After they finished eating the dumplings, before Lin Wan had even had time to digest them, the horn of a jeep sounded from downstairs.
Commander Wang was a man who acted without delay. The moment he said he would take Tangtang to the Military Research Institute, a vehicle was dispatched immediately.
“I want to go too!” Lin Wan grabbed the jeep door and shamelessly insisted on tagging along.
“The child is still young and afraid of strangers. If I don’t go, she’ll get scared.”
Although Tangtang wasn’t actually afraid, she nodded obediently.
“Mhm! I want Big Sister!”
Qin Zhan was left speechless and could only let both of them climb into the jeep.
The First Research Institute of the Military District was the military’s most highly classified facility.
There were even more armed guards at the entrance than at the hospital, and everyone entering or leaving had to undergo strict inspections.
If Commander Wang hadn’t made arrangements in advance, someone of Lin Wan’s status would never have been allowed inside.
The jeep stopped outside an enormous workshop.
Before they even entered, they heard a heated argument raging inside.
“Old Chen! I’ve told you already, that parameter is wrong! The combustion chamber temperature is too high—we have to increase the coolant flow!”
“What nonsense! Increase the coolant flow and the thrust drops! This is the engine for a next-generation fighter jet! Thrust comes first!”
“But you can’t ignore safety! A cylinder exploded yesterday!”
A group of elderly experts in white lab coats, all with graying hair, were gathered around a massive engine, arguing like a flock of fighting roosters.
Blueprints and machine parts were scattered across the floor, and the air was thick with the smell of engine oil and hot metal.
Qin Zhan led the three of them inside.
“Excuse me, professors.”
The old men were arguing so intensely that none of them paid him the slightest attention.
The hottest-tempered among them, Old Chen, picked up a wrench and banged it against the engine.
“Enough arguing! If this keeps up, I’ll tear the whole thing apart and rebuild it! I refuse to believe I can’t figure out what’s wrong with this intake valve!”
Just as the workshop fell silent—
A childish voice suddenly spoke.
“It’s not the intake valve.”
Everyone froze and looked down.
A little girl wearing an oversized old military uniform had somehow wandered into the middle of the crowd.
Tilting her tiny face upward, she stared intently at the enormous engine, pointing a small finger toward one inconspicuous pipe.
“It’s the oil return line.”
“The bend there is too sharp. The oil pressure can’t return properly. It’s getting backed up.”
“Where did this wild kid come from? Who brought her in?” Old Chen frowned, about to lose his temper.
“Hey! Watch your mouth, old man!” Lin Wan immediately snapped.
[Who are you calling a wild kid? This is a future national treasure!]
She pulled Tangtang behind her, instantly switching into overprotective mode.
Before Old Chen could flare up, another elderly expert wearing glasses crouched down thoughtfully and looked where Tangtang was pointing.
“The oil return line… the angle…”
He pulled out a caliper and measured it.
His expression changed dramatically.
“Old Chen! Stop yelling! Come look at this!”
“The bend radius of this pipe really is three millimeters smaller than what’s shown on the blueprint! Under high pressure, that tiny deviation is enough to create oil turbulence and restrict the return flow!”
“That explains why the temperature keeps getting so high! If the oil gets trapped inside, of course it’ll overheat!”
Boom!
The entire workshop erupted.
These veteran mechanical experts, who had spent their entire lives studying machinery, all stared at Tangtang as though she were some kind of monster.
“Little girl, how did you know that? Can you actually understand such a complicated piping system?” Old Chen dropped his wrench, his hands trembling with excitement.
Surrounded by so many elderly men, Tangtang became a little frightened and shrank behind Lin Wan’s leg.
“I… I saw the pipe shaking,” she whispered.
“It shakes at a different frequency from the others. It… it doesn’t feel good.”
Lin Wan applauded wildly in her heart.
[Hear that? Hear that? That’s talent! That’s mechanical resonance!]
[To a genius, machines are alive.]
[While you ordinary mortals are still calculating formulas, she can literally hear machines crying out in pain.]
[Tremble, humanity!]
Qin Zhan looked at Tangtang, the shock in his eyes beyond words.
He knew she was intelligent.
But he had never imagined she was this brilliant.
She had spotted, with a single glance, the problem that had baffled the entire research team for an entire month.
He hadn’t picked up a daughter.
He’d picked up a living radar.
Old Chen no longer cared about appearances.
He immediately reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of White Rabbit Milk Candies, and stuffed them into Tangtang’s hands.
“Good girl, tell Grandpa—besides that, what else do you think is wrong?”
The expression on his face looked so much like the Big Bad Wolf trying to lure Little Red Riding Hood that it gave Lin Wan goosebumps.
The next hour became Tangtang’s personal performance.
Although she didn’t understand the sophisticated engineering terminology, her astonishing intuition and those eyes that seemed capable of seeing through machinery allowed her to point out at least three design flaws in the engine.
Every time she identified one, the elderly experts gasped before dropping to the floor to perform frantic calculations and verify her observations.
Finally, Old Chen slammed his hand down decisively.
“We’re taking this child!”
He rushed over to Qin Zhan, grabbed his hand, and exclaimed,
“You’re Regiment Commander Qin, right? This child has to stay at the Research Institute! She’s a genius! She’s exactly the kind of talent our country desperately needs! I want to take her as my final disciple!”
“No!”
Before Qin Zhan could respond, Lin Wan stepped in.
“She’s only five years old! She still has to grow up, learn to read and write, and enjoy being a kid! You can’t have her spending every day in a workshop breathing exhaust fumes with a bunch of old men!”
[Come on, child labor is illegal, okay?]
[She may be a genius, but she still deserves a happy childhood. What if you work her into exhaustion?]
Qin Zhan nodded.
“My wife is right. Tangtang is still young. Her education should progress step by step.”
The words “my wife” came out as naturally as breathing.
Lin Wan froze for a moment before the tips of her ears flushed red.
[Who exactly is your wife? Don’t just call me that.]
[…Though, since you’re standing up for Tangtang, I’ll let it slide this time.]
After a lengthy round of bargaining, the two sides finally reached an agreement.
Tangtang would continue living with Qin Zhan and Lin Wan as usual, but every weekend she could come to the Research Institute to study under Old Chen while receiving a stipend equivalent to that of an associate researcher.
When they left the institute, Tangtang was hugging a huge tin of malted milk powder, her eyes narrowed into happy crescents.
“Big Sister, I’ll earn money and support you in the future!”
Lin Wan was so touched she almost burst into tears.
[Aww… I didn’t spoil this child for nothing.]
[Now all I have to do is wait to become the mother of a future billionaire. My dream of lying around and enjoying life is finally within reach!]
By the time they returned to Family Compound No. 1, it was completely dark.
After such an eventful day, both the adults and the child were utterly exhausted.
Tangtang had fallen asleep in the jeep on the way back, and Qin Zhan carried her all the way up to the third floor.
After settling her into the small bed in the guest bedroom and tucking the blanket around her, the two of them returned to the master bedroom.
The awkward atmosphere immediately returned.
There was only one double bed in the room.
Although Lin Wan had confidently declared earlier that she’d buy a sofa, they had simply been too busy to visit the furniture store.
Now, the five-foot-wide wooden bed sat alone in the center of the room, silently mocking the couple who were husband and wife in name only.
Standing at the doorway, Qin Zhan looked at the bed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
They had slept together the previous night, but Tangtang had been lying between them as a buffer.
Besides, they had been staying at a guesthouse, where they could excuse themselves by saying they were simply making do while traveling.
But this was different.
This was their home.
Their future marital bedroom.
A man and a woman.
Alone in one room.
Sleeping in the same bed.
Qin Zhan felt that his iron discipline as a soldier was being put to the ultimate test.
“Um…”
Lin Wan broke the silence first.
Holding her little pillow, her gaze shifted back and forth between the bed and the floor.
[Well… this is awkward.]
[I’m definitely interested in this body overflowing with masculine hormones… but he’s supposedly all show and no substance.]
[Sleeping beside him when I can only look but not touch… that’s just too cruel.]
[And what if he gets insecure in the middle of the night, flies into a rage, and strangles me to death?]
Qin Zhan took a deep breath, feeling as though his lungs were about to explode.
All show and no substance?
Only look but not touch?
He wanted nothing more than to prove to her—through practical demonstration—what the endurance of a special operations soldier truly meant.
But he couldn’t.
He was a soldier.
He had discipline.
He had honor.
Besides, they hadn’t even registered their marriage yet, nor had they held a proper wedding banquet.
Grinding his teeth, Qin Zhan strode over to the wardrobe and pulled out a spare army-green quilt.
“You take the bed.”
He spread the quilt neatly across the floor with brisk, decisive movements, as though resigning himself to his fate.
“I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Lin Wan blinked as she looked at the man already lying on the floor with his back turned to her, practically radiating an unmistakable “Don’t come anywhere near me” aura.
[Well, well… quite the gentleman.]
[Would he really rather sleep on the cold floor than face the embarrassment of his… physical shortcomings?]
[What a pitiful… yet admirable man.]
[Forget it. Since the floor’s so hard, I won’t make fun of you anymore.]
Lin Wan climbed into bed, wrapped herself snugly in the blanket, and let out a contented sigh.
“Good night, Commander Qin.”