The two of them moved from the courtyard to the bedroom, and along the way they didn't forget that cat that was all sinewy muscle, Jade.
They settled the cat in the courtyard, and after making sure the pet wouldn't suddenly show up to interrupt them, they hugged again.
Zero let out a soft laugh and didn't stop it, letting the person in his arms lean close to his neck.
Warm breath brushed against him, and then there was a soft touch.
After a while, Jingliu stopped. That face of hers, usually so expressionless, curved into the faintest smile when she saw the mark she had left.
She seemed to feel it still wasn't enough, raised a hand, grabbed Zero's collar, and made as if to pull it open.
Zero caught her wrist and met her eyes.
Jingliu froze.
Those clear eyes, as calm as a lake, were right in front of her.
By the time she realized it, the rhythm was already in his hands.
Jingliu was driven back step by step, falling onto the bed, closing her eyes in a sort of giving-up way.
The next second, she heard Zero speak to her in a tone that allowed no refusal, "Look at me."
The Sword Head had long been used to obeying her superiors' orders. Hearing that command-like tone, she opened her eyes without thinking.
Zero unhurriedly took off the ring on his index finger, then his gloves.
He bent down slightly and easily untied the blue ribbon in Jingliu's hair.
Lowering his eyes, Zero carefully confirmed that the flower on Jingliu's right arm was a peony, then let out a breath of relief.
He met Jingliu's gaze and lightly touched her flushed cheek with his palm.
His expression looked like he'd run into some confusing problem, but his tone still gave away what he was really thinking.
"Your face is really red."
Jingliu could tell he was holding back a laugh. Feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, she immediately turned her head, looking for the ribbon he had just taken off.
Zero seemed to sense it and picked up the blue ribbon first.
Hesitating as he spoke, he said what was on Jingliu's mind, "You want to… use this ribbon, don't you?"
Jingliu said nothing, turning her head away again to avoid his gaze.
Zero did his best to restrain his own wicked sense of fun.
"You forgot what I said again."
He sighed and put on a show of regret.
"Then there's no helping it…"
Zero used the ribbon to cover Jingliu's red eyes.
He tied a very sloppy knot and watched the helpless look she showed after her eyes were covered.
His tone was light and cheerful. "It really suits you."
———
It turned out that having a lover with a mean sense of humor… really was a test of Jingliu's patience.
She was embarrassed and annoyed, listening as Zero would say one moment, "You're shaking. Are you uncomfortable?"
And the next moment he would pry open her lips with his fingers and say with a smile, "In front of me, you don't have to hold yourself back."
Jingliu, "..."
That sounded way too familiar.
She had said something very similar to Zero before.
Jingliu really wanted to stuff his mouth shut.
Only after his lover had had her fill did Zero finally untie the ribbon that was blocking her vision.
He lifted a hand and gently brushed those wet eyelashes, meeting the unfocused red eyes that hadn't quite come back to themselves yet.
Jingliu sat up quickly, her lips and teeth pressing against his shoulder and neck. Just as she was about to bite, she hesitated, then only bit lightly.
She snatched back the ribbon and gave Zero a fleeting look.
Her breathing still hadn't settled, her chest rising and falling as she panted softly.
She reached back and used the ribbon to cover Zero's eyes, saying to herself, "Now it's my turn."
———
Zero carried Jingliu into the bathroom closest to the bedroom, then turned back to the bedroom.
By now he knew the routine well. He changed the bedding and stuffed the used sheets and covers that needed washing into the washing machine.
Even by the standards of long-lived species… the pace was a bit fast, but at least they hadn't done anything they shouldn't have yet.
After tidying the bed, Zero went to another bedroom to shower.
By the time he finished washing, dried his hair, and took out the dried sheets and covers, Jingliu, wearing a bathrobe and wiping her hair, slowly walked into the bedroom.
Zero sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside him, signaling Jingliu to sit down. After she did, he took the towel and carefully helped her dry her hair bit by bit.
He glanced at the side of Jingliu's neck that wasn't covered by the robe and saw that the marks left earlier had already faded a lot.
With Jingliu's self-healing ability, by the time the Cloud Knights assembled, the kiss marks probably wouldn't be visible anymore.
While drying her hair, Zero asked, "Why don't we take advantage of this time and I'll help you move your things into that place?"
The place he meant was the one he had given Jingliu earlier.
After Jingliu signed the gift agreement, she hadn't moved in.
Zero had asked her before, wanting to help her move, but she had refused.
'This time, they could move now, right?'
Unexpectedly, Jingliu refused him again.
In a soft voice, she said, "No. We'll move after I get back."
She was thinking, the ring still isn't finished yet.
The forging tools she left on the table haven't been put away yet.
If Zero saw them… wouldn't he get there first?
Jingliu knew her lover. As long as she spoke, he would never make his own decisions behind her back.
Of course, all of that came with conditions.
She couldn't give her lover any chance to exploit loopholes in her words.
Otherwise he would very likely do something beyond what she expected.
As she was thinking this, she saw Zero pat her head and set down the towel.
Jingliu's gaze fell on their hair, and she couldn't help remembering what Zero had once said.
Her lover had said that only after drinking the wedding wine together and performing the hair-binding ritual could they do more intimate things.
Soon... they would be engaged in half a year, and a year after that… they would be married.
Without realizing it, Jingliu reached out and took a strand of Zero's hair.
Zero didn't know what she was doing and said with a smile, "Looks like you really like my hair?"
Jingliu withdrew her hand without changing her expression and asked, "Besides a high ponytail, have you tried any other hairstyles?"
Zero thought for a moment and said, "I have. A high ponytail is just the easiest."
Jingliu pressed on. "Which ones have you tried?"
Zero couldn't really give an answer.
If it were Chaoyan, she could probably list hairstyles off one by one.
But Zero could only name the hair accessories he had used.
"I've tried hairpins and crowns and things like that…"
For some reason, after hearing this, Jingliu became quite interested and started playing with his hair, as if she really wanted to tie it up for him.
Zero had no choice but to press Jingliu down onto the bed.
"…Alright, alright, it's late. Time to sleep."
Only then did Jingliu let go of the hand that was holding Zero's hair.
She pulled the covers up and lay facing Zero on her side, the two of them looking at each other.
Zero asked, "What time are you leaving tomorrow? I'll walk you out."
Jingliu's gaze shifted slightly downward, sweeping over the marks on Zero's shoulder and neck.
If he covered them with ointment, it would probably have to go all the way behind his ear.
If someone else saw that…
Forget it. Better not let Zero see her off.
The Cloud Knights' assembly time was too early anyway. It would be better to let Zero sleep a bit longer.
Thinking this, Jingliu said to Zero, "Sleep. I'll wake you when it's time."
Zero had no idea what Jingliu was thinking.
With his lover lying beside him, he felt completely at ease.
Zero fell asleep without any guard up. When he opened his eyes again, the space beside him was empty.
He reached out for the jade communicator by the bed, but accidentally touched something card-shaped.
When he looked closely, he saw that beside it there was also a note, and Jingliu's blue ribbon.
Three things had been added to the table, and the only thing missing was his hair tie.
He picked up the note. It only had two words on it, [Salary Card]
Zero, "..."
As expected of Jingliu. She always did things he couldn't predict.
In that case, he'd just hand it over to the wealth management team together.
Then he'd transfer all the profits into Jingliu's card.
After Jingliu went out with the Luofu Cloud Knights, she still squeezed time out of her busy schedule to chat with Zero.
Sometimes she shared interesting stories from some planet. Sometimes she talked about their friends.
[Jingliu: I don't know why, but Yingxing didn't get any downtime even after going to the battlefield]
[Jingliu: Yingxing and Dan Feng got into a conflict]
Zero thought that those two had extremely similar personalities, both proud and aloof types.
They were so alike… and they still ended up in conflict?
Zero couldn't make sense of it.
[Zero: Their personalities are similar. They'll probably make up again before long, right]
Another three months passed. Hua sent him a message saying that the Luofu Cloud Knights had found traces of Shuhu.
When he received the message, Zero was discussing a certain journal article with Zandar.
In order to get more information out of Zandar, Zero had put in quite a bit of effort, seizing every chance to chat with him.
Since Shuhu was about to die, he should also recover his memories from before.
It was just… he didn't know if any Aeons would come to the Luofu to look for him.
Zero first replied to Hua, telling her to clear the field in advance if things started to go bad.
After sending the message, he went back to answering Zandar's questions.
Zero's mind wasn't quite on track, and as they chatted he ended up mentioning Shuhu.
Zandar froze. Unsure, he asked, "Hm? Shuhu?"
From his tone, Zero thought he didn't know who that was.
Come to think of it, the top scholar in the entire starry sea wouldn't be paying attention to a mere Emanator, right?
So he patiently explained who Shuhu was.
"It's an Emanator of Abundance."
Zandar's heart sank.
That's right, how could he have forgotten Shuhu?
Zandar had gone to great lengths to hide things from his student.
The people of the Xianzhou would do everything they could to protect their Marshal. They wouldn't let him get hurt, much less let him come into contact with mara, so he wouldn't notice his own special constitution.
But at the one time when Eric's condition was at its worst… at that most critical moment… Eric had found out.
Zandar had always thought the truth was leaked by those two Aeons, completely forgetting there was still an Emanator.
He had forgotten Shuhu. How could he forget Shuhu?
It seemed that besides the Aeons, Shuhu was also inseparably connected to his student's death.
'Wait. Shuhu was with Eric all the time. When Eric was seriously injured, Shuhu might even have come into contact with his blood… Shuhu should have died… so why was it still alive today?'
'Then, could the current Shuhu still be killed?'
In a dazed tone, Zandar asked, "You mean Shuhu? It's actually still alive?"
Zero didn't think much of it and replied, "Yeah, it's still alive."
Zandar knew he had to completely dispel his student's suspicions.
In an especially astonished tone, he said, "You dealt with the avatar of the 'Elation' Aeon directly back then. How did you leave Shuhu alive?"
Hearing this, Zero wasn't surprised that he had killed Aha's avatar.
He was only puzzled.
Shuhu shouldn't have lived until today.
Zero sighed, "I don't have that memory, but it doesn't matter anymore. The Xianzhou will take care of it soon."
Zandar felt that something was wrong.
He tapped a few keys on the keyboard and easily broke into the Xianzhou's internal network to check the Cloud Knights' reports.
Eric's lover was on the front line.
Zandar had a very bad feeling.
This was completely different from what he had predicted.
Wasn't it supposed to be that after the engagement, and after the Luofu Cloud Knights went to war, Eric would recover his memories?
No, his student was about to get engaged, so why in the world did the Xianzhou Marshal still send that woman out?
Zandar kept his tone under control and said calmly, "Eric, I'll come to the Luofu to see you in advance."
Just as he expected, his student didn't notice anything wrong and replied, "Hm? Okay."
Before they hung up, Zandar took a deep breath.
He should give Eric a bit of a warning ahead of time.
He said, "…Eric, believe me. I won't hurt you."
Zero half-closed his eyes and gave the same reply as before, "Zandar, that depends on you."
It seemed that whatever Zandar was hiding from him… was definitely not something small.
So much so that this scholar was willing to destroy his own reputation just to earn his trust.
So much so that… Zandar had to emphasize it again and again.
Zero added one more sentence, "Alright, enough talk. See you at the Luofu."
He hung up cleanly and placed the ice lotus and the engagement ring together on the bedside table.
Next up was the proposal.
Zero had already chosen the bouquet for the proposal.
This time, he decided to go with the Dragon Lord's earlier suggestion, ten thousand flowers.
Then he would use ten thousand peonies to decorate the proposal site.
Thinking this, Zero decisively placed the order in advance.
He set down the jade communicator and looked at the ice lotus.
Zero couldn't tolerate being deceived or betrayed.
Hopefully Zandar hadn't lied to him.
Otherwise… he really wasn't sure what he would do.
With a blank expression, Zero clenched the ice lotus in his hand.
The first thing he saw was the system panel.
———
[Xianzhou, Yaoging]
[The Aether Phase Engine has been completed…]
[Fate is waiting. Should we start the engine?]
Zero calmly looked away from the system panel and lowered his head to keep grilling meat.
Only when he was with his subordinates did he eat a few bites of food.
This was also the first time Zero was grilling meat for someone all by himself.
He stared at the differently colored pieces of grilled meat, picked and chose, and placed them onto the little child's plate beside him.
His tone was hesitant.
"This one… should be cooked."
He kept moving, putting meat on the child's plate, and his tone grew more and more confident.
"Mm… it's burnt, but that's not a big problem. It's definitely edible."
The gray-blue-haired child swallowed the grilled meat with difficulty, looked up, and asked Zero, "Did you bring any patrol medicine?"
Hearing that, Zero froze.
He and the child stared at each other for quite a while.
After a long silence, Zero slowly set down the communal chopsticks and turned his head away from the child's eyes, which held both hesitation and a hint of expectation.
"…No."