Chapter 137 Western Federation - 2 Upon hearing the broadcast, Tang Bufan immediately...
Upon hearing the announcement, Tang Bufan immediately perked up. Since there was still some time left, he walked to the French windows and curiously looked outside.
As the spacecraft slowly descended from space, clouds began to appear, and eventually the entire outside became foggy, the light dimmed, and people felt uncomfortable.
He looked down and saw a huge black shadow on the ground, like a monster hidden in the fog. As the aircraft got closer, the outline of the mountain gradually became visible.
The aircraft swept over the mountaintop and continued onward. The area below became empty again, and fog obscured everything below.
This is where Lu Yi was born and raised, the Foggy City.
Lu Yi stood next to Tang Bufan and said, "It's very dark, isn't it?"
"No wonder you and Anderson both looked so fair-skinned back then." Tang Bufan finally understood: "You two probably didn't get to sunbathe more than a few times a year, right?"
“Yes.” Lu Yi reached out and touched his face. When he came out of the desert, his skin was almost bronze. After half a year of rest, it had become much fairer, but it was still darker than when he first left the foggy city.
Tang Bufan continued to look out at the gray, hazy outside, too embarrassed to say in front of Lu Yi that the atmosphere here was rather terrifying, like some horror movies shrouded in thick fog.
Anderson then leisurely entered the hall, and without greeting the two, he simply walked to a chair in the corner and sat down.
Lu Yi shifted his gaze from Anderson back to the window, gave a soft "Ah," and told Tang Bufan, "We've arrived."
Tang Bufan quickly looked down through the glass and sure enough, a large, dark, and somewhat low building appeared in the mist below. Before Tang Bufan could take a closer look, the aircraft swept past it.
As the altitude decreased, the enormous manor below gradually came into view. The aircraft's speed had already slowed down considerably, and finally, with a heavy "thud," it deployed its tripod and landed steadily on the ground.
"Teacher, come here." Lu Yichao stretched out his arm to Tang Bufan, gesturing for him to take his arm.
After half a year of recuperation, Tang Bufan was able to accept taking Lu Yi's arm as a man. So he breathed a sigh of relief, took Lu Yi's arm, and followed him toward the exit.
The floor in front of the hall opened up, revealing a sloping passageway. Anderson and the other orcs in the hall silently lined up behind the two men.
As the group descended, Tang Bufan smiled and saw a group of people standing in the thick fog. Tang Bufan couldn't see them clearly until they got closer and he saw that the two people at the head of the group were an elegantly dressed but elderly female housekeeper and a middle-aged orc with many medals on his chest.
The middle-aged orc was about fifty or sixty years old, with short silver hair under his military cap and silver-gray eyes with crow's feet. He was Angus, Anderson's father.
The housekeeper was older, probably in her seventies. Her hair was brownish-gray with many silver strands, neatly tied back. Her back was not hunched over with age, but stood upright like an elegant swan. She was an old woman whose youthful charm was still evident.
If it weren't for her head maid outfit, Tang Bufan would probably have mistaken her for Lu Yi's grandmother.
"Oh~ my little Louis!" Before they could even get close, the old woman came over with a joyful smile and gave Lu Yi a warm hug.
After the two finished embracing, the old woman looked at Tang Bufan with great interest, and Tang Bufan followed their example and also hugged the old woman.
"Teacher, this is Emma, the head housekeeper of Smith Manor. Emma, this is my wife, Tang Bufan," Lu Yi introduced the two.
"His surname is Tang?" The old woman grasped Tang Bufan's hands and asked Lu Yi with some surprise, "He didn't change his surname?"
Tang Bufan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that there was indeed a custom abroad where women would change their surname after marriage. He couldn't help but look at Lu Yi nervously.
“Emma, there’s no custom of changing one’s husband’s surname in the East, and my wife’s name is very beautiful. It would be a pity to change it.” Lu Yi explained to the old woman with a smile, then looked at Tang Bufan with tenderness: “If anyone’s going to change their surname, it will be me who changes it for him.”
Tang Bufan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had accepted the "female" identity, he still couldn't accept the idea of taking the next step and changing his surname to his husband's.
“But he’s already a member of the Smith family…” The old woman was about to say something when Angus, who had come over, interrupted her.
“Emma, what era are we living in? We don’t care about those things.” Angus said, looking at Lu Yi and giving him a hug. Then he walked past the two of them and looked at Anderson, who was standing there silently.
Afterwards, he shook hands with Tang Bufan politely and respectfully before walking up to his son. The father and son didn't say anything, but simply hugged each other tightly.
Anderson's eyes reddened slightly. He exchanged a glance with his father, then stood back behind Tang Bufan.
"Anderson, you don't even greet me anymore?" The old woman raised an eyebrow slightly.
Anderson seemed a little afraid of her, and said to her awkwardly, "Long time no see, Emma."
The old woman gave a soft hum, then looked at the handsome and refined Tang Bufan with satisfaction before returning his hand to Lu Yi.
"Come on in, your father and brother are already waiting for you at the restaurant," the old woman greeted the two.
Angus and Anderson didn't follow. Tang Bufan, holding Lu Yi's hand, looked back and saw that Bren had also come out of the aircraft. Several high-level orcs were gathered together and began to talk in hushed tones, probably reporting and handing over.
Tang Bufan turned around and continued walking with the old woman.
The aircraft landed on the large lawn inside Smith Manor, some distance from the main house. Presumably considering Tang Bufan's pregnancy, three cars were parked at the edge of the lawn, and three elegantly dressed male servants stood by the car doors to open them for them.
They had clearly all received very formal training, but Tang Bufan still noticed that they were all secretly observing him, their new master.
Tang Bufan and Lu Yi got into the first car, while Emma went to the one behind. The sedan slowly started moving in the thick fog and drove along the wide road.
While on the aircraft, Tang Bufan realized that the manor was very large. Now that he was in the car, after seeing a large garden and an internal lake, he was a little confused about its size.
No wonder Lu Yi thought the Guo family's garden was too small.
After driving for about ten minutes, Tang Bufan saw the dark silhouette of the castle through the fog by the car window. Curious, he moved closer to the window and gradually made out its appearance. It was a classic European-style ancient building with two relatively tall towers, and the main part was four stories high.
Tang Bufan glanced at the two towers a few more times. Lu Yi's mother had jumped to her death... It seemed she had jumped from the tower.
For some reason, Tang Bufan thought of the princess who was imprisoned in the tower.
"Teacher, my room is in the corner on the third floor." Lu Yi introduced to Tang Bufan with some joy: "It has a large corner window with a view of the lake we just passed. It looks beautiful when the sun is out."
Perhaps because he heard Lu Yi address Tang Bufan, the male servant driving the car secretly glanced at the two of them through the rearview mirror.
The car stopped in front of the castle, and two rows of servants stood neatly at the door to greet them, one row of maids and one row of male servants. Tang Bufan had lived at the Guo family's place for half a year and had never seen such a scene.
There are still many royal families in Europe in the 21st century. Perhaps influenced by this factor, Tang Bufan felt that Smith Estate was more "traditional" than Guo Family Garden.
The male servant opened the car door for them, and Tang Bufan and Lu Yi got out of the car. Emma quickly got out of another car as well. The old woman excitedly introduced Tang Bufan to the servants as the new lady of the manor, and then led him into the castle.
She didn't let Tang Bufan recognize the servants; there were too many, and Tang Bufan would have a hard time remembering them.
“There are sixty-seven servants living with us here, and some others living outside, managing other parts of the manor. How many were there again? I can’t remember.” Emma gave Tang Bufan a rough count: “Besides me, there are three butlers. Just remember me and the other three. I’ll arrange for you to meet after dinner.”
"Okay, thank you." Tang Bufan replied politely, but he wasn't very interested. Coming from an ordinary background, he found it hard to accept such a large mansion.
In fact, this was completely different from Tang Bufan's ideal family, which he envisioned as a wife and one or two children.
Sensing Tang Bufan's somewhat subdued mood, Lu Yi touched Tang Bufan's arm that was linked with his.
The group entered a long corridor with many oil paintings of figures hanging on both sides. The left side was full of tall men, while the right side had both men and women, corresponding one to one of the men on the left.
Tang Bufan became interested and guessed that these people were Lu Yi's ancestors without Emma and Lu Yi needing to introduce them.
Lu Yi's first-generation orc ancestor was a very burly Westerner with a full beard and regular features, but not particularly handsome. His partner was a beautiful woman. By the second generation, his son was more handsome than him, and of course, this son also married a beautiful wife.
Tang Bufan looked at each painting one by one and could clearly feel the power of the genetic modification. When he came to the last pair of oil paintings, a handsome and refined thirty-year-old young man was paired with a blonde woman with green eyes.
These are Lu Yi's parents. Tang Bufan recognized Anna at a glance because Lu Yi did look very much like her. Both of them had golden curly hair, and their eyes were especially similar, except that Lu Yi's were deeper and one of his pupils was golden.
But Hans… Tang Bufan looked strangely at the fair-skinned, refined young man in the oil painting. He wondered if the artist had embellished the painting, but Hans looked very gentle, like a good person, with the harmless temperament of Lu Yi.
But Tang Bufan knew that he was the one who drove his wife crazy and who had plotted to lock his friend's son in a mental hospital.
“My father is different from the portrait.” Seeing Tang Bufan staring at Hans’s portrait, Lu Yi lowered his voice: “He is not such a gentle person.”
“Your father looked just like this when he was young.” Emma, who was walking ahead, turned around and frowned slightly. “It was Mrs. Anna who changed him.”
She clearly didn't like Anna. Judging from her age and seniority as the head butler, she must have watched Hans grow up, so she defended the child she had raised with a complex mix of reasons: "If someone has been coldly rejected by their partner for more than ten years, even the most optimistic person won't be able to smile anymore."
“But Mother was unwilling in the first place,” Lu Yi also spoke up for Anna.
“Little Louis, you need to know that even without your father, your mother would have been assigned to another orc, or sentenced to life imprisonment.” Emma looked at him seriously, raising her eyebrows slightly: “You are a married man now, you can try to think about it.”
Tang Bufan and Lu Yi looked at each other. Although Tang Bufan was very calm, Lu Yi suddenly remembered that Tang Bufan had insisted on rejecting her before, and her chest suddenly felt tight.
"Teacher... Teacher won't refuse me." Lu Yi snuggled closer to Tang Bufan, looking aggrieved.
“So you’re very lucky,” Emma said, then looked apologetically at Tang Bufan, “I’m sorry to have made you laugh at me, Madam.”
“I know all this.” Tang Bufan responded to the old woman with a gentle smile: “Lu Yi told me everything.”
“Really?” Emma was quite pleased. “I’m so happy that you and Young Master Louis are so close.”
The portraits ended with Hans and Anna, because the head of the family had not yet been decided. The three of them continued walking forward and entered the first-floor hall through the corridor.
The space here is very large, and the mist has blurred the corridors and rooms in the distance. Tang Bufan looked up in the thin mist and saw a giant crystal chandelier hanging high, shining brightly even without sunlight.
The restaurant was located on one side of the hall, with its large double wooden doors wide open and servants standing at the entrance.
Lu Yi's father, brother, and sister-in-law were inside.
Even though Tang Bufan had been mentally preparing since last night, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. However, feeling Lu Yi beside him, he gradually became less nervous.
Emma turned around and gestured to the two of them. Lu Yi touched Tang Bufan's hand, which was linked with his arm, and led him inside.
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