Chapter 34

Chapter 34

In the Star Institute dormitory, Si Muyun hadn't yet woken up when he felt the spot beside him was cold.

He opened his eyes and glanced over, remarking silently, "...So heartless."

Just as he sat up, he noticed a pair of black mechanical optics visible in the window.

There was no need to guess who it was.

He called out to Snow, "Aren’t you coming in? How long are you planning to stay out there?"

Snow silently retracted its head and soon appeared at the door, carefully peeking its head in. Only after confirming Si Muyun was alone did it enter.

Si Muyun, witnessing the entire scene, fell silent. "..."

Snow came to the bedside and neatened the slippers that had been kicked into disarray.

Si Muyun found its actions perplexing. "This isn’t a garbage dump."

Snow paused, looked up at him, and said, "Master, you do know I’m not trash."

Instantly reminded of what he’d done the day before, Si Muyun fell silent.

It was true—he had made Snow go collect trash with Bai Liao.

At the time, Lin Youhan’s psychic energy hadn’t yet recovered and couldn’t be left alone for even a moment. Knowing Lin Youhan disliked being watched, he dismissed Snow, who had been crouching in the corner, out of the room.

As for why he hadn’t sent Migu away… Migu was clever. The moment Bai Liao dragged her off, she had no intention of returning. Only Snow, this thick-headed AI, wandered back not long after being dragged away.

-

Feeling a pang of guilt, Si Muyun apologized, "Sorry, I was stereotyping."

But it was true that Bai Liao loved collecting trash.

Back when they were working together at North Talisman Court with Liao Baixing, Bai Liao would root through garbage cans everywhere, even collecting garbage from various military camps stationed there and disposing of it in bins.

This robot genuinely loved collecting trash.

Whenever Snow walked alongside Bai Liao, people assumed they were companions. Those at North Talisman Court looked at them as if they were two garbage AIs.

When Bai Liao learned about this, it explained that it was actually its master who loved collecting trash. Word eventually reached Liao Baixing, who was so furious she chased after Bai Liao and gave it a thrashing.

It became quite the laughingstock at North Talisman Court back then.

Not wanting to say more about it, Si Muyun changed the subject. "Where did Lin Youhan and the others go?"

Snow replied, "On a date."

Si Muyun stopped moving, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked at Snow as if to say, "Say that again."

Sensing the implied threat, Snow added, "That’s what Miss Liao said."

"She said you weren't satisfying Mr. Lin, so he got up early, angrily, to see another man."

The moment the words were out, Si Muyun let out a cold snort. "Hah."

Snow silently lowered its head.

Meanwhile, Liao Baixing, who had just dropped Snow off at the dorm and was walking back to the office, sneezed. As she looked up, a tissue was handed to her.

Liao Baixing said, "You’re cursing me."

Bai Liao, who had helpfully offered the tissue, retorted, "...I may pick up trash, but I never stab in the back."

"Oh, garbage bot," Liao Baixing said, taking the tissue.

Bai Liao shot back, "Then give it back, thank you."

"Going trash picking again?"

Bai Liao fell silent. "..."

Fuming, Bai Liao stomped away, but after just two steps, it heard Liao Baixing’s laughter behind it.

Even from a distance, the laughter echoed.

Bai Liao thought: Will this ever end?!

After washing up, Si Muyun intended to go find Lin Youhan, but before he could step out of the dorm, his communicator rang.

-

He stared at the words "Mother" displayed on the screen and fell silent.

He only answered just before the call was about to end. A gentle woman’s voice soon came through: "Yun Yun, how are you doing recently?"

Before she could finish, a man’s voice chimed in from the other side: "Just ask him directly about the relationship! How could he keep something this big from us!"

The woman replied, "You’re so rigid. Who questions their child aggressively the moment they get in touch after so long?"

The man fell silent. "..."

After their exchange, the woman turned her attention back to the communicator. "Yun Yun, are you in a relationship? Is he handsome? What’s his character like?"

Hearing these three questions, Si Muyun could practically feel his father’s silence through the communicator. He held the device slightly away, thinking: Typical of them—argue first, then do the same thing.

As the questions continued from the other end, Si Muyun brought the communicator back to his ear and said, "Mom, it’s a man."

"A man? Well, that’s fine too—wait, what?" Cheng Xu’s voice became strange, as if in disbelief. She pinched Si Weiyu beside her, earning a glare in return.

Cheng Xu blinked at him before refocusing on the communicator. "Yun Yun, what do you like about him?"

"He’s handsome."

Cheng Xu said earnestly, "Good looks don’t put food on the table, you know."

Si Muyun countered, "Mom, he’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen."

Sensing the shift in his tone, Cheng Xu quickly backtracked, "Aside from his looks, what else is there?"

"He’s amazing," Si Muyun said seriously. "He’s the one who gave me my mecha."

"Your mecha?" Cheng Xu instantly caught the key point. "Wasn’t that given to you by that Lin Youhan from Star Institute back then? How could he—"

Before she could finish, Si Weiyu reached over and hung up for her.

Cheng Xu threw the communicator onto the table and glared at him.

Si Weiyu said, "Dear, our son’s made things clear enough."

Cheng Xu said angrily, "I don't know."

Si Weiyu: "..."

He had the butler AI pour a cup of milk coffee that Cheng Xu liked, pressed the cup into her palm, and coaxed, "Don’t be angry. He’s already so grown up—who he likes is his own choice, isn’t it?"

Cheng Xu unceremoniously took the milk coffee and took a comfortable sip. "Don’t always shift the blame onto our son. I haven’t even asked you about the time our son lost his scarf."

"Honey, that really has nothing to do with me!" Hearing this, Si Weiyu suddenly remembered that some time ago, while Cheng Xu was organizing clothes, she noticed that Si Muyun was missing a scarf.

As soon as Cheng Xu realized it was missing, she immediately had the butler AI pull up the security footage of when the scarf disappeared. The butler AI didn’t record which day it was, but it did record the reason it was lost—Si Weiyu hadn’t gone to pick up Si Muyun that day. When the two met at the door, Si Weiyu casually gave Si Muyun’s scarf to a woman in the car.

When Cheng Xu saw the last two words, she let out a cold laugh. "You've got some nerve, Si Weiyu."

That day, Si Weiyu came home from work at the military headquarters and he sensed something was off as soon as he entered. His wife, who was never particularly gentle, was especially gentle today. She had set the table with all his favorite dishes, but he had a bad feeling.

After sitting down, he didn’t touch his chopsticks.

His wife, sitting across from him, smiled radiantly. "Why aren’t you eating? Not to your liking?"

Si Weiyu: "Honey, if I’ve done something wrong, just tell me directly. You don’t have to torture me like this."

"Fine then." Cheng Xu put down her chopsticks. "What's this about you giving a woman a scarf back then?"

Si Weiyu asked, completely confused, "What scarf?"

"The scarf I knitted for Yunyun when he was seven went missing." Cheng Xu looked at him, she wondering what excuse he could come up with. "I asked the butler AI today, and it said you gave it to a woman in the car. Give me an explanation."

Si Weiyu: "..."

Who on earth is trying to frame him???

Si Weiyu had no memory of ever giving a woman a scarf. Aside from Cheng Xu, everyone around him was a man. Forget giving scarves—if a few grown men got together, they couldn’t even come up with one scarf among them.

"Honey, I've been yours since I was eighteen. When would I have had the chance to give someone a scarf?" Si Weiyu cried injustice.

Cheng Xu wavered slightly. "How should I know?"

Si Weiyu: "..."

This is so unfair.

Even more unjustly accused than Dou E.

-

Thinking about what he’d been through these past few days, Si Weiyu felt deeply wronged. He glanced at Cheng Xu’s expression, remembered the matter with Si Muyun, and said calmly, "Honey, wait a minute—didn’t that Lin Youhan our son mentioned die ten years ago?"

"So what if he’s dead—is Yunyun into corpses?" Cheng Xu suddenly came to her senses and understood what Si Weiyu meant about Si Muyun’s words being very clear.

She opened her terminal, swiped a couple of times, and pulled up the chat history with Jiang Xun. "Xiao Xun said his partner’s name is Lin Hanhan."

After saying this, she looked up and met Si Weiyu’s eyes.

"That name… sounds a bit familiar."

"Familiar how?"

"Don’t you think aside from the middle character being different, it’s no different from Lin Youhan?" Cheng Xu said thoughtfully.

Suddenly, it clicked. "Could it be that the Lin Youhan our son mentioned isn’t dead?"

Si Weiyu also finally understood what she meant. "Then the rumors from ten years ago were also false?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the couple exchanged a knowing glance, seeing understanding in each other’s eyes.

"I approve of this marriage," Cheng Xu said decisively.

As she spoke, she stood up and she ran upstairs. "Get ready, we’re going to Floating Star to pick up our son's partner."

Si Weiyu glanced at her back as she left and reminded her quietly, "Honey, have you forgotten? We can’t leave Central Star."

"That’s you, not me. I’m going undercover." Cheng Xu ignored Si Weiyu’s plight, scurrying upstairs and disappearing in no time.

Si Weiyu: "..."

-

Si Muyun had just ended the call, had just gotten dressed, and was about to go out when the doorbell rang.

He opened the door to find Lu Zhao, whom he hadn’t seen for two days.

Si Muyun: "What is it?"

Lu Zhao looked past him into the room but, not seeing Lin Youhan, then shifted his gaze back to Si Muyun. "Brother Yun, do you know where Lin You—Brother Lin went?"

Si Muyun frowned, remembering that Snow had said, and replied unhappily, "He went off to meet some man."

Lu Zhao: "?"

Lu Zhao stared at him in shock, stammering, "Brother Yun, aren’t you two together? How could he go out to find another man? Did he dump you?!"

Si Muyun: ...Do I look like I know?

"No way, even though Brother Lin saved me, what he’s doing to you… is just too awful. He hasn’t even finished what’s in his bowl and he’s already eyeing the pot. How could there be someone like this!" The more Lu Zhao spoke, the more astonished he became, to the point where he couldn’t even look straight.

Si Muyun gave him a silent glance. "No need to exaggerate."

"Okay… okay." After saying this, Lu Zhao made a quick exit.

Si Muyun closed the door. Just then, his terminal rang again.

Seeing the name on the screen, he gave a cold, faint smile and answered.

The next moment, Lin Youhan’s cheerful voice came through the terminal.

"Colonel, feel like going on a date at Jingran Plaza?"