FMLB Chapter 144

Casual encounter with an old acquaintance

 

The next morning, He Ruge and Xi Guican set off for Star Seventeen. Afterwards, they would often reside on Star Seventeen and occasionally return to their private planet.

 

Today, the egg hung around Xi Guican’s neck, its white pouch contrasting sharply with his dark military uniform, so He Ruge specially replaced it with a black pouch.

 

He planned to embroider some patterns on the pouch during the journey, perhaps a koi fish and a small white tiger. That would be nice—embroider a koi fish on the white pouch and a small white tiger on the black one. For this purpose, he even bought needles, threads, and knitting materials.

 

Xi Guican saw the unfinished clothing in He Ruge’s hands and his expression turned peculiar. “Can you… tell which end is the head and which is the feet of this egg?”

 

“Don’t worry about those details.” 

 

He Ruge knitted in the co-pilot seat, bringing a soft and warm presence to the metallic mech.

 

Xi Guican set the mech to autopilot and focused on watching He Ruge, staring at the youth’s profile for a long time. Suddenly, he reached out and poked He Ruge’s cheek. 

 

“I want you to knit clothes for me too.”

 

He Ruge raised his head in surprise, looking at his lover in military attire. Except for costume changes in games, he had rarely seen Xi Guican in casual clothing, thinking Xi Guican wouldn’t be interested in such attire. 

 

“Sure, but your clothes will take longer for me to knit.”

 

Xi Guican nodded lightly, his lips curling slightly. The thought of wearing clothes hand-knitted by He Ruge made him feel inexplicably good.

 

He Ruge quickly finished making the small clothes, and Xi Guican took the egg out of the black pouch. He watched as He Ruge dressed the egg in the new clothes.

 

The egg, now dressed, turned a happy yellow color. He Ruge’s knitted sweater fit perfectly, enveloping the egg’s rounded form, with only its head poking out. Upon hearing He Ruge’s praise, the egg’s head turned pink.

 

“Yeah, it looks quite cute.” 

 

With the bump covered, Xi Guican added the second half of the sentence in his mind.

 

The egg, praised for the first time by Xi Guican, became even happier, displaying a faint yellow hue. It was indeed joyful to receive new clothes hand-made by He Ruge.

 

Xi Guican couldn’t wait to wear the clothes knitted by He Ruge himself. As he thought of these clothes, Xi Guican suddenly reached out a finger and knocked the egg over. Then he turned his head as if nothing had happened.

 

Two seconds later, he turned back to explain to He Ruge, “I was completing the egg hatching guide with physical contact.” 

 

So, with a legitimate reason, he got knocked down.

 

The fallen egg turned into a white color, and He Ruge looked at the egg’s changed color after being knocked over, feeling somewhat restless, but he was already an adult who knew how to restrain himself, and would not roll over eggs at will.

 

He logged into Penguin, and it was a long time since it was last accessed. Every two or three days, Jiji sent some messages to He Ruge, interrupted and intermittent. It was the only contact between him and Earth.

 

Jiji asked He Ruge when he was going to open a new work, and He Ruge told the machine that he now has a job at an orphanage and will not write in the future.

 

After replying to this message, He Ruge exhaled slowly, looking at the vast universe, not knowing which star was the Earth, and perhaps Earth would never appear in his field of vision again.

 

Xi Guican sensed He Ruge’s melancholy and held He Ruge’s hand, as if to pass the strength of his palm to the other.

 

He Ruge came to his senses, his black eyes softened.

 

As they approached Star Seventeen, they met with Fu Xi’s shiny golden ship. The golden ship signaled Xi Guican’s mech, wanting to establish communication.

 

 After communication was established, the squeaky voice of a child rang out immediately, “Brother! I miss you so much!” After a long absence, Zhi Zhi could already speak fluent sentences.

 

The Little treasure-seeking mouse bounced in Fu Xi’s palm, golden tail shaking out shadows.

 

After they arrived at Star Seventeen, Zhi Zhi couldn’t wait to jump into He Ruge’s palm, hugging He Ruge’s thumb affectionately. The nature of the little treasure-seeking mouse made him subconsciously discover the treasures around him, and Zhi Zhi’s tail wagged, suddenly pointing like a compass in the direction of Xi Guican.

 

The straightened golden tail pointed directly to the egg’s position.

 

Zhi Zhi had a natural fear of Xi Guican, and he quickly bent his straight tail, sitting on it without daring to ask what was hanging on Xi Guican’s neck.

 

He Ruge didn’t intend to reveal the existence of the egg to the public, but it was okay to tell Zhi Zhi a little. 

 

“This is the egg, Zhi Zhi…”

 

 He opened the small pouch, and just as he was about to introduce the small white egg to Zhi Zhi, he found that the egg suddenly turned into a conspicuous red.

 

The egg, now a bright red, looked like a special red egg for marriage. The color of the eggshell turned red, symbolizing anger. He Ruge had no idea why the egg was angry, but Xi Guican had a knowing expression—

 

This egg was jealous.

 

It was truly his child; else, why was his jealous nature exactly the same?

 

Thinking of the bunch of cubs in the orphanage that would stick to He Ruge, Xi Guican’s expression became profound and unpredictable. He could already foresee the egg turning red with anger every day, eventually becoming introverted.

 

“What is it?” 

 

Zhi Zhi asked curiously. He seemed to really like this egg, asking eagerly, “I really like it, can I touch it?” 

 

The little treasure-seeking mouse loved all precious treasures.

 

The egg, caught off guard by the confession, hesitated for a moment, its red fading away like a tide, replaced by a shy pink.

 

Xi Guican watched the egg change its face so quickly, raised an eyebrow, and retracted his inner words. This egg was unlike him; he would never be shy except for He Ruge.

 

“Sure, it’s the child of me and Guican.” 

 

Zhi Zhi was stunned upon hearing this, standing there frozen in place, “Wow, a little baby…”

 

Fu Xi, upon hearing this, joyfully took out a gift and presented it to the egg, “Congratulations, congratulations! Today truly brings double happiness! But this news came so suddenly, I haven’t prepared anything in advance for this cub.”

 

“Double happiness?” He Ruge paused upon hearing this phrase.

 

Fu Xi subconsciously glanced at Xi Guican, then turned to He Ruge with a big smile, “There’s also a housewarming celebration!” 

 

Laughing heartily while stealing a glance at Xi Guican with some guilt.

 

Xi Guican nodded with a stiff smile. Marshal Xi, who rarely smiled, showed a fake smile, more frightening than not smiling at all. Fu Xi felt a chill down his spine, relieved that He Ruge didn’t inquire further. If he had disrupted Marshal Xi’s plans, he wouldn’t be facing just a meaningful fake smile now.

 

He Ruge didn’t dwell on it. He and Xi Guican set foot again on the land of Star Seventeen, a planet marked by the scars left by numerous star wars. Whether it was the leveled residential areas or the pockmarked ground, they all silently spoke of the cruelty of war.

 

Star Seventeen was the most backward planet. After the Insect race departed, the Federation spent a lot to clear the radiation and the remnants of large-scale weapons and viruses left on this planet.

 

The Federation intervened to rebuild the destroyed complex transportation routes, schools, and hospitals, making them better than before. Originally, Star Seventeen only had primitive surface and underground highways, without star tracks. This time, the Federation was investing heavily to establish star tracks on Star Seventeen.

 

Star tracks referred to vast aerial channels resembling a sea of stars built on the surface of a planet.

 

This approach not only addressed Star Seventeen’s labor issues but also alleviated traffic congestion.

 

Due to the construction of star tracks, spacecraft and mechs were temporarily not allowed to fly in the air. He Ruge and the others rented a car, which in the interstellar era was akin to a three-wheeled vehicle. 

 

The small car maneuvered on the uneven roads. Xi Guican and Fu Xi had no clue how to drive this primitive car, and in the end, He Ruge tentatively took the wheel, after some struggling, successfully getting it on the road.

 

The slow speed of the small car was astonishing to Xi Guican, and coupled with the uneven ground, the ride was both slow and bumpy. However, Zhi Zhi cheered enthusiastically. Sitting on Fu Xi’s grandfather’s head, he tightly grasped Fu Xi’s grandfather’s graying hair, excitedly squeaking in the wind.

 

At one point, in his excitement, Zhi Zhi accidentally yanked off Fu Xi’s grandfather’s wig, nearly dropping it out the window.

 

Every segment of the journey encountered people from Star Seventeen working on building the star tracks. They stood in high positions. He Ruge could only see a few small dots when he looked up and a “star,” which was one of the nodes of the star tracks.

 

“I see Xuan Wulian.” Xi Guican suddenly spoke. 

 

His vision was excellent enough to see Xuan Wulian in the sky.

 

Xuan Wulian was the middle-aged man who had lost his arm.

 

He Ruge stopped the car, “Is it such a coincidence? Should we go say hello? Meeting like this must be fate.” 

 

With so many interstellar populations, it was rare for two netizens from Earth to meet on the street. The probability of an interstellar encounter was even lower.

 

Xi Guican thought about it and agreed. He twice borrowed this person’s body, and the last time he missed his birthday celebration, although he later made a lot of money, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

 

It’s strange that he didn’t have “guilt” or other feelings for other people before. But slowly, he began to have such meaningless and troublesome emotions.

 

He Ruge saw Xi Guican spread his wings and flew up, then picked up Xuan Wulian like a little chick after a while.

 

Xuan Wulian, busy with a sweat-soaked body and dirty hands, quietly wiped his pants twice when he saw He Ruge, then took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and the handkerchief wrapped around an old composition paper. 

 

From Xuan Wulian’s cautious movements, it could be guessed that this paper was a precious item to him

 

“Mr. He, my son really likes you, he’s your fan. Could you… sign your name here?” 

 

Xuan Wulian finished with a pleasing smile. When he smiled, deep wrinkles blossomed on his weathered face.

 

He Ruge gently agreed. He looked at the composition paper, titled “The Most Precious Thing in the World.” 

 

He signed his name on the back of the composition, and when he handed it back to Xuan Wulian, the man’s smile became even brighter.

 

The car resumed its journey. However, this time, Xi Guican noticed the large potholes on the ground and suddenly said, “Just now Xuan Wulian told me that some of these holes were recently dug by them.”

 

“There are some races who like to dig holes. Before the star wars broke out, they would bury some large items underground that couldn’t be taken away.”

 

“Among the things Xuan Wulian buried seventeen years ago, there was a packet of seeds, which have now sprouted. He said if we see a purple tree in one of the holes ahead, that was once his home.”

 

Upon hearing this, He Ruge looked into the distance. He didn’t see a purple tree but instead an endless sea of flowers.

 

Xi Guican’s voice came from beside him, “If you see flowers, that’s our orphanage. Because it’s filled with flowers.”