Wedding Ring

Seeing such a fawning expression on Ning Bai's face, Chu An froze. A bitter feeling suddenly rose in his heart.

Back when he had worked as a civil servant in a government office, Chu An had seen far too many people grovel and scrape before their superiors. He had always found those people disgusting, unable to stand their sycophantic faces. But now that he had seen Ning Bai's circumstances, Chu An found himself thinking that perhaps those people had simply had no other choice.

Ah. Who wouldn't rather stand tall and live with dignity?

The spotless white uniform in his arms had already absorbed Chu An's warmth.

He unfolded the uniform jacket and draped it over Ning Bai, saying softly, "Let's not talk about that right now. I'll help you inside. It gets pretty cold out after dark."

His knuckles brushed Ning Bai's bare shoulder.

Chu An swore he had absolutely no ulterior motives. He simply didn't want Ning Bai to catch cold.

But the moment he made contact with Ning Bai's body, the silver bracelet suppressing Ning Bai's mental fluctuations suddenly began to crackle. Dazzling arcs of electricity tore through the night. Ning Bai's legs buckled from the pain, and he tipped sideways into Chu An's arms again.

"Male lord, I'm sorry."

A pair of amber eyes looked up at Chu An.

Perhaps because of the pain, those eyes were veiled in a faint sheen of tears. Beneath the sky full of stars, they reflected tiny points of light, beautiful and fragile... and somehow possessed of a delicate, heartrending allure.

Chu An's mind suddenly went blank.

"I... I won't touch you anymore." He let go of Ning Bai. "I've noticed that every time I get close to you, that thing shocks you. Are you feeling better? Can you walk on your own?"

"Mm." Ning Bai nodded obediently.

"Then come home with me."

Carrying the rest of Ning Bai's clothes, the assorted documents and files left by the Association, and the bag containing Ning Bai's military service medals, Chu An walked through his front door.

Ning Bai followed him, dragging a pair of beautiful golden wings behind him. His movements were still fairly nimble.

Female Zergs really did have astonishing powers of recovery, Chu An thought. Just moments ago, Ning Bai had been in too much pain to stand, yet after only a minute or two, he could already move freely again.

Chu An didn't dwell on it. He planned to apply medicine to Ning Bai's wounds and reduce the swelling, then have something to eat with him and send him to bed early. Ning Bai was in terrible condition and needed plenty of rest.

Yet the moment they entered the house, Ning Bai knelt again.

"Male lord." From somewhere, he produced an exquisite rectangular box, raised it above his head with both hands, and presented it to Chu An.

"This is a gift I prepared for you, male lord. Please accept it."

Chu An hurriedly dumped the clothes, documents, and everything else he was carrying onto the couch, then reached down to help Ning Bai up. "Don't do this. It's just you and me at home. There's no one else here, so stop kneeling at the drop of a hat. I'm not used to it."

Ning Bai blinked, seeming at a loss.

After struggling with himself for a moment, he shuffled forward a few steps on his knees and raised the box even higher. "The gift..." he mumbled.

Chu An sighed and accepted the genuine-leather box. As he undid the clasp, he said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony. Thank you. As it happens, I have a gift for you later too... Huh? Is this..."

A small black object lay quietly on the red velvet lining, startling Chu An.

Ning Bai said, "This is the military's newest standard-issue equipment. It can be used to control animals or punish soldiers who make mistakes. It has a fine feel and produces a crisp sound. I hope you like it, male lord."

Chu An was speechless. Of course he understood what Ning Bai meant, but...

"We just got married today, and this is what you give me?"

"Married..." Ning Bai lowered his head. "No. In the future, you will still take a principal mate, male lord. That will be the real..."

"All right, all right. I don't understand the strange customs around here." Chu An closed the box and set it on the coffee table in the living room.

He walked over to Ning Bai and crouched beside him. Unable to resist, he reached out and stroked Ning Bai's pale golden hair. In a low voice, he said, "Since it's a gift from you, I'll accept it. I like it very much. When I'm sixty or seventy and go to the park for my morning exercise every day, I can use this whip to spin a top. Thank you."

"A park? Spin a top?" Ning Bai did not understand.

Chu An smiled. Rather than explain further, he changed the subject. "If I touch your hair like this, your bracelet won't shock you, will it?"

"No." Ning Bai lowered his gaze, his bangs falling over his forehead. "Even if it does, it's nothing. You needn't concern yourself, male lord. It's because I haven't received mental regulation in a very long time, while your mental power is extremely strong. Even the slightest touch from you causes a major fluctuation in my mental power, and the bracelet reacts. I only met you today and haven't had time to adjust. Once I become accustomed to your mental field in a day or two, it won't be a problem anymore."

"Oh. As long as you're all right. I don't understand much about this, and I was afraid you'd keep getting hurt. Get up. The floor is cold."

"Mm." Ning Bai rose as instructed.

His left wing could already retract into his body normally, but the wound from the female-slave code branded on his right side was so deep that the other wing could not retract and could only hang outside his body.

As he stood, the uniform draped over his shoulders slipped to the floor. Chu An immediately bent down to pick it up and wrapped it around him again. "Come on. I'll apply some medicine to reduce the swelling, then find you something loose to wear. We'll have hot pot in a little while to warm ourselves up. The weather's still a bit cold."

"...Thank you, male lord." Ning Bai lowered his head shyly, his voice trembling slightly.

"Hey, there's no need to be so polite. We're family now." Chu An gestured at the difference in their heights and joked, "You really are tall."

The moment Ning Bai heard that, he started to kneel again.

Chu An hurriedly caught hold of him. "I already told you not to kneel. Are you refusing to listen to me?"

"N-no, I wouldn't dare. It's only... if you dislike how tall I am, male lord, I can stay on my knees whenever I speak to you."

"There's no need!" Chu An sighed. Why was talking to this female-Zerg major general so exhausting?

It was probably because they had only just met and weren't familiar with each other yet.

Perhaps this was simply what arranged marriage was like.

Chu An recalled that his own parents had actually been introduced by a leader at their workplace, then married at the insistence of their elders. In a way, theirs had been an arranged marriage too.

His mother had once smiled as she reminisced to Chu An about those days in her youth—two honest, reserved people had somehow muddled their way into marriage. At first, even living under the same roof, they had still felt like strangers. So much as one extra glance at each other had been awkward. But as the years passed, familial affection had grown alongside romantic love. The bond between them had deepened until they could never be parted again.

Marriage was something that deepened slowly over time, wasn't it?

At that moment, Chu An suddenly remembered the gift he had bought for Ning Bai.

"Give me your hand," he said.

Ning Bai obediently held out both hands at once, palms up. Like a student waiting for his teacher to rap his palms with a ruler, he trembled with apprehension and let Chu An do whatever he pleased.

Chu An smiled helplessly, swatted Ning Bai's right hand away, then took his right hand and slid a golden band down to the base of his ring finger.

"This is the gift I prepared for you. Do you like it? It's called a ring."

The Zerg race had no custom of wearing rings on their hands. Their most common ornaments were collars of every conceivable style.

Chu An had commissioned this ring especially. It had taken him a great deal of effort to explain the measurements to the store, but fortunately, the finished piece had turned out well. It fit Ning Bai perfectly and looked good on him. Chu An was very satisfied.

"You can also call it a wedding ring." As he explained, he studied Ning Bai's expression. The silly, frozen look on Ning Bai's face, as though his computer had crashed, struck Chu An as rather cute.

He thoughtfully added, "I don't know whether the military lets you wear jewelry. If it's inconvenient to wear at work, or if you aren't used to it, you can take it off. I'll keep the ring safe with your military service medals."

Ning Bai said nothing. He did not seem to have heard Chu An at all and was still examining the strange band on his finger with meticulous care.

With the fingers of his left hand, he gently stroked the gleaming circle of metal. His expression was pensive, as though he could not quite believe what was happening to him.

"I never imagined I might still receive a gift from my male lord. You truly are too good to me." He suddenly looked up and gave Chu An a brilliant smile. "You said just now that this is a custom where you come from. Aren't you a local? You're of the Zerg race, but you weren't born on Zerg Planet?"

"Uh..." Chu An was momentarily tongue-tied. "More or less. Come on, let's go upstairs. I'll take you to the bedroom and put medicine on your wounds."

The two-story house the government assigned to unmarried male Zergs had a simple layout, with a living room and kitchen on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second: one primary bedroom and one guest room.

When Chu An had lived alone, he had converted the upstairs guest room into a study where he could read and write.

Once he learned that Ning Bai would be moving in, he had hired someone to move the bookshelves and desk from the study into the primary bedroom. Then he had bought a new bed and wardrobe and prepared the spare bedroom for Ning Bai.

"You can live in this room from now on. Is that okay?"

Chu An opened the guest-room door, revealing a clean and tidy room to Ning Bai.

"If you don't like the furniture, tell me. I only bought it yesterday, and the store said it can still be returned or exchanged within three days. The warm-air system in this house is a little old, so I added a heater for you. If you feel cold, turn it on. It's a quiet model, so it won't disturb your sleep."

"This..." Ning Bai looked even more astonished. Overwhelmed by the favor, he gazed around the room. "I-I'm to live here by myself? Then you..."

"I'll live next door, of course," Chu An said as if it were obvious. "Before you came, I looked into it. Besides not receiving regular soothing from a male Zerg, another major cause of unstable mental power in female Zergs is heavy work pressure, exhaustion, and insufficient rest. Your ex-husband was such a dumb f*ck—no, sorry, such a dumb bug—never letting you sleep properly. How could that possibly be all right? Now that you're in my home, I'll make sure you get to sleep until you wake naturally every day. Just focus on recuperating here. I guarantee that in less than three months, you'll be completely recovered, and once you return to the battlefield, you'll still be the invincible Golden Eagle."

"Lie facedown on the bed. I'll apply the medicine." Chu An guided Ning Bai to the bedside, then turned to fetch the first-aid kit. He soaked a medical cotton ball in the medicine and carefully dabbed it over the wound beneath Ning Bai's wing.

Ning Bai trembled all over. His soft wing brushed against Chu An's neck, tickling him.

The silver bracelet beeped, its red indicator light flashing rapidly, but it did not emit any terrifying arcs of electricity.

"Does it hurt badly?" Chu An stopped what he was doing.

"No..." Ning Bai buried his face in the bedsheet. "It doesn't hurt. I only... felt your mental power."

"Oh. Then I'll be more careful and try not to touch you."

"Male lord, male lord..." Ning Bai could not help moaning softly as his entire body went limp. "Thank you."

...

...

Later, Ning Bai fell asleep.

Chu An had not even finished applying the medicine before Ning Bai sank into a deep slumber.

The bracelet's indicator light flashed slowly, its steady rhythm just like Ning Bai's long, even breaths.

Chu An turned on the heater for him, then gently closed the door.

He put away the ingredients for the hot pot, tiptoed back to his own bedroom, switched on his light computer, and began writing that day's update.

...

The next day, Ning Bai said he had received an urgent communication from the military and left Chu An's house early in the morning. Naturally, Chu An did not try to stop him and even pressed two bottles of nutrient solution into his hands.

The moment Ning Bai stepped out of the yard, two young female soldiers popped out of the bushes beside the road.

Yi Luo: "Major General!"

Micas: "Major General!"

Black-haired Yi Luo was refined and scholarly. He served as Ning Bai's staff officer, aide, and orderly. First, he fastened an add-on device to Ning Bai's bracelet to keep it from discharging. Then he handed Ning Bai a bottle and reminded him softly, "Major General, your medicine."

"Thank you."

Ning Bai twisted off the cap, but before he could pour out the pills, Micas flung himself noisily at him from the side.

Micas was an A-grade female Zerg from an aristocratic family. Though still young, he had already risen to the rank of major. By contrast, Yi Luo—who had graduated from military academy and enlisted in the same year as he had—was still only a lowly noncommissioned officer.

As Ning Bai's number-one fanboy, Micas asked anxiously, "Major General, how are you? Did he beat you last night? Yi Luo and I saw those guys from the Association outside... If Yi Luo hadn't held me back, I almost would've rushed in and killed every last one of those bastards!"

"I'm fine. A male Zerg whom Yi Luo went to such trouble to screen for me was never going to be scum like Bei En. Besides, he's only D-grade. I can handle him. Thank you both for standing watch here all night." Ning Bai gave Micas a brief smile, then turned stern. "But Micas, I assigned Yi Luo to be here. Why are you here?"

"I-I was worried about you too!"

"My orders were for you to undergo seven days of intensive training and take first place in the corps tournament. Have you done that?"

"...I can do the second part." Micas pouted. "If I don't take first place, I'll accept any punishment!"

"Oh?" Ning Bai said. "Then let's do this. If you fail to take first, your monthly leave will be canceled, and I'll assign you to duty on a desolate planet. How does that sound?"

Micas tugged at Ning Bai's sleeve. "No, Major General! Aewen and I agreed to go on a trip together during this leave."

Aewen was Micas's childhood friend and fiancé. The two had undergone mental compatibility testing as children and had a compatibility score of ninety-five percent, so their families had arranged their betrothal in childhood. They would probably marry in another year or two.

Yi Luo raised an eyebrow beside him. "Who was it yesterday who said there wasn't a single decent male Zerg in existence?"

"...Aewen is different. He's pretty nice." Micas sounded far from confident.

Ning Bai screwed the cap back onto the medicine bottle and returned it to Yi Luo. Then he said to Micas, "Fine. If you don't want duty on a desolate planet, be the last one standing in the combat arena. If you embarrass the Second Army Group, don't blame me when you don't get to see Aewen for three months."

"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Holding the medicine bottle, Yi Luo looked puzzled. "Major General, you haven't taken..."

"I won't take it yet." Ning Bai tugged the ring off his ring finger and tossed it to Yi Luo. "Investigate this thing when we get back. I suspect there's a spy device inside it."

"A spy?!" Micas cried out.

Yi Luo kicked him. "Quiet!"

Ning Bai looked back at Chu An's two-story house, his expression complicated. In a grave voice, he said, "Yi Luo, come with me. Micas, return to your unit and train."

Only after Micas had reluctantly left did Ning Bai instruct Yi Luo, "Go to the Military Technology Research Institute."

Yi Luo started the shuttlecraft. He seemed to want to say something but hesitated. "Major General, I think you seem... quite well today."

Ning Bai fell silent. Instead of answering, he asked, "Have you ever taken a mental compatibility test?"

"..." Yi Luo stared in shock for an instant, then immediately spoke at breakneck speed. "Of course not, Major General. You know both my parents are D-grade. I could never have an opportunity like that. Those tests are a privilege reserved for the upper classes."

"True. I've never taken one either..."

Ning Bai lowered his eyes and fiddled with the silver band around his wrist, which had already stopped discharging. No one knew what he was thinking, and he did not say another word.