Whether Yan Qiu was impatient or not, it didn’t matter. For the time being, there was nothing they could do anyway, because there were still many follow-up matters that needed to be dealt with.
Lu Yu was quickly taken away, and Ji Zhuyun went with him.
Yan Qiu and Lu Qiao were locked together and couldn’t separate, so Lu Qiao stayed by Yan Qiu’s side and helped him handle some affairs.
It wasn’t until midnight that they set off, beginning their journey back to Central Star.
During the trip, Lu Qiao still slept nestled against Yan Qiu—he was simply too exhausted.
Earlier, Yan Qiu had been very gentle and hadn’t hurt him, but they had still been at it for such a long time!
Yan Qiu, on the other hand, seemed to be in excellent spirits. He had barely rested at all!
Lu Qiao found it unbelievable. “You’re not tired at all??”
The man thought about it, then teased, “I recharged.”
Lu Qiao: “…”
Wait, was that some kind of dirty dad joke?
Seeing him rendered speechless, Yan Qiu smiled, pulled him into his arms, and said quietly, “Go to sleep. After we get there, we still have to go to the Imperial Palace first.”
—That’s right. Although, to everyone after the reversal of time, Lu Qiao had nothing to do with this incident, and the Empire had indeed temporarily refrained from changing its attitude toward him because he had no offensive power, there was still one prerequisite: he had to continue to have “no offensive power.”
No matter how much His Majesty the Emperor had shown his appreciation for Lu Qiao before, he absolutely could not afford to be lax about this matter.
Therefore, before they set out just now, Lu Qiao had already received a summons and needed to undergo another consciousness-power examination.
This should also have been the Empire’s way of giving itself some peace of mind.
At six in the morning, the two arrived at the Imperial Palace.
Lu Qiao was quickly taken away to undergo the examination. Before they separated, Yan Qiu squeezed his hand.
Lu Qiao looked back. The man’s gaze was extremely calm, and Lu Qiao’s own heart gradually settled as well.
Before leaving, he even saw Yan Qiu’s father and mother appear too. No matter what the two elders were like at home, once they were outside, they both carried an imposing presence. When they saw Lu Qiao, Yan Qiu’s mother and father nodded at him.
The entire Yan family stood behind him.
Lu Qiao smiled as well, then turned around and walked away.
An hour later, he was released from the Imperial Palace.
His consciousness-power threshold had once again increased astonishingly, yet his offensive power remained zero. Lu Qiao vaguely remembered the complicated looks on the faces of the people around him when the examination results came out.
After coming outside and seeing the azure-blue sky, Lu Qiao slowly exhaled. His entire body finally relaxed.
Yan Qiu’s parents had also finished dealing with whatever matters they needed to handle and were standing on the steps outside the Imperial Palace.
The old Marshal Yan no longer needed a wheelchair now, although he still couldn’t do without his cane.
He gazed at the sky and suddenly asked, “You didn’t come face-to-face with Cheng Yi, did you?”
Lu Qiao froze and turned to look.
Yan Qiu paused before saying, “No.”
Old Marshal Yan fell silent for a moment, then let out a sigh.
Lu Qiao thought that Old Marshal Yan must have wondered about it before, right? Whether that child he had watched grow up, the child he had once kept by his side like his own son, had ever felt regret.
Yet should it be said that things were too dramatic, or not dramatic enough?
Cheng Yi had not, like the villains in television dramas or novels, suddenly come to his senses at the final moment. He had repeatedly claimed that he no longer hated Old Marshal Yan that much, but Lu Qiao always felt that there was still an extremely intense hatred in his heart.
He knew very well that the person he should have directed his hatred toward wasn’t Old Marshal Yan, yet he couldn’t control his emotions. Cheng Yi’s inner world had already become twisted into a tangled mess during his long and lonely life of wandering.
—But how, exactly, had he first discovered the method of controlling other people?
After all, that was something he had needed to discover only after shattering his own consciousness body.
Lu Qiao lowered his eyes, his mood somewhat complicated.
It wasn’t until a month later that this entire series of events finally settled down completely.
The ten consciousness manipulators, including Ye Lan, had already set out for the various countries within the Alliance. Lu Qiao’s situation was special, so naturally, he wasn’t going to be sent out.
He and Yan Qiu returned to their training life in the military, while Ji Zhuyun—he came back too!
“Well, if I hadn’t come back, that guy probably would’ve become depressed to death,” Ji Zhuyun said, laughing to himself, his tone gentle. “Actually, he’s always been very clingy. If he wants me to stay, I won’t leave him.”
That guy had exhausted himself trying to persuade Ji Zhuyun to pursue his dream when he was facing him, yet after Ji Zhuyun walked away and secretly turned around to look, the little guy had immediately become dejected.
He really was too much of a tsundere.
Lu Qiao was stuffed full of dog food. After recovering from the chaos, he said, “It’s precisely because he genuinely likes you that he hopes you won’t worry about him and will do what you want to do.”
Lu Yu looked introverted, easily embarrassed, and timid, as though he constantly needed someone to take care of him. But in reality, he was a very considerate person.
Suddenly thinking of something, Lu Qiao became curious and asked, “By the way, Luo Ye was in the same year as you and Yan Qiu back then, right? Lu Yu is Luo Ye’s older brother, so you and Lu Yu are… an age-gap relationship where you’re the younger one?!”
They were sitting in a corner of the cafeteria, and Yan Qiu happened to come over at that moment.
Ji Zhuyun smiled and said, “Lu Qiao, you know quite a lot these days. You even know what ‘younger seme’ means?”
Yan Qiu sat down beside Lu Qiao. Hearing this, he smiled and glanced at him, saying, “There are still plenty of things you need to learn.”
Lu Qiao: “…”
His butt tightened.
Over this past month, Yan Qiu had certainly “taught” him quite a few things.
Lu Qiao found it strange. Yan Qiu was a beginner himself, wasn’t he? Whatever “experience” he had gained in dreams shouldn’t count, right? So how had he become his teacher in this particular matter?
Lu Qiao wasn’t willing to admit defeat. During this period, he had secretly watched quite a few little videos, hoping that one day he could also pretend to be an expert and “teach” Yan Qiu.
Unfortunately… his ability to comprehend things in this area was somewhat poor. It hadn’t gone very well!
After teasing him, Ji Zhuyun explained, “Luo Ye was the youngest in our year. He was almost two years younger than Yan Qiu and me. Lu Yu, however, happens to be the same age as us. But he really does look much younger than Luo Ye, doesn’t he?”
As he said this, Ji Zhuyun laughed too.
The one at home really was a little kid. He had to be spoiled, and of course, Ji Zhuyun was happy to do it.
Just then, Yan Qiu received a call. His chair hadn’t even warmed up before he got up and went aside to talk.
Lu Qiao looked at his back, then turned around and asked Ji Zhuyun, “By the way, I heard that you and Lu Yu registered your marriage?”
He had only heard the news that morning. He had originally planned to wait until they were resting that evening before sending Ji Zhuyun a proper congratulatory message, but unexpectedly, he ran into him in the cafeteria.
Lu Qiao was genuinely shocked! Those two hadn’t been joking at the research station that day!
Ji Zhuyun said leisurely, “Mm, we did.”
“Congratulations…” But Lu Qiao still found it amazing. “You two really moved fast!”
Ji Zhuyun thought for a moment and said, “Lu Yu and I did just get together, but our feelings for each other aren’t something that started only a day or two ago. So, yes, we moved quickly, but both of us are completely certain in our hearts.”
He looked at Lu Qiao and said, “Yan Qiu has had feelings for you for a full five years as well. If you count the time when he hadn’t yet clearly understood his own feelings, it’s even longer than five years. For him, wanting to be with you forever is definitely something he doesn’t need to hesitate or think about.”
Lu Qiao froze.
Ji Zhuyun smiled. “The key is you. What exactly do you think about him?”
As Ji Zhuyun’s words fell, Yan Qiu finished his call and sat back down.
Sensing that something was going on, he looked between the two of them and asked, “What are you talking about?”
Ji Zhuyun waved his hand. “Nothing. I’m done eating, so I’ll head out first.”
Yan Qiu raised an eyebrow slightly, then looked at Lu Qiao.
Feeling the man’s gaze, Lu Qiao turned his head and looked at him as well.
Actually, he knew that, just like when Yan Qiu had confessed to him and then waited for him to figure out his own feelings, Yan Qiu had always given him plenty of time to think.
Yan Qiu’s feelings for him were passionate and intense. Yet even with all that passion, Yan Qiu was still willing to wait for him—to wait for him to accept his feelings, to wait until he was ready, and only then do the most intimate things with him.
Now, Yan Qiu was still planning to wait until Lu Qiao had thought everything through before proposing to him, right?
Ji Zhuyun had asked him what he thought about Yan Qiu.
Although Lu Qiao had found the speed at which Ji Zhuyun and Lu Yu had married unbelievable when he heard the news, if he really stopped to seriously think about the question, his own answer… seemed quite clear too.
Thinking about it this way, putting aside his embarrassment, perhaps this time he didn’t need to make Yan Qiu wait for so long anymore?
Lu Qiao’s heart began pounding.
He had a feeling that he was becoming bolder and bolder.
Once the thought had arisen, Lu Qiao was actually quite nervous. He opened his mouth and asked, “Yan Qiu, I’m planning to go back to my hometown again in a month. Do you want to come with me?”
Yan Qiu froze, then nodded without giving it much thought.
“Okay.”