Chapter 94: Ah… Look at the apron.
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The rain soaked Heinrich’s inner layer of pure white shirt, clinging to his body, faintly revealing the solid muscle contours of his back.
Leaning against Heinrich’s shoulder, Lin Xu felt the icy fabric against his chin. His left hand patted Heinrich’s waist while his right hand reached to pull the house door shut, keeping out the wind and rain laced with rain lines. Suddenly, everything around them quieted down. The sound of rain and wind became distant.
“Alright, alright.” Lin Xu guided Heinrich into the room, lingering by the door. “The bathroom is over there. Go take a shower and change out of your wet clothes.”
After washing the rabbit-cat and blue squirrels, Lin Xu cleaned the unused bathroom once more.
“My bathroom doesn’t have quick cleaning functions. You can use the shower or the bathtub.”
Pushing Heinrich into the bathroom, Lin Xu ensured he could handle the non-intelligent bathroom equipment before returning upstairs to fetch another towel and a set of fresh clothes for Heinrich.
Returning to the bathroom, Lin Xu was greeted by swirling steam, half-concealing and half-revealing everything. The water flowed over everything, finally gathering under Heinrich’s prominent feet, more perfect than any sculpture.
As Heinrich placed his clothes by the sink, he wiped the water from his face, opening his eyes to look at Lin Xu. The water streamed down his cheekbones and jawline, gathering at his chin before dripping down again, sliding over his chest.
Lin Xu’s movements slowed suddenly, as if steam had clouded his vision. His eyelashes trembled lightly, the heat invading his abdomen, throat, and mind, causing him to absentmindedly close the frosted glass door of the bathroom.
In fact, Lin Xu had considered that Heinrich had been busy all day on Capital Star and had been drenched by Cacamorra’s heavy rain. He must have been tired, but…
As if receiving a signal, Heinrich walked towards Lin Xu while he pondered. The next moment, Lin Xu was pulled under the shower by a pair of strong hands, the water flowing faster than the storm in Cacamorra Plains, completely soaking him in an instant.
The hot water aimed at his eyebrows and eyes, making it hard for him to keep them open. His nose was submerged in water, threatening to choke him with every breath.
When Heinrich kissed him, Lin Xu felt like he had grabbed a lifeline. He leaned forward, avoiding the rolly-polly water flowing down his cheeks, grabbing air and the scent of vetiver from the space between Heinrich’s lips and teeth.
The feeling of suffocation made his head spin. Then, the tiles pressed against his spine, the sudden cold making him extremely sensitive, the sweet honey wrapped in steam and water vapor surging in the bathroom…
–
The shower head gushed hot water like an endless waterfall. No one knew how much time had passed, but Lin Xu knew that his water bill must have jumped significantly. After Heinrich helped him clean up, he filled the bathtub with water.
Lin Xu had chosen a large bathtub to accommodate his mermaid tail. It was big enough for him and Heinrich to sit side by side. Heinrich asked Lin Xu to rest for a while, personally helping him apply shampoo and rinse it out with the shower head, clearing away anything that had seeped into his hair. His face was easily rinsed clean.
Lin Xu was still savoring the taste of white chocolate, asking with his eyes closed, “Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh… that’s bad, I don’t have any food here,” Lin Xu murmured.
“You haven’t eaten since you came back?”
“I just handed over Lu’a and Lu’la to the Perseus Group’s legal director, and I just got home.” Lin Xu reached into the pile of clothes on the ground and found his wrist terminal that he had thrown away casually, “Order takeaway, robot delivery is fast.”
Heinrich also opened his own terminal and followed Lin Xu’s actions, awkwardly navigating to the takeaway page. Lin Xu glanced at Heinrich’s terminal. Dream cow, lotus fish, Claude Crane bird…
Big data had thoughtfully pushed “completely different” takeaway options to both the museum junior clerk and the Abyss Fleet Marshal. Lin Xu licked his lips and turned off his terminal, reaching out to Heinrich’s touchscreen to order 2 kilograms of dream cow ribs.
The two stayed in the bathtub until the takeaway robot knocked on the door. Lin Xu asked Heinrich to fetch it while he stayed in the bathroom to blow dry his hair.
When he walked out of the bathroom, he saw Heinrich staring solemnly at the cooking table with dream cow meat on it. The merchant had delivered it in ice, and the dream cow ribs were brightly colored and evenly marbled. Even a layman could see that the meat was of extremely high quality, worthy of its terrifying price.
But the problem was, Heinrich hadn’t noticed that it was raw meat when he paid.
Lin Xu knew immediately what had happened. He walked over, asking Heinrich to step aside a bit, taking out a cutting board from the cabinet and placing it on the cooking table. He then set up a skillet on the stove and handed Heinrich a knife from the knife rack.
“Cut horizontally along the grain, splitting the meat into two pieces,” Lin Xu instructed.
Heinrich glanced at the gleaming knife blade, then at Lin Xu, feeling as though he were facing a formidable foe. His biceps tensed up. He hadn’t put on the clothes Lin Xu had brought him after coming out of the bathroom.
That old T-shirt was bought when Lin Xu was still very thin. Although it was a loose fit, it would still be difficult for Heinrich to wear. However, the temperature was moderate on a summer night, so not wearing a shirt was fine. The pants could barely fit, but they were a bit short.
Looking at Heinrich’s beautiful muscles, Lin Xu thought for a moment and then found a light blue apron, tying a bow at Heinrich’s waist from behind. He then stepped back a few paces, arms folded, watching as Heinrich nervously bent over to cut the meat.
Marshal Chu had only ever used energy blades and alloy military knives to hack through Zerg. There was no need for clear textures or even fat distribution when cutting through Zerg. Now, dividing a small piece of dream cow meat made Heinrich hold his breath, not daring to breathe.
Seeing him like this made Lin Xu want to laugh. When Heinrich finally completed this arduous task, Lin Xu nodded toward the direction of the spice jars, “Take the salt and pepper, sprinkle them on both sides of the meat, and massage it to marinate.”
Heinrich did as he was told, gently and carefully. When Lin Xu saw that enough time had passed, he continued to instruct, “Turn on the heat, and add some oil to the pan.”
Heinrich thought for a moment about what Lin Xu meant by “some,” adding a little at a time and checking Lin Xu’s expression repeatedly, as if performing a precise chemical experiment.
“Once the oil is hot, put the meat in and sear it until both sides change color, then you can take it out.”
When the dream cow meat hit the pan, oil splattered, causing Heinrich to step back. Lin Xu steadied him by the back, “It’s okay.”
Gradually, the dream cow meat began to turn a beautiful brown, the aroma of seared meat filling the air. Heinrich prodded the surface of the dream cow meat with a spatula, and when it felt right, he plated the two pieces of meat on the white porcelain plates Lin Xu had prepared.
Lin Xu carried the plates to the dining table by the window. Without side dishes or wine, the aroma of the dream cow meat alone was enough to make one’s mouth water, especially for two people who had just exercised.
Heinrich took off the apron and left it in the kitchen before sitting at the dining table. Lin Xu handed him a clean knife and fork.
Smelling the aroma, Blackie and Snowy trotted over to Lin Xu’s legs, each holding a blue squirrel in their mouths, wagging their short tails wildly, as if wanting to trade the squirrels for food with Lin Xu. The round blue squirrels were stiff and bristling in the cats’ mouths.
Lin Xu rescued the squirrels from their mouths and opened a bag of cat food, adding it to Blackie and Snowy’s bowls to appease the two spoiled rabbit-cats.
Returning to his seat, he cut a piece of dream cow meat made by Marshal Chu himself. The sweet taste mingled with the aroma of fat spread in his mouth. As he cut his meat, Lin Xu said, “I think I could train you to be a master chef.”
“If you want to eat it, I’ll learn how to make it,” Heinrich replied.
His deep voice resonated with his chest cavity, like the friction of a gun barrel. His serious tone made it sound like he was talking about fighting for the Empire against the Zerg. But what he really meant was, if Lin Xu wanted, he could cook for him and only him.
Heinrich hadn’t grown up in an environment where Imperial alpha supremacy was the norm. Even though he couldn’t escape his innate possessiveness and aggressiveness, he was exceptionally sincere with his loved ones, refusing to be confined by some uninteresting and useless societal gender symbols.
Lin Xu focused on his actions, smiling lightly, “There are still many new foods developed by humans over the past three thousand years that I haven’t tried. You have a lot to learn.”
“If you want to try…”
Suddenly, Lin Xu stood up, interrupting Heinrich. He frowned and silently walked to the door, opening it to scan the hallway and the dark plains outside. The wind blew the grass low, revealing nothing. But in the wind, the brass decorations on the military uniform hanging by the door clinked against the door frame.
After confirming several times that there were no traces of human presence in the plains grass, Lin Xu took down the half-dry military uniform and returned inside.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lin Xu hung the uniform on a rack, “I thought I heard gunfire.”
The starry sky was vast. The Empire’s control over the Dionysus and Long Whale Regions was always weaker, but the Crescent District was the core of the Empire. If the Imperial high command wanted to target someone, there was nowhere completely safe on Capital Star or its satellites.
Lin Xu tried to trust his judgment about his surroundings to avoid becoming overly paranoid. But subconsciously, a nerve was always tight, attuned to every sound and movement.
The rain had stopped, and the wind became the main melody of the Cacamorra Plains, rattling the windows. For a moment, Lin Xu mistook the sound of the military uniform’s brass decorations hitting the door frame for gunfire, thinking that on his first day home, he would face an assassination attempt.
He returned to the table, the wind outside blowing away the dark clouds in the night sky. At that moment, the position of Cacamorra aligned with the rotation of Endymion, facing the main star. The Capital Star hemisphere was also shrouded in darkness, with city lights forming a chain of gold points, shining like a golden chain in the soft, silky night, almost illuminating the atmosphere. Other distant stars were barely visible in this brilliance.
This was the heart of the Empire, where glory and intrigue fermented.
Looking at Lin Xu’s smooth side profile, Heinrich said, “I’ll get you a light energy gun tomorrow. If you need any other weapons, just tell me.”
Lin Xu immediately responded, “I want a light energy knife, an alloy military knife, and three low-frequency grenades.”
Heinrich nodded and took note. After dinner, Heinrich went to wash the dishes while Lin Xu went upstairs to fetch another set of blankets and pillows.
Before Heinrich arrived, Lin Xu had covered the roof with plastic to prevent more rain and had started prying up the swollen wooden floorboards to replace them. The bedroom floor was also in poor condition, unsuitable for living.
When designing the house, Lin Xu hadn’t included a guest room. He had planned to spend the night on the sofa in the living room, but Heinrich’s arrival changed that.
It wasn’t easy for two grown men to fit on the sofa, so Lin Xu had to share the floor with Marshal Chu.
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