When the morning mist had not yet completely dissipated, in the courtyard of No. 95, Nanluoguxiang, Beijing, Xiao Zhen didn't know why he liked to stay in this house before winter. Dew had already seeped out on the blue brick walls of the Xiao family's old house in Beijing.
Xiao Zhenbei stood on the white marble steps of the patio, his fingertips stroking the Tai Chi pendant made of meteorite around his waist - this was a souvenir left by his father Xiao Zhen when he laid the foundation stone for the new area of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
He watched three black Hongqi cars slowly rolling over the bluestone road. The sound of the tires rubbing against the stones was just like the countdown to the launch of the Long March 1 rocket.
"The final payment for the mine must be received next week." He whispered into the phone, his Adam's apple rolling in the morning light.
Yesterday, when he flew to Beijing to take care of Shengze, who had a fever, the child's burning little hand left a crescent-shaped red mark on his palm, which now formed a stinging contrast with the Swedes' demand for "payment by weight."
A vague response came from the mine accountant on the other end of the phone, and faint explosions were heard in the background - new progress has been made in the deep exploration of the Nanling tungsten mine.
The sudden burst of laughter from the second floor startled the sparrows on the eaves.
He Jiayuan leaned on the carved railing, holding Sheng Xun, who was wrapped in an apricot-yellow swaddling cloth. The morning light flowed on her cheongsam embroidered with lotus flowers.
Her daughter's tender little hands grabbed her pearl earrings and pulled off a South Sea gold bead, which rolled into the mineral paint palette that Shengze was applying, instantly creating the pattern of the Big Dipper.
"Little ancestor, be careful not to catch a cold!" Wen Yunshu walked out of the corridor holding a gilded heater, but his eyes through his reading glasses fell on the copper lock of the west wing.
This old house, which was built during the Qing Dynasty, now has hidden secrets in every corner: in the east wing, Osa is assembling some kind of precision instrument; in the sandalwood box behind the moon-shaped door in the west wing, there are top-secret documents brought back by Lin Shuying from Geneva.
"Grandpa's here!" Osa's voice pierced through the carved wooden window. He was wearing overalls stained with solder, and the Lunar Mineral Society badge pinned to his chest gleamed in the morning light.
This Middle Eastern eagle is now peeling an apple with a Swiss Army knife - the blade cuts into the core precisely, and the peel forms a long spiral, just like the track of the lunar rover he designed.
The sound of Xiao Zhengtang's dragon-patterned staff striking the bluestone slabs shook the roof tiles.
The secretary following behind the old man had the ink of "Zhilan Yushu" on the scroll in his arms not yet dry, and the signature was clearly the handwriting of a certain head of state.
When his eyes swept over Osa's loosened collar button, the micro recording device hidden in his cuff had already started - this seemingly ordinary family gathering had already been included in someone's assassination list.
"Grandpa, the Swedish royal family sent us an encryption protocol." Osa's voice was intermittent as he adjusted the quantum key module on his watch. "Regarding the purification of helium-3..."
The words were interrupted by the sound of silver bells coming from the west wing.
The tassels of Lin Shuying's moon-white cheongsam swept across the green bricks. When she leaned over to tease Sheng Ze, the cinnabar mole on the back of her neck and the pearl hairpin in her hair complemented each other.
The internship certificate of this Cambridge quantum physics PhD is currently kept in a multi-layered safe in Xiao Zhenbei's study. After seven biometric verifications, the document shows that she participated in the feasibility study of Israel's "Genesis" moon landing plan.
"This is your great aunt Wenfang's granddaughter." Wen Yunshu's voice was like honey-soaked basswood, "Interning at the Geneva Institute for Nuclear Research..." She deliberately emphasized the word "great aunt", but her eyes fell on the military belt buckle faintly visible under Lin Shuying's cheongsam.
That was equipment that only NATO special operations forces were equipped with. Xiao Zhenbei's thumb unconsciously rubbed the uneven patterns on the Tai Chi pendant.
In the sunroom, Xiao Zhen gazed at the Junshan Silver Needle tea leaves floating on the sea of tea. His sister, Xiao Jin, hushed her voice from behind the rosewood screen: "Brother, are you really not going to let the third child have any contact with that girl from the Huang family? I've seen the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce..."
With a crisp "clang" sound, the celadon bowl fell heavily on the sandalwood table.
Xiao Zhen glanced out the window and saw Lin Shuying discussing a nuclear fusion device with Osa in German. The light in the young man's eyes reminded him of the plasma in the laboratory that could burn the retina.
He touched the micro-carving of the Big Dipper on the cufflinks and suddenly realized that the "Huang family" his sister was talking about - the family that controlled 25% of the world's tin refining equipment - was secretly trying to acquire the Xiao family's rare earth separation plant in Ganzhou through its Hong Kong subsidiary.
The cries of children from the backyard mixed with the fragrance of paint.
As He Jiayuan carried Sheng Xun through the corridor, the peacock blue mineral pigment created a nebula-like pattern on the Hanfu.
Xiao Zhenbei recalled the spectral analysis charts he saw during his overnight inspection of the Baotou laboratory last night - the isotope ratios of certain rare earth elements in those basalt samples from the moon were abnormal, which happened to be exactly the same as the composition of the pigment applied by Shengze.
Before the lunch break, Lin Shuying had already folded a walking mecha model out of rice paper.
As Shengze fell into her arms, Osa's holographic projector projected the Dunhuang Flying Apsaras in the air.
The sleeves of the 3D image brushed against Miss Lin's hair, and the subtle fragrance from her neck blended with the breath of the projected star map, causing Osa's fingertips to hover over the control key - at the moment when he should have entered the startup password, he saw the metallic reflection flashing under the girl's collarbone.
In the darkness of the attic, Sarah held the gilded pocket watch against her chest.
The photo on the inside of the watch cover shows my 20-year-old self standing on the launch pad at the Houston Space Center, next to the prince wearing an Emirati robe.
At this moment, she was monitoring the conversation below. The encrypted channel of the Hexagonal Intelligence Bureau rustled in her headphones: "The target person Lin Shuying has been confirmed to be carrying the 'Genesis' project information. Suggestion..."
The chirping of cicadas by the lotus pond was suddenly interrupted by the whirring of drone blades.
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