Candlelight Dinner

Ivy's memory was not damaged in any way.

Xin Lan had already asked Ivy to do the exams for kindergarten to primary school, primary school to junior high school, high school entrance exam, and college entrance exam. He did not stop this "testing you" to test your knowledge reserves until Ivy fluently used partial derivatives and Lagrangian functions to find the maximum and minimum values ​​of a function in the coordinate projection.

Then, Lorraine's arrival prevented Xin Lan from conducting further knowledge testing on Ivy.

Even though Xin Lan had already prepared a full set of test questions for the compulsory education stage.

Ivy didn't understand what happened. She repeatedly told Xin Lan that her head was not hit at all and she didn't feel any pain at all - in short, nothing bad happened.

But this answer made Lorraine's expression even worse.

The opponent's injuries were much more serious than Ivy's, with a broken right leg, a small area of ​​comminuted trauma to the left forearm, a small piece of bone removed, cracked ribs, and a wound on the cheek that affected the cheekbone. From any angle, Lorraine should be lying in bed and receiving treatment quietly, instead of sitting in front of Ivy's bed in this interrogation-like posture.

Ivy tried desperately to recall what she had done wrong recently, and now she had vomited on him on the night of the wedding (information provided by her mother, Ms. Ireland).

"Don't you need to rest..." Ivy asked tentatively. She said tactfully, "I heard that you found the core hub of 'Yuan' and successfully rescued me, Xin Lan, and Yu Mo. You must be very tired, right?"

"Yuan injected you with a mild emotional cleansing fluid," Lorraine said. "I wanted to see if it had any effect on you."

"Oh, that's okay," Ivy nodded her head and said with assurance, "I haven't forgotten anything, don't worry."

Xin Lan, who was sitting in a wheelchair, said anxiously, "Have you forgotten? When Yuan questioned you, you argued that you liked Lorraine and that not admitting love was a sign of cowardice... Have you forgotten?"

Ivy's scalp was numb, and her toes were tightly grasping the inside of her shoes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If this sentence has caused you any trouble, it must be my fault... Sorry, I can't remember clearly."

Lorraine said, "So you don't like me?"

Ivy looked at him in surprise. Such straightforward words were in stark contrast to Lorraine's reserved and calm temperament. He didn't look like the kind of person who would say such things bluntly.

Besides, isn't it a bit rude to ask such a question to an ex-wife or student with whom I have a not-so-close relationship?

She quickly adjusted her mood and told him carefully.

"No," Ivy said, "As a student, of course I would like a responsible teacher like you."

…

Lorraine walked towards the operating room with the dark crutch, and Xin Lan followed him in the electric wheelchair.

"Is it a boomerang?" Xin Lan said with regret, "At first you insisted on using words like 'student' and 'teacher' to cover up that unusual relationship. Now she really thinks you only have a teacher-student relationship. I told you that you should have said directly at that time, 'I don't have enough patience to treat everyone.'——"

Lorraine said: "You don't need to say so much when it can be summed up with just two words: 'You deserve it.'"

Xin Lan controlled the wheelchair and walked in front of Lorraine. He did not have the same childhood trauma as Lorraine and was not opposed to using the wheelchair to move forward when his legs and feet were inconvenient.

"Lorraine Hector," Xin Lan called his name very seriously, "Now it has come to the most critical moment, are you sure you want to continue like this?"

"There is something more crucial. We need to develop a bone growth agent for her as soon as possible," Lorraine said methodically. "Do you remember what Yu Mo said? Ivy will need it for every fracture in the future. Also, have the bodies of Xin Lan and Luo Lin been packed up? We need to send them back secretly as soon as possible. Draven hasn't returned to the base yet - we can't issue a wanted order for him, as it will easily attract the attention of the government. Now Asher is also here... Send more people to guard outside the dungeon, he can't run away. There are many things that need to be dealt with. By the way, arrange Asher's heart transplant surgery as soon as possible; Anya, Ci Li, Song Feng and Song Xu are all recovering from their injuries, and Dangdang is also in a coma. They don't need too much attention, so take isolation measures. Your current task is to accompany Ivy well."

——After Ivy fell into coma, Lorraine and Dangdang, who caused the explosion, broke in.

Lorraine, who has rich combat experience, successfully discovered the control hub of the "Yuan" robotic arms after having one leg broken, blew it up, and prevented Yu Mo from being torn into two by those robotic arms.

Anya, Dangdang, Ci Li and Song Feng, the four of them risked their lives to rescue Yu Mo and Ivy, who were stabbed like hedgehogs and in tatters. Anya, in particular, had her arm nearly crushed by the machine while she was running out with Ivy in her arms, and she is still receiving rehabilitative treatment.

Song Xu's injury was the lightest. He was bitten by a beagle on the leg and had just received a rabies vaccine. But Lorraine didn't want him to see Ivy now.

He couldn't be sure who Ivy's "favorite" was now.

Xin Lan asked: "I know all these truths, but what about you? Where is your happiness?"

He had stopped using "you" and Lorraine did not correct him.

"Ivy saved me because of you," Xin Lan was disappointed. "She thought I was your best friend and was worried that you would be lonely in the future... I also heard her tell Yuan that she loved you... I've shown you the video, why are you reacting like this?"

"Xin Lan," Lorraine said word by word, "things have different priorities. I am just a person, not an omnipotent machine."

Xin Lan saw the tiredness on Lorraine's face.

So far, except for the three hours when the anesthesia effect during leg and arm surgery made Lorraine "asleep", he has remained awake and took a cold shower and changed into new clothes before going to see Ivy.

The time he has left for "romance" is indeed not much, even pitifully little.

"If you said those things to hurt me, then you've done that," Lorraine said. "Regret? Regret? Shame? How does that help now? Will these emotions help Ivy recover, or will they help everything get handled properly?"

Xin Lan wondered, "You didn't take advantage of the chaos to give yourself an injection, did you?"

"Ivy is resting now. You noticed her expression. She is very afraid of me now, and I don't even know what she is afraid of," Lorraine said. "Another piece of news is that after learning that Ivy and I were working together, the Divorce Review Office contacted me again... Can't these guys take a break for a while?"

Xin Lan silently accepted Lorraine's words.

Now is not a good time to talk about love. There are too many things waiting for Lorraine to deal with. The hard drive containing the data needs to be taken back to Lorraine's private laboratory as soon as possible-he doesn't trust anyone.

"What about Ivy?" Xin Lan said, "According to the scan, those micro-robots that were specifically devouring emotions have been taken out, but this process is irreversible; do you think..."

"Keep it sealed for now, and wait until Yu Mo wakes up," Lorraine said coldly, "This cunning fox is still hiding something... I have the patience to keep playing with him."

Xin Lan said yes and hesitated for a moment: "Then, Ivy..."

"You know the password to my savings account," Lorraine said. "I'm giving it to you now. You can use it at will to order things that Ivy likes and redecorate the house."

Xin Lan asked: "What about the budget limit?"

“There is no limit.”

Xin Lan held her heart in her hands with emotion: "It would have been better if you had been so generous to Ai Wei from the beginning. As we all know, being extravagant and lavish can quickly win a girl's heart..."

Lorraine doesn't think this has any effect on Ivy.

He was proved right.

When Xin Lan spent two days carefully dragging brand new furniture and luxurious pure velvet bedding from the military supplies procurement department, Ivy, who had just finished wrist health therapy, bounced out the moment she stepped into the room, bowed and apologized, saying sorry for taking the wrong path.

Xin Lan, who was in a wheelchair, stopped her.

"This is the new room that Admiral Hector prepared for you," Xin Lan showed off everything in the room. "These velvet quilts are all carefully selected high-quality swan velvet. Only the four most beautiful and complete pieces of velvet on the abdomen of each swan will be selected. And the material of this quilt cover is mulberry silk. The silkworm babies live in a breeding laboratory that completely simulates the wild environment, and the silk they spit out is also the whitest and most beautiful..."

Under Xin Lan's eager gaze, Ai Wei reached out and quickly touched the quilt, hesitating: "Can I ask you something?"

Xin Lan said eagerly: "You can ask a hundred questions - preferably all about Admiral Hector."

"Well," Ivy asked, "is he corrupt?"

Xin Lan: “…”

"Do they still want to get something from me?" Ivy worried. "Team Green does want me to serve as vice-captain together with Congcong, and also wants me to participate in the management of the bonus the team just received. However, I will never embezzle public funds, so please don't bribe me again, Admiral Hector..."

Xin Lan: "...The amount of that bonus is not even as much as Admiral Hector's monthly salary - it is even an additional subsidy that Admiral Hector took out of his own account and gave to your team!"

——The military has so many approval procedures. Although Lorraine applied for the disability allowance for Team Green, Team Iris, and even Team Tsri, it would take at least two weeks to get it approved. How could the funds be allocated so quickly?

Ivy: “Huh?”

"You can sleep here without worry," Xin Lan emphasized, and he wanted to write the key points on the blackboard, "This is the general's kindness to you. It is not out of a teacher's attitude towards students, nor is it towards subordinates... you know."

Xin Lan blinked.

He thought he had hinted clearly enough.

Ivy was shocked: "Is he trying to remarry me?"

The more I think about it, the more this seems possible.

It is known that Lorraine Hector, due to war trauma, will be particularly sensitive to her smell at fixed times and have an extraordinary desire for her——

Xin Lan said, "You don't want to?"

"Well..." Ivy said, "Our first marriage was a failure. We learned a lesson from it. I won't accept the same mistake again."

Xin Lan's heart skipped a beat.

"He is pursuing you," Xin Lan had to change her words and said directly, "Maybe it will be different the second time."

"Oh, really?" Ivy said apologetically, "But if I have a second marriage, I should choose someone who has the same ideals and likes me."

Xin Lan caught a glimpse of Lorraine at the door. He was neatly dressed, leaning on a cane, standing there quietly. The one heterochromatic eye that was no longer covered by colored contact lenses was like a rich emerald on a cloudy day.

It's over.

Xin Lan didn't even dare to think about it.

Like-minded and like each other.

How hard these two words pierced Lorraine's heart. He saw that Lorraine didn't smile at all, like a polar bear that had been soaking in ice water in the Arctic for three days.

Ivy, who was still sick and not that sensitive to Lorraine's smell because her emotions were devoured by the robot, knew nothing about this through the door.

Xin Lan could only watch Ai Wei helplessly as she continued, "I'm sorry, if that's the case, then I can't accept his kindness... I'm sorry, I'll pack up and move to another room right away."

Having said this, Ivy was just about to pack up her clothes and leave when she heard Lorraine's calm voice.

"He was joking with you."

Ivy was frightened by Lorraine's sudden words - does this person walk silently?

She guessed that Lorraine must have just come out of the treatment room or somewhere else. He was not wearing a dark military uniform, but a long white windbreaker. The pure color made his skin look even whiter. The wound on his cheek was still covered with a skin patch for covering and repairing.

"There's no other room," Lorraine said. "This is the only one."

Ivy didn't dare say but.

She nodded hesitantly.

This unfamiliar attitude made Lorraine's heart feel like a wasp's sting.

If her emotions had not been eliminated, Ivy would have glared at him with her round eyes and loudly questioned him -

"But I clearly saw that there are still many empty rooms. Are you doing this on purpose, just to make me live here? You big liar."

She would certainly use this honorific to refute him unyieldingly.

Her rebelliousness, rebellion, disobedience, obvious impulse and recklessness...

It turns out that this is also a kind of love.

——Now there is only meek obedience and awe.

Lorraine always demands that everyone treat him with respect, and he also demands that Ivy be in awe of him, obey him, and be obedient.

Now she has done it.

Lorraine felt uncomfortable.

He really hoped that Ivy would have a serious quarrel with him. No matter what, it would be better than the current silence. Lorraine said, "If you need anything, find Xin Lan."

Ivy said, "Thank you."

Xin Lan coughed twice.

Lorraine said, "You saved my contact information, so you can always contact me if you have any questions."

Ivy said, "Thank you."

Lorraine asked, "Is there anything else you need? Tell me now and I'll help you."

Ivy said, "Thank you."

Lorraine asked, "Is 'thank you' all you can say now?"

"No," Ivy lowered her head, "Well... Mainly, I don't know what to say now... Forcing a conversation is awkward..."

She lowered her head, refusing to show him the emotion in her eyes.

She said she didn't know what to say.

She said forced chatting was awkward.

…

Every word is like a precise knife, stabbing into the heart of the arrogant person.

Lorraine leaned on his cane in silence.

Every word she said before would make him vomit blood, every excited emotion, every "childish" language and action -

All disappeared.

Because the love has been "eliminated".

Those backhanded, half-joking remarks—

After the two made love for the first time, Ivy used artificial intelligence to play a joke on them while they were having breakfast in the morning.

At that moment, she had already begun to love.

But Lorraine warned her and sternly told her not to say such things.

An indescribable emotion slowly flowed in her heart. Lorraine saw Ivy's lower body in a perfect military posture and her tense legs.

Now, every moment he is around makes Ivy nervous.

She clearly remembered everything that happened between them, but had forgotten all the emotions that came with it.

From an objective perspective, Lorraine is a strict and demanding teacher and ex-husband.

Lorraine turned around and heard Ivy sighing in relief behind her.

This sound made every step Lorraine took uncomfortable, like a mermaid walking on the edge of a knife, or a rotten potato; he couldn't think of more adjectives, he just felt the pressure slowly rising in his chest.

Xin Lan, who was in a wheelchair, caught up.

He said, "Have you finally realized the disadvantages of keeping silent?"

Lorraine: “Shut up.”

"Lorraine," Xin Lan said, "human life should not be just about responsibility. You have been carrying things that are not your responsibility for a long time... In fact, you can let go and take a rest occasionally."

Luo Lin didn't say anything. After a moment, he asked, "Have Luo Lin and Xin Lan's bodies been sent back?"

More than ten years have passed.

The two bodies buried in the dungeon have turned into bones, but Lorraine and the android Xin Lan, who lived in their place and shouldered the family's expectations, are still alive, and in the garden, in their cenotaph, their ashes can finally be officially buried.

"Yes," Xin Lan said softly, "Old Mr. Hector sent a letter, and I was just about to show it to you."

Sending letters is the most formal way of communication in the Hector family. Lorraine and Ivy also used letters for their first communication.

Lorraine opened the letter sent by Xin Lan.

There are only a few words in it.

「

Lorraine

I am so grateful for everything that young man named Cyril did for my son.

His marriage was free from then on.

"

…

Luo Lin put the folded letter back and asked Xin Lan: "You said Yu Mo's body recovered quickly?"

"Yes, the drugs you brought from the underground city have incredible therapeutic effects on bionic people," Xin Lan said, "According to calculations, in two hours, Yu Mo will get up from the bed and go to see Ivy."

"Very good," Lorraine said, "Please give him an extra shot of anesthetic. He has helped Ivy so much and has made great contributions. I can give him another day off."

Xin Lan: “…”

"And," Lorraine said, "please invite Ivy to dinner for me—alone."

"Great, you finally got it! I want a candlelight dinner alone, and flowers - the more the better. Oh, and a romantic gift full of novelty," Xin Lan said, "It must be novel, preferably handmade, unique, one-of-a-kind - I won't prepare it for you, you have to do it yourself."

"Novel? Unique?" Lorraine nodded thoughtfully, "I understand."

Xin Lan was so excited that she asked again, "Then, in exchange, can you tell me what I forgot after being injected with the emotion-eliminating fluid?"

Lorraine turned sideways and looked into Xin Lan's confident eyes.

"Nothing." He put his big hand on Xin Lan's shoulder and patted her. "It's just some infected virus. You don't want to know."

After completing a new round of wrist rehabilitation training, Ivy received a very formal dinner invitation.

Lorraine used beautiful Spencer script to write this formal invitation, and strictly used both Chinese and English.

Ivy was very nervous.

She was really worried that Lorraine's "sudden change of character" was because she was preparing to support her.

The practice of "keeping someone as a sponsor" has been around from ancient times to the present.

According to what Ivy has learned, many highly compatible men and women, after divorce, will fall to the point of "He/she is so great, let's sleep together" because of that fatal attraction.

Moreover, Xin Lan and Luo Lin have been behaving very abnormally these past few days. In addition to the food, they also bought specially purchased fruits and exquisite luxury items. Even their parents said they had received generous gifts from Luo Lin...

Ivy didn't wear the skirt Xin Lan gave her, but still wore her own explorer uniform.

The place for dinner is a very beautiful restaurant in the base. I heard that it is used to receive visiting leaders, but the leaders are unwilling to risk their lives to run to a base that may be attacked by Yuan at any time, so this place has never been opened since it was built.

Ivy and Lorraine were its first guests.

"Maybe it's because it's never been used, so it's so old..."

Ivy stood at the door and found that there was not a single light inside. There were only candlesticks on the walls, tables, and sides, shining with a soft light.

"Sure enough," Ivy thought, "Lorraine must have spent a lot of money to replace those luxurious four-piece suits for me a few days ago. Now he is too poor to repair the power system and lights here. He has to rely on lighting so many candles for lighting."

She walked inside and found that it was filled with beautiful flowers. The lush and elegant fragrance made her feel relaxed a lot, but after seeing Lorraine across the table, Ivy's heart became nervous again.

She gave a standard greeting: "Good evening, teacher."

Lorraine said, "Please take a seat... I don't want our conversation to be interrupted, so I didn't ask anyone else to come over."

Ivy was surprised to find that Lorraine was wearing a black suit with a white shirt with silver patterns underneath. This gentleman's attire made him look more elegant, and he didn't look like someone who would whip people with a cane at all.

Under the candlestick surrounded by lilies, the dim and gentle light shone on his handsome face. That unusual emerald green eye was enough to surpass all the candlelight here——

Ivy was afraid that she would commit a crime if she continued watching, so she turned her disrespectful eyes away.

She pulled out a chair opposite Lorraine and sat down.

Lorraine frowned slightly.

He somewhat regretted not having chosen a Chinese round table, as such a long dinner table would have made Ivy even further away from him.

Across the long table, Ivy smiled politely in the candlelight: "May I ask what you want to talk to me about?"

"You were injected with a drug containing micro-robots during this operation. The side effect is that you lose your feelings about your 'favorite'," Lorraine stared at her and spoke straight to the point. "Based on my observations over the past few days, it is clear that you have forgotten your feelings for me."

"Ah? Ah? Ah?" Ivy panicked, "Me, you?"

"It's 'you'," Lorraine said calmly, "not 'you'."

"I know...but..." Ivy tried to recall, "But, based on our previous relationship...I shouldn't love you...right?"

Expected answer.

Lorraine could feel Ivy's uneasiness across the table. She didn't even look at her favorite cherries on the table, even though these tempting fruits were right under her nose.

"Don't joke about these things," Ivy said weakly, "I think that the possibility that you said I like Xin Lan is higher than that of liking you... How dare I like you..."

Lorraine frowned: "Why do you like Xin Lan? He doesn't even meet the criteria in your mate selection questionnaire - what do you think attracted you to him?"

"That's just a metaphor, a metaphor," Ivy explained immediately, "I just want to say that you may have misunderstood something."

Lorraine dropped her hand.

Ivy said: "Because you are usually very serious to me, and I am not the kind of person who likes to be treated coldly with a warm face -"

"I never asked you to put your face on my ass," Lorraine said calmly. "We never had sex, and you never gave me a blowjob."

"...That's also a description!" Ivy screamed. Her calm emotions finally began to fluctuate. She argued, "I mean, I won't fall in love with a man who is cold, aloof, closed, and won't provide any emotional value in marriage. Especially, he was a teacher who gave me not-so-high grades!"

She continued nodding in a very affirmative manner: "Yes, these characteristics of yours are like condoms. They will not allow me to conceive the emotion of 'love'."

Lorraine slowly loosened her hands on the table and pursed her lips.

——Hearing these directly from her mouth was still quite a shock.

Communication was difficult in the early stages, so Lorraine adopted a new strategy.

He drank the coconut water in silence.

At this time, Ivy also noticed the exquisite little box next to the cherries. It was made of wood, very delicate, and carefully tied with an emerald green ribbon with a beautiful bow.

"What is this?" she asked doubtfully, reaching out to pick it up, "Is this...given to me?"

Ivy couldn't see Lorraine's expression through the wooden table.

"Um."

Ivy put it back and made it clear: "I will not accept your expensive gift."

"It's not expensive," Lorraine said in a low voice, "It's just an ordinary handmade item. I made it myself."

——You made it yourself?

"What could it be? A wolf's tooth? A mechanical component? Or something? A trophy?"

Ivy opened the wooden box curiously, and was surprised to find a beautiful black braided rope inside, which was very similar to the material of his belt. There was a small white thing woven inside it. It felt very smooth, with a texture between wood, resin and jade. She was not sure what material it was. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a small ivy leaf.

"What is this?" Ivy asked, "I don't think I've seen this material before..."

Lorraine said, "It's bones."

"Ah," Ivy said, "it's bones. Let me guess, what kind of bones are they? Pig bones, cow bones, or wolf bones?"

She couldn't let go of the delicate little thing and looked at Lorraine for confirmation.

"It's my bone," Lorraine said calmly, "a piece of bone from my arm. I got hurt in the battle with Yuan two days ago. I just had surgery to remove it."

"It's unique, it belongs to you"