Chapter 49: Pretending to Sleep
Mu Mu knelt sideways in the spacious sofa seat, his hands gripping the window of the airship, expectantly watching the street scene outside.
Xingchen Amusement Park was one of the three largest amusement parks in the Empire, built outside Amber District Seven of Liuli Star, occupying almost the entire suburban area.
A few kilometers behind the park was the edge of Liuli Star, beyond which was a constantly shifting curtain of multicolored pearly light, beautiful like an extraordinarily gorgeous dream.
That dreamlike light curtain was actually Liuli Star’s defense shield, the last barrier each planet used to defend against the Zerg.
The constantly changing pearly light was the effect of external light sources shining on it, refracting and scattering.
Because it was backed by Liuli Star’s defense shield, the scenery of Xingchen Amusement Park at dusk was the most magnificent and dreamy, as if one were in a fairy tale world.
Liuli Star’s Xingchen Amusement Park, taking advantage of the defense shield, held the title of the most beautiful amusement park in the entire Empire and was one of the must-visit amusement parks for amusement park enthusiasts.
Airships usually came and went constantly, but because it was the period of the Marshal election, Yan Gui Xing, fearing that his base might be infiltrated by people from other competitors with malicious intentions, closed all spaceship routes to and from other planets under the pretext of quiet recuperation.
The routes would only reopen when Yan Gui Xing went to the Capital Star during the Marshal election.
While it might sound irregular, this planet belonged to Yan Gui Xing. As long as it didn’t threaten Imperial security, Yan Gui Xing had absolute authority on this planet.
Such actions were standard practice among Marshals who owned affiliated planets.
Fortunately, this only happened during the Marshal election, meaning only once every five years. The people of the Empire were used to it, and most wouldn’t choose to travel or vacation during this period, nor would formal companies send employees on business trips.
Yan Gui Xing remembered that Liuli Star had no recent tourists, but overlooked the amusement park’s attractiveness, especially during special events.
Mu Mu watched the colorful airships speeding past, letting out a small exclamation, “Wow! So many airships!”
Achi, sitting in the pilot’s seat, had noticed the increasing number of airships as they entered Amber District Seven, all heading in the same direction.
Achi’s mind stirred. He flicked his wrist, checked the date on his optical brain, saw it was Friday, not a rest day, and was somewhat puzzled as to why there were so many people.
He leaned back to look, seeing Yan Gui Xing on the right, arms crossed, leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed in meditation.
Mu Mu on the left was kneeling in his seat, excitedly looking out the window with his hands gripping the window.
One hadn’t seen the scene outside, the other saw it but didn’t think anything of it.
Remembering Mu Mu’s expectant and excited look this morning before departure, Achi swallowed the words on his lips and turned back to pilot the airship.
However, he did send a message to Sha Xia in the airship ahead, reminding him to pay attention to the situation and be ready to strengthen security.
Although Yan Gui Xing had stayed up all night, his mental strength was there. Even after closing his eyes on the airship, he wasn’t entirely asleep; he was just resting his eyes and mind.
He heard Mu Mu’s comment about the many airships, but didn’t pay it any mind. The little fool hadn’t seen much of the world and was always startled.
After the airship landed, Yan Gui Xing deliberately maintained his original posture, leaning back in his seat, pretending to be still asleep, wanting to see what Mu Mu would do.
Mu Mu was still excitedly clinging to the window, watching not far away as an airship lowered its gangplank and a father and mother led a little girl wearing a black cat dress down.
He had secretly checked this collaborative dress design on the star network before, and seeing the four or five-digit price, he quickly closed the webpage.
Now, seeing the little dress he had seen before on such a cute little girl, Mu Mu was both envious and excited, waving his arms back and forth, calling to Yan Gui Xing.
“Gui Gui, look, isn’t that little dress so cute?” He waved his finger in the air for a long time without touching Yan Gui Xing. Seeing that Yan Gui Xing didn’t respond, he made a surprised sound and turned around.
Seeing that Yan Gui Xing was still asleep, Mu Mu curiously leaned over.
Today, to spend time with Mu Mu, Yan Gui Xing hadn’t worn his usual gorgeous vintage shirts and trousers, but a beige V-neck short-sleeved knitted shirt with washed blue jeans.
His hair wasn’t styled meticulously, with stray strands covering half his forehead, looking younger and more youthful, completely different from the always refined Marshal Yan Gui Xing.
Unless one was particularly familiar with Yan Gui Xing, it would be difficult to recognize at a glance that this casually dressed person was him.
Yan Gui Xing was closing his eyes, his long, thick eyelashes casting a small shadow under his eyes, also obscuring that lake of green.
Mu Mu was momentarily captivated by the beauty before him and forgot the imminent opening time of the park.
He slowly moved closer to Yan Gui Xing, his knees making a “creaking” sound against the leather.
Two armrests lay between them, not very wide but still an obstacle.
Mu Mu simply climbed over the armrests, straddling Yan Gui Xing’s legs, his two paws directly on Yan Gui Xing’s face, holding it up to look closely.
Being watched has a feeling, especially with Mu Mu’s blatant touching and staring; it was difficult for Yan Gui Xing not to notice.
Yan Gui Xing had wanted to see how Mu Mu would wake him up, but now he could no longer pretend. His eyelids twitched, and just as he was about to open them, he heard Mu Mu muttering softly.
“Mu Mu remembers fairy tales saying that sleeping beauties wake up with a kiss.”
Yan Gui Xing’s eyelids jumped, the corners of his lips lifting imperceptibly, thinking, a kiss to wake up? Is there such a good thing?
“But, where do you kiss? The face, or the mouth? Oh no, Mu Mu forgot!”
Yan Gui Xing was anxious. “Little fool,” he thought, “kiss the mouth! Have you ever seen a sleeping beauty who wakes up from a kiss on the face?”
But no matter how anxious he was, he could still reap the benefit of a kiss by pretending to sleep. If he opened his eyes now, the kiss he was about to receive would be gone.
But Yan Gui Xing waited until his patience ran out, the little hand holding his face finally releasing, and still no kiss came.
He suspected that Mu Mu was still agonizing over where to kiss, his eyes rolling impatiently under his eyelids before he secretly opened a slit.
He happened to meet Mu Mu’s smiling dark eyes. Yan Gui Xing’s lifted eyelids twitched, his eyelashes trembled, and he understood that Mu Mu had discovered he was pretending to sleep.
Since he was discovered, Yan Gui Xing stopped pretending. He openly opened his eyes, put his arm around Mu Mu’s waist, and asked with a smile, “Didn’t you say you wanted to wake the sleeping beauty with a kiss? Why aren’t you kissing? Hmm?”
[Author’s Note]: If you only look at his face, Yan Moumou is also a kind of sleeping beauty.