."

The two of them went to a nearby convenience store. Lin Mo stopped by the coffee machine at the entrance and asked, "Or iced Americano?"

"You remember it so clearly." Zhao Zhengrong smiled, walked forward a few steps, and took two boxes of pure milk from the shelf. "I'm drinking this today. How about you? Can you drink it?"

"Yes, sure." Lin Mo nodded and paid at the counter.

The two came out of the convenience store, and Zhao Zhengrong sat down on a chair outside: "Let's go back after we finish drinking."

"Okay." Lin Mo sat down next to her.

"Lin Mo, let me tell you a story." Zhao Zhengrong put the computer aside and started talking without waiting for her response. "It's my own story."

"I was born in a very poor village in the northwest. My mother is disabled due to polio, and my father lost a hand in a construction accident when he was young. Everyone in the village and all my relatives urged me to go out and earn money to support the family, but my parents supported my studies. They said I could study as long as I wanted, and as long as they could move, even if they had to crawl to work, they would never hold me back."

"I know very well that my tolerance for error in life is very low. I must do everything to the best of my ability. I must strive and work hard, and never allow myself to fail. I want my parents to always be proud of me."

Zhao Zhengrong spoke very calmly, but Lin Mo's eyes were red and she reached out and patted her arm gently.

"Actually, the company and your research institute started discussing cooperation last year, and I already had complaints because you guys are the ones who would have the final say. Whether it was you, Zhao Xi, or anyone else, I'd be unhappy. It just so happened that you came along, giving me a reason to find fault. So, I vented all my hostility on you, stubbornly believing that you got to the top through crooked means, and I was hoping you'd make a mistake and get kicked out."

Zhao Zhengrong chuckled self-deprecatingly. "After observing you for over three months, I've discovered that you're truly outstanding. Not only are you outstanding, but you work even harder than I do. My 'plan' failed, and the project became yours completely. I was devastated, feeling like I'd let my parents down. I even doubted my own abilities for a time. It was my mother's words that woke me up."

"She didn't say she wouldn't be disappointed in me. She said, 'What's the big deal if I'm disappointed? If I take other people's opinions so seriously every day, how can I live like that?' Lin Mo, I later realized that we are quite similar in some ways. It's just that you use a soft exterior to try to be considerate of everyone and everything, while I am covered in thorns, ready to fight at any time."

"It's quite difficult for me."

"So, I'm telling you all this because, on the one hand, I want to formally apologize to you, and on the other hand, I hope you can figure it out. What's the big deal about disappointing others?"

“Our whole life is about breaking free from other people’s expectations and finding our true selves.”

Lin Mo was stunned.

Zhao Zhengrong: "Why, we are not reading the same book?"

Lin Mo: "What a coincidence, it's the same book."

"Then you should understand what I mean even more. Walk your own path, don't be swayed by anyone or anything, and don't look back." Zhao Zhengrong picked up the milk carton and clinked it with hers. "Sometimes, try to let yourself go and keep trying next time."

"Let yourself go."

Lin Mo laughed heartily. She couldn't explain why. This simple statement from this girl, who she wasn't very familiar with, suddenly made her suddenly enlightened. She also clinked her milk carton with her and said, "Thank you."

"After you understand the situation, go home and sleep. Don't worry, the sky won't fall."

Lin Mo nodded heavily: "Okay, let me go."

"The police may be here. Let's go over there." Zhao Zhengrong stood up and touched her arm mysteriously as he left. "By the way, there's one more thing."

Lin Mo: "What?"

"I've known about your relationship with President Xiao for a long time."

“!”

Lin Mo was surprised: "When? How did you know?"

"A few months ago, you went to the hospital alone to see an eye doctor. I also had eye problems that day, and I happened to run into you. My appointment number was after yours."

Lin Mo thought about it. The doctor that day told her to dilate her pupils and asked her to ask someone to accompany her. After she called Lin Peng, she waited in the waiting area for a long time before Lu Yanxiao came. In other words, Zhao Zhengrong also waited for a long time.

Zhao Zhengrong: "At that time, I saw you were alone, your eyes were blurry and you looked so pitiful. When I heard you calling for someone, I wanted to wait for your brother to come before leaving. I didn't expect that in the end, it would be President Xiao who came."

Lin Mo was surprised: "Then he..."

"Boss Xiao saw me and called me specifically to ask me to keep it a secret and pretend I didn't know anything at the company." Zhao Zhengrong had just seen Lin Mo crying after coming out of Lu Yanxiao's office. He tried to comfort her, "I was stunned at the time. That was Boss Xiao. It felt like he loved you so much."

Lin Mo raised the corner of her lips awkwardly: "Really?"

Zhao Zhengrong said firmly: "Yes."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Quote: "Our whole life is about breaking free from the expectations of others and finding our true selves." From the novel "A Silent Confession" / English version "Everything I Never Told You"