Chapter 67
Chapter 67: The Crown Prince’s cover gets blown and everyone is trying to curry favor
Sui Xuan Chu felt guilty and reacted on reflex, blurting out three denials in a row: “I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense.”
Seeing him act like that, everything was clear to Jiang Tea Tea: “No wonder when I saved you from the bottom of the sea, I felt like your scales were fading in color, turning yellow and gold.”
“I asked that old mud loach Chong Ming about it. He said it was the Dragon Clan’s self-protection mechanism when you’re in danger, that it’s normal for the scales to fade a bit. Then he immediately wrapped you in a cloth so I couldn’t look.”
“Click, click, click, roommate, I really couldn’t tell you had this kind of identity. No wonder when you deal with that old mud loach Chong Ming, you’re cowardly to death one moment, and the next moment you’re all ‘you can’t kill me anyway.’”
Her roommate was the legendary Crown Prince, the good nephew of that old mud loach Chong Ming. All of her earlier doubts and confusion suddenly made sense.
Sui Xuan Chu felt as if he had been stripped bare, left completely naked and not knowing what to cover. Gritting his teeth, he forced out one last struggle: “Roommate, the Crown Prince is a golden Dragon Clan. I’m a red-black Dragon Clan. The colors are different. I really am not him. Don’t misunderstand.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s gaze was deep and her tone light as she said: “You’re not? All right then. That old mud loach Chong Ming thinks very highly of me. He wants to train me as his successor. Tell me, if I go to him now and say I can consider being his successor, then casually ask if you have any secret identities or anything…”
“I am.”
Sui Xuan Chu cut her off before she could finish, reluctantly admitting: “I’m the Crown Prince.”
If he had just admitted it earlier, that would’ve been that. Instead he waited until she threatened him. It was really like taking off your pants just to fart, totally unnecessary.
Jiang Tea Tea only let out an “oh,” took out a Nutrient Fruit, and started crunching away.
Sui Xuan Chu was completely stunned, a head full of question marks: “Roommate, you don’t have anything you want to ask me?”
She just started eating like that. Was his Crown Prince identity not even as important as the Nutrient Fruit in her hand?
Jiang Tea Tea blinked her black eyes: “I already asked. I’ve got nothing else to ask. Do you want a Nutrient Fruit? I’ll give you one.”
Sui Xuan Chu was so confused by her that he didn’t know what to do. He could only ask on his own: “You’re really not curious about me at all?”
Jiang Tea Tea asked back in confusion: “Your cover is already blown. What’s there for me to be curious about? Curious that, as the Crown Prince, you can’t even beat me? Curious that you’re such a little weakling?”
“Or curious whether your blood tastes as good as your uncle’s? You’re not going to let me drink it anyway!”
Sui Xuan Chu: “!!!!”
It was a great curiosity. Next time, please don’t be so curious.
His heart was still a heart. Having it stabbed like this with a knife hurt, okay.
After Sui Xuan Chu finished comforting his wounded heart, he scooted closer to Jiang Tea Tea: “Roommate, I’m starting to understand why my uncle values you as his successor.”
Jiang Tea Tea reached out, grabbed his face, and pushed hard, shoving him away: “Your uncle might like me, but I don’t like your uncle. My dream is to become the greatest Soothing Specialist in the entire M31 Star System.”
“I want every beastman of any race in the M31 Star System to be proud that they were soothed by me. When they mention me, they’ll give a big thumbs-up and praise me like crazy.”
One of the terms of her contract with the Fake Young Miss was to become the top-tier Soothing Specialist in all of Interstellar Space. So she couldn’t care less about being some Three Armies Commander in Chief or successor.
Sui Xuan Chu’s head was pushed away, but as soon as she let go, he leaned over again: “Taking my uncle’s training doesn’t stop you from becoming the greatest Soothing Specialist in the M31 Star System. You can grab both with two hands.”
Jiang Tea Tea said: “You really think highly of me.”
Sui Xuan Chu leaned toward her even more: “It’s not that I think too highly of you. To tell you the truth, my uncle started looking for a successor a hundred years ago.”
“He’s been searching for a successor for over a hundred years, and not one person has passed the evaluation he set. So I think it’s fine if you agree. It doesn’t mean you’ll actually pass.”
“Even if you don’t pass, if you get personally trained by him, you’ll at least be an Army Corps commander in the future. At worst, you’ll be a Senior Colonel Rank. Your future prospects will be endless!”
“Of course, none of that is the main point. The main point is that while he’s training you, you can tell him you also want to become a Soothing Specialist. He’s very tolerant toward the candidates he chooses as potential successors. He’ll find you the best Soothing Specialists in the whole Empire to teach you.”
“That way, even if you don’t end up as his successor, you can still become an excellent Soothing Specialist. What’s that called? It’s called borrowing the ladder to rise straight up into the sky, and grabbing hold of a fat sheep to fleece him hard.”
Jiang Tea Tea reached back into her space knob storage device, took out a Nutrient Fruit, and stuffed it into Sui Xuan Chu’s mouth. Then she stood up and sat down across from him: “Did your uncle promise you some benefits, and now you’re here as his lobbyist?”
Sui Xuan Chu bit into the Nutrient Fruit. It was so sour he shivered, almost drooling from the corners of his mouth: “If he doesn’t hit me or kick me, that’s already good enough. What benefits could he promise me?”
“I really just think that anyone he values must be talent with potential. Plus, the two of us share a dorm and we’re about the same age. If you really become Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and I become His Majesty, we’ll have a lot to talk about, right?”
Jiang Tea Tea made a small sound: “Before, I thought you were reliable. Now I’m finding out you’re not reliable at all.”
“Stop drawing big pies for me. I don’t eat them.”
Seeing that she was firm and not tempted by his big pies, Sui Xuan Chu said: “Fine, if you don’t eat big pies, you don’t eat big pies. But you have to keep my cover a secret for me. You absolutely can’t let my uncle know my cover’s been blown.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded: “Relax. My mouth is tighter than your uncle’s Warship.”
Sui Xuan Chu finally relaxed. He chatted idly with Jiang Tea Tea and used the internet on his Light-Brain Wrist Terminal so they could scroll through all the posts online that were condemning the Insectoid Race.
About two hours passed. The cook fried, deep-fried, boiled, and stewed all kinds of meat.
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t hold back. She packed up everything and put it all into her space knob storage device.
The super Warship Chong Ming was on returned once more to the skies above the Extreme North of the Tropical Primitive Planet and dropped Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu off.
Huang Da Zhuang, Cheng Lin Yue, and the other six rushed out from their lodging. Their voices reached them before their bodies did: “Sister Tea, are you okay? You scared me to death. I thought you died in the sea.”
“Yeah, Sui Xuan Chu, it’s great that you’re fine. Those Sea Spiders were way too strong. I was really scared something would happen to you.”
“If our heartthrob idol hadn’t let us know and told us he saved you, I would’ve cried my eyes blind.”
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu looked at each other and, without needing to talk, chose to gloss over the serious parts: “We’re fine, we’re fine. Don’t worry. Those Sea Spiders and the Insectoid Race bugs have already been taken care of by your heartthrob idol.”
“Come on, come on. We packed up a lot of meat from your heartthrob idol. Let’s hurry inside and feast.”
When Huang Da Zhuang and the other six heard that, their eyes lit up. These past two days, they had been too worried to go into the sea and catch seafood. They had just been forcing down Nutrient Injections and Nutrient Solution whenever they could, with no appetite at all.
Now their friends were back, and they had even brought food. The six cheered and crowded around the two of them, heading toward the lodging.
They hadn’t expected that before they even reached the door, the eliminated cadets from other Military Academies who had forfeited would rush over carrying food and drinks. They pushed Jiang Tea Tea and her group of seven to the side and surrounded Sui Xuan Chu with extreme warmth and enthusiasm.
“Schoolmate, I was wrong before. I wanted to show you the way so you’d go into the sea, catch seafood, and share it with me. As a senior male schoolmate older than you, that was really inappropriate. Here, these are the shrimp I caught. Try them. They’re super fresh if you eat them raw.”
“Yeah, schoolmate, here’s the pomfret I caught. No matter if you grill it, braise it in soy sauce, boil it in clear broth, sprinkle scallions on top and pour hot oil, it’s super tender. Take it and eat it later.”
“And here’s mine. This slice of bluefin tuna sashimi is already prepared. You can eat it right away when you take it back.”
“Come, come, schoolmate, take it. Don’t be shy. Even though we’re not from the same Military Academy, it’s still fate that we can meet in this forfeited elimination encampment.”
“Exactly, schoolmate. We have to spend half a month together in this forfeited elimination encampment before we reach the second round of the Supremacy Tournament. We have to look out for each other to get through it better.”
It was already something that Huang Da Zhuang, Cheng Xiao Ting, and the others were squeezed to the side. But when they heard those people flattering Sui Xuan Chu with such warmth and gentle smiles, they were even more shocked.
“Sister Tea, do you think they’re sick in the head? When you two weren’t here and they saw us, their faces were all twisted. They acted like the eight of us living in two rooms meant we got in through the back door.
“They were always coming to peek into our dorm whenever they were free. Now that you’re back, they push us aside and gather around Sui Xuan Chu to curry favor. What’s that supposed to mean? They see he’s Dragon Clan and good at going into the sea, so they’re buttering him up so he’ll catch fish and shrimp for them?”
This wasn’t just flattery. It really looked like they knew his identity and were deliberately getting close, treating him as a back door to power.
Jiang Tea Tea waved her hand: “Teammates, let’s go. If someone’s sending us food, we’d be fools not to take it. Grab it all and bring it back to eat.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others hadn’t expected things could be done this way, but they instantly answered and carried it out: “Got it, Sister Tea.”
Jiang Tea Tea charged straight into the crowd and took the food that the other cadets had brought to curry favor with Sui Xuan Chu. Since they had delivered it right to the door, they would be fools not to eat it. It wasn’t like they had begged them for it.
Huang Da Zhuang and the others followed right behind her. None of them knew what politeness was. They grabbed the food and walked off. With their speed-type abilities, they were several steps away in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, Sui Xuan Chu casually picked up the piece of fish in front of him and, taking advantage while still sounding modest, said: “Thank you for your kindness, senior male schoolmates and senior schoolmates. Next time you have something tasty to eat or drink, remember to share. See you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he shot out of the crowd, dashed after Jiang Tea Tea and the others into the lodging, and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Outside, everyone looked at their now empty hands, then at each other, and snapped with sour contempt: “You didn’t have much food left yourselves, and you still took it out to curry favor. Aren’t you afraid you’ll starve to death?”
The ones being looked down on fought back: “We’re all the same here. Don’t think we don’t know what you’re thinking. Everybody’s doing the same thing.”
“The Crown Prince accepted my food. That’ll definitely deepen his impression of me. Later, I’ll become good friends with him. When the Crown Prince inherits the throne, my future will be limitless.”
“The beads of your abacus are bouncing right into my face. If the Crown Prince knew you were thinking like that, he’d probably smash that stinky shrimp you gave him right into your face.”
They didn’t bother hiding their conversation at all. Every word slipped in through the not-quite-closed door and was heard inside by Cheng Xiao Ting, Orange Sparrow, Big Dog Huang, and the others.
They quickly shut the door tight to block out the noise outside, then looked Sui Xuan Chu up and down, overjoyed and excited: “Sui Xuan Chu, you’re the legendary Crown Prince?”
“Oh my God, I thought Sister Tea and I getting the highest score in the First Round of the Supremacy Tournament already meant my ancestral tomb was smoking green. I never thought you, Sui Xuan Chu, would be the Crown Prince, and I’m even on the same team as you. This time my ancestral tomb must be exploding!”