.4 – What kind of situation was this?

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & BlueBug

It has been a little under half a month since Lou Cen woke up, but because some of his vitals had not yet stabilized, Lieutenant General Lou had stayed in the hospital for further testing and observation. Normally, Lou Cen would cooperate quietly, but he was currently in a terrible mood, to the point where he wanted to beat people up.

The person whose eyes he had seen before falling back to sleep was engraved deep in his mind, and he would see that smile in his dreams every time he fell asleep. When he woke up, he specifically asked about that person’s identity, and learned that that person was ’Yan Qiwen’.

Although Lieutenant General Lou had been in a coma for half a month, he still remembered his fiance’s name. After learning that person’s identity, he was completely unable to match that person with the cowardly mermaid who hid behind Yan Zhaiyan during his own birthday party.

But the nurse on duty assured him that it was the same merman, and they could not possibly have made a mistake.

So, the depressed Lieutenant General Lou debated with himself for the better half of a day about whether or not he liked that particular fish.

Lou Cen felt very unhappy about Yan Zhiwen. It was because of him that he had no way to refuse the engagement and had chosen to go and take on the secret mission in order to postpone the engagement party. And it was because of this that he had fallen into a coma.

But it was also because of him that his physical and spiritual strength broke through the barrier that had been blocking the way and jumped straight to SSS-class, allowing him to become the first SSS-class breeder in the Empire.

The relationship between them could be called complicated, or it could be considered as simple as a straight line. Only, Lou Cen was still very prejudiced against Yan Qiwen.

For example, he felt that Yan Qiwen was merely a little merchild who had been closed up in the Duke’s Palace from childhood. He was raised in a haven, and was naïve and ignorant, even going so far as to threaten him and the Duke with his own life in order to be with him. Lou Cen found this kind of character very unpleasant. He also felt that he did not want to waste time pleasing a silly little merchild - he was currently already an SSS-class breeder, and after considering the merits of his previous mission, as long as he left the hospital, he would immediately be promoted to the rank of General. After that, his goal was to become a Marshal. To fall in love with and raise a merperson now would seriously drag him down.

Although he had an abundance of reasons, enough to allow Lou Cen to throw that moment of goodwill deep into the depths of space, as long as he closed his eyes, he would be able to see that pair of eyes and that simple and quiet smile, to the point where his heart could not help but throb, could not help but speed up and beat faster.

Reason eventually lost to the increasing feeling of wanting to see someone but being unable to do so. Lou Cen made up his mind that since the little merchild liked him so much, it was not impossible to get married, and as long as he obediently stayed at home, he could definitely support him for a lifetime.

After thinking things through, Lieutenant General Lou began to wait for the little merchild to come for a visit. After all, the little merchild had been there the day he woke up, so he subconsciously believed that Yan Qingwen still liked him to the point of being unable to extricate himself, and would come to the hospital more often because he was worried about him.

Heaven knows that Xue Ling had merely calculated the time just right, and only showed up to build up some goodwill before making a bet with the system about how long it would take before the man came to him on his own initiative. Because the man was over half a month late, Xue Ling had lost the bet, and was now angry with the man, deciding to string him along for a year or two.

In any case, they had already cancelled the engagement, and based on the current relationship between the two, they had no reason to contact each other. Xue Ling was very certain that the man’s love for him had already reached the point where he would fall in love with him at first sight, so he had no qualms running off to gain favour with Yan Qingjun and attempt to bring him to the Duke’s Palace before Madame Lou introduced him to Lou Cen.

Because neither side decided to take the next step, Lieutenant General Lou waited, and then waited some more, but that little merman never showed up. Suddenly, it time for him to be discharged from hospital. This was a good thing, but Lieutenant General Lou felt depressed and unhappy, and his heart was full of restlessness.

Even if he had not come for a visit, he should come for a big event such as his release from the hospital, right?

But he still didn’t see the little merman.

As he quietly clenched his fists, Lou Cen decided to postpone their engagement. Since the little merman was not in a hurry to marry him, then he also would not be anxious if their engagement was postponed until later, right?

With that in mind, Lieutenant General Lou was in a slightly better mood and did not think at all to ask his mother about the situation regarding his engagement.

Xue Ling knew that the man had been discharged from the hospital today, but he was really in a bad mood, and therefore was too lazy to bother going to see him. He was so listless during class that Yan Qingjun even became worried seeing him like this.

“Why are you so spiritless today?” By now, Yan Qingjun already treated Xue Ling as an adorable younger brother. After all, his personality and appearance were particularly pleasant. He was a little concerned after seeing him weakly lying on the desk.

“Am I?” Xue Ling glanced lazily at Yan Qingjun and tilted his head in that direction as he spoke in a wronged tone, "Junjun, I’m so sad..." He dragged the last word, and that tiny nasal sound at the end made Yan Qingjun’s heart turn so soft it almost became a pool of water.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been looking unhappy these past few days. Is it because of that sweetheart you mentioned before?"

“Yeah.” Xue Ling’s head rubbed against Yan Qingjun’s hand. After building up his character during this period of time, he felt no pressure acting cute like this. As long as he hypnotized himself to believe ’I am the cutest’ several times a day, he would surely become even more cute! "He woke up when I went to visit him half a month ago."

“And then?”

“Wuwuwu.” Xue Ling directly wrapped his arms around Yan Qingjun, looking incomparably aggrieved. "He never came to find me after that day! There hasn’t even been the most basic level of communication between us! He didn’t even ask me why I broke off our engagement! Am I particularly unlikable? ... Could it be that breaking off an engagement with me made him extra happy..."

Yan Qingjun’s heart was almost dying from pain. He had already scolded this lovely child’s sweetheart several times in his heart. Which scum could treat such a cute merman this way? It was already bad enough that he didn’t pursue and praise him. Not even asking a single thing about the cancelled engagement was like treating the little merman as though he was something completely unnecessary! He was truly a scum!

He rubbed Xue Ling’s head and comforted him by saying, “No, Wenwen is so cute, clearly everyone will like you."

“I heard them say,” Xue Ling’s eyes were red as he looked at Yan Qingjun. “That people only praise others for being cute when they don’t know what else to say that’s good about a person."

Yan Qingjun: “...” After such an enigmatic silence, Yan Qingjun patted Xue Ling on the shoulder and once again opened his mouth to comfort him. “Wenwen is good everywhere, and is particularly excellent at everything. Definitely can’t only be praised for being cute and nothing else."

“I feel that you’re just saying that.”

Yan Qingjun: “If Wenwen continues to be so insecure, then he won’t be cute at all."

“You’re even threatening me!” Xue Ling moved back to his own seat and snorted, “Of course I am the cutest. If he doesn’t like me, then forget it. I won’t like him either. He’ll be blacklisted from today onwards!"

The system was speechlessly staring at its own host. It no longer wanted to discuss its host. Wasn’t it just that he wanted to slander the man because he had lost a bet? Did he really need to find so many reasons and excuses in order to speak badly about Lou Cen in front of the protagonist shou?... How firm was his resolution to destroy the potential relationship between the two... even though its host already knew that the man would not like anyone other than himself... Its lord host’s acting skills had gotten better and better recently if he could pull off this kind of act without breaking out of character.

Yan Qingjun helplessly took in his childish behaviour before opening his mouth to ask, "Wenwen, you’ve never told me - what kind of person is your sweetheart?"

“What kind of person?” Xue Ling tried to recall the original body’s host’ memories regarding Lou Cen. He said, “Cold as ice. He looks very unkind, and does not have even a hint of popularity, and is not even a little bit gentle with merfolk."

Yan Qingjun: “...” So, what exactly was it that he liked?

“But he looks good.”

Yan Qingjun: “...” To put it simply, it was just all about his face, right?

“Now, it would be useless even if he was even better looking. Who told him not to come and find me? Since he doesn’t want to be with me so much, then he won’t get the chance to be with me." Xue Ling harrumphed and said, "So what if he’s left the hospital? So what if he’s promoted to a General as soon as he’s discharged? Blacklisted!"

Yan Qingjun latched onto a key word: “General?”

Xue Ling made an ’ah’ sound: "I’ve never told Junjun about his identity before?”

Yan Qingjun: “...” No, you were constantly being depressed by yourself.

“My sweetheart is called Lou Cen, and he’s currently a Lieutenant General. He ran off on a mission in order to put off our engagement party, injured himself, and fell into a coma. And then his mother forced me to break off my engagement with him. Perhaps it was because she felt that he would be better off not marrying me... and then he woke up half a month ago when I went to see him." Xue Ling propped his chin on his hand and continued, "I didn’t understand anything when I was younger, and wanted to tie my life and death to a man, threatening to suicide if he didn’t agree to an engagement with me. As a result, he didn’t even cherish me at all. Ignoring the fact that he left on a mission even before our engagement was settled, he didn’t even come to apologize to me after the engagement was cancelled. Honestly, although it’s hard to find breeders, there are a lot of people who like me! Why should I stay strung up on his tree?"

The system wiped off its sweat from beside him, thinking in its heart that Xue Ling had better not be heard by his man, otherwise the other party would kill him off in bed.

Yan Qingjun’s expression was also full of helplessness. "Fine, as long as you’re happy." People’s hearts were biased. He was currently closer to Xue Ling, so he would naturally stand on Xue Ling’s side. Although that Lieutenant General seemed innocent based on Xue Ling’s words, as a breeder, it was still wrong to make a merperson feel so sad, let alone such a lovely little merman

Lou Cen, who had already been placed on the blacklist and blackened to the point where he could not possibly be any blacker finally returned home and was treated to a meal by his delighted mother, who then turned around and admonished, "Although it ended up being an unexpected surprise rather than a threat and you even broke through in rank, you can’t be so rash next time."

Lou Cen nodded rather helplessly.

Mister Lou also worked in the army, and his status was also very high. But at the end of the day, he was already middle-aged, and his son was quickly about to surpass him. He had a cold look on his face as he praised him, "The army has already promoted your rank. You should continue to do a good job in the future."

“Yes.”

Madame Lou looked somewhat strangely at her husband, and tugged at her son’s hand as she said, "Our son is already an SSS-ranked breeder, and there is no rank he can’t reach in the future. Why are you still admonishing him like this?"

"If you ask me, you should rest for a while first. You’ve never taken a vacation ever since you entered the army - how will you be able marry a beautiful little mermaid for your mother like this?" Madame Lou’s eyes were brilliant as she spoke to this point. "Your mother knows a very beautiful and well-bred little merman who is both well behaved and quiet. He even knows how to design clothing - take a look at the fishtail skirt that I’m wearing, it was his work."

Lou Cen’s expression stiffened, and he spoke very primly, "Mother, I already have a fiancé. It’s not suitable for you to do this."

The hand that had been in the middle of passing over a dish to Lou Cen stilled, and Madame Lou silently put the plate down. Mister Lou’s facial expression was also ugly, and the entire dinner table suddenly turned quiet.

Lou Cen was rather confused about the situation and continued, "What? I know that you do not like Yan Qiwen. What he did back then crossed a line, but since I’ve already agreed with the Duke’s Palace, I will naturally follow through. It was only because something happened to me that the engagement was postponed..."

Madame Lou’s mouth opened and closed, and she finally spoke tonelessly, "Son, you and Yan Qiwen. Er, the engagement has already been dissolved."

Lou Cen was stunned.

"After you fell into a coma, your mother went to find him and asked him to dissolve the engagement. He agreed." If Xue Ling could hear what Madame Lou was saying, perhaps he would praise Madame Lou for having a conscience, since according to this kind of plot, Madame Lou should be pushing all the blame onto his shoulders and scolding him for being shameless, giving up and getting away from Lou Cen after seeing that he was unconscious. This was the proper way to make Lou Cen slowly feel disgust towards him

That would have been rather convenient for them to fall in love together and then mutually hate each other to death. The Xue Ling that was particularly fond of tossing and turning and making the man suffer as they played as a married couple always tended towards this kind of crooked plot direction.

"He agreed?" Lou Cen repeated these words rather strangely. "Then why... why did I see him on the day that I woke up?"

"He said he couldn’t be at ease, and wanted to see you once at the end..." Madame Lou truly felt rather embarrassed. "After all, you two no longer had any relations with each other, and the Duke’s Palace would not find it suitable to bear a grudge towards our family and you, so he came to me as a gesture of goodwill."

"Your mother knows that you dislike him. His personality doesn’t match yours, which was why I took the initiative to do this. You were very unhappy regarding the matter of the engagement back then, and I thought that we could use your coma as an excuse and help you settle this matter so that you would not have to be bothered by it after you woke up.”

Lou Cen could feel his head starting to hurt.

What kind of situation was this?