Reborn as the Paranoid Female’s Rejected Sweetheart [Zerg Tribe]

Chapter 35: I Want to Hear the Details.

Dean received the news of Qi Yao and Yi Er’s return home a day early, so he had the house cleaned up in advance.

When they arrived home in the evening, Dean had prepared a sumptuous dinner to welcome them back.

In the border star system, work occupied most of their time, and every day was busy with no time to spare. Now, returning home, time suddenly seemed to slow down.

“Rest first, or have dinner first?” Qi Yao asked Yi Er.

“What about you?” Yi Er asked back.

Qi Yao pondered for a moment, lowering his head to conceal the blush rising to his ears. “I can do either.”

During the last four or five hours of the return journey, Qi Yao had planned to let Yi Er rest more, but Yi Er refused to rest and insisted on doing physical exercises.

To comfort his despondent mate, Qi Yao generously offered himself.

He was fine, but Yi Er… Actually, worrying was unnecessary. Yi Er was a military female, and although he exerted more physical effort during exercise than Qi Yao, his body’s recovery ability was strong. Looking at Yi Er’s current complexion and gait, he was probably back to normal.

“What are you thinking?” Yi Er seemed to have forgotten about his low spirits, teasing Qi Yao with a playful smile, flicking his fingertips lightly on Qi Yao’s chin.

Qi Yao pursed his lips, turning his head away from the hand on his chin, and sat down at the dining table, picking up his chopsticks. “I’m thinking it’s time to eat. After drinking nutrient solution for a month, I almost forgot the taste of food.”

Certainly, Yi Er could see what he was thinking. The reserved male lord would never admit even half a punctuation mark.

With a sly smile on his face, Yi Er rubbed his fingertips, then sat down opposite Qi Yao.

Dean brought the dinner to the table.

After a while, he brought a plate of cookies.

Made according to Qi Yao’s instructions, Dean had mastered the art of baking cookies, and now, at Qi Yao’s request, he made them every night as an addition to the dinner menu, serving as a post-meal dessert.

Yi Er stirred his vegetables with the nutrient solution, glanced at the cookies on the table, and then glanced at Dean with an inquiring look. Dean explained gently, “It’s Mr. Qi Yao’s request.”

Qi Yao held his breath and observed quietly.

Yi Er said nothing, picked up a cookie, and crunched it down.

The dinner passed in a harmonious atmosphere. After setting down their chopsticks, Yi Er returned to his room first.

Tomorrow, he still had to go to the Imperial Palace to meet with Si Niya and assist in handling Gatt’s affairs. There was one thing after another these days, keeping him busy.

In the living room, Qi Yao was still chewing slowly.

Dean patiently waited on the side. When Qi Yao finished eating, he would clean up the tableware, and then today’s work would be considered done.

But Qi Yao ate very slowly, and after Yi Er returned to his room, he seemed distracted, his mouth opening and closing several times, as if he had something to say but was hesitant to speak.

Dean waited patiently. If Qi Yao didn’t speak, he wouldn’t ask.

Finally, Qi Yao swallowed the last bite of food, drank some water to moisten his throat, and spoke up.

“Dean, how long have you been Yi Er’s butler?”

Qi Yao’s tone was very serious, and Dean, with good professional ethics, replied calmly, “Mr. Qi Yao, I have been serving General Yi Er for four years.”

“Four years? Do you think you know Yi Er well enough?” Qi Yao’s tone betrayed a hint of disappointment.

During this period, Qi Yao had left a good impression on Dean, so asking him this way, he probably wanted to inquire about something related to Yi Er. Dean encouraged him kindly, “Mr. Qi Yao, you can spend every day with General Yi Er, so you have enough time to understand him. So, Mr. Qi Yao, don’t be too disappointed too early.”

“But, I want to know now.” Qi Yao looked at Dean’s perceptive eyes, and in the end, he asked, “Dean, has Yi Er ever mentioned his female father to you?”

Dean’s expression froze for a moment, but soon, the perfect smile returned to his face.

Qi Yao couldn’t miss this reaction. “He mentioned it to you.”

“Just once,” Dean said.

“What did he say?”

Dean recalled, “The General didn’t say anything, just called out ‘father’ and then pulled out a rare rose planted in the courtyard.”

A rose… Qi Yao’s breath hitched. “I want to hear the details.”

The moon outside the window was dimly lit, and Dean’s gaze passed through the wide French windows, landing on the garden where decorative flowers had been replanted.

He recounted, “Two years ago, on a rainy night, the General returned from the border battlefield. I prepared dinner for him as I did today, but he didn’t eat a bite. He stubbornly sat in the courtyard in front of that rose, lost in thought. I was worried he would catch a cold, so I went out with an umbrella to keep him company. He accidentally called out ‘father’ that day… Perhaps…” Dean smiled slightly, “Perhaps that day, the General missed his father, so he involuntarily called out to him…”

Dean withdrew his wandering thoughts.

Continuing: “That night, the rain didn’t stop for a long time. The next day when I went to clean the courtyard, I found that the rose had been pulled up by the roots and thrown aside.”

“The border battlefield… two years ago…?” The Stardust was also abandoned two years ago. Qi Yao asked anxiously, “After that day, was Yi Er very depressed?”

“No. After that day, General Yi Er was no different from usual. The only change was that the courtyard was missing the only rose.”

Dean deliberately paused for a moment. “Perhaps there were some subtle changes that I didn’t notice, but I’m dull and didn’t realize them.”

Qi Yao furrowed his brows, closing his eyes, and rubbed his forehead forcefully. A seemingly impossible conjecture suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He needed time to calm down and sort out these hearsay information, so he could smoothly piece together that impossible conjecture.

“I understand. Thank you, Dean. Don’t mention these things to Yi Er,” Qi Yao withdrew his thoughts, frowning as he instructed Dean.

Dean nodded in acknowledgment. After a while, he said, “Mr. Qi Yao.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember when I told you that the General is guarded?”

“…Yeah, I remember. What about it?”

On the day he first set foot in this mansion, Dean, with his guard up, blessed Qi Yao and Yi Er while saying such words.

Just like that day, Dean still didn’t explain much. He respectfully smiled, “Mr. Qi Yao, thank you for helping General Yi Er through his second molting.”

“Um… that’s what I should do…” Qi Yao was absent-minded, not considering the deeper meaning behind Dean’s words.

*

Back in Yi Er’s room, Qi Yao sighed heavily, collapsing onto the sofa, unwilling to move.

Yi Er, with his back to him, was reading a book. Hearing the sound, he didn’t turn his head. “What were you doing downstairs? Why did it take you so long to come up?”

Qi Yao’s voice was muffled. “Chatting with Dean, feeling a bit down.”

“Oh? You can feel down chatting with Dean? Did you quarrel with him and win too easily, making you feel down?”

“Quarrel? Dean didn’t do anything wrong. Why would I quarrel with him? Am I so unreasonable?” Qi Yao squirmed and sat up, venting his grievances all at once.

He hadn’t noticed when he came in, but now he saw Yi Er reading. Curiosity arose in Qi Yao’s mind, and he walked over to take a closer look. He found that Yi Er was reading a map of the galaxy.

“Why suddenly interested in looking at the map of the Glassy galaxy?” Qi Yao asked, unexpectedly seeing Yi Er’s face, with a pair of bronze-rimmed glasses resting on his high nose bridge. His eyelashes drooped as he stared intently at the book, adding a touch of melancholy to his demeanor.

Melancholy, a word that had nothing to do with Yi Er.

Like discovering a new continent, he stared at Yi Er curiously.

Yi Er quickly took off his glasses. “Just looking at it more. What if, in the future, there’s a chance to visit the Glassy galaxy as a guest?”

Qi Yao realized he was answering his previous question, but his curiosity was now distracted by Yi Er’s glasses. “Why did you take them off? They look good on you.”

“The room is dim, and wearing glasses strains my eyes.”

“Why not wear them now?”

“You’re back, I can’t read anymore.”

“… ”

Implication: He was disturbing him from reading.

Reluctantly turning away, Qi Yao continued to slump back onto the sofa.

Suddenly, he announced loudly, “I’ve decided. In order to leave a diligent and hardworking impression on Teacher Nos, I’ll go back to work tomorrow.”

Yi Er didn’t know what had stimulated this male lord. “Not resting?”

“No, I’ll continue to work hard for my career!”

Except for the male Emperor Si Niya, there hadn’t been any male lord in the Empire who spoke so much about their careers.

Yi Er ignored him, anyway, the promised honeymoon was still in progress, so let the male lord do whatever he wanted these days.

Who knew, not long after, Qi Yao stood up abruptly and walked out of the room without a word.

This male lord was very strange today. It seemed that he was greatly stimulated by Dean. Yi Er speculated. When he met Dean tomorrow, he had to ask what they talked about.

With that in mind, he put down the book and followed out.

Qi Yao returned to the adjacent room.

The room was prepared for him by Dean at Yi Er’s request. Since he moved in, he had never stayed there even once.

Qi Yao didn’t want to disturb Yi Er while he was reading, so he came back to clear his mind and calmly pondered over what Dean had told him.

He lay on the bed and typed “Ninety-second Imperial Defense Battle” into the terminal starnet.

Suddenly, the door opened.

No, it should be said that the door was never closed; it was just pushed open from the outside by Yi Er.

Qi Yao discreetly put away the terminal.

At the doorway, Yi Er rested his hand on the doorknob and asked him, “Are you sleeping here tonight?”

“Yeah, didn’t you say I was disturbing you while you were reading?” Qi Yao turned to him, propping his head up with his elbow, innocently replying to Yi Er.

Yi Er walked closer. “I’ve finished reading.”

“Finished? So what?” Qi Yao’s eyes flickered with playful mischief. “Are you inviting me to sleep in your room?”

Yi Er smiled. “If the lord is willing to grace me with his presence.”

Qi Yao was overjoyed, swiftly getting off the bed and stepping out of the room first. “Remember to turn off the lights when you leave.”

*

The next day, Qi Yao did indeed go to work. Teacher Nos was puzzled by his proactive return from leave. “Didn’t Yi Er help you apply for leave? Why are you in such a hurry to come back?”

Qi Yao scratched his head, guarding against Teacher Nos’s mind-reading abilities, and fabricated carefully, “I’m afraid you’ll take over when you come back from leave, and I’ll lose my job, so I hurried back to establish a good image in front of you.”

Teacher Nos gave him a disdainful glance, picked up the teacup, and blew on it leisurely. “Tsk, isn’t it normal for an male lord to lose his job? Just make up lies normally.”

“… Alright, Teacher Nos, I came to thank you. If it weren’t for you, giving me the opportunity to disassemble and assemble the Stardust model in advance, teaching me relevant knowledge, and providing me with rigorous design drawings… the Stardust wouldn’t have been refurbished so smoothly, and Yi Er and the others wouldn’t have completed their mission so quickly.”

The words sounded somewhat sincere. Teacher Nos put down the teacup with some doubt. “So what have you learned from it?”

Qi Yao modestly replied, “I’ve learned a lot. Teacher Yalman is very responsible and has taught me many things.”

“Then I’ll check your learning achievements another day.”

“Mm.”

After the master and disciple exchanged pleasantries, the air fell into a brief silence.

Teacher Nos took a sip of tea, then seeing Qi Yao still standing there, his face showing impatience, he didn’t bother to hide it. “Why are you still standing here?”

“I… ” Qi Yao hesitated. He knew that the upcoming question would be very abrupt. After some irrelevant chatter, he still didn’t know how to ask.

Teacher Nos saw through him in an instant, withdrew his gaze of impatience, rummaged through the messy desk, didn’t find what he was looking for, then opened the drawer by his leg, and finally broke the purpose of Qi Yao’s visit, “You came here to ask about Yi Er’s female father, right?”

“!” Read the mind again?

Teacher Nos explained, “His Majesty the Empress also asked me last night.”

“His Majesty the Empress?”

As the drawer made a clattering sound, Teacher Nos pulled out an old, yellowed color photo, dusted it off, and placed it on the table in front of Qi Yao.

Qi Yao picked up the photo with both hands.

In the palm-sized photo, a silver-haired blue-eyed female leaned out of the cockpit of a starship, facing the camera, making a victorious gesture.

The photo only showed the upper body, so the face was exceptionally clear. Compared to the identification photo Qi Yao had seen on the starnet, it exuded more vigor and sunshine.

It was a young and confident face, with Dai Na’s gentleness and Yi Er’s handsome charisma.

Teacher Nos said, “This photo was taken when Darren was nineteen years old. He won first place in the starship simulation battle assessment. I took this photo when he came out of the starship.”

Darren, Yi Er’s female father’s name.