Translator: Mukyuu
Editor: Mokyuu
QC: Mukyuu
Di Lin also knew that he looked very ridiculous like this, but he pushed through it to make Zuo Feng happy. It was just being the butt of the joke! Let them laugh if they want. After all, he had laughed at Zuo Feng, so it was only right that he got laughed at.
Di Lin’s face tensed, and he didn’t dare reveal any trace of unhappiness. More accurately, he didn’t dare have any expression whatsoever. He sat there silently, letting Zuo Feng play with him. Zuo Feng touched his belly and then touched his hands, the touches making Di Lin really want to bloom. But he didn’t dare, so he held back the temptation and thought about all the things he’d do to Zuo Feng once they got home!
In the side meeting hall, the screen was broadcasting what each of the candidates had accomplished over the years, so that those who came to vote wouldn’t be bored. However, the truth was that everyone had mostly made up their mind about who they were voting for, so it wasn’t important whether they could see each candidate’s information. Still, it was better than a bunch of people just sitting around waiting.
Lei Jue paid rapt attention. He had one arm around the sleeping Kangkang, and Xiao Lingyu held the other hand.
Xiao Lingyu held Pipi and Qiuqiu was in Zuo Yan’s arms.
As the three children were all asleep, everyone around them instinctively lowered their voices when talking.
Lei Jue watched the screen for a while and then turned around to see Bai Yujiang sitting to Zuo Yan’s left. He turned to ask Xiao Lingyu, “Do Bai Yujiang and Zuo Yan know each other well?”
At the moment, the screen was showing the head of the Bais from the Western Moon district, who also happened to be Bai Yujiang’s father and the Marshal of the Southern Moon military district.
Feng Gu’s family was the second largest natural ability user family in the Southern Moon district, while the Bais came in first. Bai Yujiang was the firstborn grandson of the main Bai lineage and possessed an A-rank water elemental ability. He was also handsome and had a good personality. In other words, he was handsome, rich, and had quite a fanbase.
During the early days of Lei Jue and Xiao Lingyu’s marriage, fans had even paired Lei Jue up with Bai Yujiang, saying something about water nurturing wood. That had frustrated Xiao Lingyu to no end. At the time, Xiao Lingyu had described Bai Yujiang as a white phantom, which had left quite the impression on Lei Jue. But the last time he had seen the man was at Haweila Palace during the 80th birthday celebration for Emperor Suron.
“They didn’t know each other well before. I’m not so sure about now.” Xiao Lingyu also glanced over to see a faint trace of awkwardness on Zuo Yan’s face. Bai Yujiang, on the other hand, wore a slight smile as if he had gotten some huge present.
“Are you picking up on something?” Xiao Lingyu looked at Lei Jue with a bit of understanding in his eyes.
“A little bit. A kind of … attractiveness. Quite interesting,” Lei Jue said and smiled, “But Zuo Yan is really a bit dense. To go after someone like that must take your entire life’s worth of patience.”
“But wouldn’t that be fun? To go after someone or something with all your abilities?” Xiao Lingyu squeezed Lei Jue’s hand and said, “No need to talk about them. You got up so early and haven’t slept until now. If you’re sleepy, lean against me and take a nap. Nobody is going to care, and if something happens, I’ll call you.”
“Better not. Besides, I’m not sleepy.” Lei Jue seemed to have a self-recovery system built in that won’t let him be tired for more than five seconds. It was practically real-time healing. “Why don’t we play a game?”
Xiao Lingyu glanced around and saw that about half of the audience was waiting for the Parliament’s results. Some were bent over and toying with their communicators while others were reading. He nodded and agreed, “Sure.”
Lei Jue took out a smart stylus, the kind that could record sound, write notes, save data or operate as a flashlight or project maps, among various functions. He and Xiao Lingyu decided on rock, paper, and scissors and said that the winner could draw half a turtle on the loser.
Xiao Lingyu lost the first two rounds and suddenly remembered that Lei Jue was this close to him and could sense his moods and thoughts. Lei Jue probably knew exactly what he was thinking. For the third round, he therefore decided not to think of anything and randomly throw out something at the last second.
As expected, Lei Jue lost the third round.
Lei Jue held Kangkang with his left hand and drew with his right hand. As someone regularly used his right hand, what he drew with his right hand was naturally better than what he drew with his left hand. But Xiao Lingyu was holding Pipi with his right hand and drawing with his left, which meant that the turtle he drew for Lei Jue was jagged and had differently-sized feet, crooked eyes, and a squiggly mouth.
Xiao Lingyu almost couldn’t bear to look at the drawing after he finished it, but he won the fourth round and completed the extremely ugly turtle. When he was done, he noticed Lei Jue giving him an evil look and chuckled quietly to himself as they continued playing rock, paper, and scissors.
Lei Jue kept losing after that, so much that he no longer bothered getting angry over his losses. When he finally won again, he drew a big turtle on Xiao Lingyu. The turtle took up half of Xiao Lingyu’s palm. As he was drawing the turtle, they suddenly heard the sound of laughter exploding out behind them. The couple simultaneously looked up and immediately felt self-conscious.
Crap, who did that! At some point, the screen had stopped showing the candidates’ accomplishments and instead switched over to giving everyone a good look at their pew.
The awkward expression on Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue’s faces as they were caught playing hooky, Kangkang who was so dead to the world he didn’t even know he was drooling, and Pipi who had turned around in his sleep to reveal his cheek with sleep-marks….
Only Qiuqiu managed to maintain her princess-like demeanor and looked adorable and demure even in her sleep.
Lei Jue coughed lightly and sat up straighter. He scratched at his ear. As for Xiao Lingyu, he paused momentarily and then quickly kissed Lei Jue with a smile before reaching his hand over again.
His skin was thicker than that of a crocodile’s! No wonder we’re from the same family. Lei Jue mused sarcastically as he silently finished drawing the turtle.
“I had heard that Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue were known for being loving, but after seeing them today, I’ve finally realized that they’re not sweet but rather teeth-rotting sweet.” A young-looking council member walked out from backstage. He had some sort of ID on his shirt and smiled as he glanced at the time. Then he raised his hand and indicated for everyone to quieten down. “I apologize for keeping everyone waiting. Now, I’d like to announce something on behalf of the Parliament’s information committee. In order to better protect the relationship between our citizens and to better promote the development of all of our citizens, the Parliament has decided that, from this session forwards, the Parliament will elect three representatives to lead each department… the three leaders will come from natural ability users, animal ability users or plant ability users, and non-ability users each…. I’d like to ask if there are any questions? If there are no concerns, then we can begin the voting.”
This was in line with what everyone had expected when they arrived, so there weren’t any questions. Everyone took out their voting equipment and cast their vote for their candidate of choice.
Lei Jue and Xiao Lingyu were part of the same household, so Xiao Lingyu cast the vote on their behalf. According to what they have discussed, they voted forChairman Yu of the elemental user ability council.
But when the results were announced, the couple finally realized that the time they had spent at home discussing who to vote for had been pointless. Even if they didn’t vote for their family member, everyone else voted for him, which meant the person with the highest number of votes was still Marshal Xiao.
All the voting booths in the Parliament were connected to the internet, and the results from the natural ability user side meeting hall were transmitted into the Parliament in real-time. Xiao Zhicheng’s face didn’t betray his thoughts as he continued waiting for the results from the other two polling places.
Over in the side chamber, Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue could now leave. But there were quite a lot of people in the hall, so their entire pew waited a bit until everyone behind them had basically left before they stood up and prepared to leave. It was about time for lunch, and Lei Jue suggested that they all return to Director Chen’s home so Uncle could change back into human form. Then they could all head out, grab something to eat, and take the kids on a walk in the zoo. The animal exhibits here were very different from what was available at the Northern Ling district, and the animals were much more colorful, which the children would probably like.
Naturally, Xiao Lingyu didn’t mind, and Zuo Feng and Di Lin weren’t in a hurry to get back, so everyone walked out of the side meeting hall and then walked toward the parking spaces for the flight crafts.
Zuo Feng was still grabbing Di Lin, who was playing dead. His serious-looking suit made Di Lin’s pink princess dress even more obvious, and the entire scene was quite hilarious.
Lei Jue was just about to suggest giving the “doll” to Qiuqiu to play with for a bit when a young man suddenly ran up to them from the side. The young man was about twenty or so and wore the uniform from the elemental user detention center.
Zuo Feng frowned and said to Lei Jue and the others, “Go ahead and wait for me on the flightcraft. We – I’ll be right there.”
The two nodded. Xiao Lingyu and Zuo Yan turned around to leave, but Lei Jue stayed put. He smiled at the newcomer and said, “Sir, have you not been resting well lately?”
The newcomer paused and answered, “A little bit…”
He hadn’t been able to sleep, and if he slept, he’d dream. That was one of the reasons he had come to find Zuo Feng today.
Lei Jue said, “If you don’t mind, I can help heal you for a bit.”
The young man was a bit caught off-guard, but this kind of good fortune doesn’t happen to just anyone. He immediately expressed his thanks to Lei Jue and agreed to Lei Jue’s suggestion.
Lei Jue gave the young man a bit of healing energy and successfully cleared out the toxins in the young man’s body. He smiled and said, “Some plants from plant ability users are toxic, and if you are exposed to it long term, it will damage your health. So if you find yourself in contact with a certain kind of person and then reacting strangely afterward, it’s best if you paid attention. Of course, getting that checked out by the doctors would be even better.”
A flash of surprised distress showed on the young man’s face as he nodded, “Thank you, Dr. Lei.”
Lei Jue waved his hands and then walked away with Xiao Lingyu and the others.
“You suspect that Bi Da did something?” Xiao Lingyu asked Lei Jue when they got a bit further away.
“Coming to see Zuo Feng at a place like this but not being able to come himself? Who else could it be but him?” Lei Jue boarded the flightcraft, “That guy screwed Zuo Feng over so many years and then changed his name and sold his life to Emperor Suron. But who wouldn’t want to live when there’s a chance at life? If I’m not misremembering things, he’s about to get sent to the Dark Star in about half a month, right? Once he gets there, it’s a lifetime of labor reform and pretty much impossible to come back.”
“Ha, no wonder the person looked at you before talking to Zuo Feng. He must know that Zuo Feng’s other half is our ‘cousin’,” Xiao Lingyu wiped the sweat from Pipi’s face and asked, “Pipi, are you feeling hot?”
Pipi’s hair stuck to his head from the sweat, and the way it curled on his forehead made him look adorable. He gave a small yawn and said in a baby voice, “Daddy, peepee.”
Xiao Lingyu took Pipi to the bathroom, and after Pipi was done, he cleaned Pipi’s hands. It didn’t take more than five minutes, and he saw that Zuo Feng was walking towards the parking spaces for the flightcraft.
“That fast?” Xiao Lingyu asked in surprise.
“Why waste time seeing someone you don’t have to see? It’s more important to pay attention to what you have,” Zuo Feng remarked as he walked forward with Xiao Lingyu.
“Wow, something smells really nice, can you guys smell it?” Someone suddenly asked near them.
Zuo Feng glanced down and then silently covered the doll’s head with his hand and stuck the doll in his pocket.
The whole blooming-whenever-you-want thing is damned annoying!
The flightcraft landed at Director Chen’s home, and Di Lin was finally able to shift back to his human form. After turning human again, the first thing he did was to pull Zuo Feng into his embrace and give him a heated kiss. The passionate kiss made it seem like he was about to devour Zuo Feng in the next second.
Just as when Zuo Feng was about to protest, Di Lin stopped the kiss and pressed his forehead against Zuo Feng’s forehead as he said, “I’m sorry, my dear.”
Zuo Feng instantly melted. “Forget it, just don’t do it again. Otherwise, it won’t just be a princess dress.”
Di Lin asked in surprise, “What will it be?”
Zuo Feng answered with a laugh, “Bikini?”
Di Lin fell silent.
After they ate lunch, they spent a while at the zoo until Lin City fell dark. Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue still hadn’t seen Xiao Zhicheng, so they left Lin City along with Zuo Feng and the others.
The next day the Parliament announced a new piece of information. Party Leader Li had retired, and the voting for the new leaders had resulted in new leadership: the Party Leader will be the district leader from the Central District, an S-ranked animal ability user. Xiao Zhicheng will be the vice party leader, and the last of the three leaders will be the only non-ability user from the original Parliament. When the results were announced, everyone wondered about the same thing, and that was whether Xiao Zhicheng would still be in charge of the Northern Ling army. The official answer was: yes.
The Xiaos would still lead the Northern Ling army in service of the country, but Xiao Zhicheng would also serve as the vice party leader. At the same time, he would be the only vice party leader who didn’t need to stay in Lin City.
With that, the Northern Ling army finally breathed out a sigh of relief.
After half a month, the last of the criminals associated with Emperor Suron were sent to the Dark Star. As for the starship S47, which had disappeared, those who knew didn’t talk about it, and those who didn’t would not be able to talk about it. Only the recently revealed fake Party Leader Li knew what was going on, but he didn’t have the chance to say anything. Because after “he” retired, he fell under the complete surveillance of the state secret agency in exchange for his life.
Feng Gu was probably the only one who wanted to find his father, but Old Master Feng strongly opposed the decision because if Feng Qingyuan was found to be in cahoots with Party Leader Li, the Fengs would practically be over.
Old Master Feng could sacrifice his great-grandson while he was still in Lei Haige’s belly. Naturally, he could also sacrifice his disobedient son.
Though Feng Gu wanted to do better, he knew the Old Master wasn’t wrong in his analysis and fell quiet soon afterward.
Feng Qingyuan left using the excuse of patrolling some resource planet, and when he didn’t return as planned, many people naturally assumed that he had met with an accident. Since he was still in service, the Western Moon district had even sent troops out to look for him. As expected, no trace could be found, and in the end, the case was treated as a disappearance.
Lei Jue glanced at Xiao Lingyu from their bed when he saw the news. “Where are those people now?”
Xiao Lingyu opened the star map and indicated a location.
Lei Jue was so shocked his jaw almost dropped, “That far away?!”
Xiao Lingyu nodded, “Flying at full speed goes through energy fast. This can maximize the terror they feel. All of them have killed several people, and burying them in a metal coffin is practically a kindness. They’re now away from my sphere of influence, so if they can find a way to solve things before the energy supply runs out, they could make it back. But that possibility is pretty low.”
“That confident?”
“Of course,” Xiao Lingyu hugged Lei Jue from behind, “Though I pretended to not care about things before, I was a bit self-conscious. But now that I have the best lover in the world and the cutest kids, shouldn’t I be more confident?”
“Then if I praise you a bit more, wouldn’t you be more confident?” Lei Jue turned around and kissed Xiao Lingyu. When Xiao Lingyu nodded, he started complimenting in all seriousness, “Darling, nobody’s better than you.If somebody asked me what the luckiest thing that happened to me after I got here was, I’d tell them that it was meeting you and being together with you… my dear, I’m being serious about my compliments, can you not raise your staff?”
“Sorry, babe, I don’t want my d*ck to get hard without warning either, and you can compliment me all you want, but why are you rubbing your leg against it?”
Lei Jue’s legs stilled suddenly. “Sorry, I’m naturally flirty with you.”
Xiao Lingyu rolled over so that he pressed Lei Jeu down, “Then I’m afraid I have to tell you that getting hard from you is also natural.”
Lei Jue laughed and twined his arms around Xiao Lingyu’s neck. Just as they were about to kiss, Pipi waddled his way over and rubbed his eyes, “Daddy, mommy, hungwy….”
Carrera thought, “Yup, Pipi interrupting your hanky-panky time is also natural.”