After going downstairs, the butler went to the kitchen and told the chef what to prepare for dinner that evening. When he finished, he added, “Once it’s ready, give it to me. I’ll take it upstairs.”
The servants and chef who had gathered around hoping to hear some gossip immediately lowered their voices.
“What? The young master actually plans to have dinner in his room?”
Yan Qiu was a soldier. Even before officially becoming one, he had been more disciplined than his parents since childhood. His clothes were always neat, his behavior elegant and courteous, and his personality calm and rational. He never acted carelessly.
Eating anywhere other than at the dining table was something that, in the past, was completely unimaginable for him.
The butler chuckled secretly. “Just wait. I have a feeling this kind of thing will happen more and more often in the future—as long as that person is here.”
He pointed upstairs.
Everyone understood.
Come to think of it, they had heard that young man’s name from the eldest young master of the Ji family, Ji Zhuyun, before.
It had been when their young master was still studying. Once, the eldest young master of the Ji family and some others had come to visit. Ji Zhuyun had mentioned that they had encountered a young kid from a school during a competition, a kid named Lu Qiao.
That school was practically the best public school, and the kid was three years younger than both their young master and Ji Zhuyun.
At the time, their young master had only reached the fifth year of the ten-year educational program. He was seventeen, while that kid was fourteen.
Ji Zhuyun had exaggerated, “Wow, that guy got beaten silly by Yan Qiu. Afterward, he just stood there staring blankly at Yan Qiu for ages and kept watching us leave. I was worried he was going to cry—by the way, aren’t you being a little too ruthless with such a young kid?!”
The last sentence was, of course, directed at Yan Qiu.
Their young master merely remained expressionless and ignored him completely.
Mrs. Yan found it amusing and asked Ji Zhuyun what had happened. Ji Zhuyun said with a grin that a young kid had heard Yan Qiu was very famous and had boldly challenged him, only to be completely crushed by Yan Qiu.
Mrs. Yan then poked her son’s arm and joined in the teasing.
“You really weren’t very gentle. He was only fourteen!”
Later, that young kid officially became a core member of his school’s competition team and would occasionally encounter their young master on the competition field. For two years during that period, he had even participated in joint training camps with the Royal Academy’s competition team.
Every time Ji Zhuyun came over, he would mention it.
“Wow, that little guy got beaten up by your young master again today.”
“That little guy’s growing pretty fast. It’s a little frightening!”
“Yan Qiu, did you hear? He regards you as his rival. Hahahaha!”
“I’m dying of laughter. You don’t know this, but his friend Song Yue told me that he even calls your name in his dreams. He’s fallen in love with you, hasn’t he?!”
Their young master grew from seventeen, to eighteen, to nineteen, all the way to twenty-two.
That little kid grew from fourteen, to fifteen, to sixteen, all the way to nineteen.
That was the year their young master joined the military.
On the evening he returned from his final interschool competition before joining the military, Ji Zhuyun followed him home to mooch dinner.
During the meal, Ji Zhuyun propped his chin on his hand and looked at their young master with a hint of curiosity.
“You were with Lu Qiao the whole time last night?”
Their young master paused at the question. Then he put down his utensils and calmly said,
“He fell asleep.”
Yet there was an unprecedented gentleness in his voice.
A month later, the young master departed directly for the frontier base, and from then on, he did not return home for five years.
Those of them who remained working at the estate naturally had no idea what happened afterward. After five years, they had assumed that the “little kid” had disappeared into the past like a mere passerby.
Last night, when the young master brought home a handsome black-haired young man, they had all been startled. But when they heard the young master call him “Lu Qiao,” they suddenly understood.
They were surprised, yet somehow not that surprised.
It turned out that the bond between their young master and this young man had never been severed.
After Lu Qiao had his hair dried and finished dinner, his wings no longer hurt, and his whole body felt incredibly comfortable.
Because of what Yan Qiu had said, he was still absolutely delighted. The curve of his lips had never once fallen.
Yan Qiu lay on his side beside him, continuously stroking his wings as the two chatted intermittently.
“I’ll go to the hospital for another examination tomorrow. The numbers should have changed…” Lu Qiao’s eyes were half-closed, his voice full of sleepiness.
The wing trembled slightly.
Then, all of a sudden, it began shrinking.
Yan Qiu stopped.
The pure-white wings rapidly retracted into the two wing sacs on Lu Qiao’s back within two seconds, leaving behind two tiny holes in his spine.
In less than a second, even the holes disappeared, and his back once again became smooth and unblemished.
Yan Qiu’s hand slowly descended onto Lu Qiao’s bare back and gently rubbed it.
Lu Qiao’s back instinctively tensed in response, making the hollow curve of his waist appear even more supple and graceful.
He had completely closed his eyes and looked as though he was already half asleep.
Yan Qiu: “……”
One minute later.
“Turn over and sleep. Your wings are gone now. Don’t lie on your stomach.”
“Mm…”
He turned over, pulled the blanket over himself, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
After he had been asleep for an unknown amount of time, Lu Qiao once again felt his consciousness separate from his body and drift toward the window, gazing at the hazy moonlight.
But this time, something was different.
He turned around.
In the darkened room, where there should have been a person lying on the spacious bed, there was now a white ball floating in the air.
The ball was about the size of Lu Qiao’s two fists. It looked like a sphere of flame burning at the highest temperature, with tongues of fire rising from its edges and spreading outward.
Lu Qiao’s thoughts were somewhat muddled.
He stared at the ball of flame for a while, then drifted out of the bedroom. He followed the pitch-black corridor and stairs, wandering aimlessly throughout the villa.
He went down floor by floor, repeatedly passing through walls.
In the other rooms, he saw other balls of flame. They were all white, though they varied in size.
He wandered and wandered.
Eventually, he reached the first floor.
He drifted around the right side, then the left, following the corridor on the left all the way to the end until he stopped in front of the last room.
He tilted his head slightly.
He could sense that there was something different inside.
The next second, the alarm clock rang.
Lu Qiao abruptly opened his eyes.
The man beside him had awakened a moment earlier and used a voice command to turn off the alarm.
The time was 5:20.
The previous night, Lu Qiao and Yan Qiu had already agreed on a plan.
According to the feedback from countless people online, the morning teleportation occurred at six o’clock. So they would wake up early, wash up, eat breakfast, and get themselves fully prepared before returning.
Breakfast had been chosen by Lu Qiao.
Although Yan Qiu could not control what he ate for lunch, for the two meals he could control, he had kept his promise from two days ago and let Lu Qiao eat whatever he wanted.
Of course, Lu Qiao actually felt embarrassed about it. He always felt bad about freeloading off Yan Qiu.
But whenever he showed any intention of bringing up the cost, one look from Yan Qiu immediately made him sheepishly shut his mouth.
When they sat down at the dining table, Lu Qiao subconsciously looked toward the corridor on the left.
Yan Qiu noticed his gaze. His eyes flickered slightly.
“What are you looking at?”
“Hm? Nothing.” Lu Qiao came back to himself, ran a hand through his hair, and looked away.
He had been having strange dreams these past two days.
In fact, during the period two years ago when he had been hospitalized with a fever, he had also had similar strange dreams.
In those dreams, he would always sit by the hospital window and look at the moon.
But after he was discharged, he stopped having them.
He had not expected to start having that dream again the previous day, much less to begin wandering around the Yan family villa this time.
Lu Qiao did not dwell on it. He figured it might have been caused by the stimulation from the world virus these past few days, so he pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
Before six o’clock, he finished breakfast.
Not long afterward, he disappeared from the Yan family villa right on schedule.
After Lu Qiao disappeared, Yan Qiu sat alone at the dining table for a while.
Then he stood up and walked toward the corridor on the left.
He went all the way to the end and stopped in front of the last room.
After opening the door, the servant sitting beside the bed to keep watch immediately stood up.
“Young Master.”
Yan Qiu nodded at her and turned his gaze toward the man lying on the bed.
The man’s body was extremely thin, and there was no color in his face.
An IV was attached to his wrist. The nutritional solution connected to it had been continuously administered for five years.
Patches were attached to both sides of the man’s temples. In front of the window at the head of the bed sat a machine.
Its display showed a single horizontal line.
It had remained unchanged for five years as well.
Yan Qiu stood silently by the doorway.
The servant looked at him and sighed inwardly.
People outside did not know, but they were well aware that the consciousness entity of the Yan family’s patriarch—the once-renowned Marshal Yan—had been completely shattered five years ago.
Under such circumstances, a person was essentially no different from someone in a vegetative state.
A person in a vegetative state still had a tiny possibility of suddenly awakening one day.
But someone whose consciousness entity had been shattered had no such possibility.
—Unless there were a consciousness manipulator capable of reconstructing and repairing a consciousness entity.
But to this day, there had been no news of any consciousness manipulator possessing such an ability.
“Young Master…” she began.
Yan Qiu said calmly, “It’s fine. I just came to take a look.”
After a pause, he said,
“Take good care of Father.”
The servant immediately replied, “Yes, Young Master.”
With that, the man turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Lu Qiao returned to the training center.
This time, he came back standing firmly on his feet.
After returning, he immediately went to his room to change clothes, cleaned the training center, and at seven o’clock welcomed the early-arriving director.
He excitedly grabbed the man and said,
“Uncle, my wings are reacting!”
The director froze for a moment.
The moment Lu Qiao became excited, he immediately explained, “My wings reacted when they were touched! They tremble, and I can even feel a tingling sensation, like an electric current shooting through them!”
The director and the little radish heads all asked at once,
“Who touched you?”
Lu Qiao was startled.
When had these little radish heads gathered around him?!
Wait—
He emphasized, “That’s not the point!”
The director raised his eyebrows.
“Huh? Then why didn’t they react when we touched them before, but reacted when someone else touched them?”
The little radish heads also began chattering.
“It definitely happened last night. And since it was at night, it must have been the person who was locked together with Bridge-Bridge who touched him!”
“Isn’t the electric-current sensation really the feeling of falling in love?”
“Wow, you can feel something when the person you like touches your wings. What kind of romance setting is this?!”
Lu Qiao: “……”
Did kids these days know a little too much?
And why did an electric current shooting through you have to mean you were falling in love?!
He pulled the director two steps away again, his eyes shining.
“I’m going to the hospital for another examination!”
The director stroked his chin.
“If there’s a reaction, you should get it checked. But are you still going to today’s competition?”
Today was the opening day of an Imperial Martial Arts competition.
The students from the training center were all going together, so they would leave once everyone arrived. As an assistant instructor, Lu Qiao was supposed to go as well.
Lu Qiao thought about it and decided there was no rush.
“It’s fine. I’ll go with you guys first, then leave early later and go to the hospital.”
Since it was decided, they waited until eight o’clock.
Everyone from the training center arrived, including Chris and Ellie, and the group set off for the competition venue two light-years away.
After getting into the vehicle, Lu Qiao sat in the second-to-last row, happily.
For some reason, he suddenly felt like sending Yan Qiu a message.
He opened his terminal and had just begun composing it when he heard Ellie and Chris’s voices from the very last row, accompanied by faint sobbing.
Lu Qiao realized that it was actually Ellie crying!
…Having become so accustomed to her sharp-tongued appearance, he had never imagined that this girl would cry.
Chris was comforting her. He was not deliberately lowering his voice, so Lu Qiao could hear everything clearly.
“Maybe it isn’t real…”
Ellie said, “Didn’t everyone in the conference room see it at the time?! And it was a man! Could Yan Qiu really like men?”
Lu Qiao’s fingers, which had been typing his message, froze.
Chris’s voice was somewhat conflicted.
“But… but it never said that everyone who gets locked together has to be a couple…”
Ellie: “What if they are? Everyone says the people who get locked together are secretly in love with each other!”
Chris: “…There’s nothing we can do about that…”
Ellie unwillingly asked, “Didn’t anyone take a picture of that person? Who exactly is he?!”
…
Lu Qiao scrolled down and shrank behind the backrest.
Come to think of it, after he had reported the two of them to Yan Qiu last night, and after Yan Qiu had told him, “I have always regarded you as my rival,” the man had coldly and domineeringly asked him,
“Who are those two people?”
At the time, Lu Qiao was still immersed in the wonderful mood Yan Qiu’s words had brought him.
He happily said, “Even if I tell you, you might not know them, right?”
“If they study at the Royal Academy, I might have heard their names.”
Lu Qiao thought that made sense.
After all, the Royal Academy was full of children from noble families. They might know one another.
Thus, without the slightest psychological burden, he gave Yan Qiu Ellie and Chris’s names, including their surnames.
There was nothing obvious in Yan Qiu’s expression. But after hearing the names, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said,
“I know.”
Lu Qiao tried to hold himself back but failed. He leaned closer and secretly asked,
“Are you planning to get revenge for me?”
Yan Qiu curved the corners of his lips and ruffled his hair.
…
Of course, Lu Qiao had never intended to actually have Yan Qiu do anything for him.
It had only been a joke.
He felt that someone as steady and composed as Yan Qiu would not really do anything.
But this feeling of being on the same side was simply amazing!
Yan Qiu really was his best partner!
Thinking of this, he sent the message:
“I’m about to accompany the students to the martial arts competition in the Chain Star System. I’ll wander around there for a bit, then head to the hospital!”
After sending it, he shook his head.
He really was too happy.
Yan Qiu must find it strange.
Why was he sending him a schedule report?
But unexpectedly, one second later, Yan Qiu replied:
“Okay.”
Lu Qiao: “?”
He had actually replied with an “okay.”
Lu Qiao smiled and closed the message.
Meanwhile, Yan Qiu boarded his aircraft.
Very soon, a video call from the Third Prince, Luo Ye, came through.
On the screen, the handsome black-haired, blue-eyed prince smiled brightly.
“Good morning! Where are you now?”
“Just took off.” Yan Qiu glanced at him. “If I remember correctly, the meeting doesn’t start until nine.”
“Hahaha, I was just asking. I wanted to tell you that there’s been a slight change to the meeting schedule. It should finish earlier, so everyone won’t have to have lunch together.”
“So, how about we find a restaurant and have a proper meal together? We haven’t eaten together since you came back, have we?”
Yan Qiu immediately rejected His Highness the Third Prince’s invitation.
“I’m planning to go to the Chain Star System after the meeting.”
Luo Ye froze.
“What are you going there for?”
Yan Qiu calmly answered,
“There’s a competition.”
Luo Ye: “???”
Although the Third Prince was momentarily baffled, he was extremely clever and quickly thought of something.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled, his tone turning suggestive.
“There’s a competition, or is there someone?”