Die on Mars

The girl chuckled.

"I promise that you will have dinner with me at the same table tomorrow night, and Lao Mao and I will serve you the braised beef-flavored biscuits and tomatoes that are the treasure of Kunlun Station."

"So grand?"

"No, Miss Ophiopogon japonicus, you are a distinguished guest. I have kept all the braised beef flavored ones and will share them with you when you come down." Tang Yue said, "I eat pickled cuttlefish-flavored biscuits all day long. It hurts beyond belief.”

"Is this an agreement?" Maidong asked softly.

"Yes." Tang Yue nodded, "We will definitely pick you up safely... We are fully prepared. The Orion spacecraft will land safely, Lao Mao has guaranteed it."

"That Lagou." said the girl.

"Pull the hook."

Both held out their little fingers.

"Hang yourself with a hook and don't change for a hundred years! If you change, you will be a puppy!"

Maidong chuckled.

"Hey Tang Yue, what day is it today?"

"Three hundred and twenty-one days." Tang Yue replied, "More than three hundred and twenty days have passed since the earth disappeared."

"Ah... it's already been three hundred and twenty-one days, and it will be a year soon." Maidong blinked, "But if you think about it carefully, this period of time is really long. It seems that many, many years have passed. Back then, Life on earth can be recalled as if it was a lifetime ago.”

As Maidong said, the two of them lived on Mars for less than a year, but in retrospect it seemed like a lifetime. The life before leaving the earth seemed like a world away. Tang Yue recalled his family, friends, colleagues, and teachers. , those memories are fragmented and blurry, just like the life of another person named Tang Yue hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

Sometimes Tang Yue has random thoughts and wonders if he was born on Mars, and there is another Tang Yue with the same name and surname on the earth.

"I still remember... before I set off, my mother came to the ground center to see me off. She told me that I should remember to put on more clothes when the temperature was about to cool down. I should remember to eat breakfast every day. Skipping breakfast is not good for my health. I should remember to call on time. I sent the video home and drank more hot water because I have a cold temper."

Tang Yue's heart moved when he heard this.

Before leaving, he made a phone call with his family, and his mother kept telling her the same things over and over again: pay attention to safety, dress well so as not to catch a cold, eat well, deal with interpersonal relationships with colleagues, and Dad stood by the phone receiver and urged: Okay, okay, how can he take care of himself at such a big age? He is an astronaut. Do you know astronaut? The state has arrangements.

My mother is a very typical working woman. She is an ordinary member of the 1.4 billion people in this country. She has not received a very high education. She has graduated from a college. She is not a strong woman. She has no career of her own. The highest level of society she can contact is only on the streets. The police station director, the farthest distance he has ever been is Thailand and Singapore.

Throughout her life, Mars was just a term in books and news. It had never been a place that could be reached. She had no clear idea of ​​landing on Mars, and she could not imagine a huge spacecraft weighing nearly a thousand tons. Using Baidu Encyclopedia only knew that a round trip took two years, and was shocked and surprised that it was so far!

At this time, Dad was humming next to him: Of course it’s far away, do you know that’s Mars? Mars is at least... son, how far away is it from the earth?

Tang Yue has gone too far, as far away as the stars in the sky.

"My dad was standing on the side. His face was always unhappy because he did not support my coming to Mars. He said that I was too young and that this kind of thing should be left to older people." Maidong continued. Said, "I even had a quarrel with him over this. He even went to the director and banged the table with him, saying, 'My daughter is only 25 years old, and you sent her to such a dangerous place. If something happens, what can you do? Can you be responsible?', and later he was dragged out by his mother...This is what my mother told me in an email later. She said that my father had made a big fuss in the director's office."

"and after?"

"Later I participated in the training, and my dad gradually stopped saying anything." Maidong smiled, "My dad is the kind of person who is very rigid and entangled. The most difficult thing for him to do in his life is to bow to others. ...But he came with my mother to see me off in the end, and he said one thing to me from the beginning to the end."

"What words?"

"He said pay attention to safety," Maidong said. "My mother later sent me an email and told me that my dad wiped his tears on the bus back."

"Your father and I have completely different attitudes." Tang Yue sighed, "Sure enough, a daughter is a treasure and a son is nothing."

"What did your father say?"

"He said, son, if you can become an astronaut, it will be a matter of honor to our ancestors! Just go and don't worry, I will take care of your mother!" Tang Yue curled his lips, "I said this is a life-threatening thing! I will come back if I can. Not coming! Do you know what he said?"

"What?"

"My bastard dad said that when he was young, he also risked his life. In a gang fight with a knife on the street, he was slashed in the back with a knife. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, otherwise the knife would have hit his head. Tang Yue said dullly, "He ran all the way out with a knife wound, hid in a scrapped car, and scared a passing little girl half to death. Later, this girl became my mother... I Dad always said that if he didn’t risk his life back then, I would be gone.”

Maidong held his belly and laughed so hard that he couldn't stop laughing until he was out of breath.

"Tang Yue, you have so many stories."

"Because I haven't been a good student since I was a child. I have made friends everywhere. I rely on my cleverness to do some surprises before the exam, and my score will not be too low. I can stay in the top ten every time I take the exam." Tang Yue pillowed Arms, "That's why the teacher doesn't care about me much, unlike a top student like you."

"But the life of a top student is boring. I envy you very much." Maidong sighed, "My father was very strict with me when I was a child. He had to learn English and piano every day after school. When he was learning piano, he would carry He stood aside with a whip, and if I dared to distract him, he would whip the floor. There were also math cram schools on weekends, so there was basically no free time.”

"Can you play the piano?"

"I know a little bit." Maidong hesitated, "I passed level 10 when I graduated from junior high school."

Tang Yue whistled.

Strictly speaking, the families of Tang Yue and Ophiopogon japonicus are completely different. Tang Yue comes from the common philistine class. People at this level are often smooth and philistine, kind but cowardly, and have tenacious vitality, while Ophiopogon japonicus is a typical example. Children from Kochi families carry with them the reserve and self-discipline unique to generations of scholarly families.

"It's getting late, girl, you should go to bed." Tang Yue said, "Have a good rest and make sure you have enough energy to cope with tomorrow's work."

"Tang Yue...will we meet tomorrow night?"

"Yes." Tang Yue said forcefully, "We have already pulled the hook."

"Well, we've already pulled the hook." Maidong felt relieved. She closed her eyes with satisfaction. After a while, Maidong opened her eyes again, "Tang Yue?"

"I'm here, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Maidong shook his head, "Good night."

"Good night."

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Kunlun Station fell silent.

The old cat huddled up against the wall, with its eyes closed and its ears drooped. When it was sleeping, it was no different from an ordinary cat, except that it was a little bigger - of course some fat orange cats could almost reach this level. body shape.

The monitor on the desktop suddenly lit up silently.

The cat ears in the shadow suddenly stood up.

A pop-up window appeared in the communication system, showing that there was a message accessing Kunlun Station.

"HELLO MARS!"