MLiS – Chapter 7.1

Unexpected Assassination

From the continuous rain in spring to the booming sound of thunder in summer, from the fluttering golden leaves in autumn to the dancing snow in winter, unknowingly, Alikarta star has orbited ten times around its main sequence star.

After ten years of hard work and efforts, Luo Lan has basically realized the plan she made ten years ago——

Her physical ability has passed the base’s level B test.

After completing the Master’s course in the affiliated Military Medical University. Not only she obtained a Master’s degree in medicine, but she also obtained a junior doctor’s license.

She became an intermediate researcher in Alikarta Life Research Institute, with her own office and two research assistants.

Her salary was good and she received it in her personal account every month. Because she didn’t have to pay rent, after paying her tuition and daily expenses, she still saved a lot of money.

According to her agreement with Qian Xu, they will spare their time to go sightseeing on every public holiday together.

Over the past few years, although Luo Lan has not traveled to all places in Alikarta, she has the confidence to talk about fun places and delicious food in Alikarta. She also has no problem pretending to be a native resident^[1] of Alikarta.

————·————·————

The beeping sound came from her terminal. Without raising her head, she instructed her terminal to connect it to a video call.

Chen Sha’s figure, dressed in his military uniform, appeared in the laboratory. “The consul will come back this afternoon and we will hold a welcome banquet. You get off work early.”

Luo Lan raised her head in a daze. Her focus was still immersed in the experiment. With an absent-minded “Oh”, she buried her head again and continued to observe the changes in her experiment.

Chen Sha watched her quietly for a moment and turned off the video.

After a while, Luo Lan suddenly reacted and pushed the observation glasses on the bridge of her nose, showing a thoughtful expression.

Consul! The consul of Odin Federation! The unreliable consul that went to the primeval star for a ten-year-long mission!

It really needs to be congratulated that he didn’t get lost in interstellar and still remembers to go back home!

When Luo Lan first arrived in Alikarta, she was a little curious about the leader of Odin Federation. Ten years later, when she had completely forgotten about this person, he suddenly appeared.

However, no matter how unreliable he was, he was still the big boss!

As a small shrimp, she must go all out and behave well, trying her best to improve her favorability in front of this big boss!

Luo Lan sent a message to Qing Yue, “There will be a banquet in the evening. Help me prepare the dress and other things, also please remind me to get off work one hour early.”

————·————·————

In Luo Lan’s bedroom, Qing Yue was helping Luo Lan with her dress and make-up while Qing Chu stood in front of a virtual screen and showed Luo Lan the information of the banquet’s important guests.

Luo Lan recited it silently in her heart while watching the information.

“Eugene is a judge of the federal intermediate court from the Sixth District. Two days ago, his favorite pet, Bona, passed away and he held a funeral ceremony…”

Qing Yue added, “The princess has sent her flowers to show condolence.”

“Ah? I sent flowers? When did I do that?”

Luo Lah oh‘ed then proceeded to blow a kiss to Qing Chu. She turned around and hugged Qing Yue. Her tone was affectionate, “What would I do without both of you?”

Qing Chu smiled and kept silent. She had long been accustomed to Luo Lan’s coquetry and spoiled manner.

Qing Yue gave Luo Lan a contemptuous look. “Princess, don’t sell your honeyed words to us. We still love men! Wouldn’t it be better for the princess to sell these honeyed words to your husband?”

Luo Lan pouted and sat straight. “Don’t you dislike Chen Sha?”

Qing Yue lowered his eyes and said sadly, “The princess can’t return to Aerdes. If you can’t win over the Duke, in case the Duke lost his patience one day…”

“This blonde lady’s name is Aurora, she is the new Minister of Agriculture…” Qing Chu interrupted Qing Yue’s words and continued to introduce the guests’ information.

The master and servants continued to prepare for the banquet and tacitly agreed to stop talking about the topic a moment ago.

When she was dressed up and memorized the information, Qing Yue brought out a small snack that she prepared in advance, “Eat something to cushion your stomach. You may not have time to eat something later.”

Luo Lan looked at the time. “No need! I’ll just drink a can of nutrients quietly later.”

“There are still more than ten minutes. It is enough time to eat this!”

Luo Lan smiled apologetically. There were one and two occasions like this before and she didn’t want to repeat it again and again. Ten years ago, she made up her mind. Since Chen Sha would never wait for her, as long as she could do it, she would rather be ten minutes early than one minute late.

————·————·————

As soon as Chen Sha walked to the entrance of the stairs, he saw Luo Lan standing in the center of the hall in a rose-red one-shoulder dress, waiting quietly for him.

He halted his footstep, raised his wrist, and looked at the time. There were still ten minutes before the appointment.

For so many years, he never saw her running in a hurried manner towards him. As if as long as they need to meet, she would always come first and waits calmly.

Chen Sha walked down slowly and inexplicably remember what his security officer said, “Waiting is torture but when you wait for your beloved, it became sweet torture. If a punctual woman is willing to let you wait, it shows that she trusts and depends on you. She knows you are willing to indulge her and she is willing to be indulged by you.”

Luo Lan chose to wait for him rather than let him wait, what did it mean?

Luo Lan turned her head and saw Chen Sha in a neat uniform, she walked towards him quickly.

He is tall and has a handsome face. His whole body is as perfect as a statue carved from ice. Luo Lan inwardly sighed to herself. In fact, she has a handsome husband, but she didn’t have the luck to enjoy it!

Chen Sha was very keen and looked at her cautiously, “What are you thinking?”

Luo Lan smiled all over her face and doggedly said, “I am praising your handsomeness from the bottom of my heart!”

Chen Sha’s expression sank. He turned away and left.

Luo Lan stuck out her tongue and hurriedly carried her skirt to chase after him.

————·————·————

When they arrived at the banquet hall, there were already a lot of people there.

Luo Lan took Chen Sha’s arm. With the eyes of many people on her, she walked calmly and gracefully while greeting everyone.

“Eugene, it’s really regrettable that Bona passed away…”

“Hello, Aurora.”

In the corner of the hall, Bai Licang stared at Chen Sha and Luo Lan and said in surprise, “I remember at the last banquet, the princess was like a newborn calf, trembling everywhere and very afraid of people. How did she change so much in such a short time?”

Zi Yan was playing with his tarot cards. He reminded helplessly,  “This “last time” that you said, it should have been ten years ago.”

Bai Licang’s face was blank. Enlightened, he clenched his right hand and hit his left palm with it. “It seems that she didn’t spend her time in vain.”

Zi Yan looked at Luo Lan and smiled, but still said nothing.

She didn’t spend her time in vain?

For the past ten years, he has been secretly watching her run forward desperately. She got up immediately after she fell. Even if she was covered with cuts and bruises from her training, she would never delay her study and work. It seemed that she didn’t even have time to feel unwell and depressed.

Zuo Qiubai observed her for a while and suddenly said, “Chen Sha doesn’t hate her.”

“Because the princess is indeed loveable!” Feng Lin’s voice suddenly sounded, with an imperceptible sharpness.

Zuo Qiubai touched his nose, he knew how to behave in a situation like this and closed his mouth wisely.

Zi Yan and Bai Licang smiled at each other and decided that passersby A and B should whole-heartedly devote themself to being passersby!

Luo Lan and Chen Sha come over.

Chen Sha sat aside without saying a word. Luo Lan leaned over to Feng Lin and asked happily, “Where’s Chu Mo?”

Feng Lin didn’t say anything. Instead, Zi Yan pointed in the direction of the door and said with a smile, “There!”

Chu Mo walked slowly from the crowd. Although his face was not as dazzling as Zi Yan’s, his gentle and elegant temperament gave people a feeling of tenderness and reliability, which attracted many women to come forward and talk to him.

The marriage rate of Odin Federation is lower than the average marriage rate of the whole interstellar. These days, women didn’t care about the promise of “forever” at all. They only want to have a one-night stand. Especially because it’s a rare opportunity to have met Chu Mo, each of them was more enthusiastic than the last and couldn’t wait to stick to him.

Fortunately, there was Zong Li following quietly behind him. Although his figure and face were no worse than Chu Mo, the moment his gloomy and suspicious eyes swept over those women, they all rushed back because his gaze was just like a scary door god^[2] who drove away evil spirits.

Luo Lan was stunned. It turned out that the Federation Minister of Public Security still had functions like this under his sleeve!

“Both Zi Yan and Chu Mo attract women too much. Zi Yan can’t keep his hands to himself and the women can’t keep their hands to themselves while Chu Mo gets the worst of it!” Bai Licang grinned and gloated, taking pleasure in other people’s misfortune, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth.

Chu Mo sat down with a bitter smile, “Don’t make fun of me.”

Luo Lan saw that everyone was here, and asked, “Will the consul bring a female companion?”

Everyone seemed to hear the most incredible thing and looked at Luo Lan strangely.

Luo Lan was baffled. Did she say anything wrong?

Feng Lin saw her expression and came to her rescue, “I forgot. You haven’t seen the consul yet.”

Zi Yan said with a smile, “The consul is single.”

“Then, Feng Lin and Chu Mo will have the first dance later!” Luo Lan proposed excitedly.

Because there are many intersections between their research and Chu Mo’s work, they often need the assistance of Chu Mo. After several years of contact, Luo Lan found that Feng Lin held some affection towards Chu Mo, but she always hid it in her heart and refused to acknowledge it out loud. As a capable subordinate, she should assist her boss.

Feng Lin looked at Chu Mo with faint expectation and Chu Mo said faintly without interest, “Change it to someone else!”

Zi Yan gave Luo Lan a meaningful glance, he winked and pointed at Zuo Qiubai implicitly. Luo Lan realized that there was something behind all of this that she didn’t know and said tentatively, “Feng Lin and Zuo Qiubai, then…?”

Zi Yan stroked his forehead. He wasn’t afraid if this person was only stupid, but it seems like this person was completely stupid!

“Chen Sha will have the first dance with the princess!” The voice was very polite, with a unique calmness and composed voice of a superior.

Everyone stood up and said one after another, “Consul!”

Luo Lan turned her head in the direction of the voice, she saw a tall man wearing a black hooded robe and a silver mask. His whole body was covered with clothes, he even wore gloves on his hands. The only place where people could see his emotion was on his blue eyes that weren’t covered by the mask.

After the consul greeted everyone, his gaze fell on Luo Lan.

Luo Lan took her own initiative, bowed courtesy, and said, “I’m Ying Xian Luo Lan, Chen Sha’s wife.”

The consul leaned toward Luo Lan slightly, “Hello, I’m Yin Nanzhao.^[3]“

He has perfect etiquette and his words were polite, but it feels very indifferent and alienated. It felt like he kept everyone at an arm’s length^[4]. Luo Lan understands why everyone looks at her strangely when she asked about the consul’s female companion. If Chen Sha was as cold as an iceberg and Qian Xu was as warm as the sun, then this man was desolate and had no temperature at all. It’s impossible to imagine that he has a relationship with anyone.

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Footnotes

1. 土生土长 – tǔ shēng tǔ zhǎng; be born and brought up on one’s native soil; be born and raised in the countryside; earth-bred.↵

2. 門神 – mén shén; Door god. Door gods are pictures of deities posted on the door outside and inside the house. They are expected to keep ghosts away, to protect the family and to bring fortune. Image of mén shén is on attachment below.↵

3. Yin Nanzhao, Qian Xu, and another character, You Beichen, share a common thing in their name. A 日(rì; lit. sun) character in their names. More about this in Amoeba’s Corner below.↵

4. 拒人于千里之外- jù rén yú qiān lǐ zhī wài; keep someone a thousand li away; keep a good distance from someone; put someone beyond the pale↵

Attachment

Amoeba’s Corner

A wild unreliable consul Yin Nanzhao appeared! [throw pokeball]
–
Luo Lan used the trick “wingman” on Feng Lin, it’s not very effective!
Zi Yan used the trick “wingman” on Luo Lan, it’s not very effective!
Yin Nanzhao used the trick “wingman” on Luo Lan, it’s super effective!
–
“Luo Lan chose to wait for him rather than let him wait, what did it mean?” It means you traumatized her enough that she didn’t dare to let you wait.

Bad Chen Sha (๑•̀ㅁ•́๑)

Rather than the road of redemption, perhaps Chen Sha is walking in a road of regrets…

Continuation from Footnote#3
殷南昭 – Yīn Nánzhāo.

日 from Yin Nanzhao’s name is from 昭(zhāo; lit. clear).

昭 refer to 光明; guāng míng; lit. light. 

游北晨 – Yóu Běichén.

日 from You Beichen’s name is from 晨(chén; lit. morning).

晨 refer to 晨光; chén guāng; lit. morning sun’s light.

千旭 – Qiān Xù.

日 from Qian Xu’s name is from 旭(xù; lit. rising sun).

旭 refer to 旭日; xù rì; lit. rising/morning sun.

Yin Nanzhao’s 南(Nán) means south while You Beichen’s 北(Běi) means north.

It was quite obvious in hànzì but not in pīnyīn so I choose to insert it here. Let your thought run wild.

This chapter words count (excluding title, footnotes, and TL’s corner): 2173