No Money to Divorce

Stalvern looked at Zhong Yan with a probing gaze, as if assessing the credibility of his words. Zhong Yan raised his brows and asked, “Do you not want to know what ‘Butterfly’s’ original proposal to me was? Are you just uninterested in this matter, or…have you known it since long ago? After all, that person seems to have a very good blood relationship with you.”

If any part of Stalvern’s expression had been fake earlier, you could now say the change in his expression now was truly genuine. Earlier, Zhong Yan took the initiative to suggest that he himself was the one who set up the match for him and Adrian behind the scenes, and though Stalvern showed surprise, he did not truly believe it. That is because he still knew a bit of what was going on in the background in regards to Zhong Yan’s marriage proposal, so what Zhong Yan brought up may have just been a lie. However, for Zhong Yan to actually say that could prove that he truly did find out, and also interfered with his marriage proposal himself.

Stalvern’s expression changed over a few times before finally ending in a cold smile. “So that’s how it is, huh? You’ve really began setting up your plan since last year…When it was announced that your optimal marriage partner was that worthless grandson of mine, I thought there was a mistake. So you were the one who went to ‘Butterfly’ and asked him to replace your partner with that unfilial bastard.”

“Yes. I went to the ninth floor just for this matter last year, and after stating my intentions, ‘Butterfly’ told me that he did have an optimal marriage partner for me. I understood immediately when I saw the Yate surname…I’m afraid ‘Butterfly’ was not the one who picked my partner. The one who chose…was you, correct?”

Stalvern did not deny it. After his abdication, he quickly came to cooperate with Zhong Yan, but as his own heir of his blood had run away, and with Zhong Yan being an outsider, he couldn’t have him inherit the Yate family. Moreover, Zhong Yan was young and helpless at the time and could only rely on him. But what about ten years later? Twenty? He had to think of an idea to tie Zhong Yan firmly to the Yate family.

Zhong Yan is an orphan with no relatives. The best way to tie him down is with marriage.

There are a total of nine floors to the Supreme Council’s building. The eighth floor was dedicated to holding round table meetings, and only the Twelve and their assistants can go up there, while even less have set foot on the ninth floor. It’s commonly said that the ninth floor is where “Butterfly’s” true body resides. Only the twelve representative members have the authority to go up there. And, with no one taking over his vacant position during Stalvern’s first year of retirement, he was allowed to keep his authority temporarily, and twice he took the opportunity when he returned to the council house to handle the transfer of his residual duties to talk to “Butterfly”.

This matter was not a secret in the Supreme Council. Soon after, Zhong Yan was promoted. Everyone thought that Stalvern had come those two times to recommend Zhong Yan to “Butterfly”. But in truth, only Stalvern himself knew that “Butterfly” has always been generous to the loyal Yate family. He accepted his recommendation the first time he brought it up, and the second time was for Zhong Yan’s marriage.

Zhong Yan was still young at that time. With the improvement of the average lifespan of a human, the age of marriage was also pushed further back. It was considered the more normal age now to get married at thirty. It would seem too early for Zhong Yan to be married at that age back then. Moreover, he had just pushed Zhong Yan up into position. If in the blink of an eye, “Butterfly” also announced one of the Yate family’s heirs as his optimal marriage partner, it would be too obvious. Whether it was in or outside of the council, it won’t sound pleasant. So, it had to be delayed for a few years.

But that matter was settled right then. “Butterfly” promised to choose a partner for Zhong Yan out of the Yate family’s juniors, and Stalvern himself had also made his preparations and made himself clear on the situation of all the male and female juniors at a suitable age within the family. No matter who “Butterfly” chose in the end, he will still be able to control the situation. However, he would never have thought that the person he chose would be Adrian.

Even though Adrian was, in fact, one of the Yate family’s juniors, and “Butterfly” did keep his promise, Stalvern still could not figure out the deeper meanings of his actions even after mulling deeply over it for several days. But when Zhong Yan took the initiative to bring up going to the Navi System to probe the situation, he was more or less certain. They must have been in a deadlock with Navi for far too long, and “Butterfly” was beginning to get anxious. That is the reason why Stalvern strongly supported Zhong Yan despite how illogical and rash his proposal was. He thought that Zhong Yan was spurred on by “Butterfly”.

After straightening out all the facts, Stalvern said, “I didn’t think ‘Butterfly’ would actually agree to you asking to be matched with that brat.”

“Everyone called me your puppet at that time. If I were to be an honorable member of the Twelve, I had to ask for his help to give me an opportunity to break through the deadlock and fight for a chance to obtain some political achievements.” Zhong Yan chuckled. “But didn’t I succeed?”

Stalvern quipped, “Not bad. But did we really break through the deadlock? We’re almost at a dead end! You’re not trying to break the deadlock for the Capital. You’re just eager to build achievements for yourself!”

“We can’t rebuild everything is we don’t destroy it. Another chance at life for the Capital may not be a bad thing.” Zhong Yan asked casually, “What do you think?”

“I don’t need your handouts, but…” Stalvern slowly began, “I’m not going to abandon ‘Butterfly’ when he’s in danger either. Let’s talk about the specifics.”

Done deal.

Zhong Yan let out a sigh of relief at the bottom of his heart and put on a smile. Then, he began explaining the whole impeachment plan to him from start to end.

Zhong Yan who had been recovering from his injury in Navi was finally back, and the atmosphere in the Capital’s Supreme Council also turned strange.

This council member was no longer the same as before. Now, he was married to the big boss in Navi’s military command, and the various indications of their married life—at the very least, the post-marital life they wish to display to the world—showed that they were living quite harmoniously. That means that Zhong Yan now has the support of the Navi Military Command at his back. Moreover, due to Zhong Yan being away for a long time, especially now in this situation where everyone is pointing fingers at the council and yelling at them, and also how he clarified his relationship with the matter as soon as he could, the people’s anger towards the Capital did not affect him at all.

And, even more incomprehensibly, the first thing Councilor Zhong Yan did when he returned to the Capital was to visit the Yate family patriarch. And, his visit lasted so long that he did not come out of the Yate family residence before the sky turned dark. It was not until the second day did he finally resume his duties in the council house.

Commander Yate and the Yate family should be enemies in an irreconcilable feud…What on earth was Zhong Yan and Old Yate talking about for such a long time?

Then, a small number of the people were thinking about this matter were soon contacted by Old Yate, and found out about the plan.

Zhong Yan went to work as usual during the days when Old Yate was contacting the conservative party to talk to them about the plan. Even though he had tossed the matter of the “Honor Decree” aside, the work he could not finish remotely that had been piling up for months was still enough to busy him to death. Today, he was only able to walk out of the council house after the sun had set.

He has not had this many people in his hybrid scooter before. Two of the bodyguards Adrian gave him were seated in front while he and Intron were seated at the back. The situation has been getting tense recently, so it wasn’t safe to move around alone at night. So, he had Intron ride in his car so he could send him back.

As soon as he got in, Zhong Yan said, “Turn on the shield.”

Intron was caught off guard for a moment, but he still turned on the shield. Only after that did he say, “Sir Zhong, will the AI detect anything strange with our actions if we keep turning on the shield every day as soon as we enter the car?”

Zhong Yan chuckled. “Do you really think we’re the ones using it the most? Right now, I’m afraid not a single person in the Twelve isn’t using it. Everything’s about to collapse soon, who doesn’t have their own secret plans they want to talk with their subordinates about? What’s more…so what if we’re caught by the AI? He…” He’ll be obsolete soon.

Even if the signal shield was turned on, Zhong Yan was still cautious and did not speak out that sentence. Instead, he asked, “How is the situation outside today?”

“Just about the same as two days ago,” Intron answered. “The Navi Military Command has not withdrawn from Institution Star this entire time, and the monitoring equipment have all been completely dismantled. Nobody knows what is going on in Institution Star right now, but according to the posts made by the students in the virtual community, everything seems quite leisurely. All the stores and concessions are running as usual, and none of them need to go to class.”

Even though the heavy weapon units that struck fear in all the military commands had long cleaned up two military commands and returned to Navi, but the team that their supreme commander had assumed personal command of was reluctant to pull back, leaving the Capital on tenterhooks. After all, Institution Star was much too close to the Capital.

It was now an urgent demand for the Capital to appease the people and the army due to this overwhelming pressure. Under Stalvern and Zhong Yan’s efforts, the impeachment bill has been roughly drafted, and now they are only waiting for the final touches to be added on.

Since Zhong Yan had to take a detour to send Intron back, it was already late at night when he returned to his condo.

This condominium complex was located in a high-price area, and the people who lived there were all high-end residents. There was a separate garage downstairs for each property owner, and there was an elevator within that brought each person directly to their condo. Privacy was well-guaranteed here, and it was for this reason that Zhong Yan purchased such an expensive house.

There were no extra rooms or beds in his one-bedroom studio, so Zhong Yan had to rent a room nearby for his six temporary bodyguards. The two bodyguards who were in charge of picking him up today brought him to a garage, and after watching him take the elevator directly up to his floor, left with the vehicle.

Zhong Yan stood alone in the elevator, reading through the chat logs between him and Adrian. After returning to work under “Butterfly’s” watchful gaze, he could not contact Adrian frequently. So, the two of them had only exchanged daily reports of their good health to each other these recent days.

Perhaps…he could give Adrian a call tonight. Zhong Yan stroked the screen that displayed Adrian’s last message to him. He really missed him too much. If anything, he could just be a little more cautious and avoid talking about business on the phone. It’s still good to be able to hear his voice. It’s been so many days since he’d last heard it.

While thinking about that, Zhong Yan stepped out of the elevator door to his condo and was instantly stunned.

The lights in the living room were on. The lights that were installed in his condo were equipped with sensor lights which only lit up when someone was home. Zhong Yan’s complexion changed. His first reaction was to press the emergency call on his terminal which was connected to the bodyguards, but at the same time, a black shadow had pounced on him from behind, covering his mouth and pushing him firmly down on the sofa.

Zhong Yan struggled subconsciously, only to hear the deep male voice he had yearned for ring out right by his ear, saying, “Don’t move. I’m a space pirate and this is a robbery.”