Burden

Mi Lai could not help but feel tears welling up in eyes at this moment. Even though he had been moved by what Lan Jiao did for him earlier, he became somehow immune to those deeds with the passing of time.

Unknowingly, he had developed dependence upon Lan Jiao after spending so much time with her. He did not want to leave Lan Jiao, nor did he want to become her burden.

"Lan Jiao, I am so happy that you will be able to leave Planet Trash soon. Although, the Second Military School of Alliance doesn't sound as prestigious as the First Military School of Alliance, it is still an excellent place."

Mi Lai displayed a relaxed smile despite him feeling sad from within. "When I get a chance in the future, I will definitely visit you at school."

Lan Jiao looked up at Mi Lai, knowing pretty well that he was trying to console her.

He seemed to have made the decision for her - to leave him and Planet Trash!

But Lan Jiao was feeling increasingly unwilling to leave Mi Lai here alone.

There was only one position available to leave Planet Trash every year, so Lan Jiao could not take Mi Lai along with her.

She suddenly thought of another idea. She wanted Mi Lai to leave this place first, and then next year, she would follow suit.

"Alright, I have got to go now. I need to think about what farewell present to give you," Mi Lai said and hurried off before Lan Jiao could respond.

God knew how many tears he was going to shed if he stayed here for one more second. It would be so embarrassing to see himself cry in front of Lan Jiao.

…

The next morning, Lan Jiao received several packages of Nature Food which had been ordered by Captain Kite through Alliance Star network the day before.

Seeing the ingredients, Lan Jiao did not feel unhappy any more and devoted herself full fledgedly into making food for the captain.

Captain Kite was fairly familiar with Lan Jiao's cooking after eating the dishes prepared by her for the past one month.

When the ingredients were limited, the variety of the dishes was quite limited too, even though Lan Jiao was capable of creating many variations.

So, Kite picked the food he liked among the relatively low-priced Nature Food.

There was 300 grams of flour produced in the Golden Valley Basin from Planet Buckner. Also, the bag contained one apple, one carrot, one onion produced at the Yaku Mountains from Planet Nanxun along with some simple spices, one small portion of sea salt, one small bottle of animal oil sent from the Food Branch of Starry Group.

These things were delivered first, followed by another batch later in the afternoon.

Since Captain Kite had offered her a chance to leave Planet Trash, Lan Jiao decided not to deal with the matter casually but give her best in making food for him.

The carrot and the onion were cut into 5mm sized cubes. Oil was poured to the cold pot and heated to some degree before adding the diced vegetables. They were fried and stirred, so each chunk was covered with oil and cooked evenly.

As the light purple onion pieces became heated, they turned white. Then, Lan Jiao sprinkled a small spoonful of salt, stirred them again and added some water.

With a gurgling sound, white bubbles arose in the heated pot. Within a few seconds', the water was heated and started boiling inside the pot.

As the carrot pieces turned soft, Lan Jiao used an iron stick and stirred the fuel below the pot, so the fire temperature went up.

Soon, the water in the pot evaporated. The vegetables were smelling great and had a wonderful color on the surface, even though only oil and salt were added to them.

The dishes made in the most simple way were able to keep the original texture of Nature Food, bringing out the original smell of the vegetables.

Lan Jiao started making pasta with flour and water.

She put the raw pasta in boiling water, and extinguished the fire when it was almost done. She scooped the pasta out with chopsticks and washed the pasta with cold water.

Lan Jiao liked the pasta to be cooled down by the water first. In this way, the pasta could remain elastic and avoid getting soggy after being soaked in the water due to starch.

She spread the carrot and onion cubes upon the pasta evenly. A bowl of hand-made pasta was ready.

Ken had already arrived when Lan Jiao was half done with the food. He stood on the side, waiting patiently.

Seeing her finish the cooking, Ken instantly took the bowl and left.

As he was leaving, he said to Lan Jiao, "Please spare one bowl for me!"

He had been highly tempted by Lan Jiao's hand-made pasta.

This was the second time Ken saw Lan Jiao making this kind of food. When she made it for the first time, the drooling boy, Mi Lai, had been waiting next to her. As a result, Ken got nothing, not even a morsel was left for him to taste.

Much to his surprise, he realised that Mi Lai, who was clinging to Lan Jiao all the time, was missing today!

Lan Jiao looked at the remaining pasta, shook her head and sighed slightly. She will keep a portion for Mi Lai. She remembered that he liked eating pasta.

As for herself, she was going to make some apple pies seeing the remaining flour and an apple in the things which had been delivered to her. She was a girl who liked sweet things.

It was dry and muggy on Planet Trash.

The pasta that Lan Jiao put on the temporarily built frame was almost dried now.

But Mi Lai was still missing.

Lan Jiao felt a bit surprised at this unusual situation.

Mi Lai had told her that he was preparing a farewell present for her but he seemed to be hiding from her, instead.

As far as Lan Jiao was concerned, Mi Lai was not the kind of boy who would run away from such a problem.

After eating the apple pie, Lan Jiao put away the other stuff and shut her door. She walked towards Mi Lai's room which was not far from hers.

The rooms for exiled criminals had been arranged in two straight lines. When Mi Lai and Lan Jiao arrived on Planet Trash, some criminals from the last batch had not died yet, so the rooms were assigned to these two quite randomly. Mi Lai and Lan Jiao were not neighbors.

Lan Jiao soon reached Mi Lai's room.

She knocked at the door, yet there was no movement inside. It was as if nobody was at home.

Lan Jiao frowned and called out softly. "Are you there, Mi Lai?"

No response!

Something was wrong.

Mi Lai had only one friend on this planet and he always followed her, like a tail that never went away.

But today, Lan Jiao had not seen Mi Lai for an entire morning!

Could something have happened?

For one moment, a terrible feeling arose inside Lan Jiao's heart.

The next second, she lost her patience and started pounding at the door.

"Mi Lai, are you there?!"

Probably because of the big force she put in, the door was banged open.

Lan Jiao looked inside but nobody was there.

Startled, Lan Jiao soon found that the room was in a peculiar state.

The sheets on Mi Lai's bed were cast about casually. It seemed that he had not gotten a chance to tidy it after getting up.

Half a cup of water was in the mug on the cabinet next to the bed, and the water was cold when touched.