IPC Chapter 7: Decision

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Lala

Quality Check: Leslie

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 7: Decision

After Lei Jue changed his communicator, the Lei family tried contacting him twice without success. In the end, they contacted the Xiao family. Because he couldn’t completely break off communications with them at the moment, Lei Jue could only give his new contact details to Lei Jianying. After contacting him, Lei Jianying asked him about his situation in the Xiao residence. Lei Jue replied that he was living quite well, and after many more twists and turns Lei Juanying asked him whether he’d heard Xiao Zhicheng mention anything about the election recently. 

Xiao Zhicheng was one of the key figures who was able to influence the results of the election, so it wasn’t surprising at all that Lei Jianying would ask about him. However, Lei Jue replied resolutely that he hadn’t. 

It wasn’t that he was lying to Lei Jianying, but he really hadn’t heard anything. Since he’d arrived at the Xiao residence, the only time he’d seen Xiao Zhicheng had been on the day he’d arrived. After that, he’d never seen him, because Xiao Zhicheng seemed to be busy handling matters related to his succession. After all, when the election was over, it would be time for Xiao Zhicheng to retire. 

Lei Jianying was a little disappointed by his reply, and after thinking it over a little, asked if he had any money to spend. Lei Jue had originally wanted to say no, but after considering the interesting relationship between the Xiao and Lei families presently, he said yes. Lei Jianying seemed to be very pleased at this, smiling as he exhorted him to build a good relationship with the members of the Xiao family before hanging up the call.

The day of the election drew nearer and nearer. Although Lei Jue wasn’t entirely unconcerned over it, any attitude that he did have wouldn’t be able to influence it, so most of the time he wouldn’t put too much thought into it. 

“Seems like you really do like small animals.” Xiao Lingshu caught sight of Lei Jue in his animals’ hutch after getting back from work and crouched down near him. “Most of these little guys have been injured before, so they’ll have higher levels of alertness than most animals that haven’t. But they all seem to like you very much.”

“Perhaps they know that I like them too.” Lei Jue held Loquat, one hand stroking his fur. “You’re off from work earlier than before, Second Big Brother.” Typically, Xiao Lingshu would come home only when it got dark, but right now it was still very bright outside. 

Xiao Lingshu was an exceptionally outstanding mecha designer and was currently the head of a design squad in a military enterprise. 

“Your Big Brother Linghua’s coming back today. It’s quite rare to get to see him, so I came home early.” Xiao Lingshu smiled gently. “And here I thought that you didn’t pay attention to what’s going on in the house and only paid attention to these little guys. Looks like I thought wrongly of you.”

“Mm… actually, Grandmother and Uncle and Aunty Xiao are all very kind to me, and of course you are too, Second Big Brother. It’s just that my position’s a bit awkward and Big Brother Lingyu’s….” Lei Jue smiled. “You know, Second brother. So, most of the time I’m not too sure what the best action to take is either.”

“Don’t think about it too much. Actually, your Big Brother Lingyu doesn’t …” Xiao Lingyu sighed. “It’s nothing. Come on, your Big Brother Linghua should be arriving soon.” 

Your Big Brother Lingyu doesn’t what? Just as he was thinking, a short distance away, an exceptionally bizarre-looking aircraft flew over with an ear-splitting roar. Without a doubt, this was the most eye-catching aircraft Lei Jue had seen since coming to Casweir. Bright yellow and lime green had been mixed together and used to spray-paint a picture of a spider, and on first sight, it looked like a huge spider patrolling the sky. It was utterly hilarious. 

“Really, you can’t talk about him. As soon as you mention him, he’ll arrive.” Xiao Lingshu’s gaze followed the descent of the aircraft, his head moving from an upwards tile to look directly before him. He gazed at his brother—whose sight had landed on Lei Jue the moment he came down from the aircraft—and laughed. “You’re very punctual this time, Old Fourth.”

“Is it even possible to be tardy to meet the husband of your younger brother?” Xiao Linghua’s outfit was just like his aircraft: eye-catching and fancy. He looked rather like Xiao Lingyu, but the auras that the two gave off were completely different. He grabbed two bags filled with things and placed them into the robot assistant’s hands. “This is Little Jue, right?”

“Hello, Third Brother.” Lei Jue held Loquat as he faced Xiao Linghua with a smile. He could sense that this person seemed to be a little guarded with him. Objectively speaking, however, the person still looked quite attractive, else he couldn’t possibly have become a national idol.  

“Hello to you too. Originally, I should’ve come back on the day you and Little Five registered, but I had too many things I needed to do so I couldn’t make it.” Xiao Linghua embraced one of them in each arm without giving them the opportunity to refuse at all, but there wasn’t any awkwardness from meeting for the first time. “But my biggest merit is that I acknowledge my faults when I have them. When I came here, I brought two bottles of good wine with me. Shall we drink the night away, then?”

“I don’t think Little Jue drinks, right?” said Xiao Lingshu. 

“I do.” Lei Jue replied, “I just drink a bit less.” 

“I was gonna say, how boring would it be if you didn’t drink at all.” Xiao Lingyu’s voice was a bit loud, and after entering he gave a loud shout, “Grandmother! Mum! I’m back!”

“We know you’re back already, what are you shouting for!” Grandmother quipped, beaming. “Hurry and wash up and get ready to eat!”

“Have you cooked my favorite dishes?”

“We have. I made them myself, not the AI Chef.” Luo Yuling shouted, then came out and observed her third child. “You’re a bit more tan than before.” 

“I tanned when we were filming the outdoor scenes.” Xiao Linghua embraced his mother. “Is Dad not home again?” 

“He’s been busy all the time recently and doesn’t spend much time at home. You should hurry up a bit—Little Jue didn’t eat too much at noon, and I’m worried that he’s hungry.” 

“Okay, I’ll wash up and come down.” Xiao Linghua got his assistant to put the wine on the table and afterwards went upstairs. 

The dishes were set on the table fairly quickly, and although not everyone in the household was there, the atmosphere was still pretty good. Xiao Linghua was the type of person that really knew how to brighten up the atmosphere. In addition, he’d been to many places all these years while filming, so he had a joyful time drinking and narrating the interesting stories he’d come across from all over the world. 

Taking into account the original owner of his body’s alcohol tolerance, Lei Jue didn’t actually plan on drinking too much. But after just one cup, he felt a little tongue-tied. 

It was only when he was muddleheaded and could barely support himself that he finally remembered—fucking hell, apart from grandma, who didn’t drink alcohol, everyone seated here had S-rank physiques. Their sensitivity to alcohol was lower than his, and with his E-rank he’d feel dizzy with even just a bit of alcohol.

It was a good thing that his ability wasn’t just for show. 

“Has the Lei family not mentioned when to have the wedding?” Xiao Linghua asked his mother after taking a glance at Lei Jue, who was lying face down on the table. 

“When we discussed it, it was originally for the 26th, but after Little Five and Little Jue registered there’s been not a peep from the Lei family. Grandmother and I had already prepared everything beforehand, too.” Luo Yuling poured another cup as she followed her third child’s gaze. “Did you do it on purpose?”

“Ah, this wine tastes quite light, but it’s strong. C-ranks can hold out for about fifteen minutes. I originally wanted to fish some information out of him after getting him drunk, but look, he just straight up fell unconscious. He went so fast.” Finished speaking, Xiao Lingyu frowned, a trace of a mocking smile on his lips. “The Lei family sure can scheme—they didn’t mention any wedding after registering, do they want to wait for the results of the election to be released before making any plans or something? It couldn’t be that if the Xiao family doesn’t support them, they’ll retreat and not care about Little Jue, right?”

“The way I see it, they haven’t actually considered that the Xiao family won’t support them,” Xiao Lingshu said. “Although saying it like that is a little…  when Dad steps down this time, the state of our family will get worse, at least for a short period of time. So, I think that they should be waiting for Lei Jianying to successfully raise in rank before letting people know of the marriage between our families. This way, to outsiders, it’s not that they sold their son for the sake of profit, but that the Lei family’s power had caught our Xiao family’s eye, and that, in our dire straits, we were in a hurry to ride their coattails.“

“Then wouldn’t Lei Jianying be completely disappointed?” Xiao Lingyu took another glance at Lei Jue. “Then does Little Jue know the reason on the surface for the matrimonial alliance of our two families?”

“Lei Haige got someone to erase part of his memories, but I think he knows. After all, Lei Jianying was too obvious when acting.” Luo Yuling smoothed out Lei Jue’s hair. “Actually, during these days, your grandmother, your second brother and I have all noticed that Little Jue is currently working very hard to become used to this place. I think he probably doesn’t want to go back to the Lei family again. But he… perhaps because of Little five, it seems that he still doesn’t feel like he belongs here all that much.” 

“Didn’t you say before that he was a little depressed? Could it be that he hasn’t recovered yet?” Xiao Lingyu asked. “Has Big Sister looked at him yet?” His elder sister was a psychologist.  

“Not yet. Your Big Sister’s been extremely busy recently too.” Luo Yuling worriedly glanced at Lei Jue. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Either way, no matter what happens, as long as Lei Jue is happy then it’s fine. As for anything else, that can all be discussed at a later date. Lingshu, take Little Jue upstairs to sleep first.” 

“Okay.” Xiao Lingshu put Lei Jue’s arm over his shoulder to support him.

“That’s so much trouble, wouldn’t it be a lot better to just carry him?” Xiao Linghua looked speechless. “He’s not possibly going to really become Little Five’s husband anyway.”

“Be that as it may, nothing in the world is absolute. What if it happens? It’s better that I leave the princess carry for Little Five.” Xiao Lingshu smiled and supported Lei Jue to the second floor and into his room. He set him on the bed properly, then carefully closed the door and left. 

Lei Jue slowly opened his eyes, resting his hand on his forehead. 

It was very obvious that the Xiao family hadn’t planned on supporting Lei Jianying right from the start. But with this, he could confirm that the family only wanted to bring him out of the fire pit that was the Lei family. What else would they be after? He had nothing. In addition, from the way that the whole family treated him so well in many aspects, he could tell that they’d truly put thought into it. 

But afterwards, how did the Xiao family plan on facing the rage of the Lei family?

The current Lei family wasn’t like the Lei family of the past anymore, now that Lei Haige had built a bridge with Feng Gu. Who was Feng Gu? Feng Gu was the eldest young master of the Feng family, with a double B-rank water ability. Although the Feng family weren’t the best inheritors of water abilities, within the Eastern Yue Territory, aside from the Bai family, the Feng family was the most amazing. This family’s reproductive capabilities were also very strong. They had many clansmen, unlike the Xiao family, which had only had gotten more descendants in Xiao Lingyu’s generation. Even then, not a single one had inherited the metal abilities in the end. 

Obviously, after the election, the Xiao family would be just as Xiao Lingshu said, and they’d be in a worse situation than they were now. In the best-case scenario, even if Lei Jianying wasn’t able to become the minister, his deputy minister would still have a much, much higher rank than Xiao Zhicheng, who’d retired early. 

Xiao Zhicheng’s body was already nearing its limits, and this was yet another important reason that the Lei family didn’t take the Xiao family too seriously, despite acting politely on the surface. In a time like this, something needed to be done. 

He’d basically been completely tied to the Xiao family the moment he’d set foot into it. He couldn’t just sit still on his hands, if for nothing else because of the kindness that the people of the Xiao family had shown him while he had been staying at the Xiao residence. 

Lei Jue flipped over, feeling the stiffness of his body. He took a glance at his communicator, and only now realized that he’d actually maintained the same position for nearly two hours. 

He exercised his neck and limbs before going to the bathroom for a shower. He didn’t expect that halfway through washing up, the room would suddenly flicker between darkness and light as if the voltage were fluctuating. This went on for quite a few times before it fell into complete darkness. When the emergency lights lit up his surroundings, he walked out with a towel wrapped around his body and saw that there was an extra person on his bed.