Chapter 120: Educated Youth Who Abandoned His Wife and Child – 52

Though he said all that, once the top leader gave the green light, Dean Qiu couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift uncontrollably in that direction after returning to his office.

He clearly knew it was unrealistic, but—what if?

There was no cost to trying, after all…

Maybe he could just casually bring it up.

With that mindset, when Su Mingyue came to the research institute, Dean Qiu nervously called her into the conference room.

Dean Qiu smiled kindly. “Xiao Su, you’ve been coming to the institute a lot lately. How do you feel about the place? If there’s anything you’re not satisfied with, feel free to speak up.”

Su Mingyue: “?”

Dean Qiu continued, “After all, this is where you’ll be working once you graduate. If there’s anything lacking, it’s better we fix it now so you’ll feel more at ease when you officially join us.”

Su Mingyue thought the dean was surprisingly considerate. She still had three years before graduation, and yet he was already looking after his future staff.

Smiling, she replied, “Nothing at all, everything’s great.”

Dean Qiu nodded. “As long as you’re happy. By the way, Xiao Su, have you had any new or interesting ideas lately?”

Su Mingyue felt completely lost. Why did it feel like she couldn’t understand a word the dean was saying today?

Seeing her confusion, Dean Qiu kept smiling and said, “For example… like wanting to sit in a fighter jet, or maybe see what a missile looks like?”

“……”

Su Mingyue trembled. She didn’t dare speak.

Why would she want to sit in a fighter jet? The country can’t be that short on personnel, right? Wait—don’t tell her a war’s about to start???

If it really were war… well, maybe she could give it a try…

Wuwu, Brother Xiuyan, Dad, Mom… your daughter/daughter-in-law may have to go first.

Dean Qiu saw the grief-stricken, determined expression on Su Mingyue’s face—like she was about to martyr herself for the country—and immediately realized she’d misunderstood.

“Ahem~” Dean Qiu gave a sheepish cough. “Don’t overthink it. The country’s doing fine, and even if something did happen, it wouldn’t be your turn. What I mean is… could you have such a thought, and maybe… bring it up with Xiuyan?”

Su Mingyue’s breath halted for a moment.

She wasn’t stupid—she’d gotten into Q University, after all. In an instant, she understood.

So this was about using her to pass the idea along to Xiuyan.

She couldn’t help but rub her forehead. Really, the dean could’ve just talked to Brother Xiuyan directly. Why go through all this?

Oh, right…

At some point, a strange rumor had spread through the institute, saying that the reason Brother Xiuyan invented all this stuff was because she wanted it.

She was innocent, okay? Could it be that Dean Qiu actually believed it???

He’s the dean, he can’t go believing every ridiculous rumor, right?

How did he even become dean in the first place…

What she didn’t know yet was that all those rumors came from her dear husband himself. If she found out, she really would be speechless.

Su Mingyue noticed the dean’s smiling face hadn’t changed—in fact, it now held a trace of flattery.

So she sighed and said, “I’ll bring it up, but don’t get your hopes up. It’s way too far-fetched—even novels wouldn’t dare write this kind of thing.”

Dean Qiu was humble to the extreme. “I understand. As long as you say it, that’s enough. Comrade Su, thank you for your service.”

Su Mingyue accepted the absurd mission, having no choice but to take this ridiculous request home.

After awkwardly explaining everything to Shen Xiuyan, he actually rubbed his chin and started thinking.

Shen Xiuyan: “Do you want to sit in a fighter jet?”

Su Mingyue gave a dry laugh. “Who doesn’t, right? I mean, no one’s seen one up close. If I actually got to sit in one, I could brag about it for life.”

Shen Xiuyan nodded. “Alright, then.”

Su Mingyue looked horrified. Alright what?

With a yelp, she pounced on him. “Don’t tell me you can really build one…”

Shen Xiuyan gently stroked her hair. “Your husband is a man, not a god—but I can give it a try.”

Hearing that, Su Mingyue patted her chest. Thank goodness. Even if she was blindly convinced that Shen Xiuyan was the best, she couldn’t be that blindly confident, right…

Shen Xiuyan smirked inwardly. He’d traveled through so many worlds and worked so many jobs—what hadn’t he done? Forget jets, he could make a spaceship if he wanted. The only reason he didn’t was to maintain the balance of the world—some things, if they went too far, would bring down punishment from the system.

He said he’d “give it a try” just to spare Mingyue’s nerves. No point scaring her into fainting.

To everyone else, the matter was casually dropped and forgotten.

Except for Shen Xiuyan.

Dean Qiu even thought he’d gone crazy for asking Su Mingyue to bring it up with Shen Xiuyan.

He didn’t even dare appear in front of Shen Xiuyan for days, fearing the young man would think he was an idiot.

But one day—Shen Xiuyan came.

The moment Dean Qiu saw him, he held his breath. Then, carefully trying to earn favor, he said, “Xiuyan, you’re here! The base station’s been installed in your in-laws’ county. Once we finish the calibration, we’ll deliver the phones to them.”

“Mm. I trust your work.” Shen Xiuyan spread a thick stack of blueprints across the desk in front of Dean Qiu.

“Please take a look.”

Dean Qiu was used to this. Anyone who had been scared like this so often would come prepared.

As soon as Shen Xiuyan opened his mouth, he grabbed the bottle of fast-acting heart pills he kept by his side.

Ready to pop one the moment things got too exciting.

Cautiously, he leaned over the blueprints.

And then saw the bold title at the top—Fighter Jet Engineering Diagrams—which practically blinded him.

He quickly popped a heart pill into his mouth.

No, seriously—he’d just been joking. You actually took it seriously???

His hand trembled as he pointed to the blueprint. “This… this is…”

Shen Xiuyan calmly nodded. “Exactly what you see. A few days ago, my wife said she wanted to sit in a fighter jet. So I studied for a month and drew these. Of course, we’ll need to fine-tune them in actual testing.”

Seeing that Dean Qiu hadn’t said a word, Shen Xiuyan added with a smug tone, “Dean, why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t tell me you’re not going to approve this?”

Clutching his chest, Dean Qiu snarled, “Approve? Of course I approve! Isn’t it just because your wife wants to sit in one? If you can build it, she can sleep in it if she wants!”

Having misread the situation completely, Dean Qiu now firmly believed that anything Shen Xiuyan’s wife wanted, Shen Xiuyan could somehow make real…

Shen Xiuyan rubbed his nose. Ah, the richness of the Chinese language. This “sit” is not the same “sit” he meant.

Forget it—better not traumatize the dean any further. Anyone with half a brain would approve building a fighter jet. Unless they were insane.