Zerg Chapter 5: Finding Xi Ran

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

Huan Xiu was still a good man. Before, Huan Jiade had spread gossip about him, and then he spontaneously spread the news that he wanted to leave the Huan family to live alone. Although some Zerg wondered whether it was the master who drive him out of the house out of cruelty, in general, most Zerg watching the drama knew the fact that Huan Xiu had nothing to do with the Huan family.

The head of the family, who knew about this matter, felt that Huan Xiu was very perceptive, so he was in a good mood. He generously gave Huan Xiu a lot of pocket money and real estate in his name. Huan Xiu didn’t know whether the head was playing a loving relative or he rewarded him for being sensible. Anyway, he accepted it with a clear conscience, and from then on it was a clean break.

The storm soon passed. In fact, from the very beginning, the focus of this incident was that ‘the match of Huan Xiu was actually a divorced concubine’. They had no doubt that Huan Xiu would immediately refuse this unlikely match – but just having such a relationship was enough for him to become a joke.

Employees at the marriage center were surprised to see the matches still waiting for a response. As for any male Zerg, they would have felt disgusted and immediately would have rejected it with a click. They didn’t even need to come in person, just fill in a few lines online and submit it. But this entry stayed for a few days without any change.

Why didn’t Huan Xiu refuse immediately? He really didn’t know. At this point, he felt that he should at least talk to Xi Ran, and they knew each other already anyway. During this period of time Huan Xiu was discussed a lot, not to mention Xi Ran who was already in the forefront of the storm.

After being busy for a while with the move, Huan Xiu finally settled down in his own single family residence. Now he finally had time to request a meeting with his matched partner.

Even though Huan Xiu left his contact information when they last met, Xi Ran never sent him any messages. So the quickest way for Huan Xiu to find him was to go directly through the marriage center.

The person who processed his application that day was a young inferior female, who did not know the truth of the matter, had a bad impression of Huan Xiu. After all, there must be something wrong with the matched female Zerg who was given the divorce band. So when he saw Huan Xiu that day, the front desk was so surprised by the other party’s excellent appearance, that he couldn’t say anything, despite his low expectations.

“Excuse me, may I ask…?” Huan Xiu felt that the staff member seemed to be distracted, so he patiently asked again.

“Yes, yes, I’ll take care of it for you right away. We’ll get in touch with you later without delay.” The Zerg at the front desk nodded.

“Is it okay to call him directly now?” asked Huan Xiu.

“Ah…? Yes!”

“Then I’ll just wait here. Can I talk to him when you get through to his phone?” Huan Xiu didn’t understand why the Zerg people were so similar to the ancient society with their ‘matchmaking center’. It was like they were one two ends of the border, so maybe he still had to write letters to the other for a while?

“After that, we can help you arrange a more specific meeting time and place…”

“Don’t bother arranging it. Call him and tell him to contact me. He should have my number… Tell him I want to talk to him face to face.”

Front desk Zerg, “Huh?”

“Is that out of line?”

“Not really. Just a moment.” There was a bit of confusion on his face, but he did it immediately.

Huan Xiu asked around a bit beforehand. Xi Ran was temporarily transferred to the logistics department after he was injured and retired from the front line. Theoretically, he was quite free every day. Sure enough, the phone went through soon. Huan Xiu couldn’t hear the voice of the other side, but the front desk described it clearly and told Xi Ran that Huan Xiu was on their side right now waiting for a reply. After the confirmation, the front desk cut off the call.

“He said he would contact you.”

Xi Ran’s action was very fast. In a few seconds, Huan Xiu’s mobile phone rang.

“Thank you.” With a polite smile, Huan Xiu turned around, answered the phone and left.

The front desk Zerg was stunned for a while. Finally, he came to his senses and discussed with his colleague next to him in surprise, “What’s going on? Do they know each other?”

“Was that the one just now that everyone has been talking about recently, Huan… Xiu?” It happened that the one next to the front desk Zerg had no work to do, so he came over and joined in immediately. “How young and handsome! What’s the matter? Did he contact the female soldier surnamed Xi? Is he really considering marrying him as a concubine?”

“Hush, keep it down. Don’t let the higher-ups catch us chatting at work.”

“Oh, oh… I’m still so surprised.”

“I’m not…? He seems to be very good,” the inferior female also glanced at the other person’s back, “I’d be willing to be his concubine a hundred times! I have not had a partner yet…”

“But there must be a problem. He is a male Zerg, but he hasn’t been married so far. Could he be some kind of… pervert or sadist behind the scenes? Isn’t there a lot of such things among the nobles?” The colleague next to him became alarmed. The inferior female recalled the conversation with Huan Xiu. The other side was very gentle and appropriate at least at first glance, and he seldom saw such a male Zerg in the marriage center. Embarrassed, he said, “Oh, in that case, I don’t think it’s unacceptable to be slightly…”

“Wake up. And it doesn’t matter to us anyway, okay?…”

Huan Xiu, who had already gone far away, sneezed and was completely unaware of the fact that he had been ‘stigmatized’ as a sadist.

“Are you all right?”

“It’s nothing. By the way, I see you still have my contact information. I didn’t hear from you, so I thought you had thrown it away.”

“No way!” Xi Ran countered subconsciously. He had not received such pure kindness for many years, so he kept the note carefully all this time. But his problem couldn’t be solved Huan Xiu’s kindness. Naturally, Xi Ran didn’t want to disturb the other.

“You know about the match, too, don’t you?”

“I…” Xi Ran didn’t know what to say for a while. His first reaction to the news was guilt. He didn’t know why, but he felt Huan Xiu should never be involved in this kind of thing. A female Zerg had no means to respond to the match, everything depended on the intention of the male Zerg. But a few days passed and the match was not rejected, which also made Xi Ran very confused.

“I can’t make it clear on the phone. Do you have time to come out and have a face-to-face talk tonight?”

“If we are seen by other Zerg, it may have a bad effect on you…” Xi Ran subconsciously wanted to avoid it.

“It’s already like this, I don’t care anymore.”

“Sorry.”

“Oh, I don’t mean to blame you.” Huan Xiu corrected. “Anyway, if it’s convenient for you, we can go to the restaurant we went to last time. You should have sent Xiao Ye back after five o’clock, right?”

Xi Ran didn’t expect that Huan Xiu would think about Xiao Ye, so he felt more guilty. Although he was in the logistics department, it was not convenient for him to gossip too much in the army, so he had to make an appointment with Huan Xiu first.

“Mr. Huan, I’m really sorry.”

If one really thought about it,  in theory it was Huan Xiu’s cousin who should apologize. But obviously, the other side didn’t think so.

In the afternoon, when Huan Xiu rushed from the research room to the restaurant, Xi Ran was already sitting there. Huan Xiu glanced at the time, five minutes to five. Then he arrived early.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“Mr. Huan…!” Xi Ran had his head lowered and was thinking about something, looking a bit tired. Only after hearing Huan Xiu’s voice did Xi Ran notice that he was already in front of him. He sprang to his feet and said, “This time… Please listen to my explanation. I don’t know anything about this incident. I’m also aware that theoretically, a female Zerg like me can’t match with you…”

“Take it easy. I know it’s not your fault.” Huan Xiu patted Xi Ran on the shoulder and asked him to sit down first. It was not dinner time yet, so there were only a few customers in the family restaurant. The ordering counter was a long distance from the seats on the second floor. There were no other Zerg around at this time.

“I’ve also heard rumors that it’s a trick that you directed by yourself or something like that…” Such remarks were not in the minority. 

Xi Ran looked a little anxious and was just about to say something, when he was interrupted by Huan Xiu, “I know, I know. This was my cousin’s doing. I know it already.” Huan Xiu didn’t elaborate on the history of his feud between him and his cousin, but only briefly explained the reason for this matter, and added, “and I don’t think you’re a Zerg like that.”

“……I don’t deserve it. It’s still causing you trouble.” Xi Ran’s previously tense muscles seemed to relax a little. But from the look in his eyes, the other side still had some feeling of awe or fear.

Huan Xiu was helpless. He found that Xi Ran’s words and actions had become respectful towards him again.

“Is Xiao Ye okay? Has there been any more conflicts with his classmates again?”

“……I don’t think so.” Xi Ran’s tone was not very sure. He must have thought that even if Shi Ye had a fight with his classmates at school, he might not tell him when he came home.

The two sides were silent for a while, so Huan Xiu took the initiative to get to the point, “I haven’t rejected the match yet.”

Xi Ran was not sure what he meant, “You… don’t know how to?”

Huan Xiu was amused. “I’m not a kid. I know how.”

“I don’t mean to degrade you. I’m sorry.”

Seeing that the female Zerg was going to stand up again and apologize to him again, Huan Xiu quickly pressed him down, “Don’t be so sensitive…”

So Xi Ran was silent again.

“Well, I actually didn’t think it through myself. But I also understand your situation and before I said that I wanted to help you. Now it just so happens that I can help you…”

“Don’t joke around. How can you help with this kind of thing? Besides, I didn’t do anything.” Xi Ran looked surprised, as if Huan Xiu had just said something blasphemous.

“You saved my life.” Huan Xiu held his head in one hand and looked at Xi Ran.

“That’s what a normal Zerg would have done in that situation.” Xi Ran said it very simply.

“Hey, it’s actually not just for the sake of repaying a favor… that’s why I said I didn’t think it through. I also have a good impression of you. Even without this incident, I originally wanted to have some further exchanges with you – although you didn’t contact me at all.”

“I don’t want to trouble you. I’m already grateful to you for saving Xiao Ye.”

“It was just preventing the kids from fighting…” Huan Xiu laughed, and felt that things were really going smoothly for him.

Huan Xiu had always liked men, and Xi Ran was the first person he saw in this world, who left a deep impression. As he said, this man was straight in his strike zone. Although him having children was beyond his imagination, he didn’t care about it. He still wanted to contact the other man as friends first.

But the male and female Zerg in this world didn’t seem to have the concept of ‘ordinary friends’… After living these days, Huan Xiu also knew a bit about the Zerg society.

Since there was no limit on the number of concubines, male Zergs could accept almost all female Zerg who expressed favor. In such a social situation, marriage became extremely casual. Due to the importance of children, the partner was not deemed by quality but rather quantity. Most of the time, a relationship began by ‘accepting’ there was no ‘start from friends, ambiguity, confession, association, marriage’ process.

When Huan Xiu, who was slightly biased against the Zerg tradition, found himself in such a ready-made opportunity, he even thought about the feasibility of ‘marry first, then see how it goes’.

Isn’t it irresponsible of me to think this way?

“You might not know my matter yet. I’m not qualified to stand next to you… Besides, I can’t abandon Xiao Ye under any circumstances.”

Huan Xiu wondered, “Huh? Why abandon him? I’ve been looking into your business… I’m sorry, I was asking around for some information about you. I just wanted to know more. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you – it’s more like your ex-husband has a problem.”

Xi Ran looked at Huan Xiu. He frowned slightly and didn’t know how to respond.

“I can accept Xiao Ye. So he can continue to study in that school.” Huan Xiu offered. He was amused that his speech in modern times could be called ‘detaining a single mother from other places with a registered permanent residence in the urban area’ or something like that… 

“……”

Obviously, Xi Ran, who had been very firm before, was shaken strongly after hearing this. He could do anything by himself, but if he could accept Xiao Ye as Huan Xiu said… A female Zerg cub without a male father could be said to have a bleak future.

It was hard for him to refuse.

“But I don’t have anything to repay you with…” Xi Ran whispered, “I don’t have a family background or looks. After this transfer, there will be no further development in the military headquarters.”

So much so that… 

Huan Xiu’s kindness made him scared to death.

Huan Xiu was stunned. The Zerg’s evaluation criteria for appearance seemed to be slightly different from his own – it seemed that they regarded weakness as beauty?

“Your appearance looks very good to me. Capable and refreshing. Your face is sharp and angular, and it is very flavorful,” Huan Xiu raised his hand and gestured, “Your body looks great, too. Uh… are my comments somewhat rude?”

“Are you mocking me?” Xi Ran and Huan Xiu’s brain waves were not on the same channel at all.

“I’m not…” It was a lot of trouble to explain, so Huan Xiu directly said, “Well, just assume my taste is strange, okay?”

“……” After a long silence, Xi Ran, as if he just made some sort of decision, said, “If you really don’t mind Xiao Ye, I’d like to… As a concubine…”

“But in that case, Xiao Ye will be looked down upon with you in the future, right?” Huan Xiu interrupted him.

This hit Xi Ran’s sore spot, and he had nothing to say.

 

Huan Xiu suggested, “Although I wanted to talk about it first, this accident came in a really subtle way… Or, how about we arrange the matching, and just follow that, hmm?” Before Xi Ran could hesitate again about what to say, Huan Xiu continued, “Actually, I might’ve been a bit impulsive for a moment. When this impulse wears off, I can’t say for sure…” Huan Xiu knew that although it was basically true, it was very sly.