Bab 21: Chapter 021: The Girl with Only a Nickname_1
"I feel like we shouldn't call it Old Man Joy anymore. We can call it Transformer."
"No way, it has to be Old Man Joy. This thing can't be made in reality."
"Didn't you say that if Ji gets the special alloy and the twelfth-generation engine, it can be made in reality?"
"With the special alloy and twelfth-generation engine, we can build a more capable mecha. Why should we create this Old Man Joy?"
Under Shen Mu's insistence, Ji Xinghe's mecha, which looked like a Transformer's car, was still named Old Man Joy in the end. Ji Xinghe didn't mind what its name was, as long as it could achieve his purpose.
As for the bet he made with his elementary school classmate, if he hadn't seen a documentary about himself, he wouldn't have remembered that he once wanted to marry his classmate's older sister. But, before he landed on the alien planet, he couldn't watch the documentary due to the scarcity of communication resources. After landing on the alien planet, he also had no interest or time to watch it. Besides taking care of his granddaughter, he also had to repair various military vehicles and manufacture the mecha named Old Man Joy.
Ji Chenxing's girlfriend died before she could meet Ji Xinghe. This might be due to her dedication to frontline medical treatment on the alien planet for many years, or perhaps she was saddened by Ji Chenxing's sacrifice. Another cruel possibility is that it was revenge for her giving birth to her daughter on the alien planet, ignoring related laws.
Although communication resources on the spacecraft were scarce, the news still got through due to Han Li and Ji Xinghe.
"Her nickname is Xinxin, she doesn't have a formal name because her mother didn't want to disclose Ji Chenxing's identity, and Ji Chenxing didn't know about this either. Uncle Ji, rest assured, she is being well taken care of, you can see her in a week. I think, you should give her a formal name first."
Han Li did not call Ji Xinghe 'Old Ji' like others but stuck to using 'Uncle Ji'. Having delivered this news, he then left because he didn't know how to face Ji Xinghe.
The son was sacrificed, the daughter-in-law who wasn't officially married also got killed. The saddest part was that they only left behind a granddaughter with congenital disease. It was unacceptable but inevitable that the daughter-in-law also sacrificed due to the war. But she couldn't be treated as a hero because she violated certain laws and regulations.
In the process of creating Old Man Joy, Ji Xinghe had communicated with hundreds of people and spoke to nearly a thousand. Despite never genuinely laughing, he no longer treated everyone around with indifference.
But now, Ji Xinghe had reverted to his indifferent state, his whole being radiated an unapproachable aura, along with the mouldy smell of someone nearing death.
In the past dozen days, Ji Xinghe had been using the virtual world to experience his Old Man Joy and letting Shen Mu help perfect the details of Old Man Joy, so that he could make a real Old Man Joy in the real world.
But in the last seven days of the journey, it was as if Ji Xinghe had forgotten about his Old Man Joy. He gave up visiting the virtual world and spent every day tied in the cabin reading books. It may look like he was relaxing, but others knew something was up with Ji Xinghe.
That's because Ji Xinghe was flipping through ebooks five times slower than before. Ji Xinghe, who was already a slow reader, now looked like he was staring blankly at the pages, taking a long time to remember, then turn a page.
No one bothered Ji Xinghe anymore. They didn't know what happened but could feel his mood shift. Ji Xinghe didn't need their company or their jokes to distract him. Ji Xinghe needed some time alone.
As days passed, the spacecraft that had been flying in the vacuum of space for over three months finally reached the alien planet and began landing. Everyone in the spacecraft returned to their initial state on boarding the spacecraft, wearing their spacesuits, and fastened themselves to the cabin walls. Han Li also returned to his mecha.
No one looked out the porthole at the alien planet because the passenger cabin didn't have a porthole design.
The spacecraft that couldn't fly directly into space from the Azure Star could land directly from space on the alien planet. Besides that it was easier to land than fly, it was also because the alien planet's atmosphere was very weak, and a lot of air escaped into space constantly, reducing air resistance. Also, the alien planet's gravity was only a third of Azure Star's...
These facts floated in Ji Xinghe's mind. He had been reading and learning these days as a way to distract himself and alleviate his worries for his granddaughter. He was so engrossed in it that he forgot to give his granddaughter a proper name.
...
"Xinxin, look, your grandfather is up there."
Within the alien planet's No. 6 Base of the Federal, a female nurse and a little girl showed up at the porthole at the top of the base. Through the porthole, the sunlight outside is nice, and the visibility is clear. The weather nearby the base is normal today with no sudden dust storms.
Outside the porthole, there is a huge square full of vehicles and engineering equipment. There are missile launchers, armored cars, tanks, and other weapons scattered across various locations on the square, all standing solemnly.
Almost all objects outside the porthole and on the planet's surface are motionless, except for some self-driving cleaning cars constantly shuttling back and forth on the square, sweeping the sand and dust.
Standing next to the nurse, the little girl's eyes were fixated on the cleaning cars. Upon hearing the nurse's voice, she looked up at the sky where a spacecraft was slowly flying from a distance. The closer it got to the base and the ground, the clearer it could be seen.
Such a scene and the news of her grandfather being on the spacecraft should have made the little girl cheer. However, she remained silent.
The nurse felt a bit heartbroken. The Xinxin she remembered wasn't like this. But ever since her mother died a week ago, Xinxin, unable to wake her mother who laid on the hospital bed and had to watch others carry her mother away, kept silent.
At the age of six, she doesn't actually know the difference between life and death, but she clearly felt that her mother will never appear in front of her again, will never hold her to sleep, and will never tell her stories.
Just like she clearly knew that her father would never appear in front of her, she was more mature than her mother and all the others around her thought she was.
Her mother is gone, her father is gone, what could it change if her grandfather comes? He cannot bring back her father and mother.
Xinxin silently watches the airplane land on the runway in the square, then, supported by the tow truck and its own power, slowly entered the base.
"Let's go, Xinxin. We go to see your grandfather. By the time we get there, he should have finished the medical examination and disinfection, and can move normally."
The nurse held the little girl's skinny hand and walked slowly towards another area inside the base. The base was actually huge, so it did take some time for them to get there from their current location.
Xinxin, who had been silent for almost seven days, started walking and suddenly spoke.
"Auntie, can I not see my grandfather?"
"Huh? Why don't you want to see your grandfather?"
"Because my mom said if I'm naughty, my grandfather won't want me."
"Well, Xinxin, be good. You've always been obedient. Grandfather won't abandon you."
"But mom said I haven't grown up yet. Mom said I don't know any better. Mom said sometimes when I'm naughty, it's not because I'm naughty, but because I don't know any better. Can I wait until I've matured a bit? When I'm smarter? That way, I won't be naughty because I don't know any better, and grandfather won't abandon me."
The nurse froze, then burst into tears, crouching down in front of Xinxin. Her tears were not entirely because of Xinxin's words and story, but also because she missed home. She is 32 this year. At the age of 22, she went to this alien planet against her parents' wishes and never returned..
It's been ten years.
"Auntie, don't cry." Xinxin patted the nurse's back, just as her mother used to pat her: "I'll go see grandfather, I will see him now, auntie, don't cry."
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