Part 1 of "At This Moment" (End)
80.
Meng Lanjian's graduation ceremony was held on the second weekend of June. Her mother had stopped contacting her, and her father remained silent. However, she would occasionally catch glimpses of Meng Zhihe's tall and imposing figure in the news. His temples were streaked with gray, and the once-refined and scholarly Meng Gongzi seemed to have aged more than ten years overnight, transforming into Master Meng.
In the past two years, Meng Zhihe has achieved remarkable political results, and his reputation has been very positive, both in official media and among the public. Meng Lanjian heard from Meng Yang that her father is about to run for the head of the Beiluan government.
Apart from her second uncle and Meng Yang occasionally calling Meng Lanjian, no one in the entire Meng family cared about whether Meng Lanjian was doing well alone in Country X. She was like a pawn, no longer of any use and discarded.
But this was Meng Lanjian's own attainment of benevolence.
She once despised Yan Jisheng, and she was ashamed of his defection from the nuclear research institute. But what she is doing now, although covered up by the Meng family and unknown to the world, is tantamount to betrayal to Bei Luan.
Sometimes, when Meng Lanjian considered things from her family's perspective, she felt she was even worse off than Yan Jisheng. At least he had fled to his mother's side, while she had completely betrayed her mother, as well as her father and uncle who had sent her to study at the Nanlu Nuclear Research Institute.
They sent her to the Nuclear Research Institute to train her to become the next chairperson of the Atomic Energy Commission, representing Beiluan in renewing the nuclear peace treaty with Nanluan.
She personally returned the blueprints that her uncle had painstakingly brought out from the southern foothills to the nuclear research institute.
If the southern foothills were to acquire nuclear weapons as a result, both the north and south would face annihilation.
But Meng Lanjian didn't regret it. She never regretted handing over a manuscript that was nearly completed twenty years ago to someone who had never developed nuclear weapons.
Will war break out? She didn't know.
At least before she graduated, there was no news of any test explosions at Nanlu.
She had cut off all contact with the Lu family in the southern foothills—she knew the garrison was now frantically searching for her. They only knew that the Lu family's son had married Yan Zhenjun's granddaughter, but they didn't know where his betrothed wife had gone.
Although Lan Jian could not contact Ming Zijuan and Ming Yuesheng, she could still see the mother and daughter in the news. One had become the head of the Shishi Group, and the other had taken over the Dongli Group and was about to marry into the Shen family, the most powerful family in the Southern Party.
The young officer who often appeared around Lu Jie was Dou Yaozu, a man from the Heroic Battalion.
Rumor has it that during the wedding of the young master of a certain biopharmaceutical company last year, Meng Lanjian learned that Xie Nandu's clinical trial of the male contraceptive had failed again, and that Wang Xiyu had given birth to a girl for Xie Tangqian.
For the past two years, Wang Xiyu has occasionally posted photos of her small courtyard on social media.
Once, someone in the comments section asked her if she had any neighbors living in such a big place. Wang Xiyu replied, "Yes, my neighbors are a young couple who like to have snowball fights and roast chestnuts."
Summer arrived in a flash, and Wang Xiyu posted another photo of her yard. The lush, vibrant flowers were a stark contrast to her garden's predominantly plant-heavy style. Her caption read, "My neighbor's wife went abroad to study. Before her husband saw her off, he asked us to find someone to water their flowers. I figured I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd do it myself."
A few days later, she commented on the post herself in the comments section, "Who knew that I would water this flower for two years?"
Meng Lanjian saw that sentence at the graduation ceremony. Fifteen minutes later, she gracefully walked onto the stage. After Professor Bruce finished turning her tassel, he noticed that Lanjian, wearing her doctoral cap, hadn't gotten up for a long time. He gently patted her shoulder and whispered, "I'll turn your tassel one more time on behalf of your two professors."
Lan Jian raised his head at that instant
At the beginning, her eyes were filled with glistening tears, but her tone was firm, "It's okay, thank you, Professor."
She strode off the stage, only one sentence echoing in her mind—
"The flowers in Shenhuali are all in bloom. I'll go sketching with you when you come back."
The day Menglanjian returned to the southern foothills was the summer solstice.
The person who came to pick her up and take her to the nuclear research institute was Jing You.
He was the only trusted mole among the list of former garrison troops that Yan Jisheng left her.
Jingyou's car drove smoothly into the southern foothills of the mountain. The teacher and student, just like they had years ago when they went sketching, chatted about movies and music, about refined and intellectual topics. They made no mention of the Nuclear Research Institute or Chongming Island.
"Where is Xue Xiang?" Lan Jian suddenly asked as Jing You stopped the car to show his ID to the guard at the post.
“Him…” Jingyou paused for a moment, “He went abroad.”
“Oh, that’s fine too,” Meng Lanjian replied dryly.
The car pulled into the institute's private parking lot. Before getting out, Jingyou handed Meng Lanjian a miniature pistol and asked, "Do you know how to shoot?"
"Won't."
"It's alright if you don't know how. Our people are less than 100 meters away from you. The terrain of the Nuclear Research Institute is both offensive and defensive. It was designed by your grandfather himself."
“No one will dare to shoot me.” Meng Lanjian smiled faintly at Jing You. “I will also not allow anyone to fire a shot inside the nuclear research institute.”
Meng Lanjian slowly walked into the lobby on the first floor. The fully equipped troops stood in an orderly manner behind a man in an olive green military uniform. The man whose face was so familiar was not only Zheng Shanshui's confidant, but also Yuan Fu'an, the eldest son of the Yuan family of the garrison battalion, whose power was comparable to Zheng Shanshui's.
He also has another name, which is—
Xue Xiang.
Xue Xiang, when broken down, can form the character “避” with similar strokes, which is similar to the character “苦”. “避苦” is synonymous with the name “袁福安”, which means “blessing and peace”.
Meng Lanjian looked at Xue Xiang's cold and stern face, and all sorts of thoughts flashed through her mind, but she couldn't utter a single word.
"Lan Jian, congratulations on your graduation." As Lan Jian's co-advisor, Xue Xiang's congratulations were perfectly natural. "But I'm sorry, as you can see, once you graduate as the last student of the Nuclear Research Institute, the institute will have to be disbanded."
Meng Lanjian looked at Xue Xiang, suppressing all her emotions, and asked him calmly, "So every day you spent at the Nuclear Research Institute was to wait for the day it would all disappear, is that right?"
"Stop making futile struggles. The school affairs meeting regulations that Professor Zhong has been clinging to are now completely invalid. As the last student of the Nuclear Research Institute, you have already obtained a joint doctoral degree from X University and the Nuclear Research Institute. You have graduated from the Nuclear Research Institute, Meng Lanjian. Now, you should go to the department secretary's office to collect your graduation certificate, and I will clear out this entire Nuclear Research Institute in accordance with school regulations."
"Why should you be the one to carry it out?"
"Because only I know all the secrets hidden inside this nuclear research institute building. Fifty years ago, my father was the military officer in charge of supervising the construction."
"So you know that the Nuclear Research Institute has a basement that leads directly to the dungeon at the center of the nuclear reactor, and you also know that the heavy water reactor at the center of the nuclear reactor was not destroyed by Yan Jisheng at all, right?"
Xue Xiang was stunned by Meng Lanjian's calm tone. "How did you know?!" He looked at Jing You behind her...
"Because I am Yan Zhenjun's granddaughter and Yan Jisheng's niece." Seeing Xue Xiang's eyes widen, Lan Jian added slowly, "I am also the daughter of the legendary Northern Luan politician who married Lu Dingyue, the son of a Southern Army Major General, Meng Lan Jian."
"By pacifying Pinglan Valley and securing our mountain, then..."
"North and South unified... It really was you!" Xue Xiang seemed to have already guessed Meng Lanjian's identity. He was only surprised for a moment before regaining his cold and stern military demeanor. "In any case, you have now graduated from the Nuclear Research Institute, and the institute is to be disbanded immediately, effective today. As the executor of both the university and the military, I order you to leave this building immediately after receiving your graduation certificate, along with all unrelated personnel."
"What if I said that the Nanlu Nuclear Research Institute cannot be disbanded?" At this moment, facing Xue Xiang, who was no longer a different person, Meng Lanjian no longer had the teacher-student relationship of the past. Her tone was tough, and she pressed forward aggressively. As she took a step forward, Xue Xiang took a step back to avoid physical contact with her, and the queue behind him also retreated with him. She ripped the armband embroidered with the words "Garrison" from Xue Xiang's arm, raised it high, and declared in a resounding voice, "Listen up, everyone in the garrison! A soldier's duty is to obey orders. I don't care who your superiors are or whose advice your families have. The word 'Garrison' means 'defending the country and guarding the borders.' It's a garrison order issued by the first battalion commander, Yan Zhenjun, that no one in the garrison is allowed to lay a single finger on the unarmed people of the North and South! Anyone who violates this rule will be tried by a military court, stripped of their military rank, and imprisoned! Now, if anyone dares to demolish this nuclear research institute, they'll have to get past me, Meng Lanjian, first!"
"Meng Lanjian!" Xue Xiang's eyes widened in fury. He drew his pistol from his waist and raised it above his head. "I'll fire three shots. If you don't leave the nuclear research institute, this fourth shot..."
Jing You immediately stepped forward to shield Meng Lanjian, his slender frame blocking her view and sparing her from the torment of his former mentor, now the leader of the enemy camp. "Xue Xiang! I'd like to see if you dare to touch her! Even Zheng Shanshui didn't dare to touch her. You've been her teacher for two years, and you're going to lay a hand on your own student?!"
"Jing You, if you really don't want to die with your precious student at the Nuclear Research Institute, take your graduation certificate and get out of here right now!" Upon hearing the name "Zheng Shanshui," Xue Xiang seemed to calm down a bit. He shoved the gun back into his waistband and casually pointed at a subordinate, "You, go to the twelfth floor and get her graduation certificate..."
"No need to take it."
Behind Meng Lanjian and Jing You, a series of steady and unified footsteps suddenly sounded. The door to the safety passage had been opened at some point, and brave soldiers from all directions, armed with guns, surrounded Xue Xiang's men.
Meng Lanjian slowly turned her head and saw a tall and handsome figure appear in her line of sight.
The man was tall, brave, and righteous, radiating a light like the sun in the sky as he walked towards her.
She gazed at him, and in his eyes she understood everything he had wanted to tell her during the years they had never met. Those words were long and deep, yet in this moment they felt so short.
So short is this lifetime that we only have time to read these few words.
Those words were from a letter he wrote in prison, which she read long, long afterward in Lan Valley. In the letter, he wrote about the day he sent her abroad to study: "I finally understand the feelings of the poet Mu Dan when he sent Zhou Yuliang, who was not yet his wife, to America: storms, long journeys, lonely nights, loss, memories, eternal time, all the fears that science cannot dispel, let me find peace in your arms."
On the day of their reunion, he wrote: "Lanjian, how I wish that at that moment, all the fears that science cannot dispel could bring you peace in my arms."
The roar of artillery fire suddenly erupted, and the smoke outside the nuclear research institute was spreading endlessly.
The man in the dark blue military uniform, carrying the power to destroy everything, embraced his wife before the continuous gunfire and artillery fire began.
This poor student who claimed to be from Beiluan, this junior student in the heavy particle lab who was once protected by everyone, this last doctoral student who held up the nuclear research institute with her own flesh and blood, this woman named Meng Lanjian, whether in the past or in the present, her destiny will always be with him—
We will live and die together.
The first volume of "At This Moment" is now complete.
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