Over the long span of over two thousand years, Yun Xunlan’s emotional fluctuations had been worn down significantly.
“Shyness,” to him, was an emotion even rarer than “fear.” As a result, when he coaxed people, he carried no psychological burden—whatever came to mind, he simply said.
In contrast, Yu Chen was the one suffering from the lack of experience that comes from never having been in a relationship.
No matter how strong his self-control was, it seemed nonexistent in front of Yun Xunlan. With just a few casual words from the youth, Yu Chen would be coaxed into a daze, unable to hold his ground.
But this time, Yu Chen surprisingly managed to resist Yun Xunlan’s smooth barrage of sugar-coated bullets—he had felt something was off ever since Yun Xunlan mentioned the blue betta fish blowing bubbles.
Because most bettas, especially male bettas, only blow bubbles under one specific circumstance.
After Yu Chen opened the video Yun Xunlan sent him and watched it, he saw that the blue betta fish’s bubbles were sticky and unbroken, clinging to the water plants like a large cluster of air bubbles. At that moment, Yu Chen confirmed: Damn it!!!
That fish was nesting too!
When male bettas enter their breeding period, they start building nests using bubbles they blow from their mouths as material.
Once they’ve built their love nest on water plants with bubbles, they swim toward their chosen female fish, spread their beautiful tail fins in an enthusiastic dance, and invite her to embrace and lay eggs with them.
In the video, the blue betta fish had nearly finished building its nest. When Yun Xunlan approached it to film the video, it even wagged its tail diligently—it was clearly performing a courtship dance!
Yu Chen was utterly defeated.
Fine, humans are one thing—but how could even a fish “betray” him like this?
If he’d known it would turn out like this, he might as well have kept the blue betta fish instead of returning it early. If it dared blow one bubble, he’d pop one bubble—let’s see how it would build a nest then. Or maybe he should think of a way to get the blue betta fish back under his care? Yu Chen pondered.
Yun Xunlan was unaware that Yu Chen was secretly plotting to fight him for custody of the blue betta fish. Seeing that it was late and not wanting to disrupt Yu Chen’s rest, Yun Xunlan sent him this message:
[Baby, I’m going to sleep now. I have to wake up early tomorrow. Good night.]
But after sending this message, Yu Chen—who usually replied quickly—didn’t respond for quite a while.
The silence lasted so long that Yun Xunlan thought Yu Chen had already fallen asleep. Only then did the man reply with an overwhelming flood of ellipses—enough to fill the entire electronic screen—and finally added:
[Good night.]
Yun Xunlan stared at these electronic “bubbles,” thinking: Yu Chen really does resemble his pet blue betta fish.
The psychologist had suggested he raise a live pet and touch it often. But Beauty couldn’t be touched much in water—so if he touched Yu Chen more… could that count as touching his pet too?
“I understand you less and less,” Yun Xunlan’s thoughts made the system sigh deeply. “Time flies; things change; and here we are at last.”
Yun Xunlan now had his own ideas and no longer listened to what the system said. He firmly decided: “I’ll start by touching him more. After all, we’re a couple now—no matter what happens, physical contact is inevitable sooner or later.”
Like holding hands, hugging, kissing—which they’d already done—and perhaps making love—well, they hadn’t done that yet.
But Yun Xunlan was already prepared for making love with Yu Chen.
After all, alpha libido is generally strong. He had merely kissed Yu Chen during the day and already elicited a reaction from him—is that a sign of weak desire? Clearly not!
Sexual incompatibility is also one of the major reasons couples break up.
Yun Xunlan absolutely could not accept that he and Yu Chen might break up over such a small issue that could be resolved by simply having more intimacy.
So he sent a message to Ni Chun, asking him to prepare condoms and lubricants in his bedroom at Crescent Moon Peninsula, the North Imperial Palace, and the dormitory at the Seventh Military Experimental Base. This was to ensure that he and Yu Chen could smoothly make love no matter where they were.
Upon receiving this message, Ni Chun immediately shot up from his bed, feeling gratified as he asked:
[Ni Chun: Your Highness, do you have any preferences for color or scent?]
Yun Xunlan initially wanted blue but then thought it might be odd to use blue for such items. So he replied:
[Yun Xunlan: Make them all colorless and odorless.]
[Ni Chun: Understood.]
Ni Chun was so happy he couldn’t sleep.
He knew Major Yu Chen was reliable!
The Third Highness had previously refused to use such items, but after some pillow talk from Major Yu Chen, he was now willing.
To thank Major Yu Chen for his help and considering how well the young couple was getting along, Ni Chun specifically assigned Yu Chen to stay by the Third Highness’s side the next day when arranging positions for the guards.
Yu Chen himself had no objections to this arrangement.
But Fu Yanxi was puzzled. During the morning assembly, he stared at the blue-eyed alpha whose nose and mouth were completely covered by a black bite guard, looking confused as he asked: “Yu Chen, didn’t your susceptible period just end? Why are you in another susceptible period?”
Alphas in their susceptible period are highly aggressive. Even though all of them as guards could control their emotions well, an alpha in a susceptible period shouldn’t be placed near the Third Highness—there were plenty of other alpha guards not in their susceptible period who could be assigned instead.
Yu Chen remained expressionless, his gaze cold as he replied with just four words: “None of your business.”
Fu Yanxi: “…”
Fine, you can’t provoke an alpha in their susceptible period. He shut up—happy now?
Besides, a soldier’s first duty is to obey orders.
Though Fu Yanxi and the other guards were puzzled, they followed orders quietly during transit. It wasn’t until they reached Jian Wenxi’s house that Fu Yanxi spoke again: “Hey, look.”
Yu Chen didn’t want to look: “None of my business.”
Fu Yanxi took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: “Yu Chen, I know you’re incredibly uncivilized, but can you say something other than ‘business’? Can you speak politely?”
“Each person sweeps the snow before their own door; don’t care about the frost on someone else’s roof,” Yu Chen lifted his eyelids and coldly retorted, “Polite enough for you?”
“…That’s polite enough,” Fu Yanxi was speechless for two seconds. “The problem is I was talking to Gui Yan, not you.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Yu Chen grew even more irritated.
An alpha in their susceptible period truly can’t stand seeing their lover close to anyone else.
Though Yu Chen said it wasn’t his business, his gaze had been fixed coldly on the black-haired omega Jian Wenxi since the moment he appeared—Jian Wenxi’s outfit compared to last time at Yun Xunlan’s birthday banquet now included a hat and mask, covering him more tightly. Yet he still clung like sticky rice cake to Yun Xunlan’s side, never leaving him even for a moment.
In short, everything about Jian Wenxi rubbed Yu Chen the wrong way.
He felt that Jian Wenxi’s hat shouldn’t be on Jian Wenxi’s head—it should be on his own head, and it should be green.
Meanwhile, Gui Yan and Fu Yanxi were also looking at Jian Wenxi’s mask and hat, feeling quite puzzled. Gui Yan remarked, “I heard that Young Master Jian likes living alone, with no one else in his house. Similarly, the Third Highness often isolates himself for periods of time and refuses to see anyone. Brother Xi, how do you think two people who don’t like interacting with others became friends?”
Fu Yanxi thought for a moment before answering: “Negative plus negative equals positive?”
“The Jian family claims it was for a political marriage,” Song Tingxiao chimed in with some gossip.
“Huh?” Gui Yan was confused. “But the royal family has always denied the marriage rumors.”
Fu Yanxi added: “The Third Highness and Young Master Jian have also publicly stated multiple times that they’re just close friends, not a couple.”
“That’s why I said the marriage claim came from the Jian family. It’s strange because, logically speaking…” Song Tingxiao lowered his voice, “the royal family shouldn’t want anything to do with the Jian family anymore.”
After all, the head of the Jian family, Jian Chexiao, was Empress He Chubai’s ex-husband.
Their divorce was due to Jian Chexiao’s infidelity.
This led Emperor Yun Qihe to beat up Jian Chexiao every time he saw him, completely disregarding how such behavior might tarnish his political reputation.
The Jian family themselves admitted that Jian Wenxi was initially a pawn they pushed forward to secure a marriage alliance with the royal family. Before sending Jian Wenxi into the palace, they had flooded the news with marriage rumors, buying up trending topics everywhere.
The royal family didn’t refute these rumors immediately and even tacitly allowed them at first.
It wasn’t until after Jian Wenxi entered the palace and met Yun Xunlan that the royal family clarified that there was no marriage alliance—just two kids getting along well and becoming good friends.
However, anyone with a discerning eye could see that this explanation didn’t hold water.
But what the truth was, no one could guess.
Once seated in the aircraft, Jian Wenxi noticed Yun Xunlan still wearing sunglasses and immediately expressed concern for his health: “Yun Xunlan, are your eyes feeling better?”
Yun Xunlan adjusted his sunglasses: “Almost.”
“The frequency of your eye replacements is increasing,” Jian Wenxi frowned slightly. “You just replaced them six months ago.”
Yun Xunlan joked with him: “It’s fine; it’s not as fast as my liver replacements.”
Using M20 painkillers causes irreversible liver damage. When this damage accumulates to a certain extent, a new liver transplant becomes necessary; otherwise, it would affect normal bodily functions.
Currently, Yun Xunlan’s liver replacement frequency is once every five months, with his next surgery scheduled for the end of next month.
So Jian Wenxi couldn’t laugh at his joke. Crossing his arms and pursing his lips, he said: “That’s not funny.”
“My bad, my bad,” Yun Xunlan apologized to him. “Don’t worry; I won’t die.”
Jian Wenxi sighed half helplessly and half sadly: “You always say that…”
He shifted away from this heavy topic and asked Yun Xunlan: “How long will the mech inspection take?”
“At least three hours,” Yun Xunlan estimated. “I need to check all its functions thoroughly to ensure there are no issues before completing the handover process.”
Jian Wenxi replied: “That’s pretty quick then.”
“Mm, yes,” Yun Xunlan nodded. “Once the handover is complete, I’ll take the mech back to Crescent Moon Peninsula, then transport it through the underwater route to the base.”
Jian Wenxi was still worried about his health: “Can you be discharged already? There’s no need to rush, right?”
“The moment I show up, it means I’ve ‘been discharged.'”
As Yun Xunlan spoke, he removed the sunglasses from his face, revealing the dazzling golden eyes unique to the Galactic Empire’s royal family.
Just as his words fell, the aircraft arrived at the Imperial Capital Star Port, where the Corona Empire’s transport ship had also docked.
