Chapter 32
As he talked about relatively safe topics one after another, Lu Huai's voice gradually returned to normal.
Jiang Yun took off his hand that was covering his eyes, and only then did he realize that it was already dark.
The last ray of light from the stars disappeared over the horizon, and the planets were swallowed by the night.
A whistle blew in the mining area, signaling the end of work. The miners climbed back to the surface from the depths of the ice, their bodies covered in ice chips and exhausted, heading towards the shantytown. Their running-down mining lamps were their only means of illuminating their way home.
The two of them finished the last topic about their relatives.
After a long silence, Jiang Yun said, "That's enough chit-chat, Colonel."
Lu Huai nodded, his expression unchanged, and even his tone returned to his usual relaxed and casual self: "Even in this day and age, Olin still needs a large amount of manpower for energy extraction. When I discovered this, I thought I had woken up and traveled back hundreds of years."
Colonel Lu's loss of control was like a rainstorm that suddenly stopped. No matter how strong and violent it was, it was still short-lived.
Jiang Yun calmly suppressed his emotions and said, "That's because crystal cores are a new type of energy source, and Aolin hasn't had time to master their mining technology yet. If we can find the best way to mine crystal cores before Aolin does, we'll have a lot of control over their distribution in the future." Jiang Yun opened the passenger door and said, "Let's go."
"Wait," Lu Huai pulled Jiang Yun and took out the supplies he had prepared at the retreat point. "Before getting off the car, you must first do some basic camouflage."
Although the shantytown was crowded and chaotic at night, Jiang Yun's face was too eye-catching, and with the shirt and suit he was wearing, it would only take three seconds for him to be exposed.
Jiang Yun took a set of miner's work clothes and glanced outside the off-road vehicle, meaning: Colonel Lu, please step aside.
Lu Huai: “?”
Jiang Yun: “?”
"You want to change clothes without me?" Lu Huai said, his face doubting his life. "Are you serious? - me?"
Lu Huai didn't try to reason with Jiang Yun. He just opened a photo of the twins on their elementary school spring outing and made a "look, look quickly" gesture, as if to say: You must have forgotten how these two little darlings came about.
The main point is that everything is implied.
"I haven't changed clothes under the watchful eyes of an Alpha in a long time. I'm not used to it." Jiang Yun said expressionlessly, "I hope Colonel Lu will understand."
Lu Huai and Jiang Yun looked at each other for a moment. Seeing that Jiang Yun had no intention of changing his mind, he raised his hands in surrender: "Foreign Minister Jiang has the final say. Who makes you a higher-ranking official than me?"
Lu Huai got out of the car first, and Jiang Yun changed into a miner's uniform in the car.
Due to the need to keep out the cold and provide oxygen, the structure of the miners' suits is similar to that of the space suits of the old era. They make the body look round and plump when worn, and the curve of the side waist that even Foreign Minister Jiang's suit cannot hide is completely covered.
Lu Huai looked at the rounder version of Jiang Yun he had never seen before, and a real smile finally appeared in his dark eyes.
Unfortunately, just as he was about to say something, Jiang Yun interrupted him quickly and ruthlessly: "Don't make meaningless comments."
Lu Huai nodded with a feeling of regret and deep agreement, and personally helped Jiang Yun put on the miner's helmet.
The two men handled the off-road vehicle, found the right time, and quietly sneaked into the miners' group.
When passing by the rebuilt central tavern, Lu Huai also bought a pot of mead.
Ten minutes later, Jiang Yun looked at the makeshift tent made of old gray tarpaulin in front of him and said coldly, "Colonel Lu called this 'only slightly worse than ours'?"
No. 5 Qianshui Road is a four-story villa with eight rooms, a garden in front and a swimming pool in the back.
And what is in this stronghold? Is there any humor like Colonel Lu?
"Yes, baby, yes." Lu Huai said as a matter of course, "Don't look at the small size of this tent. It has a table, a sleeping bag, a lamp, a heater...all kinds of daily necessities. How bad can it be?"
When it comes to living environment, Colonel Lu, who had lived in the open air on a backward planet for many years before his marriage, has a unique set of criteria for judging it.
It's nice to be able to live here.
It's great if you can live comfortably.
Isn't "pretty good" just "a little bit worse" than "very good"?
Lu Huai rolled up the curtain at the entrance: "Please come in."
Jiang Yun knew there was no turning back once he got on the thieves' car. He prepared himself for two days of suffering and bent down to walk into the tent.
The space in the tent is not big, but it is surprisingly clean and tidy.
The ground is covered with fluffy carpets, the camping lights cast warm yellow light, and the heaters emit heat continuously, which is enough to bring travelers a warm, comfortable and safe feeling in the snow and ice.
There is not a single strange smell, not even the smell of Alpha pheromones.
Lu Huai seemed to have always been like this, rarely leaving the scent of his pheromones anywhere other than home.
Lu Huai smiled and asked, "How is it? Is it not as bad as you imagined?"
Jiang Yun glanced around and asked, "Does Major Gu live here too?"
"No, he lives in the tent across the street," Lu Huai said. "You'd better not visit. Alphas without Omegas are a bit...hmm."
"So what if I have an Omega?" Jiang Yun took off his miner's hat and casually concluded his speech: "Before my Alpha came back, I lived in a villa, drove a private car, and wore haute couture. After my Alpha came back, I lived in a tent, walked in the snow, and wore miner's clothes - what exactly did Alpha bring to me?"
Lu Huai: “.”
Jiang Yun ignored Alpha's helpless attempt to refute and sat down at the table with an elegant posture: "So, did you get what you wanted—" Jiang Yun folded his hands and looked at Lu Huai from bottom to top, "I mean, your mission target seventeen years ago."
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about it." Lu Huai shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't get it."
"……reason?"
"I rushed to the negative third floor and successfully opened the door to the classified laboratory, but the object I wanted was gone. Then I took a moment to check the system log. It showed that half an hour before I arrived, Olin's [highest authority] issued an order to transport the object."
The highest authority in Orin is either the Cabinet or the Lierna Palace. Both locations are located in Orin's imperial capital, the planet Belloc.
Jiang Yun asked calmly, "So, your next plan is to go to the planet Belloc?"
Lu Huai looked down at Jiang Yun for a moment and said with a smile, "What are you thinking about, baby? Didn't I say I wanted to go home with you? Besides, even if we rush to Belloc Planet now, that thing might be transported to another place again."
"I'm glad that you can see the situation clearly." Jiang Yun stood up and said, "Go back and tell me the detailed information about that thing, and I'll try to find its whereabouts."
"Okay, Foreign Minister Jiang." Lu Huai saw Jiang Yun stand up and thought Jiang Yun was going to do something. But after waiting for a long time, Jiang Yun did not make any further moves and just stood there.
Lu Huai asked: "What's wrong, baby?"
Jiang Yun said coldly, "Do you think I can sit comfortably in this outfit?"
Lu Huai looked at the miners' pants that had forcibly wrapped Jiang Yun's long legs into two cylinders, and tried hard not to laugh. "I'm going to go outside and boil some hot water. Mr. Foreign Minister, who has two children with me but still refuses to change clothes in front of me, please take this opportunity to change out of his miners' clothes."
After a simple wash, the two sat around the solid wooden table and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner funded by the Olin military.
Jiang Yun had long since given up the habit of eating dessert after meals. But perhaps because walking had consumed too much energy, he still accepted the blueberry cake that Lu Huai handed him.
Lu Huai held the cup of mead in one hand, placed one arm on the table, and gently supported his chin with his palm, admiring Jiang Yun eating the cake bite by bite.
"Do you remember our neighbors next door?" Lu Huai said, "They make the best blueberry muffins I've ever had."
Jiang Yun paused, then put down his fork and called his Alpha's name: "Lu Huai."
Lu Huai raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why? This shouldn't be a dangerous topic, right?"
Actually, it’s still a bit dangerous.
Jiang Yun looked at the halo of light cast by the camping lantern on the dining table and said, "If you must chat, please tell me more about yourself."
Lu Huai was slightly stunned.
"The kids often ask questions about you," Jiang Yun said softly, "and I can't answer them."
"It's my fault," Lu Huai put down the cup, "I haven't talked much about my personal affairs with you."
Jiang Yun hummed, "It's Colonel Lu's fault."
In fact, during those two months, the frequency and number of times he and Lu Huai chatted were not as rare as the children imagined.
Even if a newlywed couple spend three or four hours every day being intimate, are they going to just stare at each other for the rest of the time without talking?
However, the content of their conversations was either meaningless daily pampering and being pampered, or topics about him.
"Why?" Jiang Yun finally asked the question that had troubled him for seventeen years, "Why didn't you want to talk to me more about your story?"
Lu Huai thought for a moment and said, "Because we are all very busy during the day?"
They were busy traveling during their honeymoon. After their honeymoon, he was busy dealing with military affairs, and Jiang Yun was busy graduating. They had no time to talk about unimportant things.
"What about tonight?" Jiang Yun finished speaking, then realized that he had asked the same question as Lu Chao. He immediately said, "Forget it, you don't have to answer."
But Lu Huai still answered: "No, I want to answer - I want to talk to you at night, but don't you always fall asleep afterward?"
Jiang Yun was silent for two seconds, a little bit unbelieving: "Just because of this?"
"yes."
"Couldn't you have talked about it beforehand?"
Lu Huai didn't need to be quiet for even a second, and answered without thinking: "Sorry, I can't."
Jiang Yun took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He wanted to calm down, but in the end he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
It's ridiculous that he thought about such a stupid question for so long.
If he had this much time, he might as well explain a few more math problems to Lu Chao.
"However, after all, I can't do anything to you in this environment tonight." Lu Huai said as if on a whim, "How about we talk about my business now?"
"Sure." Jiang Yun first asked a question that Jiang Mu wanted to know, "What was Colonel Lu's best subject in high school?"
Lu Huai simply said: "I am good at all subjects."
"..." Jiang Yun looked at the dazzlingly handsome and somewhat ostentatious face, and shifted his gaze slightly, "It's been installed on Colonel Lu again."
Lu Huai smiled: "Is telling the truth considered pretending? If you don't believe me, you can ask Fu Mingqian. He was my good friend in high school."
Jiang Yun said calmly, "One of your two best brothers is already the president of the Academy of Sciences, and the other was promoted to lieutenant general a few years ago. What do you think about this?"
"That's great, isn't it?" Lu Huai didn't seem to mind at all that his former friend and subordinate was now outranking him. "Speaking of good brothers—I'm curious, after I 'died in the line of duty,' how many Alphas claiming to be my good brothers wanted to date you under the guise of taking care of you for me?" Colonel Lu had laid a lot of groundwork and finally got his chance. "Please give me their names and identification codes, thank you."
Jiang Yun: “…”
Under Lu Huai's indignant and strong request, Jiang Yun still couldn't give out half of the identity identification code, but he could still give his name.
Every time Lu Huai reported an Alpha's name, he only needed to tell Lu Huai whether this Alpha had made an appointment with him.
"Maurice Evan?"
"have."
"Hotch Marcus and Orlando Balk?"
"have."
"Miyazawa?"
"It's not like Miyazawa is your friend, but he has one."
…
At the end of the questioning, Lu Huai almost resigned himself to his fate. He slumped over the table and said, "Alright, alright, forget about the rest. Please tell me Fu Mingqian and Osvid didn't ask you out."
Jiang Yun thought for two seconds and said, "General Oswald certainly doesn't have one, but Dean Fu does."
"...Haha." Lu Huai laughed twice, "I actually chose him to be the best man at my wedding. I was so blind."
"Two years ago, on the anniversary of your death, Dean Fu asked me out for coffee. But he didn't say he would take care of me. He just said that if I needed his help, I must ask him."
Lu Huai finally breathed a sigh of relief: "This is acceptable. Okay, I'm not blind anymore."
Jiang Yun sneered, "I told Dean Fu that I was worried about Lu Chao's studies, and Dean Fu offered to tutor Lu Chao."
"Isn't this a good thing?" Lu Huai was a little puzzled. "Why is the baby sneering?"
"After tutoring Lu Chao for an hour, Dean Fu asked me if I really wanted two top-performing children. I said of course." Jiang Yun smiled slightly. "Then, Dean Fu suggested that I find another Alpha to have another child."
Lu Huai: “…”
Jiang Yun seemed to have thought of something, and his gaze at Lu Huai suddenly became focused and gentle: "Although I can only walk, live in tents and wear miner's clothes when following Colonel Lu, I still want to say that it is really great for me that Colonel Lu can come back."
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