Chapter 250: The Drawing Order
At that moment, Shi Lan still hadn’t quite caught on, but she could sense that everyone’s mood had become much more somber.
In truth, for Yan Huoshui, Ye Ming, Jiang Xia, and Mu Tangfeng, a choice like this from Shi Lan was bound to happen sooner or later. They just couldn’t control their instinctive feelings of bitterness and jealousy.
Because Shi Lan had confirmed her choice of He Hanshi without hesitation, she hadn’t given them a chance to compete for it.
However, having just registered their marriage, Shi Lan hadn’t yet adapted to her new status and hadn’t thought too deeply about it. She only said what she did because she happened to be staying at He Hanshi’s house lately.
Now, noticing the change in the look in their eyes, she was just about to ask them what was wrong when Jiang Xia, his eyes rimmed with red, asked, "Lanlan, are you choosing to sleep with Admiral He tonight?"
’Sleep with He Hanshi?’
Hearing those words, Shi Lan’s face instantly flushed red. She was about to wave her hands to object, but then she suddenly remembered they were officially married—sleeping together was perfectly logical.
It belatedly dawned on her what was happening. So when she said she would stay over at He Hanshi’s place, their expressions had changed so drastically because they had misunderstood the implication.
If it were before, with only one husband, sleeping with him was just that—sleeping with him. But now that she had five, the matter of sleeping arrangements seemed far from simple.
She nervously licked her lips. "Do we need to make a schedule for this first?"
’First of all, five in one day is impossible. Of course, the men also have an instinctive territoriality; they would never accept attending to their wife together with other men.’
’Second, she also wanted to give her back a break.’
So she added, "Seven days in a week. We’ll take two days off, and the other five will be by rotation. You all should discuss how to set the order."
The private room fell silent. The light in Jiang Xia’s eyes rekindled.
The men exchanged a glance. He Hanshi, for his part, wasn’t disappointed. At least he was the first one Lanlan had thought of.
Jiang Xia suggested, "By age? From youngest to oldest?"
Mu Tangfeng’s lips turned down in displeasure. "No. Wouldn’t that make you first?"
"In my opinion, we should go by the reverse order of the proposals. I already got the short end of the stick by being the last to propose, so I should at least get to be with Lanlan first."
Jiang Xia retorted, "Dream on. You were just unlucky with the lottery for the proposals."
Ye Ming was silent for a moment. "Why don’t we just draw lots again?"
He Hanshi’s eyes shifted slightly. He stroked his teacup with his fingers, not speaking for a moment.
A corner of Yan Huoshui’s lips curled up. "Why don’t we let Lanlan set the order?"
His fox-like eyes narrowed, and he rested his chin on his fingertips, smiling at Shi Lan.
Hearing this, the others seemed to have no objections and all looked at her.
Shi Lan awkwardly set down her hot tea, not having expected this difficult problem to be thrown back into her lap.
After hesitating for a long moment, she said, "Let’s do this: each of you write an order on a slip of paper, and I’ll draw one. Whichever I draw is the order we’ll use."
"Okay."
Seeing this, they all nodded.
Shi Lan took a pad of sticky notes and a box from her Space Chain, telling them to write on the notes, fold them up, and put them in the box for her to draw from.
Once the five men had their sticky notes, they started writing.
Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng both stuck with their original ideas.
Ye Ming wrote the opposite of Mu Tangfeng’s suggestion—by the original order of the proposals.
Yan Huoshui simply wrote out an order of their five names, unsurprisingly putting himself first.
As for He Hanshi, he thought for a moment before writing down the sequence of their prison numbers from Black Star. He had been number one, and that was also the place where he had first met Lanlan.
Once the five slips were in the box, Shi Lan picked it up and shook it for a good while. Then, holding the opening away from herself so she couldn’t see inside, she reached in and randomly grabbed one.
She declared, "We’re sticking to the order I draw, okay? No backing out."
The five men nodded, leaving it up to fate.
Everyone unconsciously held their breath. Even Shi Lan felt her heart pound with excitement. She slowly unfolded the slip of paper. After reading its contents, she glanced at He Hanshi before reading what he had written aloud.
She had drawn the Black Star slip. ’It really seems like this was arranged by fate—the place where our journey together began.’
He Hanshi’s hand, clenched tightly by the side of his chair, instantly relaxed. The worried line between his brows also smoothed out considerably.
Although the other four were disappointed that their slips weren’t drawn, they honored their promise and confirmed the order.
Shi Lan put the box away and, seeing that it was already almost eight o’clock, parted ways with the others for the time being to head home with He Hanshi.
—
Meanwhile, at the Bai Family residence, Ye Yan walked in with a worried expression, carrying Bai Rao in his arms.
Seeing the person in his arms, Mr. Bai immediately ran over. "Second Prince, what’s wrong with my Ruoru?"
Mrs. Bai also looked at the unconscious Bai Rao. Although she had only found out today that this was not her biological daughter, in her eyes, Bai Rao had certainly brought her a lot of prestige. For that, Mrs. Bai was still rather fond of her.
"Second Prince, what happened? Weren’t you two traveling?"
Bai Rao and Ye Yan’s wedding was fast approaching. After Ye Ming’s last birthday banquet, Ye Yan had seen his brother getting close with some worthless female; in contrast, the woman who would be his wife was an outstanding A-level female. It was a rare chance for him to feel superior to Ye Ming, and his affection for Bai Rao had instantly blossomed. But he could clearly feel that after Ye Ming’s return, she had grown much colder toward him.
With their wedding approaching, Ye Yan had suggested a trip to cultivate their relationship and, at the same time, avoid anywhere Ye Ming might be. As it turned out, their luck was bad. They encountered a rare meteor shower, and their Teleportation Spaceship was struck by a speeding meteor. The hull was damaged, and they ended up crash-landing on a Deserted Star.
The signal on the Deserted Star was terrible. Ye Yan had to search all over before finding a place where he could send a distress signal. When he returned to the Teleportation Spaceship, however, he found Bai Rao had mysteriously collapsed at the entrance, her body flickering with a strange light.
Fortunately, a rescue ship arrived quickly.
Ye Yan briefly explained the situation, then added, "I’ve already had a doctor examine Ruoru. They said there’s nothing seriously wrong, just that her spiritual power is a little chaotic. A night in the Treatment Pod should be enough for her to wake up."
Mr. Bai quickly took her to rest in the Treatment Pod in her room. Mrs. Bai, looking at Ye Yan who remained standing there, asked nervously, "What does it mean for her spiritual power to be ’a little chaotic’? It won’t affect Ruoru’s A-level spiritual power, will it?"
Ye Yan drew his gaze back from Mr. Bai’s departing figure and shook his head. "It shouldn’t. I’ll have a doctor come to the house tomorrow to check on her again."
"Very well. Thank you, Second Prince. It’s getting late... would you like a cup of tea before you go?"
Mrs. Bai was in no mood to entertain Ye Yan, her unenthusiastic words a clear hint for him to leave.
Fortunately, Ye Yan didn’t have strong feelings for any member of the Bai Family besides Bai Rao, so he took her hint and departed.
Upstairs, Mr. Bai watched the Treatment Pod close. He stayed with Bai Rao for a while, and only left the room after seeing her features relax, indicating she wasn’t in any discomfort inside the pod.
The room’s lights went out. A green glow began to emanate from Bai Rao’s body again.
In the darkness, the green glow appeared to be some kind of life form. It could be seen through her flesh, darting about inside her. Unable to escape, it could only quiet down, full of reluctance.