Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 11 Prelude to an Era

As the mountain wind grew colder, Ye Wenjie, who was pregnant, did not stay long and went down the mountain along the path.

Upon reaching the control building of the Red Coast System, I couldn't help but stop and look at the enormous antenna on the roof.

Counting the time, it had been almost a week since she sent the message and she hadn't been to the launch room. That day and that moment felt like a dream. Every time Ye Wenjie thought back on it, she doubted herself, wondering if she had actually sent a message to the Trisolaran civilization.

"Wenjie!"

While she was still in a daze, Yang Weining, who was by the second-floor window, spotted Ye Wenjie, waved, and ran out of the building. "Why aren't you staying home? Why are you wandering around like this? These are all mountain roads. What if you fall and get hurt?"

"I'm not Lin Daiyu."

Ye Wenjie smiled faintly as the couple walked side by side toward their home.

"Old Yang,"

On the way, Ye Wenjie brought up what her husband hadn't finished saying at dinner the day before yesterday: "What were you going to discuss with me that day?"

"Oh, that's nothing."

Yang Weining patted Ye Wenjie's hand, "I want you to go down the mountain and live in the city for a while."

"In the city?"

Ye Wenjie chuckled lightly, "Could someone like me even go back?"

Back then, Ye Wenjie went from being destitute in the city to living in the deep mountains of the Greater Khingan Range, and then from the deep mountains and forests to the Red Coast Base, a place where people could only enter and not leave. Her life was constantly marginalized.

Yang Weining said, "The outside world is different now, Wenjie. I'll show you."

"What are you looking at?"

Yang Weining smiled without saying a word and led Ye Wenjie forward. The two arrived at the gate of the Red Coast Base. As soon as they entered the guard post, three children of about fifteen or sixteen years old swarmed around Yang Weining, chattering excitedly.

"Teacher Yang, I understand what you said about free fall last time, but I still don't understand why an iron ball and a feather fall at the same speed."

"Teacher Yang, I've made the movable pulley you mentioned! Dad can work so much easier now!"

"Teacher Yang..."

The three children, two boys and one girl, were all wearing old cotton-padded jackets and dog-skin hats, clearly locals.

"How dare you come up to Radar Peak...."

This is an absolute military restricted area. The sentries can fire a shot at anyone who approaches without permission after just one warning.

Ye Wenjie turned to the sentry for confirmation. The sentry said, "Expert Ye, the secrecy level of the Red Coast Base has been lowered. As long as outsiders don't enter the base, they can come up to Radar Peak. In the past few days, people have been coming to deliver vegetables one after another."

"Where did they come from?"

Ye Wenjie stared intently at Yang Weining.

Yang Weining sat at the table cleared out by the sentry, holding a pencil in his hand, writing as he spoke, "Qijiatun is at the foot of the mountain."

Although it's said to be at the foot of the mountain, it actually takes about three hours to walk up the mountain path.

Ye Wenjie listened from the side and found that the questions the children asked were very basic, and Yang Weining could solve them in just a few words.

The problem is that Lao Yang is a scientist, and when he teaches the problems, he inevitably gets a little self-indulgent and goes overboard.

Ye Wenjie could understand it, but the children who had no foundation couldn't grasp the key points and were left bewildered.

"Old Yang, let me do it."

Unable to bear watching any longer, Ye Wenjie snatched Yang Weining's pencil, turned the guard post registration book over, and used the blank space on the back as a blackboard to write and draw.

She is meticulous and speaks clearly, almost breaking down knowledge into its components.

Yang Weining watched from the side and felt that his wife was shining, radiating maternal glow.

"Chief Engineer Yang,"

The sentry was also seeing Ye Wenjie like this for the first time. "Engineer Ye looks more human than before."

"If you can't speak properly, then shut up."

Yang Weining rolled his eyes at the sentry.

After explaining the questions, the children put away their books, and Ye Wenjie couldn't help but ask, "You came all this way just to ask these questions?"

The children nodded, and one of the girls exclaimed excitedly, "Teacher Ye, didn't you know? The college entrance exam is happening outside!"

"The National College Entrance Examination?"

"It's about going to university! Whoever studies well and gets the highest scores gets in! It's been like that for a year now, didn't you know?!"

"You're not recommending it anymore?"

"No, anyone can take the exam, even the kids from the village living in the cowshed!"

Ye Wenjie was stunned for a long time before she came to her senses.

Before leaving home, the children put on their backpacks and took out a few eggs from their bags, placing them in Ye Wenjie's palm. "Teacher Ye, my mom asked me to bring these."

"This won't do!"

Ye Wenjie quickly declined, saying that eggs were a rare sight even at the base, and she couldn't accept something so valuable.

But the children persisted. When she refused to accept the eggs, they put them in Yang Weining's arms and ran out of the guard post laughing and joking.

Ye Wenjie chased after them, calling out to their retreating figures, "Come find me anytime if you have any problems!"

"Oh! Okay, Teacher Ye!"

The children waved goodbye, and the word "teacher" lingered in Ye Wenjie's heart.

Turning around, Ye Wenjie saw her husband's warm expression and said, "It seems the outside world is really different."

Yang Weining nodded, "Not only the outside, but the Red Coast Base will also change."

Ye Wenjie remained silent.

Over the past year, the base's meals have been mostly meat-free, and the launch system's parts have been constantly being repaired and replaced, with many critical components reaching the end of their lifespan.

All the signs put together indicate one fact: the Red Coast Base may soon be closed.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call the Red Coast Base her utopia. Here, she doesn't have to deal with complicated interpersonal relationships, she can take advantage of her research to access the most cutting-edge articles in international astronomy, and she can concentrate on studying the vast universe.

Faced with this sudden reality, Ye Wenjie felt a faint sense of reluctance.

"The base is receiving less and less resources, and the medical conditions are poor. You are pregnant, and it is too dangerous for you to stay at the base."

Yang Weining advised, "We'll have to go back sooner or later. I've asked around about your and Dad's situation, and they can prove your innocence. If you like teaching, we can find a university teaching job and live a peaceful life together."

"May you be safe and sound..."

Ye Wenjie's mind reflexively recalled the moment she pressed the launch button.

She suddenly felt a little irritated.

"Let me think about it some more."

That faint sense of world-weariness emanated from Ye Wenjie's brows again.

Yang Weining didn't say much, put the eggs in his pocket, and helped Ye Wenjie out of the guard post.

As they neared home, Yang Weining suddenly said, "Wenjie, you know what? That day, Lao Lei and I risked our lives to go down and fix the grounding electrode, but the fault still wasn't gone, and guess what happened?"

"We spent half the day checking again the day before yesterday, and it turned out that the bolts in the equipment were loose! Luckily you and Comrade Li Youyu were there that day, otherwise Lao Lei and I would have been killed because of a broken bolt, how unjust that would have been."

Ye Wenjie was still caught up in a strange struggle and didn't notice that Yang Weining was paying close attention to her reactions while he was speaking.

Upon hearing the word "fall to death," Ye Wenjie's hands clenched instinctively.

Yang Weining sensed the change in his wife, pursed his lips slightly, and swallowed back the words he wanted to say.