Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Wu Star.

Burger and Gravy Restaurant.

After sending Danjiao to the nursery, Lu Wei went to the shop.

While he was busy in his own store, a lady who had just bought two burgers approached him in a secretive manner. "Little Lu, have you heard?"

Lu Wei: "What's up?"

The lady cupped her hand to her mouth like a megaphone. "Over at K Star, which is nearby, they're saying that a big shot has arrived."

Lu Wei continued his work with half an ear listening.

K Star was where his kid was being trained.

He asked her, "What do you mean?"

Elder Sister: "They say it's an emperor from some other planet, and he's supposed to be incredibly powerful. He arrived and immediately imposed a total lockdown, preventing anyone from entering or leaving."

Following the principle of not letting a free opportunity go to waste, Lu Wei inquired curiously, "What exactly is this lockdown?"

Elder Sister slapped her palm and frowned. "It means all interstellar travel was suspended. They searched every household that day."

Damn.

This piece of gossip was juicy.

Lu Wei asked, "Not a single person could leave?"

Elder Sister raised her head. "Indeed."

"At that time, forget about people, even a single black bug couldn't crawl out."

Lu Wei was skeptical about this part and mentally put a question mark beside it. After all, Elder Sister had a tendency to exaggerate—she could turn a simple fall into a world war.

Seeing Lu Wei's expression, Elder Sister knew he doubted her account.

Sis winked mischievously, "This time, I'm not making things up. Just ask around in the neighborhood, everyone who knows about the K Stars will tell you!"

Sis painted a vivid picture, "They said the emperor of that planet himself came over, accompanied by a group of people dressed up like humans but acting like dogs. They blocked all the intersections, no one was allowed in or out."

Lu Wei raised his concern, "But would the leaders of K Star agree to this? Isn't this tantamount to joking with the safety of their planet?"

"Oh, they don't have a choice," Sis chuckled. "I heard the person who came here is powerful beyond our imagination."

Lu Wei's imagination indeed had its limits; he really couldn't picture someone capable of searching for a person on another planet while the locals dared not utter a single complaint.

Lu Wei admitted, "Well, that must be impressive."

Sis clapped her hands, relishing the chaos, "Absolutely! It's said that their officials and leaders didn't dare to object at all. They opened the city gates and let them in, respectfully inviting them and following their every command."

Lu Wei exclaimed, "Wow, impressive."

Encouraged by the reaction, Sis continued with even more enthusiasm, "From dawn till dusk, they checked everyone, one by one. No one could leave until they were searched. They were determined to find the person they were looking for."

Life on Wu Star was generally dull, so when such a sensational gossip came along, they naturally seized the opportunity to indulge in it.

Lu Wei raised his hand to inquire, "After all that, who exactly are they looking for?"

This was a sensitive spot for the elder sister, for even her relatives from K-star were not privy to such information regarding high-profile figures.

The elder sister scratched her head. "Well, umm..."

She couldn't say!

As the gossip hub of the village and a deity of gossip in ancient Greece, how could she admit her ignorance?

Lowering her voice confidentially, the elder sister said, "Actually, I've caught wind of a little bit."

Lu Wei leaned in, "Who are they searching for?"

The elder sister replied, "Rumor has it that they're seeking the queen, or in simpler terms, a partner."

Lu Wei's eyes widened in surprise.

Kindred spirits in adversity, our paths crossing, there's no need for prior acquaintance.

If he were an ordinary person, he would have wanted to shake hands with that big brother.

All the more intrigued, Lu Wei wondered, "How could such a prominent and wealthy figure lose his wife?"

Elder Sister let out an "Ah," her expression grave. "Indeed. I heard she left him behind with a child barely a few years old."

Lu Wei: Brother, you!!

If it weren't for the fact that Lu Wei knew he would never be that wealthy in a hundred lifetimes, he might have suspected that it was his parallel self.

The elder sister said this before realizing that it was indeed quite similar to Lu Wei.

"Oh dear, then he's probably like my big nephew, losing his mother at a young age."

Lu Wei thought to himself that they were still different: that person could surround an entire planet to search for his wife, whereas he could only wait passively for his wife to return like a hare waiting by a tree stump.

The disparity between people could be greater than the gap between humans and pigs.

Lu Wei stroked his chin in realization. "This is way more interesting than any TV drama."

Oh my.

What Running Sweetheart.

Emperor's Wanted Notice: Wife, Don't Run Away.

This show is captivating.

Big Sister deeply agreed. She had been bustling around the neighborhood all day just to catch up on this gossip, further proving its value.

"But hey, if you were to impersonate her, wouldn't you be living a good life from then on?"

Lost in fantasy, Big Sister continued, "Think about it. Whoever can cause such a stir here must come from an incredibly influential family. If they take a fancy to you, even if you don't pretend to be the stepmother, your life would be set for the next generation with no worries about food or clothing."

Lu Wei waved his hand dismissively. "The rich have their own games. Who knows what kind of environment that family has? I'm afraid there might be wealth but no life to enjoy it."

Big Sister nodded in agreement. "That's true too."

Such luxuries were beyond the reach of common folk like them.

The eldest sister's mention of one topic triggered another: "Oh yes, did you know that your landlord's daughter also went?"

Lu Wei recalled that his landlord indeed had a daughter of marriageable age. "She must have been dreaming to become a stepmother, only to face an abusive husband, indifferent children, and vicious in-laws... I dare not imagine it."

The eldest sister agreed, "Exactly. She came back with her tail between her legs."

Raising a little fatty like Pang Qiu was already exhausting enough; adding another child to the mix would be too much.

Fortunately, Danjiao was easy to handle. If he had to take care of someone else's little prince, given his temperament, it would be chaos.

Lu Wei shuddered at the thought of the younglings in Danjiao Kindergarten.

As she munched on sunflower seeds, the eldest sister casually ruined some reputations: "Being a stepmother isn't as simple as it sounds. You can't speak too harshly, but being too gentle won't work either. In someone else's family, a stepmother is always an outsider. Take my niece, for example, who married into a family as a stepmother. Her in-laws dote on their grandson like a prince, and if she wakes up a bit late, she gets lectured..."

The eldest sister rambled on, but a young voice interrupted her: "Eldest Sister, Brother Lu, what are you two talking about?"

She recognized the voice as belonging to one of their attic tenants, a handsome young man who worked on another planet and only returned during holidays.

"Jeraff, we're talking about what happened on planet K yesterday. Have you heard anything?"

Young Jeraff replied, "I've just returned from planet K."

Does that mean there's no gossip left?

The elder sister's eyes lit up. "Then did you hear who was responsible for the lockdown yesterday?"

Jeraff answered, "I heard it was a leader from a very distant alien world who came with their army. Yesterday, the area was packed, but no one was allowed in."

Enthralled by the story, the elder sister bombarded Jeraff with questions.

Reluctantly, the young man revealed more details:

The Tyrant Emperor had initially intended to find a spouse through advanced interstellar networks. However, the planets in this vicinity were too backward, lacking universal cosmic connectivity. It wasn't just about finding someone; even establishing communication was a challenge.

An Earthling picked up on the irony. "So, does that mean we're like illegal aliens in the universe?"

Jeraff confirmed, "Yes, and in a state of being uncivilized or undeveloped."

Lu Wei felt both numb and reassured.

As expected of a country bumpkin.

Plain and simple, yet comforting.

That meant if the Runaway Sweetheart were to sneak into their remote village, the only way to find them would be to search house by house, person by person.

Lu Wei: "Oh well."

He had heard that the Runaway Sweetheart was male, probably in his early twenties.

—So his spouse was a male spouse.

Lu Wei was aware of this; same-sex relationships did exist in the galaxy.

The child was likely adopted or taken in as an heir.

Lu Wei commented sharply, "I suppose he must be a very handsome boy, then."

After a passionate night with the domineering emperor, Little Lu fled with a whimper, initiating the classic scenario of "He runs, he chases, he can't escape."

Indeed, a familiar plot.

The elder sister disapproved, "You're quite handsome too, Little Lu. Apparently, this is the type we fancy."

"Indeed."

He was quite dashing and charismatic; surely, no man would be interested in him.

Moreover,

Lu Wei declared, "I'm straight."

Upon hearing this, Jeraff secretly clenched his fists.

The elder sister chuckled at Lu Wei, "In terms of age, Little Lu is quite suitable. Who knows, he might just stumble upon sudden wealth in one night."

Lu Wei: Ugh.

"Stepmother or not, that's not a decisive factor for us."

Elder Sister: "Huh?"

Lu Wei: "Logically speaking, in a story like this, the runaway sweetheart would always have a persistent and somewhat domineering friend trying to convince him to return, along with a deeply devoted male second lead who has been by his side all these years."

"According to the 'Pregnancy Run' trope, there's a 70% chance that this male second lead is a doctor secretly in love with the domineering CEO, and a 30% chance he's a devoted lawyer quietly hoping for the CEO's divorce."

Elder Sister: "Mm-hmm."

Lu Wei: "Do we have anyone like that around us?"

Elder Sister: "Indeed, we don't."

Indeed, such a character would be expected in the narrative, otherwise, something crucial would be missing.

Clapping her hands in realization, the elder sister exclaimed,

"Oh, oh! Now I remember that Robert or whatever his name is from downstairs. His boyfriend seems to be a doctor. He's so petite and thin, just like the typical character in soap operas!"

Lu Wei responded casually, "Wow."

Instantly, the elder sister stood up, full of energy. "I need to find him! It would be interesting if it's him! Let's chat more later, Little Lu. I have to go."

Lu Wei waved her off. "Go ahead, go ahead."

The elder sister came and went swiftly, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

She was, after all, the woman who could traverse the entire Wu Star within half a day while chatting nonstop.

Jeraff had admired more than once Lu Wei's skillful way of dismissing people without causing any resentment, leaving everyone feeling entertained instead.

Perhaps it was precisely due to his knack for socializing that people enjoyed coming to the shop for a meal and some idle chatter.

Lu Wei served him a bowl of rice topped with savory sauce.

A feast for the senses.

It stirred Jeraff's appetite immensely.

Jeraff inquired, "Brother Lu, why do you think it's not you?"

Lu Wei replied, "Haha, how could I, a man, possibly give birth to a child?"

Jeraff: "..."

Indeed, males were capable of bearing children.

It was unclear where Lu-ge had learned his biology. While on Wu Star, males didn't bear children, it wasn't because they were biologically incapable; rather, there were no male receptive partners with the ability to do so.

Due to their underdeveloped state, receptors could receive assistance to leave behind the hazardous and backward planet if they applied. As a result, no receptor was willing to stay on Wu Star.

On Wu Star, the equation was that males equaled non-bearers—

This statement was, for the most part, accurate.

Lu Wei stated matter-of-factly, "I'm straight, I have a wife. Of course, I don't fancy men."

"..."