SZAR Chapter 69

Near the lunch break, people had no heart for work. A netizen named Momo was idly scrolling through videos on StarNet when suddenly a strange room caught his attention.

Momo read it out loud: 《Yi Xi’s Home Meals Today》

Ever since the car accident, the name Yi Xi had become a trending keyword on StarNet. Countless people were following updates about him, repeatedly searching his name online. Just putting those three characters on a homepage could bring a little traffic, even if the content itself was boring.

The streamer’s page looked completely ordinary. The profile picture was even the default icon, clearly a brand-new small streamer.

Momo assumed it was another video trying to ride the trend and was about to scroll past without thinking.

But the screen flashed, and he stopped his finger.

This streamer was cooking in a very strange way.

He added a handful of herbs into the soup.

Momo didn’t know the exact name of the herb, but he was certain, it was some kind of medicinal herb.

Interstellar technology was highly advanced. People no longer commonly used traditional medicinal herbs. Most treatments now came in enhanced injections. Various traditional herbs were mainly kept for display and exhibitions. Besides, most of them had a bitter smell and strange taste, making them unsuitable for soup.

Momo frowned, suspecting the streamer was not only using keywords to attract traffic but was also deliberately wasting food by cooking something unpleasant just to draw attention and stir up a spectacle.

Chu Xiu added a handful of Codonopsis root into the soup.

Yi Xi’s stomach was not in good condition. The Zerg had many powerful medicines, but none were suitable for him. His early experiences had forced him to use too many hormones, far beyond safe levels. On the outside he looked fine, but inside his body was already full of wounds. Strong medicine could not be used anymore; instead, slow nourishment through food suited him better.

Codonopsis root had a mild nature and helped nourish the kidneys and strengthen the spleen. It was especially suitable for soups and porridge.

The Zerg and humans lived in similar climates, and their ingredients were largely the same. However, Zerg food culture was rather poor. Their recipes usually involved boiling ingredients in water and adding different seasonings. Medicinal cuisine like this simply didn’t exist among them.

Yesterday at the wedding, Yi Xi had eaten some rich, oily dishes. While using his chopsticks, he occasionally frowned. It was subtle, but Chu Xiu’s attention had been entirely on Yi Xi, so he noticed it. Today he planned to make a simple soup and porridge.

Momo kept watching.

The streamer turned the camera toward the kitchen counter. He didn’t show his face. In the frame there was only a figure wearing an apron. His knife skills were smooth and practiced. Blanching the ingredients and skimming the foam were done in one continuous flow. He looked like an experienced household female zerg who had cooked for many years.

The dish itself was not difficult. After half an hour, the soup was nearly finished. Chu Xiu lifted the clay pot lid through a layer of gauze and ladled the soup into a porcelain bowl painted with blue floral patterns. The plain white bowl held a small portion of milky-yellow soup. Just looking at it made one feel hungry.

Momo shook his head, trying to throw away this ridiculous thought.

The soup contained not only Codonopsis root but also a large handful of lotus seeds. Both of these herbs were very bitter. Put together, they would be bitter upon bitter. How could it possibly taste good?

Since the livestream had Yi Xi’s keyword attached, people kept entering and leaving the room. Quite a few left comments.

Most of the discussion focused on two points. One group questioned why the streamer used Yi Xi’s keyword at all. The content clearly had nothing to do with Yi Xi, and they demanded that Chu Xiu remove the keyword or else they would report and file complaints.

The second line of discussion was about the soup he was making. One moment he added a handful of an unfamiliar ingredient, the next another handful of something no one had seen before. Everyone watching was full of confusion. Could this thing really be eaten?

It was normal that they hadn’t seen these ingredients. Chu Xiu had deliberately searched for them. In the interstellar era, these things were neither used for cooking nor medicine anymore. Gathering all the ingredients had taken quite a bit of effort.

But Chu Xiu had no intention of explaining. The only reason he started this livestream was because of that young female zerg whose father was a gambling addict.

Being forced to drop out of school because of gambling debts was a painful experience. A person’s life plans could change direction in a single moment, and a future that once seemed certain could vanish overnight. If he could help, Chu Xiu didn’t want others to suffer the same fate.

He placed the soup and porridge into a lunch box, sealed it, and carried it out the door.

While turning the camera, it accidentally swept across the gate of the house.

【 ??? 】

The previously quiet livestream suddenly filled with three question marks.

【 Wait, I thought this was just a joke. Is the streamer actually serious? 】

【 I’ve seen these buildings before. Isn’t this that super expensive rich neighborhood next to Stellar? 】

That comment was like a drop of boiling water falling into hot oil, stirring up a huge commotion.

【 Maybe he’s just a neighbor. It doesn’t have to be the same building as Yi Xi’s. 】

【 But people who live in a place like this are either rich or powerful. If he wasn’t, why would he bother opening a livestream like this online for fun? 】

They began discussing it among themselves.

【 ??? So what’s the streamer’s identity? Is he one of Yi Xi’s male lord’s female attendants? 】

【 Reply above: Yi Xi’s male lord just reached adulthood. He doesn’t have any female attendants. 】

【 …Then could he be a house servant in Yi Xi’s home? 】

【 Well… but don’t you think the streamer’s figure would be a bit of a waste if he were just a house servant? 】

Chu Xiu was dressed casually today. He wore a black silk shirt, the fabric smooth and draping softly. A little bear apron was tied tightly around his waist, outlining his slender figure; long arms, a narrow waist, and an excellent build.

At this moment, a professional chimed in with a comment.

【 I wonder if any of you have taken posture classes in criminal investigation studies. This person’s posture is light, and his steps are steady. He must be very young. Also, judging from how he cuts vegetables, he must have gotten an A+ in cooking class. His movements are refined and reserved, which shows he received a good upbringing. 】

Among the Zerg, all female Zerg are required to take cooking classes. In large families, they even carefully select cooking teachers to come to the house for one-on-one instruction.

【 So I guess he definitely isn’t just a house servant. It’s possible he’s the female attendant the male zerg plans to marry, helping around the house in advance.】

【 … 】

【 But Yi Xi just got married to the male Zerg yesterday. 】

【 …And the big boss also has that pheromone problem. If the male Zerg isn’t willing to favor him even on the first day and immediately takes in a beautiful female attendant, Yi Xi’s life from now on will probably be very difficult. 】

The bullet comments suddenly fell completely silent.

Everyone knew about Yi Xi’s health problem. He relied heavily on expensive hormone-type medicine. But after marriage, the male Zerg might not allow him to keep using those drugs so freely. In that case, relying on the pheromones provided by the male Zerg would become his only way to survive.

But now it was only the first day, and there was already a young and beautiful female attendant in the male Zerg’s home. What would Yi Xi do in the days ahead?

Sitting in front of their screens, many people couldn’t help but feel a trace of sorrow, mourning for others as if it were themselves.

For female Zerg, life was like this. Their fate was never in their own hands. They drifted through life, relying entirely on whatever little mercy a male Zerg might grant them.

Chu Xiu carried the lunch box into the lobby of Stellar’s headquarters but was stopped by the receptionist. He had never seen him before and looked him over, noting the handsome gentleman, then politely said, “Hello. Do you have an appointment?”

Chu Xiu shook his head. “No.”

He had called Yi Xi, but Yi Xi didn’t answer. These past two days, matters at Stellar had probably left him overwhelmed and exhausted, rushing from one meeting to another without even a moment to rest.

The receptionist looked at him with mild surprise. “Sir, without an appointment, you can’t enter.”

Stellar Group was a very large corporation. To enter, one had to make an appointment. If Chu Xiu hadn’t been dressed neatly, with an elegant bearing and a handsome, charming face, those peach-blossom eyes full of warmth, the receptionist might have thought he was there to cause trouble and thrown him out.

Outside, Chu Xiu partly covered the camera lens but didn’t turn off the audio. His conversation with the receptionist was faintly transmitted into the livestream. The viewers found it expected, but also a little disappointing.

【 So the streamer is just some attention-seeking weirdo who happens to live in a rich neighborhood? 】

【 Sounds about right. Yi Xi just got married, so he should be at his male lord’s home learning the household rules. Why would he be allowed to go to work? And even if he did go to work, he’d eat company meals. He’s the leader of Stellar. Why would some outsider bring him food? 】

The viewers began to disperse like birds and beasts scattering,  preparing to leave the stream.

Before they could press the exit button, Chu Xiu pushed his light-brain forward. On the screen was his identification document.

He gestured to the receptionist. “Hello, I’m here to see Yi Xi.”

The receptionist felt a little speechless. Yi Xi was their big boss. Someone without even an appointment casually asking to see the boss. Where did this confidence come from?

But when their gaze slowly moved to the center of the identification document and saw the name line, they suddenly froze.

…Chu… Chu Xiu?

The receptionist felt a sense of unreality.

During the car accident two days earlier, the name Chu Xiu had become one of the most trending keywords on StarNet alongside Yi Xi’s name.

The eldest young master of the Chu family. An F-grade useless male Zerg. A victim in Yi Xi’s car accident. The Male Lord of Stellar’s leader. These identities were so dramatic that the media swarmed around Chu Xiu like bees drawn to the scent of flowers, digging up every piece of personal information they could find.

Among the things that spread everywhere along with his name was that famous “exploding sea urchin” photo.

The picture was so eye-catching, and that colorful hair was so dazzling, that the receptionist was momentarily stunned. They couldn’t connect the tall, handsome young man standing before them with the violent and gloomy Chu Xiu described in rumors.

They quickly said, “Yes, of course you can.”

They opened the security gate for Chu Xiu and explained, “Hello. On your right is the elevator that goes directly to the top floor. Our president’s office is on the 27th floor. He should currently be in a meeting with various shareholders.”

Everything happened too quickly; the netizens didn’t even have time to react.

【 Wait, what just happened? Why did they suddenly let him in? 】

【 Wasn’t he a scammer? 】

Chu Xiu didn’t care about their reactions. Carrying the food box, he pressed the button for going up and went straight to the 27th floor.

After the male Zerg disappeared behind the elevator doors, the receptionist hurriedly grabbed the phone and directly called the president’s meeting room.

The phone rang three times, and the receptionist was sweating with anxiety.

Pick up… hurry and pick up!

Inside the meeting room, Yi Xi rubbed the space between his brows tiredly.

The long meeting had taken up the time for lunch. His fragile stomach had already begun to protest. He felt a burning sensation and a dull pain, yet the meeting had to continue.

This was a meeting about the ownership of shares.

Because of the premarital guidance and the wedding, Yi Xi had not come to the company for nearly half a week. Just as he expected, his shareholders were not behaving themselves. A director surnamed Zhang had used this gap in time to win over quite a few small shareholders, both openly and secretly trying to force Yi Xi to hand over his shares and step down to give the position to someone more suitable.

At this moment, Director Zhang was speaking confidently in the meeting room.

“…As everyone knows, although Mr. Yi Xi’s work ability is outstanding, you yourself are the greatest risk to the Stellar Group.”

“Because of your mistake, the aircraft collided with a male Zerg, which directly led to a series of events afterward. Then the company’s stock price plunged. From the current situation, we have already lost the trust of the investors.”

“Our company’s stock has fallen again and again, and has already dropped below the bottom line.”

He looked around the room with a sorrowful expression, like a master of ceremonies reciting a funeral eulogy.

“However, our company is still one of the top groups in the interstellar world. The investors’ worries mainly come from the fact that your status is awkward and that you face the risk of death at any time…”

Yi Xi closed the cap of his fountain pen. The magnetic metal clip made a crisp click, abruptly interrupting Director Zhang’s speech. Everyone in the room turned their eyes toward the main seat.

Yi Xi lifted his gaze. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his dark tea-colored eyes showed no warmth.

“Director Zhang, the male zerg’s attitude was already made clear at the wedding. I do not face any risk of death.”

Director Zhang gave an awkward laugh, but soon took out the excuse he had prepared.

“But I think… perhaps the male zerg was just acting.”

The male zerg’s protection of Yi Xi at the wedding had been obvious to all who attended. However, many of the small directors present had not been there. As long as he added fuel to the fire and turned black into white,  it would be easy to gain their trust.

Director Zhang had opened the topic, and the more he spoke, the smoother it became. He almost started to believe it himself.

“The male zerg also wants your wealth. Now that Stellar’s stock has fallen so badly, he must be anxious. Perhaps he worked together with you to put on this act, deliberately performing it for fools like us to see.”

At this point, the real truth no longer mattered. Director Zhang simply wanted to force Yi Xi to step down. As for the position of the one in power at Stellar, he was determined to get it.

“No matter what, the biggest risk right now is you, isn’t that correct? If we want to regain the investors’ trust, the best method is…”

The method, of course, was to find a way to take the shares in Yi Xi’s hands and completely kick him out.

But he alone did not have the authority to do that. He had to unite the other small shareholders. To make them believe that Yi Xi would not live much longer, he had carefully prepared a whole speech and was just about to deliver it passionately—

The meeting room phone suddenly rang three times.

Stellar Group still kept an old-style internal communication system. This phone was used exclusively by the president. Other employees knew they were in a meeting and would not disturb them. If this phone rang, it meant something extremely urgent had happened that the staff below could not handle.

Yi Xi picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“President!” The receptionist’s anxious voice came through the line. “Your Male Lord has arrived. He’s already in the elevator and coming up to the 27th floor!”

“Really?!”

Yi Xi had not even reacted yet when Director Zhang beside him suddenly jumped up, his voice unable to hide his excitement.

In their minds, the idea of a male zerg coming to visit work and deliver lunch simply did not exist. Chu Xiu rushing to the company on the first day after the wedding could only mean one thing—

He must have been extremely dissatisfied with Yi Xi last night and had come here to make trouble.

Yi Xi didn’t respond to him. Through the frosted glass curtain wall, he had already seen the figure of the male zerg.

The kid from his home had a slim waist and long legs. In his soft black hair, a single silly strand stuck up at the crown of his head, trembling slightly. Even just from the silhouette, he looked incredibly cute.

Yi Xi pushed open the meeting room door and walked out.

Chu Xiu had already arrived for a while. He was sitting on the sofa outside the meeting room, bored as he scrolled through his light-brain screen.

The camera was pointed at the blank white wall beside him. Just from the picture alone, it was a livestream space so boring it could hardly be more boring. Yet the popularity was unexpectedly high, and the bullet comments were discussing all sorts of things.

Someone even openly asked:

【 Streamer, streamer, I saw you come out of the villa earlier. Did Lord Chu Xiu marry a new female attendant? 】

Chu Xiu answered briefly, “No.”

A female attendant was basically a concubine. Come on, how could their home possibly have a concubine?

The comments immediately filled with rows of:

【 Don’t believe it. 】

If they didn’t believe him, so be it. Chu Xiu continued pointing the camera at the wall. There was only one shadow on the wall at first, but soon another shadow appeared.

Yi Xi walked up to Chu Xiu. Chu Xiu was sitting, so Yi Xi half-crouched down to look at him at eye level.

The one in power at Stellar truly had a face as gentle as polished jade. He looked at Chu Xiu, and a faint smile of surprise flickered in his beautiful eyes.

“Why did you come?”

Both the gossip-loving viewers in the livestream and the shareholders behind the glass curtain wall held their breath.

The viewers wanted to see how Yi Xi, as the female monarch, would deal with the relationship between himself and a young, beautiful female attendant.

The directors, on the other hand, wanted to find out the male zerg’s attitude.

Director Zhang was especially excited. Yi Xi’s half-crouching silhouette through the glass wall looked just like someone who had made a mistake and was kneeling before a male zerg, waiting to be punished.

He hooked his foot and quietly pushed the meeting room door open, so the male zerg’s voice could be heard clearly inside.

“Oh.” The male zerg grabbed Yi Xi’s arm and lifted the food box in his hand. “I stewed some soup. It tastes really good, so I really wanted you to try it.”

Feeding someone you like seemed to be the instinct of all higher life forms. As early as ancient times, humans would offer their lovers the sweetest and most delicious fruits, just like Chu Xiu now.

Chu Xiu was sitting, so Yi Xi was slightly taller. He lowered his head and saw the male zerg looking up at him, the little strand of hair on his head bouncing, his eyes full of sparkling stars.

Clearly he had already undergone his second awakening, and his face had become sharper and more handsome. Yet why did he still seem like a child?

Yi Xi couldn’t help but laugh softly.

Then he raised his hand and did something that made everyone stare in shock.

He placed his hand on the fluffy head of the male zerg and rubbed it hard a couple of times.