Chapter 55: Marshal
That's right, what angered all those people who had been discussing and cursing Bai Zhouyun wasn't that he had lucked into an engagement with Nan Yu.
It was that he had obtained something so precious and still failed to cherish it.
Not only did he fail to cherish it, he constantly did shameless things that ruined his own reputation and humiliated his fiancé.
Not only Ability Users, even many Mental Power Users declared that they would never do business with the Bai family again. Many innocent people with the surname Bai were dragged into the matter as well.
Fortunately, there weren't many extremists who beat everyone with the same stick. Most people wouldn't vent their anger on unrelated people who simply happened to share the surname.
Nan Yu continuously browsed through the discussion forums and discovered that he had truly become famous.
"I'm not even a High-Tier Mental Power User yet, and I'm already this famous. Once I really become one, won't the entire Empire know who I am?"
At the moment, he was probably even more famous than many actual High-Tier Mental Power Users.
Soon, however, Nan Yu discovered a rather different post.
"Huh? Come take a look at this."
Nan Yun, Nan Zhen, and Yang Zhou all crowded around, while Nan Ming maintained his dignity as an elder and didn't come over, though his eyes kept glancing in their direction.
Nan Yu pointed at the screen.
"Look, this is a challenge post."
He clicked on it. The general content was that someone was dissatisfied with him being called the number one Mid-Tier Mental Power User and intended to come to the Capital Star to challenge him.
Yang Zhou rolled his eyes.
"Who is this? So bored."
Nan Yu smiled.
"Judging from the rather emotional wording, it's probably some younger kid. When he arrives, we can give it a try."
Yang Zhou rolled his eyes again.
"What kid? Don't forget we're only fifteen ourselves. Are we adults already?"
Nan Yu paused slightly.
He had forgotten that. He had returned to the past and was only fifteen years old now. However, the New Year was approaching, and once it passed, he would turn sixteen.
He hoped time would move a little slower, giving him as much time as possible to cultivate and become a High-Tier Mental Power User sooner.
Only then could he seize the initiative.
Yang Zhou had no place to stay after returning. The school dormitories were open all year round, and many students who didn't want to go home stayed there because it was convenient and allowed them to make better use of their time.
But Yang Zhou didn't want to return to school right now. There were too few people there.
He hadn't bought a house yet either, so he temporarily moved into the Nan family residence. The Nan family had plenty of guest rooms, so giving him one was no problem.
Yang Zhou excitedly declared that he would accompany Nan Yu to Liu Gan's place later.
Nan Yu said, "Even if you come with me, you still won't be allowed inside while I'm removing the Mental Contamination."
Yang Zhou waved his hand.
"It's fine, it's fine. I just want to go and experience the tense atmosphere firsthand."
"And cheer for you a few times while I'm at it!"
Nan Yu sighed.
"Do whatever you want, but don't overdo it. Senior Liu and his lover have suffered for so many years..."
Yang Zhou waved him off.
"I know, I know. We all know about Senior's situation. I know where the line is."
After saying that, he winked at Nan Yu with an expression of mutual understanding.
"Alright, rest properly today. Don't think that just because you're acting lively, I can't tell you're exhausted. Earlier you were just forcing yourself because Yun Feiyu was around. Now that he's gone, you should go rest. Whatever else there is can wait until you've recovered. There's no hurry."
Yang Zhou's smile slowly faded, revealing his truly dispirited expression.
"You figured that out too?"
Did that even require guessing?
Anyone could tell.
He had gone back to his home planet not for anything else, but to hold his grandfather's funeral, while a whole bunch of relatives had been fighting over the inheritance.
How could he possibly have had an easy time?
After the funeral, he had rushed back to the Capital Star immediately. There had been no opportunity to rest.
Yang Zhou didn't refuse.
He really was exhausted. Earlier, he had indeed been forcing himself.
He had stayed with the Nan family before, and his old guest room had always been kept for him. Familiar with the place, he went straight to the room he had once used, took a shower, and went to sleep.
He didn't even bother eating.
Nan Yu returned to the living room and found his father and two brothers gathered together, doing something.
"What are you doing?"
As he approached, he discovered they were reading discussions on the Star Network concerning him and Bai Zhouyun.
Not every comment was condemning Bai Zhouyun. A small minority believed Nan Yu was the one asking for trouble.
With conditions this good, why insist on staying with such a useless man?
If it were them, they would have canceled the engagement long ago.
Some said he was too soft and lacked the courage to end the engagement.
Some called him cheap and accused him of throwing himself at that trash.
Others said there was something wrong with his head.
But these were only a minority. Most people stood firmly on Nan Yu's side.
The main reason was that Nan Yu's strength had already been displayed for everyone to see.
Those dissatisfied with him only dared to discuss things in obscure corners. Afterward, they would even delete their posts to avoid leaving evidence that might come back to haunt them.
Nan Yu said helplessly, "Why are you still looking at this? There's nothing interesting here. Instead of reading these comments, we should think about how we're getting to Senior's place tomorrow and how we'll come back afterward."
Only then did they remember.
Previously, this wouldn't have been a problem, but now there were people everywhere coveting Nan Yu, so they had to...
Nan Ming took a deep breath.
"Xiao Yu, how about this? I'll contact Marshal Yu's side and see if he can help."
Nan Yu paused.
"But that wouldn't really be appropriate. After all, I'm not part of Marshal Yu's legion."
He hadn't even graduated yet.
Going directly to ask for help...
Nan Ming waved it off.
"That's not an issue. Many legions do this. They reserve talented people in advance and recruit them directly after graduation."
"To tell you the truth, more than ten legions have contacted me already, and I haven't replied to any of them. In my opinion, none of them can compare to Marshal Yu's legion."
Nan Ming himself served in Yu Lanfeng's legion and could contact him. After all, he held the rank of Major General.
Nan Yu frowned slightly.
"Dad, among those legions that contacted you, did Marshal Yu's legion contact you?"
That was a pointless question.
If they had, Nan Ming wouldn't have just said he would contact Marshal Yu himself.
The fact that he had to do so meant they hadn't.
After a moment of silence, Nan Yu asked again.
"So there wasn't one, right?"
Nan Ming nodded.
"Not yet. Maybe they're still observing. Every legion has a department dedicated to monitoring talented people everywhere. They definitely know about your situation by now, but since they still haven't made a move, they're obviously waiting to see more."
Nan Yun was dissatisfied.
"Little Brother is already this outstanding, and they still need to observe? Isn't that too much? As far as I know, among the Mental Power Users in the First Legion, there are probably only a handful who surpass him!"
"And they still want to observe?"
"Weren't they afraid another legion would recruit him first?"
The first ones to come were naturally those with sincerity and the willingness to take risks.
Did the First Legion want top talent without taking any risks?
How could there be such a good deal in the world?
Nan Ming thought the same.
When his youngest son wasn't this impressive, legions had come to recruit him.
Now they weren't.
It felt strange.
But if they contacted the First Legion first, it would be lowering themselves. Nan Yu's ability was already there. There was no need to lower their status and approach a legion that hadn't contacted them.
Even if that legion was the best.
After all, no matter where Nan Yu went, he would receive excellent treatment.
Nan Yun said, "Dad, there's no need to rush. Let's wait until Little Brother finishes removing Senior's lover's Mental Contamination."
Nan Ming nodded.
"Fine. I'll delay things a little longer."
"You two listen carefully. I can't stay at home all the time, so as elder brothers, you must work hard and improve your strength. Protect your little brother in the future, understand?"
Nan Yun and Nan Zhen exchanged glances before standing at attention.
"Yes, sir!"
Nan Yu smiled.
"Alright, alright, why are you being so serious? My brothers have been working hard all along, and I'll continue helping you remove Mental Contamination. So you don't need to deliberately restrict your intake of Ability Beast meat. With me around, it doesn't matter how much you eat!"
In his previous life, there had been a period when Bai Zhouyun had suffered some sort of stimulation outside and returned home crazily devouring Ability Beast meat.
His Mental Contamination would become severe each time, and Nan Yu had to remove it every day.
He had been exhausted.
Even his father and brothers' treatments had been delayed many times.
Yet he had never complained.
Precisely because Bai Zhouyun had consumed Ability Beast meat like a madman, combined with having Nan Yu as a tireless and free Mental Power User, he had eventually broken through to become a High-Tier Ability User and one of the strongest Ability Users in the Empire.
None of that could have happened without Nan Yu standing behind him.
As a result, Nan Yu's endurance and ability to withstand pressure were extraordinarily strong.
Nan Ming sighed.
"I know. Xiao Yu is the best."
Since he had to help Liu Gan's lover remove Mental Contamination the next day, Nan Yu went to bed early.
As a result, he had no idea what happened after dinner that evening.
Nan Ming looked at the person standing before him and twitched at the corner of his eye.
"So it's you. What are you doing here this late? Dinner's over already. Don't tell me you came for a midnight snack? Sorry, our family doesn't have the habit of preparing late-night meals."
The visitor smiled cheerfully.
He looked difficult to deal with, somewhat strange, and thick-skinned. Even after being mocked like that, he didn't get angry and instead acted as though it was natural.
"Brother Nan, calm down. I know I came late, but I got held up by something troublesome. I didn't do it on purpose."
"The matter involved the strongest person in our legion, so nobody dared neglect it. Under normal circumstances, I would've been the first to come knocking!"
Nan Ming snorted.
"Oh? Since when did something urgent happen to the Marshal?"
The man laughed.
"You don't know, do you? Well, it's not confidential, and you're practically family, so I'll tell you."
He coughed and cleared his throat.
"Actually, His Excellency the Marshal was summoned by the Empress because... because she wanted to arrange a marriage for him!"
Nan Ming's eyes widened.
"The Empress wants to arrange a match for the Marshal? With whom? Did your people choose the candidates?"
That would certainly explain the delay.
It really wasn't their fault.
"Exactly! The Empress originally wanted to choose someone herself, but the Marshal said either he wouldn't find anyone at all, or he'd leave it to us."
"So we got thrown into it. But honestly, it makes sense. Our job is selecting the best seedlings, and that includes both Ability Users and Mental Power Users. We have mountains of files on excellent and promising Mental Power Users."
Nan Ming blinked.
"You didn't show every file to the Marshal and the Empress, did you?"
"We did. But the Empress wasn't satisfied with a single one, and the Marshal simply stopped looking."
He smiled awkwardly.
"After going through all the files, the Empress muttered, 'Why isn't Nan Yu here?'"
Of course he wasn't.
No matter how terrible Bai Zhouyun was, Nan Yu was still engaged.
How could they place the file of an engaged Mental Power User among the candidates?
After hearing those words, Yu Lanfeng had sternly warned her not to say such things carelessly.
Nan Ming suddenly imagined pairing his youngest son with his own superior.
No.
Absolutely not.
Yu Lanfeng looked young, but he was actually only twenty or thirty years younger than himself and decades older than Nan Yun and Nan Zhen.
In the interstellar era, lifespans had increased tremendously, and objectively speaking, the two together would actually be an excellent match.
But Nan Ming felt that giving Xiao Yu to the Marshal would simply be ruining his son.
That old fellow would be robbing the cradle.
Fortunately, the Marshal himself seemed to have no such intentions.
Nan Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
"Enough of that. Weren't you here to discuss serious business? Let's hear it."
The visitor chuckled wickedly.
The two leaned together and whispered for quite some time.
Two hours later, the man left with a smile on his face.
Clearly, the discussion had gone smoothly.
Nan Ming also looked very satisfied.
Hidden in the shadows, Nan Yun and Nan Zhen had been observing the whole time and had already guessed something.
Nan Yun whispered, "If I'm not mistaken, that was someone from Marshal Yu's legion."
Nan Zhen nodded.
"They came awfully late. But they were still the first to arrive."
Nan Yun smiled.
"They probably realized sending messages to Dad would be too late, so they skipped that part and came directly."
Nan Zhen frowned.
"Their expressions make me feel like they reached some sort of secret agreement. Is it really okay to agree without discussing it with Little Brother?"
Nan Yun shrugged.
"Dad has decades more experience than us. If he says it's fine, then we probably can't find anything wrong with it."
"What about Little Brother?"
"Dad won't secretly make decisions for him. He'll tell Xiao Yu later. Let's not worry too much. No matter what, Dad would never harm him. Let's go rest."
Nan Zhen nodded.
"True. Let's go."
After the two left, Nan Ming glanced in that direction and snorted.
"Hmph, those two little brats. At least you know your place."
If they had burst out and questioned him, he would've taught those ignorant brats a lesson.
When Nan Yu woke up the next morning, he felt refreshed.
After throwing Bai Zhouyun aside, he slept well and ate well. Life couldn't be better.
Of course, it would be even better if the engagement could be dissolved.
It could be done, but the process was troublesome.
If possible, Nan Yu didn't want the Nan family to become the side that went back on their word.
So he had endured until now.
In any case, the dissolution of the engagement was only a matter of time.
"Uncle Nan, is Yang Zhou awake yet?"
Uncle Nan smiled.
"Not yet. That kid was exhausted. He's still sleeping soundly and probably won't wake up until the afternoon."
Nan Yu looked regretful.
"That's too bad. I was hoping to take him with me today."
After breakfast, Nan Yun and the others were already prepared.
As soon as Nan Yu boarded the hovercraft, he sensed something unusual.
"Hm? The patrol team outside is gone. Nobody's blocking our front gate either?"
Nan Yun and Nan Zhen exchanged looks.
Perhaps this was one of the benefits resulting from their father's successful negotiations last night?
"Isn't it better if nobody's there? Let's stop thinking about it. Senior Liu is probably getting anxious waiting for us."
Nan Yu didn't think too much about it.
No one blocking them was naturally for the best.
Their destination was the hospital built by Yu Lanfeng's legion on the Capital Star for its own members.
The medical resources there were the finest available.
Truly wealthy and powerful.
The moment they arrived at the entrance, Liu Gan came out personally to greet them.
"You've finally arrived."
Nan Yu smiled.
"There's no need to be nervous. We agreed on ten o'clock, and it's only nine forty."
Liu Gan scratched his head awkwardly.
This was perhaps the first somewhat immature gesture he'd shown since his lover's accident.
Under his guidance, Nan Yu quickly saw Zhang Yun, who was confined alone in a room.
Though his cheeks were sunken and he looked weak and emaciated, they could still tell that Zhang Yun had once been an exceptionally handsome man.
"Senior, the two of you must have been the most perfect couple at the academy."
Liu Gan revealed a sincere smile.
He really wasn't exaggerating.
Everyone had always said so.
Nan Yu wanted to say something more, but from the corner of his eye, he noticed a somewhat familiar figure.
He turned and stared carefully.
Then his breathing stalled.
It really was him?!
Liu Gan immediately straightened his back and saluted.
"Marshal!"
Nan Yun and Nan Zhen had freely discussed the Marshal back at home, but in front of the man himself, they instantly became much more restrained.
Nan Yu blinked.
"Hello, Marshal. What a coincidence."
Standing there before him was none other than Yu Lanfeng, whom Nan Yu had not seen for a long time.