Chapter 23 Rumors
The relationship between the Ming family and the Mu family is not good.
On the one hand, the Mu family quickly gained a foothold after arriving in the Central Star Region, and the head of the Mu family joined the military. For the Ming family, this was a major competitor for upper-level resources.
On the other hand, after the Battle of Dawn, the Mu family repeatedly hinted at the Ming family's army's failure to promptly support the Celtic Star Region as agreed, leading to its fall. The army's leader, Ming Zhuofeng, had died in the Battle of Dawn, leaving no one aware of his fate. The Ming family, grief-stricken and angry, argued with the Mu family more than once, growing increasingly hostile to each other.
Even after more than fifty years, the relationship between the two families has not eased much. Most of the time they do not interact with each other, and when they meet they are sharp and confrontational.
Mingyu's parents had privately scolded the Mu family many times at home, saying that they were greedy, throwing dirty water on the Ming family, intending to distort history, and always making trouble for the Ming family in the military.
They usually didn't say these things in front of Mingyu. His father would occasionally let out a word or two at the dinner table, and his mother would signal him with her eyes not to say it in front of the child.
But they didn't shy away from Mingyu's older brother Mingyan. Mingyan always told Mingyu about this matter, because Mingyu was a loser, his parents didn't bother to tell him these things, because he couldn't help his parents share their worries.
Having been mentioned so many times, Mingyu had paid attention to the Mu family. However, he could only see that the Mu family would not tolerate any injustice.
Three years ago, someone cheated outside the Star Domain Star Navigation Examination. Because the other party was the son of the Minister of Star Navigation, even Mingyu's father turned a blind eye to him. Only the head of the Mu family directly exposed the matter and strongly demanded that the Minister of Star Navigation's son be disqualified from the examination. The Minister of Star Navigation was also demoted.
However, the Mu family was later tripped up by someone and caused trouble for a long time.
Mingyu then attributed his parents' hostility towards the Mu family to a dispute over interests. He himself had no bad impression of the Mu family, nor of Mu Lian, and even less ill will towards Mu Lian's good friend Cui Xiaoduo, who had been known as a genius designer since childhood.
But the reverse is not necessarily true.
Mingyu stood there quietly, seeing Cui Xiaoduo's eyes widened in surprise, and a look of surprise appeared on Mu Lian's usually calm face.
"Oh...oh..." Cui Xiaoduo looked at Mingyu, almost speechless. At that moment, what flashed through his mind was not his dissatisfaction with the Ming family, nor other people's comments that Mingyu was useless, but...
"So this is what you look like!" Cui Xiaoduo said suddenly. "Wow! I haven't seen you before! When others say you're good-looking, it's really not an exaggeration!"
Mingyu: “…”
Mingyu was speechless for a moment, and after a while he could only nod seriously.
"Indeed." He said politely and sincerely, "I am still confident about my appearance."
Cui Xiaoduo chuckled and puffed out his cheeks: "You have a much better personality than that arrogant guy Ming Yan."
Mingyu also smiled, "Then I'll take it as a compliment."
Mingyu is in a good mood.
He had heard many people say that he was much worse than Mingyan, so he felt somewhat happy when he heard Cui Xiaoduo say this.
At least there are still normal people in the world, Mingyu thought. He often heard others praise Mingyan for his easy-going and polite personality, which made him doubt his own values.
In his eyes, his elder brother Mingyan is just an arrogant bastard!
The sun is shining brightly now.
In the light golden sunlight, Cui Xiaoduo was dazzled by Mingyu's brilliant smile and was speechless for a while.
The air was quiet for a moment.
Mingyu wasn't too surprised, a smile still on his face. He waved goodbye to Cui Xiaoduo and Mu Lian, then took a step to the side, intending to go around them and through the garden back to the dormitory.
When Cui Xiaoduo saw his actions, he immediately let out a sigh, as if waking up from a dream, and moved a step forward to block Mingyu's way.
“Hey, hey, hey…what are you doing!” Cui Xiaoduo shouted, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t treat you to a meal, don’t leave!”
As he spoke, he scanned the communication interface that Mingyu had not closed yet, sent a friend request to Mingyu, and then bumped Mu Lian beside him with his shoulder.
Mu Lian then stretched out her hand, pulled the light screen in front of Cui Xiaoduo, indirectly scanned the information from Cui Xiaoduo's page, and added Mingyu.
"Choose a restaurant you like!" Cui Xiaoduo opened the Star Network, clicked on the Capital Star University food map, and pushed it to Mingyu, urging him, "Hurry up, I'm hungry!"
There are many marks on this food map, some with crosses and some with hearts, all of which are marks made by Cui Xiaoduo before.
Mingyu held the edge of the screen with one hand, looked at Cui Xiaoduo, then looked at Mu Lian, and saw that they were both looking at him. The former's baby face was full of anticipation, and the latter's eyes were also very calm, without any reluctance or reluctance.
Mingyu looked at the dazzling array of restaurant names again.
These two people seemed to really want to treat him to a meal.
So he didn't hesitate.
"How about... this Chuan Chuan Canteen?" Mingyu chose a restaurant that Cui Xiaoduo had marked with a heart, confirming that its prices were not high and that ordinary poor students could afford it. "Let's have this!"
*
While nutrient solution is cheap and quick, the joy of truly cooked food is irreplaceable. Restaurants like Chuan Chuan Canteen, located near a comprehensive university, are more expensive than nutrient solution meals, but not by much, and are always bustling with people at noon.
When Mingyu and the other two first entered, not many people paid attention to them, but after a while, first Mulian and Cui Xiaoduo were recognized by the students eating in the restaurant, and then someone recognized Mingyu.
"That's weird." Although everyone was still eating, they were gossiping to each other in low voices, "Why are Senior Mulian and the others sitting with that useless girl..."
Cui Xiaoduo glanced at them, wrinkled his nose, and looked at Mingyu again.
Although he was often recognized, he had never seen so much malice in the eyes of the onlookers.
Although none of this malice was directed at him, it still made people uncomfortable.
Cui Xiaoduo held the dinner tray and pointed to the corner of the restaurant without leaving any trace. He suggested, "Shall we go there?"
Mingyu knew Cui Xiaoduo meant well, so he nodded and said, "Thank you."
He spoke in a very obedient manner. Seeing him like this, and listening to the discussions of the people around him in low voices but still clearly audible, Cui Xiaoduo couldn't help but speak up for Mingyu.
"You can't just call someone a useless piece of shit when you know nothing about them!" Cui Xiaoduo walked past several tables, his eyes fixed on the sidelines. He spoke naturally in a voice that was clearly audible to those around him, "Mingyu's knowledge of the history of starship design is much better than Brother Lian's!"
After saying that, he turned to look at Mulan.
Mu Lian: "..."
Everyone in the restaurant: "..."
Mingyu: “…”
Mulan was silent for a moment, faced her poor academic performance, and nodded seriously.
Mingyu didn't want to refute the gossip before.
It's just that his mental strength is indeed low, and he is a self-taught starship designer who doesn't want others to know. Compared with several awakened humans in his family, it is difficult for him to come up with a reason to convince others.
But he knew in his heart: he couldn't let the comments influence him and really think that he was a waste.
Unexpectedly, Cui Xiaoduo and Mu Lian contributed a small piece of "evidence" on the spot today.
Mingyu glanced at the faces of the people around him.
The onlookers clearly suspected Cui Xiaoduo had eaten something unhealthy. Their expressions varied, and none of them looked convinced by Cui Xiaoduo's words. Some even muttered that the history of starship design was a useless course, requiring only rote memorization.
Mingyu: "It's not as simple as you say."
He looked at the other person and recognized that this boy was his classmate in the History of Aeronautical Design, so he said, "First you get a higher score than me before you say that!"
Since the topic has shifted to the course, the course grades should speak for themselves.
"Hey... the angle for the screen over there is more comfortable, without the bar blocking the view. Let's go over there and watch the Star Navigation Competition replay!" Cui Xiaoduo pointed to the screen ahead that was replaying the first round of the preliminaries and said, "It's better to sit inside than to listen to some idle gossip here!"
Mingyu carried the plate and followed Cui Xiaoduo to a quiet corner of the restaurant.
The view here was indeed excellent, with an unobstructed view of the scene on the curved light screen in the center of the restaurant. The virtual star map of the Star Navigation Competition was showing an exciting battle scene.
In the replay, the first round of the Star Navigation Competition qualifiers is about to end.
The Colorful Team went straight back to Starport at that time and did not participate in the melee. Mingyu had not had time to watch the game video yet, but when he saw it in the restaurant, he was immediately attracted to it.
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