Chapter 134: Dinner
Nan Yu knew that once this meal was over, his identity would be completely tied to Yu Lanfeng's. From now on, they would share both honor and disgrace.
But Nan Yu thought that was more than fine.
In fact, it was exactly what he had wanted all along.
From what the Empress had said, he had also learned something he hadn't known before.
Originally, Old Master Bai had used a personal favor with the Emperor to save Bai Zhouyun's life.
Perhaps the plan had been to gradually rehabilitate his reputation. As time passed, people would slowly forget what had happened, and Bai Zhouyun might have had another chance.
But then Bai Zhouyun disappeared.
Everyone knew he had escaped from prison.
Moreover, he had clearly colluded with a very powerful organization.
As for which organization it was, everyone already knew the answer.
The only organization capable of silently taking someone out of the Capital Star Prison was the same one from which Bai Zhouyun had purchased prohibited drugs.
Well...
Now he'd stirred up a hornet's nest.
Regardless of everything else, Bai Zhouyun would never have another chance to make a comeback within the Empire.
And the favor Old Master Bai had spent had been completely wasted.
He was probably heartbroken now.
Nan Yu actually felt a little schadenfreude.
Back then, Old Master Bai had been eager to push forward his marriage to that useless Bai Zhouyun, even after everything that had happened.
Even he himself must have felt too ashamed to show his face by now.
Then Nan Yu suddenly thought of someone else.
Yun Feiyu.
In his previous life, Yun Feiyu and Bai Zhouyun had been a match made in heaven.
Wherever one went, the other followed.
But now...
Had they gone their separate ways?
So where had Yun Feiyu gone?
The last he'd heard, Yun Feiyu had been living in an apartment complex near the suburbs.
But Nan Yu hadn't paid attention for quite some time, so he had no idea where he was now.
When he had time, he'd ask around.
Or perhaps search the StarNet.
Maybe people were still keeping an eye on Yun Feiyu's whereabouts.
After all, practically everyone who knew Bai Zhouyun also knew about his relationship with Yun Feiyu.
Now that Bai Zhouyun was officially wanted, countless people would undoubtedly be secretly watching Yun Feiyu.
Perhaps...
Bai Zhouyun would eventually come looking for him.
After all, Yun Feiyu was Bai Zhouyun's one true love.
The person he had chosen over someone as exceptional as Nan Yu.
Of course his true love was different...
Before long, Nan Yu saw the Emperor walking in from outside.
The three of them immediately stood up to greet him.
The Emperor wasn't the least bit formal.
"All right, all right. Sit down."
"It's only a family meal."
"Everyone, eat."
As he spoke, his gaze briefly swept over Nan Yu.
In truth, he had always avoided having any contact with Nan Yu.
The only reason was that he owed the Bai family a favor.
He hadn't wanted to help dissolve Nan Yu's engagement to Bai Zhouyun.
But now...
He regretted it.
He regretted not intervening sooner.
Nan Yu had wasted so much time because of Bai Zhouyun.
The moment the Empress saw his expression, she knew exactly what he was thinking.
To her, that was undoubtedly a good thing.
"All right."
"Let's eat."
"Stop staring at each other."
Nan Yu picked up his chopsticks and began eating together with Yu Lanfeng.
The Emperor and Empress also appeared to be in excellent spirits.
No other serious matters were discussed during the meal.
Instead, they kept asking the two of them when they planned to make their relationship public...
Or when they intended to get married.
Yu Lanfeng's answer remained the same every single time.
"We'll think about those things after he reaches adulthood."
Eventually, even the Empress grew tired of asking.
There was simply nothing they could do.
Nan Yu wasn't an adult yet.
"I only have a few more years until I come of age," Nan Yu said.
"So..."
There was no need to rush.
Yu Lanfeng had already waited so many years.
Would another two or three years really matter?
As it turned out...
Yu Lanfeng cared about those two or three years more than anyone.
Back when Nan Yu's engagement to Bai Zhouyun had been public knowledge, no one minded because it had been an arranged marriage between two families.
But things were completely different now that Nan Yu was single again.
One situation was a political marriage arranged between two families.
The other...
If it became public now, people would say that Yu Lanfeng had seduced a minor and done something utterly disgraceful before Nan Yu was even an adult.
Besides, Bai Zhouyun's incident had happened only recently.
Nan Yu couldn't gamble with his own reputation.
So they had both decided to keep their relationship secret for a few more years and wait until Nan Yu came of age.
The Empress smiled.
"I knew you'd think everything through carefully."
"So just keep living your lives normally."
"Leave everything else to us."
"If anyone dares leak news about your relationship ahead of time, we'll deal with it immediately."
"Thank you..." Nan Yu replied.
The Empress pretended to look offended.
"'Thank you'?"
"You're already with my little brother."
"Shouldn't you call me something a little nicer?"
Nan Yu froze slightly.
Something nicer?
A moment later, he understood.
She wanted him to call her "Big Sister."
"Big Sister..."
The Empress immediately smiled with satisfaction.
Yu Lanfeng remained expressionless, as though he had seen and heard nothing.
For some reason, however, the Emperor looked at Nan Yu with a hint of anticipation.
Nan Yu jumped inwardly.
He hesitated over whether he should call him "Brother-in-law."
His eyes shifted back and forth between the Empress's encouraging gaze and Yu Lanfeng's indifferent expression.
Finally, he steeled himself and quietly called out,
"Brother-in-law..."
The Emperor nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm, that's more like it!"
The Emperor had been in an awful mood ever since the Bai family incident.
Now, for once, he was genuinely happy.
No one knew how long that good mood would last.
But even a little happiness was still happiness.
The meal itself didn't last very long.
Afterward, the Emperor had other matters to attend to and soon departed.
Only the Empress remained behind to give them some advice.
Especially Nan Yu.
She pulled him into a small room by themselves and talked endlessly.
"My little brother may look like someone who has everything under control, but he actually overlooks a lot of things."
"I'll tell you the most ridiculous example."
"Right after he graduated, he was leaving to join the legion for training."
"When he went to take the entrance assessment, he actually forgot his communicator at home."
"If I hadn't happened to come back for something and found it sitting on the coffee table in the living room, then rushed to deliver it to him..."
"He probably wouldn't have become a Marshal today!"
Nan Yu blinked.
"Huh? Something like that actually happened?"
"Of course."
"He usually handles everything perfectly."
"But every now and then, he'll forget something extremely important."
"You absolutely have to keep an eye on him in the future."
"Otherwise, one day it might cause a major problem."
Nan Yu smiled.
"But he's managed on his own all these years without any issues."
"Maybe he's already grown out of that."
The Empress rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
Come to think of it...
It really hadn't happened again.
"Well, just treat it as a precaution."
"If anything like that ever happens again, you'll have to look after him a little."
"Oh, right!"
"And another thing..."
The Empress ended up chatting with Nan Yu in that little room for a full two hours before finally coming out.
Nan Yu looked toward Yu Lanfeng, who had been working outside.
"Let's go."
"We're heading back."
Yu Lanfeng put away his work and stood up.
"Finished talking?"
The Empress snorted.
"What?"
"I borrowed him for only two hours."
"You're already getting impatient?"
Nan Yu felt somewhat embarrassed.
Fortunately, Yu Lanfeng didn't answer.
Instead, he simply bid farewell to the Empress and left together with Nan Yu.
To be honest, before coming to the palace, Nan Yu had been rather nervous about meeting the Emperor and Empress.
But after discovering how easygoing both of them were, all that tension completely disappeared.
After boarding the hovercraft, just as they were preparing to leave the palace, Nan Yu suddenly spoke.
"Oh, right, Brother."
"When you have time..."
"Would you come home with me?"
"So we can have a proper formal meeting?"
Yu Lanfeng narrowed his eyes slightly.
He actually thought it was an excellent idea.
But then he remembered Nan Yu's current age...
And the attitudes Nan Ming and Nan Yu's two older brothers would probably have toward him.
Immediately, he abandoned the idea.
"Having dinner at your house..."
"We should wait until you've reached adulthood."
"Considering your current age..."
"They might..."
They might do something irrational.
At that point, as both a Marshal and their superior, even he wouldn't know how to handle the situation.
Nan Yu looked puzzled.
"It can't be that serious, can it?"
Yu Lanfeng replied,
"Never underestimate how much your father and your two brothers love you."
"I can tell."
"They truly love you."
Nan Yu answered without hesitation,
"I've never doubted that."
He could doubt many things.
But he would never doubt his family's love.
Not only because of everything that had happened in his previous life...
But because every instinct he possessed told him the same thing.
The two of them returned directly to legion headquarters.
Nan Yu headed to Professor Liu's office as usual to check in.
Meanwhile, Yu Lanfeng went to deal with the matter Nan Yu had decided on earlier.
The principal had almost become immune to seeing the Marshal.
"Marshal Yu... may I ask what issue still needs to be resolved?"
Hadn't they already finished discussing the matters of skipping grades and early graduation?
Why had he come back again?
It was making the principal extremely nervous.
Fortunately, Yu Lanfeng didn't keep him waiting.
"Tomorrow I'll have Nan Yu come for one comprehensive assessment."
"In the future, whenever the academy needs his assessment records—whether for advancement examinations or any other regular evaluations—you'll use the results from this assessment."
"And lower the required standards appropriately."
"When it's finally time for Nan Yu to graduate, simply duplicate this assessment record in its entirety."
The principal's first instinct was to refuse.
But just as he opened his mouth...
He met Yu Lanfeng's gaze.
Those eyes...
Were exactly like those of a god of slaughter.
The principal genuinely felt that if he refused, Yu Lanfeng might kill him on the spot.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he carefully replied,
"Nothing like this has ever happened before."
Yu Lanfeng remained expressionless.
"And the arrangement we discussed earlier."
"Has that ever happened before?"
"So now all you need to tell me is..."
"Do you agree?"
"Or not?"
The principal hesitated.
"But won't it be simple for him to come back later?"
"It would only delay him a little."
Yu Lanfeng asked calmly,
"And what if an emergency occurs then?"
"Should the entire legion remain here waiting for Nan Yu to finish his examination?"
"Or should they simply take him and leave?"
"Obviously..."
"They'd leave with him."
In that case, Nan Yu's examination would simply be voided.
Rather than risking that, it was better to conduct one complete assessment now, record every result, and simply reuse those records whenever necessary in the future.
Naturally, the principal had no way of knowing Yu Lanfeng's true thoughts.
Yu Lanfeng was worried that before Nan Yu officially reached graduation age...
He might already break through to become a High-Tier Mental Power User.
Logically speaking, breaking through from Mid-Tier to High-Tier was an incredibly difficult bottleneck for Mental Power Users.
Yet...
For some reason...
Yu Lanfeng felt that for Nan Yu, it would be nothing more than a minor obstacle.
So he had to prepare in advance.
In fact...
Their entire early-graduation plan had been created precisely for that possibility.
He wasn't sure what Nan Yu had been thinking earlier.
It almost seemed as though Nan Yu had forgotten about it.
But that was fine.
Yu Lanfeng would handle it himself.
After all...
Both of them still cared about this little academy.
Now that the academy needed help, although they couldn't provide everything it wanted, they wouldn't refuse the principal's request outright.
Since they had already agreed...
They intended to do it properly.
Nan Yu remained with Professor Liu until evening before leaving the medical building.
Just as he was about to leave that day, someone stopped him once again.
This time...
It was Du Enyun.
"Doctor Du, is there something important you wanted to discuss with me?"
Du Enyun nodded.
"It's about him."
Nan Yu naturally knew exactly who he meant.
But so what?
Should he know?
Should he remember?
He simply shook his head.
"Who are you talking about?"
Du Enyun still hadn't realized that Nan Yu had long since figured out who he meant.
He assumed Nan Yu genuinely didn't know.
"I'm talking about the person who made that mistake before."
"I've already taught him a lesson."
"I hope you..."
Nan Yu interrupted calmly.
"Who are you talking about?"
"What lesson?"
"I didn't see anything."
"I haven't heard anything."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Looking at Nan Yu's expressionless face, Du Enyun finally realized something.
Nan Yu had no intention whatsoever of forgiving his junior.
When all was said and done...
His junior had acted that way simply to vent his own frustration.
After causing such an incident, everyone would soon learn about it.
By then...
Aside from the few people still dreaming of becoming Yu Lanfeng's partner...
Almost no one would stand on their side.
If things completely fell apart, it would only hurt them.
Taking a deep breath, Du Enyun said,
"I'm talking about the one who temporarily assigned your office to a new employee."
"He's actually my junior."
"I also bear some responsibility."
"No matter what..."
"If there's anything you want, just tell me."
"As long as it's within my ability, I won't refuse."
"I only hope..."
Nan Yu cut him off.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
That was actually true.
Nan Yu had never deliberately targeted anyone.
Even when that person reassigned his office, he had merely been angry.
He hadn't actually done anything.
Well...
More accurately, he simply hadn't had time to do anything yet.
But judging by Du Enyun's attitude...
Had Yu Lanfeng secretly gotten revenge on his behalf?
He'd ask him about it later.
Seeing that Nan Yu still refused to acknowledge anything, Du Enyun finally said directly,
"Whatever you want, just tell me."
"I'm begging you..."
"Please show him some mercy."
Nan Yu immediately disliked those words.
It sounded as though he had attacked someone for no reason.
"Doctor Du."
He interrupted him firmly.
"This has nothing to do with me."
"I've never done anything to him."
"And besides..."
"If I really had made a move..."
"There would be no reason for me to hide it."
"Don't you agree?"
Du Enyun's mind, which had practically stopped working, slowly began turning again.
Now that he thought about it...
That actually made perfect sense.
"Then... if it wasn't you, who else could it have been..."
At that point, Du Enyun suddenly thought of someone.
Could it be...
Seeing the despair spread across his face, Nan Yu immediately knew who he had thought of.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
Perhaps Nan Yu hadn't slipped away quickly enough.
Just as he was about to leave, Du Enyun stopped him again.
Looking at Nan Yu, he finally pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture.
"Nan Yu, please. I'm begging you, all right? Really... he's my only junior apprentice. Being able to work in the medical building is the result of years of hard work."
"He's still young. He hasn't had enough harsh lessons from society yet, so sometimes he lets his emotions get the better of him."
Nan Yu couldn't help thinking that every one of these people was older than he was, yet they were all far more emotional than him.
"So you're asking me to go plead on behalf of someone who's been targeting me at every turn?"
What a joke.
Nan Yu never took the initiative to provoke others, but that didn't mean he would help someone who constantly made things difficult for him.
One look at Nan Yu's expression was enough for Du Enyun to realize there was no chance he would agree.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going. You can deal with this yourselves."
Then again...
Yu Lanfeng probably wasn't interested enough in the details of his everyday life to pay attention to something like this.
So perhaps it wasn't Yu Lanfeng who had made a move this time either?
Seeing that Du Enyun had fallen silent, Nan Yu simply walked past him and left the medical building.
When he returned home, he found Yu Lanfeng sitting in the living room.
"What are you doing?"
He walked behind Yu Lanfeng and glanced at the information displayed on his communicator before looking away.
"Still working?"
Yu Lanfeng nodded.
He then told Nan Yu about the matter he had "discussed" with the principal at the academy.
Only then did Nan Yu finally remember it.
"Ah!"
"How could I have forgotten something so important?!"
Covering his face with both hands, he felt utterly embarrassed.
The whole point had been to prevent anyone from discovering that he would break through to High-Tier Mental Power User far earlier than normal.
Yet he had still agreed to return every year for assessments.
It seemed his brain had become a little sluggish lately.
Yu Lanfeng said calmly,
"You've probably been so focused on studying with Professor Liu recently that you've filled your head with nothing but learning and forgotten the most important ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) matter."
Nan Yu suddenly recalled what the Empress had said about Yu Lanfeng being a little unreliable.
Had he somehow caught it from him?
Usually there weren't any problems with trivial matters.
But the moment something important came up...
Things went wrong.
That description wasn't Yu Lanfeng at all.
It was obviously himself!
Noticing the strange look on his face, Yu Lanfeng asked,
"What's wrong?"
Nan Yu shook his head.
Since Yu Lanfeng had already resolved the issue, there was no need for him to keep worrying about it.
"Oh, right."
"About what happened in the medical building..."
"Did you interfere?"
Yu Lanfeng shook his head.
"I know about it."
"But I haven't done anything yet."
Nan Yu blinked.
Then...
Who exactly was standing up for him?
He was genuinely surprised.
If it wasn't Yu Lanfeng helping him...
Who could it be?
Ever since arriving at legion headquarters, almost everyone he had encountered had treated him either indifferently, with hostility, or with jealousy mixed with hostility.
He had never met anyone who would secretly help him.
Judging by the fact that even Du Enyun had personally come to plead with him, it was obvious that whoever was targeting that person had done it so quietly that even the victim himself had no idea who his enemy was.
In that situation...
He could only spend every day living in fear.
The next day, Nan Yu had to return to the academy, so he requested leave from Professor Liu once again.
This assessment covered absolutely everything.
Naturally, it would take an entire day.
They left for the academy early in the morning.
By the time everything was finished...
Nan Yu felt completely exhausted.
He had arrived full of energy that morning.
By evening, however, he looked utterly drained.
After returning, he took a quick shower and immediately collapsed into bed.
The following morning, he woke up refreshed and full of energy before heading back to the medical building to continue studying under Professor Liu.
Although he had spent the entire previous day occupied with assessments, he hadn't forgotten anything he had learned.
Under Professor Liu's rather strict questioning, he answered every question correctly.
Once Nan Yu finished...
It was Du Enyun's turn.
From the moment Nan Yu had entered the office until now, Du Enyun's eyes had never left him.
Not only did Nan Yu notice it.
Even Professor Liu noticed that undisguised stare.
It displeased him greatly.
Du Enyun's questioning hadn't even finished yet.
Nan Yu's arrival had interrupted it briefly earlier.
Now they resumed from where they had left off.
Nan Yu didn't understand what was happening at first.
But he quickly found out.
Right in front of him, Professor Liu began questioning Du Enyun on numerous medical topics.
Many of them had already been covered previously.
Even Nan Yu remembered them perfectly.
Yet Du Enyun stumbled over nearly every answer.
He hesitated, stammered, and struggled through them.
Fortunately, he eventually answered every question correctly.
The assessment continued until the end.
Although Du Enyun had answered every question...
Professor Liu said nothing.
Instead, he selected several questions Du Enyun had answered poorly and immediately asked Nan Yu the exact same ones.
Every single answer Nan Yu gave was flawless.
Professor Liu's mood visibly improved.
"That's more like it."
"Did you hear that?"
"Student Nan Yu hasn't attended class for two whole days, yet he still answered much better than you!"
To anyone else, those words might simply have gone in one ear and out the other.
But after fully understanding just how strict Professor Liu really was, Nan Yu had already expected something like this.
Still...
None of it had anything to do with him.
Du Enyun had only himself to blame.
After that incident passed, Nan Yu could clearly feel that Du Enyun would occasionally steal glances in his direction.
It almost seemed as though he had started blaming Nan Yu.
Nan Yu paid it no mind.
So what if Du Enyun resented him?
Once he finished studying here, he would be leaving the Capital Star together with Yu Lanfeng.
Aside from the occasional return to legion headquarters...
They probably wouldn't even have another chance to meet.
So Nan Yu simply didn't care anymore.