Chapter 17: Playing Pitiful
The surveillance recorded the entire day at the manor.
The footage showed that Zhu Hui didn’t stay at home the whole time. After walking through all the rooms, he sat in the second-floor study—the place where they had been intimate last night—for over an hour, and started to do something on his personal terminal.
A while later, Zhu Hui also went out.
By the time the camera under the second-floor window captured him again, it was very close to the present time. Zhu Hui turned on the lights on the first floor, sat on the living room sofa for a while, then got up and went to the kitchen.
And then came the scene Xu Xunyue had seen when he first opened the surveillance.
Probably because it was dinner, Zhu Hui had increased the difficulty of the dishes, which was why it had made such a loud noise. If there had been such a loud sizzle in the morning, it would have been impossible for Xu Xunyue not to have heard it.
Switching the surveillance to the live feed, he saw a thin layer of sweat on the Sentinel’s forehead.
It seemed he was in a bit of a fluster.
Xu Xunyue watched for a while and actually felt a certain ineffable pleasure.
The reason Zhu Hui had been chosen as the Chief Sentinel was due to the accumulation of his merits from three years of non-stop service in the military, and his outstanding performance at the edge of the Undeveloped and Cataclysm Zones in the previous two years. The position of Chief Sentinel didn’t place much emphasis on age or resume, but rather had high requirements for a Sentinel’s stability and individual combat ability.
He had seen Zhu Hui on the stage at the conference, and he had heard about Zhu Hui from other Sentinels. Without exception, the adjectives used were “cold,” “arrogant,” “crisp and efficient.” This was also why he had been very wary of Zhu Hui before the marriage.
But in front of him, Zhu Hui was a completely different person. A little clumsy, but very cute. The type who was obedient even when bullied, which made one want to bully him even more.
…
When Xu Xunyue entered the manor, there was no sound from the small house.
When Xu Xunyue opened the main door on the first floor, there was still no sound in the room.
It wasn’t until he pushed open the kitchen door and a light aroma of food wafted over that the young Sentinel, who had been frowning at the terminal screen, turned his head in astonishment.
Xu Xunyue had the strange feeling that he had been walking with time for a long time, and the images on the device and in reality had finally synchronized.
He turned off his personal terminal and reminded him:
“You’re too focused.”
The White Tower referred to a Sentinel’s excessive immersion when facing a huge information flow as a negative state. This negative state would cause a Sentinel, whose five senses were already sharp, to focus all their attention on the object they were observing, thus ignoring other things in the environment. In severe cases, they might even forget time and space.
It was obvious that Zhu Hui had just been completely absorbed in what was in front of him.
Hearing him say this, Zhu Hui also realized and temporarily stopped what he was doing. “That’s true. Thank you… Have you been home for long?”
He looked as if he didn’t know where to put his hands and feet, his gaze darting between Xu Xunyue and the stove, as if he were making a difficult decision in his mind.
Before Xu Xunyue could say anything, he said again, “If you just got home, do you want to rest for a bit? The cooking fumes here…”
“No need.”
“…”
Zhu Hui fell silent.
However, what made Zhu Hui stop talking was not Xu Xunyue’s “no need,” but the hand that the other had placed on his side.
Their bodies touched through the fabric and gloves, and the majestic spiritual power of a Guide was transmitted from that hand.
His vision became clearer, his sense of smell and touch weakened, the kitchen became less hot, and the smell in the air was no longer so pungent.
The Guide’s spiritual power blocked out a lot of information. His slightly dazed brain began to relax, and his thinking speed began to recover.
Zhu Hui also felt that the hand Xu Xunyue had placed on his waist had loosened, then fallen again. His knuckles bent and tapped on the muscles of his side, which had tensed subconsciously.
Then he heard Xu Xunyue say, “Go cut the vegetables.”
…?
What?
And so, Xu Xunyue watched as a hint of grievance crept into Zhu Hui’s expression.
“Does it not smell good?” he said. “Then I’ll try harder next time.”
Xu Xunyue: “…I meant for you to be my assistant. I didn’t say to throw it away.”
“Assistant—I see. I thought… then now I…”
“Or you can finish what you’re doing, and I’ll make a few more dishes later. You can cut some more vegetables.”
The corners of Zhu Hui’s lips lifted.
“You don’t have to make so much,” he turned his face away, not looking at Xu Xunyue’s eyes like he had when he was feeling wronged, because if he looked now, he would smile too smugly. “It’s too much, we can’t finish it. You can just make one dish.”
“Alright,” Xu Xunyue paused and asked, “From a taste perspective, do you prefer something light or spicy?”
“Either is fine… Do you like spicy food?” Zhu Hui seemed to have made a connection and explained, “I made it lighter before because I was afraid of overstimulating my senses. The seasoning and spiciness would be harder to control.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do. I used to eat it often when I was a child.”
“Then let’s add a little. I’ll regulate your senses for you.”
The two of them stayed in the kitchen together, and the originally cool and empty space became lively.
He didn’t know when the snow wolf had appeared. In any case, by the time Xu Xunyue noticed it, it was circling around the two of them without making a sound.
Xu Xunyue had only noticed it because he had heard its emotions.
[I’m so angry! I’m so angry! I’m so angry!]
[Some idiot actually said you two don’t have a good relationship!]
[Although we beat him up, that kind of person is still too despicable!]
Xu Xunyue: “?”
He looked at the snow wolf for a couple of seconds. Just as he was about to concentrate and listen for a bit longer, his own spiritual body ran out of the spiritual domain and dragged the snow wolf outside to play.
The snow wolf instantly went from muttering to laughing.
Xu Xunyue felt a slight sense of regret.
But just then, Zhu Hui spoke.
“I went to the White Tower this afternoon.”
At first, it sounded like a casual remark, but Xu Xunyue’s intuition told him there was more to it.
He felt that Zhu Hui was struggling with something.
Unlike his spiritual body, Zhu Hui’s emotions were never outwardly expressed. Just like now, Xu Xunyue didn’t hear any particularly specific thoughts.
However, for him, emotions were just one of the channels for obtaining information.
He thought about the snow wolf’s complaints.
Zhu Hui had gone to the White Tower in the afternoon and had met someone who said their relationship was not good.
At the time Zhu Hui went out, he should have been about to leave the White Tower.
He hadn’t seen Zhu Hui at the White Tower, and Zhu Hui probably hadn’t seen him either.
…Oh.
Xu Xunyue thought, that was probably the situation.
“I also went to the White Tower today,” he said. “Your classmate saw me and then told you, right?”
Zhu Hui was stunned for a moment and said in a low voice:
“Yes, that’s right.”
How did brother figure it out so directly?
So amazing.
But I was originally planning to beat around the bush and probe a little. Now that it’s been pointed out, what should I say next?
Can I ask brother what he did today?
Can I ask brother about his future plans?
Someone as cautious and well-planned as brother probably doesn’t like others prying, right?
But I still really want to know…
The aroma of the spicy dish wafted to his nose. It wasn’t pungent at all, but rather very tempting. This was an experience he had never had since awakening as a Sentinel.
A Guide could help a Sentinel regulate their five senses, but that was in the Cataclysm and Undeveloped Zones, when everyone was facing danger and needed to fight. A Guide using their abilities would consume spiritual power. In daily life, which Guide would be so idle as to make things difficult for themselves?
Brother is so good.
Zhu Hui unconsciously tightened his grip on the spatula handle.
He felt that perhaps his brother would be willing to tell him.
You never know the result if you don’t ask.
So he mulled over his words and started off very pitifully:
“It was only when a few classmates told me that I knew you had also come to the White Tower. Someone even used it to mock me, saying that you came to the White Tower early on your own because you didn’t want to spend more time with me and were expressing your dissatisfaction with the marriage…”
Xu Xunyue: “…”
He could hear from the snow wolf’s emotions that someone had been gossiping. That was understandable. After all, for several years, the news of his “serious injury and moody personality” had spread throughout the streets of the Imperial Capital.
But did someone really dare to talk to Zhu Hui like that?
For the position of Chief Sentinel, Zhu Hui was a bit young, but he was in the highest grade at the Sentinel Academy and had three solid years of military experience. Compared to the students who had been studying at the White Tower all along, it was a complete curb-stomp.
The snow wolf had even said that the two of them had beaten that person up.
Xu Xunyue was skeptical of Zhu Hui’s pitiful act.
He said, “Then we’ll go to the White Tower together from now on.”
