Tag: BL (page 1 of 13)

danmei, boys love, shounen ai, yaoi

29 August 2025 / 0 Comments

Chapter 25: First Night in Moscow

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The ancient city of Moscow weathered 779 years of storms, from 1147 to 1926.

This was Zhang Sushang’s first visit to Moscow in this time. The place was packed with people, and noise surrounded them. Misha, carrying a large bag and pulling two suitcases, panted as he got out of the train.

“It’s so crowded here.” The young man who was just over 1.6m tall struggled to move through the crowd. It became marginally easier when Zhang Sushang kindly moved in front of him to clear the way.

Both of them let out a breath of relief when they exited the station. Misha even sighed, “I saw a donkey in there and almost thought that Ilya was here for a case.” However, after seeing it pooping on the train, he could be sure that it wasn’t Boris, after all, Boris was a magical donkey that could flush the toilet on its own.

Divine Detective Ilya was once regarded as magical realism due to the existence of Boris, and some people analysed that Chyushka used stories as a medium to satirise society.

The real Chyushka: No, I didn’t think of that much.

Wu Yeming had modified Zhang Sushang’s suitcase to have two wheels added to the bottom, making it much easier to move. He once again reflected on how convenient it was to have a skilled engineer as a friend as he piled Misha’s backpack onto his suitcase and pulled both along.

He had originally thought that he would have to pay for travelling expenses, but Misha waved his hands and said that someone had arranged all of that, so they could just bring themselves there.

The advantage of being part of the national sports system: your boss will reimburse your food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Zhang Sushang, as a coach not part of the system, had simply taken advantage of the situation. He and Misha were picked up from the train station by the tournament organisers and taken to the hotel by car, wide-eyed the whole time like they were country bumpkins.

The staff member who came to pick them up discreetly sized up this overly tall foreign youth, a subtle flicker of disdain in his eyes.

“Chyushka, do you think I can do it?” Misha fidgeted uncomfortably.

Zhang Sushang was puzzled. “Huh? Didn’t I already give you intensive training? You have an overwhelming technical advantage and your program is so sophisticated, there’s no reason for you to lose.”

Apart from that ancient god Gillis who was unsurpassed in compulsory figures, even Böckl, currently renowned for his jumping prowess, couldn’t match Misha.

With such a big advantage, it would take a miracle to lose!

“But what if I make a mistake on the ice?”

Assessing his expression, Zhang Sushang placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder and replied in a soothing yet powerful voice, “If you make a mistake, just get up and keep skating. No matter what, you have to give the audience a complete performance. Only then can you live up to the effort you’ve put in.”

Misha was successfully comforted.

The staff member had already secretly rolled his eyes to the sky. His thoughts were very similar to those of Luka, Coach Maxim, and Mr. Pyotr before they met Zhang Sushang in person — it must be that this Chinese man used sweet words to con Misha, their champion, into obeying him.

How could a Chinese know how to skate? Chyushka must be a scammer! He even had the same name as that best-selling author, he probably chose it to capitalise on the hype.

The hotel was simple but tidy with posters plastered on the walls encouraging the athletes, and energetic young athletes constantly moved throughout the building. Although it was so cold that every breath sent forth a plume of white mist, they all had smiles on their faces.

When arranging for their rooms, Zhang Sushang, wearing a thick green coat, requested, “Please give us a room on the first floor. Misha needs to exercise, and he’ll jump a lot, which would disturb anyone below us.”

The receptionist glanced at him, then at Misha.

“Yes, I need to exercise,” Misha said.

Only then did they hand over a set of keys. Just then, they heard someone yell, “Let us stay next to Misha and Chyushka!”

Everyone turned and saw Luka and Maxim rushing over, their faces flushed red. Maxim immediately embraced Zhang Sushang and patted his back.

“Hey, Chyushka, why didn’t you tell us when you left? We could’ve gone together!”

Luka, still panting heavily, crouched down, opened his suitcase, and looked up at Zhang Sushang like a puppy wanting to be praised. “Chyushka, I asked Giselle to make me a costume too, what do you think?”

“As long as you like it,” Zhang Sushang replied in confusion.

Coach Maxim received his keys, then took out two shredded burdock sandwiches. “You’ve had a long journey, come eat something.”

Luka picked up Zhang Sushang’s suitcase, which was when he discovered that it had wheels underneath, causing him to exclaim in surprise and praise it for its handsome appearance.

Passerby, including staff, were shocked by Maxim and Luka’s enthusiastic attitude. They were all proletarian brothers and sisters so they were naturally polite to everyone, but they had never seen them be so exuberant towards anyone, even Misha.

Who exactly was that Chinese boy?

If Zhang Sushang knew what they were thinking, he would definitely complain: I’m not anyone in particular, just a poor idiot who’s had way too many lessons mooched off for free by these two.

After Lucas attended his class, not only did his posture improve, he mastered five double jumps with just the hardest 2A left to learn, not to mention courses on muscle building, physical fitness, etc. Whatever Misha learned, Luka gritted his teeth and learned too.

Zhang Sushang had hardly sat down when there was a knock on the door. When Misha opened it, Luka’s head poked through the crack.

“Chyushka, are we starting training?”

“About to,” Zhang Sushang replied, stretching his legs on the ground.

Luka shyly opened the door and sidled closer. “Chyushka, I can do your errands tonight, like getting hot water for bathing or buying drinks, so, can I train and sleep with you guys?”

As long as he could train with them, he’d be Chyushka’s dog for a day.

Zhang Sushang had already seen him freeload his lessons so many times, it made no difference if it happened again. He looked at Misha. “What do you think?”

Misha shook his head. “I don’t mind,” he said.

The room was only big enough for two people to jump around, so Zhang Sushang sat cross-legged on the bed.

“First activate your hips, legs, core, and other muscle groups, then do a hundred jumping jacks to warm up.”

Two equally handsome, lean, fit men immediately lay on the ground and started performing high leg raises, reverse leg raises, donkey kicks… then they started jumping together. The scene was truly delightful.

Young people were full of energy, and the two of them only wore singlets as they exercised, leaving their muscles on display. Zhang Sushang, the little Northeastern bear afraid of the cold, stayed wrapped in a quilt.

“Are all you Slavs so cold-resistant?”

“I’m not Slavic though,” Luka replied through his panting breaths, “I’m Jewish, but I’m also part of the Communist Party. As for the cold, you’ll get used to it after having a few snowball fights!”

They were quite noisy as they exercised. People passing by smiled at the two athletes’ efforts, then snorted as they caught sight of Zhang Sushang tucked in his quilt.

Afterwards, Luka wanted to get water for Zhang Sushang’s bath as agreed, only to be stopped. “It’s too late, and it’s getting colder outside. Don’t go out. Go to bed,” Zhang Sushang said.

He’ll just wash his face and rinse his mouth later. An athlete’s health was precious; nothing was allowed to go wrong before a competition.

Staying healthy was more important than how much he hated their post-exercise Slavic body odour.

“It’s okay, I want to wash up too,” Luka said nonchalantly. He liked cleanliness too.

Luka went out with two buckets, followed by Misha with a basin. When they returned, the three of them wiped themselves down, changed into pyjamas, pushed the two beds together, and snuggled into the soft covers.

“I’ve never slept with others on the same bed before,” Misha couldn’t help but chuckle.

Luka was equally excited. “I slept with my brother when I was little, and he’d read me bedtime stories.”

He was born in the vast and sparsely populated Siberia where you might not see another living human for hundreds of miles, not to mention how prevalent theism was in Russia – quite a few people believed in the supernatural.

Luka told a few stories from his hometown, scaring Misha so much he trembled, only for Zhang Sushang to clear his throat dramatically.

“In the south of my country, there stands a mountain village where a woman named Cho Yan-may lives. Her story is very interesting…”1Refers to the 1999 Hong Kong horror movie A Wicked Ghost

With a bestselling author’s narrative ability, Miss Cho’s already chilling story, and the eerie wind which whipped branches against the window, the story’s atmosphere was fully realised, leaving the two Slavic boys scared out of their wits.

Misha subconsciously gripped Luka’s sleeve, gulping nervously. “A-And then? How did it end? Was Miss Cho freed?”

“No, she’s not free yet. She’s still singing at that river, and may even appear in your dreams,” Zhang Sushang replied slowly.

The two bears hugged each other with a single thought simultaneously emerging in their minds: is everyone named Chyushka so good at telling stories?

“Alright, good night.” Zhang Sushang fell asleep, unconcerned with whether a woman surnamed Cho might really walk into their dreams.

But halfway through the night, he was awakened by Luka’s tossing and turning. He got to his feet as the young man shivered and clutched at the blanket. As a medical student, he subconsciously touched Luka’s forehead and noticed that it felt a bit warm.

“What’s going on?” Misha asked sleepily.

Zhang Sushang helped Luka up, examined his tongue, and took his pulse. Thanks to Jiang Jinghu’s teachings, he diagnosed him with a cold.

After all this hassle, everyone in the room woke up.

Misha looked at Luka worriedly. “What now? He’s sick? But we’re skating tomorrow!”

He and Luka had learned together for a long time and were already very familiar with each other. Although Misha was wary of his hardworking rival, he certainly didn’t want him to collapse before the competition.

“It’s okay, don’t worry, his symptoms aren’t serious,” Zhang Sushang said calmly. He’d asked Jiang Jinghu for some commonly used pills before they left.

He sent Misha to fetch Maxim then get some boiled water from the front desk, and after they came back they fed Luka both the pills and water. Zhang Sushang massaged his back with some oil, then wrapped him in blankets and let him sweat it out.

Luka allowed Zhang Sushang to torment him, staring at him with full trust despite the way his eyes watered from the heat. “Chyushka, you’re a medical student, right? Can you cure me?”

“Yeah,” Zhang Sushang said, patting his head, “I’m half your coach after all, I can’t let you skate while this sick.”

“You’ve acknowledged me as your student,” Luka snickered foolishly. A gleam of happiness shone in his eyes, as if the joy of Zhang Sushang’s recognition overcame the strain of his illness.

“Luka admires you a lot, he says it’s a pleasure to learn from you,” Maxim whispered to Zhang Sushang.

He was not only Luka’s coach but also his uncle. With no children of his own, he had always been filled with affection when talking about Luka.

It wasn’t until dawn broke that Luka’s temperature returned to normal.

Author:
Pikachyu: Jiang Jinghu, my little superhero! A must-have doctor for home and travel!

Mild colds can be relieved by essential oil massages and cupping because these can strengthen the body and dispel evil. I’ve tried it before for coughs, but everyone should still see a doctor if you’re sick~ Sushang is in an emergency, so he’s practising medicine without a license (don’t do this at home).

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22 August 2025 / 1 Comment

Chapter 24: The Birth of The Aviatrix

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A few days after his birthday, Zhang Sushang’s editor Igor came to visit.

From the way he banged on the door, someone would think he was after someone’s life.

Zhang Sushang, busy cooking spiced rabbit, was so surprised that he almost jumped out a window.

Back when he wanted to end Divine Detective Ilya, Igor talked with him for a long time and only reluctantly left when he promised to start a new project.

Now that they’d finished moving, Igor came again. “Chyushka! What’s your new book about?”

Seeing the editor’s eager expression, Zhang Sushang warily replied, “I want to write something with a female protagonist.”

“A story about a woman?” Igor repeated doubtfully. “Will that… sell well?”

Their newspaper wasn’t trying to create a masterpiece; they only wanted good sales. They were interested in earning money, not some grand ambition.

“Do you remember Katarina, from the fourth case?”

Igor paused. “The single mother with a daughter, that Katarina? And her daughter is Sasha, right? I remember that she eventually got into the mathematics department at Kiev State University.”

By now, Russia had implemented the eight-hour workday for many years. With the addition of good welfare for workers and a robust social support system, even a single mother could work to support her daughter while attending night school and eventually get admitted to a prestigious domestic university, thus changing her life.

Katarina’s background may be a fantasy in other countries but it worked in Russia. Rather than accusing it of being unrealistic, people would only praise her for her hard work and diligence.

“The story begins when she graduates from Kiev State University,” Zhang Sushang nodded.

He didn’t intend to abandon his previous worldbuilding, but he couldn’t make the righteous faction fight the thieves forever. That would make the police seem too incompetent.

It was only a change of protagonist — if necessary, he could also bring the original protagonist out for a spin. His inspiration for following different characters in the same world came from a manga series called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, where the author went through everyone from the great-grandfather to the great-grandson, and even opened a parallel world.

In this setting, the woman enlisted as a soldier to serve her country.

Up until this point, her experiences were extremely similar to those of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the only woman among the world’s top ten snipers, but then the story took a different turn.

Katarina joined the Air Forces.

Zhang Sushang planned to write about a heroic female pilot who would become the Fujiwara Takumi1Protagonist of Initial D and a super good driver of the skies, able to shoot down enemies even if she were piloting an outdated plane. Her strong mathematical ability would allow her to accurately calculate air currents, weather, and other factors, making her invincible in the air.

This was purely a Mary Sue-style protagonist. He planned to give her a refreshingly cool story trajectory, the kind that would make people’s scalps tingle when they read it. And not only was Katarina a Mary Sue, her daughter Sasha was also a maths prodigy. Later, the scumbag who abandoned her would return to pursue his wife, but find that she already had a better man and he didn’t even have the chance to brush her hand. It was filled with those kinds of cool scenes.

Throughout history, apart from supremely profound works, the most profitable genre had always been these power fantasies. Since Zhang Sushang couldn’t produce masterpieces, he could only devote more effort into the latter.

This was precisely why he and St. Petersburg Morning Post matched so well. Everything was easier when everyone was focused on money.

He immediately got to work, spreading out some manuscript paper and spending an entire afternoon to write out the first chapter.

In the spring of 1920, she fell in love with a popular, handsome man who invited the 16-year-old her to a dance…

“Why would we let women onto the battlefield? It’s illogical!” Igor protested.

Zhang Sushang scratched his head. “Just think of it as her being too good, so no logic can stop her.”

The editor choked back his words and was about to say something else, only for Zhang Sushang to wave a hand.

“Hey, how do you know it won’t be popular if you don’t publish it? Just give it a try.”

He felt that this novel was more fashionable for this era than his last one; actually, Wu Yeming’s setting was even more fashionable, with the protagonist directly blasting off into space, but unfortunately, Wu Yeming was also more meticulous in his writing and still hadn’t finished his outline yet.

It’s not that your story isn’t fashionable, it’s that it’s too fantastical, Igor thought. Everyone would read it if it featured a male pilot, but he insisted on writing a female pilot. Would male readers still buy it?

He returned to the publishing house with apprehensions, a new manuscript, and a rabbit leg inexplicably stuffed into his hand. Chief Editor Iosif took the manuscript and examined it for a while.

“Hm, this story…”

“Chief, is this story okay?” Igor asked tentatively.

Iosif adjusted his glasses. “As a voracious reader, I find it quite interesting, but it’s hard to judge the audience response. Let’s try publishing it first.”

They were only willing to do so because Chyushka’s previous work was so popular.

The fact was that most people were willing to buy exciting novels. In times like this, it was impossible to be picky about gender — it was good enough to have something to read at all.

Zhang Sushang had given Igor two chapters. The first chapter described how the female protagonist met a man, his pursuit of her, and his many promises, but after the marriage, his true nature as a spoiled brat and domestic abuser was revealed, cheating on her during her pregnancy and ultimately abandoning her. The second chapter told of how she helplessly returned to her family yet was despised by her parents and brothers. At the end of the arc, after giving birth, she decided to find work to support herself and her daughter.

The contents of the first and second chapters were actually quite depressing. Chyushka vividly portrayed a scumbag whom people would hate at first sight as well as an overcrowded, poverty-stricken family. But at the end of the second chapter, in that moment when the protagonist stepped out the door, it seemed to imply that fate was about to turn, making people unable to stop reading.

How can this woman, having been dealt so many bad cards, turn things around?

In the famous play A Doll’s House, the protagonist Nora, as a woman born into the middle class, never had a reason to worry about food or clothing until she discovered that her husband didn’t see her as ‘human’, only an obedient doll to love. Only then did she choose to leave home to find herself.

But Katarina was much more miserable. Life forced her to go out and find work.

Lu Xun once commented on Nora’s story, believing that Nora would be forced to either return to her family or become a prostitute unless she could find a means to make a living. No woman could stand upright without economic freedom.2The speech What happens after Nora leaves home

Yet how could a cruel feudal society allow a woman the opportunity to work and support themselves? Katarina’s only advantage over Nora was that she lived in the new Russia.

In this time and place, as long as she was willing to endure hardship and work hard, she could support herself and her child.

This was an inspiring story about women, but behind it lay Zhang Sushang’s strong commitment to socialism. As a child raised under the red flag, perhaps no one in this era understood better than he how precious this path could be.

Alexei, being Zhang Sushang’s flatmate, was the first to read The Aviatrix. Afterwards, he felt that although his flatmate always said that he could only write for entertainment, he was actually very attentive to what he wrote.

In his opinion, not only was the writing of The Aviatrix more mature than in Divine Detective Ilya, it also carried loftier ideals while simultaneously being more relatable.

Katarina’s early experiences were encountered by many women of this era, and her path out was also something they could do.

So when Iosif and Igor were still fretting that Zhang Sushang’s new novel would flop, Alexei had already confidently assured him, “Chyushka, this novel will be even more successful than your last one.”

“I’ll believe in your good words,” Zhang Sushang said, happily putting a big chicken drumstick in his bowl.

When Misha was finally discharged from the hospital, Zhang Sushang wasted no time in his rehabilitation.

If it were Zhang Sushang himself, he would probably start training as soon as he was 70-80% healed, still covered in bandages. Competition in later generations was too fierce, it was impossible to stand out if he didn’t put more effort in.

He was much more lenient with Misha, only asking him to pay attention to his diet and watch his weight while recovering. He also arranged all the costumes and music for him, ready for him to familiarise himself with them as soon as possible.

After a month of training with Zhang Sushang, Misha’s anxiety settled.

The best way to stabilise an athlete’s mind was to let them recognise their absolute strength, or at least that they held overwhelming advantages against their opponents. When Misha recovered completely, his dear coach Chyushka taught him an important new technique — tightening the upper body.

Jumping was an action that turned bodies into something resembling bullets. Athletes had to use enough power to ensure height and distance while also rotating in the air.

Rotational speed was one of the secrets to completing high difficulty jumps. If a thick wooden stick and a thin wooden stick were placed on a slope at the same time, the thin stick would reach the end faster because it had a smaller radius. Thus, many figure skaters worked hard to lose weight and maintain a slender body. This was because one, they didn’t want to be too heavy which would place strain on their joints when landing; and two, they wanted to have a smaller radius.

However, weight loss had its limits — once body fat reached the single digits, further loss became exponentially more difficult and could even result in death. Given this, the only way to increase rotational speed was to tighten their core.

Although double axels weren’t easy, Misha’s foundation allowed him to reach a 70% success rate, and with the tightening technique, it jumped to 80%.

He couldn’t stop smiling for three full days upon discovering its benefits, and was even eager to challenge a triple jump.

Zhang Sushang: “Your ligaments only healed a few days ago, take it easy.”

When the weather got a little colder, the domestic competition would take place.

As previously agreed, Zhang Sushang would go with Misha to Moscow for the competition.

Author:
What happens after Nora leaves home is a speech delivered by Chinese writer Lu Xun at Beijing Women’s Normal College in 1923. Even someone of his generation saw clearly that women can only be mere ‘dolls’ if they didn’t have economic rights. I’m grateful to this society for allowing me to work. I love working, I love making money.

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15 August 2025 / 1 Comment

Chapter 23: I don’t believe it now

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“The weather’s getting colder,” Zhang Sushang commented as he rubbed his arms.

Autumn had arrived, bringing with it single-digit temperatures. Divine Detective Ilya was also coming to an end.

The sixth to ninth cases of Divine Detective Ilya revolved around the struggle between the righteous faction, to which the lawyer Daria belonged, and the wicked thieves’ organisation led by Crocodile. As the plot progressed, the thief’s good and evil qualities both became apparent. Sometimes he would try to kill Ilya, while other times he might help them with a murder case.

If not for knowing that he was a crossdresser, readers might suspect that Crocodile was the female lead, not to mention that he had even more screentime than her…

The story concluded with the invasion of a foreign army — as for which country it was, Zhang Sushang didn’t specify. Anyway, the people in the story all put aside their grudges; the cowardly Ilya gave up hiding in the rear in favour of the front lines, Vasily joined him to protect their homeland, and in the barracks, they saw a handsome new recruit.

* * *

The ending was rather open-ended and few people today would consider it a typical ending for a detective story, but Zhang Sushang believed that everyone would change their minds in a decade or so.

It was common knowledge that a detective could experience many cases in their lifetime, so detective stories could develop into a super-long series, and as long as the quality didn’t decrease, the author could make a living from this one series for the rest of their life. However, Zhang Sushang felt that the plot had been fully explored. Continuing would only be a pale imitation so he simply ended it.

Even so, his royalties were a substantial number, enough to buy a house in St Petersburg, though he ultimately decided against it.

Why buy anything? By 1941 this city would be razed by gunfire for several years and no house could escape. It was better to continue renting. After discussing with Alexei, though, they decided to move.

Their current apartment actually had many advantages, such as being close to the university and having a large fireplace. The only real disadvantage was that the door wasn’t very sturdy. Zhang Sushang suspected that if he and Alexei had to smack it a few more times this winter, they might have to pay the landlord for a new door.

And their downstairs neighbour had a terrible temper. Every time Zhang Sushang did a few burpees at night, he would inevitably find a threatening letter shoved under their door the next morning.

The letters usually contained something like, If you keep making noise, I’ll let my dog bite you.

Zhang Sushang: …

Although he had never met this neighbour face to face, he had owned dogs before and could tell their approximate size by their barking, so he knew that they owned a small breed. They were quite something to use this to threaten a strong 1.8m man.

Never mind, they’d better move.

Alexei knew more people than Zhang Sushang, so he was the one to find a real estate agent, after which the two began searching for places.

Zhang Sushang discussed it with him. “First, we need a bigger apartment, at least 90 square meters, otherwise it’s going to be too cramped for both of us. Right now, there’s not even enough space to stack our dumbbells.”

“It also needs a balcony, otherwise we’ll never get any sunlight,” Alexei added.

Their current place had poor lighting and was dark year-round. They would likely be infested with mold if not for their fireplace.

With their requirements set, the two looked at all the available properties nearby. Although both of them were richer now, Alexei with his scholarships and Zhang Sushang with his royalties, neither were planning to split up.

Living alone was so troublesome, and there was no one to look after you if you fell sick. It was better to have a companion.

After looking around, the one they liked best was a shophouse near the sea. The building consisted of two floors; the first floor was rented out as a stationery shop, and the second floor was used as living quarters.

The new place was still close to the university, making it easier for them to commute, but it was much bigger. At approximately 90m2, it had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a fully equipped kitchen. It also had a complete set of mahogany furniture, including an extra-large bookshelf and a plush sofa.

Zhang Sushang set his heart on this place as soon as he saw the furniture, so the only task left was to move.

They initially thought they didn’t have much to take, but once they started packing, they discovered that they couldn’t leave the pots and pans, there were piles of books, manuscripts, and stationery, and they certainly couldn’t abandon their clothes, quilts, pillows, or toiletries either. In the end they went downstairs to hire a car, and with the help of two labourers, they finally managed to transport everything in one trip.

That day, Zhang Sushang turned 19.

Being born on October 1st, he celebrated his birthday with the motherland every year,1China’s National Day is on 1 October (PRC only. Taiwan/ROC’s national day is on 10 October) though speaking of birthdays, he felt a little melancholy.

One had to be 18 years old to join the Communist Party. Zhang Sushang, whose parents were both Party members, submitted his application through the community volunteer association as soon as he turned 18. He went through Party education and training and would have had the chance to become a probationary member after undergoing review, but then… he travelled through time!

He really regretted wanting a driver’s license.

He decided to celebrate properly to cheer himself up. It just so happened that Alexei’s birthday was on September 30th, only a single day’s difference, so they could celebrate together.

He invited all his close friends, including the other three of his four-person exchange group, his classmates Danil and the four Ivans ABCD, as well as Giselle, Orlov, and Misha.

My flatmate and I are celebrating our birthdays together, you should come too.

After making a list of everyone he wanted to invite, he asked Alexei, “What about you, how many do you want to invite?”

Alexei counted on his fingers. “My seniors Mikhail and Nikita will come.”

Alexei wasn’t very sociable and only had these two friends. Nikita was the son of the professor who supervised him the most.

“Then we’ll have to host them properly,” Zhang Sushang concluded.

Even if he was the birthday boy, he couldn’t let a guest do the cooking — and so, full of energy, he dragged Alexei to buy groceries together.

Ten pounds of mutton for lamb chops, seasonal vegetables and potatoes for a salad, and a whole chicken, which he’ll stew with ginger, radishes, and mushrooms for ten hours to make a delicious soup.

After living here for a while, he discovered that Russians had their way of eating. They usually drank soup or ate salads first, followed by hot dishes, and finally desserts and tea.

Things could be casual if they were only among family, but since they were hosting guests, it was more sincere to follow the proper procedures.

“Misha will bring desserts,” he muttered, “but we can make some egg cakes too.2These are little sponge cakes, possibly related to the Malay pastry Bahulu. They’re easy, we just need eggs, flour, and sugar.”

When Zhang Sushang was a child, he learned the basics of figure skating from his neighbour Grandpa Lu, and occasionally went there for meals. Grandpa Lu’s late wife was a master at making egg cakes and Zhang Sushang declared himself the direct inheritor of this skill.

Alexei quietly watched him.

“Lyosha, the get-together isn’t until tomorrow. What do you want to eat today? We can make that first.” Zhang Sushang turned towards Alexei.

Alexei thought for a moment. “I want borscht,” he decided. He then explained, “When I was little, my family was very poor. The one time we celebrated my birthday, my mother made borscht with ingredients we had left at home.”

Zhang Sushang listened patiently and snapped his fingers. “Okay, let’s make this.”

He had trained in Russia for a year before time travelling, so he knew how to make borscht, though he didn’t usually bother because it was a little complicated. But if the birthday person asked, there was no reason to refuse.

On their way home, they saw some Orthodox Christians handing out bread to passing children. “What a beautiful scene,” Zhang Sushang said, looking at them.

Alexei, carrying a large leg of lamb, said, “I ate the bread they distributed as a child.”

“You’re Christian?” Zhang Sushang asked curiously.

He smiled, looking surprisingly casual. “I was for a while before university, but then I studied physics. By that time, faith was just a source of comfort.”

“And now?”

Alexei gave him a deep look. “Now, I don’t believe it anymore.”

He no longer needed to believe in a god. Someone already existed to dispel his loneliness and bring human warmth.

As their eyes met, the complex emotions in those blue eyes were so intense that Zhang Sushang couldn’t help but look away uncomfortably. He let out a soft ‘oh’ and they resumed walking side by side.

After a while, he irresistibly turned to look at Alexei’s profile, only to find that he was observing the road, and every time a bicycle approached, he would lean towards Zhang Sushang.

It seemed like every time they had to walk along a road, Alexei would take the initiative to walk on the road’s side.

The next day, the birthday party was even more lively than Zhang Sushang had anticipated.

He had a good relationship with everyone and his friends were all very generous with him, everyone who received invitations came. Even Misha, who could only sit on the sofa with his cane, chatted happily with Wu Yeming.
Jiang Jinghu directly gave him 100 newly made medicinal patches, Wu Yeming gave him a new bottle of ink, and Li Yuan gave him a book titled Wonderous Reactions with Chemical Reagents, apparently thinking that it would be useful for his stories.

Giselle and Orlov gave him a voucher for six months of free dance lessons, his classmates gave him a rabbit, and Misha baked a big cake for him, which was covered in a thick layer of cream. With the addition of the egg cakes Zhang Sushang made, the house was soon filled with a sweet fragrance.

The most amazing ones had to be the Ivans; they went to the living room and sang a celebratory song together. When Zhang Sushang listened closely, the lyrics seemed to be something along the lines of, My life is good, happily drinking with friends every day. When I wake up, my clothes are gone and my wallet is empty, oh, turns out I’ve been robbed.

He had no idea what these four were thinking, singing this on a birthday, but the tune was truly enchanting, the kind that circled in your mind the more you didn’t want to think about it.

Zhang Sushang learned this song against his will.

Mikhail handed a fountain pen to Alexei. “This is from me and Nikita,” he whispered.

“Thank you.”

“You look much more cheerful than before. I’m glad you’re getting better, Lyosha.” Nikita patted him.

Zhang Sushang was currently embroiled in a dance battle with Ivan A, who was drunk. One danced ballet, the other a Kalmyk folk dance – it was unclear how they ended up arguing.

It was a cheerful scene. Alexei looked towards them, his blue eyes curved in a smile.

“Yes, my friend, I’ve never felt this good.”

Author:
The story is fictional. Fictional, fictional I say… There are some things this author will try to avoid, otherwise, the whole novel might be gone.

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  • 1
    China’s National Day is on 1 October (PRC only. Taiwan/ROC’s national day is on 10 October)
  • 2
    These are little sponge cakes, possibly related to the Malay pastry Bahulu.
8 August 2025 / 1 Comment

Chapter 22: So he’s actually the most useless one of the four international students

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The weather was unusually sunny that day, so Zhang Sushang and Wu Yeming chatted as they walked to Nevsky Prospect, where they bought two meat-filled pirozhki.

“This bun isn’t as good as what we have in the Northeast, it isn’t as fermented as well as ours either. When I go back to China, I’ll cook an entire goose together with the dough, that’s what’s called delicious,” Wu Yeming said.

Zhang Sushang gulped down saliva. “I want to eat ones filled with cabbage and meat.”

At this time, cabbage wasn’t something you could see everywhere like in later generations and, known as a ‘noble vegetable’, was even somewhat expensive.

Zhang Sushang’s craving for cabbage prompted Wu Yeming’s. “Pork and cabbage vermicelli is the best,” he sighed.

As they chatted, Wu Yeming mentioned that Zhang Sushang’s weight loss plan was very useful. He had already lost almost six pounds by following the diet.

“What you said before is right. After eating healthily and exercising regularly, I feel that it’s easier to do everything and I have much more energy. But I don’t train as much as you do, so I don’t need to do cupping with Jinghu as much as you,” Wu Yeming commented.

He almost thought Zhang Sushang had a serious injury when he saw him at the hospital.

“Brother Wu, are you doing speed skating now?” Zhang Sushang asked curiously.

Wu Yeming smiled awkwardly. “Yes, it’s more fun to practice on the ice than on the ground. And the weather’s been colder recently, so we can go on some lakes as long as we’re careful.”

The two sports had different requirements. Figure skating included jumps — if the ice surface wasn’t solid enough, Zhang Sushang might fall straight in when he landed. If one only wanted to skate fast, as in speed skating, they could use thinner ice.

They found the beach. Seagulls flew overhead and the chilly sea breeze blew their faces red, carrying with it a unique salty tang.

“In ages past, we read the books of sages with a pure heart. Later, we studied for the sake of imperial examinations, and now we study to save the country, but no one knows where the true path lies. Now that I’ve come out and seen the new Russia, I finally understand what the future can hold,” Wu Yeming sighed.

Zhang Sushang lowered his head and took a bite of his pirozhki. “Yeah, the way is right, but we’ll have to pay a lot if we want to walk down it.”

“There are many who are willing to sacrifice for the country. I am not alone,” he replied softly. “Compared to those people in China addicted to opium, whose faces are sallow and their families bankrupt, we can be considered to be living a good life. If we want the country to rise and the nation to prosper, young people must read more and strengthen their bodies, so that we don’t become sick men in the eyes of others.1The sick man of Asia, see Wikipedia After seeing you practice sports, I also tried it and it feels quite good, so I want to keep practising like this.

“If I’m lucky, I can go to competitions in the future to win glory for my country and prove to the world that we Chinese also have athletes and that our physiques are no worse than theirs. I met Yegor on the ice. They only accepted me because I skated faster than a few of his teammates — if I didn’t have this ability, they definitely wouldn’t care about me.”

Here, his tone brightened, and he looked at Zhang Sushang. “Qiupu, you should be more talented than me. I heard Yegor from speed skating say that not only are you coaching Misha, but your ability isn’t inferior to that of professional athletes. Do you have the intention to compete?”

Zhang Sushang spread his hands. “What’s the point of training if I’m not going to compete?”

The two smiled at each other and exchanged fist bumps.

As time passed, Zhang Sushang realised that these people who came to another country to study with him were not only patriotic and passionate, they also had clear thinking, good brains, and open minds. They truly were rare, outstanding talents.

He hadn’t expected Wu Yeming to become an athlete but he was happy to see it happen.

But when it came to participating in competitions, Wu Yeming also knew of his lacking financial situation. It already wasn’t easy to study here, he didn’t have enough money to compete elsewhere.

“Should I also submit something to earn some money? But I don’t know how to write novels,” he muttered.

Zhang Sushang’s eyes lit up. “Of course. I saw the paper you wrote last semester, it was concise, clear, and easy to read. If you’re not aiming to make a masterpiece and just write for fun, you’re definitely good enough.”

Wu Yeming not only had a height of 1.72m, which was considered quite tall in this era, but he also looked handsome, studied so hard that he completed an entire year’s curriculum in just six months, had talent in sports, and had a predilection for languages. After one year, his Russian level was no different from that of Zhang Sushang’s when he just transmigrated.

This was the kind of person others called ‘the chosen one’.

“As for novels, it’s not hard to get started,” he advised. “Aren’t you from the engineering department? You can write something about engineering.” 

He preferred melodramatic stories like Thunderstorm and Home Temptation that made people say ‘what an unfortunate life’, but Wu Yeming didn’t seem like someone who could write those plots.

“But engineering covers such a wide range, what should I write about?” 

Zhang Sushang scratched his head. “Um, I don’t know much about it, but if I were a reader, I’d want to see something interesting. Ordinary railroad construction probably won’t work.”

“I’ve said it so many times, not everyone who studies engineering builds railways,” Wu Yeming said expressionlessly. “There are many specialties under engineering. Architectural engineering, hydraulic engineering, chemical engineering, materials science…”

Zhang Sushang blushed at the long list he spat out. “Hey, I’m a medical student, I don’t know anything about engineering. Thanks for explaining.”

Although Wu Yeming officially only studied mechanical engineering, he was very versatile and had strong hands-on skills. If a circuit in a classroom was broken or a lightbulb needed to be replaced, he could fix it as well as any electrical engineering student. Anyone with a broken bicycle would also go to him.

Zhang Sushang did the same whenever his own bike broke down.

After thinking for a while, he suggested, “If we’re talking about what attracts the most attention, it must be something everyone aspires to, like flying. A novel about going into outer space might get very popular. You should know a bit, right? I remember seeing you reading one of Tsiolkovsky’s texts at the library.”

Tsiolkovsky2For more about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, see Wikipedia was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the new Russia. Between 1903 and 1911, he published several papers that laid the foundation for rocket flight, including proposing the use of liquid fuel and multi-stage rockets.

By the way, the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket was launched into space from the United States this year, in 1926.

“I’m indeed interested in it, but I don’t know anything about its specifics,” Wu Yeming said, hesitating. Counting on his fingers, he continued, “I haven’t studied anything about aircraft design, fuels, manufacturing, or the environment up there and how humans might survive. I only have a general understanding.”

“Do you think you have to have a professional-level knowledge about the subject before you can start writing?” Zhang Sushang looked at him helplessly.

“Don’t I?” Wu Yeming looked back at him, equally confused.

Zhang Sushang, who wrote detective novels but knew nothing about how real detectives worked: …

You academic geniuses are so strict with yourselves, he thought. Liu Cixin could write a masterpiece like The Three-Body Problem, but it wasn’t as if the author knew how to make a dual-vector foil.

Afterwards, he thought that Wu Yeming had abandoned the idea of writing a novel and made preparations to support his future competition expenses, but by the next week, when he went to Jiang Jinghu for physical therapy, he discovered that Wu Yeming was going to study aeronautical engineering.

He wanted to strive for a double degree! Even if he couldn’t build a rocket, he wanted to build an airplane!

In his own words: “Anyways, I’m already in Russia. I don’t know if learning just one major will be useful once I return, so why not learn more? Besides, knowing more things is never a loss.”

Even if Zhang Sushang was someone who could be admitted to Tsinghua University or Peking University, he still couldn’t figure out what these ancient academic gods were thinking.

He could only whisper to Li Yuan and Jiang Jinghu, “So we have another textbook to translate?”

“Yes, and they might not be so happy for us to bring this back,” Li Yuan sighed. “Jiang Jinghu and I discussed it. We should each memorise a portion, that way if they don’t let us take the book, we can at least have the knowledge in our brains and write it out over there.”

Li Yuan had a photographic memory.

“Do you want to memorise part of your chemistry as well?” Jiang Jinghu asked. “I have some free time, and chemistry has some similarities with medicine. I can help.”

Little Doctor Jiang also had a pretty good memory.

So I’m actually the most useless of us four, Zhang Sushang reflected.

Since he had a bad brain, he could only earn a bit more money to improve their living situation.

The next day, he bought five sets of thick military-green coats, caring only for how warm they were. They would be relying on these to live through the winter.

Zhang Sushang had already calculated it — he and Alexei would each take one, and the remaining three would be given to Jiang Jinghu and the others.

The only issue was that Alexei was 1.9m tall, making it hard to buy clothes in his size. It was only through their time together as flatmates that he slowly realised Alexei made most of his own clothes.

No wonder his sewing skills were so good if he were constantly using them.

He visited several stores before he found a suitable winter coat and, satisfied, he returned home carrying 15 kilograms of clothing. There, he saw Alexei lazily operating a treadle sewing machine.

The treadle sewing machine, invented and patented in 1859 by American businessman Isaac Singer, was a beloved tool among tailors.

Zhang Sushang, putting down his things and sitting next to Alexei, felt his mood relax amid the sewing machine’s clacking and clicking. 

“Is this the one for Misha?” he asked, resting his chin on his hands.

“It’s yours.” Alexei didn’t even look up.

Next to him was a small table covered with a sewing basket and colourful fabrics, as well as a design by Giselle. This woman had excellent taste, wonderful in everything except for her refusal to compromise on her choreography and designs.

On the snow-white paper, a model based on Zhang Sushang wore a simple yet elegant crimson outfit, looking like a little prince.

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11 May 2025 / 1 Comment

Chapter 19: Do you want to be my wife?

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Qi Zihan finally saw a soldier who looked better than Yu Chenyu, although it was a pity that the soldier was so beautiful he didn’t seem like a man and wasn’t the type that he liked.

He was beautiful, powerful, and had hints of danger lurking underneath, but compared to Yu Chenyu, he didn’t seem as… how to say it. Reliable? Safe? Easy to control?

If Yu Chenyu gave him the feeling of a towering tree that could give shelter from wind and rain, the marshal felt more like a beautiful yet poisonous flower.

Even so, seeing his concern for Yu Chenyu, he didn’t think he was a bad person.

Thus, he asked, “If we’re not sending him to the hospital, can you help me get him home? I can’t carry him.”

“Of course.” Mo Yihai was still kneeling as he said this, as if he was waiting for Qi Zihan to allow him to get up. “I can personally send both of you home, then take a statement there.”

Oh yeah, he almost forgot that he needed to make a statement. Different worlds still had many similarities.

Though Mo Yihai immediately added, “If you feel that it’s too troublesome, you can wait until your male wakes up and leave it to him.”

“I don’t think it’s any trouble.” Qi Zihan really didn’t. Anyway, he’s always been very idle since coming to this world, and hasn’t found a job either.

“Okay, in that case…” Mo Yihai grabbed Yu Chenyu’s arm and swung him onto his back.

Seeing this, the soldiers around them all came to help, soon leaving Mo Yihai empty-handed.

Mo Yihai smiled silently. He didn’t thank them and instead looked directly at Qi Zihan. “Did you come by hovercar?”

“We did.”

“Do you remember where it was parked?”

“Yes, I’ll take you there.”

Qi Zihan walked out the door and led Mo Yihai and the soldiers carrying Yu Chenyu to where the hovercar was parked.

Along the way, Mo Yihai received reports that a female was found in a trance, as if he had been scared silly. He sent people to take the female to a hospital, and mentioned that they should do a drug test just in case.

“Why did they target me?” Qi Zihan asked, then speculated, “Just because I’m Yu Chenyu’s female?”

He couldn’t think of any other reason. After all, he arrived in this world abruptly and held no grudges against anyone.

Mo Yihai hesitated for a moment. “It is indeed related to him, however…” He was halfway through his words when he suddenly thought of something and asked in return, “Have you seen the news?”

“What news?” Qi Zihan had been too busy searching for a job on his terminal.

Realisation flashed across Mo Yihai’s face. He knew how to answer now — don’t try to guess what the female was thinking, just say what he needed to say.

“Yu Chenyu is one of the empire’s five generals. Because he is good-looking and strong, he has always attracted a lot of attention, so news about him always spreads quickly, including when he applied for retirement and marriage,” he explained. “You soothed him recently, yes? It was very effective and even directly restored his psyche. Not only did the military publish his physical examination report, the news also reported on it, causing everyone to celebrate his return and also praise your role in it.

“That is to say, although no one knows who you are or anything else about you, they all know that Yu Chenyu’s wife has a very strong soothing ability.”

This was enough for Qi Zihan to guess the truth of the matter. “Those males want to kidnap me to force me to soothe them?”

“I cannot conclude anything before the interrogation, but given our current knowledge, that is the most likely scenario,” Mo Yihai replied seriously.

“But soothing is…” he trailed off as he recalled the process of soothing Yu Chenyu. He wondered how those males would force him to soothe them after kidnapping him. He may well kill them in their inner world! “How can they dare to let me soothe them?”

Mo Yihai couldn’t help raising his eyebrows. Yu Chenyu’s wife seemed to know that a female’s spiritual power could both save and damn.

Spiritual inducers may cause females to panic and females needed a relaxed mind to provide the best soothing, so he chose to conceal its possible presence in this case. “Who knows? Maybe they were losing control too fast and became desperate,” he said casually.

“Oh.” Qi Zihan didn’t think more of it.

When they reached the hovercar, Mo Yihai took the key from Yu Chenyu’s pockets and started it.

Since the hovercar was on the smaller side and could hold five passengers at most, most of the soldiers withdrew after strapping in Yu Chenyu, leaving only two — one to drive the hovercar, and the other to look after Yu Chenyu.

No, rather than looking after him, it was more like…

Qi Zihan swept his eyes over Mo Yihai but couldn’t find any problems. If this man were unwell, he was too good at hiding it.

But the soldiers around him had no such skills. They hardly hid the vigilance in their eyes, as if they weren’t looking at the highest authority of the empire but at a monster on the verge of eruption.

That… was the look given to someone about to lose control.

“Do you have a wife, Marshal?” he couldn’t resist asking. Although he wasn’t the type to meddle, he had a conjecture to verify.

“No, not yet,” Mo Yihai replied casually, as if he didn’t think it was something to worry about. Then he asked back, “Do you want to be my wife?”

“Um…” he didn’t know how to answer. If it were the Imperial Marshal… it wasn’t impossible, but it certainly wouldn’t be now. They would at least have to get to know each other first…

However, Mo Yihai spoke again before he could organise his words. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t submitted a marriage application. Females can choose to marry any male who has submitted a marriage application to them, but males who have not applied are protected by law.”

“I see.” It was the first that Qi Zihan heard of this.

So the males who submitted marriage applications were all willing to become tools of females to survive? And accordingly, some males refused to get married and thus avoided female control?

“You… don’t look very disappointed,” Mo Yihai commented, slightly surprised at Qi Zihan’s reaction. He thought that he would be like many other females and ask why he didn’t want to get married or put himself forward. Yet he only said ‘I see’ and pondered on his own.

Qi Zihan looked up. “Is there a severe imbalance between males and females?”

“Yes. And, if I may add, it has always been like this.”

“Is there a specific number?”

“1:32.” As the Imperial Marshal, Mo Yihai kept a constant eye on this ratio and could recite it easily. “By the way, the birth rate is 1:50.”

“Ah, the one is referring to females?” He had expected the gender balance in this world to be skewed, but he didn’t expect it to be this skewed!

“Well, probably because females are very fertile, so from a genetic standpoint, society doesn’t need many of them,” he explained, “but countless male zergs need mental soothing. One female cannot soothe that many males by themselves.”

As if males were born to be consumables to protect females.

Although zerg society under Mo Yihai did indeed rely on consuming males to support females.

Soldiers were responsible for combat, workers were responsible for working, drones were responsible for pleasing females, and females responsible for soothing males and for reproduction.

This seemingly deformed society actually had a clear division of labour.

Therefore even if Mo Yihai sympathised with the males who were abused by female hands, he wouldn’t change the structure of their society just for that.

He cared for the survival of their species more than the comfort of any individual within.

Thirty years ago, the virulent spread of spiritual inducers almost destroyed their entire tribe due to the females’ collective protest. Such a thing could not be allowed to happen again.

* * *

The hovercar stored their departure flight route and had a self-return function, so the driver didn’t need to ask Qi Zihan for his address to bring him home.

Then Qi Zihan was responsible for leading the way and opening the door while Mo Yihai and the two soldiers carrying Yu Chenyu followed him.

The soldiers, after depositing Yu Chenyu on his bed, immediately retreated from the bedroom and stood guard at the main door.

That was until Qi Zihan gave them a confused look and gestured at the sofa. “You can sit, don’t be so polite.”

“Okay, then please, excuse us,” Mo Yihai said as he took the lead. After the soldiers glanced at each other, they sat down as well.

“Please wait a moment, I’ll get you some water.” Qi Zihan, walking into the kitchen, happened to miss the three’s surprised expressions.

As the host, pouring water for guests was basic etiquette; Qi Zihan didn’t think there was anything wrong with him doing so.

He knew that this was a world that held females on a pedestal. The severe gender imbalance made females endangered animals that required careful care.

But he always did what he wanted, he wouldn’t force himself to change just to cater to society’s expectations.

When he returned to the living room with a jug of water, the three soldiers on the sofa all stood up.

“I’ll do it.”

“Let me, let me!”

“Please sit down!”

Watching them in amusement, Qi Zihan dodged their reaching hands, poured a glass of water for each of them and one for himself, then sat in the nearby armchair.

“Okay, aren’t we here to take a statement? Let’s start.” He didn’t forget why these three hadn’t left.

“Hm…” Mo Yihai sat back with both hands cradling the glass of water, his face a little dazed, feeling as if he were in a dream. After a moment to recover his senses, he straightened. “Then please repeat the process of the attack to us. Also, may we record it?” he asked boldly.

“Sure.”

Mo Yihai took out a recording device from his pocket, turned it on, and placed it on the coffee table. “Please state your permission to record, to later prove our innocence,” he requested.

“Okay,” he said, remembering that it was illegal to secretly record females in this world. Thus: “Before I say ‘stop’, you are allowed to keep recording. Everything I am about to say is within the scope of ‘allowed recording’ and I will bear responsibility for its authenticity. So, let’s start.”

Translator: Thanks to everyone for your patience during my 8-month hiatus! This novel is officially being dropped from my translations.

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10 May 2025 / 1 Comment

Chapter 18: Catch that female!

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Qi Zihan looked back while he ate the lava cake. The female, Luo Tinghong, had walked away instead of chasing after him.

It was a classic case of seeking benefits and avoiding harm — most people wouldn’t blindly provoke more powerful people.

He breathed a sigh of relief, since he was actually quite worried that Luo Tinghong would give chase. Although he wasn’t afraid of a fight and didn’t think he and Yu Chenyu would lose, he was afraid of trouble, especially meaningless trouble.

There was no benefit to solving the kind of trouble that only existed to waste time.

In the beginning, he had wanted Luo Tinghong to apologise to Yu Chenyu because he treated him as a human. If he could obediently apologise, Qi Zihan might even admire him a bit.

Since he was the one who chose not to be a human being in favour of attacking like a mad dog, there was no need to keep talking to him like a human either. That would be a sheer waste of time.

However, he hardly had a moment to breathe before he encountered something upsetting again.

Someone who looked like a drone walked up to him and, red-faced, asked with a little embarrassment, “Excuse me, are you General Yu Chenyu’s wife?”

He was noticeably shorter than Qi Zihan and wore a very revealing light blue gown. It looked okay from the front, only showing his lower abdomen, but his entire back was exposed to the point that from behind, it looked like he wasn’t wearing anything.

But this wasn’t what bothered Qi Zihan.

This outfit was this drone’s wife’s choice, he wouldn’t blame the ‘victim’.

It was that after replying just three words — “Yes, I am” — the drone asked, “My wife wishes to exchange males with you, I wonder if you might be willing?”

Yu Chenyu narrowed his eyes as Qi Zihan recovered from his surprise.

“Exchange what?” Qi Zihan asked back in a distinctly frostier voice. “Say it again?”

The drone jumped. Despite trembling, he didn’t leave. Instead, he looked at Qi Zihan pitifully and repeated his words. “My wife likes your soldier very much and wants to exchange his males for him. This time he brought six males. He said, if you don’t like me, you can also choose from the other five, or even, at the same time…” 

“Enough,” Qi Zihan interrupted expressionlessly. He wasn’t the kind of person who would rashly cut people off, but there was no need to listen to this drone any longer. The drone’s pretty face and teary eyes inspired no mercy in him. “Go back and tell your wife that I’m not as dirty as him. Tell him to fuck off and stop hanging around me, otherwise he’ll affect my appetite.”

Yu Chenyu couldn’t quite help the curl of his lips. He knew that Qi Zihan wouldn’t give him to other females.

Both he and Qi Zihan thought that the drone would leave after that.

Unexpectedly, not only did he not retreat, he fell to his knees and tried to hug Qi Zihan’s legs, although Qi Zihan avoided him.

The drone was surprised to have missed but quickly planted his hands on the ground, seemingly terrified. “Sir, please agree! If I return empty-handed, I’ll die! I’ll definitely be beaten to death!”

Just as Yu Chenyu was being surprised at Qi Zihan’s quick reactions, he heard this and his face instantly darkened. He wasn’t worried for the drone, he worried that Qi Zihan would relent.

In his eyes, Qi Zihan was a female who appeared cold but was actually kind and gentle. The tougher one treated him, the more he would resist. But if someone tried to inspire sympathy…

He glanced at him and opened his mouth, wanting to say something, only to be cut off.

“What does that have to do with me?” Qi Zihan asked coldly.

Qi Zihan indeed wasn’t a heartless person, but even if he wanted to be soft-hearted, he had to consider the situation.

First, he wouldn’t interfere with others’ family affairs. Second, since he brought Yu Chenyu here, he must take responsibility and protect him.

Didn’t they all dislike soldiers?

Back when the people from the Female Association recommended spouses to him, they praised drones to the sky while belittling soldiers as worthless.

Yet at the banquet, all these trash wanted to touch his soldier?

Seeing as the drone was doing this unwillingly, he had tempered his response to something with less cursing. He put down his cake. “Let’s go back, Chenyu.”

If this banquet was more for games that couldn’t see the light of day and less for socialising, Qi Zihan would rather they not stay. Who knew what disgusting scenes he would see if he did.

Yu Chenyu hadn’t liked this banquet in the first place — hearing that Qi Zihan wanted to leave made him happy beyond words. “Okay,” he said simply, restraining his inner joy. But as soon as he finished speaking, his keen ears caught the sound of danger.

He instinctively raised his arms and pulled Qi Zihan to his chest, their backs toward the drone sprawled on the floor. Two needle-like pricks pierced his body, one in his left shoulder and the other in his right arm.

Qi Zihan flinched at the sudden embrace. Just as he wanted to ask Yu Chenyu what he was doing, he heard him say, “Call the police.”

The police? Did something happen? An attack? Wait, so Yu Chenyu is currently… protecting me?

Not bothering to ask any more, he stretched out his spiritual power, logged into his personal terminal, and alerted the police.

As he did so, Yu Chenyu had already let go, turned around, kicked the drone to the floor, and stepped on his right wrist.

The bracelet the drone wore seemed to have hidden mechanisms. 

Around them stood the dumbfounded zergs who didn’t know what was going on.

Qi Zihan soon logged off his terminal to check on Yu Chenyu. Yet before he could find any injuries, he saw five males sprinting towards him, all shouting something.

“He’s been tranquilised! Hurry up!”

“Never mind him, catch that female!”

Upon realising that their goal wasn’t Yu Chenyu but himself, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Why? Why would they want me? he wondered.

Still, despite his confusion, he fell into a defensive posture.

But the first male to arrive was sent flying into a wall by a single punch from Yu Chenyu.

The second was grabbed by his collar and thrown over Yu Chenyu’s shoulder, and was knocked unconscious on the spot.

The third took out a dagger, only to be easily disarmed.

Then Yu Chenyu, still pressing him to the floor with one foot, kicked the fourth male onto the first male who was just getting up, causing both of them to go down with screams.

The fifth male realised something was wrong halfway and stopped, even taking half a step back.

Yu Chenyu didn’t let him go. Rushing forward, he planted one hand on his wrist and the other at his armpit, and threw him over his shoulder as well!

“Aahhh–!”

Just like that, two males were unconscious and four were writhing in pain, unable to get up even if they wanted to.

Qi Zihan felt that his defensive reaction was in vain. After a brief daze, he clapped his hands.

Yu Chenyu couldn’t help chuckling when he turned around. His Lord Wife was too cute, applauding with that blank look on his face…

As he thought this, his consciousness blurred, and he collapsed.

“Yu Chenyu!” Qi Zihan shouted as he rushed to Yu Chenyu’s side.

He had fallen forward into a prone position.

Those males targeting him had probably shot Yu Chenyu with sedatives, but due to how small the needles were and his suit’s dark base colour, Qi Zihan wasn’t able to find where they landed for a long time.

But they should be on his back. Yes, on his back. Because when Yu Chenyu was hugging him, or rather when he was protecting him…

His heartbeat suddenly raced, though he didn’t know if it was because he was worried for Yu Chenyu or another reason.

Just as he was hesitating on whether he should call an ambulance, he heard a calm and gentle voice say, “There are six offenders in total: two soldiers, three workers, and one drone. Round them all up for interrogation. Oh, and remove their legs in case they escape.”

“Yes, Marshal!”

Marshal? Qi Zihan, still kneeling next to Yu Chenyu, looked up in the voice’s direction and saw a man who was… very beautiful, so beautiful that he looked a little unreal.

He wore a gorgeously decorated silver-white military uniform paired with a cap that was also white, save for its black brim.

His physique made it evident he was a soldier, yet his face was as beautiful as a butterfly’s.

Complementing this, his dizzyingly beautiful long silver hair cascaded down his back like a waterfall.

Qi Zihan didn’t like excessively feminine men, but he had to admit that this man — no, this soldier — looked very good.

He hadn’t known that the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘powerful’ could coexist so harmoniously in a single person. Yet this soldier who was walking towards him, followed by a crowd of imperial soldiers who called him ‘Marshal’, was indeed both beautiful and powerful.

He watched this beautiful man walk to him, lower himself to one knee, and perform an elaborate salute.

“Sir Qi Zihan, I’m sorry to have frightened you. May I inspect General Yu for injuries?” he asked.

While he spoke, the army had already captured the females and dragged them outside. Soon, shrill screams came from that direction.

Qi Zihan frowned when he imagined the attackers having their legs ripped off, yet the man in front of him remained calm from beginning to end and even had a faint smile on his lips.

“You’re the Imperial Marshal?” he asked. To be honest, he didn’t trust him.

“Yes,” Imperial Marshal Mo Yihai answered steadily, still kneeling on one knee before Qi Zihan. “I came as soon as we received your alert.”

“A police call can summon the army?’’

“They’re part of the Security Bureau, but I was closer,” Mo Yihai said. “I can answer any questions you have in detail later, but for now, it is more urgent that I inspect your male partner, General Yu Chenyu, for any injuries.”

He emphasized the words ‘your male partner’.

Qi Zihan vaguely realised that this man was more nervous about Yu Chenyu being hurt than he was. Although he was confused, he no longer obstructed him.

“You can check, he was shot while protecting me,” he said as he stood.

“Okay, thank you for your cooperation.” Mo Yihai shuffled closer to Yu Chenyu and, scanning his back, easily found the two anaesthetic needles. After plucking them out, his beautiful eyes narrowed. “Strong tranquilisers, and two of them. This dose is enough to kill a cow.”

“Ah, what should we do? Do we need an ambulance?” Qi Zihan asked, startled.

Mo Yihai glanced at him, then lowered his head and pressed down the brim of his military cap, using his arm to cover his slightly raised lips. “It’s okay, he’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

Qi Zihan: ?

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9 May 2025 / 2 Comments

Chapter 17: There’s No Use Arguing with a dog

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The drone gently placed Qi Zihan’s package on the balcony, and Yu Chenyu went to get it.

By now, the freshly cleaned sofa was just about dry, so Qi Zihan moved from the dining table to sit behind the coffee table, casually crossing his legs.

When Yu Chenyu returned with the package, this scene greeted him:

Qi Zihan, elegant and relaxed, blinking up at Yu Chenyu with no intention of standing.

He clearly had no intention of opening it himself.

Yu Chenyu didn’t ask questions. He tore open the package with his bare hands, revealing two sets of suits stacked neatly within a transparent storage bag.

One was off-white with golden patterns, quietly luxurious. The other was dark blue without any decorations, but its buttons were pure gold and seemed to be accompanied by a complementary gold brooch, which gave a similar feeling to the white suit.

Both looked normal at first glance – neither were as gaudy as Yu Chenyu had feared.

Were there any hidden designs?

He wondered whether he should lay them out to examine the whole thing. “Should I open them?” he asked Qi Zihan uncertainly.

“Haven’t you already opened them?”

“No, I mean…”

“Open it and try them on, get them washed if they fit. I want them pristine by tomorrow,” Qi Zihan stated, no longer bothering to tease.

Nodding, Yu Chenyu took the suits out and handed the smaller white one to Qi Zihan.

After thinking for a moment, Qi Zihan took it. New clothes should be tried on so they could return ill-fitting pieces.

Thus, when Yu Chenyu stepped away to try the clothes on, Qi Zihan stood and did the same.

Both suits fit so well that it was as if it had been tailored for them. Although the cuts were different, they shared an understated elegance, making them look quite compatible.

Yu Chenyu didn’t see anything wrong with the clothes in the end. Nowhere was his body unduly exposed, and neither were there any designs that would make it uncomfortable to move.

“This is the suit you bought for me?” Yu Chenyu asked in a daze.

Qi Zihan, after putting on his set, seemed to be more noble than before. Knowing what he was thinking, he looked back in amusement. “What, are you disappointed that there’s nothing embarrassing?”

“No…” Yu Chenyu replied instinctively, before pausing when he realised that Qi Zihan seemed to be implying that the design wasn’t degrading. Letting out a relieved breath, he smiled wryly. “Not disappointed. I like it.”

Although it was called a formal suit, it looked more low-key than his military uniform, though it also had several details that revealed its true value. He liked it, he truly liked it very much.

“Yours looks good too,” he added, “it suits you.”

“Right? I think so too,” Qi Zihan said, calmly accepting the compliment. As he took off the suit, he continued, “I think my taste has always been good. If something I like isn’t liked by most people, it must be because they don’t know how to appreciate good things.”

Such an arrogant statement, yet Yu Chenyu agreed with it; and not only did he agree, he also thought that his expression as he said it was adorable.

It was too cute. No male wouldn’t be moved by a female like this!

If before, Yu Chenyu was still worried about the banquet, now he was completely relieved. From Qi Zihan’s tastes alone, it could be seen that he was an elegant person who had nothing to do with the word ‘vulgar’. A person like this wouldn’t bother to humiliate his male in public.

Yu Chenyu carefully washed both suits by hand, not using any machines for fear of accidents.

It didn’t take long, and they dried in a single afternoon. That evening, the two, wearing their respective suits, rode a hovercar to the banquet venue.

“Why not take a hoverbike?” Qi Zihan couldn’t help asking despite how much he enjoyed the hovercar’s comfort and spaciousness. It didn’t seem as if the two were much different in speed; if anything, the hoverbike was slightly faster.

“It’s a little chilly at night, the wind will make you sick,” Yu Chenyu replied with a glance at Qi Zihan. Of course, the one who would get sick wasn’t him.

He didn’t mention that any trips outside with Qi Zihan from now on would only be made with the hovercar, not the bike.

Admittedly, he had been angry when he went with Qi Zihan to the Female Association by hoverbike.

He truly didn’t have the mood to be gentle towards a female who wanted to break off the relationship immediately after marriage, and besides, no matter how weak they were, a female wouldn’t get sick just from a breeze or two.

But now… he regretted it. How could he let his wife ride a hoverbike? If anything happened, he would deserve to die a thousand times over!

The Queen’s Banquet didn’t require tickets. The male attendant at the doors only confirmed Qi Zihan as a female zerg and Yu Chenyu as his male companion before letting them in.

Yu Chenyu frowned subtly as they entered. It was one thing not to ask the females for their identification, but even males could get in without providing marriage information? If a female brought in a dangerous male for some reason…

Speculating on females wasn’t a good thing, but Yu Chenyu felt that the security risk was too great.

If this were the battlefield and they brought all kinds of prisoners into the camp, they wouldn’t even know how they were wiped out.

Although in the end, he didn’t say anything.

The banquet was being held near the Imperial Central Command anyways — if anything did happen, the army could quickly rush over to help.

Upon entering, Qi Zihan found that the banquet was even more grand than he expected, taking up three entire floors. The ground floor was bordered by numerous tables covered with exquisite lace tablecloths, on top of which were placed various delicacies, drinks, and tableware. The middle, spacious and brilliantly lit, was obviously for dancing.

The upper two floors were both made of balconies, where guests could enjoy watching the dancers, and inner rooms for resting.

Qi Zihan’s main purpose was to get to know other female zergs, so he only glanced at the exquisite food before picking up a small cake and turning his attention to the other females.

Yu Chenyu could clearly see what he chose: a chocolate cheesecake mousse. It was something that he could have at home.

Not being the kind to wait passively for someone to approach, Qi Zihan observed everyone who might be female, settled on a female who dressed similarly to himself, and went up to him. “Hello, can we get to know each other?”

The man wore an understated black suit with gold accents. His movements were slow as he turned towards Qi Zihan, his eyes blank and unseeing.

Qi Zihan thought that his mental state wasn’t quite right, but an excited voice interjected from behind before he could say anything. “Ah, isn’t this General Yu Chenyu!”

When he heard Yu Chenyu’s name, he forgot everything and instinctively turned around. He saw a flamboyant female wearing a crimson backless gown1礼服 is a gender-neutral term for formal clothing, so the females zergs (who, remember, have human male physiques) could be wearing fancy suits or fancy dresses. YMMV. with plenty of pleated lace on the collar and hems.

A female?

To be honest, Qi Zihan wasn’t very good at telling males and females apart. All the males he met knew that he was a female at first glance, yet he could only distinguish them by body shape and temperament.

The more slender the body, and the more confident their bearing, the more likely he was looking at a female.

And at a banquet for females, only a female would speak so loudly.

Looking at his extravagant clothes and enthusiastic smile, Qi Zihan immediately thought of a certain animal. A flamingo…

This wasn’t a female he wanted to meet, but he had already arrived in front of him. “I’m guessing you’re the general’s wife?” he asked.

Qi Zihan concealed his reluctance, nodding politely in reply. “Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Qi Zihan. You are…?”

“Luo Tinghong.” After casually throwing out his name, he immediately looked at Yu Chenyu. “You’re just as tall as I expected for a general! Can your little soldier also stand very high?”

Yu Chenyu: “…”

Qi Zihan: “…”

Qi Zihan couldn’t believe what he heard. Was this something that could be said to a stranger you met for the first time?

Yu Chenyu lowered his head and looked at his wife from the corners of his eyes. His expression was unperturbed, as if he hadn’t heard what the female said. 

But Qi Zihan couldn’t pretend the same. After a brief shock, he abandoned all politeness and stared at Luo Tinghong expressionlessly. “Insulting someone else’s male as soon as you come up? Your personality is as disgusting as that gown you’re wearing.”

“What did you say?” Luo Tinghong’s face instantly turned cold as the three males surrounding him all looked down nervously.

Qi Zihan wasn’t afraid just because his opponent had more people. In his opinion, he alone could take care of this short female who didn’t even come up to his chest and those trembling males, even if they attacked together.

If he couldn’t even beat this group, then his ten years of training would be wasted!

Thinking of this, he met Luo Tinghong’s eyes steadily as he said, word by word, “Apologise to him.”

A hint of surprise flashed across Yu Chenyu’s face, but just as he was about to look up, he reflexively raised his hand!

At the same time, Qi Zihan raised his empty right hand in a blocking motion — Luo Tinghong unexpectedly tried to slap him!

In the moment he moved, he was ready to feel pain in his arm. No, maybe Luo Tinghong’s strength wasn’t enough to hurt him.

However, neither pain nor touch appeared.

Because a faster, more decisive hand intercepted!

He looked at where Yu Chenyu’s hand grabbed Luo Tinghong’s wrist in disbelief, wondering how he did it.

What was this reaction speed?

Not to mention that Yu Chenyu had been looking down, not even watching Luo Tinghong!

Luo Tinghong’s eyes also widened. Not only was he surprised at Yu Chenyu’s reaction speed, he was also incredulous that he dared to attack him! A male, and a lowly male soldier at that, actually dared to get in his way! And he was being so forceful!

“It hurts!” he howled, his face warped with fury. “You, a mere soldier, how dare you?!”

Yu Chenyu retracted his hand, stepped back to once again stand behind Qi Zihan, and lowered his head, showing no intention to apologise.

He didn’t think he did anything wrong — it was natural for a male to protect his wife.

Qi Zihan glanced at Luo Tinghong’s hand. In just these few seconds, his wrist was already swollen red where Yu Chenyu had gripped him.
Wow, he thought.

Suppressing his surprise, he showed a playful expression on his face. He didn’t mind being a bit vulgar when dealing with vulgar people. “Now I know why you don’t have any soldiers. With a body like yours, you probably can’t bear it at all.” 

Yu Chenyu’s eyebrows raised, and his lips twitched, wanting to smile yet not daring to. For some reason, the same offensive words that made him feel sick when other females said them became inexplicably arousing when they came from his wife.

“If you don’t want to apologise, forget it. I’ll just assume that you’re jealous I have a soldier who’ll protect me; he’s much better than the rubbish around you.” Qi Zihan didn’t like wasting time on such meaningless things, so he stopped trying to force an apology. Instead, he pulled Yu Chenyu away and only let go when they reached somewhere with fewer people.

“Just think of it as being bit by a dog, there’s no use arguing with a dog, right?” he whispered.

Yu Chenyu looked at him deeply before responding with a hum.

Then he saw Qi Zihan eat his chocolate cheesecake mousse with an unhappy look on his face, before putting a cheese lava cake on his plate.

Hm, they could have this at home as well.

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  • 1
    礼服 is a gender-neutral term for formal clothing, so the females zergs (who, remember, have human male physiques) could be wearing fancy suits or fancy dresses. YMMV.
8 May 2025 / 2 Comments

Chapter 16: Queen’s Banquet

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After washing the dishes, wiping the table, and cleaning his hands, Yu Chenyu returned to the living room.

His wife Qi Zihan sat at the dining table, reading something on his personal terminal.

Yu Chenyu didn’t release his spiritual power nor dare to invade Qi Zihan’s inner world, so he couldn’t see the terminal.

Qi Zihan typed something in the search box: jobs that females do

He wouldn’t give up searching for a job until he was sure that there was no male better than Yu Chenyu in this world and accepted him as his only spouse.

However, even if he accepted Yu Chenyu, he didn’t want to put all the financial pressure of both of them on one person. That would be unfair to Yu Chenyu.

Yu Chenyu elected not to disturb him. Instead, he went to the bathroom, wet a clean towel, and carefully wiped down the sofa.

Qi Zihan, noticing his actions from the corner of his eye, asked, “Are you a germaphobe?”

“No,” he replied. He knew what Qi Zihan really wanted to ask, so he continued, “I thought that you didn’t like males touching you, so it’s better to clean the sofa where a male sat. Indirect contact is still contact.”

He couldn’t touch Qi Zihan, so other males shouldn’t think about touching him either.

Even indirectly.

“I don’t like being touched by anyone, not just males.” Qi Zihan didn’t like being touched casually in general.

However, wasn’t it a bit much to clean the sofa so thoroughly just because another male sat on it?

“You’ve also slept on my bed, why don’t you change the sheets?” he couldn’t help teasing.

Yu Chenyu paused in his actions. After a moment of silence, he responded, “I’ll change it in a bit.”

Qi Zihan: “…” 

Although he always said that he didn’t want to hang himself on Yu Chenyu’s tree, this man was more blockheaded than a tree!

He sighed lightly. “Never mind, you’re the one who made breakfast as well. If we really care about these details, we’ll both be exhausted.”

“Okay,” Yu Chenyu replied, feeling thankful that he had learned how to cook when he was younger so that he could improve the army’s food.

After wiping down the sofa, he noticed that Qi Zihan was no longer using his terminal. “Do you know about the Queen’s Banquet?” he asked tentatively.

“What banquet?” Qi Zihan had never heard of it.

“The Queen’s Banquet,” he repeated.

“What queen?” Qi Zihan was confused — wasn’t the ruler of this world the Imperial Marshal? The marshal who was a soldier? Where did a queen come from?

His reaction was almost a one-for-one replica of Yu Chenyu’s when he was reminded of the banquet.

Yu Chenyu almost laughed.

If it were possible, he really wanted to record the conversation just now and let Zhu Yunqi know what a 99.99% match rate meant!

Unfortunately that was illegal and he couldn’t do it.

Forcibly suppressing the urge to laugh, he repeated Zhu Yunqi’s words. “It’s a gathering for females that takes place once a month. The next one is tomorrow evening. I haven’t been to one before so I don’t know the details, do you want to go?”

“All females can go?”

“I think so.”

“Let me check.”

Qi Zihan skillfully searched for ‘Queen’s Banquet’ on his terminal.

As Yu Chenyu said, it was a large gathering for females, held once a month.

It was a more formal setting that allowed females to enjoy delicacies, participate in various activities, get to know other females, and exchange their different experiences.

For example, techniques for soothing males.

There wasn’t much information online so he couldn’t determine the extent of the gathering, but judging from what he could find, if he attended, he could not only collect intelligence but also make connections and acquire resources. It was completely beneficial with no harm.

Qi Zihan was tempted, feeling that this banquet was exactly what he needed.

He would be able to understand this world more intuitively and at the same time pave the way for his future job search.

However, although it wasn’t required to bring a gift to the banquet, he did have to bring his spouse – at least one of them – because there was a ballroom dancing event.

“Do you want to go?” he asked.

“I’m not suited to this kind of occasion,” Yu Chenyu said, tactfully expressing his refusal, though he then added, “but I’ll go with you if you want.”

Although Qi Zihan was glad that he was willing to accompany him, he still had to give a particular reminder. “Don’t force yourself. Don’t forget our relationship, you have no reason to make any sacrifices for me.”

“I do.” There was no way Yu Chenyu could let his wife walk away, yet he couldn’t say it. Instead, his reasoning was, “Your soothing has extended my life by two years. Even if we weren’t married, you saved my life — I have to repay you.”

“Alright,” he accepted, “Then you’ll accompany me tomorrow at 7 PM, to repay me for saving your life.”

Of course, Yu Chenyu agreed.

Although he didn’t know what would happen at the banquet, he believed that Qi Zihan wouldn’t embarrass him – after all, he had promised so.

He promised not to publicly humiliate him, nor to give him to other females.

What Yu Chenyu didn’t know was that he had more to be worried about than the banquet scheduled for the next evening.

Just as Qi Zihan was looking up more information on the banquet using his terminal and choosing clothing to wear from the starnet, a bold conspiracybrewed among a group of male zergs who were on the verge of losing control.

“It would be amazing if I can get soothing from the female who can directly clear out control loss even once, but I don’t even know where he lives.”

“Maybe he’ll go to the Queen’s Banquet tomorrow.”

“What do you mean? So what if we can meet him? There’s no way he’ll marry us, let alone give soothing.”

“Aren’t there ‘inducers’?”

“Spiritual inducers? You mean the kind that’s supposed to make females soothe males? I heard it was banned long ago because it was bad for the females.”

“I have a way.”

“Shit! You don’t mean…”

“You’re crazy! It’s being held near the Central Command this time, that’s where the marshal lives, and there’s soldiers everywhere. We’ll die if we’re caught!”

“I’ll die anyways. If taking a risk this once can let me live another two years, why not do it?”

“You… You’re right.”

“I’m also about to lose control…”

“So are you in? Succeeding means getting another two years of life! And even if we fail, it’s just being gunned down before losing control instead of after.”

“Does your spiritual inducer really work?”

“Yes, and it’ll even make the female lose his memory of soothing us, it’s absolutely safe.”

“Then… okay, I’m in!”

“Me too!”

“And me!”

“Very good. At the Queen’s Banquet tomorrow, the target is Yu Chenyu’s female. We must succeed!”

* * *

After an hour of browsing starnet for formal clothes, Qi Zihan felt a little overwhelmed.

Most female zergs wore rather bold clothing.

Bright colours, rippling lace, deep V-necks and backless gowns – none of which he could accept.

He preferred low-key luxury rather than high-profile frivolity, since the latter only made him feel like a peacock spreading out its tail.

Speaking of animals, cats were still his favourite. Soft and graceful, they didn’t need fancy accessories and had noble, elegan, aristocratic temperaments.

In the end, he picked a white suit with embroidery in gold thread for himself and a dark blue suit for Yu Chenyu. Neither suit had any of the lace that gave Qi Zihan a headache. They were in his favourite understated style with elegance displayed in the details.

All his physical measurements had been entered into the system since his medical exam, so he only needed to choose the styles when placing the order, and the sizes would be adjusted automatically.

Afterwards, he told Yu Chenyu, “I bought you a suit with your money.”

Yu Chenyu didn’t have formal wear and was planning to just wear his military uniform.

He didn’t immediately answer; his first thought was that of laces and backless dresses, the same ones that made Qi Zihan despair.

Females usually wore very ostentatious clothing, and males would only be more so. Because at a gathering of female zergs, females were hosts while males were mere decorations.

Or to put it more bluntly: playthings.

Their masters were dressed boldly, so how could their toys be restrained?

Yu Chenyu couldn’t and didn’t dare to imagine what his clothes would be like, so it was a long time before he replied lightly, “Okay.”

Qi Zihan knew what he was thinking – after all, most of the clothes did look like that. Unable to help teasing Yu Chenyu, he said meaningfully, “I think it’ll suit you pretty well. It’ll be a very different feel to your military uniform.”

Yu Chenyu hummed, trying to clear his mind. He refused to imagine what it would be like to wear something like that out in public for all the females to see.

Just treat it like a mission, a mission. It’s a sacrifice that must be made for the mission’s sake.

Thinking this way did make him feel better.

Qi Zihan wasn’t satisfied with his lack of reaction. “These clothes can only be worn at this type of place. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. You are too, right?” he teased again.

Realizing that he was doing it on purpose, Yu Chenyu secretly sighed, unsure if he should be happy or worried.

Happy because this meant that Qi Zihan was interested in him. Worried because he didn’t want to wear clothes that were too revealing, and he didn’t want Qi Zihan to wear them either.

He didn’t want Qi Zihan to appear like that in front of other male zergs. And even if he did wear it, it should only be for him alone to see.

But these secret thoughts couldn’t be spoken. All Yu Chenyu could say was: “As long as you like it.”

No matter what Qi Zihan picked for him, as long as Qi Zihan liked it, he could use his desire to please him to endure anything.

Then, just as Qi Zihan was stunned at his answer, a drone delivery arrived with their package.

Translator: *slides in a year late with shifty eyes*

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28 September 2024 / 3 Comments

Chapter 15: I’ll take responsibility for you

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Yu Chenyu chose the latter.

He deleted the recording, dragged Wei Ye to the bathroom, beat him up, and then cleaned up all the blood.

Qi Zihan wasn’t surprised.

Since Yu Chenyu specifically said ‘a male’s final fate will be determined by his female’, it meant that although he wanted revenge, he didn’t feel that his crime was deserving of death.

Beat Wei Ye up once to make him pay for his actions, and this matter would be considered over.

Qi Zihan didn’t remain idle as screams frequently came from the bathroom, instead taking the initiative to ask Li Yang for profiles of the males, wanting to experience the joy of an emperor choosing a concubine.

Then he was hugely disappointed.

It turned out that not all males were as handsome as Yu Chenyu…

Compared with these males, even the two workers from the Female Association looked good.

In addition, what was going on with the males who were even weaker than him?

“They’re drones,” Li Yang explained when he saw his confusion, “their bodies are much weaker than a soldier’s, so they won’t hurt females. They also know some techniques that can make females feel very comfortable… If it’s your first time, I recommend doing it with a drone. Drones are definitely better in bed than soldiers.”

“No…” Qi Zihan’s face was full of resistance.

He still liked strong men with powerful muscles.

“I mostly get where a drone’s ‘competitiveness’ is. What about workers?” he asked as his gaze moved away from a drone’s photo to land on a worker with an ordinary appearance.

“Males who aren’t soldiers or drones are called workers, most of them have stable jobs and sources of income.”

“Oh, they’re rich.” Qi Zihan understood.

“Well… you can say that,” Li Yang said, blinking at Qi Zihan.

He could see that Qi Zihan didn’t like drones and wasn’t interested in workers. His eyes would stay on soldiers for a while, but he didn’t show much desire there either.

He didn’t expect this female to like General Yu Chenyu that much… liking him to the point that he could say he’ll only love him.

No matter whether he said this sincerely or as a joke, any male would be dizzy with happiness.

Despite not feeling much hope, Li Yang asked, “Is there anyone among these males whom you would like to marry?”

“Are these all of them?”

“Uh, these are all of the males who matched more than 80% with you and sent applications,” he answered in surprise.

56 applications! Other females didn’t even get one a year, but this female thought it wasn’t enough to receive 56 applications within two days?

It wasn’t that Qi Zihan wanted to complain that it was too few, it was just that he had no concept of it at all.

But he did think that these males weren’t good enough.

It was possible that he shouldn’t use Yu Chenyu to judge the quality of a male.

Yet if he didn’t use him as a reference and couldn’t find a male better than him, what was he restraining himself for?

Qi Zihan didn’t want multiple spouses, he only wanted one, but this one had to be the best.

There was obviously no such person among the male profiles brought by the Female Association this time.

None of them looked better than Yu Chenyu, none of them were stronger than Yu Chenyu, and none of them excited Qi Zihan.

Thus when Yu Chenyu dragged Wei Ye’s bruised and battered form out of the bathroom, he saw his wife saying to Li Yang with a very disappointed expression, “Thank you for making this trip. Next time an application comes, please help me reject all of them except for any that are from soldiers.”

Yu Chenyu’s eyes widened.

Li Yang was also evidently surprised.

He saw that Qi Zihan liked soldiers, but he didn’t expect him to say it directly.

“Um, okay, do you have any other requests? The Female Association can also help you find males who meet your requirements.”

“Is that so? Then…” Qi Zihan pointed at Yu Chenyu. “Help me find someone who’s better looking and better at fighting than him, but has a gentle personality and won’t hit me.”

Li Yang: “…”

Oh, then you may never get any messages from the Female Association.

A chuckle burst out of Yu Chenyu before he stopped himself and turned to Li Yang and Wei Ye, who had been beaten black and blue. “My Lord Wife hasn’t had breakfast yet. If your business is finished, please take your leave.”

“Okay, okay, we’re going now,” Li Yang said as he grabbed Wei Ye’s arm and pulled him out the door, not hiding his fear of Yu Chenyu at all.

Yu Chenyu had no intention of seeing them off. In fact, as soon as the two of them stepped over the threshold, he closed the door without allowing them to say any goodbyes.

He didn’t use much force, so the door didn’t make much noise.

But he closed it so quickly and neatly, just missing the two words ‘get out’, that Qi Zihan had the urge to laugh.

“You don’t seem to like people from the Female Association,” Qi Zihan commented. He went back to the dining table.

“Mn, I don’t,” Yu Chenyu answered frankly. “Just like how soldiers don’t like the other castes, they don’t like soldiers either. Since neither of us likes each other, there’s no need to be polite.”

“Really?” Qi Zihan had a better understanding of this world.

No wonder males didn’t unite to overthrow this society where females were superior to males despite them having a greater population; apart from the physiological factors, there were also many internal conflicts among males.

Soldiers might want to trample on males of the other castes first before overthrowing the females.

They clearly weren’t able to beat the soldiers, yet they were still so arrogant…

Hey, Qi Zihan suddenly found that he could empathize with the soldiers.

As he pondered, he used a knife and fork to cut a piece of the sandwich and brought it to his mouth.

Delicious!

Everything Yu Chenyu made was delicious!

Yu Chenyu sat down opposite Qi Zihan and, quietly watching his wife eat, he couldn’t help but smile.

Although the answer was obvious, he still had to ask, as if to confirm, “Is there anyone you like among the males recommended by the Female Association?”

“You know it already.” Qi Zihan wasn’t stupid, how could he not guess what he was thinking? “You just want them to recommend trash to me so that I’ll stick to you after seeing them.”

Yu Chenyu touched his nose, trying to hide his upturned lips and happy mood.

But Qi Zihan refused to give up. “The empire is so big, I just don’t believe that I can’t find a male better than you.”

Yu Chenyu: “…”

Couldn’t it be possible that he was the best one?

However Yu Chenyu didn’t dare to say this, for fear that Qi Zihan would think that he was too arrogant.

“But you don’t need to worry too much,” Qi Zihan added, “even if I find a better male and decide to be with him, I’ll still give you soothing. Since I’ve decided to keep you with me, I’ll take responsibility for you.”

Take responsibility.

These words somehow came from the mouth of a female zerg.

The empire had always advocated that males chosen by females must take care of them by using their income to support and their bodies to accompany their females until the end of their lives.

Meanwhile, females didn’t bear any responsibilities. They only needed to enjoy life and maintain a relaxed mood to better soothe males.

Yet Qi Zihan said to Yu Chenyu: I’ll take responsibility for you.

Yu Chenyu’s heart surged. He had the sudden urge to embrace the person sitting on the chair, touch him, kiss him.

But he couldn’t, he couldn’t.

This was the female who deeply attracted him, the one whose potent soothing gave him a second life, the one he loved most, was most grateful to, and the one person he was most reluctant to hurt.

Since he promised not to touch him without permission, he couldn’t do it.

The future was still long. One day, Qi Zihan would realise that the person he was looking for was right beside him.

Yu Chenyu was a first-class general of the empire with SS physical and spiritual powers, he had explored the most dangerous high-risk areas and killed the strongest aberrants. Not even the Imperial Marshal was a match for him.

If not even he was qualified to stand beside Qi Zihan, then no soldier in the entire empire could be qualified.

As for those workers and drones, they weren’t worthy of Qi Zihan’s attention.

Thinking of this, he suppressed his impulses and just gave a seemingly calm hum.

However, after breakfast, while he washed the dishes –

Yu Chenyu: I won! I told you that I’ll win! I won!

Zhu Yunqi: Won what?

Zhu Yunqi: You’re so excited, is it related to your wife?

Yu Chenyu: You guessed right, it is.

Yu Chenyu: The people from the Association came, they just left.

Yu Chenyu: I took a quick look. There were at least 50 applications, half of which were S-grade. My wife didn’t like a! Single! One!

If he hadn’t wanted to maintain his image, Yu Chenyu would’ve laughed out loud.

However, his current tone was enough to scare his friend of many years.

Zhu Yunqi: Calm down, calm down. Look at yourself, you’re just like when I was slaughtering aberrants on the front lines. Your control loss’s been reset already, why are you still going crazy?

Zhu Yunqi: OK, stop joking. Most S-grade males are soldiers, it’s normal that he doesn’t like them. Weren’t there any applications from drones?

Yu Chenyu: There were, he liked them even less.

Zhu Yunqi: What about workers?

Yu Chenyu: What do you think?

Zhu Yunqi: I keep thinking that you’re lying to me, but I have no evidence. I really want to be happy for you but I’m still nervous. Yu Chenyu, your marriage has totally subverted my worldview!

Yu Chenyu: You want to cheat?

Zhu Yunqi: Hey, am I that kind of person?

Zhu Yunqi: I admit defeat. Just tell me what you want me to do. If your wife really only loves you, I’ll even do a striptease for you!

Yu Chenyu: Get lost, who wants to see you strip? It’s better for you to give me more weapons and equipment.

Zhu Yunqi: Can’t you apply directly to the marshal for that? Why are you stealing mine?

Yu Chenyu: Then give me people.

Zhu Yunqi: Go away, train your rookies yourself!

Zhu Yunqi: But speaking of your wife, will he go to the queen’s banquet tomorrow?

Yu Chenyu: What banquet?

Zhu Yunqi: The Queen’s Banquet

Yu Chenyu: What queen?

Zhu Yunqi: ……

Zhu Yunqi: A gathering for females. You’re already a married man, can you pay more attention to female activities!

Yu Chenyu: What’s it for?

Zhu Yunqi: A gathering for females, I told you! I think it’s held once a month, and it’s quite formal. Females are delicate so they rarely go out, but staying at home all day makes it easy to get sick, so they’ve organised all kinds of things to do.

Yu Chenyu: Can we not go?

Zhu Yunqi: I don’t think it’s up to you. You should at least let him know, then let him decide whether to go or not. If he doesn’t go, that’s his choice. If you knew but didn’t tell him, then that’s your problem.

Yu Chenyu: I originally didn’t know, but you told me. Why did you tell me?

The chat was silent.

Yu Chenyu admitted that he was a little angry. He really… didn’t want Qi Zihan to meet other females, or to spend time with them.

Qi Zihan was special, he didn’t want him to be led astray by other females.

Of course, he didn’t think Zhu Yunqi did it on purpose to deliberately embarrass him or anything like that.

He wasn’t that kind of person.

Zhu Yunqi had also sensed something was wrong, so he was silent for a long time before replying.

Zhu Yunqi: Sorry, I didn’t think it through. Who knows what’ll happen at a female gathering… Just pretend I didn’t say anything. Pretend you don’t know anything and don’t tell him

Yu Chenyu: No, he won’t do anything to me.

Zhu Yunqi: ?

Yu Chenyu: He won’t lend me to another female, and he won’t… humiliate me in public.

Yu Chenyu: Want to bet?

Zhu Yunqi: You’re sure? This time it’s your dignity on the line

Yu Chenyu: If the banquet is as formal as you said, and it’s held every month, then he’ll know about it sooner or later. Even if he doesn’t go this month, what about next month? Or the month after that?

Zhu Yunqi: That’s true

Yu Chenyu: So I’ll tell him. And I’ll believe in him.

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21 September 2024 / 2 Comments

Chapter 14: I’ll only love him

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When Qi Zihan heard that it was someone from the Female Association, he thought it would be someone he knew or at least had an impression of.

After all, he had been to two Association centres and was familiar with at least a dozen of their staff members.

As a result…

“Hello, pleased to meet you. My name is Wei Ye, I’m a community worker from the Association for the Rights of Female Zergs.”
–This was the male who threatened Yu Chenyu with a recorder.

“Hello, my name is Li Yang.”
–This was the male who spoke first with Yu Chenyu at the clinic.

Qi Zihan was sure that he didn’t recognise these two.

It was the first time he saw a male who was this short and looked so weak that even he might be able to knock them down.

Although he didn’t know them, he still stood up to greet them. “Hello, what can I do for you?”

The two males instantly paled.

This female… was so tall! He had to be at least 1.8m!

They’d never seen a female this tall!

But he seemed to be quite gentle, he was much easier to approach than they expected.

Thinking of this, Li Yang relaxed a little as he took the lead. “Well, it’s like this. The Female Association has recently received many applications from males, all of whom have match rates with you that are higher than 80%. Considering that you currently have only one spouse, we are obligated to recommend more high-quality males to you.”

“I see.”

Were they matchmakers?

Although he had no plans to get married for the time being, he was a little curious about what kind of males they would recommend to him, so he didn’t drive them away immediately. He even glanced at the sofa, wanting to invite them to sit down first.

Yu Chenyu, silently looking at him, felt a chill go down his back. He didn’t dare to think about what would happen to him if Qi Zihan agreed to marry a second male.

Would he be sentenced to prison just after regaining the qualifications to return to the battlefield?

Falling from heaven to hell, that was all.

Wei Ye nudged Li Yang with his elbow, reminding him that he had missed a step. He hurriedly handed the gift box in his hands to Qi Zihan. “And this, these are some special spices that are highly praised by many females. Some of them are edible and can be added to food, while the rest can be used to make things like perfume and incense. Please take it as our apology for disturbing you. I wonder if it suits your taste?”

Qi Zihan: “…” 

Could he say that he didn’t like it?

Perfumery and aromatherapy didn’t sound like men’s hobbies at all.

Still, out of courtesy, Qi Zihan thanked them as he took the paper bag containing the gift box and placed it on a chair, before gesturing towards the sofa. “Please sit first,” he invited.

His movements were very elegant. His every word, action, and subtle smile touched Yu Chenyu’s heart, making him unable to restrain his desire to be closer.

Yet at the same time, his heart also fell to the depths and his face became numb.

He didn’t expect Qi Zihan to agree.

Qi Zihan not only allowed them into the house, he also allowed them to sit. His gentle attitude was completely different from how he treated Yu Chenyu.

After Wei Ye sat down, he glanced at Yu Chenyu who still stood by the door with a sense of satisfaction.

So what if he was a first-class general of the empire? He was also a soldier who wanted to monopolise an SS-grade female, he deserved death a thousand times over!

Thinking of this, he couldn’t wait to report. “In fact, we met your partner at the clinic yesterday. He said that you have no plans to get married. I almost believed him, but after thinking about it, it would be safer to ask in person. Fortunately, we came today.”

“Is that so?” Qi Zihan looked at Yu Chenyu, only to see him standing stiffly by the door with his head lowered. The expression on his face was a little unclear amid the shadows.

He seemed to care about whether he had other males.

In his inner world, the reason why he suddenly went crazy was because he said that he wanted to meet other males.

It was human nature to want to monopolise one’s partner.

But he’d already said that their marriage was an accident…

Qi Zihan decided to talk to Yu Chenyu about it alone after seeing off the guests.

Having vaguely sensed malice behind Wei Yi’s words, he instinctively defended Yu Chenyu. “I did say this. I said that I have no plans to marry another male for now, and I’ll only love him.”

Yu Chenyu suddenly looked up in disbelief.

Qi Zihan only glanced at him once before looking away as if nothing happened, sitting down on the armchair next to the coffee table, and looking at the two on the sofa. “A newly married male will always be a little uneasy, right? I casually said something to comfort him, but I didn’t expect him to take it seriously.”

Yu Chenyu: “…”

“O-Oh, I see,” Wei Ye said, secretly turning off the recorder in his pocket.

It was illegal to secretly record females; since he couldn’t find evidence of a soldier interfering with a female’s marital freedom, he didn’t want to go to prison for it.

Qi Zihan caught his subtle movements.

Observing the twitching of his arm muscles, he asked casually, “What’s in your pocket?”

“Ah, nothing.” Wei Ye immediately showed his hands to prove his innocence.

However, Yu Chenyu wasn’t a good person who would choose to keep quiet after being threatened.

Without asking for Qi Zihan’s opinion, he rushed up to Wei Ye, pulled him up by the wrist, twisted his arm behind his back with one hand and pinched his neck with the other, then pinned him face down on the sofa!

“Ow–!” Wei Ye let out a shrill scream, fully showing how rough Yu Chenyu’s actions were.

Li Yang, startled by his sudden actions, jumped up and retreated several steps.

Although Qi Zihan was also surprised, he knew that Yu Chenyu wouldn’t attack him so he simply remained on the armchair, though he also took a sip of milk coffee to calm himself.

Yu Chenyu expressionlessly dug out the recorder from Wei Ye’s pocket and threw it on the coffee table. “You should know that secretly recording a female is illegal, right?” he stated.

Wei Ye instantly paled. “I didn’t mean it!” he cried. “I forgot to turn it off when I came and remembered just now… Lord Qi Zihan, please believe me! I really didn’t mean it! Please don’t send me to prison, please, please spare my life! If my wife knows that I did something illegal, he’ll kill me!”

Seeing Wei Ye begging for mercy in terror, Yu Chenyu raised the corners of his lips.

He knew that Qi Zihan didn’t like males like this.

Sure enough, he rubbed his forehead in annoyance as he spat out two words coldly: “Shut up.”

It was so noisy. A big grown man, making so much noise that it gave him a headache.

“Lord Qi Zihan…” Wei Ye wanted to say more, but Yu Chenyu pressed him into the sofa, blocking his mouth.

“When my Lord Wife tells you to shut up, you’d better shut up,” he said calmly. He was so happy that even his amber eyes brightened noticeably.

Qi Zihan glanced at him, then at Li Yang who was at a loss, and secretly sighed.

He had wanted to use the opportunity to build a good relationship with the Female Association; now, it seemed like it would be good if their people didn’t avoid him in the future.

On the other hand, it was he who had secretly recorded him first.

Qi Zihan didn’t know the laws of the zergs and neither did he know the fate of a male who secretly recorded a female. He didn’t think it should be punishable by death, but he really didn’t like being secretly recorded.

He decided to listen to what was recorded first.

“Chenyu, help me see what he’s recorded,” he thus requested in a calm, peaceful, and even lazy tone.

“Yes,” Yu Chenyu responded as his heart pounded wildly.

It was the first time his Lord Wife called him by name!

He didn’t say Yu Chenyu, he said Chenyu!

Letting go of Wei Ye, he plucked the recorder from his panicked grip, and pressed play.

There were two main recordings, one was the conversation at the clinic, and the other was Qi Zihan’s answer.

At the clinic–

“My Lord Wife has no plans to marry again for the time being, so there’s no need to bother.”

“Is this your wife’s intention or yours? You should know that forcing a female to remain married to only yourself is illegal, right?”

“Heh… It’s my wife’s. If you don’t believe me, you can come for a visit, anyway, you’ll be the ones embarrassed, not me.”

And Qi Zihan’s answer–

“I did say this. I said that I have no plans to marry another male for now, and I’ll only love him.”

Qi Zihan: “…”

Whew, he’d almost been used as a knife… What hatred did this male have with Yu Chenyu? He’d break the law just because he wanted to send Yu Chenyu to prison?

By the way, since when did Yu Chenyu have such a tough side?

He had always been obedient and even humble in front of him.

Oh, except for that time they fought within his inner world.

“Lord Wife, how do you wish to deal with him?” Yu Chenyu asked, turning off the recorder.

Yu Chenyu still addressed Qi Zihan as ‘Lord Wife’ when outsiders were present.

Qi Zihan didn’t correct him, obviously knowing of the situation.

After thinking carefully for a while, he asked, “What will happen if he’s sent to prison? Something of this level shouldn’t result in the death penalty.”

“Well, he’ll have to pay a considerable fine and suffer some physical punishment,” Yu Chenyu replied.

Wei Ye wanted to say something only for Yu Chenyu to kick him.

Afterwards, he continued, “However, females have the right to lynch males. After he’s sent to prison, his fate will be determined by his female, not by the law.”

“I see,” he said, finally understanding why Wei Ye was so scared when the punishment for secretly recording females wasn’t that severe.

It seemed that his mate wasn’t gentle to him.

Now that he understood the situation, Qi Zihan knew what to do. “Chenyu, you’re the one he’s targeting, so you can decide. Do you want to send him to prison or to just delete the recording and give him a good beating? It’s up to you.”

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