Chapter 766: Chapter 8 Xiangyue!
_2 Chapter 766: Chapter 8 Xiangyue!
_2 “Sorry I digressed…
it’s a side effect of being a teacher; I always want to expand on things a bit.
After I had completed my education in general knowledge and history, I went on to attend middle school on Mars.
The most famous text in our textbooks at the time was ‘Moon Girl’.”
“This text told the story of Space-T Company and a little girl’s centuries-old promise, fulfilled with Jask himself accompanying the girl on her trip to the Moon.
It really was a very romantic text…
Although it certainly included promotion for Space-T Company, aimed at enhancing its corporate image and influence.
But after all, it was based on fact; Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue did truly exist.”
The name Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue became well-known on Mars.
Naturally, the article ‘Moon Girl’ was also included in middle school textbooks; back then, we were required to memorize it in its entirety!”
Lin Xian suddenly became interested:
“Can you recite it in full right now?
I’d really like to hear it.”
Wei Shengjin waved his hand, chuckling twice:
“I definitely can’t recite it now…
but when my son and grandson were in school, I helped them with their homework, and ‘Moon Girl’ in their middle school textbooks still required full memorization.”
“You see, I awoke from the hibernation pod in 2574, by that time Zheng Xiangyue had been back from the Moon for several decades.
By the time my grandson was in middle school, this text had been circulating for over a hundred years…
calling it Mars’ most famous literary work is no exaggeration.”
“I definitely can’t recite it for you now, but I certainly remember the content.
It mainly celebrated Zheng Xiangyue for her perseverance, enduring commitment, struggle against illness, optimistic outlook, and bold chase of her dreams; and it also praised the integrity of Space-T and Jask for keeping their word, the quality of fulfilling promises; it showed the relationships between people—”
“Teacher Wei, your occupational hazard as a teacher is acting up again,” Lin Xian squinted his eyes, interrupting Wei Shengjin, urging him:
“Stop with the reading comprehension and linguistic analysis for now, just tell me what the text is about.”
Wei Shengjin coughed softly:
“Mainly, this text is well known on Mars, so rarely does anyone need to recount it.
Actually, the text isn’t very long; it starts with Zheng Xiangyue waking up from hibernation, and after undergoing her general knowledge and history education, Space-T’s Jask personally came to her side, asking her if she still wanted to go to the Moon.”
“Then, Space-T fulfilled the centuries-old promise for this little girl, taking her to the Moon.
From Mars to the Moon was certainly no short distance, but the busy Jask still took half a year out of his schedule to accompany Zheng Xiangyue on a trip to the Moon.”
“However, to protect Zheng Xiangyue’s privacy, why she went to the Moon, what she did there…
none of that was mentioned in the text.
These reasons have been a curiosity over the past hundred years, and many historians have studied them, but…
none have figured it out.”
“At the time, many people thought that Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue would use this to skyrocket to fame, becoming a star or a celebrity; or perhaps use her popularity to enter politics; she naturally had many advantages that others spend their entire lives without achieving.
Yet, Moon Girl was more low-key than anyone expected, never making public appearances or capitalizing on her fame.”
“Everyone only knew she worked at Space-T.
Where she went afterward, when she retired, and what her condition was later on…
The reason I got so excited earlier was because I never expected that the former Moon Girl had come to Earth and even became the village chief’s grandmother!”
Listening to Wei Shengjin’s enthusiastic retelling, the now elderly Zheng Xiangyue smiled kindly, looking at Lin Xian:
Zheng Xiangyue referred to herself differently, more respectfully.
Because she very well knew that if in her teens she wrote about wanting to repay her brother Lin Xian, it naturally meant that Lin Xian had helped her a great deal, and their relationship was very close.
the after-effects of the hibernation pod made her forget everything.
Lin Xian thought for a moment.
you probably don’t remember me, do you?”
Zheng Xiangyue’s expression was complex.
Part bewildered, part touched, and a bit at a loss:
I wish I could remember you, but unfortunately…
I’ve thought my entire life, recalled for a hundred years, but I couldn’t recall any detail about you.”
As she spoke, Zheng Xiangyue stretched out her wrinkled fingers, touching a piece of laminated paper in Lin Xian’s hands, pointing to where the first wish was written:
remember anything about my brother.
Even though there’s a photo on his urn, I looked at it for a long time, but I can’t remember anything, he’s just like a stranger, a complete stranger.”
Lin Xian watched the lonely Grandma Zheng Xiangyue…
In the dim light of the lard lamp inside, he still couldn’t help but overlap the image of the little girl laden with wires and electromagnetic patches on the hospital bed with her shadow.
It was as if she was still sitting on the sickbed on the 17th floor of Donghai University Affiliated Hospital,
still leaning on that big Rhine Cat Doll,