NOVEL NEXT 08
Chapter 8: Then wouldn’t he and Yi Er be together?
Dean’s perpetually perfect smile cracked slightly, though he maintained his respectful posture, internally adding a hint of scrutiny toward the male zerg before him.
If a female zerg is neglected by the male on their wedding night, not only would it become a laughingstock, but also subject to criticism and gossip, making it difficult to hold one’s head up in the future.
He couldn’t quite figure out why Qi Yao asked this question. Was it because he didn’t want Yi Er to be criticized, or was he eager to exercise his mating rights with Yi Er?
But Yi Er had already told him that Qi Yao was only brought in to help him through the second metamorphosis and would be kept around to prevent him from being without assistance during that time. Before the second metamorphosis arrived, they would each go their separate ways.
So, in response to Yi Er’s request, he had prepared a room for Qi Yao alone.
“Does Mr. Qi want to live with General Yi?” Dean asked with a smile.
Qi Yao felt awkward. “No, I was just asking casually. If this is Yi Er’s request, then please forget what I said.”
“Does Mr. Qi want to see your room then?”
“Yes.”
Dean led Qi Yao to a sunny room on the second floor.
The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the balcony, casting beams of light on the warm-toned wooden floor, reminiscent of the scene when Qi Yao and Yi Er shared the small cake.
Dean said, “The next room is General Yi’s.”
Qi Yao nodded, “Okay.”
“Is Mr. Qi satisfied? If not, we can change it.”
This room was much larger than the small apartment Qi Yao had been living in, and it was next to Yi Er’s. He had no reason to be dissatisfied.
“I’m very satisfied.”
Dean checked the time on his wrist. “Then Mr. Qi should rest for a while. I’ll go downstairs to continue preparing dinner. If you feel bored, you can play with Xiao En.”
The robot Xiao En moved closer and automatically activated the viewing mode.
Halfway through leaving, Dean turned back, “Is there anything Mr. Qi likes or dislikes?”
Qi Yao didn’t want to cause trouble right after arriving, so he replied, “Nothing.”
Dean nodded, indicating he understood, then left Qi Yao in the room and went downstairs to prepare dinner.
As soon as the door closed, Qi Yao finally let out a sigh of relief.
He felt uncomfortable all over now.
Perhaps it was because the environment was unfamiliar, or perhaps it was because of the sudden rejection from Dean, or perhaps because Yi Er wasn’t here…
But what couldn’t be denied was that if Yi Er were here, at least he wouldn’t feel so out of place.
He kind of missed Yi Er.
Xiao En closed the blinds on the balcony, blocking out the light from outside, then found a perfect spot and projected onto the wall the hottest sci-fi time-travel movie at the moment, based on Qi Yao’s personal preferences entered by Dean into Xiao En’s memory.
But Qi Yao wasn’t in the mood to watch. He opened his terminal, found the only contact on it, and sent a message: “When will you be back?”
In the Second Military District Commander’s office, Yi Er received the message. His stern expression froze for a moment as he carefully examined the sender, confirming that it was indeed Qi Yao.
They had only been apart for half an hour, and he was already impatient for him to come back?
Are all male zergs so attached?
After considering for a few seconds, he replied, “Soon, once I finish handling some trivial matters.”
Once he put away the terminal, his tone softened when facing his subordinate.
The subordinate had no idea what had happened to the Commander. He seemed to have changed his tune after looking at the terminal, even letting him finish speaking.
He could only earnestly summarize: “In short, it’s just that Vice Admiral Ais’ subordinates spread rumors in the restaurant about what happened at the sky restaurant that day, saying you acted recklessly… So you were forced to marry a male zerg from the lower district. My brothers and I couldn’t stand their attitude, so we couldn’t help but intervene. Commander, sorry for disturbing your vacation, it’s our fault, please punish us, we have no complaints.”
Yi Er’s sharp gaze swept over the five subordinates. After that, he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He could probably guess how things had unfolded. It was probably because Ais was unhappy and spread rumors when he returned, that’s why his subordinates spoke recklessly about what happened that day. If he had known, he would have taught him a lesson that day.
Now he had to take time out of his vacation to deal with this brawl. Fortunately, he received the news early before it caused any major consequences. If this had reached higher authorities, these five zergs would probably have been dismissed from the Second Military District.
“Knowing that you disturbed my vacation and still did such disgraceful things, each of you will do a thousand push-ups and write a three-thousand-word reflection. Hand it in to me tomorrow morning.”
“Commander…”
“You disturbed my vacation, there’s no room for negotiation.”
The five subordinates orderly exited Yi Er’s office. Half a minute later, there were orderly sounds of push-ups outside the office.
Yi Er listened halfway, tidied up his things, and quietly left the office.
When he returned home, Dean had already left.
Upon hearing Yi Er’s voice, Xiao En automatically closed the playback program and swiftly went downstairs into the kitchen to bring out the dinner Dean had prepared before leaving. Then it waited by the side for instructions from the master.
Yi Er came in, took off his coat, and Xiao En took it without needing to be told, then disappeared into the closet to activate the ironing mode.
Qi Yao witnessed all this when he came downstairs and felt like a useless parasite clinging to Yi Er for survival, worse than a machine providing service.
Yi Er was in a good mood today. Seeing Qi Yao, he asked kindly, “Are you getting used to it?”
Qi Yao couldn’t say he wasn’t used to it in front of Yi Er, so he replied tactfully, “I’m a go-with-the-flow kind of zerg. I’ll get used to it after one night.”
Yi Er merely uttered a faint “Hmm” and sat down at the dining table. “Hungry?”
Qi Yao replied, “Not really.”
He sat down and chatted with Yi Er, “Is everything settled in the military district?”
“Just some trivial matters, quickly resolved. Try these dishes. Dean prepared them to celebrate our wedding and to welcome the new master at home. He’s quite skilled.”
The dinner Dean prepared was sumptuous: a bottle of wine, three vegetable dishes, one meat dish, a bowl of thick soup, and a fruit platter, all meticulously prepared.
In this society, culinary skill was a must for every female zerg.
Practicing skills is to better serve the male zerg after marriage, in order to win the male zerg’s favor and promote the frequency of mating between the two zergs.
Qi Yao looked at the dishes, which were plated and presented with the style and appearance of a five-star restaurant. He thought that even if Dean wasn’t here as a butler, he could still become a chef elsewhere.
Yi Er invited Qi Yao to sit down and poured a glass of wine for each of them.
Qi Yao took his own glass, and Yi Er gently touched it with his, saying, “Congratulations on our marriage, my lord.”
Qi Yao replied, “Congratulations on our marriage, my lady.”
Qi Yao picked up his knife and fork, spearing a piece of green vegetable and placing it on his plate.
He wasn’t actually very hungry.
The chocolate cake filled him up quite a bit, and he still didn’t have much of an appetite. More importantly, he wasn’t very accustomed to the food in the zerg society.
Although this society was technologically advanced, it didn’t prioritize gourmet food as much as it did technology.
They valued natural ingredients, and dishes could be served on the table with simple processing. High temperatures and cooking were only to eliminate parasites and cook the food, while seasoning was simple and lacked complexity. Its main purpose was to enhance the blandness of the food rather than stimulate the taste buds, in order to increase happiness through food.
Qi Yao took a bite of the green vegetable and unexpectedly, it didn’t disappoint him.
So he ate a few more bites.
Yi Er smiled with satisfaction. “It seems that Dean’s cooking suits your taste.”
Qi Yao gave a sincere evaluation. “Yes, it’s light and not greasy. I wonder which lucky male zerg gets to enjoy his cooking.”
Yi Er replied lightly, “He doesn’t have a male master. Now, the only lucky male zerg is you.”
Qi Yao paused for a moment. Although Dean looked young, he seemed like a married female zerg. “He doesn’t have a male master? Is he a proponent of not marrying?”
“No, he got divorced. The marriage court granted them a legal divorce.”
“Oh…” Qi Yao nodded in surprise.
In the Empire, male zerg rights were protected. Few female zergs could win if a case went to the marriage court.
In other words, once a female zerg was married to a male zerg, unless the male zerg initiated the divorce, the female zerg would be the male zerg’s spouse for life, until death do them part.
Yi Er said, “Dean is an unfortunate female zerg. He spent the first half of his life striving for freedom, and then luck smiled upon him, and he became free.”
“What happened to him?” Qi Yao asked without understanding why Yi Er said that.
Yi Er looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong?” Qi Yao asked, confused.
“Do you really not know? This incident caused quite a stir at the time.”
“Huh? What incident?”
Judging from his expression, this male zerg probably really didn’t know. Yi Er withdrew his probing gaze and said, “When Dean was pregnant with his second egg, his former male master insisted on mating with him. Dean refused out of fear of harming the egg. His former male master got angry and accidentally killed the male offspring who came to protect Dean during the forced mating. Dean suffered a miscarriage and irreversible damage to his right eye as a result.”
Qi Yao wouldn’t have known about such things. He listened quietly as Yi Er continued.
“After losing the male offspring, perhaps it made him stand up for himself. After that, he took his former male master to court. The lawsuit lasted for more than three years, and Dean eventually won. The female slave initiated the divorce, and the news was on the front page of the Star Network for almost half a month. Even after the marriage court legally granted the divorce, various experts were still analyzing this event of symbolic significance at great length. I’ve read a few articles, most of which were just sensationalism, apart from stirring up some female zergs’ desire for action, they didn’t have much value.”
Yi Er took a sip of wine. “If you’re interested, you can search on the Star Network. Just input ‘Dean’ and you’ll find all these articles.”
“Oh.” Qi Yao wasn’t that curious. He didn’t want to pry into other zergs’ wounds through the network.
But now he understood why Dean, who had been fine when they first met, suddenly became hostile towards him.
Actually, it shouldn’t be Dean’s individual hostility towards him, but rather his hostility towards all male zergs, especially when Dean misunderstood him after he asked, “Not sharing a room with Yi Er.”
“Alright, let’s not talk about it. You eat first.” After Yi Er finished speaking, he got up to get some nutrient solution from the fridge.
When he opened the fridge, he saw the leftover small piece of cake, and he brought it out along with the nutrient solution.
Although Dean’s dinner was delicious, Yi Er didn’t eat a single bite. He finished the cake, drank a bottle of nutrient solution, and then drank a glass of wine.
Qi Yao, a male zerg, was eating the newlywed dinner prepared by Dean for him and Yi Er, feeling that Yi Er was probably sitting at the dining table now just to accommodate him.
Yes, to accommodate, with no other meaning.
After dinner, Xiao En tidied up the table, and the two zergs went back to their respective rooms.
Qi Yao lay on the bed, feeling awkward everywhere.
Although it was a marriage in form only, there was no need to go to such lengths, right?
He could keenly feel the distance Yi Er had towards him, and this distance was quite far.
If they continued to interact with each other in this distant manner in the future, how could they improve their relationship?
Perhaps he should get to know Yi Er more, in order to bridge the gap between them.
The famous deeds of Dean’s cooking during dinner gave Qi Yao a hint. Lost in thought, he unconsciously opened his terminal and typed “Yi Er” into the Star Network link. Soon, a screen full of information about Yi Er appeared.
The top post: [Breaking News! Second Military District Commander Yi Er marries today, male identity arouses zerg suspicion!]
In just a short news headline, there was a brief introduction to Yi Er’s marriage, accompanied by a picture of Yi Er in formal attire.
Perhaps the media couldn’t find Yi Er’s wedding photos or photos of his spouse, so they just used this picture.
After reading the news, Qi Yao’s mind suddenly cleared up, and he inexplicably opened the discussion thread with over ten thousand comments.
Male zerg Kang Kang: “[Noble male zergs getting married will definitely make headlines on the entire Star Network. If there’s no news about Yi Er’s male master, he’s probably not a nobleman.]”
Waiting for a Lady: “[Yi Er got married? Did his blind date end? Then does that mean I have no chance anymore?]”
You Lady is Gone: “[@Waiting for a Lady, my condolences.]”
Star Network Hottie: “[Three days ago, I was lucky enough to encounter Yi Er at the Sky Restaurant. I saw a quiet and cute male zerg supporting Yi Er. Could it be him?]”
User b56s384zx: “[Curious about that quiet and cute male zerg, @Star Network Hottie, care to elaborate?]”
Star Network Hottie: “[Replying to @User b56s384zx, that day, that male zerg had black hair and black eyes, dressed quite elegantly, looked like a nobleman, and had S-level spiritual power. At that time, to vent for Yi Er, he even knocked down Ais with his mental power.]”
User gh83ksa6z: “[Which noble male zerg has black hair, black eyes, and is quiet and cute? I’ve never heard of him. @Star Network Hottie, are you making this up?]”
Beautiful Bug: “[@Star Network Hottie, are you making this up?]”
Noblest Softest Female zerg: “[@Star Network Hottie, are you making this up?]”
Male zerg’s Moonlight: “[@Star Network Hottie, are you making this up?]”
Star Network Hottie: “[Image]”
Qi Yao clicked on the image.
The picture was taken from a first-person perspective, so it was very clear.
That day, when he used his spiritual power to suppress Ais and uttered harsh words to Ais for Yi Er, someone quietly pressed the shutter button next to him, and he didn’t even notice.
Qi Yao continued to scroll down.
Noblest Softest Female zerg: “[I’ve never seen this male zerg.]”
Male zerg’s Moonlight: “[Never seen him +1]”
Beautiful Bug: “[Even though I’m a noble bug, I’ve never seen him.]”
User has logged out: “[With Yi Er’s temper, can any male zerg tame him? I can already foresee the unhappy married life of the male zerg. Anyway, I don’t have high hopes for this marriage. I’m waiting for information about the male zerg’s identity. I’m willing to marry him to soothe his wounded soul caused by Yi Er.]”
Male zerg’s Golden Wings: “[Although I’ve never seen him, seeing how he stood up for Yi Er, I want a male master like him!]”
Little Yellow: “[Who cares if he’s noble or not, I love his face. Does anyone know him? Can I get in touch with him? I want to be his female attendant, or even his female slave.]”
Male Master’s Little Whip: “[Butt here, waiting for information about the male zerg’s identity, signing up to be a female slave.]”
User 93ucz6gf8: “[Waiting]”
Laughing Out Loud: “[Waiting]”
…
Below were a string of replies waiting for information about the male zerg.
Qi Yao scrolled for a while, and there were already zergs fantasizing about being his female slave and scenes of being loved by his little whip. So, he quickly registered an account, intending to reply to each of them and reject them.
But as soon as he typed a word, he realized that the netizens’ incredible detective skills were not to be underestimated. They would probably soon trace his personal information through various means. So, he simply logged out of the Star Network and didn’t read the comments.
Now the entire Star Network knew that Yi Er had married him.
As one of the parties involved, Qi Yao still felt troubled. With over ten thousand comments, not a single one offered their blessings. How could he bridge the gap with Yi Er and gain his favor?
In terms of the only information he knew about Yi Er, it seemed like he could use this information as a breakthrough.
That is, Yi Er likes sweets.
Yi Er only ate a small piece of cake for dinner, drank a bottle of nutrient solution, and took a few sips of wine.
With his tall stature and being a military female, he must need a lot of energy, right?
Would that little bit of food be enough for him to consume?
Qi Yao felt it definitely wouldn’t be.
Today was their wedding night, regardless of whether this marriage was just for show or not, as a male master, Qi Yao couldn’t neglect his female spouse.
A female spouse, who was still being watched by the entire network, and a female spouse who had been seen by the entire network’s male master standing up for him. If news of being neglected on their wedding night spread online, wouldn’t everyone speculate that Yi Er was not favored? Then wouldn’t other zergs try to take advantage of the situation?
Wouldn’t that mean he and Yi Er were over?
As a zerg who sought to achieve a perfect ending as soon as possible, Qi Yao couldn’t allow such a thing to happen.
After careful consideration, Qi Yao went downstairs, took out some fruits from the fridge, cut them into small pieces and placed them on a plate, then knocked on Yi Er’s door.
“Yi Er, are you asleep?”