IPC Chapter 2: Marriage Registration

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Lala

Quality Check: Leslie

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 2: Marriage Registration

Two hours passed by in a flash. Lei Jue hadn’t admired the view in his room enough yet when Emily came in. She also followed behind him when he went to bathe, and it made Lei Jue remember the ‘etiquette for receiving guests’ that Lei Haige had mentioned very quickly.

As expected, Emily said, “Young master Lei Jue, when the guests arrive in a moment, I hope that you will remember the following points. One, do not act headstrong and reckless. Two, no matter what the Master and Madam say, you are not allowed to contradict them. Three, if you are unable to do the two things mentioned previously…” Emily suddenly grasped Lei Jue’s arm, directing something akin to a wave of electricity into his body. 

“Ah!” Lei Jue cried out in alarm, his breathing suddenly erratic. However, it was only when he tried fighting back that he discovered he couldn’t move!

“Have you memorized everything I said just now?” Emily asked expressionlessly. 

“Let go of me!” Seeing that Emily was wholly unmoved after he spoke, Lei Jue could only say, “Okay, okay, okay, I’ve memorized everything you’ve said!”

“Very good. You may now bathe.” Emily released her grip and turned to leave, as if the person who had just attacked wasn’t her at all. 

“F*ck!” His head dripping with sweat, Lei Jue gazed after her back, inwardly cursing. After that, he slowly calmed his breathing, which had abruptly accelerated.

This wasn’t the first time that Emily had launched an attack on this body, but this time was the most serious. 

Another twenty minutes or so passed, then Lei Jue stretched his slightly stiffened limbs. After tidying himself up, he walked out of his room right on time. 

“Huh, you’re right on time.” Lei Haige caught sight of his younger cousin strolling downstairs, and suddenly stomped down hard with his foot. With a “meow!”, high-pitched cries of agony rose from the carpet. That was the kitten Lei Jue kept. Lei Haige had stepped onto the cat’s old wounds. Jealousy was plainly written within his eyes. 

Lei Jue was someone who was naturally beautiful. His skin was as fair as jade, with large eyes beneath full brows. Even when he wasn’t crying, his eyes seemed to perpetually contain a deep and clear spring. Lei Haige had always thought that Lei Jue was just like his vixen of a mother; even the simplest, most tasteless clothing couldn’t obscure that bewitching aura. He felt sick just from the sight of it!

“Little Jue, take a seat.” While his uncle, Lei Jianying, spoke, he shot an imperceptible glare at his son, signalling for him to not be so blatant in his hostility. He gave a light cough, then said, “Marshal Xiao and the others are going to arrive soon. In a moment, all of you must hold yourselves carefully. Especially you, Little Jue. No matter what sort of decisions your aunt and I make, you can’t have any objections whatsoever, understand?”

“Understood.” Lei Jue replied with a tinge of ‘timidity’. 

“Mm. You’re quite well behaved today.” Lei Jianying nodded. “Emily, is the madam still not ready yet?”

“I’m coming, what are you being impatient for?” Yu Fenglai had put on her favorite jewelry, and walked down with a dignified air. “Where are Marshal Xiao and his company, currently?”

“They’ve already arrived at Lin City.” 

Unlike Su Erman’s aircraft, the people of the Xiao family had come in the latest S-15 compact fighter jet. When Lei Jue went outside with the rest of his family to welcome them, he caught sight of the handsome jet—all of a sudden, Su Erman’s aircraft seemed like a cheap toy bought from a street vendor.   

The difference between the S-15 and normal aircraft was that normal aircraft were only vehicles, whereas the S-15 had powerful defensive capabilities and offensive power. 

Of course, only people of special status could use them, and Su Erman didn’t have that power.

Seeing Lei Jue’s curious eyes, Lei Haige had plenty of taunts, “If you and Xiao Lingyu get together, you’ll be able to ride it sooner or later. Must you look as if you can’t wait to stick your face against it now?”

Lei Jue tore his gaze away from the S-15 with much difficulty, looking at Lei Haige very innocently. “But cousin, don’t you want to ride it? It’s so cool.”

That face full of naïveté made Lei Haige choke.

The worst thing, Lei Haige thought, was that he had indeed never ridden one before. He wanted to buy one, but his father’s rank was insufficient. 

At this moment, Marshal Xiao descended, holding his wife’s hand. Lei Jianying immediately went over to welcome them, full of smiles. “Big Brother Xiao, sister-in-law, welcome, welcome. We have been awaiting your presence, and thankfully the wait has not been for nought.”

“You are too kind, Jianying.” Xiao Zhicheng’s face was pallid, his voice a little feeble too.

“As I should be. We’re soon to become a single family, so waiting for this little while is nothing; even if we had to wait until the sky darkens, we would wait.” As Lei Jianying spoke, he discovered that there was a person missing. He peeked at the entrance to the fighter jet. “Where’s Lingyu?”

“Right here,” a listless voice drifted from the fighter jet, and after it, the slender figure of a young man as he walked down. The man’s expression still carried a hint of drowsiness. One of his hands was stuck in his pants pocket, and the other grasped a cigarette. When he spoke, his words had the distinctive lethargic quality of someone who had just woken up. “Uncle Lei, you really do know how to calculate your times, it’s just past noon here at your place, but it’s still dawn back home. While you aren’t sleepy, we haven’t even…”

“Shut your mouth!” Xiao Zhicheng pulled a stern face and let out an angry rebuke. When he turned his head back he said, somewhat apologetically, “This child’s just been spoiled terribly by us, please don’t take offense.”

“What is Big Brother Xiao talking about? He’s still just a child. Not to mention we have indeed been inconsiderate…” Lei Jianying had been smiling, but he hadn’t finished his words before the muscles of his face suddenly stiffened. The reason for that was because Emily had actually snatched the cigarette from Xiao Lingyu’s hand without warning! And Xiao Lingyu, without asking for permission, had immediately pulled Emily’s arm off with a ‘snap’!

“What are you doing, Lingyu!” Xiao Zhicheng said furiously.

“Nothing much.” Xiao Lingyu turned towards Lei Jianying, saying blasély, “Sorry, Uncle Lei. I have a bad habit—when I do things while drowsy, I easily lose track of what’s appropriate.” Finished speaking, he weighed Emily’s arm in his hand. He held the cigarette he’d just retrieved and took a drag, taking casual steps towards Lei Jue. “Looks like Little Jue’s recovered pretty well.”

“…Thank you, Xiao… mm, thank you, Big Brother Lingyu, for your care.” Lei Jue was still a little stunned at seeing someone effortlessly break Emily’s arm off with his own eyes. 

“It’s what I ought to do. Take this.” A hint of an unruly smile hung on the corners of Xiao Lingyu’s lips. Bending down, he murmured quietly by Lei Jue’s ear, “Think of it as a greeting gift, hmm?”

“What?” Lei Jue dipped his head, glancing at the broken limb in his arms. This one… coincidentally, it seemed to be the one Emily had used to attack him before?

“Emily, just what is going on! How could you steal the guests’ things?” Lei Jianying reacted belatedly, looking at the robot housekeeper with dissatisfaction. Inwardly, however, he was a little suspicious. Emily had never made a mistake since she’d been bought. 

“My apologies, sir. I have been derelict of duty.” Emily hurriedly bowed and retreated to the side. She herself couldn’t understand why she had suddenly moved to snatch the cigarette in Xiao Lingyu’s hand. At that moment, it was as if her brain had left her control. Either way, when she came back to her senses she’d already stolen it!

“Okay, okay—perhaps Emily accidentally assumed Xiao Lingyu was carrying rubbish in his hands and wanted to help throw it out. It’s a small matter; she’ll be fine if we just fix it up a little later.” Yu Fenglai hastily came over and smoothed things out, as enthusiastic as if nothing had happened at all. “Big brother Xiao, sister-in-law, and Lingyu too, let’s hurry up and head inside to talk. Xiao Jue, what are you still standing around for? Are you still not going greet your Uncle and Aunty Xiao?”

“How are you, Uncle Xiao, Aunty Xiao.”

“Never better. The fact that your body is better now is better than anything else.” Xiao Zhicheng and his wife, Luo Yuling, grasped Lei Jue’s hands and patted them. “This child, the more I look at him, the more I like him.”

“He is fortunate to be liked by you.” As Yu Fenglai talked, she led the group of people inside the house, practically piling all the words of praise she could think of upon Xiao Lingyu. Her ability to flatter someone so much while turning a deliberate blind eye was quite amazing. 

Apparently, the world owed Yu Fenglai an Oscar.  

“If I may, shall we set the wedding date for the twenty-sixth of this month?” Yu Fenglai suggested as she flipped through the calendar on her photon computer. “That looks like a good day.”

“Wouldn’t this be a little too rushed?” Luo Yuling looked at her son, who hadn’t uttered a sound after entering the house. “Lingyu, what do you think?”

“I think…” Xiao Lingyu looked at Lei Jue with a grin, “it’d be best if I take Lei Jue to get registered right now. As for the wedding date and stuff, you guys can decide.”

“This kid, isn’t he in even more of a rush than we are?” Yu Fenglai smiled. “Then how about this: Little Jue, why don’t you listen to your Big Brother Lingyu. If you go right now, you’ll be back right in time for dinner together.”

“Okay.” Lei Jue glanced at Xiao Lingyu. If he had dared to say ‘no’ at this time, Lei Jianying and Yu Fenglai would jump up and choke him to death.

“Look at these two kids—they’re actually both quite hasty on the inside too,” Lei Jianying said. “Then what are you waiting for? Hurry along now.”

“Then Uncle Lei, Aunty Lei, Dad, Mum, you guys take your time and chat, I will take my leave with Little Jue first.” With that, Xiao Lingyu tilted his chin at Lei Jue, signalling for him to follow. 

Lei Jue saw that Xiao Lingyu looked like he had a plan. Thinking that there shouldn’t be a need to bring any sort of identification or whatnot, he followed him, getting on that super fashionable S-15 fighter jet and heading to the marriage registration center. 

Robot workers were highly efficient when carrying out tasks. Xiao Lingyu paid six hundred Galactic dollars and the two were told to wait together for the premarital check-up. 

“What do they check?” Lei Jue really couldn’t take Xiao Lingyu’s gaze drilling into him anymore, as if he wanted to molest him with his eyes, so he looked for something to talk about. 

“They probably check your physical health. Either way, it isn’t something I’m interested in.”

“You’re interested in…” Lei Jue hadn’t finished speaking, then immediately regretted it, just knowing that Xiao Lingyu’s stupid mouth couldn’t possibly say anything nice. 

As expected, Xiao Lingyu grinned, leaning forward and murmuring into his ear, “What I’m interested in, of course, is whether your skills in bed are good or not, as well as whether your lower parts are tight or not… that sort of stuff.”

Lei Jue dipped his head, wringing his hands. He’d had to use up practically all of the self-restraint in his body to stop himself from whipping a slap across Xiao Lingyu’s face.   

The premarital checkup was quite fast, so the queue for it wasn’t long. There were a total of six couples before Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue. The first three pairs were all normal people, and they finished their checkups within moments. After the checkup confirmed that there weren’t any problems, they went and collected their marriage registration number. When it was the fourth pair’s turn, it took a little longer, because the robot premarital examiner had identified one of the parties as a rank C plant type ability user, so he gave them a childbearing subsidy. The robot also sent them some information on pre- and postnatal care for little plant type ability users. 

Lei Jue had never seen a plant type ability user, and couldn’t resist curiously taking a few peeks. The Lei family had animal type abilities, and the species they controlled was said to be lizards. He had never seen the actual thing, however. That was why, upon seeing a plant type ability user, he found it pretty new to him.

The abilities here were split roughly between three categories. One was elemental, one was plant related, and one was animal-related. The most powerful of these was elemental. Included within this type were the five classes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Then came the animal and plant-related abilities. These two had a lot included in their categories, because there were too many subcategories within the two large categories.

Lei Jue saw that after the plant ability user couple had received their marriage registration number, the man was ridiculously happy. His arm transformed into a willow branch and embraced his wife.

He was apparently a willow ability user.

At this moment, Xiao Lingyu said, “You’re up.”

Lei Jue averted his gaze and let the premarital checkup examiner perform the examination. Just as it had treated the other people who had come for the premarital checkup, the examiner circled around him once. This was usually enough to obtain the data, but when it came to Lei Jue, the examiner circled around him once, then paused in surprise and made another circle around him. 

Xiao Lingyu raised an eyebrow. “Are there any problems?”

The examiner replied, “Apologies, sir, I need to scan one more time.”

So Lei Jue was scanned in a circle once more. It made him wonder whether someone had seen through the fact that he was a dumpling with its filling swapped out. But after scanning a third time, the premarital checkup examiner said to Xiao Lingyu, a little stunned, “Sir, your fiancé… seems to be an ability user.”

“An ability user?” Xiao Lingyu glanced at Lei Jue doubtfully. “Which type?”

“It should be the plant type,” the examiner said with a hint of regret, “but its grade is very low, it’s only grade E.”

“Do we still register then?” Xiao Lingyu asked Lei Jue.

“We register.” Lei Jue’s answer was without a single bit of hesitation. Although ability users had a higher status than normal people, grade E was the lowest grade, such that having it was the same as not having it. Besides, he needed to leave the Lei family as soon as possible.

“Then would the both of you please open your communicator’s connection receiver.” The examiner smiled as it said, “I will transmit some information for the two of you regarding pre- and postnatal care on little plant type ability users.”

“I’m a man, what would I do with those?” Lei Jue had probably gotten oxygen-deprived from being angry at Xiao Lingyu. His brain couldn’t process anything, so he had spoken without thinking. He suspected that either the examiner’s brain had a problem, or his eyesight did.

“There is such a thing as an assistive pregnancy box.” Xiao Lingyu looked at Lei Jue with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “You didn’t even know this, babe? Are you a Neanderthal?”

Lei Jue thought, well actually, to a certain degree, you have indeed guessed correctly!