Gu Yue arrived at the VIP seats next to the podium but did not see Shen Yuhuai. Instead, he ran into his own parents. His father was a former military district commander in a Koweik war zone. Although his rank was not as high as Jiang Dingcheng’s, Gu Yue’s family background was still far above the average person.
His parents had been vacationing abroad and had not informed him of their return. For the past few years, they had lived in Koweik. Although Gu Yue had tried to convince them to move to the Imperial Capital, citing the danger in Koweik, his parents were sentimental and had never agreed. He never expected to run into them here.
“Xiaoyue,” Gu Yue’s mother said with a kind smile, “I am sorry we did not notify you in advance. We did not expect it either, but Jiang Sui’s parents specifically invited us.”
“Jiang Sui?” Gu Yue was stunned.
“Yes,” Gu Yue’s mother, Zheng Qingling, laughed. “We had just gotten off the plane and were planning to come to the Imperial Capital to see you, but his mother sent a car to the airport to pick me up, saying that since the Imperial Capital had not held a horse racing competition in years and it coincided with the Wanqing Festival, she wanted to invite us to watch it together.”
“We wanted to tell you, but the military department said you would be attending the race today, so we thought we might as well come looking for you, hoping we could bump into you.”
Gu Yue nearly broke into a cold sweat after hearing this. Today was not a suitable day for a date. Fortunately, he had parted ways with Bai Yu at the entrance, otherwise, he could not imagine what might have happened.
Gu Yue began to reflect on his situation. The fact that Jiang Sui’s mother had specifically sent a car to pick up his parents suggested that the Jiang family highly approved of him. Although there had always been many people surrounding Jiang Sui over the years, the fact that the Jiang family had sent someone to pick up his parents today suggested something significant. He had risen through the ranks of the military quickly over the years, and even the commander of the Amber Theater had praised him for being young and promising. Who could compete with him? Only he was worthy of Jiang Sui. He had been foolish to provoke Bai Yu. That man was someone else’s spouse. Gu Yue decided to act as if nothing had happened; he would not go back to look for Bai Yu, and they would simply act as if they had both come to watch the race alone.
“Xiaoyue,” Zheng Qingling continued, “Your father and I were planning to contact you later, but we heard from Jiang Sui that you were assigned an important task. Will this distract you?”
Gu Yue’s communicator rang. He apologized to his parents and stepped aside to answer it.
“Captain Gu, Shen Yuhuai is being monitored by others, so we can rest easy for now. The commander is here today, and there are many extra security measures and guards around the racecourse. Shen Yuhuai is also wearing real-time pollutant monitoring equipment, so there should be no trouble. You can relax for now and enjoy the race, but remain on standby.”
“Understood, I will remain on standby,” Gu Yue replied before hanging up. He exhaled and was about to go back to watch the race with his parents when his communicator rang again. The ringtone was different; it was the exclusive one he had set for Jiang Sui.
Jiang Sui was calling him at a time like this. Was it because his parents were here? Gu Yue’s expression softened. He answered the phone and heard Jiang Sui say, “Brother Gu Yue, in addition to the amateur race today, the commander has temporarily approved a friendship race for our military department. I heard many colleagues are here to watch, and anyone can register. Would you like to participate?”
Jiang Sui had officially enlisted in the military last month and was currently in his internship period. He reportedly performed excellently and would soon be able to officially go to the battlefield as a soldier to earn military merit. Jiang Dingcheng was very proud of this; after Jiang Sui enlisted, he had hosted many guests to spread the news. Of course, most who came were from the military, along with many of Jiang Dingcheng’s former subordinates. With Jiang Dingcheng tirelessly paving the way ahead, it would be difficult for Jiang Sui not to excel.
“A horse race?” Gu Yue raised an eyebrow. “I am not prepared for anything today; I did not even bring my gear. How can I participate?”
“As it happens, I ordered a set of riding gear for you last week. Remember when I asked for your measurements? Come over and try it on.”
Gu Yue was surprised and quickly agreed. “Wait for me, then. I will tell my parents.”
“Since your parents are here today, you must perform well!” Jiang Sui teased him playfully.
Gu Yue smiled, turned to greet his parents, and hurried backstage to meet up with Jiang Sui.
“For real?” In the corridor outside the VIP box, the voices of two military colleagues could be heard discussing. “There is a military friendship race today? Approved by the commander himself? Then I am definitely going to participate!”
“Can you win? I heard Captain Gu of the Amber Theater and the new intern from the military department, Jiang Sui from the Jiang family, have both signed up.”
“Those two are excellent at horsemanship!”
“Indeed, we cannot compete with them.”
As an ancient competitive sport, horse racing had gradually become the exclusive domain of the upper nobility with the development of technology. Aside from the wealthy, only people in the military learned to ride, as horsemanship and piloting mechs were similar in nature. People generally believed that the better one rode, the faster they could race, and the better they could pilot a mech. Exceptional horsemanship was sometimes a symbol of military honor.
Shen Yuhuai sat in his seat, two fingers lightly pressing against his temple, listening to the people in the corridor. As he listened, he suddenly started to laugh.
“Wait here for me,” he said, reaching out to hook Bai Xinjian’s chin and scratching the tip of it with one finger. “I am going to win you a medal.”
Bai Xinjian looked up, following his movement, and asked curiously, “Where are you going?”
Shen Yuhuai adjusted his equestrian gloves and stood up. “A military friendship race. With such a good opportunity, how could I not participate?”
Upon hearing his words, the Special Task Force members behind them were suddenly on high alert.
“General Shen,” one of them said, “you cannot leave here.” Two others stepped forward, blocking his path. “Command regulations state that you must remain in this room.”
Shen Yuhuai laughed softly, the black mist in his right eye intensifying until it turned dark blue. “Care to guess if I can leave this place?”
The eyes of the Special Task Force members lost their focus. After a moment, they slowly stepped aside, clearing a path for Shen Yuhuai.
[Oh my!] 0048 exclaimed in Bai Xinjian’s mind upon seeing this. [The monster has evolved again! This is incredible. Will he become a Level IV soon? Jianjian, what did you do?]
Bai Xinjian tilted his head and thought about it. “Nothing?”
[People outside say Gu Yue is participating in the race too. Jianjian, could it be that you have ignited the monster’s competitive spirit?] 0048 sighed dramatically. [So jealous, so quickly? Jianjian, you are doing a great job with your mission!]
[However…] The innocent system sounded a bit puzzled. [I do not recall there being much interaction between the monster and Gu Yue. They have not met often, so where does the jealousy come from?]
Bai Xinjian pointed to his forehead, completely unaware of what it meant to feel guilty, and smiled brightly. “That is right, where does the jealousy come from?”
The system could not figure it out and decided to carefully organize its data records again. [Forget it, let us wait and see how things develop.]