Chapter 59
Chapter 59: The Little Brat’s Dad’s Flirty Past – So Many Females Love Him, Does That Scare You?
Chong Ming looked at Aceras’s bright smile and coldly reminded him: “Your Highness Aceras, your smile is so big your antennae are showing. It’s really ugly.”
Aceras’s smile did not fade. It grew even brighter: “This is the mark of me being of the Insectoid Race. I’m proud and I’m honored. Just like you’re proud of those golden horns on your head.”
Chong Ming raised an eyebrow: “Oh? You really are the roundworm living in my stomach. If there’s nothing important, I’m hanging up. See you.”
Aceras stared at the dark, cut-off light-brain wrist terminal: “…”
“I really couldn’t tell. Even a big shot, when he argues with someone, is like an elementary school kid, pecking back and forth one line at a time.” Jiang Tea Tea whispered to Sui Xuan Chu, complaining about Chong Ming.
Sui Xuan Chu leaned in and answered in a low voice: “They’re all the same. All of them. The whole Interstellar Space is one big ragtag troupe. Hardly any of them are the real deal.”
Jiang Tea Tea let out a little “oh wow”: “You’re saying this golden dragon, Chong Ming, is also an idiot?”
Sui Xuan Chu almost choked on his own saliva. He opened his mouth and double-standarded instantly: “He is not an idiot.”
[He treats her like Sister Tea, and she is trying to get him killed!]
[People’s hearts really aren’t what they used to be. People’s hearts are rotten!]
Jiang Tea Tea replied in surprise: “He’s not an idiot? Then the Crown Prince must be an idiot.”
Sui Xuan Chu: “…”
[We were just happily complaining together. How did it turn into insulting people? That’s too much.]
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Chong Ming’s hand knocked on the table three times.
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu were leaning together, heads touching, having a great time complaining. When they heard the knocking, they both looked up at Chong Ming at the same time.
Across the table, Chong Ming looked at the two of them: “You two, supernatural ability users at Level S or above have very sharp hearing and vision.”
“The way you two are over there chirping while you complain about someone is like covering your own ears while ringing a bell. You’re the only ones who can’t hear it.”
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu looked at each other, then opened their mouths and started flattery mode: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, you are the Zhenlin Empire’s top leader. Your chest is as broad as the sea, and your tolerance is as deep as a black hole. We weren’t chirping about you. You wouldn’t be so petty as to fuss with us, right?”
“Yeah, Commander in Chief Chong Ming, you just said people above Level S can hear us like we’re talking right in front of them. That doesn’t really count as chirping behind your back. At most it’s just complaining.”
“We’re still young. We can’t hide what we think. We complain a little. You were our age once. You understand, right?”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes turned cold. He glanced at Sui Xuan Chu: “What did you say? I didn’t hear clearly just now. Say it again.”
Just now Sui Xuan Chu had been full of righteous courage, not afraid of death at all. Now his back was bent, his waist hunched, completely cowardly like a dog: “I didn’t say anything. You heard wrong.”
Jiang Tea Tea: “…”
[Coward.]
[What are you afraid of?]
[With so many people watching, he’s not going to kill the two of them right here.]
Seeing that Sui Xuan Chu was scared, Chong Ming let him go. He changed the subject and asked the two of them: “You two heard most of my conversation just now with the Insectoid Race’s Great Imperial Prince Aceras. What do you think?”
Jiang Tea Tea grabbed a nutrient fruit, leaned back in her chair, and munched on it, crunch crunch, looking exactly like this had nothing to do with her.
Sui Xuan Chu really wanted to copy Jiang Tea Tea, but under the Commander in Chief’s death stare, he got scared and did not dare: “I do have some thoughts.”
Chong Ming fixed his gaze on him: “Let’s hear them.”
Sui Xuan Chu slapped a hand on the table: “If the military academy students he trained want to compete with the military academy students you trained, then let him come.”
“Killing Insectoid Race is everyone’s duty in the Empire. I believe that among the thirty military academies, more than 1.8 million students, not a single person will back down…”
“Wait, I back down.” Jiang Tea Tea raised her hand and cut Sui Xuan Chu off, neatly excluding herself: “I’m not going to fight the Insectoid Race’s bugs. I’m allergic to bugs. They creep me out.”
Sui Xuan Chu turned his head away, his face full of blame: “Roommate, as common citizens of the Zhenlin Empire, our Empire once suffered heavy invasion from the Insectoid Race. They hunted and killed over a hundred million of our citizens. We have an irreconcilable hatred with them. How can you back down…”
“Hold on again.” Jiang Tea Tea cut Sui Xuan Chu off a second time and asked a soul-deep question: “Roommate, I thought you were pretty smart most of the time. How come the moment it matters, you fall apart?”
“You know the Insectoid Race invaded the Empire before and killed our Empire’s common citizens by the trillions, and you still want to send military academy students to clash with their military academy students?”
“Aren’t they in the border area of the Eighth Star System?”
“Isn’t the Eighth Star System the Zhenlin Empire’s turf?”
“They’re coming right to your doorstep to be target dummies. Why are you playing gentle games with them, back and forth? Take out the long-range battleships and the Space Directorate Corps and just shell them with overwhelming force!”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes went wide. He slapped his thigh, his voice rising: “Right! Why are we wasting words with them? Just hit them hard. Commander in Chief, what do you think?”
Chong Ming’s gaze on Jiang Tea Tea grew deeper. He ignored Sui Xuan Chu: “If there are no long-range battleships and no Space Directorate Corps, then what?”
Jiang Tea Tea shot back: “I don’t remember killing all thirty Army Corps commanders. I also don’t remember blowing up their ships.”
“I can eat, sure, but all I ate was a bit of meat and seafood. I didn’t eat the cannons or the firepower off your ship, did I?”
Sui Xuan Chu: “[!!!!]”
[Roommate is amazing!]
[She is really, really amazing.]
The corner of Chong Ming’s mouth lifted slightly: “You’re right. We’ll do it your way. I’ll take you to see.”
As soon as Jiang Tea Tea heard he was going to delay her meal, she refused on the spot: “I’m eating. I’m not going.”
Chong Ming answered: “You eat. I won’t delay your meal. Schoolmate Sui Xuan Chu will go get you meat and seafood.”
Sui Xuan Chu: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
Fresh from the kitchen came roasted pig trotters, roast meat, braised pork, smoked meat, stewed fish chunks, big lobsters, six meat dishes in total, two large platters of each, all set on the table.
Chong Ming sat opposite Jiang Tea Tea, opened his light-brain wrist terminal, and, completely shameless, started giving out deployment orders…
In Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes there was only meat and seafood. She did not see him at all, just happily stuffing herself again and again.
Before she had eaten even half the meat, everyone else in the school cafeteria left in a rush. In that big cafeteria, aside from the robots busy cleaning up, only Jiang Tea Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, and Chong Ming were left.
Sui Xuan Chu gnawed on a stewed pig trotter and looked out the glass window. He nudged Jiang Tea Tea with his elbow: “Roommate, we left the tropical primitive planet. We’re in outer space now.”
Jiang Tea Tea had just torn off a big piece of lobster meat and had not even chewed yet. She followed his gaze. Outside was colorful, sparkling space.
All kinds of stars, meteors, and galaxies slid past the windows and across her vision. They were strange shapes, mysterious and dazzling.
Jiang Tea Tea swallowed the lobster meat, wiped her mouth, and looked at Chong Ming, who was eating slowly and gracefully: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, my roommate and I are just two military academy students who don’t know anything. You fighting with the Insectoid Race’s Great Imperial Prince and bringing us along doesn’t really seem right, does it?”
Chong Ming lifted his eyelids, his golden eyes landing on her: “Who says bringing you two along isn’t right? Let him come tell me that.”
[Isn’t he just arguing for the sake of arguing?]
[In this whole Empire, who is higher than him?]
[The Crown Prince? Even the Crown Prince would have to call him Uncle.]
[Besides, she has no idea where the Crown Prince even is.]
Jiang Tea Tea felt wronged and spit out two words: “Eat meat!”
Chong Ming raised his head and glanced at her, then reminded her: “You have fifteen minutes left to eat meat. When time is up, I’ll take you to the command room.”
Jiang Tea Tea paused: “If I can’t finish in fifteen minutes, can I carry the meat to the command room and eat there?”
Chong Ming answered: “You can, as long as you agree to my proposal and sit in my position within ten years. Then you can eat wherever you want.”
Jiang Tea Tea showed him a big toothy grin.
[Heh, heh, heh!]
She was greedy and hungry, but there was no way she would jump into such a huge, obvious pit just for a few bites of meat.
She ate as fast as she could. After fifteen minutes, there were still leftovers. She packed everything into her space knob storage device, wiped her mouth, rinsed her mouth out, and together with Sui Xuan Chu followed behind Chong Ming.
He wore a black combat suit and black combat boots. His shoulders were broad, his waist narrow, his legs long. His golden hair was smooth and flowing, layered neatly all the way down to his hips.
As he strode forward, his hair seemed to come alive, flying behind him. It was very pleasing to the eye and made people’s hands itch to reach out and grab a handful.
There was only one bad thing: hair was hard to digest. No matter what kind of creature you were, hair was always hard to digest, even as organic fertilizer.
[In the future, if she wanted to kill him and bury him under her tree roots, she would have to shave his head bald first. That would make him easier to digest.]
Sui Xuan Chu tugged Jiang Tea Tea back so she would walk slower. He whispered: “Roommate, don’t stare at Commander in Chief Chong Ming like that without blinking. It’s scary, I’m telling you.”
Jiang Tea Tea felt that staring at food was a way of showing respect to food. Especially when the food in front of her looked so good and yet she could not eat it. Staring at him to “taste with her eyes” was her way of easing her cravings. What was wrong with that?
She said casually: “Don’t be such a coward. I only looked at him a few times. It’s not like he’s going to lose a piece of meat.”
Sui Xuan Chu gave two dry laughs: “I’m not afraid of him losing meat. I’m afraid you’ll fall in love with him.”
Falling in love with him was as easy as eating or drinking water. For hundreds of years he had held the number one spot on the Empire’s single-men ranking. In the whole M31 Star System, the number of females who wanted to marry him could circle the Insectoid Race twice if they lined up around the Zhenlin Empire.
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes went wide: “Me, fall in love with him?”
[What kind of good demon falls in love with food for no reason!]
[Is he joking!]
Sui Xuan Chu nodded: “You’re staring at him so hard your eyeballs almost stick to him. Even if you’re not in love with him now, sooner or later you will be.”
“I’m telling you, you absolutely must not fall in love with him. According to gossip and rumors, before this there was a female from a great noble White Lion family. Whether in her beast form or human form, she was the kind of existence that could make any male fall in love at first sight.”
“At a banquet in the Imperial Palace, that White Lion female confessed to him. He said her whole body of white fur made his eyes hurt because she was so ugly.”
Jiang Tea Tea found that hard to believe: “As the Empire’s Commander in Chief, he would really be that sharp-tongued and blunt in such an important setting?”
Sui Xuan Chu cleared his throat: “It’s gossip, just rumors. A bit exaggerated.”
Jiang Tea Tea made two little “oh, oh” sounds: “And then?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes turned: “And then, the Insectoid Race’s Queen also has a crush on him.”
Jiang Tea Tea was shocked. Her voice suddenly got loud: “You’re saying the Insectoid Race’s Queen also has a crush on him? Then this Insectoid Race Great Imperial Prince coming over to fight him, is it because he can’t stand that his own mom likes him, or does he want to drag him back and make him his discount dad?”