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After that, they had a simple lunch together. After the meal, Master Shang took Qiao Zhiya to a small laboratory in the deepest part of the fourth floor. “You can use this lab in the future. I heard that you have prepared a batch of instruments yourself, which are better than the ones in the school. That’s good, so I won’t help you arrange it, you can clean it up yourself.”
Qiao Zhiya looked at the laboratory, which was not small and had complete protective facilities. He nodded and said gratefully, “Thank you, Laoshi.”
Master Shang looked at him with a smile in his eyes, and said, “No need to thank me. Also, where did you hear about me?”
Qiao Zhiya was taken aback, and a tall figure immediately appeared in his mind. Immediately, he slightly blushed as he whispered, her face blushed slightly, and she whispered, “From Chu Rong. I know you are his mother’s teacher.”
“Ah, so your seniority is a bit jumbled,” Master Shang acquiesced and made a joke. Then he took him to his own laboratory on the fifth floor underground. There, he took a space button that was hidden inside a safe and gave it to him, saying, “Inside this, there’s Xiao Rong’s mother’s notebook from when she was studying under me. You can take a look at it. It contains the mecha she designed for Xiao Rong’s father and some ideas for weapon modification. Xiao Rong’s mecha driving is learned from his father’s style, so you can use this as a reference.”
Qiao Zhiya never guessed that the item Master Shang wanted to hand him was this. He understood that this should be under Chu Rong’s request, otherwise Master Shang wouldn’t randomly give him Chu Rong’s mother’s relic to him. His heart became warm. Rong’s hand.
He hurriedly stretched out his hands to take the space button carefully, and said, “Thank you, I will take a good look at it.”
“I heard that you have designed good mecha weapons. This is your advantage, as a mecha’s weapon can net you a great bonus points in the competition. Luo Li was lazy and gave up this part last year, but you shouldn’t follow his footsteps. You can try to add weapons to your mecha.”
With this reminder, Qiao Zhiya became worried again, and said frankly, “Laoshi, I only recently learned about parts-making so far. I may not be able to go too far in this competition.”
He knew his own strength, and this large-scale competition was obviously too hard for a beginner like him.
Master Shang especially liked his down-to-earth and non-aggressive nature. Hearing this, his expression became more amiable. “I don’t ask you to go too far this time, just try your best. I let you participate mainly because I want you to learn more styles from other contestants. Take a look at how other excellent mecha masters make mechas, broaden your thinking and horizons, and feel the atmosphere of the competition. When you’re in third grade, you can participate again, and I know you can get a satisfactory result. So don’t be stressed.”
So it turned out that the teacher had already helped him think about the future.
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Qiao Zhiya became grateful, the worry in his heart finally dissipated. He stopped hesitating, and said seriously, “Laoshi, I will work hard!”
Master Shang smiled and reached out to touch his head.
Three days later, Xiang Kun entered the classroom with a dark circle under his eyes. His expression was very irritated, as if he could explode at any given moment. But overall, he really looked much “livelier” than before.
After Qiao Zhiya saw him, he picked up his communicator with a guilty conscience. ‘Xiao Yan really
 but at least, only one of Xiang Kun’s eye sockets is bruised, so at least he held back. I just hope that Xiang Kun can be “lively” longer this time.’
Sang Bu also noticed Xiang Kun’s bruised eye. With a frown, he seriously said, “Don’t you dare to fight in the military academy, are you not afraid of being punished?”
Qiao Zhiya withdrew his gaze, his eyes fluttering as he replied, “Maybe
 his condition was from a sparring match?”
“Well, at least it wasn’t a fight. It’s almost time for class, let’s read.”
Sang Bu looked at him suspiciously, and saw that his ears were stiff with guilt. With squinted eyes, he retracted his curiosity and no longer dwells on this problem anymore. He opened his textbook.
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After school on Friday, Qiao Zhiya, who learned that Chu Yan was going to have extra training on the weekend, returned to the main house alone. Chu Huai and Gu Yan’an welcomed him, asked about his life at school, and had a somewhat deserted dinner with him.
Qiao Zhiya didn’t wait for Chu Rong’s communication that night. According to the time, the other party should have arrived in the Empire today, and he was probably busy.
He tossed and turned on the bed and couldn’t fall asleep. So he simply got up, found a piece of Chu Rong’s clothes from the closet and stuffed it under the bed, using it as Chu Rong’s substitute. With a familiar smell near him, he could pretend that Chu Rong was by him. Relaxing, he leaned against the bed and took out the space button that Master Shang gave him a few days ago.
In the past few days, he has been busy adapting to the rhythm of school and dealing with various trivial matters. He has never had time to look at the things in this space button, but now, he finally had the time.
There was no spiritual imprint on the space button, so he took out the contents easily.
There were not many things. There’s an old electronic book, some manuscripts, a few paper-books, and some tools and materials. They were all well maintained, as if they were still used recently.
He touched these tools and manuscripts one by one, and carefully put them into his storage bracelet, leaving only one electronic book in his hand.
After the electronic book was opened, a long list of directories jumped out. The names of the directories ranged from material knowledge to mecha design, and they were arranged in strict accordance with the learning order of mecha manufacturing. Once he tapped one of the directories, he could jump into that entry.
Obviously, this was a study note that has been carefully organized.
His breath became lighter. He  clicked on the first line of the directory with a solemn attitude of touching a piece of history.
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[I don’t know who will open this notebook first. Will it be Lao Da’s1Lao Da = one of many endearing ways to refer to your oldest child, more commonly for boys. Lao is “old”, Da is “big”. Lao Er is for second-born, and Lao San is for third-born. partner? Or will it be Lao Er’s or Lao San’s?]
The first line of the note was actually a row of diary-like words. He was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously tightened his grip on the electronic book, and read it intently.
[I gave birth to three children, but none of them followed my path. I didn’t know whether to cry or beat them all up. But those are three children, even if they don’t learn mecha manufacturing, one of their future partners must learn this, or maybe my future grandchildrens? Ah, I suddenly look forward to the day when I become a grandma.]
Qiao Zhiya thought of Chu Huai and Gu Yan’an, who had been married for nine years but had never had children, and suddenly felt a little sad.
He heard from Chu Yan that Chu Huai and Gu Yan’an met just after the war was over. At that time, Chu Huai was injured, but he didn’t want to stay in the hospital. He wanted to take care of Chu Rong, who was spiritually polluted. As his attending physician, Gu Yan’an was so angry because she couldn’t stop him. In her anger, she yelled at him and slapped him, which knocked Chu Huai, who was extremely weak at the time, into fainting.
The two got to know each other like this. Gu Yan’an accompanied Chu Huai to get through the most difficult period of the Chu family, but because of this, the two of them never dared to have children.
A child is too fragile and needs too much energy to take good care of them. At that time, the Chu family may collapse at any time – Chu Rong’s life was teetering on the edge, and Chu Yan was far too young to hold any responsibility. As a result, Chu Huai and Gu Yan’an have exhausted their energy taking care of the Chu family.
At that time, Chu Huai had just graduated from the military academy, and was younger than Xiang Hui now. While Chu Rong, who was only eighteen years old, witnessed the death of his parents and relatives. He became traumatized, and the damage to his spiritual strength almost made him disabled

Qiao Zhiya shook his head to pull himself out from this spiral. He clenched his fist and beat his constricted chest to cheer himself up, and continued to look down.
There were still a few lines of diary-like text, all of which are Mrs. Chu’s small expectations for life. At the end, Mrs. Chu solemnly greeted the person who will get this note in the future, and ended the entry with a smiley face.
Qiao Zhiya also smiled at the cute, drawn-too-sharply emoji. It took him a long time before he moved on to the next page.
Mrs. Chus’ notes were in the style of Master Shang, concise and easy to understand, without a word of redundant nonsense.
After starting reading, Qiao Zhiya found it hard to stop. It wasn’t until the lights in the room gradually went out due to the dawn that Qiao Zhiya recovered from this trance. He had read through the intermediate parts chapter. He realized that he just pulled an all-nighter, so he hurriedly put away the electronic notebook and hid himself under the quilt.
After only sleeping for more than an hour, Gu Yan’an called him up. He opened his bleary eyes, got out of bed with a firm attitude, and secretly used a potion to lift his spirits. After washing up, he tried his best to go to the dining room as usual.
Chu Huai and Gu Yan’an have also been busy recently, rushing to go out to do errands, so they didn’t realize that Qiao Zhiya secretly stayed up late and was severely deprived of sleep.
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Qiao Zhiya sent them to the door, turned around and went to Master Ren’s laboratory. He helped Master Ren make a weapon for the whole day. During dinner-time, his exhaustion finally caught up to him, so he immediately rolled himself into the quilt once he touched his bed.
In the palace provided by the Empire for distinguished guests, Chu Rong’s call requests were all ignored. He frowned and immediately called the old butler instead.
The old butler hurriedly checked Qiao Zhiya’s room. He fondly shook his head when he saw the bulge on the bed, and moved closer to take a picture of Qiao Zhiya sleeping for Chu Rong to see.
Chu Rong’s face turned black.
The old butler was puzzled, and asked in a low voice, “Second Young Master, what’s wrong with him?”
“He must’ve stayed up late,” Chu Rong replied coldly, looking at the dark circles under Qiao Zhiya’s eyes and the unchanging clothes on his body. He wanted to scold the youth, but couldn’t bear to wake him up. After a few seconds of silence, he hung up the communication in a cold manner. Full of rage, his finger frantically tapped his armchair.
‘I didn’t agree to his request yesterday, and he stayed up late as a result? Heh, he dared!’
Fan Xiangnan knocked on the door but got no response, so he sighed helplessly, pushed the door open and walked in, saying: “Sir, the Imperial High Advisor is here.”
He hoped that the Marshal wouldn’t be so distracted anymore.
Chu Rong regained his senses, the irritability on his face subsided. He got up and said, “Lead him to the guest lounge. Turn on the signal jammer. Is someone tailing after him?”
“He came with a servant,” Fan Xiangnan answered, opened the door for him, and stepped aside.
1Lao Da = one of many endearing ways to refer to your oldest child, more commonly for boys. Lao is “old”, Da is “big”. Lao Er is for second-born, and Lao San is for third-born.