The Cannon Fodder Became the Empire's Beloved Omega - Chapter 27

Yu Ruan blinked.

He glanced at Gu Yu, who had suddenly frozen, then looked at Cheng Mu, who was grinning cheekily, and took the initiative to greet them: “Good afternoon. Are you two finished with your work already?”

“Done, all done,” Cheng Mu immediately replied. “Since Ruan Ruan is personally handling things, of course I had to show up early to show my support. But Gu Yu here is really something else, you should’ve seen him just now.”

Cheng Mu was in the middle of his enthusiastic storytelling when a cold gaze shot sideways at him from beside him. The silent stare instantly made him shiver, and he trembled involuntarily.

He stiffly shifted his gaze to meet Gu Yu’s indifferent, emotionless eyes, and his heart sank like a stone.

Oh no, oh no.

He’d almost been fooled by Gu Yu’s current lazy demeanor and forgotten what a ruthless character this person used to be.

Cheng Mu still remembered the tragic ends of those who had once tried to challenge his authority, they were all carried out of the arena horizontally.

After all, this was someone once hailed as the “Pride of the Nobility.” Everyone knew how difficult the old aristocratic families of the Empire could be. Anyone recognized by those stubborn traditionalists, even if they’d retracted their claws now, was not someone to be trifled with.

Feeling guilty, Cheng Mu rubbed his nose.

He silently avoided Gu Yu’s gaze, which felt like it could freeze him into an ice sculpture, and deeply reflected on his behavior. Then he stepped forward, washed his hands, rolled up his sleeves, and said to the two at the cooking station, “Is there anything I can help with?”

“What are you good at?” Yu Ruan asked him.

“Uh,” Cheng Mu stammered, “manual labor?”

Yu Ruan: “…”

Le Meng, who had been watching them from the side, burst out laughing.

She brought over the ingredients that hadn’t been mixed yet and introduced herself briefly to Cheng Mu. “Let me teach you, Senior,” she said. “We’ll start with the simplest things, okay?”

Cheng Mu nodded eagerly, then took a moment to shoot Gu Yu a meaningful look, gesturing frantically toward Yu Ruan with his chin.

Gu Yu gave him a cool, unmoved stare.

Cheng Mu: “…”

This guy has zero emotional intelligence in this area!

Frustrated beyond words, Cheng Mu resentfully followed Le Meng’s instructions and vigorously stirred the mixing bowl in his hands.

Perhaps finally hearing his muttered complaints, Gu Yu finally moved. He walked over to Yu Ruan, lowered his gaze, and asked, “Need any help?”

The person in front of him looked like he’d never done a day of manual labor in his life. Even with the offer, Yu Ruan didn’t dare assign him any tasks.

He strongly suspected that if he took the offer seriously and actually asked for help, the work that was nearly finished might instantly revert to zero progress.

After thinking for a moment, he said tactfully, “It’s fine, we’re almost done anyway. If you’re not in a hurry, you can sit and wait for a bit.”

Gu Yu lifted his eyes to look at him, remained quiet for a few seconds, then gave a faint “Mm” in response.

Hearing this, if he hadn’t been holding the mixing bowl, Cheng Mu would have wanted to whack Gu Yu over the head with a spatula to see what kind of iron-hard substance was inside his skull.

Truly, the emperor isn’t anxious, but the eunuch is.

Cheng Mu felt deeply aggrieved.

He thought for a moment and decided to try a roundabout approach. Turning to the beta girl beside him, he asked, “Le Meng, have you ever tried the bubble tea from that shop off-campus called 9PM?”

Hearing this, the girl, who seemed a bit spacey, looked up and shook her head. “No!”

“Then how about this,” Cheng Mu said cheerfully, shifting his gaze to Yu Ruan. “Since we’re almost done anyway, why not leave the rest to us? Ruan Ruan, you and Gu Yu can go out and buy a few cups of bubble tea. My treat.”

Yu Ruan was taken aback, looking confused. “Huh?”

Instantly, Gu Yu’s gaze landed on him.

Cheng Mu’s scalp prickled. He forced a stiff smile and grinned at him. “Since you’re free anyway, how about it?”

The person in question raised an eyebrow, his lips parting as if to refuse. But before he could speak, another voice cut in.

Yu Ruan thought for a moment, then nodded and said to Cheng Mu, “Then send me the flavors you’d like. I’ll go check it out.”

Yu Ruan’s reasoning was simple: since arriving on the capital planet, he hadn’t had a chance to properly explore. This was a good opportunity to go out and take a look around the area near Nebula University.

He turned and saw that Gu Yu seemed about to refuse. “If you don’t want to go, I can go by myself. It’s fine.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Yu Ruan saw the other’s expression pause. Gu Yu slowly lifted his eyelids. “You don’t know the way.”

“?” Yu Ruan was bewildered.

“I’ll take you there,” he said, walking over to Yu Ruan, his tone flat. “We can go and come back quickly.”

“…” Who knew the young master could be so considerate?

Shocked and speechless, Yu Ruan nodded. He took off his gloves, washed his hands at the sink, removed his apron, and walked over to Gu Yu. “Shall we go?”

“Mm.”

And so, the two set off on the path to buy bubble tea.

Since coming to this world, Yu Ruan hadn’t seen a bubble tea shop. Mention of it now stirred a sense of nostalgia in him. He glanced at the flavors Cheng Mu had sent surprisingly similar to those from his previous life and felt genuinely touched.

The original author was quite thoughtful, not setting up a bunch of interstellar-era specialty flavors. How nice.

Nebula University had a pleasant environment. Even though they were walking to the bubble tea shop, Yu Ruan was quite happy. The only downside was that the young master beside him was a bit too quiet, making it hard for Yu Ruan to think of how to start a conversation and lighten the mood.

Fortunately, the silence didn’t last long.

Perhaps sensing that letting this continue wouldn’t be good, Gu Yu spoke first: “The land around here belongs to Nebula, but the area outside doesn’t, so you’ll find all sorts of people there.”

Yu Ruan patiently waited for him to continue.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag, slightly chaotic,” Gu Yu explained calmly. “If you went alone, you might easily get lost. But that’s not even the main issue. Because Nebula has a lot of wealthy and influential people, there are also plenty who like to scheme.”

Yu Ruan was confused. He summarized it simply, thinking the other probably meant: “That area isn’t safe, so I came along to keep you company.”

How touching.

Good bro!

Gratefully, he nodded to show he understood. “Thank you,” he said.

Gu Yu’s steps faltered slightly. He glanced sideways at Yu Ruan.

His dark blue eyes seemed to hold some unspoken thought. Yu Ruan looked back at him, puzzled, and touched the spot Gu Yu was staring at. “What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”

“No,” Gu Yu said, withdrawing his gaze and leading him around a corner. “We’re almost there.”

“Mm, mm.”

As they spoke, Gu Yu’s steps halted, his gaze fixed ahead. “It’s right there.”

Yu Ruan followed his line of sight and saw a shop with a long, snaking queue ahead, bearing the large sign “9PM.” In front of the store stood students in Nebula uniforms, as well as others who looked around their age.

By conservative estimates, reaching the front of that line would take at least half an hour.

Yu Ruan: “…”

Who would have thought that even in the interstellar era, the culture of lining up crazily for trendy shops would still exist.

Yu Ruan gazed at the human wall forming the queue and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

He looked up at the artificial sun hanging high in the sky and thought for a moment. “Do you still want to wait here?”

Gu Yu made an affirmative sound and shifted his gaze. “You go sit over there,” he said, pointing with his chin toward a rest area. “I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

Yu Ruan felt a bit embarrassed. “It’s fine, it’ll only be a little while. Let’s wait together.”

Hearing this, Gu Yu gave a slight nod and didn’t insist further.

For some reason, Yu Ruan felt his mood had improved slightly compared to when they first set out.

The two walked to the end of the line. Perhaps because Gu Yu was relatively well-known at the school, for a moment, Yu Ruan felt the number of glances directed their way suddenly multiply.

Those who clearly weren’t Nebula students couldn’t help stealing glances at the alpha beside him some with admiration, some with envy. As for the few in Nebula uniforms, they looked at Yu Ruan with puzzled expressions.

Various appraising glances came his way. Before Yu Ruan could react, the alpha beside him slowly took a step forward, blocking those views.

He lazily lifted his eyelids and swept his gaze toward the group. Almost instantly, they sheepishly averted their eyes, as if fleeing from his stare. Yu Ruan blinked and looked up at Gu Yu, who had suddenly moved to stand beside him.

As if he’d merely acted naturally, Gu Yu turned back, his expression indifferent. “The sun’s strong.”

Yu Ruan instinctively glanced at the sky.

It was indeed quite bright.

Too bad neither of them had broken a sweat standing there, so his excuse wasn’t very convincing.

But Yu Ruan kindly decided to help cover for him, pretending not to notice the flaw in his statement.

He shifted to the side, making room in the shade. “Want to come over?”

Gu Yu responded flatly and stepped over to his side.

Although there were many people at 9PM, the line moved fairly quickly. After waiting about ten minutes, the terrifyingly long queue gradually reached its end, and it was finally their turn.

They had already paid and placed their order while waiting, so they only needed to pick it up at the counter.

While waiting, Yu Ruan looked up information about the shop. He discovered that the reason it was so slow was because it was famously known for hand-brewed bubble tea. Since it wasn’t machine-made, it was a bit of a gimmick that attracted many customers.

Hearing their number called, Yu Ruan quickly tugged at Gu Yu, and the two walked into the shop together.

9PM was beautifully decorated, very much like the trendy shops Yu Ruan remembered from his previous life. The store was divided into several counters, each staffed by an employee responsible for preparing orders.

Yu Ruan checked his electronic number tag it was for Counter 3 so he led Gu Yu over.

Perhaps because they were now inside an air-conditioned space, the young master finally seemed less irritable. He obediently followed beside Yu Ruan, half-lidded eyes making him look lazy.

Yu Ruan walked up to the counter and showed his electronic tag to the staff member. “Hello, I’m here to pick up my bubble tea.”

Hearing this, the staff member looked up.

A pair of beautiful amber eyes suddenly met Yu Ruan’s, carrying a faint sense of familiarity that made him furrow his brows in confusion.

This person…

Seemed somewhat familiar?

Support