Edited by Qiuxue and Noks
This topic change was so sudden that Yan Jie's mind drew a blank, and the question almost made him lose his soul. He certainly wasn't the kind of person who would leave his beloved with an empty hand, but at the same time, he didn’t want to get married so soon. Yang Hengtian was already thirty-two years old, he was also approaching thirty, and it was quite normal to get married. But…
“Isn't it too rushed?” They had indeed known each other for six or seven years, but most of that time was spent apart and they had only met again around half a year ago.
“You don't want to?” Yang Hengtian asked. “In fact, I have been very restrained all this while. If I had my way, I would have brought you along with me when I returned to Tarot this time, and then gone to directly register our marriage.”
Although Yan Jie couldn’t be marked, his actions towards Yan Jie were effectively the same as marking, showing that he had identified Yan Jie as his partner.
“I still haven’t met your father yet. What if he doesn’t agree?” Yan Jie said. “Let’s wait and meet him first.”
“It's me who you'll be marrying, not my dad.” Yang Hengtian continued, “And in any case, he can’t disagree.”
“Are you being serious?” Yan Jie looked into Yang Hengtian’s eyes with a hint of scrutiny. “I've told you before, and you know very well that I'm a soldier. If we were to get married, it won't be easy to leave me later even if you want to.”
“Even until the end of my life, I won't leave you. If anyone dares to try and separate us, I will cut short his string of life.” Yang Hengtian said such scary words with a light smile on his lips. His voice wasn't overly harsh, instead it made Yan Jie feel a sense of comfort.
In this way, Yan Jie involuntarily began to think about the issue of marriage in a serious manner.
His parents had died when he was young, and he had little contact with his other relatives. He never called them under usual circumstances nor would he inform them whenever he encountered problems. He was the type of person who would do everything by himself and even the wage he earned now would be enough for himself and his future family. On the topic of registering marriage, it was better to ask Xu Yao to be his guardian.
But do I really want to get married so soon?
Going from unmarried to married and becoming 'Yang Hengtian's wife' , it wouldn't only be his status that would be changing. He also needed to consider their situations at work and Yang Hengtian's family.
What if Yang Hengtian's father didn't regard their marriage as a good thing? Love was indeed a matter between two people, but marriage was different.
“I need to think about it again.” Yan Jie said, “It’s too soon and sudden of you to dig this pit. I’m not prepared at all.”
“It’s a bit sloppy, but you still haven't fallen into my pit yet.”
“Sorry, it seems that I walked a little too slowly and missed it.”
“And here I was thinking that I was not attractive enough to make you jump in my pit,” Yang Hengtian whispered in Yan Jie’s ear. “You just said that the decorations here are beautiful but the soundproofing isn't that good. I forgot to prepare it in advance.”
“Can you speak properly?” Yan Jie dodged the irresistible burning breath pouring into his ear.
Yang Hengtian looked at Yan Jie seriously, as if he was actually thinking about how to 'speak properly'.
After being stared at for such a long time, Yan Jie couldn’t withstand the hot gaze from the other's eyes anymore. He also didn’t want to hide his feelings any longer.
So, he slowly placed his arms around Yang Hengtian’s neck and took the initiative to kiss him.
If their days of separation felt like years, then their days of reunion were like minutes.
There seemed to be a lot of things to talk about before meeting, but after seeing each other, there was no need for any words, their feelings could be simply expressed through hugs and kisses.
Human beings could express their feelings in thousands of ways, but Yan Jie chose the simplest and most straightforward one.
Naturally, Yang Hengtian liked it. The only drawback was that their time was really too short.
As if they hadn't seen enough, hugged enough or possessed each other enough, even though they spent the entirety of this time side by side, all too quickly did night time come. Before they could sleep, it was time to separate again.
Le Yao arrived at the time he had previously promised. At this time, the sun was about to rise in Huaxia, but on this side, the sky was about to darken. He stood in the living room, outside Yang Hengtian’s bedroom, fiddling with his communicator.
Before heading over, he had sent a message to Yan Jie, who should thus be aware that it was time to leave.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the bedroom door opened and Yan Jie walked out neatly dressed.
Other than the moistness in his eyes, an abnormal flush on his face and neck, and slightly wet hair, nothing else could be seen. But, just those traces would be enough to let someone guess about what had just occurred behind the closed door.
“Ready to go?” Le Yao asked with a smile.
“Let’s go.” Yan Jie turned back slightly to glance at the bedroom door behind him. Yang Hengtian did not come out.
This was what he had asked of him. Don’t come out, otherwise he wouldn't be able to save any face in front of Le Yao.
Yang Hengtian didn’t appear, as per their agreement, but Xu Yao, who was far away in Huaxia, received a message from him.
—Brother Xu Yao, can your 'teleport' service be provided on a monthly basis?
When Xu Yao saw the contents of the message, he raised his eyebrow and replied with: It's a simple matter.
After that, they discussed other matters related to work, and Yan Jie knew nothing about this agreement.
On introspection, a few days after the 'secret reunion', Yan Jie felt that his heart seemed to have become much emptier than before and he was more easily distracted. Le Yao also noticed this from time to time, until one day, he no longer had the heart to leave the matter untouched and asked Xu Yao, “Why don’t you send him over to Tarot tonight?”
Le Yao had never loved anyone in his previous life. And in his current life, he had quickly entered into a relationship with Xu Yao shortly after coming to this world; hence he had never experienced the pain of separation.
However, when he was still in the Underworld, he had been imprisoned for an extended period of time. There wouldn't be anyone other than him who would be able to understand the painful feeling of missing their beloved, pain that etched so deep it reached the bone marrow. Although Yan Jie's lovesickness was not quite as serious as his own once was, in the end it was just the same. He really wanted to see him, but he couldn't. It wasn't something easily bearable.
Xu Yao replied, “I'll send him over in two days.”
“Why not tonight?”
Xu Yao smiled. “Yang Hengtian said that he couldn’t focus on his work when Yan Jie was there. Recently, he has been busy trying to quickly finish his assigned tasks in the hope that we can provide the teleportation as a monthly service, and that he can use it as soon as possible. He thinks it’s more convenient for him to come here. After all, his work doesn't have as many regulations that bind him, compared to us.”
Le Yao nodded. “Hah, do you think these two are competing to show off their love? They don't have to sneak around to meet each other, ah.”
“There is always a price to pay when enjoying special conveniences,” Xu Yao said.
Travelling between two planets would take at least six days even with a high-speed spaceship. It really was not easy to meet each other.
Yan Jie also felt a bit of a headache. It was impossible for him to instantly invite Yang Hengtian over just to save on six or seven days of convenience. But, whenever he went to ask Le Yao for help, he became too embarrassed to even open the door and request it.
Just two days apart! It had only been two days!
Soon, a sharp-eyed discovery was made; Yan Jie had suddenly started keeping something in his mouth while working. No one could see exactly what it was, as it was always held in his mouth and only a small wooden plug was shown outside his lips, but they could make out that it was an item hanging from his necklace. It had become Yan Jie's habit to hold it in his mouth when he had nothing to eat.
A curious technician asked, “Brother Yan, what are you chewing?”
Yan Jie answered without looking back, “Medicine.”
The technician was worried. “Are you sick?”
Yan Jie choked for a while before vaguely replying, “I'm not”. But after thinking about it again, he felt that he was indeed sick; he had lovesickness!
He had thought it through. Tomorrow, he would go out to train with the grass-roots soldiers. He would get to be distracted from his thoughts of Yang Hengtian and become tired from the exercise. Perhaps, he would even be able to have a good night's sleep.
Recently, by only following his usual routines, he couldn't fall asleep alone at night. Consequently, he wouldn’t have the spirit to work the next day, which frustrated him and left him in a bad state as of late. If he continued in this way, could he still dare to say that he would continue to serve in the Flying Wolf Division in the future? That would be quite the joke!
So the next morning, when Tang Ye came to perform his regular training inspection, he spotted Yan Jie alongside some soldiers. Yan Jie’s height didn’t stand out in the mixed team of Alphas and Betas, but Tang Ye spotted him at a glance. Although his height didn't fall too far behind the other Betas in the team, it was obvious when practicing Sanda.
Tang Ye called to the adjutant, “How did Officer Yan end up coming out to train with your team?”
Yan Jie was a technical soldier. Although he had to do some training, it was not that intensive. And he was privileged to exemption on various occasions, for example, like when they had just finished the camp relocation to the Second Station, there were still many pieces of equipment waiting to be repaired and maintained, a task which fell under Yan Jie's authority.
“It seems that he hasn’t trained recently and was afraid of being in bad condition, so he wanted to adjust his physique,” The adjutant said.
“Did he really say that?”
“Officer Yan has always been good at learning and improving.”
“Really? I don’t think so.” Tang Ye removed his smart glasses, tucked them into his clothes, and walked towards the training ground.
The two men sparring naturally stopped. Yan Jie wiped away the sweat on his forehead and asked, “Lieutenant General Tang, why are you here?”
“Shouldn't I be the one asking you this? Of course, I’m on my routine training inspection.”
Yan Jie said, “I just wanted to loosen up my muscles and bones.”
“Come on then, I’ll help you relax,” said Tang Ye as he entered the fighting arena.
Bah!
Yan Jie spat out the muddy water that accidentally entered his mouth during the previous fight and said, “I want to loosen my muscles and bones, not be beaten.” Then he left without looking back.
Tang Ye: “…” An ungrateful brat! If you look down on me, you will be despised by this single dog!
On returning to his quarters, Yan Jie took a bath and sat dazedly in front of his light brain. He used to be a person who wasn't afraid of loneliness. After all, his parents had left when he was young. In order to quickly become self-sufficient, he had studied hard in school and busied himself, making it so that he had no time to be lonely.
Later, he joined the Flying Wolf Division to train and improve himself, and he also gained a group of lovely comrades-in-arms. Xu Yao and Tang Ye also regarded him as their younger brother. He always felt warm whenever they made more memories together.
But after Yang Hengtian entered his life and left just as suddenly, nothing felt right anymore!
He hadn't seen any couple where one half was as anxious as he was!
Yan Jie felt that he was too idle, and idle people tended to be more sentimental.
He needed to find something to do.
This time, he chose not to go to the training grounds again. Instead, Yan Jie went to his office to study with the intelligent assistant for a while, steadily working on a cultural relic database for the museum. Although the museum had yet to be built, the database would be used sooner or later, so it was only right to prepare in advance.
He asked his assistant to classify the information of the cultural relics they had collected into a database and designate a corresponding classification. This included categories such as dynasties, names, places of origin, and other such characteristics, to better prepare for future search applications.
By the time he finished all his planned tasks, night had already fallen. Yan Jie felt a little sense of accomplishment, and it had been right to think that he liked being busy. As he stretched out his arms and body, he asked the assistant, “What time is it?”
The assistant said, “It's eight seventeen p.m.”
Yan Jie was stunned. “So late? Why hasn't anyone asked me to eat?”
It wasn't that he was being narcissistic, but normally he would go to the cafeteria on time as long as there was nothing important. If he didn’t go, someone would come and ask. But even up until now, no one had come to ask about his dinner arrangements.
The assistant also felt that it was a little strange. “I’ll contact Leslie to ask.”
Yan Jie said, “Alright.”
But, Leslie didn’t respond! Such a situation had never happened before!
The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. Yan Jie pondered for a moment and then said, “Connect to the external server to see if there is anything outside.”
The assistant worked hard for a long time before he said, “No, I’ve been blocked.”
Yan Jie was shocked. “What did you say?”
“I’ve been blocked.”
Yan Jie opened a drawer silently and took his miniature sonic gun out of it, then gripped it tightly in his hands. He stood with his back against the wall and looked out of the window carefully. Finding nothing unusual, Yan Jie left the office quietly.
His colleagues who should have been working next door were also not there for some reason, and the lights were switched off.
Damn it!
Yan Jie walked carefully downstairs and saw nobody. Arriving at the first floor, he walked out of the main gate of the Command Center when suddenly—
Bang!
With a sudden burst of explosions, brilliant fireworks flew up into the sky, lighting it up with a line of big words.
—Yan Jie, I dug a new hole for you. Do you want to jump?
Yan Jie, who had raised his arm in defense, slowly put it down. His eyes gradually moved downwards and instinctively followed a figure's silhouette emerging from the darkness.
Today, a certain Alpha was dressed more formally than ever: a white shirt, a black suit and hair combed meticulously. He had a bright smile on his mouth, and his eyes were full of sincerity.
Yan Jie determined that there was no danger and laughed, “You have so many holes.”
Yang Hengtian smiled and said, “There is only one person I'm waiting for. Do you want to jump?”
Yan Jie also smiled, and then jumped down, skipping the five steps in front of him without any care, straightforwardly falling into Yang Hengtian's arms.
…