Chapter 88: The Joys and Sorrows of Mankind Are Not Interconnected
Half a month later, the general election concluded. Of the five generals, three were re-elected: the Crown Prince’s childhood friend from the First Legion, Seville Tang Desimo from the Second Legion, and Yan Gui Xing from the Fourth Legion.
As for the two who were not re-elected, they were the generals from the Third and Fifth Legions. The reasons for their failures were completely different, and their subsequent fates were also vastly different.
Let’s talk about the general from the Fifth Legion first. The reason for his failure was his lack of effort in suppressing bandits, indirectly leading to the death of General Desimo’s partner and his partner’s brother, along with more than ten people on the spaceship, at the hands of pirates.
During the rescue operation, General Desimo engaged in fierce combat with the pirate group.
Although they successfully wiped out the pirate group, General Desimo and his partner fell into a time-space rift during the explosion and were lost in the No-Return Star.
On the No-Return Star, the two were hunted by the governor and defeated the governor of the No-Return Star. They successfully rendezvoused with the rescue starship and then ordered the destruction of the No-Return Star.
After this battle, the governor of the No-Return Star announced that it would be renamed the Brilliant Star and that a new country—the Brilliant Federation—would be formally established the following year.
In other words, besides the Zerg, the Empire would soon face a new enemy and be caught in a two-front war.
And all this was caused simply because the general from the Fifth Legion had slacked off in suppressing pirates.
The general from the Fifth Legion also paid the price, being demoted twice, receiving a disciplinary action, being relegated to the rear services, and losing the opportunity to be promoted.
Wen Yu from the Third Legion and his future father-in-law, Qi Zhen, committed a serious crime together; they were involved in monopoly, smuggling, reselling, and illegal mining of private metals and were arrested.
The Wen family was a staunch supporter of the Third Prince, and it was the Crown Prince who arrested people at the wedding. Therefore, others would only think that the Wen family had chosen the wrong side in the struggle for imperial power and became sacrifices.
Of course, this was also a reason for the Wen family’s rapid downfall, but the more important factor was the mastermind behind it: Desimo and his partner’s twin brother, Qi Nianzhi, the eldest son of Qi Zhen.
However, Yan Gui Xing was ultimately a step too late; when he received this intelligence, he had already become engaged to Mi Ya and had driven Mu Mu away.
If he had received this information earlier, he wouldn’t have gotten engaged to Mi Ya or cooperated with her.
Is that so?
At that time, Yan Gui Xing was sitting on the sofa in the living room of his Capital Star mansion, looking at the intelligence that had been burned and was back on the optical brain.
He asked himself, if he had really received this information earlier and had an eighty percent chance of winning the election, would he still choose the path of marriage?
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Yan Gui Xing knew his answer was yes. He would agree to the engagement and cooperate with the Mi family to prevent the almost impossible twenty percent chance of failure.
That’s Yan Gui Xing; to win, he would spare no expense.
Outside the window was the dazzling night view of the Capital Star; the lights shone on the white snowflake marble in front of the window, leaving a brilliant light.
But in the darkness separated by a line, Yan Gui Xing collapsed on the sofa, his arms across his eyes, letting out a long, heavy sigh, as if he wanted to sigh out his heart as well.
Wait a little longer. Yan Gui Xing comforted himself; after the re-election ceremony, he could go find the little fool.
Soon, really soon.
——
Starlight Square, a garden square suspended in mid-air, is full of flowers all year round. Its main purpose is for the inauguration ceremonies of the royal family, the military, and officials, or for royal speeches during festivals.
The area of the square was no more than the size of a football field, and the seats for the ceremony were only seven rows with large gaps between them.
Of course, this number wasn’t fixed; it was mainly adjusted based on how many of the top figures in the Empire would attend.
The re-election ceremony for the five newly elected generals of the military was unsurprisingly held in Starlight Square.
The order of speeches was the two newly elected generals first, followed by the Crown Prince’s relative, the First Legion Commander, then Yan Gui Xing, and finally General Desimo of the Second Legion.
Regarding the order of the last three, there was a small incident. Initially, they drew lots to decide the order: the First Legion Commander was first, General Desimo was second, and Yan Gui Xing was last.
However, General Desimo didn’t seem to intend to treat the ceremony merely as a re-election ceremony; he had other surprises planned.
This man, hailed as the God of War of the Empire, privately approached Yan Gui Xing, rarely showing shyness and a bit of hesitation, asking to switch places with him.
Actually, for this kind of ceremony, except for the first time being elected as a general, the more experienced you are, the more impatient you become, hoping to finish early and get off the stage to slack off.
Therefore, everyone wanted a place earlier in the lineup and wasn’t willing to be last. Naturally, they weren’t willing to exchange places with others; as generals of the same rank, they were straightforward.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one would easily ask others to switch places.
Yan Gui Xing was asking a favor of Desimo, so he naturally agreed, first gaining a favor from the other party.
Besides, Desimo was using his earlier place to exchange for the last place; even if Yan Gui Xing hadn’t needed a favor from Desimo, he would have agreed.
It was such a good deal; only a fool wouldn’t do it.
Yan Gui Xing, having finished his speech early, sat in the last row near the blue hydrangeas. He tapped his legs, his elbows resting on the armrests, squinting, and listening listlessly to Desimo’s speech.
Isn’t this just a normal speech? Yan Gui Xing muttered to himself, his gaze falling on the three people standing to the right of the stage.
He recognized the young man in a black and silver uniform on the left; he was Desimo’s adjutant, Wen Si’erte.
The two young men in the middle and on the right had identical faces, but the one on the right was taller, wore glasses, and had a colder, more mature demeanor.
The one in the middle was slightly shorter, with more delicate and cute features, wearing a dark red velvet court dress; he looked like a prince who had stepped out of a painting.
Most importantly, Desimo, who was speaking on stage, kept looking at the young man in the middle. At one point, he glared fiercely at someone sitting in the first row on the right, who seemed to be the Crown Prince.
Although Yan Gui Xing hadn’t paid much attention to the Qi twins, after seeing Desimo’s obvious actions, he immediately recognized the outstanding young men as the Qi twins, and the one in the middle was Desimo’s partner.
Yan Gui Xing vaguely guessed what Desimo was going to do. When he heard Desimo on stage begin his marriage proposal, he couldn’t help but feel envious and jealous.
He also had a lover; he could propose to his lover today and make his lover show the same surprised, excited, and happy expression as Qi Chu’zhi.
Yes, his little fool was even cuter than Qi Chu’zhi!
The darkness in his heart almost solidified, enveloping Yan Gui Xing like a large mass of black mist, jealousy almost overflowing.
Suddenly, he heard Desimo’s low, magnetic voice on stage say, “I’ve read a poem from ancient Earth—He raised his eyes, and I saw his whole body shining. Only then did I understand that falling in love with someone takes only a moment.”
As Desimo finished speaking, Yan Gui Xing’s mind flashed back to their first meeting, when Mu Mu was frightened and flustered.
It wasn’t exactly a sudden enlightenment, but it made Yan Gui Xing finally understand that he had fallen in love with Mu Mu in an instant, that it was fate.
At the same time, he pieced together the love story between Desimo and Qi Chu’zhi from Desimo’s marriage proposal.
Yan Gui Xing’s confidence soared; he thought, even with kidnapping and imprisonment, Desimo had achieved a happy ending; he and the little fool would definitely be happy too.
Perhaps Yan Gui Xing himself had forgotten that what he had done wasn’t much better than Desimo’s.
At least, he hadn’t concealed his relationship with his lover and gotten engaged to someone else, making it known to the whole world.
And Yan Gui Xing had hurt Mu Mu the most, stabbing the deepest wound. He wanted happiness, but he still had a long way to go.
However, these were obviously not things Yan Gui Xing would consider now. His top priority was to find Mu Mu, and he could discuss other things after seeing him.
Desimo’s proposal was extraordinarily successful; everyone could see how deeply in love this couple who had experienced life and death were. Today’s proposal was merely a romantic gesture from Desimo to his lover.
The following procedures were somewhat cliché; led by the Emperor, the attendees of the re-election ceremony offered their blessings to the couple and expressed their wishes to be invited to their wedding.
Half of these people were genuinely offering their blessings, and the other half were flattering. But it didn’t matter; who didn’t like to hear good things? Desimo accepted them all.
Yan Gui Xing wasn’t in a hurry to join in; his request to Desimo wasn’t something suitable to be said in public.
Given these people’s gossiping nature, by tomorrow, the upper echelons of Capital Star would know that Yan Gui Xing had lost his lover, couldn’t find him, and was asking Desimo for help.
Oh, right, he still had an engagement with the Mi family.
A love triangle; this gossip immediately gained a sensational appeal, and it might end up in the media’s ears and be written about in some way.
Yan Gui Xing’s fragile nerves couldn’t withstand any more turmoil; if he couldn’t find Mu Mu immediately, he didn’t know how crazy he would become.
After most of the well-wishers had dispersed, only Qi Chu, Qi Nian, and Adjutant Wen Si’erte remained beside Desimo. Yan Gui Xing then adjusted his sleeves and approached.
Dressed in a black and gold uniform, his chest adorned with medals, and a cape neatly draped over his shoulders, Yan Gui Xing, with his gentle smile, was charming and gentlemanly. Especially his lake-green eyes, as gentle and captivating as the afternoon sun on a lake.
“General Desimo, young Master Qi, congratulations.”
It must be said, as long as Yan Gui Xing was willing to put on a facade, no one could escape the allure of his face.
Indeed, even Qi Chu, accustomed to Desimo’s beauty, was captivated by Yan Gui Xing’s face, his eyes widening.
A few seconds later, realizing he had been staring blankly at a stranger’s face, he blushed abruptly.
Qi Chu lowered his eyes, leaning closer to Desimo’s side. He poked Desimo’s waist, speaking in a voice he thought only they could hear, but which in reality could be heard by all five present.
“Wow! Does your military have anyone who looks this good? He’s even better-looking than you! Why didn’t you show him to me sooner?”
Yan Gui Xing, with sharp ears, heard every word. He smiled without speaking, his mask firmly in place.
Desimo’s face darkened, his gaze towards Yan Gui Xing turning unfriendly. But having accepted a favor from Yan Gui Xing, and because the other man was there to congratulate him, he still politely replied, “Thank you, General Yan. And thank you for adjusting the order for me earlier, allowing my little surprise to go smoothly.”
【Author’s Note】: Yan Somebody (crawling in the shadows) (screaming in distortion): Why can he propose, but not me!!!
________________
Recommended Reads
