Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 179

Chapter 179 – I Guess I Will Sell My Body

The Eighth Galaxy.

The Milky Way City was in its transitional period between dry and wet seasons;-the temperature dropped greatly at night despite the skies clearing up at daytime. The moisture in the air and soil hadn’t had the time to be fully absorbed, emitting a natural scent of earthly smell near greeneries and gardens.

It was a kind of smell that made people lethargic, almost as if all the plants and flowers had decided they wanted to quit their jobs as the seasons changed and stopped caring about spreading their spores and unique scents. Likewise, humans were too lazy to put up their customer service persona outside of work with the change of seasons.

People were holding up their personal devices and scrolling through the news, explosive amounts of information traveling through the skies of the cities. From private vehicles driving up to highway terminals to customers waiting for their coffees to be served at cafes, the topic of the great battle in the Heart of the Rose could be brought up as a topic of discussion at any time and anywhere. Colorful opinions and thoughts from different people about the battle and the group of accidental guests into the Eighth Galaxy traveled throughout the galaxy.

Yet heated discussions about politics often sent feelings of unease to the masses.

Though despite the unease, people still had to attend to their everyday obligations at work or school. From the perspective of the people that had just returned from the battlefield, this was a rather unique sense of peaceful vitality.

The natural wormhole zone and Human Alliance created a miracle: while one side was fighting as if it was doomsday, the other side was completely cleared of even a single piece of dust from cannonfire.

Lu Bixing opened a small crack from the curtains and took a look outside, then closed it back up again, thinking it was still too bright out. He carefully placed the coffee in his hand on a small table by the bed.

Zhanlu might drop the ball quite often on the battlefield, but as a digital butler he could certainly be awarded the honor of a role model; his skill in brewing coffee was even more masterful. Lu Bixing hadn’t been a big fan of coffee before, but ever since Lin Jingheng came back home, he had been conditioned to live with this bittersweet aroma in his own home everyday– he ended up changing up his daily menu under the lure of fresh coffee.

The steam above the coffee cup floated out; Lu Bixing reached a hand over and fanned it to let the scent fill the room faster, hoping to wake the sleeping man on the bed with its smell.

Unfortunately, that certain gentleman was immune to the temptations of good cuisine and remained unfazed.

Lin Jingheng’s sudden knockout on the commanding ship almost scared the daylights out of the pilot who had connected onto the mental network moments ago.

According to the medical capsule’s diagnosis at the time, he had no immediate illness or threatening conditions and was simply over-exhausted. Of course, the main cause still came from relaxant number 1; this new type of relaxant wasn’t the same as the ones the Union had used before. Lin Jingheng had never actually used these new ones, but still treated them like his old friends the moment he placed his hands on them. It was a natural reaction of the body to adjust to new foreign substances, so the side-effects took a bigger toll on him.

Lin Jingheng left a hand dangling out of the blankets, his personal device still lit up and connected to a home-use medical capsule; it displayed all sorts of physical statistics on its screen. He had been asleep for over twenty hours since he returned home, but even now still showed no sign of waking.

On the other side of the bed was that thick handwritten notebook by Lin Ge’er; Lu Bixing had opened it up this morning and only managed to get through one-fifth of the content.

Genetics was sometimes quite fascinating; in certain places, Lin Ge’er’s handwriting was almost similar to Lin Jingheng’s own writing. From the writing style, it wasn’t hard to tell that the owner of the notebook was a modest but amiable person, his words clear but not cold. A few pages inside even detailed his concerns and unease before his marriage proposal, which included hints and pieces of this family’s unique but immanent personality of being a little too cold on the outside–it was almost adorable in its own way.

Lu Bixing sat by the bed and closed the notebook, then gently brushed his fingers across Lin Jingheng’s face as he momentarily studied the man’s features.

The dim lights in the room drew out the shadows and hard lines on his face more clearly; his nose and jawline were clean-cut and steep, the corner of his lips sharp to a point. Even though his eyebrows weren’t pressed together, they weren’t fully relaxed either; there was an almost unnoticeable tightness between those brows.

Lu Bixing let out a sigh, leaned down and placed a soft kiss between those tensed up eyebrows: “Oh well, you really don’t get to rest this much that often anyway, sleep as much as you like.”

An ancient movie once said: “This isn’t the real world. We really only lived in each other’s hearts. [2] ”

Everyone who engraved their presence within the heart of a person would have a place of belonging in that person’s heart.

Some were warm and cozy, others were cold and dark.

Lin Jingshu’s place was like a run-down shack from the slums where the ceilings were full of holes, unable to block out the cold winds and rain. It wasn’t a pretty place, but Lin Jingheng had also once experienced the warm breeze of Wolto there as he fell asleep to the lullaby of artificial raindrops. This little shack contained his roots and childhood; without it, he had no home to return to.

Lu Bixing’s palm slid down from the commander’s face. He grabbed hold of the hand hanging out of the blanket and pressed it onto his own chest as he drowned himself in thoughts: Y ou’re lucky that I’m willing to keep you under my shed…but what would you do if I’m not good enough to you?

Lu Bixing’s heart pained the moment this strange thought came up. Suddenly, it felt like this person laying on the bed wasn’t the revered Grand Marshal of the Silver Ten, but a poor man shivering in the cold storm, helpless and weak, unable to even stand up for himself.

Unprompted, Lu Bixing wove a full-fledged little movie in his mind without any basis, turning himself into an evil villain that bullied Lin Jingheng. He hadn’t even considered what those ‘evil deeds’ should entail: the movie director himself already shattered his own heart with this imaginary scenario to the point where he could almost feel his muscles ache.

Right then, Lin Jingheng’s fingers that were still pressed onto Lu Bixing’s chest curled up slightly.

Zhanlu’s tempting fresh coffee may not have successfully woken him up, but director Lu’s own self-inflicted pained heartbeat was effective.

The first thing Lin Jingheng saw when he opened his eyes was Lu Bixing’s melancholic expression, frozen before him as if he was posing for a photoshoot. “……what are you doing?” he asked.

The ‘main actor’ was awake and finally called Lu Bixing’s wandering mind back; though despite having his senses back, that heartache still lingered. Lu Bixing pulled Lin Jingheng’s hand up and gripped it tighter as he locked their fingers together, then pressed a kiss on the latter’s hand. He responded in a soft tone, “Shh…I’m busy looking at you, don’t distract me.”

“……” Lin Jingheng was locked out of his little imaginary world and could feel goosebumps beginning to crawl on his skin. “What the hell are you smoking now?”

He pulled his hand back and attempted to sit up on the bed, but the moment he shifted his position, Lin Jingheng felt a stinging pain right on his temples. The dizziness and pain made it difficult for him to sit upright and forced him to fall back down onto the pillow.

Lu Bixing asked in panic: “What happened?”

“Nauseous.” Lin Jingheng responded in a muffled tone, shuffling his head around on the pillow like a restless cat, “Is this the side effect of that damned relaxant or from sleeping…how long was I asleep?”

Lu Bixing carefully pulled him back up and let the commander rest in his embrace, giving Lin Jingheng room to rest his chin on his shoulders: “Is this a little better?”

Lu Bixing’s shirt still carried that familiar smell of Zhanlu’s favorite eucalyptus scent, chilling and piercing without being too invasive, making it quite soothing to Lin Jingheng’s still-exhausted brain. He let out a muffled humming sound, feeling Lu Bixing’s body heat emitting through the clothes and engulfing him in a layer of warmth, slowly melting away his own chilly skin.

Lin Jingheng could sense that a lot of things had happened and even more troubling matters were waiting to be solved; yet no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t muster up the energy to think about them. His empty mind had nothing aside from the yearning to submerge himself in this embrace.

That was when he heard that chatterbox Lu Bixing mumble by his ears: “Feels better now, right? You know, I think you were too mesmerized by my handsomeness earlier, so of course you’re not that nauseous now that you can’t see my face.”

Lin Jingheng: “Leave.”

Lu Bixing grabbed Lin Jingheng’s rebellious hand that wanted to push him away, then rolled to the other side of the bed as he dragged the commander down along with him: “By the way, you haven’t agreed to what I asked you on the mech the other day.”

Lin Jingheng’s mind was still cloudy and didn’t realized what he was talking about, then finally asked after a few moments: “What?”

Lu Bixing asked sternly: “So when do you plan on signing the papers with me?”

Lin Jingheng: “……”

Lu Bixing then counted on his fingers: “Marriage certifications will need a lot of information. You weren’t here the last few times we did our census, so I’m assuming they don’t have a lot of your information on hand; we might even need to completely update and re-register for you. I can send the application form to your personal device–make sure to check if there’s anything you need to prepare before filling it out.”

Lin Jingheng: “Wh….”

Lu Bixing ignored him and continued: “Oh, and we might need to make a public announcement. Most public officials are required to write one for their own department with a personal statement in the back. I heard from Thomas that you would always push the paperwork onto your secretary back in the Silver Fortress, but you have to write it yourself this time!”

Lin Jingheng: “When did I say……”

“Also my situation’s a little bit complicated so I can’t really let the breeding center take my DNA, but thankfully I have a backup solution.”

Lin Jingheng’s lagging mind was still trying to process what this ‘breeding center’ was when he heard Lu Bixing ramble on without giving him a break: “The director of the breeding center was from the Engineering Department, so I can pull some strings a little and ask to bring a piece of equipment home. We can let Zhanlu manage it and make Doctor Hardin do the manual check–by the way, do you like boys or girls? I like girls, but I don’t think we’ll have time these coming years to take care of two at the same time. But if you have different opinions, I guess we’ll just have to play rock-paper-scissors to decide.”

Lin Jingheng’s still fragile mental state was completely startled, his face absent of any visible expressions.

“Oh,” Lu Bixing made a strange sound, “are you like my mom and don’t like kids?”

Something in Lin Jingheng’s heart jumped–this was the first time he heard Lu Bixing say “my mom” ever since the young man learned of his real parents.

“Then…” Lu Bixing stared at Lin Jingheng’s face for a short while, then licked the corner of his lips. “Then I guess I’ll have to sacrifice myself a little bit this time and sell my body to win a favor.”

In a quick turn of events, he wrapped his legs around one of the commander’s thighs, then pressed Lin Jingheng’s hand as he slid it seductively down his own body. In a charming, low tone, he asked, “How does it feel, Marshal? Now tell me, I’ll give you anything you want.”

Lin Jingheng’s head buzzed painfully when he tried to laugh so had no choice but to suppress the urge: “Are you selling your body or handing out flyers; why are you shoving it in other people’s hands when they clearly don’t want it?”

Lu Bixing: “……”

Lu Bixing turned his body over in a fit of anger and pressed the commander down on the bed with all four limbs: “Listen here punk, this is no longer that time you seduced me on the small mech in broad daylight to do whatever you want! Alright punk, if this is how you’re gonna be now that your body’s satisfied, I’m going to show you what forceful trade is……”

Before he could finish his arrogant act, Lee’s message came through on his personal device.

Lee: “Prime Minister, the generals from the Central Militias are asking to pay you a visit, are you available right now?”

The battle in the Heart of the Rose had been much bloodier than anyone had imagined; the Human Alliance had suffered a tremendous loss. No matter what the plan was for the future, mechs needed to be fixed, supplies needed to be restocked, and people needed rest. The First Galaxy was still under the looming shadow of the super AI; even though Woolf claimed that it was a peace-loving machine, it was still an oversized moth that couldn’t be ignored. They couldn’t possibly stay in the First Galaxy for long during a time like this, so after setting up temporary networks between the two sides of the wormhole, they only left a small fleet of watchers in the Heart of the Rose. Aside from the AUS pirates that had left without a word, everyone else decided to rest up in the Eighth Galaxy for now.

“How is this place so…” Nagus scanned the central residential area and shuffled through his limited vocabulary bank before finally commenting, “…plain.”

The central residential area was filled with small buildings that had their own little yard attached like average civilian housing. Even among the other galaxies, these were considered to be on the scale of a single-individual apartment, let alone compared to those grand mansions beside the mountains on Wolto.

“The buildings in the Eighth Galaxy, from government agencies down to basic infrastructure, are all newly built,” Lee explained as he led the generals in. “It’s still a young place, so we don’t have those kinds of big families like Woltorians. Many of our public officials and government workers are still single individuals who don’t need to worry about feeding a family–however, we are currently building more residential areas within the central region and expanding in the next two years. People who have bigger families can move to places with larger homes…we’re here.”

The General of the Fourth Galaxy looked up at the small building and shook his head: “It’s not even as big as Commander Lu’s reception parlor back in the day. I can’t say anything else, but shouldn’t an executive minister at least have a mansion? You can’t possibly tell us all foreign relations and diplomatic talks are done in the same office, right? That’s certainly not a good sign.”

“Milky Way City has a special reception area,” Lee said, “but you’re right. However, the Eighth Galaxy didn’t have foreign relations in the past so they’ve been delaying the construction; though recently many people have been starting to bring this issue back up again.”

The truth was people had mentioned this in the past, but because Lin Jingheng was still missing back then, this tiny yard was virtually everything Lu Bixing had left. If anyone dared to bring up the topic of reconstruction, their revered Prime Minister would respond with coldness.

“‘The Home of Commander Lin and Engineer 001’….” Nagus read the little sign aloud, “what, are you telling me Jingheng’s still living with him? Isn’t this a little too inconvenient? Hey, didn’t he say that his partner was also from the Eighth Galaxy’s Galactic Forces? Then why is he still stuck looking at Marshal Lin’s cold face everyday? Doesn’t he get tired of it? How does he live?”

Lee cleared his throat awkwardly and pretended he didn’t hear the complaints, then called at the front door: “Zhanlu, we’re here.”

The General of the Fifth Galaxy suddenly realized something and nudged Nagus. The latter turned and responded, confused: “What’s that for? Stop squinting at me, hey ol’ Bu, speak up if you have something to say.

The old General Bu from the Fifth Galaxy: “……”

A human-shaped Zhanlu opened the door with an albino python hanging around his neck; this strange aesthetic almost scared the living daylights out of these middle-aged guests. Lu Bixing quickly welcomed them in and took the guests around his house within five minutes, making it the quickest walkthrough these old men had ever seen.

Nagus scanned around for a bit and then asked, “Is Jingheng awake? How is he right now?”

“He’s good, it’s the same old issues with relaxant number 1. He woke up briefly in the morning; the medical capsule gave him some medication afterwards and now he’s back asleep.”

Nagus nodded his head; his purpose wasn’t really to greet Lin Jingheng. That little shit had been through tougher times and wouldn’t die that easily, so he wasn’t worried. His real intention was to find a chance to ask about something else more interesting. Nagus rubbed his hands on his knees awkwardly and attempted to ask in a natural tone: “Then…what about that person? You know, is your partner not home right now?”

Lu Bixing: “He’s home.”

Nagus’ old eyes widened excitedly as he waited for a follow-up, only to see Lu Bixing take the tea cups from Zhanlu’s hands and pass them around to the guests without any intentions of elaborating.

The General of the Fifth Galaxy once again nudged Nagus with his elbow. The latter lifted an arm and knocked that elbow off, then finally asked: “Where’s your partner, then?”

Lu Bixing lifted his head up innocently: “He fell asleep after taking some medication, didn’t I just mention it earlier?”

Nagus: “……”

The old veteran generals of the Central Militia: “……”

An invisible bolt of lightning struck down from the ceiling of the Prime Minister’s living room, breaking through the rooftop and onto the unsuspecting old men. Mister ‘humble’ Captain of the First Squadron Lee finally closed his eyes and mourned for these poor old souls in silence.

[2] Quote from Homeless to Harvard .