“Are we just leaving like this?” Wang Luan stood at the entrance of the spacecraft corridor and looked back at Yan Qiongyu. “Is everything fine on your side?”
“Of course.” Yan Qiongyu smiled. “You go back first.”
The other members on Captain Shanma’s spacecraft had already taken various items looted from the star bandits’ ship and, full of delight, returned to the broken spacecraft, all waiting for her.
The two of them had not seen each other for several months. After suddenly meeting, they had only exchanged a few sentences.
Wang Luan realized that she seemed a little reluctant to leave just like this, but she quickly restrained that emotion, did not ask anything more, and only waved to Yan Qiongyu.
Yan Qiongyu watched her depart. As the hatch closed, the smile on his face scattered cleanly, like it had been blown away by the wind.
On the spacecraft Yan Qiongyu had arrived in, his assistant Ke Ning frowned as he watched that broken cargo ship leave. Just as he was about to have the other two spacecraft go over to stop it, he suddenly received a communication from the star bandits’ ship.
When Yan Qiongyu’s voice came through the transmitter, it was, as always, calm and cold: “No need to mind that spacecraft.”
“Yes, Disciple.” Ke Ning did not dare to pursue what secrets that cargo ship that had left first might hold. Since following the Disciple, he had understood that the things the Disciple did were never explained to others; for followers like them, it was enough simply to follow in the Disciple’s footsteps.
Only Yan Qiongyu remained on the star bandits’ spacecraft. He once again went to the cabin where Fu Qi was being held.
Fu Qi had his head lowered, staring blankly toward the doorway. Upon seeing Yan Qiongyu return, he immediately stood up.
“Disciple, I—”
Yan Qiongyu raised one hand, signaling him to be quiet, and casually sat down on a chair.
“My mother has so many ‘shepherds.’ Do you know why I alone let you go?” Yan Qiongyu asked.
Fu Qi looked somewhat at a loss, hesitating as he said, “Is it because my mental power is 2S?”
Yan Qiongyu looked at him, half-smiling but not smiling, and said in a low voice, “Of course not. It’s because you have something similar to me. So there’s no need to put on such a fearful, overawed appearance. I know what you’re thinking, and I also know what you will do.”
When Yan Qiongyu discovered that among the group of shepherds raised by Yan Mu there was this Fu Qi, he found it very interesting.
Just as under the Empire’s pervasive surveillance and education, someone like him—a betrayer harboring malice—had been produced, within Yan Mu’s Utopia there could also be bred a betrayer unwilling to be a test subject or a chess piece.
It was probably because Fu Qi had not been brainwashed by Yan Mu since childhood. Before being taken in and taught by Yan Mu due to his high-level mental power, he had already possessed a relatively mature psychology, and moreover bore hatred.
The Utopia Fu Qi managed was “Home.” Within Home, alphas and omegas formed perfect, harmonious, yet false families.
From this it could be seen that family was his regret and obsession. Coincidentally, the person who caused Fu Qi’s family to fall apart was someone Yan Qiongyu also knew—one of the candidates he had once suspected to be his biological father, the Li family head, Li Zhichang.
Because of Yan Qiongyu’s arrival, and because of everything he showed her, Yan Mu saw the hope of overturning the world and grew increasingly frenzied. The Utopia had now completely degenerated into a massive experimental ground.
At such a time, Fu Qi, valued because of his high-level mental power, was not a madman like Yan Mu and Yan Qiongyu, mother and son, who could even treat themselves as test subjects. Naturally, he had to escape.
The place he could go to, and wanted to go to, was the Imperial Capital Star.
Fu Qi looked at Yan Qiongyu, clenched his teeth, and said, “Please help me one more time. As long as I can escape, I will definitely complete the task you previously gave me, and I swear that even if I leave here and go to the Imperial Capital, I will continue to help you. Whether it’s passing along information or doing anything else, I will do my utmost to complete it!”
Fu Qi felt uneasy. He now had nothing; the words he spoke had no guarantee at all. He did not know whether Yan Qiongyu would let him go once more, and even regarding the last time Yan Qiongyu had helped him escape, he still did not really understand why.
But contrary to his expectations, Yan Qiongyu let out a light laugh, stood up, and comfortingly patted his shoulder.
“Remember what you said. I’ll be waiting for your news.”
Fu Qi was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed. He followed Yan Qiongyu out.
Yan Qiongyu: “Take this spacecraft to the edge of the Tianjiang Star Ring. Someone will meet you there. This is the second chance I’m giving you, and also the last.”
He casually pointed again at the several star bandits who were tied up. “Oh right, when the time comes, destroy these few together with this spacecraft.”
ততততততততততত
After several months, Wang Luan finally returned to the familiar Little Wu District port.
Everyone bade her farewell here. Along the way, none of them asked about what had happened on that star bandits’ spacecraft; even Captain Shanma didn’t ask, only saying to her, “The spacecraft won’t be ours anymore in the future, but everyone can still get together when there’s time.”
“Luan-jie, see you next time!”
“See you next time.”
The lively group left with the broken spacecraft. Wang Luan felt the space around her suddenly become quiet, and at the same time very light.
She returned home and discovered that the door of the shop outside had been pried open, and some parts had been stolen.
An empty house in the chaotic zone that had been unoccupied for several months getting robbed was completely expected. Fortunately, only the outer shop had been pried open; the inner rooms, because of the anti-theft measures she had deliberately set up, had not been intruded into.
It was just that, because no one had lived there for a period of time, there was some dust and a moldy smell inside the house.
In the living room, there were dried flower branches stuck in the vase. It was a kind of flower Wang Luan had never seen before; it hadn’t been there when she left, so it could only have appeared later.
Without a doubt, it was brought by Yan Qiongyu.
Then the question arose: the anti-theft device hadn’t been triggered, and the door wasn’t damaged, so how had Yan Qiongyu gotten in?
Thinking about this, Wang Luan opened the courtyard door leading to the backyard.
The climbing vegetables in the garden had already crawled into the corridor and stuck to the door. With Wang Luan’s action of opening it, a section of vine was torn off.
“Ah…” Standing in the backyard with her hands on her hips, looking at these vegetables and weeds that had grown wildly, Wang Luan let out a pained sound.
Taking good care of a vegetable garden was not a simple matter. If one wanted these vegetables and plots to always remain neat and orderly, it required spending a great deal of time on them.
Wang Luan had just come in and drunk a cup of water when she plunged straight into the vegetable patch, pulling weeds and picking vegetables, busying herself until nightfall.
The overgrown vegetables were cut away, and many flowers on them could be picked and used for flower arrangements. The fruits and vegetables that hadn’t been eaten by birds and insects were also gathered into a small basin and soaked in clear water in the kitchen.
After simply eating dinner, Wang Luan took a bath and lay down on the bed.
The vegetables on the balcony were also growing in a complete mess and there hadn’t been time to deal with them yet. The doors and windows near the balcony were almost all obscured by these luxuriant plants; seen from inside, shadowy silhouettes swayed on the curtains. She turned over and saw the moon lamp above her head again.
The next few days became very regular. Tidying the vegetable garden and the house, replenishing daily necessities, cleaning up the shop outside that had been rummaged through, going to several recycling shops to ask exactly which fearless little thieves had stolen from her home, and incidentally bringing back some materials.
While repairing things, she continued to refine the design of her own small spacecraft.
Every day passed in exhaustion and fulfillment.
Although on the first night after returning, she looked at the window and wondered whether Yan Qiongyu would suddenly come that night;
On the second day after returning, she held the salt crystal ornament she had brought back from the Salt River and wondered where Yan Qiongyu would want to place it;
On the third day after returning, she looked at the leftover fruits and vegetables gathered from the garden and thought that if Yan Qiongyu didn’t come again today, she could only eat them herself, otherwise they would go bad.
But after a few days passed, she was so busy that she no longer thought of Yan Qiongyu. Building a spacecraft from scratch was really too difficult.
It was on such a day that she bought some new parts, returned, and discovered that her front door was wide open, and someone was sprawled on her sofa, sleeping brazenly.
On the coffee table in front of the sofa was the pink crystal vase she had previously placed in the cabinet. Now a large bouquet of flowers was arranged in the vase.
The stray cat suddenly appeared again, and even brought flowers.
Wang Luan looked at her door in confusion. She had locked it when she went out, and now the door didn’t look damaged either. So how exactly had he gotten in?
“Is Miss Wang Luan thinking about how I got in?” Yan Qiongyu sat up from the sofa.
Wang Luan: “Mm.” She was thinking that maybe she should just give him a key.
Yan Qiongyu revealed a mysterious smile. “That’s a secret.”
Wang Luan: “…………” Fine then, no key.
She walked toward the kitchen, took out the postpartum stewed-soup set she had long prepared from the freshness cabinet, washed and rinsed, and lit the stove.
Both sides’ doors were wide open. The wind passed briskly through the middle of the hall. The smell of freshly turned soil from the backyard, and the grassy scent of the cut greens piled in the corner by the wall, were all very distinct. The wind was fresh and dry.
Yan Qiongyu lay on the sofa, feeling very calm. Even though the dull pain inside his body was unceasing at this moment, he still felt a long-lost sense of peace.
Perhaps the nature of a stray cat was to suddenly appear and suddenly disappear. After Yan Qiongyu finished drinking the stewed soup, he was gone the next day, as if this trip had only been to see her once, to confirm that she had returned.
Wang Luan thought that, like last time, it would be a very long while before he came again. But after only a week had passed, one day when she came home and opened the door, she smelled a fragrance.
Hot, steaming dishes were set out on the table. She took one look at the newly replaced bouquet in the pink crystal vase and knew that the cat had run back again.
Humans did not know what a cat’s wandering life outside was like, nor did they know what he did out there. They could only wait for him to come back.
But coming back to see food already prepared was really something rare. When Yan Qiongyu had come back before, hadn’t he always lazily sprawled on the sofa without moving? This time, he had actually cooked something.
Yan Qiongyu wiped his hair as he walked down from upstairs, wearing her slippers and loose, comfortable home clothes. He walked into the kitchen, and in a moment came out carrying a plate of freshly baked small pastry biscuits in one hand.
“Eat first. You can have these pastries later,” Yan Qiongyu said, leaning against the table while wiping his hair.
Wang Luan didn’t eat the dishes first, but instead picked up a warm, freshly baked little biscuit and took a bite.
Delicious. Absolutely amazing!
“It’s really good. This is my first time eating this kind of pastry that you made with your own hands,” Wang Luan said.
Yan Qiongyu’s hand wiping his hair paused. Without showing it, he said, “Miss Wang Luan doesn’t remember? I brought you pastries I made before as well.”
That had been not long after he first got to know Wang Luan.
Wang Luan: “But that time, it wasn’t made by you, right?”
Yan Qiongyu: “Why do you say that?”
It really hadn’t been made by him. He had had Wang Siyu make it on the side. It had just been a prop anyway; back then he had never thought of putting in the effort to make it with his own hands.
Seeing that he seemed to be thinking about how he had given himself away, Wang Luan said vaguely, “Mm, because this one is way more delicious than that time.”
