Why Menglanjian of all places?
6.
Lan Jian made an excuse about needing to pack her luggage and didn't go back to the lab with Chongming.
She lay on her dormitory bed, humming and drawing in her journal on her tablet while her phone was propped up on the table, connected to a video call from Bei Luan's home.
"Xiuyun, is today an auspicious day?"
"No, today is the 13th day of the 11th lunar month, an inauspicious day for consecration, weddings, and moving into a new house. It is not suitable for any of these activities."
Upon hearing this, Lan Jian burst into laughter, "Who told Chongming to marry such a fierce and ruthless woman like me? It really is an inauspicious time for everything."
There was no sound on the other end of the video call. Feeling bored, Lan Jian disconnected the connection without saying goodbye.
Since it wasn't a good time to stay indoors, she started to laze around, not even bothering to tidy her clothes, and hid under the covers to catch up on sleep. After a few seconds of feeling uncomfortable because she hadn't removed her makeup, Lan Jian poked her head out from under the covers.
The thought that she at least wore a red dress to get the marriage certificate, while Chongming wore a dark black suit, was quite unconventional. Even the lady at the divorce window misunderstood, which made the whole thing seem rather unlucky.
Chongming is probably doomed to be forced into a marriage alliance with her, and all he can do is accept his bad luck.
He broke up with his girlfriend of over a year without warning, even going to the US to make a clean break. He came back to marry her, a poor student from Beiluan, and had to deal with her pretentious act of still thinking about her ex-boyfriend. Besides that, he also had to work hard as her senior, teaching her how to do experiments and run simulations.
Chongming must have done many evils to her in her past life, which is why she has to pay the price in this life.
The lab's core team consists of three senior students: Xue Xiang, who always seems carefree and easygoing with students, is actually a perfectionist when it comes to research; Chong Ming, who is gentle and low-key, rarely takes the initiative to interact with people, so he always exudes the aura of a senior senior in the lab; and Meng Lanjian, who has a short temper, is usually kind and cheerful, and seems easy to talk to, but when her bottom line is crossed, she gets angry at the slightest provocation. Compared to Chong Ming, her image on the twelfth floor is that of a fierce demon.
Xiuyun once concluded that although she was never worried about Meng Lanjian being bullied, Meng Lanjian did indeed have a bit of a masochistic streak. Lanjian thought about it and used examples from her own past experiences, and later realized that she had indeed done quite a few things that were met with indifference.
So after arriving in Nanlu, she would often deliberately reveal a slightly domineering and tough side, a stereotype that Southerners have of Northerners, so that the people of Nanlu would think that she, Meng Lanjian, was a fierce woman. In this era that sings the praises of sweet girls, Meng Lanjian, a Northerner who walks with a swagger, had her fierce and uncompromising image firmly established in the Twelfth Floor. So much so that when she was dating Han Li, the people in the nuclear medicine laboratory thought that Han Li was being coerced by Lanjian and was only with her because of her intimidating power.
Thinking of Han Li, this is also a debt of love...
As Lan Jian pondered, she lost all interest in her makeup and fell asleep.
After 5 p.m., Senior Sister Hui and Ma Yuehe had already clocked out and left the lab empty. Xue Xiang wasn't there, and the other juniors didn't want to come to the lab to be caught by Senior Brother Chongming and assigned homework.
Even if the political marriage felt unreal, Chongming had already come to terms with reality.
He and Meng Lanjian have become a community of shared destiny.
As the eldest grandson of the Lu family, he knew from a young age that he only had two options in his life. The first option was to become a soldier like his father and serve the Nanlu Army loyally; the second option was to become a nuclear weapons expert and fulfill his grandfather's lifelong wish.
Chongming didn't choose to become a soldier, largely not because he was unwilling, but because everyone felt he should have taken the second path. Who would force someone who had been learning math and physics since he could read to become a military talent?
But precisely because he did not take up arms to defend his country, his marriage became a bargaining chip. Chongming pondered and speculated about his father for nearly ten years, but he never expected that the wife his father had chosen for him would be a female student from Beiluan.
This female student was Meng Lanjian, the last doctoral student before the nuclear research institute, where doctoral students were already extremely rare, became history. She was also his youngest junior sister.
Meng Lanjian, that person...
Now, whenever Chongming thinks of her, he recalls that early morning before he returned to China, when he suddenly received an "SOS" message from her.
At first, Chongming thought he understood Lanjian's boisterous personality and assumed she was waiting for his reply after saying half of what she meant. However, after waiting for three minutes and seeing that she hadn't read his message, he began to sense something was wrong. He called her, but she didn't answer first, which made Chongming even more puzzled. But then he thought that Lanjian was doing an internship and might not be able to answer the phone, so he patiently waited a while longer.
His flight from Chongming was the next morning, and he had planned to go to bed early, but after another half hour, Meng Lanjian still hadn't read his message. She was interning at the Nuclear Research Institute...
Normally, it's just a matter of adjusting the parameters, waiting for the machine to run, recording the parameters, adjusting them again, and repeating this process. While waiting for the parameters to be set, she could look at her phone.
A few days ago, every time she asked him about his homework, she replied instantly.
That night, Chongming felt increasingly uneasy lying in bed. He felt as if there was a needle buried in the mattress, stabbing him in the back, no matter how he turned over in the hotel bed.
Since he couldn't sleep anyway, Chongming made a quick decision to rush to the airport and change his flight to return to China early.
When he got off the plane and saw Lan Jian's reply and Dou Yaozu's tip-off, he realized that the person who betrayed him was none other than his father, whom he had asked for ten years without being given a definite answer.
Why now of all times?
Why Menglanjian of all places?
Chongming knelt in his father's study for an entire night.
But all he received was a single sentence from his father.
The father said, “Dingyue, the last words your grandfather left me before he passed away were, ‘Don’t forget to tell your grandfather at the family sacrifice.’ I don’t want the last words I can leave you to be the same.”
When the royal army has pacified the Central Plains, remember to tell your grandfather at the family sacrifice.
The Lu family had been military men for generations, and the wishes of both the grandfather and father were to unify the North and the South.
Since her father had decided that Meng Lanjian was the only daughter-in-law who could help him fulfill his wish, Chongming had no choice but to go through with the marriage.
After a good night's sleep, when Chongming told her to bring her things downstairs, she deliberately kept sending messages to Chongming to delay in order to cover up her "misdeed" of not having packed yet.
Do you have a garment steamer at home?
"have."
Do you have robot vacuum cleaners?
"have."
Can I use my own smart speaker?
"Can."
Are there enough hangers?
“That’s enough. We can buy more if needed. We also have a washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, and hair dryer at home. We have all the appliances you can think of. Meng Lanjian, I’ll give you ten more minutes. If you don’t come down in ten minutes, you’ll have to go to the school security center to redeem my car.”
Nanjing University has strict parking regulations. Vehicles with Chongming license plates are assigned to designated parking lots. If a vehicle is parked in a non-designated parking lot, such as one near a dormitory building, for more than half an hour, campus police will issue a ticket. In more serious cases, the vehicle may be locked or towed.
Meng Lanjian dragged his feet, and the line appeared in the rearview mirror.
When Chongming saw her carry-on suitcase and travel bag, he knew she definitely hadn't packed that afternoon. Otherwise, she must have been dragging that 28-inch suitcase he'd taken her to the airport last time she went home.
Before Chongming could get off the car, Lanjian had already opened the trunk, laid his carry-on suitcase sideways, tossed his travel bag on top, and climbed into the passenger seat empty-handed.
"I'll call a moving company this weekend to move the rest of my things to your place. Is that convenient?" Lan Jian preemptively asked, afraid of being reprimanded by Chongming.
“It’s not very convenient.” Chongming glanced at the seat belt on Lanjian’s car seat. Seeing that she had realized and fastened her seat belt, he started the car smoothly. “It’s a rule set by my parents that I have to go home every Friday night. The weekends are for them.”
Lan Jian was stunned by this outrageous rule. "This rule of yours isn't just for you, is it?"
Lan Jian remembers that there is a younger sister in Chongming who is studying in Country C.
Chongming, realizing she had hit the nail on the head, gave a helpless smile and said, "Yes, this is the price I pay for moving out and living alone."
"Then I can spend the whole weekend all by myself in your big house!" Meng Lanjian exclaimed excitedly. "I also want to play games in your game room until the end of time!"
"Pfft!" Chongming laughed in exasperation. "Meng Lanjian, do you even remember what we went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to pick up this morning?"
Of course I remember.
It's a marriage certificate.
Meng Lanjian instantly abandoned his gloating mood and leaned back in his chair, slacking off.
"What would you like to eat for dinner?" Chongming asked.
"I want to live on air."
"Then just roll down the window and you'll be full."
In the dead of winter, the northwest wind certainly provides ample protection.
Stunned by the devastating news that he would have to meet his parents on Friday night, Meng Lanjian stared blankly out the window. Rows of neon lights were dazzling, and restaurants of all sizes lined the streets, but the lively atmosphere of the restaurants couldn't penetrate into the car at all.
"Wait a minute, senior! I see what I want to eat!" Lan Jian was used to calling Chongming "senior" and blurted it out in her haste.
Chongming wasn't in a hurry to correct the way she addressed him. He followed her gaze to the window and saw the sign of a small roadside shop. Knowing what was going on, he slowed down, stopped the car, and turned on his hazard lights.
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