Finding Stardust

That"s when Haoran realized that the six chairs beside Emma were left empty. Initially, he thought the VVIP guests who were sitting there were just being late, but then he realized that there was no way anyone would come late to an event of such importance, let alone the first session deliberately starting at 10, not too early for anyone"s standard.

No guest names were written on the backs of the six chairs. He and Emma exchanged astonished looks.

It was as if the six chairs were deliberately vacated because the organizers knew the guests would not come. Then if they didn"t come, why weren"t the chairs just given to other people? Because he was very curious, Haoran finally turned to his father and whispered, asking for an explanation.

"Dad ... why are the six chairs next to Emma left empty? Was it intentional?"

Mr. Lee glanced in the direction Haoran meant and nodded. "That"s right. It"s a place of honor for the owner of RMI. You know, RMI, or formerly known as Rhionen Industries* is the originator of this s.p.a.ceLab initiative. You could say they were the founder and sole investor before s.p.a.ceLab became independent and worked with many companies and organizations. Therefore, forever RMI will get a place of honor at s.p.a.ceLab"s public events."

"Oh ..." Haoran nodded in understanding. He had heard about RMI and its controversial owner. But he did not understand why they had not come to such an important event if they were the originators of s.p.a.ceLab from the start. "Then why aren"t they coming, Dad?"

"They are still mourning what happened last year," replied Mr. Lee. "Can"t blame them ... Anyone who experiences such a devastating event will grieve deeply."

Haoran was stunned. His memory returned to the incident that became a global headline for weeks in mid-2056, right after he and Emma returned from the study trip to Paris.

At that moment, he saw the face of Elios Linden everywhere, whereas before RMI owner was known to be very reclusive. Ah ... apparently, the Linden family is still mourning.

He glanced at the six chairs again and took a deep breath. From what he heard, the family was the perfect dream family. Not only were the couple very beautiful, but they also looked very much in love. Their children were really fortunate to have such loving parents.

Ah ... the six chairs must represent Elios Linden, his wife, and their four children.

He then glanced at his father, who was paying close attention to James Falk"s speech. Haoran could not help but compare between his father and Elios Linden. If this father of his was even a tenth of Elios Linden, who loved his wife deeply, maybe Haoran would still have a complete family. His father wouldn"t leave Haoran"s mother and married that witch he was married to now.

During these five years, Haoran tried to understand the cause of separation between his parents so that he could find a reason to accept the reality and forgive his father. But, in fact ... there was no good reason. His mother didn"t cheat, didn"t do anything wrong, didn"t do things that hurt Lee"s family"s reputation or business.

His father just stopped loving his mother and was captivated by other women. That was all. And it was this rotten woman that made Mr. Lee worse at treating his ex-wife until finally, Haoran could no longer see his mother.

That was why Haoran"s hatred grew even more as he grew older. He kept his hatred in his chest and tried to focus his attention on James Falk"s speech.

__No need to think about it continuously__

Emma, who understood what Haoran was thinking, had reached out and held the young man"s hand. Ahh .. Haoran no longer felt depressed. He smiled faintly and went back to focusing his attention on James Falk"s speech on the stage.

After several short presentations, coffee break, etc., the long-awaited moment finally came, the s.p.a.ceLab"s Director of s.p.a.ce Exploration"s presentation, Professor Renald Hanenberg. The auditorium went dark and only displayed the spotlights on the young and handsome figure on the stage.

As usual, Professor Ren Hanenberg was wearing dark clothes that looked very formal. This was the first time Haoran saw the genius man firsthand, and even as a man, he felt impressed.

"He"s so handsome ... Don"t have a crush on him? I mean, you"re both geniuses," Haoran whispered, grinning at Emma. The girl just smiled at Haoran"s words.

"Why? Are you jealous?" The girl asked back. "You"re not jealous when I told you that Allan liked me."

"Hahaha ... that"s because I know that Allan is not a worthy rival to me. But Ren Hanenberg ..." Haoran looked at the man who was talking in front with a serious face. He smiled slightly when he explained his reasoning. "I"ve heard from my father about Professor Ren Hanenberg"s real ident.i.ty. When s.p.a.ceLab hired him, they had to investigate his background, including who is his real family. So, even though he hid the information from the public, s.p.a.ceLab"s top-level investors knew who he really is."

"Who exactly is he?" Emma asked. "He is a genius, but there are many geniuses in this world. Nothing exceptional about that."

"I don"t want to say who he really is. I don"t want you to fall in love with him," Haoran answered. And after he said that, he deliberately thought about things that were utterly unrelated to Ren Hanenberg so that Emma could not read his thoughts about Ren"s true ident.i.ty.

"Ughh .. you"re annoying. If you don"t want me to be curious, you shouldn"t have mentioned anything in the first place," Emma grumbled at last. "You do know I can force you to talk, right?"

"I know you can make me talk and force me to do whatever you want ... but you won"t," Haoran said with a triumphant smile.

"Ssshhh ..."

The two of them immediately fell silent when they heard Mr. Lee"s voice giving a signal that they shouldn"t whisper all the time. Haoran and Emma realized they were upholding Lee Industries" reputation and should not attract unwanted attention. Therefore they both looked back to the front.

Ren Hanenberg was explaining some technical terms about the latest technology that could make s.p.a.cecraft to fly faster. To his left, there was a three-dimensional hologram. It shows the earth, moon, and several other planets in the solar system, as well as models of several types of new s.p.a.cecraft that were being developed by s.p.a.ceLab.

The presentation was fascinating, and many times there was a sigh of admiration among the audience. An hour later, when he finished his presentation, the audience immediately rose from their seats and gave a standing ovation.

"Dad, are we going to meet Professor Ren Hanenberg later? We really want to meet him. Everything he said was amazing, and I would love to know more," Haoran said enthusiastically, turning his head to his father.

Mr. Lee nodded. "You can. Later at lunch with me, I"ll invite him to our table."

"Wahh ... that"s amazing! Thank you, Dad!"

.

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*] Rhionen Industries or RMI is a very important technology company group in this book universe. I have explained before that this book shares the same universe with my first book, "The Alchemists", that"s why I had to touch a little bit about them in this chapter since they were the founder of s.p.a.ceLab.

The owner of RMI is a controversial figure and he is the male lead in "The Alchemists" volume 2. If you read the book, you will understand why the six chairs are left empty and what Ren Hanenberg"s real ident.i.ty is. I can"t explain in detail here because it will become a huge spoiler for "The Alchemists" readers since the current volume there hasn"t touched the incident referred to here, which left the family grieving for a long time.