No Money to Divorce

No man could bear to receive such an evaluation from their partner, much less a man like Adrian with such a strong sense of pride. He lost his temper instantly. “You didn’t even give me time to prepare before blowing up the bomb on me! I was relying completely on my theoretical foundation. I think I already managed pretty decently!”

Zhong Yan was stunned. “What do you mean theoretical foundation…didn’t you say you had tons of experience?”

“I have tons of theoretical foundation experience, okay?!” Adrian was depressed.

Only then did Zhong Yan understand. After all that, it turns out that was the first time for both of these two old virgins. His heart was beating madly as he asked, “So, with other people…you’ve never…”

“No. I’m busy enough, where would I find the time to seek someone out for something like that?” Adrian complained dramatically, “I kept my body pure for you for so many years but you still complained about my techniques. Where am I going to practice? Maybe one day I can go out to practice before…”

Zhong Yanglared at him. “Don’t you dare!”

“No no, I wouldn’t dare.” Adrian quickly expressed his loyalty before laughing. “Gosh, you’re so fierce. We’ve only been married for two days. No wonder they used to say that getting married is no different from taking a step into your grave. Life is going to be hard in the future…”

When it came to Adrian, Zhong Yan had always been very petty. In the past, when they were “close friends”, Zhong Yan had disliked Fayn for so many years only because he got close to Adrian and shook his own position as “Adrian’s best friend”. He was still stuck on that till now. It was worse now that they were mutually exclusive to each other. Zhong Yan warned him. “You’re mine alone, the law recognizes that. Don’t break the law.”

Adrian listened to his serious declaration of sovereignty and could not help but laugh. Zhong Yan smacked him through his blanket. “Don’t laugh! I’m serious!”

“Okay, okay, I’m serious, I won’t break the law.” Adrian put on a straight face and said in a fake serious manner, “I’ve always been a good law-abiding citizen.”

“A law-abiding citizen who forcefully seized an entire star system.” Zhong Yan laid firmly in Adrian’s arms with only his face exposed. He rubbed his face against Adrian’s hand like a gentle little animal and spoke unhurriedly to him. “I just saw the news about you sealing Lebor’s borders. Did you find Qu Yongyi?”

“Everyone is talking about how we were attacked and also our marriage, I’m surprised you saw any other news.” Adrian knew that Zhong Yan was a constant worrywart. He had already begun to deal with the situation at hand as soon as he woke up. He told him honestly, “We managed to catch him just this morning. He’s already been taken to Navi’s primary star. My men are interrogating him now.”

“Then, when are you going to withdraw your troops from Lebor?”

“I’m not going to withdraw my men.”

Unperturbed, Zhong Yan calmly responded. “You’re not withdrawing? Are you going to redress the former council heads and duplicate the whole White Aegis route again?”

Adrian appreciated how composed he was, and how nothing ever made him anxious. Now that their ideas were well-matched, their tacit understanding made Adrian extremely pleased and he couldn’t help but lean down to kiss Zhong Yan’s cheek. “You know me best.”

“We’re talking serious business, what are you doing?” Zhong Yan’s wound was hurting so he didn’t dare to speak too quickly. He spoke slowly, but he did not sound like he was blaming him at all, and instead sounded amused. “How’s the collection of evidence going?”

“Just about done. Most of it was provided by ‘Specimen’. The intelligence department on my side is working on it. At dawn tomorrow, my men will go to Lebor’s prison and speak personally with the former head of council.”

Zhong Yan nodded. “Lebor’s former Council Head will be very willing to help. ‘Butterfly’ sacrificed him and pushed him onto the road of no return. You’re handing him an olive branch. This is a good chance for him, and what’s more, you’ve both worked together tacitly on the White Aegis matter. You could say you’ve had a ‘cooperation’ before.”

“Not bad, that’s exactly what I thought. After all that work, Pearson caused a big uproar. He definitely must not have expected that Lebor would land in my hands.”

“Don’t be too relaxed yet. You still haven’t gotten Lebor. Lebor System is still within ‘Butterfly’s’ jurisdiction. How did the Capital react when you stepped in just like that? You had a reason when you went to search for the fugitives so they couldn’t go as far as to send their troops. Otherwise, it would be difficult to control the public’s opinion.” Zhong Yan made a guess, “Did they give you a severe warning? Or several?”

Adrian asked, “Did you really not see the news? Aren’t your guesses a little too accurate?”

“I just know more about the round table meetings and those people,” Zhong Yan sneered, “Among the twelve, Pearson is basically the only person who wants to fight. He’s a radical who wants war. On the other hand, your grandfather is on the same camp that I appear to be on the surface, the conservative type. The remaining representative members are no fools. Now that Qu Yongyi’s matter was revealed, they must have figured out what was going on. Qu Yongyi is just a normal high-level council member. He doesn’t have the guts to form a plan to assassinate you. What’s more, Pearson actually agreed to concede without any struggle when it came time to decide on the candidate. They should also be able to guess that Pearson is the man behind all this. I don’t even need to participate to know what they talked about in the emergency round table meeting yesterday. But who would’ve known that you have the evidence in your hands? If the Capital sends troops to Navi right now, and you happen to have conclusive evidence that a representative member planned to assassinate you, the credibility of the Capital will be destroyed once word gets out. Anyway, things would be fine if they were able to suppress you with force, but if they can’t, things will be bad. They’ll lose the people’s trust and it will be easily subverted. They won’t take that risk. This is how the countless plans to take down Navi have failed in the round table.”

During the highest-level meetings of the Navi Military Command, everyone had also been speculating on the Supreme Council’s thoughts, but this is still the first time Adrian had heard a representative member personally describe the happenings at the round table. He tucked in the representative councilor in his arms and raised a brow. “Is this view of you conservatives?”

“It’s not ‘us’ conservatives, it’s ‘they’ conservatives points of view,” Zhong Yan stressed. “They are more inclined to scope out Navi’s military strength before making any plans, and this is also the reason why I am able to come to Navi. It is by the support of this faction that I am able to come.”

“They’re counting on you to come to Navi to explore its military strength, but now look what you’re up to? You’re in the home of Navi’s commander busying about with your rabbit every day. This is a serious dereliction of your duties, Councilor Zhong Yan,” Adrian laughed.

“Didn’t I got hurt from a space pirate attack? First, your dad attacked me, and now you’ve kept me under house arrest. I still have to recover from my injuries. How am I going to work?” Speaking up to this point, Zhong Yan couldn’t help but sigh. “As expected, people can’t lie. I lied and said I was injured by space pirates last time and didn’t return because I had to recover from my injuries, and now I actually got what’s coming for me. I really can’t go back now.”

“Don’t think about going back once you’re better either,” Adrian said, but then he stopped.

Zhong Yan did not answer. They all realized at once that when it came to business, they would inevitably touch that topic in their conversations.

“Xiao Yan, I thought about it carefully,” Adrian said. “You told me before that I was too demanding of you, asking you to be a saint among saints and whatnot. Saying that you had to do more…You’re right. I like you, so I had different expectations for you. I kept feeling that it wasn’t enough for you to just do good things, and wanted you to be compassionate at the same time, that’s my fault. You have the ability, and the ambition. Since you want that position…I won’t stop you.”

Zhong Yan turned his head to look at him in astonishment, but his actions were too big and it caused his wound to hurt, but he didn’t care. His unexpected joy was showing in his eyes.

“However! Don’t get happy too soon, there are still buts.” Adrian deliberately put on a straight face and emphasized. “But, we can only establish a presidency under a decentralized system. A centralized sovereign position is not allowed. The terms of office must be made clear, and it cannot be lifelong. Moreover, if we succeed, and you do have the ability to climb up then, the position of vice president will be someone of my own choosing.”

Adrian was a pure yet stubborn revolutionary. Zhong Yan knew that well. Only such a leader with such firm beliefs can stand out at a time when fifty-two of the fifty-three star systems are under the control of artificial intelligence, and protect the last pure piece of land. What’s more, he was about to take the first shot since the implementation of artificial intelligence hundreds of years ago. But for someone like him to actually be able to concede when he knew that Zhong Yan wasn’t thinking the same thing as him…

“Sure, that’s all fine.” Zhong Yan’s voice was a little choked while he spoke. He cleared his throat and continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to disappoint you.”

Adrian held Zhong Yan even tighter in his arms. His partner was not a person who was purely “good”, nor did he have any intentions of becoming the kind of “good” he wanted, but what could he do? Who told him to fall in love with this person? After entangling with each other for ten years, he had also recovered his consciousness. The instant he saw Zhong Yan’s body fall in front of him, he had already given in. No matter what kind of person Zhong Yan was, he was fine with it. He is the one for him for the rest of his life. Even if Zhong Yan left one day, and couldn’t be saved, he still wouldn’t have anyone else in his heart.

Two days later, Zhong Yan could get out of bed on his own and walk slowly.

This is the day when they would announce “Butterfly’s” misjudgment towards Lebor’s former Council Head and the other three members. Qu Yongyi’s interrogation had also come to an end. Zhong Yan even arranged for Intron to leave Navi today with Bayer back to the Capital. Everything was piled up at once, and Adrian had been working remotely these past few days, so he had to go to headquarters today. Before he left, he settled Zhong Yan down in a wheelchair and nagged him for a full twenty minutes on a variety of matters before leaving under Zhong Yan’s urging.

Without Adrian at home, Zhong Yan pushed his own wheelchair over to the backyard to see the rabbit.

The giant space rabbit kit was basking in the sun in its own nest. Zhong Yan rode a circle around it on his wheelchair and was depressed to find that it didn’t grow in size at all. It was still so small.

Suddenly, Zhong Yan had a new discovery.

One the other side of the giant square nest was a small, compact wooden cabin four centimeters square. Be it the material or the shape, they were both exactly the same as the giant space rabbit’s nest. Clearly, it was also one of Adrian’s creations. What did Adrian make this small house for?

Just as Zhong Yan stopped suspiciously at that small compact hut, he saw the palm-sized rabbit he had purchased to make excuses probing its head out from inside.