The next day, before dawn, Xingyuan had packed up everything.
Taking advantage of the starlight, he crept quietly to Aisley’s bedside and lay down beside it.
The tip of Xingyuan’s nose was very close to Aisley’s face, his faint breathing carrying its own particular scent as it spread across the space between the man’s brows.
Aisley’s eyelids trembled slightly.
Xingyuan’s voice was very soft; to Aisley’s ears, the clear young voice sounded just like a kitten’s cry.
“I have to leave again. I’ve been following by your side for many days, but you didn’t know I existed.
Here, I only know you. You’re the person I’m most familiar with……” Xingyuan lowered his eyes and pressed his lips together, then lifted his head and continued.
“Next time I come, I’ll follow behind you again. You’re very important to me.” Having said that, he smiled.
“You’re a very special friend.”
After he finished speaking, Xingyuan’s hand gradually turned translucent. His eyes curved into crescents, his smile very clean and pure.
“See you again in five days.”
Not until the young man’s figure had completely vanished beneath the moonlight did Aisley’s eyes slowly open.
The warmth in his eyes gradually faded with time, until at last it sank without a trace.
A smile still hung at the corner of his mouth. Aisley reached up and covered his eyes with his hand, pressing his thumb against his temple.
After a long while, he exhaled a breath.
“He left at just the right time.” His voice was like grains of sand falling into a deep well.
By the time he took his hand away, his eyes were cold enough to make people shudder.
Aisley rose and swiftly changed into his military uniform. He picked up his sword and hung it neatly at his waist.
His back was straight as a pine, and his tall frame blocked out the starlight. By the time he stepped outside, a crowd had already gathered outside the tent.
“Move out.” His tone carried an unmistakable authority.
“Yes, sir!” The shout shook the heavens.
****
Xingyuan returned to school once more.
When Xu Mo arrived in front of the classroom, he expected to see a young man drinking breakfast milk and watching anime. Instead, to his surprise, the young man lay quietly at his desk, flipping through a book, his eyes holding a seriousness Xu Mo had never seen before.
Xu Mo paused for a moment. He carried his backpack to his seat and took out his book, but the young man never so much as glanced at him the entire time.
Xu Mo: ……
He coughed, and only then did Xingyuan come back to himself.
Seeing that his deskmate had arrived, Xingyuan hurriedly took out the breakfast milk and handed it over, smiling as he said, “Sorry, I didn’t notice you just now. Good morning.”
Xu Mo took the milk. He glanced toward Xingyuan’s textbook and saw that the other was looking at mathematics. He fell silent for a moment, then asked.
“Do you understand it? Do you want me to teach you?”
The section Xingyuan was reading happened to be the hardest module of the entire term; even the teacher had spent many classes covering it before finally getting through it.
Hearing this, Xingyuan let out an “ah.” He looked up, somewhat puzzled, and after a moment smiled and thanked him. “No need. I haven’t run into any difficulties so far — I can understand all of this content.”
Xu Mo didn’t know what to say for a moment. He was the fastest learner in the class, and even he had spent a long time before he understood this section.
Doubt rose in his heart, but he didn’t voice it.
Xingyuan read every single word carefully, pausing after finishing each page — at least a few seconds, at most three minutes.
There were only five minutes left before class when Xingyuan finally turned to the next chapter.
Xu Mo finally couldn’t help but ask, “You flipped through that so fast — did you actually understand it?”
Xingyuan blinked, then nodded. “I understood all of it.”
Xu Mo frowned and pulled up a set of practice problems on his transparent book, placing them in front of Xingyuan. “Try doing these few questions.”
Xingyuan had always been docile by nature. He obediently picked up his pen and began.
Xingyuan worked through them smoothly, occasionally pausing to think for a few seconds before writing down his answer.
Xu Mo only glanced over and froze.
By the time Xingyuan finished those few problems, class still hadn’t started.
Xingyuan casually tapped the automatic grading function, and instantly a series of checkmarks appeared across the page.
Xu Mo fell completely silent, and only when the teacher arrived did he ask quietly, “Are you really an A?”
Xingyuan’s pupils constricted. After a moment, he lowered his head and nodded.
….
For some reason, no matter where Xingyuan went, he kept running into Song Tan.
Sometimes it was during P.E. class, sometimes in the cafeteria, sometimes in the restroom.
Xingyuan: ……
One day after school, he declined Yue Xi’s company and went for a walk alone on the pedestrian street.
Just then, that familiar voice appeared again.
“Xingyuan, what a coincidence, we meet again.”
Song Tan approached from behind him with a gentle smile.
Xingyuan stared blankly at Song Tan, his impression of this person dropping sharply. Why did this person always treat him like a fool?
Xingyuan returned the greeting politely, then turned to leave. Song Tan seized the opening and shamelessly followed alongside him.
Having nothing better to do, Song Tan brought up topics trying to strike up conversation with Xingyuan, and Xingyuan responded flatly out of politeness.
As they talked, a young couple walked past them, inseparably affectionate.
Seeing this, Song Tan asked, “Xingyuan, what kind of person do you like?”
Xingyuan had always had a good temper. Hearing this question, he didn’t refuse right away — instead, he thought about it seriously.
Sensing an opportunity, Song Tan continued, “Do you like someone sunny and easygoing? Gentle and considerate? Or someone who accommodates and takes care of you in everything?”
He decided that no matter what Xingyuan said, he would work hard to become that type.
Xingyuan lowered his head, following his own true feelings as he searched back through his memories. Although he had never liked anyone since he was young, he did have his own longings and fantasies when it came to emotional matters.
He raised his head, his smile open and generous, his words sincere and heartfelt.
“Actually, my requirements are very simple. Personality and preferences don’t matter — as long as the person’s character isn’t base, that’s enough.”
Song Tan let out a breath of relief — this was much easier than he had imagined.
Still, wasn’t the bar a little too low?
Puzzled, he asked, “Is that all? There must be more than that, right?”
Xingyuan nodded. “Yes, there’s one more requirement — as long as they’re stronger than me, that’s fine.”
“Stronger than you?” Song Tan didn’t understand what that referred to.
Fortunately, Xingyuan went on to explain: “As long as their overall level is higher than mine, that’s fine.”
He tilted his head. “I never care about personality — I only care about a person’s capability.
For example, in terms of wealth — as long as they’re richer than my father, that’s fine. If not, equal wealth would also work. I can’t accept a partner whose conditions are worse than mine — that would make me feel like being together has no meaning.”
Song Tan: ……
If he were that rich, why would he need to curry favor with this young master here?
Xingyuan, however, wasn’t actually that harsh — his standards covered multiple aspects.
“Of course, money isn’t strictly necessary either.
If the other person holds a position of Legion Commander or above in the military, that would also be worth considering.”
Xingyuan wasn’t trying to raise his own worth — it was mainly because his cousin’s daughter, when she married, her partner had been a Legion Commander. And his cousin’s family was also in business, though their net worth wasn’t even as high as his father’s.
Song Tan: ……
If he had that kind of ability, would he still be fighting with that group of siblings?
Xingyuan’s eyes were innocent as he added, “A Planetary Governor would work too.”
Song Tan’s body felt as if it had been run through with a sword.
Xingyuan pressed his lips together and said, “Actually, it doesn’t need to be that many status requirements either. Even just excellent physique would be fine with me.”
Song Tan felt his own icy body finally warm up. Great, he finally had one thing he could actually offer.
Xingyuan turned and quietly pointed at a corner.
“As for physique, the bodyguards my father assigned me are all A+ or above — I can’t very well end up with one of the bodyguard uncles, can I?
Besides, my family also has a brother whose physique rating is S. Hmm……I think it’s reasonable to want someone with an SS physique rating, right?”
Xingyuan wasn’t exaggerating — his own mental strength rating was SS, and on top of that, his family had considerable wealth and standing. His father had also long ago drawn up a will naming him the sole heir. Because he was especially fond of people with good physiques, he had specifically lowered his standards in that regard — as long as the person had ability, family background didn’t even need to be considered.
Song Tan: ……
Never before had he felt so utterly useless.
Song Tan walked along for a while, but his heart wasn’t in it and he truly couldn’t bear to stay any longer, so he made an excuse about having something to attend to and said goodbye to Xingyuan.
Xingyuan nodded. On the vast street, once again only he remained.
He looked around and suddenly noticed a shop window. Displayed there were all sorts of pastries — half of them milky white, half shaped into various anime characters.
As it happened, Xingyuan was a little hungry, so he walked toward the shop.
The signage inside the shop was marked in two scripts — one was Interstellar Common, the other a language Xingyuan didn’t recognize.
Xingyuan guessed this might be a chain store from some other planet.
The moment he stepped through the door, a staff member came specifically to attend to him — a very pretty young lady.
“Hello, our new store just opened, so everything is 10% off~”
“All right.” Xingyuan nodded.
He walked over to the pastry that had first caught his eye and looked at it curiously. Seeing this, the young lady hurried to explain.
“You have a great eye, classmate — this is our shop’s signature specialty.”
With that, the young lady handed Xingyuan a small plate of samples to try.
Xingyuan thanked her, speared a piece with his fork, and savored it slowly. As he did, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The flavor was somewhat like the pastries Aisley often ate, yet not quite as sweet — but it hit exactly the right note for Xingyuan’s taste. He had no idea what ingredients were inside, but it opened up his taste buds entirely. In an instant, this pastry climbed to the very top of Xingyuan’s favorites.
The moment the young lady saw the expression on Xingyuan’s face, she knew he’d fallen for it. Add to that Xingyuan’s handsome, refined appearance and polite manner, and the young lady was happy to tell him a bit more of the story.
“Actually, I’m also a resident of Imperial Capital Star — it’s just that our boss came from a very distant planet, and this pastry is a specialty food from over there.
This pastry also has a very long history. Don’t be fooled by how delicious it is — it wasn’t actually invented by a chef.
I’m not too clear on the details myself, but making it isn’t easy at all, because many of the raw materials are unique to that one planet……”
Xingyuan let his gaze wander over the many varied pastries, and among the crowd of figurine-like treats, he discovered a real treasure.
“That one — is that War God Stahl?” Xingyuan asked, somewhat delighted.
“That’s right.” The young lady smiled. “The War God’s design is actually our best seller.”
Xingyuan was overjoyed; he even decided he would buy a whole pile to bring home later.
Just as Xingyuan was examining the various pastries, he noticed some slightly irregular, pure white pastries.
Huh?
Xingyuan was a little puzzled. All the other pastries looked so nice — why were these ones a bit……ugly? And it wasn’t just one or two that were ugly, but a whole pile of them.
“What are those — some kind of animal?” Xingyuan asked, pointing at the white pastries.
The young lady smiled and said, “That kind of pastry is actually the most original form of this whole category. Don’t be fooled by how nice the other ones look — they all evolved from this original pastry.
It’s said that in ancient times on that planet, there was a giant beast that looked something like a human and something like a ball. Don’t be fooled by its ugly appearance — it was actually a messenger sent down by the gods.
One day, an army lost its way, and thanks to the giant beast’s guidance, the ancestors of that planet escaped from danger. In the end, the beast transformed into a star and rose up into the sky.
Afterward, the army’s commander, in order to commemorate the beast, specially shaped a pastry after its likeness……”
Xingyuan grew interested and couldn’t help but ask, “Does this kind of pastry have a name?”
The young lady smiled sweetly. “Of course it does. It’s called ‘Star Cub Cake.’ Apparently its original name meant something like ‘star-borne,’ signifying that the stars carry people’s cherished wishes. But somewhere along the way, no one’s quite sure how, it turned into ‘star cub,’ as in a little star cub.”
Xingyuan let out an “eh” sound. “There’s a ‘star’ character in my name too.”
The young lady was delighted. “Really? That’s wonderful. Back at headquarters, there’s an old tradition — anyone whose name contains the character ‘star’ automatically gets half price. I’ve heard that, for the sake of the discount, a lot of local children ended up with the character ‘star’ in their names.”
Xingyuan: ……
That, that was a bit too careless a reason.
As she packaged up the order, the young lady went on, “Actually, this counts as fate, in a way. Aside from the locals, people from other planets don’t really care for Star Cub Cake all that much.
But our planet is different — even though the two places are so far apart, this flavor somehow ends up suiting our planet’s people surprisingly well.”