IPC Chapter 16: What’s Wrong, Little Jue?

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Vemmy

Quality Check: Lala

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 16: Little Jue, What’s Wrong?

The state banquet hall situated in Lin City was bright with light. Because both the Xiao and Feng families had element ability users and the family elders had performed numerous meritorious deeds for the county, this wedding party was given special permission to hold the banquet here. At the moment, it wasn’t only the guests attending the wedding that were at the Suspension Mountain Natural Scenic district, but there were also some people who were of similar rank to Xiao Zhicheng and even a few even higher ranked state-level leaders present as well.

The dishes had already been prepared, and robot waiters in identical uniform brought out the meticulously cooked delicacies to set on the tables. The elders and people of status had already been seated around an extra-large smart table, chatting about the happenings of today’s wedding as they ate.

The most distinguishing feature of a well-developed information network was that whenever something gossip-worthy happens it could spread through the entire country within minutes.  Almost everyone on Casweir knew by now that Marshal Xiao’s youngest son had married a wood element ability user, and that said newlywed partner was quite a beauty.

“Xiao Zhicheng, Xiao Zhicheng, see if you dare to say that your youngest son doesn’t do proper work,” A military academy principal who had a very close relationship with Xiao Zhicheng said. “See, he got married so promptly, and even found a wood element ability user to be your son-in-law, doesn’t your face hurt?”

“Hurts, don’t talk about it anymore, it’s already swollen.” Xiao Zhicheng also cracked a rare joke.

“Oh right, where did the newlywed couple go? How come we don’t see them?” There were some people who had been busy with important work today and hadn’t attended the ceremony, but were very curious. They looked around, but didn’t see the people in question and were a bit impatient. Honestly, it was because wood element ability users were really too scarce.

“They might be a bit late, but they will definitely come to toast everyone once they arrive,” Luo Yuling said.

The words had just left her lips when Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue walked in one after another.

Although they were clear in their hearts that it was just an act, and it was considered part of human nature, but after a round of rubbing the little brothers together, both of them still felt a bit awkward. Thankfully, it wasn’t to the point where they had forgotten the important matters.

After arriving, Xiao Lingyu pulled Lei Jue towards the group of elders and bowed. “Uncles, Aunties, thank you all for attending our wedding.”

The person who had asked Xiao Zhicheng if his face hurt before asked Xiao Lingyu with a smile, “Little Lingyu, are you happy to be married?”

Xiao Lingyu nodded. “Naturally, I’m very happy.”

That person tsked, “If you’re happy, then why haven’t you poured the wine already?!”

The people around the table smiled and said in unison, “Exactly.”

Xiao Lingyu hurriedly led Lei Jue to pour wine for the guests present before drinking with them. Lei Jue didn’t need to drink; not only did he not have to drink, but he also received presents. The elders would generally give some small gifts to the newlyweds at this time and Lei Jue received a large number of various men’s accessories, along with a plethora of stuff like smartpens, VIP cards for gourmet centers, spa vouchers, and so forth.

Although he felt that he probably wouldn’t need a large portion of this stuff, the other people had given these things out of goodwill so he would always earnestly express his thanks to the other person when he received them.

During this period, Xiao Lingyu had drunk quite a bit. However, his physical abilities were undeniable, so there wasn’t a significant effect even from drinking this much and Lei Jue couldn’t be bothered to keep an eye on him. Once the round of toasts was complete, the two went to find people of their generation to chat and eat with.

Xiao Zhicheng’s group continued chatting. Due to Lei Jue’s composed, modest, and courteous attitude, along with his good appearance—people will always be more lenient to those who are good-looking—the people at the banquet all had high evaluations of him, even if some people might not be sincere about it.

In comparison, Feng Gu and Lei Haige, who hadn’t even appeared yet, made it hard for people to like them. Even if the guests didn’t show it on their faces, many people felt that those two children were very insensible.

Some of the people at the banquet knew about how Feng Gu had liked Lei Jue in the past and were well aware of how he dumped Lei Jue for Lei Haige. They wondered how the Feng family feels, now that Lei Jue had shown an elemental ability.

Yu Fenglai and Feng Gu’s mother had already lost track of how many messages they’d sent the two youngsters. In the end, when they had run out of options, Yu Fenglai personally went up to find her son, only to find that the young couple had started arguing.

In the state banquet hall’s lounge, bearing the bumps that had swollen up again, Lei Haige was angrily glaring at Feng Gu. “If you regret it so much, we might as well divorce!”

Yu Fenglai heard this as she went in and her brows instantly twisted. “This kid, what are you saying! There are so many people outside, how thick is your face!”

Even if she really did feel somewhat disappointed with Feng Gu in her heart, this really wasn’t a good time to strain relations with the Feng family. Yu Fenglai smiled as she glanced at Feng Gu. “Feng Gu, Haige is still young, don’t lower yourself to his level. There are so many elders outside right now, if you guys don’t go and offer some toasts it would really be far too impolite.”

Feng Gu also knew that they shouldn’t make things too unsightly at this time, but he was quite angered by Lei Haige. “I asked him to go out with me, he refused because there’s something on his face. I said we could try finding Lei Jue to heal it for him, and he disagreed again. He’s too hard to satisfy!”

“It’s not like Lei Jue is the only wood ability user; furthermore, he’s already treated Xiao Zhicheng, so how would it be possible for him to still have the energy to heal my face in such a short period?! Also, why should I have to go find him?!” Lei Haige spoke derisively, his mood extremely bad. He also hadn’t expected that the effects of the medicine would wear off so quickly and the bumps would appear again. “The way I see it, you just want to look at him some more, right?!”

“You! Fine, think whatever you want to think! If you don’t want to go, I’ll go by myself!” Feng Gu opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind him.

“What are you standing around here for? Why haven’t you followed him already?!” Yu Fenglai glared as she spoke. “How could a few bumps on your face be more important than your dad’s election?” Yu Fenglai abruptly pulled her son’s hand. “Hurry up and go outside with me, you’re not allowed to put on a cold face anymore! Also, what Feng Gu said was right—you have to find Lei Jue to take a look. At the very least, we have to figure out whether or not that boy’s ability is actually that powerful.”

When Yu Fenglai brought Lei Haige to find Lei Jue, he was drinking and chatting with Xiao Lingqi and the others. These new elder brothers and sisters of his were telling him about Xiao Lingyu’s dark history, like how, when Xiao Lingyu was a kid, he had unwittingly heard other children say that the more pretty gems one had the prettier the wife they found would be, so Xiao Lingyu would ask family members for gems as a reward whenever he did something good. The family didn’t know what it was about at first, and it was only later that they had learned that it was for the sake of marrying a pretty wife.

Lei Jue laughed when he heard this. Just as he was wondering if Xiao Lingyu had adored beauty since he was young, someone patted his shoulder from behind.

He turned his head and saw Yu Fenglai and Lei Haige.

After smiling at everyone, Yu Fenglai spoke to Lei Jue, “Little Jue, your brother’s face was stung by metallic-backed wolf wasps, can you see if you could use your ability to heal it for him?”

Lei Jue looked at Yu Fenglai. “I can try. However, he’s too tall and I can’t reach it. Cousin, how about you squat a bit?”

Lei Haige ground his teeth, wanting to retort, ‘Why don’t you stand up!’, but there were so many people watching from the side that he could only suppress his words before unwillingly crouching down.

“Hurry up!”

“Oh.” Lei Jue grabbed one of Lei Haige’s ears.

“Hey!” Lei Haige hissed. “Can you even do it?” He didn’t want outsiders to hear it, so he lowered his voice to the extreme, but he couldn’t hide his anger at all. His words seemed as if they were being squeezed through his teeth. “Why does it hurt so much!” It felt like being stabbed by needles, and he even suspected that Lei Jue was doing this purposely!

“Just this much hurts?” Lei Jue spoke into Lei Haige’s ear. “Compared to what you had Emily do to me… this is nowhere near enough.” After speaking, he released his hand and turned on the smart table’s sanitization function to disinfect it. “Sorry, Eldest Aunt, my level is too low and I don’t have enough energy.”

“Mhm.” Yu Fenglai saw his action, then looked at her son’s face that looked the same after treatment as it did before. Her stomach ached with repressed anger, but she still needed to maintain the gentle smile on her face. “You’ve worked hard, Little Jue. We’ll leave you to enjoy your meal.” 

Lei Haige touched his face as he stood up, the smile on his lips as stiff as could be. This time, it was really a mirror image of when Lei Jianying first discovered that Lei Jue had an element ability. He forcefully restrained his impulse to go ballistic and said to Lei Jue, “Thank you, Little Jue. It seems that you still have a lot of room for improvement, though.”

Lei Jue didn’t even make a sound in response this time. When he turned his head, he saw a girl glance in their direction and couldn’t refrain from taking a longer look, but the girl didn’t have much of a reaction. After a while, he finally realised that she was looking at Xiao Lingyu beside him. That adoring gaze was so straightforward, it directly pierced through him.

“Someone’s looking at you.” Lei Jue kicked Xiao Lingyu under the table.

“I’m so handsome, it’d be weird if no one was looking.” Xiao Lingyu didn’t even turn his head.

“Would it kill you to be a bit more modest? It’s a lady.” Lei Jue remembered that it should be the He family members sitting at that table. The He family were also inheritors of metal element abilities, and also lived in the North Ling District.

“It’s He Yunshu,” Xiao Linghua said. “She’s been Little Five’s secret admirer for many years, but Little Five doesn’t have any intentions towards her.”

“Is it because like elements repel?” Lei Jue asked. The He family were the second-largest metal element legacy holder and also lived in the North Ling District.  Lei Jue was very curious as to why the Xiao family hadn’t connected by marriage with the He family, at first; if they could, then wouldn’t the next generation have a chance of being metal ability users again? However, it was only after checking through the data that he learned that people of the same element actually couldn’t wed. Not only would a union not result in a child, it would also be harmful to both parties.

“Do I look like someone who would abandon true love for such a pointless reason to you?” Xiao Lingyu passed his little niece, who had gone to sleep after eating her fill like a piglet, to his eldest sister. “We didn’t get together because I don’t like her, that’s all.”

“Then have you met your true love?” Xiao Linghua intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Lei Jue as she asked, smiling.

“Babe, say, are we each other’s true love?” Xiao Lingyu nonchalantly draped his arm over the back of Lei Jue’s seat.

“How about we discuss it after your kissing technique improves a bit?” Lei Jue went to pick some other dishes after speaking, but right after grasping something and before he could bring it to his mouth, his chopsticks fell from his hands without warning, and following it, his vision blurred.

“What’s wrong, Little Jue?” Xiao Lingqin asked. “Is it because you’re too tired?”

“Yeah, if you’re tired, we can go back and rest first.” Xiao Lingyu’s movements also stopped as he looked at Lei Jue.

“…It’s fine.” Lei Jue shook his head. As if nothing had happened, he clenched his hands and tried to pick up the chopsticks again.