TAID CH2

After a whole wedding, Bai Li was utterly exhausted.

The moment he stepped through the lounge door, he stripped off his jacket and tossed it aside, diving headfirst directly onto the lounge sofa.

Lu Zhao walked in afterward. He was also half-dead from exhaustion and didn’t have the energy to drag Bai Li off the sofa, so he simply pulled over a chair, sat down, and loosened his tie.

He had barely loosened it twice when he felt Bai Li staring at him. Lu Zhao ignored him and continued his actions.

However, Bai Li was not the type of person to stay quiet just because you ignored him. Bai Li said, “Fresh flower, the way you loosen your tie is really awesome.”

Lu Zhao gave him a sidelong glance and said flatly, “There’s no one else here now, you don’t need to keep acting like this.”

“Now that’s where you don’t understand me. I am never stingy with compliments for my partner.” Bai Li rolled over, lying flat on his back sprawled across the sofa, and leisurely waved a hand. “Even if there are no feelings between us, you yourself are still worthy of praise.”

Lu Zhao silently opened his personal terminal. Because of his work, he didn’t often browse the Empire’s forum, especially the entertainment section. During this period, he had gathered a rough idea of how heated the discussions across the Empire were regarding his marriage to Bai Li, yet due to his own subtle feelings, Lu Zhao had never opened the forum.

During the wedding preparations, aside from meeting his previously unseen legal partner Bai Li once just to get acquainted, he had spent his days either staying in the personal quarters assigned to him by the legion or killing time in the training room.

Even though the curious and eager gazes of his surrounding comrades were practically swallowing him whole, he hadn’t leaked a single word about his marriage.

As soon as Lu Zhao clicked open the entertainment section of the Empire’s forum, the post with photos of his and Bai Li’s wedding ceremony was pinned right at the top, its popularity astonishing. Ever since the announcement of their marriage, no entertainment celebrity had managed to overshadow the two of them; the exposure of Bai Li’s personal profile alone had buried the gossip news of several minor stars.

Lu Zhao felt a headache coming on from the sheer volume of discussion on the forum. He skimmed through a few posts and quickly discovered that Bai Li’s background had been stripped completely bare. Following a link, he even found Bai Li’s personal blog, where people had already cursed him out for several rounds. By now, everyone had faced reality and quieted down a bit.

His gaze lingered briefly on words like “concrete,” “trash,” and “crippled young master” before he closed the webpage.

Lu Zhao rubbed his aching temples, hesitated for a moment, and spoke up, “On the forum… I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

He truly hadn’t expected it.

After all, his life consisted of nothing more than work and necessary rest. Prior to this, Lu Zhao had never paid attention to public opinion.

Hearing no response from Bai Li, Lu Zhao thought he was in a bad mood. He pursed his lips and said, “I will find a way to compensate you.”

The moment his voice fell, he heard Bai Li let out a loud “Ow!” that nearly made Lu Zhao jump out of his skin.

He looked up to see Bai Li playing a simulated star-war game on his personal terminal. A shiny gold medal was projected on the holographic screen in mid-air, with fireworks going off in the background.

Lu Zhao was speechless.

Bai Li excitedly rolled off the sofa and slung an arm around Lu Zhao’s shoulder. “Brother, look quick! I just beat a ranked player, I am way too good!”

Lu Zhao replied, “Mn, you are way too good.”

He grabbed Bai Li’s wrist and twisted it, making him howl in pain. “Ow, ow, ow, let go, let go, let go!”

Lu Zhao didn’t let go. Twisting his wrist, he contorted the facial features of a towering, over-1.9-meter Alpha, repeating himself once more, “I will compensate you.”

“Is this how you compensate me?” Bai Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Besides, what happened that requires you to compensate me?”

Lu Zhao looked at him and said, “For marrying me, I will compensate you.”

His gaze was very calm and very serious. Bai Li could only say, “Alright, alright, alright, can you let go first?”

This time, Lu Zhao released his grip. Bai Li hurriedly clutched his wrist to inspect it, finding several red marks twisted into his skin. Heartbroken for himself, he blew on it twice before continuing, “Alright then, fresh flower, how do you plan to compensate me?”

Lu Zhao was stumped by the question, sitting in his chair lost in thought.

He felt that he owed Bai Li. No outsider knew about this debt, yet both he and Bai Li understood it clearly. In fact, Lu Zhao hadn’t expected Bai Li to agree to marry him back then.

“I don’t lack money. As for status…” Bai Li patted his left leg. “Pretty hopeless.”

Lu Zhao’s gaze followed his patting hand and rested on Bai Li’s left leg. He had heard rumors about Bai Li’s severe injury years ago, though he didn’t know many details. He couldn’t help asking, “Your leg, can it not fully recover?”

“Could you ask that a bit more tactfully?” Bai Li clutched his chest, looking as though a deep emotional wound had been poked.

Lu Zhao paused. “Sorry, I’m not very good at speaking.”

Bai Li patted his leg again. “Walking on this leg is fine, but delicate work like piloting a mecha is out of the question.”

Lu Zhao felt a bit of regret, yet given his personality, he couldn’t think of any words of comfort.

Before he could agonize over how to comfort him, a notification chime rang on Bai Li’s personal terminal. Someone in the game had challenged him to a match. He cheerfully rolled up his sleeves and started a new round of simulated star-war.

Lu Zhao thought silently, …You really are way too good. He had truly never met someone like Bai Li, who didn’t treat his own physical disability as a big deal at all.

A few knocks sounded on the door, and Huo Cun pushed it open. “Major General, the Marshal asked me to inquire whether you and Mr. Bai Li would like to go meet the reporters from the Imperial News Agency.”

Lu Zhao’s reputation was too grand, which brought along plenty of trouble.

He wasn’t very adept at dealing with matters outside of work and hesitated slightly. “Do we have to go?”

“Huh?” Huo Cun was stunned by the question, replying blankly, “I don’t know. The Marshal told me to ask, so I asked.”

Hearing the commotion, Bai Li looked up and saw the two military elites staring blankly at each other. He couldn’t help but laugh. “What is there to agonize over? Go if you want to go, don’t go if you don’t want to.”

Lu Zhao looked at him. “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”

“Yo, didn’t expect you to be willing to deal with that bunch of reporters.” Bai Li was quite surprised. “I find them super annoying. Their questions come in endless sets, always trying to lead me into a ditch.”

Bai Li still retained a bit of his early military ruffian vibe. When he knew to put on an act, he was fine, but whenever he got carried away, it showed. His speech also occasionally carried the rough edge picked up from rolling around in the legions during his youth, which often got him mocked by gossip tabloids and cost him face in noble circles.

However, Lu Zhao didn’t dislike it. He hadn’t had much contact with Bai Li before, yet actually getting along with him, he found there was no friction at all; it was actually quite comfortable. Seeing Bai Li speak so bluntly right now, Lu Zhao’s furrowed brows relaxed slightly, holding back a smile. “You’ve been led into plenty of ditches yourself.”

Both of them recalled Bai Li’s messy past news. Bai Li let out a curse and laughed while swearing a couple of times.

“The Major General’s status is a bit… delicate,” Huo Cun spoke up after weighing his words. “There are always people looking to grab onto something to gossip about.”

When all was said and done, it was nothing more than probing into how an Omega with no family background had climbed all the way to the rank of Major General.

Bai Li glanced at Lu Zhao, who showed no expression, clearly already accustomed to it. While operating his game, Bai Li asked, “So, do you want to go?”

Lu Zhao found Bai Li very interesting; this was already the second time tonight he had asked for his opinion. Lu Zhao answered directly, “No.”

Bai Li said to Huo Cun, “Did the Marshal say where the reporters are?”

“The main entrance.”

“Alright.” Bai Li closed his unfinished game, stood up, and grabbed his jacket. “Have someone park your Major General’s hovercar at the back door. Tell the reporters at the main entrance that my old injury flared up, my leg hurts so bad I’m rolling around on the floor, and your Major General carried me off to the hospital.”

Both Lu Zhao and Huo Cun failed to react immediately.

Huo Cun stammered, “Will that work?” Hasn’t your leg been injured for years? Why would it suddenly hurt right now?

“Nonsense. Lu Zhao is married now, not a bachelor Omega anymore. Wherever his legal Alpha wants to go with him, he goes; whenever he wants to go, he goes. Don’t you understand the rule of following one’s husband after marriage?” Bai Li spoke with righteous confidence, as if he truly possessed the imposing aura of the head of the household.

Huo Cun held back for a long time before saying, “No, I’m just worried they’ll use that whole ‘Omegas submitting to Alphas after marriage’ angle again, making it seem like the Major General turned into a softie after getting married.”

Bai Li looked at him with exasperation at his lack of comprehension. “Didn’t I just say that Lu Zhao carried me to the hospital? Just say it exactly like that, and they can fabricate a whole pile of stories on their own. Tomorrow, the forum is guaranteed to be flooded with discussions about how a good Omega holds up half the sky.”

Huo Cun immediately hailed him as an expert and bolted away in a flash, before Lu Zhao could even stop him.

“You didn’t need to do this,” Lu Zhao frowned. “When we met last time, I already said you only need to marry me; I will handle the rest.”

Bai Li waved a hand. “Forget it, I don’t want to deal with that bunch anyway.” Seeing Lu Zhao still conflicted, he added, “You still have to make a living in the military circles. Even if you don’t mind this messy stuff, you should avoid it as much as possible. I’m different; when you have too many lice, you stop itching.”

Seeing his smug attitude, anyone who didn’t know better would think Bai Li had taken some huge advantage. The corners of Lu Zhao’s mouth relaxed, carrying a trace of a smile. “Fine, thanks. Still, I will compen—”

“You will compensate me, right?” Bai Li immediately cut in. “You’ve said it so many times, making it sound like I lost my chastity.” He pulled open the lounge door. “Let’s go, fresh flower. Let’s drive back first, and talk about compensation later.”

Lu Zhao nodded, and the two walked out of the lounge together, heading straight for the hovercar parked at the back door.

To avoid attracting attention, Bai Li’s flashy hover sports car was left at the main entrance as a decoy, while the two took Lu Zhao’s relatively low-key mass-market hovercar to a property owned by the Bai family in the main city district.

Lu Zhao drove, while Bai Li sat in the passenger seat, once again replying to forum threads to stir up trouble.

His personal terminal chimed incessantly with new message notifications. Lu Zhao glanced twice at the holographic screen, seeing Bai Li provoking people on the forum in a terribly punchable tone. The content was far too arrogant, so Lu Zhao stopped looking.

While driving, he pondered how to compensate Bai Li.

The car stopped downstairs at a newly built apartment building. As soon as Lu Zhao stepped out, an apartment butler robot took over the vehicle to park it in the garage. Lu Zhao took a box of nutrient fluid from the back seat and followed Bai Li upstairs.

“Nutrient fluid?” In the elevator, Bai Li glanced at the box in Lu Zhao’s hand. “Restorative type? Are you injured?”

Lu Zhao was slightly surprised. “You know about this?” This was a new model just recently developed within the legion.

“Over all these years, what kind of restorative fluid haven’t I drunk?” Bai Li said lazily.

Lu Zhao thought of his leg.

Soon they reached the target floor. This entire floor had been bought by Bai Li. There wasn’t much furniture, making the space very open. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows lay the night sky and city lights; even without turning on the indoor lights, the glow from outside was bright enough for people to move around freely.

Standing in this high-rise apartment looking out, Lu Zhao once again realized that he was currently standing in the very heart of the Imperial Capital.

“Where are you injured?” Bai Li waved a hand, and the indoor lights turned on. “I have some other models of nutrient fluid here. Let’s see if you can use them.”

Lu Zhao took off his white suit jacket. Watching Bai Li casually rummage through the refrigerator to pull out several bottles of nutrient fluid, he finally spoke up, “Our meeting last time was too brief; there are some things we haven’t discussed clearly yet.”

Bai Li raised his eyes to look at him. “I thought we pretty much covered it. I don’t interfere with you, you don’t interfere with me, and I support you continuing your work one hundred percent.”

Lu Zhao didn’t speak. He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window looking out, the brilliant lights of the Empire blurring his expression somewhat.

There probably isn’t much expression anyway, Bai Li thought to himself. He didn’t mind whether Lu Zhao answered or not. Pulling out a few boxes of nutrient fluid from a constant-temperature cabinet, he checked the models while continuing, “Could it be that you’re worried that, stuck alone together as an Alpha and an Omega, I won’t be able to restrain myself? Have a little confidence; you have to believe you can pin me to the ground and beat me senseless.”

Lu Zhao never imagined he would hear such words from the mouth of an Imperial Alpha in his lifetime. It was truly bizarre. He snapped completely out of his deep contemplation, the resolve he had worked so hard to muster dissipating for some unknown reason.

“I’m not worried,” Lu Zhao replied. He walked over from the floor-to-ceiling window toward Bai Li, picking up the nutrient fluids the other had placed on the table to examine them. “Quite a complete collection.”

“These are all restorative types. A few vials developed by the Imperial Research Institute have decent effects.” Bai Li casually pulled out a few vials. “It’s just that the taste isn’t great. So expensive yet so awful to drink, really tough to swallow.”

Lu Zhao asked, “Do they have any effect on your leg?” The moment he asked, he felt he had misspoken; if they had an effect, Bai Li wouldn’t be in his current condition. Lu Zhao pursed his lips. “Sorry.”

Bai Li waved his hand to show he didn’t mind. “These few vials are pretty good at relieving pain. Oh right, where are you injured?”

Perhaps because Bai Li’s attitude was so casual, Lu Zhao relaxed along with him. He opened his personal terminal. “It’s troublesome to explain; I’ll send you a copy of my physical examination report.”

“Sure.” Bai Li also opened his personal terminal.

After a few seconds, Bai Li suddenly said, “Uh, say, fresh flower.”

Lu Zhao was buried in searching for his medical report. “Mn?”

Bai Li cleared his throat. “Have the two of us added each other’s communication numbers yet?”

Lu Zhao froze, thought about it, and couldn’t help letting out a curse. “We really haven’t. Forgot.”

What a marriage; the husband and husband hadn’t even added each other’s contact numbers until now.

Bai Li couldn’t help laughing, and Lu Zhao also found the situation absurdly muddled. Even now, he felt no nervousness about being married. He had somehow become legal partners with Bai Li, and only on their wedding night were they exchanging contact numbers, even later than exchanging rings.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhao finally couldn’t hold back either, letting out a low chuckle.

He laughed very softly. As the corners of his mouth lifted, the aloof chill on his face was completely swept away. When Lu Zhao smiled, he appeared gentle and focused, as though his entire being was immersed in pleasant emotion rather than merely showing it on the surface.

Bai Li’s gaze paused on Lu Zhao’s face for quite a while before he was snapped back to reality by the notification chime of Lu Zhao’s friend request. Ignoring his personal terminal, he leaned forward slightly, moving a bit closer to Lu Zhao. “Major General, there is something I’d like you to consider.”

Lu Zhao didn’t feel disgusted by Bai Li’s proximity, nor did he show the timidity typical of an Omega facing an unfamiliar Alpha. He calmly raised his eyes to meet Bai Li’s gaze. “What?”

“If there ever comes a day when you don’t want to use suppressants anymore, consider letting me be the Alpha who marks you.” Bai Li’s voice was pressed very low, trailing off with an ambiguous, husky undertone.

Lu Zhao looked at him, spread all five fingers wide, slapped his palm right onto Bai Li’s big face, and shoved him far away. “Just talk normally, why are you putting on an act?”

Bai Li was speechless.

You really are something else.