ABRIWMTHM Chapter 29

In just a few seconds, but in Xiang He Ze’s eyes, it felt like several dozen days had passed. The atmosphere was solidified in confrontation.

Chi Yao sat quietly, watching them.

They all stood upright on the surface, their expressions calm, but inside… it was likely a wasteland after a collapse.

And it was a major collapse.

Tan Yan broke the silence first, his frustration evident as he poked Guan Qun in the back. “What are you standing there for? Call His Highness!”

Only then did Guan Qun respond, respectfully greeting His Highness with a good day.

As he slightly bent down and straightened his back again, Guan Qun sadly realized that his mouth had also formed a smile.

Suddenly, he could understand the feeling when Tan Yan made a hasty retreat signal earlier, but unfortunately, he no longer had any brothers behind him.

It turned out that the emotions were real, not plastic.

Guan Qun smiled, a smile more unsightly than crying.

If it weren’t for his own shortcomings, he could have escaped this calamity!

Beside him, Fu Qing didn’t expect that a short wait before the signing would allow him to witness five colleagues of similar ranks losing their sparkle in their eyes.

Seeing that people were somewhat regaining their composure, Chi Yao repeated his question, “What gesture?”

“One by one, I see everyone standing at attention with their hands behind their backs, what were you doing behind me?”

“Retreat?”

Xiang He Ze: “……”

Ge Ming: “……”

Pu Zhong Guang: “……”

Tan Yan: “……”

Guan Qun: “……”

At this moment, the five of them had a unified thought: Ah, as expected of His Highness!

Chi Yao lifted his long finger, sweeping from Xiang He Ze to Guan Qun. “So, you all came together, right?”

The “plastic brotherhood” group: “……”

Xiang He Ze: “No!”

The other three: “？”

Tan Yan, who knew the truth, couldn’t help but close his eyes.

Xiang He Ze: “I came to deliver a gift.”

The other three: “？？”

If conditions permitted, Tan Yan really wanted to light a cigarette to calm himself down.

Then, to everyone’s confusion, he watched as Xiang He Ze pulled a beautifully wrapped gift from his bag, the box adorned with a silk bow. The three of them: “？？？”

Tan Yan wanted to smoke even more now.

Xiang He Ze: “I came impulsively today because there was a sudden issue at home and I need to leave Ancheng tomorrow. Hence, I wanted to come and say goodbye to Shi Xing before I left. As I’ve mentioned before, no matter who Shi Xing chooses, we will always be friends, and I sincerely wish him well.”

“Of course, now that I see it’s Your Highness, I’m even more genuinely happy for Shi Xing.”

Knowing the rule that “the more you say, the more mistakes you make”, Xiang He Ze stepped forward and placed the gift in front of Shi Xing. “It’s a refined and shrunk beast core, with energy locked at only S-rank. It’s a small token from the Fifth Army, congratulating you on successfully matching with His Highness.”

His respectful, humble, and friendly attitude left the four brothers beside him speechless.

Guan Qun looked at Tan Yan and couldn’t help but ask, “Can it really be done like this?”

Tan Yan closed his eyes, deciding to abandon his brothers second. “Actually, Your Highness, I came to deliver a gift too.”

Guan Qun: “？”

Ge Ming: “？？”

Pu Zhong Guang: “？？？”

Tan Yan straightened his expression and offered his congratulations, but there was no emotion behind it since this was a speech he had long prepared for gifting. Compared to Xiang He Ze’s spontaneous one, not only was his speech beautiful, but it also referenced classics, flattering His Highness while downplaying himself, smoothly too, making it hard to believe it was words coming from Tan Yan.

Moreover, he had a good excuse for not bringing a gift, as a few boxes of crystals were too large and heavy, and he was directly sending those to His Highness, keeping the gifts separate.

Reasonable.

After Tan Yan’s betrayal, the other three could no longer sit still, firmly denying they had come together, claiming it was merely a coincidence.

Ge Ming used the excuse of passing by.

Pu Zhong Guang lied that he remembered the date wrong, stating his real intention was to congratulate a friend on their successful match.

As for Guan Qun, he hadn’t spoken yet when Chi Yao said, “I understand the reason for Major General Guan’s visit.”

Guan Qun: “？” Ah, is His Highness going to come up with an excuse for him too?

Reality proved that Guan Qun was thinking too naively.

Chi Yao: “You came to challenge me in the training room, right? I know.”

Guan Qun: “!”

Everyone: “！！”

Chi Yao said lightly, but in Guan Qun’s ears, it sounded like a spring thunder, “You mentioned it on your social media. Someone screenshot it for me, telling me not to ignore such a diligent junior, and that I should guide you hand in hand.”

Guan Qun remembered he had indeed posted on social media calling for attention.

But…

Looking at Chi Yao now, Guan Qun really wanted to ask, is it too late to delete it?!

But the bond of brotherhood in adversity was always so touching. Xiang He Ze: “Your Highness is magnanimous!”

Ge Ming: “Receiving Your Highness’s personal guidance is a privilege for Xiao Guan.”

Pu Zhong Guang: “An extreme honor.”

Tan Yan felt pity, “Your Highness doesn’t need to worry too much. Just let Guan Qun experience it.”

Let’s end this fight within one or two moves; dragging it out could be torturous.

Guan Qun: “…………”

Was he touched? He didn’t dare to move!

Just then, an administrator brought a group of people, arriving late. “Your Highness, good day.”

After the greetings and with a series of documents prepared, noticing Xiang He Ze and the others, the administrator casually remarked, “Major Generals, you also came. Were you helping to check the security situation of the Nest just now?”

The comment left several people bewildered.

The administrator chuckled, “That was a test from His Highness; the surveillance didn’t capture you. If it weren’t for His Highness informing us of your arrival in advance, the newly installed mental power alarm in the main building would have detected you.”

After this was said, there was another silence on the scene; all five froze.

Chi Yao only nodded to the administrator, advising them to wait in the signing room while he had a few more words to say.

Watching the administrator leave, they gradually realized that with His Highness’s perceptive abilities, he must have known they had come long before.

The five couldn’t help but close their eyes, thinking that their end was near.

But after all the staff left, Chi Yao did not delve deeper into their illegal entry into the Nest. Instead, he spread his hands and said, “Actually, I also never imagined that things would develop into this state.”

“I understand that you wanted to meet Shi Xing’s match, so I allowed access to the Nest.”

“I have indeed done something inappropriate in this matter, and I hope you can bear with me.”

“My initial invitation was sincere, and so is this current apology.”

Shi Xing listened to Chi Yao’s apology, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, he took the initiative to speak, “Actually, it was I who…”

Just started to speak, but was cut off by Chi Yao’s glance. “I have more rapport with Shi Xing, and the quantum brain happened to recommend him to me.”

Everyone in the military family knew Chi Yao’s situation. Upon hearing the words “quantum brain recommendation,” even though he was still dejected, subconsciously, he felt somewhat accepted.

He had to admit that over all these years, the quantum brain had only recommended this one individual. It was unlikely that His Highness would let go.

It seemed that Shi Xing really didn’t have fate with them.

Chi Yao stopped there.

During the silence, Shi Xing still wanted to speak, but the man raised his hand and pinched the back of his neck.

If he didn’t understand that he wasn’t allowed to speak, he would be an idiot. Covering his neck that had been ambushed, Shi Xing fell silent again.

Then Xiang He Ze spoke first, sincerely, “Matching is initially a two-way choice, and I want to meet Shi Xing’s responsible party. I actually still feel that I’m not inferior to the other candidates, but if it’s Your Highness…”

Xiang He Ze admitted, “I feel there’s nothing to compare with you. If I were Shi Xing, I would also choose you.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me; arriving at the Nest today was my impulsiveness.”

Ge Ming’s voice was slightly hoarse, feeling embarrassed while saying the same thing as Xiang He Ze.

He said that since they participated in the matching, they were clear about the rules and would abide by them. The current result could only be termed as accepting the bet and losing. And losing to Chi Yao, he felt content and didn’t think it was shameful.

Pu Zhong Guang, Tan Yan, and Guan Qun followed up with similar statements.

They had backed down, and Chi Yao had taken in some of their face-saving words. Even though all five dared not express their little dissatisfaction towards Chi Yao, he still promised each of them a military ship as compensation— cutting-edge technology that not many existed even in the Royal Guard.

After a round of pushing and tugging, once the words were out and compensation was obtained, everyone left feeling satisfied.

Even if the resentment in their hearts might not dissipate temporarily, the subsequent benefits brought by the battleships were tangible.

Under such substantial compensation, for the pragmatic officers of the Empire, these little emotions could be disregarded.

Once the group of officers was sent off, they could sign the agreement.

Xu Jin, who was eager to review the agreement, left with the administrator earlier; Fu Qing, as a mere Major General, signing the agreement was Chi Yao’s personal affair, so he stayed back in the small reception room waiting for them.

The four of them split up, with Shi Xing and Chi Yao walking side by side for a while.

In this brief moment of solitude, Shi Xing couldn’t help but look at Chi Yao.

As his gaze swept across, it was immediately noticed by Chi Yao. “What do you want to say?”

Chi Yao also recalled interrupting Shi Xing twice earlier.

Shi Xing whispered, “Actually, I had some other thoughts first…”

“And then?”

“I can apologize to them.” He paused, highlighting the key point, “This result is not your fault.”

This was Shi Xing’s insistence; it wasn’t Chi Yao who started this.

If the five officers felt uneasy, it was him who should take the initiative to apologize, not…

“You don’t need to apologize for me.”

Chi Yao’s identity was too high. If he took the initiative to bear all the blame, Shi Xing would feel guilty.

Moreover, with his status, he probably wouldn’t apologize to anyone for many years to come.

And he had just given out five battleships. Shi Xing didn’t know how much a battleship cost, but he instinctively felt it definitely wouldn’t be cheap.

He felt that Chi Yao had done too much for him.

His brows moved slightly, and Chi Yao finally turned his head to look back at Shi Xing, the unease and apologetic expression in Shi Xing’s eyes were clearly visible.

Chi Yao: “If I hadn’t interrupted you, what would you have said? Would you have said it plainly?”

Shi Xing: “Is that not allowed?”

After a moment of looking down, Chi Yao gave his answer, “I don’t want to.”

Shi Xing didn’t understand.

Chi Yao: “Even if they are all of good character, they won’t hold a grudge against you or feel resentment afterward. But what will you do after you apologize? You can’t just apologize, right?”

Shi Xing: “I can…”

“You can’t.” As if knowing what Shi Xing wanted to say, Chi Yao reiterated, “You cannot.”

He truly understood Shi Xing’s intentions, “What you can give now is merely some medical commitments or guarantees, but I don’t want you to make these assurances. In the future, you also shouldn’t promise others anything related to medical matters too easily.”

Shi Xing was stunned, not completely grasping it.

Chi Yao sighed, “What did I say that last night?”

What was said?

That no matter how many issues he faced after matching with someone, the most critical and central thing was to protect himself well and grow well…

Seeing Shi Xing finally grasp the point, Chi Yao said, “Since you have promised, then you must keep it in mind at all times.”

“Right now, you’re in your maturity period. Your own situation isn’t stable, and making these commitments may be easy, but what if they really encounter some urgent matters and can find you? They basically are just ordinary therapists who can’t resolve these issues, then will you help or not?”

Shi Xing opened his mouth, speechless.

Chi Yao gave him a firm answer, “You can’t help.”

“Small problems are generally manageable, but once it’s a treatment at the limit of your capabilities, you cannot have a soft heart and help.”

Maturity-period Blue Star humans can’t withstand too much messing around. Although Shi Xing had exhausted his mental power twice in the Nest, this situation should be avoided as much as possible.

And right now, it was fine that Shi Xing was just entering the maturity period, but once he got into the mid-to-late stage, if his mental sea became unstable, there would be many variables, and he can’t afford to gamble with a mentality of hoping for the best.

“Of course, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between big and small problems, and some situations may seem fine at the beginning, but develop into problematic and tricky ones. So the most fundamental way to prevent seeking help is to cut it off at the source.”

“From the very beginning, from now on, do not make any medical commitments before maturity.”

“Do you understand?”

Realizing the depth of this consideration for him, Shi Xing’s throat felt a bit choked as he nodded.

“Then you promise me.”

Chi Yao gazed at him seriously: “Promise me you will do this, that during your maturity period, you will not easily give any commitments for your medical resources.”

His expression was grave, and his tone was serious, without a hint of playfulness.

It was a genuine worry, seeking Shi Xing’s assurance.

He… really cared about him.

Shi Xing felt a bittersweet yet full sensation, as if filled by something, and softly said, “I promise you, Your Highness.”

With a solemn vow, “During the maturity period, I will protect myself and not make any medical commitments to others.”

Once he finished speaking, Chi Yao’s expression softened a bit.

Shi Xing offered Chi Yao a heartfelt smile.

In return, he received a slight smile from Chi Yao.

The day was bright and sunny.

In a specially designated room, Shi Xing signed his name again on a marriage agreement.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a golden hue over the document.

Looking at his name in the sunlight, Shi Xing intuitively felt that this time, there would surely be a different outcome.