No Money to Divorce

Adrian had personally led his troops on a military expedition while Fayn stayed in Navi’s base camp within the system. At the same time that Adrian’s letter was released, two men contacted him through the military channel.

“Should we send troops?” Fayn began to speak before Adrian could say anything. “The entire army is ready on standby. About half of the remaining force has been sent over to Lebor’s border. They’re just waiting on your order.”

“What about the twelfth regiment?” Adrian asked.

Fayn froze. He did not expect Adrian to mention all the way to the twelfth regiment. That was their heavy weapons corps, and you could say that almost a quarter of all their military expenses were invested into that regiment. The twelfth regiment was definitely one of their most powerful regiments within the entire Navi Military Command, and they were also the ones who normally guarded the Navi System. They rarely ever made a move.

“They are also on standby within our military command, not in Lebor,” Fayn explained.

“Bring the twelfth regiment into the frontline expedition group that’s preparing to head out,” Adrian ordered. “Tell them to set off immediately as soon as they’ve gathered. First, go to the star system where the protesting schools have already been suppressed. Speed is not a priority. Just go along the most crowded route and make sure the media has a good shot of our fleet.”

Fayn had been fighting side by side with Adrian for so many years that they’ve already long built up a tacit understanding. He had fully understood his meaning and nodded. “Yes, Commander.”

Adrian explained some of the details of the operation while Fayn acknowledged all of them. Then, he quickly hung up the call and began to arrange it.

“How long left till we leave this signal zone?” Adrian asked.

The soldier next to him searched up the information on the screen in front of him and responded, “At our current speed, sixteen minutes.”

There was still time. Adrian nodded and returned to his own room. Then, he dialed Zhong Yan’s number.

As soon as the call connected, Zhong Yan asked, “Ade? Is everything done on your end?”

Zhong Yan had taken a detour to reach a signal zone, so he definitely must have seen the letter and knew that Adrian was also currently in a signal zone. But even then, he did not take the initiative to contact him. He had no experience in military expeditions, but he still knew that Adrian had to contact the base camp during this time.

Adrian felt like his heart had just been stabbed. Zhong Yan’s voice when he asked that question was devoid of any blame or sarcasm. He asked him that question with a gentle tone as if he was asking him whether he had eaten lunch. As if it was only a matter of course, he had pushed himself down to second place just for him.

Zhong Yan’s life till now had been devoid of love and kindness. He met the very first person who was willing to be his friend a the age of seventeen, and so he regarded that person as his entire world—Adrian often felt that Zhong Yan did not have the same feelings for him as any normal partner. He wasn’t doubting Zhong Yan’s love for him. In fact, it was the opposite. The love that should have belonged to his family, his friends, and his love, and even the love for man, his own kind. Zhong Yan gave that all to him.

Adrian still remembered how he felt when he heard that he and Zhong Yan were matched. He could hardly control his temper in public, but when he lied to Zhong Yan about having a partner and received no special response for him, Adrian suddenly felt a dull throbbing pain side of him, getting stuck in his throat, and making him speechless. He knew he was not a tolerant person, but he would still tolerate everything about Adrian.

“What’s wrong?” When Zhong Yan waited for a few seconds but received no answer, he began to feel a little panicked. “Did something bad happen? Are you unsuccessful on your side?”

“No, that’s not it. But…” Adrian covered his face and sat down on the bed in his room. In a quiet whisper, he said, “I miss you so much.”

Zhong Yan had also lost his voice all of a sudden. After a short moment, he responded in an even softer tone. “We’ve only just separated for a few hours.”

“I know.”

“It won’t take long. Once everything is over, we’ll be able to see each other again.”

“I know.”

“For many, many long years to come, we will always be together. Always and forever.”

“I know…” Adrian said. He never knew that the feeling of missing someone could be so strong. “But I still miss you a lot. I regret not holding you for a while longer before you left. How could I have just let you go? Even a few more seconds would’ve been good.”

In a place where Adrian could not see, Zhong Yan was sitting in the flying spacecraft all the way on the other side of the universe, and the tips of his ears have slightly gone red. He could hear how dispirited Adrian was and it made his heart hurt. But uncontrollably, he also felt a little…happy.

He is being so sad right now, how could you be happy! Zhong Yan scolded himself lightly. After thinking about it, he asked, “Have you opened your suitcase yet?”

“Not yet. Why?”

“Oh…Not yet? Then, forget it…”

“I’ll open it now.” While saying that, Adrian opened his luggage with his one free hand. The first thing that entered his sight was a snow-white ball on top of the clothes Zhong Yan had stuffed into his suitcase.

Adrian picked up the fist-sized round fuzzy-looking object just to find a rope hanging off from it. This seems to be a charm. While observing the ball, he asked Zhong Yan, “What’s this? The white ball thing.”

“I thought you’ve already opened your luggage and seen it.” Adrian felt a little embarrassed. Having Adrian opening up his suitcase to see it just after he said that made him feel like a child asking for encouragement. He said bashfully, “It’s a lucky felt charm I made for you. You know how they say that a rabbit’s foot can bring good luck in the ancient legends? I purposely collected the fur on our giant space rabbit’s foot and made this. I’m not too good at it, so it’s a bit ugly…”

Adrian quickly said, “What do you mean ugly? Nobody is allowed to say that what you make is ugly! Look at how nice this round ball is! I’ll definitely keep it on me every single day.”

If Zhong Yan found out now that what he meant was to wear it around his neck, instead of just keeping it on his person, then he would definitely stop him. Unfortunately, he thought that Adrian meant he was just going to keep it in his pocket, so he allowed it. By the time he realized his misunderstanding, it was already too late. The entire Navi Military Command has already found out that “The Commander’s wife made a felt charm for the Commander to wear out of the fur on the rabbit’s foot before the Commander went out for battle.” And, so as not to be outdone, the partners of the other soldiers also made felt charms for their lovers to hang on their uniforms, and this would become a popular trend among the officers of the Navi Military Command for some years after that. However, that all happened in the future.

“Well, it’s not a ball, it’s a rabbit tail,” Zhong Yan explained embarrassedly. “I wanted to make a rabbit’s head, but it was too difficult. Time was short, and I’m just a begginer, so I just made a rabbit’s tail.”

Adrian looked at the fuzzy round ball in his hand. You could still see some fur sticking out of some spots. You could hardly tell what the ball was supposed to be at all. He gave up on the idea of looking for things to compliment in the actual object and began pulling his compliments out of thin air. “Wow, this looks the same as tail of our rabbit back at home! Is this your first try? It looks so good! I just knew you were a fast learner at everything!”

Zhong Yan laughed when he heard that. “I know what level I’m at, I just got lucky with this one. You can stop flattering me.”

“I’m speaking the truth!” Adrian vowed. “He looked at the time and said, “I’m about to leave the signal zone. You have to be careful when you reach the Capital, alright?”

“I know. You too. I’m also losing signal soon. We’ll talk again later.”

The call ended. Adrian used the last minute left of the signal to check what a felt charm was, and also what the legend about the rabbit’s foot was. He played with the little white ball Zhong Yan had created with him prick after prick, cherishing it. He had wanted to hang it on his waist, but on second thought, it wasn’t obvious enough. So, he simply hung it on his left breast pocket. However, now it seemed too obtrusive, so he put his military jacket on top to observe it. At the very end, he hung it on the bucket on his left breast pocket.

Adrian brought three regiments with him this time. This was not too much out of their total force, but this was already the limit to ensure a speedy trip. Moreover, the first three regiments were the main elite troops to begin with. The two colonels of the first and third regiments were chatting in the war room when the door was suddenly pushed open.

“Commander!” When they saw Adrian come in, both of them stood up to salute him. Adrian greeted them back before saying, “Don’t mind me, sit down. You can continue your chat. I just came to ask…”

He paused for a moment. He didn’t think about what he was going to ask at all. After a few seconds, he went on unperturbed, “I was just asking how long it’ll take till we arrive.”

Colonel of the first regiment, “…”

Colonel of the third regiment, “…”

Why didn’t he ask the cockpit this instead? They’re not even the ones responsible!

Adrian approached them casually while standing with the left half of his body facing them. Navi’s military uniform was black, so the white ball hanging from hs chest was extremely conspicuous. The colonel of the first regiment was already an old veteran so he was able to realize instinctively that things may not be as simple as they may seem. So, cautiously, he did not speak. The third regiment’s colonel was a young man, so without even thinking, he asked, “Commander, what’s that ball on your jacket?”

“What ball? This is a rabbit’s tail. I can tell you’ve never raised a rabbit.” Adrian who had raised more than one rabbit proudly said, “My family made it for me using the hair of the giant space rabbit I raised back at home—Ah, speaking of which. Zhong Yan seems to enjoy doing these useless things all day. I told him not to do it, but he kept insisting that a rabbit’s foot was a sign of good luck in ancient times. He made it specially with fur from the rabbit’s foot. A real piece of work, isn’t he? Oh yeah, he actually didn’t know how to do these things before this, so he learned it specially just to give me that bit of extra good luck. Ah, you know how these felt charms are. Quite fussy to do, and you get hurt easily…”

The first colonel covered his face, unable to bear looking at him directly. On the other hand, the third colonel who was single since birth was dumbfounded by this sudden critical hit. He listened to Adrian yammer on for five minutes straight with a dumb look on his face. Then, after Adrian finished speaking, he added one last question, “How’s it only the two of you here? Where’s the colonel for the second regiment?”

“He went back to his room early!” The third colonel did not hesitate to betray his friend.

Adrian nodded in satisfaction. “I will go and ask whether he knows how long it’ll be till we arrive.”

After an hour, all the senior officers on the hsip were forced to understand that the white ball was in fact a rabbit’s tail, and they also learned about the legend of the rabbit’s foot, as well as the fact that the giant space rabbit in their Commander’s house had the fur of its foot plucked off.