Ling Xia enjoyed his food while chatting with Mu Ninghua. "I will not be going to university." Ling Xia said, mimicking Li Ming's way of speaking each word clearly and not melding any together.
"Why not? You need to go to university to be successful in life, Li Ming!" Mu Ninghua protested, not really caring at all.
"I want to figure skate," Ling Xia stated as if it wasn't anything outrageous at all. In this world, the most common route to go on was to go to a good university, get a job working at an office, marry, have kids, retire, and then be old. Not many people strayed from the path set out before them.
Therefore, it was only right that Mu Ninghua was shocked. "You what?"
"I want to figure skate." Ling Xia repeated his words quietly with his head down, ears red, and hands fiddling in his lap. For Mu Ninghua, it was the first time she saw Li Ming, or who she thought to be Li Ming, shy and unsure about his choices.
If there was anything Mu Ninghua loved, it was cute things. Ling Xia looked adorable right then. That moment was the only time she allowed her heart to soften toward him.
'I'm sorry, Li Ming. But I hope you know that I'm not doing this out of hate for you. I'm just doing this because I have to do so to survive. And maybe also because you embarrassed me one too many times,' she sincerely apologized in her head, then hardened her heart again.
"If you really want to figure skate, then you should do it," she kindly encouraged, thinking that nobody in the business world would know about her past embarrassments that Ling Xia witnessed if he was a skater.
"Thank you for your blessing, Mu Ninghua," Ling Xia thanked her before hearing Li Ming's name called behind him.
It was Ling Yu. Ling Xia greeted Ling Yu, and Ling Yu greeted him back. "Li Ming, can I talk to you please?"
Ling Xia agreed and followed Ling Yu. He was led out of the cafeteria, something that was allowed for some reason, and into a small room. Ling Xia looked around the room he was brought into. It was a tight, enclosed space that was a bit too small for Ling Xia's liking. Anything could happen in such a tiny place.
Ling Yu began his interrogation, starting off strong with, "Who are you?"
Saying something like that completely gave away Ling Yu's identity as a person from the real world. Just Ling Xia expected.
Ling Xia just smiled and patted Ling Yu on the shoulder. He rested his hand on his heart, looking straight into Ling Yu's eyes.
"I do solemnly swear to always support and defend the Empire and its people against all enemies, no matter my relations with them, with my life; to always have faith in my Empire and its people; to always obey the orders of the emperor of the Interstellar Empire, no matter the circumstances, and any enlisted military officers appointed a position above me, within the boundaries of the law. I do acknowledge that by taking this oath, my life will be in the hands of my comrades, and I am required to do everything in my power to uphold this oath."
Ling Xia's smile became wider when he saw that Ling Yu recognized the oath. Every person had to take that oath when they entered the military, and retake it every other year after it. If Ling Yu was one of the soldiers trapped in the simulation, he was required to know this oath by heart.
"Forever loyal, Ling Xia."
"Forever loyal, Yang Lizhen."
The two finished the oath together.
Ling Xia's eyes widened. "You're Yang Lizhen?!"
"Yes, and you are Ling Xia?" Ling Yu—no, Yang Lizhen's face was as stoic and cold as Ling Xia remembered even though he was witnessing a miracle he never thought could happen.
Ling Xia nodded and explained what had happened in the real world and how he had gotten out.
"So I finally get to go home…" A lone tear slipped down Yang Lizhen's face, which he quickly wiped away. Ling Xia looked at it in surprise. He had never seen Yang Lizhen cry, or show any emotion for that matter. But, then again, centuries of suffering could do wonders to a person.
"Do you have any more devices?" Yang Lizhen asked once he recovered. Ling Xia's eyebrows scrunched up to express his confusion. "The devices that would let me go back into the system to save the other soldiers."
"Ah," Ling Xia exclaimed in understanding. "But why would you want to do that?"
"I need to save A-Hua," Yang Lizhen stated with a firm voice.
"Oh! Remember those people that I said I brought out of the system?" Ling Xia watched as hope entered Yang Lizhen's eyes. "Su Hua was one of them," he finished, and Yang Lizhen's face broke into a smile.
'Huh. I guess that the many years he spent in the system also helped him show his emotions more.' Ling Xia thought. It was to be expected and also not to be expected.
The two went on to talk about how the device worked because Yang Lizhen was always interested in technology.
"So you don't know how many soldiers there are in each world?"
"No, unfortunately, that's one of the drawbacks of the device that I didn't think of when I made it. I should change it after we get out of here." Ling Xia took his advice openly, something he wasn't as good at prior to his experience in the system, which took Yang Lizhen by surprise.
"I can help you with that," Yang Lizhen offered. "The bigger problem is that we need to wait until your host's body dies to get into the real world."
"You're right. And I should've made more for the soldiers that get out to also help." Ling Xia frowned, wondering how he didn't think of all of these things when he made the device.
"You only had five days to make it," Yang Lizhen said as if he read Ling Xia's mind. Ling Xia looked at Yang Lizhen weirdly, but Yang Lizhen only responded, "It was written on your face."
"You really can read my mind!"
"Don't act so surprised. You did it to us all the time, and I've finally learned the trade."
"Wow, the legendary cold-faced soldier of our fleet zero finally shows emotion! And for learning a trick that isn't even a trick!" Yang Lizhen's ears turned red and he turned away.
Ling Xia was once again surprised. Yang Lizhen used to only show his emotions in front of Su Hua, but now he also opened up to Ling Xia. Although Ling Xia had almost no idea what changed, he was glad it happened. Of course, that didn't mean he was going to show it.
Instead, Ling Xia laughed at Yang Lizhen.
A smile began to creep up Yang Lizhen's face too, but he pushed the happiness down.
"Alright, can you stop laughing at me now and start talking about Mu Ninghua," he begged, wanting Ling Xia to stop laughing at him and also to move on to more important things.
Ling Xia instantly became serious once he heard Mu Ninghua's name. "She's not who she seems to be." Ling Xia went on to explain all that Mu Ninghua had done and the deal that he had struck with Ji Shengge. "The protection won't last long though, and now that I know that you're Yang Lizhen, could you…"
"Yeah, sure, I'll get Ling Yu's people to protect you."
Ling Xia sighed in relief. "That's great. But I can't bail on the deal with Ji Shengge's gang so soon, they'll find it suspicious."
"Yes, of course. And I will need to continue acting like Ling Yu."
They nodded at each other in confirmation that they both knew what their side of the plan was. Then they exchanged numbers, so they could text each other in emergencies. Finally, they left the room together and entered the cafeteria, at which point they split paths to their own friend groups.
Everything was normal for the rest of the day, or at least, it should've been. Ling Xia kept on feeling the stares of everybody around him as he walked out of the school. He wondered why, and he quickly found out as Li Ming's mother was waiting at the house with her hands on her hips, silently asking for an explanation.
"What's wrong?" asked Ling Xia after he changed his shoes.
"Have you checked Weibo(1)?" Ling Xia shook his head, bewildered at the stern tone coming from the normally gentle woman, though he recognized that the sternness wasn't directed at himself. "You're trending on Weibo! They started slandering you, saying that you hit it big by seducing the son of some rich CEO all because of a photo of you going into a room with him."
Ling Xia's eyes widened and he pulled out his phone, opening the app. He and Yang Lizhen were the ninth trending search! "Li Ming." Ling Xia's eyes went to Li Ming's mother, who called Li Ming's name when she noticed how quiet he was, which she took as silent admittance. "We're fine with you dating a boy, but if this is another 'I need to get money to support my family' thing, you will stop."
"It is a misunderstanding. Ling Yu has a girlfriend. We needed to discuss something together," Ling Xia tried to explain, inadvertently sounding sketchy.
"Alone? And why was your hair messy when you got out?" Li Ming's mother pressed on.
"I don't know why my hair was messy." Ling Xia actually didn't know why. Maybe it was because… "It was most likely because I laughed very hard."
"And tell me again why it was alone?"
Ling Xia decided to turn to lying. "It was for a surprise that I wanted to plan for you, Dad, and Li Qing."
"A surprise?" Li Ming's mother was confused. She never predicted her son would plan a surprise. Her heart warmed and her eyes turned soft. Tender feelings rose within her, but they were quickly swept away when she realized something. "Wait, this surprise isn't money to support us, is it?"
Ling Xia's ears turned red and he coughed in embarrassment. "If I tell you, then it will not be a surprise."
Li Ming's mother: "..." She shouldn't have expected anything else from him.
"Li Ming… I want you to clarify your relationship with those people online, but first, get that stupid notion that we need money out of your head! Throw it away, burn it for all I care. We're financially stable, and with a bit of work, we can send both you and Qingqing to college. All we need is for you and him to grow up happy and live happy lives. We don't need money! Honestly, I don't even know where you got this idea in your head. Money, money, money, that's all you think about. You even got that job as a tutor because you wanted money, you got yourself injured because of that job!"
Seeing that she wasn't ending her spiel anytime soon, Ling Xia pretended to check the time and used it as an excuse. "It's around 6:30 pm, Mom. How about I make dinner as an apology?"
Li Ming's mother reluctantly let him go cook, though anybody could see that she wasn't finished saying everything she wanted to say.
Ling Xia went to the kitchen and rolled up his sleeves to wash his hands. If there was anything he learned in this chapter, it was that Li Ming's mother ranted endlessly.
Notes:
1: My Chinese friend described Weibo as Chinese Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook all in one.