Chapter 716, Siblings
"Sister, brother-in-law."
Arno Chenko entered the room carrying bags and bags of gifts.
Behind the door, he was greeted by the owners of the house, Union Prime Minister Osena Chenko, and her husband, Zhu Ye.
Arno scrutinized his sister.
He still looks very young. However, there are some signs of aging around his eyes and brows, which even life-extending surgery cannot completely prevent.
But there's no doubt that she's still in her prime. Beauty has never been her most prominent characteristic.
She is one of the most powerful figures in the alliance, having served as its prime minister since her humble beginnings. At the alliance's inception, she became its prime minister at a young age, a position she has held for thirty years.
Governor Gu himself is undoubtedly the most important leader in the alliance's development to this point. However, Osena's role should not be overlooked.
It is true that without Gu Hang there would be no alliance; without Osena, there might be other highly skilled prime ministers who could manage the entire alliance well.
However, for the past thirty years, that person has been Osena and no one else; and for the foreseeable future, it will still be her in the next five or ten years.
This is also related to her and the political landscape of the alliance itself.
While there was some internal political struggle within the alliance, it was at least very minor. The main reason was that Gu Hang abhorred infighting; his strong suppression kept the political struggles under control.
In addition, it cannot be ignored that the alliance has always been in a state of development and expansion.
Development itself is the best remedy for many problems. The alliance has always been in a state of expansion, whether it is government agencies, military units, or even business opportunities, technicians in factories, farmers and agricultural workers... there is a lot of room for growth.
There are so many colonized planets that need managers, entrepreneurs, engineers, farmers... providing a wide variety of jobs. As long as you have a little bit of ability, or even no ability at all, just the will, you can relatively easily change your fate, get promoted, and make a fortune.
In this environment, internal strife is not a serious problem. If you put in your best effort and do your job well, you will naturally be promoted, receive a raise, and be transferred to a place that suits your taste.
Development and expansion are the themes of the alliance; involution and competition are not.
Even for someone like Osena, who has been in the position of Prime Minister of the League for decades without any change in rank, progress is still real.
In fact, it's larger than anyone else's. Although he's always been the prime minister, in the beginning, he didn't even have complete control over a single planet; later, it expanded to multiple planets, an entire star sector, half a star field, and now five star fields, plus the other occupied territories of the entire Spiderweb Space...
Although the title on his head has remained unchanged, how many times has his power increased?
And Osena has always been diligent and conscientious.
This is also reflected in her marriage.
Osena remained unmarried for a long time. It wasn't that she didn't want to or looked down on others; the main reason was simply that she was too busy and had no time.
Sometimes I'm so busy that I don't even have time to eat or sleep, let alone date.
Moreover, compared to the great cause she has participated in, her personal life, love and marriage, having children... are simply insignificant.
But her marriage also had its necessity.
Throughout its history, the Union has consistently upheld two major policies: encouraging childbirth and emphasizing education. As the Union's Prime Minister, Osena naturally needs to lead by example and make a political statement in this regard.
However, her marriage also had some problems—not to mention how many people in the empire were good enough for her, the more they seemed to be a good match, the less suitable they were.
She has been the head of the alliance government in the past, and it seems likely that she will continue to be so in the long run. To find a high-ranking official, a major businessman, a general… in short, someone with considerable political influence as a partner—doesn't that resemble a political marriage?
Osena is looking for someone like this, like a political marriage, to build a seemingly powerful political family... What is she planning to do?
Gu Hang has never mentioned or spoken about this, and the alliance has no explicit regulations on the matter. However, it's impossible that Osena, having served as the alliance's prime minister for so many years, would lack any political awareness.
Osena got married a few years ago.
Her husband, Zhu Ye, is a senior engineer and an associate professor at a university.
Although the position is not low, it is a purely technical post with almost no political influence.
Mentoring students and debugging equipment in the factory—that's all.
There's absolutely nothing to worry about.
The couple's wedding was relatively low-key, and many of Zhu Ye's colleagues were unaware that his wife was actually the head of the Alliance government!
This year, the couple also had a son, who is now almost a year old.
Even after giving birth, Osena only rested for two or three days before her due date, and then returned to work after a few days of postpartum rest.
In total, it didn't stop for more than seven days.
Arnaud felt very sorry for his sister.
He believed in risking his life for the Alliance, and that's what he did. As a senior agent, he repeatedly went deep behind enemy lines, risking his life.
However, this was his own choice, not something he was forced or compelled by circumstances.
But my sister's marriage seemed to be forced by circumstances.
He also believes that work is work and mission is mission, but they do not conflict with personal life.
My older sister already has almost no personal life, and now she has to be with someone she doesn't love...
This has been roughly what Arnaud had been thinking ever since he learned of his sister's marriage.
But in reality, this was the first time he had met Zhu Ye in person. He hadn't attended his sister's wedding either. At that time, he was still traveling between various planets in the northern part of the Spiderweb Universe, conducting intelligence work.
They had a meal together, which his brother-in-law had cooked himself. During their casual, smiling conversation, he was surprised to find that the man was actually quite nice.
He could even see a hint of 'affection' between the two.
This made him quite gratified.
At the same time, I was also a little curious.
After finishing their meal and checking on the baby, the nanny cleaned up the dining room, the brother-in-law comforted the baby, and Arno and Osena went to the study to have a private space to talk.
Arno wanted to ask his sister how she was doing lately, but he didn't know how to start. Finally, he said, "The situation I saw in the Lefo star system is not bad. The Alliance's army has entered. Although each planet may only be allocated a few divisions, it is enough to establish a stable base on the surface. The most important thing is the various weapons and products from the Alliance, which help the local residents to arm themselves in the base and resume production."
Osena nodded slightly, then smiled and said, "I've seen all of this in the reports. Your CIA is not bad. However, shouldn't this kind of intelligence be handled by the Foreign Intelligence Service? Your CIA has quite a long reach."
Arno smiled shyly and deflected the blame, saying, "Then the Prime Minister should go to Chief Justice Lambert and ask him to look after our Director Isakson. I'm just a lowly soldier; I do whatever tasks I'm given."
The reason for this conversation between the two is that the three major intelligence agencies of the alliance actually have slightly different responsibilities. Among these foreign intelligence work, the main unit responsible for economic and political intelligence gathering is the Foreign Intelligence Service, which is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government.
Their CIA is under the jurisdiction of the Alliance's Legal Center, and its main task, in theory, is to spy on potential crimes, espionage, and acts of aggression against the Alliance. Of course, when necessary, it can also carry out tasks such as political subversion, instigating unrest, and turning key figures.
However, with war and economic reconstruction taking precedence, counter-crime is relatively less important. The CIA, of course, wouldn't neglect its most crucial task.
There was indeed a hint of overreaching, but the intelligence was centrally organized, categorized, and distributed as needed. As for what the leaders said among themselves, as Arnaud said, it was none of his business.
Osena stared at Arno with a stern face for a long while.
Arnaud felt a little uneasy.
His older sister had been in charge of him since he was little, and although he was somewhat rebellious, the bloodline suppression had always been there. In addition, Osena had been in a high position for many years and had long since developed the demeanor of a superior. All of these factors combined made Arno somewhat uneasy.
But the next second, Osena chuckled, and the previously tense atmosphere suddenly dissipated.
Her hand touched Arno's face, and she said, "It's been a long time. Are we going to talk about work as soon as we meet?"
"Uh..." Arno looked slightly embarrassed.
Indeed, he was thinking about his sister's life earlier, so why did he talk about these things when they finally had a private conversation?
But… he sighed: "You're busy, nothing compares to the Alliance's great cause. You can find a husband and have children at will; I'm pretty much the same. I'm on this planet today, but I don't know where I'll be tomorrow. I'm constantly in the shadows, facing open and hidden attacks. One wrong move and I'll be doomed…"
"People like us, besides eating and sleeping, are mostly focused on our work. So what else can we talk about besides work?"
At this point, Arnault gave a self-deprecating laugh.
Osena, however, was a little dissatisfied: "I didn't just pick a husband randomly, and I didn't just have a child randomly either."
"Oh? So, you and your brother-in-law met a few times before you got married?"
Osena frankly stated, "Indeed, not much, and he may not know me well enough, but I know him well enough."
At this point, she smiled, brewed a cup of tea herself, and handed it to her younger brother: "My marriage is a major event for the Alliance. The Internal Affairs Department, the Security Department, and the Anti-Corruption Agency have gathered a lot of intelligence and found many candidates, letting me choose slowly. I have thoroughly reviewed every single detail of Zhu Ye's resume from birth to the present, and read countless words of intelligence analysis before I selected him."
"Heh." Arno still felt uncomfortable.
"He's the perfect person for me. I think I'll fall in love with him, even though my approach to love might be a little different from most people's. I also think he'll fall in love with me, even though I spend most of my time at work. The analysis report suggests that he doesn't have a strong need for emotional connection and would be a devoted person in a family life, someone who could accept a wife like me," Osena said. "As it turns out, the intelligence analysis was right, and so was my judgment."
Arnault was even angrier. He said sarcastically, "I never imagined that my profession, and my colleagues in charge of internal intelligence, would use their expertise on the Prime Minister's love life and marriage."
Osena rolled her eyes at him: "Otherwise what? You don't need to worry so much. Do you think I don't know whether my life is good or not? Zhu Ye is a good person. He never talks nonsense outside. Even his colleagues don't know who I am. He keeps the house in good order and takes good care of the children. He also has his own career and is passionate about it. I am already very satisfied that we can be good soulmates and spend our lives together like this."
Before her brother could speak again, she teased, "But you, you're not as honest as you make yourself out to be. Who's the one who's been leaving a trail of broken hearts on so many planets in the Spiderweb Universe?"
Arno looked slightly embarrassed: "How did you know... Sigh, there's nothing I can do. In this line of work, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. It's something I can't help, and I don't want to do it."
While saying this, he was cursing his colleague to the heavens in his heart.
Why does everything have to be compiled into intelligence and sent to the Prime Minister's desk?
Don't I have any pride?
But at this point, the atmosphere between the siblings finally eased.
Arnaud also believed that his sister was an incredibly strong and rational person.
Compared to herself, Osena surely knows what she wants.
Given her position and abilities, there's no question of whether she's happy or not—could that brother-in-law Zhu Ye possibly bully his own sister?
Thinking of this, Orno simply advised, "You should also make sure to get more rest and spend more time with my little nephew."
"The governor told me the same thing," Osena sighed, and continued, "but… how can I possibly rest? There's just too much to do."
"You are active in the Spider Web Space yourself, so you can see many things more clearly."
"Two years, 800 billion; ten years, 10 trillion. This is the total tax revenue of the alliance."
"Including other regions in the Spiderweb Universe, it's another five trillion."
"With so much money on my shoulders, how could I dare to slack off even a little?"
Hearing this, Arno asked in surprise, "So much? The tax rates for other parts of the Spiderweb Space have already been determined?"
"It's almost done. Ambassador Salihovic has done his last best. However, the signing of the specific contract will have to wait for His Excellency the Governor to personally travel to Holy Terra."