Ch 23 – The Young Man Starved for Love
“What are you looking at?” the blond man asked Yu Xi.
Yu Xi looked to the left, then to the right, before finally pointing toward his own face: “Are you asking me?”
“Who else would I be asking?!” The blond man grabbed Yu Xi by the collar.
Kersz and Tau immediately rushed forward. This wasn’t a third-class planet, and communication through violence was not tolerated. If Kersz dared to pull out a gun at this moment, he would definitely find himself pinned to the ground. Plus, this blond man had a rather special identity that made him problematic.
“Sorry, sorry, my little brother doesn’t know any better.” Kersz smiled ingratiatingly as he apologized, putting an arm around Yu Xi’s waist to pull him back. “He’s never seen a fight before, and he was curious.”
Tau was also an acting pro: “He contracted radiation sickness at birth and spent the first forty years of his life in a medical ward. He just recently got out, and everything is very exciting to him. I hope you won’t take it personally.”
“Radiation sickness at birth?” The blond man looked a little less aggressive now.
Tau was familiar with this young master. He was the youngest child of the Supreme Governor, and had six older siblings. This young master had average talent, performed poorly in school, and was easily angered. He would never be the heir to the Supreme Governor’s estate, nor would he inherit his mother’s territories.
Nobles were always like this. They couldn’t just raise one successor, because what if the child didn’t live up to expectations or died unexpectedly?
They always had numerous offspring, and the relationship between parents and their children was rarely close.
This young master was a complete and utter dunce, and was always very short-tempered. He wanted to handle his father’s affairs, but he didn’t understand that his identity was completely unsuitable for associating with radical individuals, and outsiders had discovered his involvement with them.
His actions amounted to exposing his father’s association with those radicals, which caused the Supreme Governor considerable trouble.
This young master had been booted from the inheritance list. Likely having noticed his father’s attitude toward him, he was even more eager to prove himself useful.
But as a result, he was shoved to the side and became increasingly irascible.
Tau, however, knew exactly how to calm this person down.
He needed to portray Yu Xi as completely harmless, even somewhat pitiful. A weakling who didn’t pose any threat whatsoever to the young master.
Sure enough, the other party loosened his grip on Yu Xi’s collar.
“You’ve gone through radiation sickness?” the young master asked him.
Tau tensed up, but Yu Xi immediately nodded in agreement and lowered his head forlornly: “I’ve only ever seen fights on TV, and I used to be so weak that I couldn’t even swing my arms. My family tells me fighting is bad, but to me, it’s so fresh and novel. It’s something I’ve never been able to experience.”
Yu Xi even shed a couple of tears: “I’m sorry.”
Why was his acting so good now? Kersz was astounded.
Yu Xi’s acting skills had not actually improved. He still couldn’t look people in the eye when he lied, but he was able to control his tears.
“Huh?! It’s fine, it’s fine.” Yu Xi’s state seemed to alarm the young master, and he waved his hands repeatedly. “I-I didn’t know about your situation.” He didn’t seem to know what to do now.
“Were you frightened?” The young master looked down to observe Yu Xi, who stepped back in fright at his sudden movement.
“You’re really scared of me?!” The young master scratched his head, then wrapped a friendly arm around Yu Xi’s shoulders and gave him a couple of pats.
Kersz: ?
Tau: ?
What was he doing? Was he not going to let them take him away?
“I apologize. I’ll pay for anything you want to buy here.” The young master gently shook Yu Xi from side to side with his arm around him. “My name is Cuthe. What’s yours?”
“Sarah.” Yu Xi glanced toward Kersz and Tau. He needed to shake off this young master.
“You and your brothers should come hang out with me, I’ll show you around. I have a big group of friends here.” Cuthe was quite enthusiastic.
Yu Xi tried to restrain himself, but he had already started walking with Cuthe.
Kersz could only continue to put on a show of timidness, following them with a forced smile. Tau had an anxious look on his face. He had to make that expression, because he had just made up a lie that required him to be concerned about Yu Xi’s health.
Yu Xi turned his head to glance at the man who had been beaten.
As it turned out, that man was also following them. Clutching the area where he had been punched, he hunched over and approached with small, shuffling steps: “Apologies, Director Cuthe. I had too much to drink and let my mouth run.”
Cuthe didn’t spare him a glance.
So this person was one of Cuthe’s cronies?
“Director?” Yu Xi looked at Cuthe. “Are you an official?”
The other man, his face bruised and swollen, looked shocked: “You don’t know him?”
“I do know him, his name is Cuthe,” Yu Xi corrected him.
“He’s…..”
Cuthe sent the man a glare, and he immediately shut up.
“I’m the director of a branch of the Human Cultural Heritage Conservation Administration,” Cuthe said to Yu Xi.
“Wow!!” Yu Xi felt like he could also be considered a participant in this line of work.
“You think that’s impressive?” Cuthe asked him.
“It’s very impressive. I like things from ancient times,” said Yu Xi.
Kersz chimed in: “He used to focus on stuff like that when he was sick, and we have a few old-timey things at home. He’s always yearned for the human society that existed before we went interstellar.”
Cuthe looked even more delighted.
Tau knew that Cuthe’s position as ‘Branch Director of the Human Cultural Heritage Conservation Administration’ was proof of his marginalization. Cuthe didn’t like when people talked about this, except, of course, outsiders with no knowledge of his family’s internal disputes. This outsider in particular seemed to admire his position, and Cuthe liked it when others admired and idolized him.
Cuthe pulled Yu Xi over to where he had been sitting, and Yu Xi gave a shy smile.
His shyness was genuine. Because of Cuthe, the other humans were exceptionally enthusiastic toward Yu Xi.
Yu Xi knew that their enthusiasm wasn’t sincere, but he didn’t care. Since humans were approaching him on their own, why not enjoy it?
After drinking some alcohol, Yu Xi was certain that there were crops on this planet, because many of the beverages here were clearly made from plants.
Yu Xi smiled shyly as he drank with the humans.
The others grew more talkative the more alcohol they consumed, and he finally figured out why Cuthe had fought with that man.
Because they had been talking about Kersz.
Upon hearing that name, Yu Xi subconsciously looked in Kersz’s direction.
Kersz looked timid, smiling obsequiously at the people around the table. He continuously excused his little brother’s lack of manners, as if he feared that Yu Xi would offend this gaggle of second-generation rich kids.
But the Kersz described by these second-generation rich kids was the complete opposite in disposition.
They were all aware that the mad space pirate had sent the Supreme Governor a death threat, and Cuthe had punched that man after he said that Kersz had never missed a shot.
Cuthe was very fretful, and even wanted to solve this problem for his father by hiring someone to kill Kersz.
There was also that new accomplice at Kersz’s side.
Nobody knew where that accomplice had come from, and the six coalitions were unable to discover anything about his identity. Of course, it was also possible that he was a criminal who had undergone cosmetic surgery.
But the scope of cosmetic surgery utilized by criminals was too broad, and there were too many suspicious individuals out there.
Conversation then shifted to the Illegitimate who was being controlled by Kersz.
“My father says that 152 is probably still alive.” Cuthe pressed a hand to his forehead. “But he’s not entirely sure, because 152’s messages are just too strange.” Although the Supreme Governor hadn’t actually shown him those messages, his expression when mentioning them was very odd.
“If he’s still alive, he should take that space pirate down with him, and that new accomplice too. What is he waiting for?” Cuthe was very agitated. “Doesn’t he know who Kersz’s target is?”
They were actually discussing this right out in the open.
Yu Xi looked toward Tau with a sigh, but the man didn’t react very strongly.
Tau was accustomed to such misconceptions. Those who were inexperienced always liked to boast and bluster, and believed that everything would be better if the world operated according to their own thoughts and ideas.
But the more they thought that way, the more they proved that they were just a group of ordinary people without any authority. Perhaps Cuthe had some limited experience through his interactions with his friends, or perhaps he was just making assumptions.
In any case, Cuthe’s assumptions were meaningless.
Because Cuthe never could have guessed that “mad space pirate” Kersz had also become a prisoner in a sense, and that both of them were now being held hostage by an alien robot.
After monologuing for a while, Cuthe clinked glasses with Yu Xi and praised him for his ability to drink.
Yu Xi was naturally a good drinker, because his body was unaffected by alcohol.
Being neglected by his parents didn’t seem to make Cuthe want to run away from his family. Instead, he wanted to prove that his older siblings were a bunch of disloyal, scheming, mediocre people, and that only his feelings toward his parents were truly pure.
“Your brother and cousin are really good to you.” Cuthe was now drunk, and leaned against Yu Xi’s shoulder. “They’re so…..so good to you.”
“You have older siblings too, ah.” Yu Xi didn’t understand why Kersz and Tau had set their identities as his relatives. Were they sneakily trying to gain an advantage over him?
Kersz might do something like that, but why would Tau have similar thoughts?
“It’s not the same. They’d love it if I died,” Cuthe said. “It’s really…..really not the same.”
“If you and I switched places, they would never stand up for me like your brothers did,” Cuthe said with a scoff. “They would enjoy watching me getting beat to death.”
“But you’re their loved one.” Yu Xi felt that making assumptions was useless, and that he could only know how his siblings would react if the situation actually occurred.
Cuthe: “I’m really not.”
Yu Xi: “But you’ve never revealed your vulnerable side to them either.”
Cuthe continued to sneer.
Yu Xi: “How about you tell them that you love them, but that you can’t feel their love?”
Cuthe, already so drunk that he was oblivious to the world around him, muttered in a daze: “Ah….”
Yu Xi: “Will you do it?”
Cuthe: “Sure.”
Kersz and Tau were once again appalled.
What was Yu Xi doing?!
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