Interstellar Power Couple
Translator: Lala
Quality Check: Mukyuu
First Published on Chaleuria
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Chapter 63 Part I: Both Boys and Girls
The twins, much like their brother, were born with a head of thick black hair. Lei Jue combed through the kids’ heads for ages, confirming the fact that they had no sprouts. The good thing was that they had their seeds, which they each carried in one hand.
On further thought, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that they didn’t have sprouts on their heads. It was just a little different from what he had expected, and so Lei Jue had been a bit slow to come to terms with it.
Xiao Lingyu held the eldest, Lei Jue held the second eldest, and the only girl went to Grandma’s embrace. After letting Grandma hold her for a bit, Luo Yuling asked for the child and rocked her for a bit. Grandma and Luo Yuling had no way of holding the two boys for now; luckily, the girl’s wood elemental abilities couldn’t hurt anyone, so they could hold her for as long as they wanted to.
Luo Yuling handed her granddaughter to her mother again. “Mum, you should hold her for a bit more. When Lingshu and the others get here we won’t even get the chance.”
Grandmother pressed both her cheeks against her eldest granddaughter’s, answering, “Yes, you’re absolutely right.”
The more she looked at her granddaughter, the more she liked her! These kids were officially her real favorites of the family; everyone else came second!
Luo Yuling was so happy she could burst. She had practically died of joy already at the news that she would have two grandchildren, and now she had three! And there were both girls and boys! The eldest looked like her son, and the second and third child looked like Lei Jue, with their soft, pale skin, and long lashes. They were quite beautiful, despite being so young.
“Oh, that’s right, Little Jue, how did you come up with the idea to graft the child fruits onto the branch you grew and bring them back that way?” Luo Yuling asked, as she stroked her granddaughter’s hair. She and Grandma had always fretted that something would go wrong during the higher-ups’ inspection. They hadn’t expected Lei Jue to bring a huge flower pot along with him when he came back, which not only had a tree that looked like Little Odd Flower did when it was young, but also had her two unborn, darling grandchildren attached to it.
“Uncle taught me.” Lei Jue replied. “I’ve already tried creating a cutting of the tree before, which I grew into a new Golden Fruit Tree. I asked Uncle Si to send that one over to the navy.” It had been to divert enemy attention at the time, but both he and Xiao Lingyu had known that it would only work for a short period of time. They weren’t sure when their second and third children would be born either; if it happened during the inspection, and the higher-ups saw the children coming out, then everything they did before would have been for nothing. So they had to think of another way. Grafting was the most practical but also the most dangerous idea they’d had, and it was a last resort for him. Luckily, while he was torn up over the decision, Uncle had contacted them.
Di Lin had not appeared in person, but, just like the first time, he somehow successfully got into contact with Xiao Lingyu. He not only told Lei Jue that he could use grafting as a way of moving the two kids, but also told them something that they had wanted to know for a long time now—that the person who transferred the real Lei Jianying was none other than the old b*stard Party Leader Li.
He put on such a good and righteous mask usually, but underneath that, he too hungered over that extraordinary power.
Humans were all the same, sometimes. The higher you stood, the harder it would be for you to let go of the power in your hands, or you became terrified of the thought of death. The Vice Party Leader had joined arms with the Emperor, wanting to use Lei Jianying in order to achieve longevity, and Party Leader Li, having scented the big fish they were trying to catch, had wanted to swoop in and take his share of the cake after the other two were battered and worn from the fight.
But how many lives had these people in such positions of power sacrificed, for the sake of their own greed?
It may have been because he’d just been blessed with three children, but the disgust Lei Jue felt for their actions had been steadily growing in recent days.
Lei Jue sent a picture of the newborn twins and their elder brother to Di Lin. “Uncle,” He typed. “They came out safely, but they don’t have sprouts?”
Di Lin had left his contact details this time, and after receiving the message he quickly sent back, “It might be because Lingyu’s genes are dominant over yours. Or, maybe they take after me.”
Lei Jue asked, “What do you mean?”
Di Lin replied, “I didn’t have a sprout either when I was born. I was the only case like that in the clan, but I have a power that our other clansmen don’t have.”
Not long after, Di Lin sent Lei Jue a video. In the video, Di Lin transformed from a living, breathing, human into a plant. He even shook his leaves comically.
Lei Jue couldn’t even imagine what his children would look like in plant form!
Then, Di Lin sent another message, “Let’s see whether they can transform into plants first. If they can, then they take after me, and if not, they take after their father. It’s not a big problem either way.”
It was a reasonable answer. In truth, Lei Jue and Xiao Lingyu were happy as long as their kids were healthy. Other things came secondary to that. Even if the kids had no abilities at all, they were still their beloved children.
Xiao Lingyu felt like some kind of winner in life; he had a lover, he had children, he had all the money he could ever spend, and he was happy. As for things like power and status, well, with his skills it was only a matter of time before he got those too. Now, as long as he could deal with a few certain someones marring the picture, everything would be perfect.
Ever since his eldest son was born, Xiao Lingyu would play their electrocuting games from time to time with him, which enabled him to improve his control over his elemental powers by leaps and bounds. He had been wholly incapable of control in the past; then, after meeting Lei Jue, he had learned to exercise his powers for Lei Jue’s sake, and now, he could basically control the energy within him as he pleased.
Of course, this wasn’t the reason why he and Lei Jue had been fine with leaving Little Odd Flower by itself in the Holy Eagle Mecha Corps.
Lei Jue’s feelings towards Little Odd Flower were a little complicated. It felt like a part of his body, and it was, after all, the main force behind the birth of these children. So unless he had to, he didn’t really want to leave Little Odd Flower behind at the Holy Eagle Mecha Corps. There were too many uncontrollable variables when it came to the two kids though, and given how big Little Odd Flower had grown, it was impossible to move it away without alerting anyone, so leaving it behind had been their only option.
With their children in their arms, the couple’s thoughts went to Little Odd Flower at the same time, so they sent Lu Xian a message to ask how the situation was over there. By now, if all had gone well, the inspection team should have left already.
Lu Xian had been in Weapons Depot No. 6 when it happened, and so knew everything that transpired there. When the inspection team had come in, the Vice Party Leader from Parliament had been obstinate that they should see what was in the lower levels. He was so insistent about it it would have been hard not to feel suspicious.
“A certain someone we know circled around the tree at least a few dozen times. Looks to me like the Vice Party Leader wanted nothing more than to uproot Little Odd Flower and take it away. He broke off a branch about a finger’s width thick, with little fruits on it, and said that because it smelled nice, he wanted to bring it back and try planting it himself. He even asked Marshal Bai for help keeping it moisturized with fog.”
Lei Jue read Lu Xian’s text, and a cold laugh escaped him. There had been so many people there; as long as Dad did not give the green light, it was impossible for the Vice Party Leader to snatch away Little Odd Flower, even if there was a weird large fruit growing on it.
This wasn’t like in the ancient times where the ruler’s word was law. Everything was about democracy now. Aside from shots dealt under the table, of course.
Moreover, despite having broken off a branch, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep it alive after bringing it back with him.
Just like how only the owner of the seed can make it sprout, the Tree of Life recognizes its master.
Seeing that the Vice Party leader had already broken off a branch, Party Leader Li wanted to break one off too. He had, after all, recognized at first glance that the tree was the same species Si Wannian had sent over to the navy. But he wasn’t as shameless as the Vice Party Leader, so all he did was look at it, smiling as he said, “It does indeed have a very unique fragrance. The scent’s really invigorating.”
Nothing would have happened if it had only been Zuo Zhihuan and Si Wannian who had heard his words, but people who wanted to suck up to the Party Leader wouldn’t let an opportunity like this one go. Those present witnessed as Inspection Team Team Leader Chen, who had been rather quiet in recent parliamentary meetings, followed the Vice Party Leader’s lead and broke off a branch immediately after Party Leader Li spoke. The branch he broke off was even bigger than the one the Vice Party Leader broke off. He ordered someone to grab him a bag for him afterward, and asked Marshal Bai from the Western Moon District to humidify the air within the bag too.
Although Xiao Zhicheng didn’t like their actions, Lei Jue had told him that it wouldn’t affect Little Odd Flower’s growth, so he had turned a blind eye to it.
The truth was that a few of them wanted the primary fruit growing on the tree more than anything, but there was only one fruit on the entire thing, and it was obvious that Xiao Zhicheng would never give it to them. If they insisted on having it, they were just asking for trouble. The only thing they could do for now was hope that they would discover something from the smaller fruits on the branch cuttings.
Having satisfied their personal motives, the group finally left. Cheng He and the baby-faced instructor escorted the inspection team to the parking space for the mechas, and listened to Party Leader Li give a short review of the Holy Eagle Mecha Corps, before watching the super fighter aircraft fly out of sight. They then walked unhurriedly back to the training grounds, as if there was indeed nothing special about Weapons Depot No. 6.
Lu Xian and Che Heng had by now shut the three barriers of the weapons depot, and returned the depot to how it looked originally. At this moment, they were reporting to Xiao Lingyu about the situation here.
Xiao Lingyu got Lu Xian to open holographic mode and show him how Little Odd Flower was doing. Seeing that Little Odd Flower looked no different from usual, and wasn’t intentionally looking for the parts that had been broken off, Xiao Lingyu felt relieved.
“Have my dad and Uncle Si left with the group?” Xiao Lingyu asked.
“Yes, they need to visit the White Shark Navy too.” After replying, Lu Xian studied the child in Xiao Lingyu’s arms. The more he looked the more something seemed off. He had seen Xiao Xiao before, and he remembered the kid had looked pretty sturdy before he left. So how come the one Xiao Lingyu was holding now had turned small overnight?! Holographic mode projected life-sized holograms though!
“Boss, how come it feels like my nephew got smaller? Have you not been feeding him properly?” Che Heng could see that something wasn’t quite right with the child too. In his surprise, he slipped and used their old title for Xiao Lingyu.
“This is my second child. He came out not too long ago, he’s called Xiao Xi.” Xiao Lingyu opened up holographic mode on his end too, letting Lu Xiao and Che Heng get a proper look of the other two kids. “There’s number three, who’s being held by mum. She’s a little princess, and her name is Xiao Yu. They’re pigeon pair twins [1]. Don’t they look alike?” Xiao Lingyu walked over with his son to where his mother stood, allowing his son and daughter to lie side by side.
“You and Lei Jue really did manage twins?!” Che Heng lost it. These two must have saved an entire galaxy in their past lives for this kind of karma! To have twins, being elemental users! And a pigeon pair at that!
“Yeah. We’ll make a public announcement of it later.”
“The eldest one looks like you, and the other two look like Lei Jue.” Lu Xian said, “Looks like the netizens are going to get rowdy again tonight.”
“Heh, of course. I’ll let you guys work first, I need to tell dad this too.” Xiao Lingyu cut the call after speaking, and sent Xiao Zhicheng a picture of the twins together, as well as a picture of all three kids together.
Xiao Zhicheng was still on the aircraft at this point in time. He was talking to the other parliament members about the White Shark Navy’s performance in recent years when he heard the notification from his communicator. Upon opening it, joy immediately lit up his face. People who noticed his change in expression asked curiously, “What’s making you so happy, Old XIao?”
Xiao Zhicheng very much wanted to control himself so that he wouldn’t get overly proud , but right now he really couldn’t anymore! He gave a light cough, saying, “Lingyu and Little Jue’s other two children have come out safely. It’s a pigeon pair of twins, and they both have elemental powers. The boy’s is metal, and the girl’s is wood.”
Sharp intakes of breath resounded throughout the aircraft, followed quickly by a crowd of blessings and voices of disbelief. It was already quite surprising that the first one came out with extraordinarily strong elemental powers, and now there were twins! And a pigeon pair at that! All with elemental powers! Were Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue gods or something?!
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[1]: 龙凤胎: Pigeon pair twins: twins consisting of one female and one male. ‘Pigeon pair’, a british slang, was the closest english version of this there was.