A brown rough calfskin coat, with the inside pages of vegetable fiber paper, is a notebook.
This notebook follows the once young, proud, resolute and gentle imperial official, through a long seven-year interstellar journey, from the empire to a planet called 5460 in the west of the Federation, and then, after a slaughter order, silently pressed against the young officer's left chest, and began an unknown number of years of sleep in the mass grave under the ice and snow.
Later, an equally young, proud, resolute and gentle federal officer fled from the Donglin region of the Federation to the Capital Star Circle, and then followed the troops to this planet called 5460.
The book began another journey, following the Union officer farther afield, until he finally returned home.
The calfskin wrapped on the outside of the notebook was badly damaged, and it seemed that it would turn into rotten crumbs with a little effort, and the plant fiber paper inside had begun to fall off, which was very different from the appearance of the high-spirited imperial official when he first got it in his hand.
But Aunt Susan still recognized it at a glance, because she had bought it with her own hands many years ago, and it was she who had given it to her brother on the expedition, and she sold the last piece of jewelry that her mother had left for herself, and she could only afford to buy crude calfskin, not refined calfskin.
The difference of one word is the regret of Aunt Susan for many years later, and she sometimes even thinks that if she had bought her brother a good notebook, he might not have been shot for violating military discipline, but for a lonely and helpless young lady struggling to survive in the slums, she can only blame herself in this way, to miss her relatives.
Aunt Susan's trembling hand took the old notebook, and couldn't help but cover her right hand on her face, her calloused fingers rubbing vigorously on her fat and weather-colored cheeks, but she couldn't stop the tears from spilling out of her fingers.
For many years, the pain and torture of life could not make this woman who was forced to be cheerful, optimistic and even irritable shed a single tear, but today I saw the relics left by my brother who had long since died, and countless grievances and pains, it was like finding a channel to vent and crying out loudly.
Holding the notebook in her left hand, covering her face with her right hand and crying bitterly, at this moment, Susan felt as if she saw her brother with the gentlest smile standing in front of her again, Paul looked at his mother who was crying in shock, holding her weak elbow, he rarely saw such a sad side of his mother, he didn't know what the notebook represented, and the impulse to protect his mother subconsciously made him try to question the Huai Cao poem in front of him, but thinking of the other party's incomparably noble identity, he didn't dare to say it after all.
The fat woman crying bitterly in the clean courtyard made the expressions of the surrounding imperial officials become a little strange, as the officers of the troops directly under His Highness, they knew that the book held by His Highness probably belonged to a certain colleague who sacrificed, but they did not know the content recorded in the notebook, and for a while a certain desolate and sad feeling rose in the courtyard, and several officers quietly took off their military hats.
Huai Caoshi looked at the woman who was crying loudly like a child in front of her, and her eyes gradually narrowed.
Xu Le got the notebook and brought it back to the empire, but this chubby, unusually mediocre-looking woman happened to be Arthur's own sister, and for some reason, she was willing to take a great risk and take him in and hide him in the small courtyard for nearly a year.
She had carefully read the notebook, and from Officer Arthur's records, she felt something that she had not felt with her heart before, and now she felt more and more, is there really something in the dark that is predestined, how did this extremely unlikely story happen, or did the creator think that this brother and sister, who are separated by life and death, and separated by the vast universe, have some kind of virtue that should be cherished, so he borrowed Xu Le's hand to show a little compassion In her opinion, virtue should only be appreciated when the world allows it to be had, and now the flames of war that are burning all over the universe must let this relatively nihilistic existence go away.
When the Imperial forces had carried out many massacres of civilians and technicians in the Federal Sealin, she later read the military intelligence report and thought that such actions were meaningless, but she also strongly disagreed with the stupidity of Officer Arthur who disobeyed the orders of his superiors.
"Your name is Paul" Huai Caoshi was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked at the young boy who was a little overwhelmed and said: "According to your school files, you have recently been participating in military training" Paul nervously glanced at his mother, who was still crying, swallowed his saliva to moisten his throat, and replied in a low voice, "Yes." ” He didn't know why Her Royal Highness the princess, who was like a god in the hearts of the people of the empire, came to his house, and he was even more shocked that Her Highness seemed to know who he was and what he had done.
"That's the end of your military training."
Huai Caoshi glanced at him and turned to leave.
Paul didn't have a good feeling for the Imperial Army, which was wreaking havoc in the slums, but his heart was full of enthusiasm to resist the Federation invaders, and in the eyes of a civilian student like him, joining the Imperial Army was also a precious right, and when he heard His Highness's words, his blood swelled up in astonishment, and he protested loudly: "Why" Huai Caoshi put her hands behind her back and gently held them around her waist, ignoring the boy's protests at all, and ordered directly to the subordinates beside her: "Remember his number, no one is allowed to let him go to the front." ” "Who the hell is the person who hung you on the tree, is he back?"
"I don't know, because last time you told me that he was dead, I didn't have any mental preparation to put anesthetics in the tea bowl, this kind of indiscriminate but extraordinarily useful means is really very similar to what Nasri is used to doing."
"According to the information from the Federation, he should be dead, and the Federation's machine head should not hate him less than me, although he has absurdly escaped the pursuit of the machine head many times, but I always thought that miracles could not be repeated again and again."
The top floor of the Star Picking Hall filled with the breeze, the low hum of the maglev equipment was faintly heard below, and the filtered ultraviolet curtains around him danced in the wind, and the Emperor Huaifucha slowly turned around, looking at the beautiful middle-aged man standing on the outside of the screen, his brows furrowed in disgust, and he always felt that the light white robe that this person was wearing was like a white veil hanging behind him, and as for the pair of slender long legs like a woman, it made him feel disgusting for decades.
"From the standpoint of the Empire, I don't think you should have any hatred for Nasri at all.
If it weren't for the explosion he created back then, maybe Li Pifu would have led the federal forces to blow up your palace. ” "How can the confrontation between two of the most massive war machines in the universe be changed by one person and one explosion."
The Emperor's tone was solemn and there was a hint of mockery, "You people are always used to wanting to mythologize a specific character, the teacher is gone, you are too unsuccessful, do you feel that the master Fan Mansion is about to be unable to straighten up, so you think that only by putting the teacher as a student in the temple can you continue to maintain the mysterious and inviolable feeling of your family" "Emperor, our family has never had to work hard to maintain its status, if you are making your own strong voice against the thousand-year-old blood oath, I will be very happy to see a piece of history come about, and at the same time, I would also like to see with my own eyes how the Bai Hibiscus Dynasty fell."
The sarcasm in Master Fan's words was no less than that of the most powerful man in the universe, and he didn't know what kind of hole cards his family possessed, which could actually make him face the emperor, as if he was so relaxed and crazy.
"If there is another incident like this one."
The Emperor squinted slightly, looked at him calmly, and said: "I will forget what a blood oath is, at least I can kill you first As for how many hole cards your Hua family has left, whether this dynasty can continue, at that time, maybe I don't care anymore." ” Master Fan looked at the emperor's narrowed eyes, knowing that the other party really had a murderous intention, but his expression was still so casual and charming, he lit the cigarette that had been in his lips for a long time, shrugged his shoulders and said, "It seems that you are really pessimistic about the future of the empire." ” "No, I'm just disgusted with the existence of a god like you, and this disgust sometimes even exceeds my greatest desire in this life."
The Emperor stared at him in disgust, his gaze then resting on an old, bloodstained black thorn.
Master Fan was slightly stunned, then bowed and saluted, without waiting for the emperor's permission, and walked towards the entrance of the maglev.
"Where are you going?"
the Emperor turned to grasp the railing and looked out at the high sky.
"I'm going to find that ship and see if there's a chance to slip into the Federation."
Master Fan didn't stop, and said indifferently, "If I can get in, maybe I can easily get the ruined list back." ” The Emperor's 10,000-year-old glacial expression loosened a little at this moment, the heroic plan that had lasted for decades had now been discovered by the Federation, but if the archive that was destroyed many years ago could be recovered, there might still be one alive.
"You're still an empire after all."
The Emperor looked at the sky and smiled, he couldn't see any flying machines in his eyes, but outside the atmosphere, in the space base around Tianjing Star, in dozens of empire-controlled galaxies, countless heavy alloy war machines were nervously loading, and the dense imperial warships were silently and solemnly suspended in space, ready to drive towards the front line.
The war has already begun, so let it continue with a bang.
To be continued: