Chapter 236: Separation

Back at the other base, the little one and the senior sister didn’t have much time together.

Plus, more than a year has passed, so it’s normal for Candy, who is only a little over two years old, to have forgotten Li Qianqian.

Mo Jingchun doesn’t know about others, but he knows that he doesn’t have many memories of his childhood before the age of five.

Every time, he only learns about the funny things that happened to him as a child through the stories told by the elders.

The elders often say that when he was just over three years old, both his dad and mom were busy with farm work.

He, asleep on the bed, somehow ended up under the bed.

When it was almost dark, his parents came back and found that their child was gone.

They searched the house but couldn’t find him, and they panicked.

At that time, Mo Jingchun’s grandfather was still alive.

Grandfather acted decisively and without a word gathered the whole village to search.

Especially the pond in front of Uncle’s house, it is said that the villagers turned it upside down.

They searched until midnight, and since they couldn’t find the child, everyone sighed.

Everyone said the child was probably taken by some animal.

At that moment, startled by the noise from the crowd and his mother’s crying, Mo Jingchun crawled out from under the bed, and looked at his mom with a confused expression.

It is said that after that event, even if his mom went out to work, she would take him along.

If he needed to sleep, they would lay out a blanket for him to sleep on the field.

"So, how’s the food? Getting used to it? It’s surely not as good as your usual meals."

Sitting across from Mo Jingchun and Candy, Academician Chen Xihuo asked with a smile.

"Teacher, this food is much better than what I usually have."

"At the company, Candy and I also eat in the cafeteria, the same food and drinks as the employees."

"The cafeteria food is alright, but it’s just catering to the general palate."

All the same? Chen Xihuo was a bit surprised.

Even without considering Mo Jingchun’s current status being prominent, even without such a status, Chen Xihuo had tasted Mo Jingchun’s cooking.

That taste, there’s just no comparison.

"Eating with employees is good, you see all of us researchers and support staff eat the same meals."

After dinner, they followed the teacher back to the central control center.

But soon after reaching the central control center, Academician Chen Xihuo asked Li Qianqian to take Mo Jingchun downstairs to rest.

Tomorrow is the landing day, and there’s really nothing major going on now.

It’s just that at this crucial moment, there’s a bit of unease.

After all, everything is theoretical data, with no actual experience at all.

"Xiaochun, you take the child and go rest first."

"I’m here until around eight or nine o’clock, then I will go to rest as well."

Looking into the teacher’s eyes, Mo Jingchun nodded.

Outside the room, Li Qianqian stood at the door, not coming in.

"I won’t go in."

"I’ll come to get you tomorrow morning, around seven-thirty."

"Well, if there are no problems, you should get up by seven."

"Oh, by the way, the Mars lander’s landing time is planned for ten seventeen and thirty-six seconds."

"Got it, thank you, Senior Sister."

Li Qianqian waved her hand dismissively and said:

"It’s no big deal, besides, I’m your senior sister, it’s my duty to take care of you."

"Alright, I’ll be off now."

"The teacher is getting older, he should rest early, or he might not have the energy tomorrow."

"If something unexpected happens by then, it could be serious."

Watching Li Qianqian’s departing figure, Mo Jingchun was full of admiration.

Senior Sister’s intention was clear, she’s going back to let the teacher rest while she monitors the data.

If anything unusual occurs, she will handle it immediately and notify the teacher.

Mo Jingchun considers himself unable to contribute silently to national development like his teacher and senior sister.

Senior Sister has dedicated her entire youth to research, who outside the research institute knows of this?

Pushing the door open, the room wasn’t big, a bed occupied a third of the space.

One-third of the space was a bathroom.

In the bathroom, aside from a sink and a squat toilet, there was only a shower.

Nothing else.

Of course, there was still a mirror above the sink.

Remarkably, next to the bed, in the small remaining space, there was a foldable table mounted on the wall.

Though the room was simple, it had everything it needed.

The thing that delighted Mo Jingchun the most was that the room was incredibly clean.

The floor, under the light, showed no sign of dust.

The bed, neatly made and smooth.

Judging by the perfectly made bed, it seemed like it was made by a soldier.

The phone had no internet, and being left with nothing much, big or small, to play with, they decided on an early night’s sleep.

After all, they’d have to get up by seven the next morning.

The next day, when Li Qianqian arrived, Mo Jingchun and his sister had been waiting for quite a while.

Not sure if it was because they went to bed too early yesterday, but the little one woke up just after five in the morning.

This also stirred Mo Jingchun awake.

With sufficient rest, Mo Jingchun was full of energy.

When Mo Jingchun arrived at the central control center, all the staff were already in place.

Yesterday’s vacant seats had all been filled today.

Just like before, the teacher sat in the last row.

As the time reached ten o’clock sharp, the manned spacecraft orbiting Mars was performing a uniform circular motion.

Due to weather conditions in the designated landing zone on Mars, the landing time was delayed by five minutes.

Moreover, the astronauts were tasked with finding the best landing window themselves.

During this period, Mars was 96 million kilometers away from the Blue Star.

At such a long distance, messages sent from the Blue Star would only be received by the manned spacecraft more than five minutes later.

Given such a delay, the decision of when to land relied solely on the astronauts’ intuition and the computer’s calculated optimal timing.

As the time approached ten-twenty, everyone in the central control center held their breath.

They quietly watched the footage sent back from the manned spacecraft five minutes earlier and listened to the conversations between astronauts inside the spacecraft.

From the returned information, it seemed that at that moment, 96 million kilometers away on the distant orbit of Mars, the Mars lander should be undergoing its final check before detaching from the spacecraft.

Then, three minutes later, it would detach from the manned spacecraft and enter the Martian atmosphere.

As time ticked away, everyone’s hearts were in their throats.

Except for the carefree little one.

Three minutes later, the video of the Mars lander separating from the manned spacecraft was transmitted back.

The Mars lander successfully separated from the manned spacecraft.

PS: Thanks to H for the reward and support.

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