CH 72

Old friend (2)

Audrey took Jiang Jianming’s arm, and while leading him to the upper seat, he smiled and said, “Wonderful, I have specially reserved a seat for you, I thought you wouldn’t come just now.”

Jiang Jianming was helplessly bathed in the gazes in all directions. Now he really became the focus of the audience, he whispered, “It’s too exaggerated, you don’t have to take care of me like this.”

He knew that his clothes were inappropriate today, and it was nothing to be criticized for a few words, but to mess up Audrey’s important banquet, it was very embarrassing.

“Sorry, I know you don’t like this kind of occasion.”

Audrey insisted, “But you are a friend of Diana and me, if you suffer injustice in our house, wouldn’t it be humiliating on our part?”

In the blink of an eye, the black-haired youth had been pushed to the innermost part of the hall by the young ruler of the Lance family.

On the front of this most honorable dining table was the seat of the owner, Audrey, on the right was an empty seat for Diana, and on the opposite left there was another empty seat.

Now, Audrey pulled out the chair for him, and silently said ‘please sit down’ with sincere eyes.

“Have you not had dinner yet? At least sit down and eat something first. You are not in good health, so you can’t be careless…..come.”

Just as Jiang Jianming sat down, he saw Audrey pick up the knife and fork placed on the napkin very naturally, with the posture of actually wanting to serve him personally.

This is a bit excessive.

Jiang Jianming pressed Audrey’s wrist, shook his head and said in a low voice, “Don’t do this, it’s really not good. Weren’t you halfway through a conversation with someone just now?”

Audrey: “It doesn’t matter, except for you and Diana, there is no one here who needs my attention.”

Jiang Jianming frowned, “Lance.”

Jiang Jianming emphasized his tone at first, and Audrey immediately surrendered, with a gentle tone that seemed to be coaxing the other, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry……..then I won’t accompany you, please feel free. After eating, go and have a chat with Diana in the back, she misses you very much. I will also make time to find you as soon as possible.”

After speaking, Audrey turned around to pick up a glass of wine from his seat, and gracefully returned to the side of the nobles who were halfway through the conversation.

As if nothing happened…no, as if nothing “abnormal” happened.

It seemed that as the most honorable Old noble, candidate for future crown prince, young and promising patriarch…..and yet entertaining a civilian in such a humble manner, was also quite a normal thing.

Audrey’s attitude was so steady, that no matter how much cold sweat broke from the remaining guests’ backs, they could only pretend that nothing happened. The banquet quickly resumed its normal operation, and no one had dared to disturb Jiang Jianming from enjoying his dinner again.

“Jiang…..Jiang, can I sit next to you?”

Only Diana happily moved a chair over and sat down. Her whole body was like floating sweet bubbles, as if eager to immediately rub against Jiang Jianming’s arms and roll.

“The temperature outside is very low today. Are you cold? Would you like to have some pumpkin congee to warm your stomach? I’ll fill you a bowl.”

“Have a taste of that caramel Canale, it’s very sweet, I’ll get it for you.”

“By the way, what kind of wine does Jiang like to drink? I’ll call Horne to open a good bottle for you……If you don’t drink alcohol, then, black tea? coffee? juice?”

“…..” Jiang Jianming didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and wondered for a moment whether the pair of “brother and sister” had already colluded with each other.

He persuaded Audrey to leave, but he had no reason to drive Diana away, thus he could only eat this overly delicious meal as soon as possible.

Fortunately, Jiang Jianming did not have political social needs like the other guests present. After enjoying the free dinner, he went to greet to Bei Man’er who still had messy inner thoughts, and then left with Diana through the inner corridor.

As soon as the door was closed, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Diana and Jiang Jianming were the only two people in the wide and exquisitely decorated corridor, and under the wall lamp were two long shadows.

“Diana, wait a moment.” Jiang Jianming stopped in the corridor and said to her, “Actually, this time, I’m not here to find your big brother, but rather to find you.”

Diana was surprised. “Me?”

Jiang Jianming nodded, “Yes, Diana, I would like to know something about human consciousness and memory, I need your knowledge.”

Diana: “Really, I can help you? Then first……hm, come to my room first.”

The two arrived at Diana’s study, and the girl pushed the door open with both hands.

The Lance family’s luxurious mansion was designed in a retro style, with a very light sense of technology. The two thick doors were pushed open manually, and the scene inside came into view.

A not so small study room could be seen, surrounded by wall mounted bookcases—or bookcase-like walls.

Various collections of books, printed documents, chip boxes, intelligence racks… the walls were all filled to the brim. It was hard to believe that this was actually the study of a young noble lady known as a “dodder flower” and a “doll”.

At a glance, the spines of those books mostly had titles related to keywords such as “consciousness”, “spirit”, “intelligence”, and “soul”.

“You have a lot more collections of books.”

Jiang Jianming sighed with emotion, “Are you really not considering entering the Black Shark Base?”

Diana tugged at her sleeves and whispered embarrassingly, “I…I still can’t bear to part with my big brother.”

Jiang Jianming patted her on the head, “Your big brother dotes on you too much, however little princess, you’ll eventually grow up.”

Diana lowered her head.

Almost no one knew that she liked to delve into these things, and she deliberately kept people from knowing about it. She didn’t like to let her passion become a tool and a breakthrough for others to try to curry favor with herself and her brother.

Even when she was studying at the Kaios Third College—the Engineering and Intelligence Research College, she would deliberately lower her scores in the exam and try to reduce her sense of existence as much as possible.

Jiang Jianming sat down on a chair inside the study, and casually picked up a stack of printed paper lying on the table.

He lifted it up and smiled at Diana, “Can I have a look, Miss Scholar? Although I don’t know how many pages I can have a look at this time.”

****

Jiang Jianming had always believed that getting to know Diana was a half chance encounter.

That day, Ryann brought him to the Lance family. The crown prince was talking with His Excellency Audrey in the drawing room and since he was free, he walked casually in the back garden.

On a pleasant spring morning, the flowers were in full bloom and the vines climbed up the white fence. Suddenly a gust of wind blew, and Jiang Jianming saw a stack of paper manuscripts being blown away and flying around from the refreshment table not far away.

Out of goodwill, Jiang Jianming stooped to pick up the dozen or so pieces of paper that had been blown away one by one.

He originally wanted to put it back on the table and pick up a small stone to hold it down, but suddenly, he was attracted by the title on the first page——

The warm sunlight illuminated the printed characters, which read “The Feasibility of the Application of Spiritual Consciousness Projection Technology in the Field of Holographic Perception”.

Jiang Jianming couldn’t help flipping through it twice. In addition to the printed characters, there were delicate handwritings on it, annotations, deletions…

Obviously, this was an academic paper under refinement.

Signed: Diana Lance.

Half an hour later, a girl with long silver hair was out of breath and trotted into the garden with her long skirt.

Poor Miss Diana was on the verge of crying. Just because as soon as she heard that there was a distinguished visitor today and since she was afraid of meeting strangers, she immediately ran and hid in her study.

But her…….half-revised article…..was left carelessly in the garden by her!

Bless the God of Crystal Particles, let her safely get back the manuscript she wrote after staying up all night for half a month.

And the most important thing is, to never run into the guests.

However, when Diana arrived in the garden, her vision went dark on the spot.

Next to the fence wall with clusters of flowers and plants, in front of the small table made of rattan, stood a black-haired young man dressed as a military academy student.

The sunlight outlined the shape of the bridge of his nose, he lowered his head halfway, and what he held in his hand was her manuscript.

Guest, guest – saw her manuscript!!

Miss Diana’s cheeks blushed instantly, and she felt like a steamed crab.

She bit her lip and walked in front of the young man, twisting the corners of her skirt with her hands, and said in a voice like that of a mosquito, “Please don’t…don’t…look.”

The black-haired boy raised his head, glanced at her, and apologized with eyebrows furrowed. “Sorry, I was rude, but this topic is rare, I can’t help it for a moment.”

Hearing the other party spoke like this, Diana turned slightly pale.

She lowered her eyelashes, a look of disgust flashed in the bottom of her eyes.

….This was a familiar opening line, and she could guess that the next line should be to flatter her.

This was the reason why she didn’t like to reveal her hobbies to outsiders.

What she got was nothing but hypocritical flattery. In the eyes of everyone, she was just a dodder flower attached to her brother. Who would believe that a noble lady who was so charming and pampered would love those obscure academic knowledge?

– “Miss Diana is such a genius, she unexpectedly has such profound knowledge!”

Some people would pretend to be amazed, pointing to an entry-level point of view and clapping their hands pretending to understand.

– “As expected of the little princess of the Lance family, oho, the last time I saw this word was at an academic conference with a group of gray-haired old men, our young lady at a young age…”

Some people would try hard to flatter. Although that word was coined by her now, the annotations were clearly written in small letters.

– “What a coincidence, I am also interested in this field. The Professor Qian that’s mentioned here, will he give a lecture in Watson Star City next month? Isn’t it fortunate to attend together with Miss Diana?”

Some people would try to establish a relationship with her. They didn’t even know that the “Professor Qian” quoted in her manuscript had died of illness eight years ago.

As for the professor who’d give a lecture in Watson Star City, his topic seemed to be – “Looking at the Status of Animal Husbandry in the Late Ancient Blue Star Era from the Perspective of Postpartum Care of Sows”.

But behind her back, he laughed and said, – “What kind of academic research? It’s just a whim of the squeamish young lady, nothing more”.

Thinking of those unbearable memories, Diana’s little face became even uglier. She raised her eyes angrily, waiting for what the young man in front of her would say.

But she was surprised to find that the other party looked away from her without hesitation.

“Miss Diana, right? What you write is so profound, it’s beyond my scope of knowledge. I can’t understand it from the tenth page onwards.”

The black-haired young man’s voice was clear and steady. Although he said he was sorry, there was no fluctuation in his tone. He turned his gaze back to the manuscript, and turned a few pages with his fingers.

“What you wrote here, ‘The success of spiritual consciousness projection is only limited by the fit of its carrier matrix, not by the species itself that carries the matrix’, what does it mean?”

“Does it mean that it is possible for a creature’s consciousness to transfer to another creature different from its own species?”

Diana was completely stunned.

“No…it’s not. Ah nor, nor can say it couldn’t…”

She was in a hurry and stammered to explain it with a series of esoteric academic terms in her mind, but because she was too nervous, she didn’t know what she was talking about in the end.

The black-haired young man chuckled helplessly. “I still don’t understand, forget it, I’m too stupid.”

“Do you know Professor Caron? He gave a lecture in Kaios last month, talking about the mind manipulation system of mechas. He said that the biggest challenge in achieving mind manipulation is not connecting the central nervous system of the brain to the mecha control system itself, but how to ensure the stability and mutual non harm of the two after the connection.”

He turned over two more pages of the paper manuscript in his hand, and pointed to a certain line. “It’s a bit similar to the fourth point you mentioned here, but you discuss it from a different angle…”

“I couldn’t finish the lecture for some reason at that time. If you don’t mind, I would like to hear your opinion. Do you think it is possible for the mental manipulation of mechas to be put into practical use in the military within ten years?”

Diana stood there staring at him blankly.

Her eyes were sore, and suddenly tears kept falling down like beads with a broken thread.

It was the first time that someone not only saw the text written by her, but also understood the text written by her, instead of the signature “Lance” under the text.

It was also the first time that someone was clearly talking to her, without giving her a second glance, and only setting their eyes on the paper that condensed her painstaking efforts.

That day, Diana, who lost control of her emotions, held Jiang Jianming and cried for an entire hour. Jiang Jianming was completely confused, his head got dizzy and lightheaded because of her, and he almost suspected that the girl would faint from crying.

Soon, Ryann and Audrey also arrived.

Later, Jiang Jianming found out that some people advocated that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Lance family be united through marriage.

Thus, for such a long time a moment ago, Audrey and Ryann were exchanging cold looks in the drawing room——

“I’m warning you, Diana is still young, even if you are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, don’t even try to touch my sister.”

“Then I’m also warning you, Diana Lance cannot be the crown princess. It’s best for the Lance family to not have such unwarranted delusions.”

…..repeating such a tug-of-war of answering questions irrelevantly and being inconsistent with no clear meaning.

But soon, Audrey and Ryann could only look at Diana with complicated emotions, she was like a ragdoll cat with activated attributes, clinging to Jiang Jianming and meow meow every day.

****

Inside the study, the conversation between Jiang Jianming and Diana lasted for nearly two hours.

Countless materials were moved out by Diana, several intelligence display screens were lit up at the same time, and piles were all over the study floor.

At the end, the two of them exchanged all kinds of things.

Jiang Jianming raised his head, pinched the center of his brows, and smiled wryly, “I have a little headache, but I can barely…understand it.”

Footsteps came from the corridor outside and stopped outside the study door.

There were three serious knocks on it, and the voice belonging to the young Lance family patriarch at the banquet sounded.

“Jiang, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Diana turned her head and said happily, “Big brother, come in quickly.”

The door opened, and a silver-gray figure entered slowly.

Jiang Jianming looked back and smiled, “Hm? Why did you specially change your clothes?”

——The person who came in was indeed the patriarch of the Lance family.

Yet at present, an elegant silver-gray silk long dress was worn on a handsome woman’s body, with her slightly protruding chest and red lips that had been redone with makeup, silently showcasing the true gender.

Audrey pursed her lips and smiled, walked up to Jiang Jianming with her long dress in her arms, and deliberately raised her skirt as courtesy.

“Of course it’s because I hope to see my best friend with my true face.”

——That’s right, this was a secret that was rarely known even by the upper echelons of the empire. The young patriarch of the Lance family was not Master Audrey, but Miss Audrey.

Audrey sat down beside Jiang Jianming calmly. She stroked her short hair and took off her silk gloves, revealing her smooth skin and slender wrists.

——And, it’s not a new human, but a disabled human.

Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but smile in his eyes, recalling the memories of the trick of wearing gloves to cover his wrists, which he learned from Audrey.

“Humans always have a self-righteous problem. When they see through a secret, they will subconsciously think that this is the truth, causing them to ignore the second secret.”

Audrey once said, “When some people find out that I am actually a woman, they will think they have a handle on me and give up thinking about other details.”

At this moment, Diana also took off her white silk gloves of the same style as her sister’s, and pieces of small silver crystals were impressively condensed on her wrists.

The “brother and sister” of the Lance family, the new human elite brother and the weak, cowardly and disabled human sister?

No, setting aside the ingenious blinding magic, the continuation of this generation’s Lance family bloodline…

Was a disabled human elder sister supporting the family with a non crystal fragile body, and a new human younger sister who quietly hid under the elder sister’s protection and was obsessed with learning.