When A Commoner Carries The Child Of A Stranger Alpha - Chapter 12

Shen Buqi was unaware of the undercurrents at play, he was simply overcome with an extraordinary sense of joy today because he was finally able to leave this place.

They didn’t wait for Gao Haoyang and his crew inside the manor, choosing instead to walk out onto the nearby streets. The moment he stepped past the grand gates of the estate, he felt as though his entire being was being thoroughly warmed through by the artificial sunlight.

Finally. They were finally leaving.

A-Shi wouldn’t be snatched away from him. A-Shi was still his.

He knew his mindset wasn’t entirely healthy, but he couldn’t help it, he possessed far too little in this world.

He remembered almost nothing of his childhood, only that he had been abandoned in District 7 and taken in by a kind-hearted old grandmother, whom he depended on for survival.

But not long after she raised him, the grandmother passed away. He was left entirely alone to study, work, repair mechas, and raise his cat in the house she had left behind.

By the time he had raised an Alpha, that small house was no longer big enough.

So when it came time to leave, he had still felt a lingering touch of reluctance.

Now that they could return, his first priority was to reinforce their new house to properly protect A-Shi,  his second was to head over to the old house to feed Mimi. Perhaps Mimi was doing better by now and could move into the new home with them.

Just thinking about it made him feel as though everything in the world was progressing flawlessly.

Aboard the mecha, he gazed out once more at the sprawling clusters of nebulae.

Because the timing was different, these nebulae looked somewhat changed from when they first arrived. Ji Weishi pointed toward a particular flush pink cosmic cloud and said, “Xiao Yi, look quickly.”

He leaned in close, speaking right against Shen Buqi’s ear, his warm breath sweeping ambiguously over the contours of the ear.

Shen Buqi had never been this close to anyone before, and even though it was A-Shi, it still felt a little uncomfortable, causing him to tilt his head away slightly.

But that breath refused to let him off the hook. Wherever his earlobe shifted, that moist, warm current of air gently drifted right along with it.

He didn’t dare make any drastic movements for fear of causing Ji Weishi discomfort, so he resorted to focusing his attention and asking, “This is beautiful. What is it?”

Ji Weishi had done it completely on purpose. Watching the jade like, cool white earlobe slowly ignite with a flush like rolling sunset clouds brought a profound satisfaction to a certain unspeakable desire deep in his bones.

Having achieved his goal, he showed boundless patience, the corners of his lips curving slightly. “It’s the Lover’s Nebula. It rarely appears. We are very lucky.”

Shen Buqi didn’t understand why seeing this made them lucky, but in the end, he didn’t press further. He merely leaned slightly against Ji Weishi, quietly admiring the shifting, elusive nebula.

The sea of stars was vast and boundless, yet even after a century of human exploration, mankind had only discovered nine planets suitable for habitation.

And the lifespan of this cosmic ocean was vastly longer than that of humanity.

Even with advanced technology, human lifespans only amounted to a few hundred years.

Ji Weishi quietly laced his fingers tightly through Shen Buqi’s. He was inherently a hedonist who lived for the moment, and right here, right now, perhaps due to the influence of his susceptibility period, or perhaps due to something else entirely, he knew with absolute clarity:

Right now, he wanted this person.

This person who lacked a secondary gender.

To hell with whatever secrets he carried, and to hell with whatever his motives were.

He only needed to clasp this person’s hand tight like this.

That was enough.

Upon reaching District 7, since the small manor Shen Buqi had selected was located in the peripheral zone, the two of them disembarked from the mecha first.

Chen Zixuan bid them a reluctant and lingering farewell. It wasn’t as though her older sister and brother-in-law hadn’t told her that the two of them were partners, but she simply couldn’t help her weakness for handsome men.

Originally, she had only drooled over Brother Shen. Unfortunately, Brother Shen’s coldness was a genuine, deep seated frost, he wasn’t at all like those characters in novels or manga who could be warmed up with a little persistence. She hadn’t even found an opening to strike up a proper conversation, so she had been forced to give up.

Now, another man of comparable handsomeness had finally appeared, only for her to be told he was the partner of the man she had previously set her eyes on. Her girlish heart shattered completely into pieces.

Chen Zijie couldn’t stand her sister’s dazed expression. Tugging her over, she said, “You behave yourself. Your brother-in-law’s place happens to be hiring. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be heading to the unit with him to work.”

Chen Zixuan let out a miserable wail, though she managed to comfort herself with the thought that being able to see Brother Shen every day was still pretty great.

Shen Buqi and Ji Weishi had no idea that a young girl’s heart had completely shattered because of them; they were currently in the yard planting flowers.

The seeds had been picked up by Ji Weishi from the manor back in District 2. His original intention was simply that he found the bare yard unsightly.

He hadn’t expected that he would happen to grab rose seeds, which were Shen Buqi’s favorite. When Shen Buqi saw those seeds, his eyes lit up instantly, and he beamed at him. “Thank you, A-Shi.”

The fragrance of lotus began to blanket the patch of soil waiting to be tilled. Ji Weishi cleared his throat lightly, a gentle smile gracing his face. “It’s nothing. As long as you like it.”

This susceptibility period had been far too comfortable, leading him to think. Why bother bringing rose seeds? He should have brought some lotus seeds to cultivate a lake right here, dedicated entirely to growing lotuses.

Shen Buqi, on the other hand, was still joyfully getting to work planting the roses. He loved roses. Back when he was a child, District 7 still had a mecha academy. Every day on his way to school, he would pass by a massive estate.

The estate was filled with roses, every single blossom vibrant and dripping with color. But his absolute favorite was a single branch growing beneath the eaves.

It was afraid of the harsh sun and afraid of the rain, yet it always held its head high, looking down upon the world with an air of supreme aristocracy and elegance.

Shen Buqi had been utterly captivated by that single rose, leaving his house half an hour early every morning just to gaze at it across layers of fencing in the early dawn.

Later, his grandmother passed away.

He stopped going to school for a few days. When he passed by again, the yard no longer held any roses.

Every single rose had been razed to the ground, including the one he loved so dearly.

For the very first time, Shen Buqi felt a heavy, stifling weight in his chest.

After that, he came to understand: roses had to be raised by one’s own hands. Only things that truly belonged to you would not be discarded at a whim.

He had developed his own set of logic, a principle that others might find entirely twisted and perverse if spoken aloud.

But no one had ever taught him that it was wrong.

And so, that twisted logic became deeply rooted.

He transformed into an almost obsessively controlling caregiver.

He was incredibly meticulous and cautious while planting these roses. They were roses too, even if they weren’t as beautiful as his rose, not as gentle as his rose, and not as noble as his rose.

But these were given to him by his rose.

Therefore, he had to nurture them with utmost care, otherwise his rose would be sad.

Shen Buqi resolved himself. He had never raised roses before, but that wasn’t an issue because he was an incredibly fast learner.

Especially when it came to tending to roses, he seemed to possess an innate, untaught talent for it.

Within just a few days, he managed to get the plants to sprout, which left Ji Weishi thoroughly amazed, considering he had anticipated that a large portion of the first batch would die off.

Ji Weishi hadn’t been idle during these past few days either. Qi Qiushui had prepared a new optical computer for him. Although he couldn’t return to District 4 for the time being, managing matters through Qi Qiushui was unavoidable.

District 4 hadn’t dared to publicly announce his disappearance. His methods were usually ruthless enough that the few S-class Alphas below him didn’t dare to make any rash moves for now.

On the other hand, District 1 had been in utter chaos recently. It was unclear whether Qin Che had truly gone mad, after bombing District 2, he went on to bomb District 3, making it glaringly obvious he intended to fight his own biological father to the bitter end.

Ji Weishi was more than happy to sit back and watch the tigers fight from the mountain, spending his days fooling around with Shen Buqi before turning around to crack down on his subordinates.

Meanwhile, Shen Buqi worked during the day and tended to his roses at night.

He felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

It was just that work had been a bit annoying lately. Ever since Chen Zixuan arrived, she refused every other position and insisted to the death on working as Shen Buqi’s assistant.

But she hadn’t studied anything related to this field. She knew next to nothing about mechas, struggling even to hand over the correct materials.

The boss turned a blind eye to her presence, and though Shen Buqi found it annoying, he was inherently a man of few words, so they managed to coexist peacefully.

However, Xiao Zhao was the first to grow anxious. She was a female Omega who had originally enjoyed being looked after everywhere due to her gender. Now that Chen Zixuan was here, not only did the girl cling daily to Shen Buqi, their only mecha repair technician but she also received everyone’s affection due to her young age.

This caused a psychological imbalance for Xiao Zhao. It wasn’t that she had romantic feelings for Shen Buqi, in District 7, aside from children like Chen Zixuan who had been sheltered by their families from a young age, almost no one did anything based purely on the motivation of love.

After all, survival needs always came first.

The reason for her anger was that previously, when Shen Buqi finished his work, she could head over, act a little spoiled, and pocket some useful leftover materials. Shen Buqi wouldn’t care, and the boss wouldn’t say anything.

Now that Chen Zixuan was here, despite her young age, the girl was incredibly sharp, leaving Xiao Zhao unable to gain a single advantage.

A silent war erupted.

By the seventh time both of them tried to hand him a tool at the same time, Shen Buqi finally grew displeased because the two of them were completely blocking out District 7’s already pathetic excuse for natural light.

He couldn’t even see well enough to tighten a screw.

He stated coldly, “Both of you, either leave, or have just one stay behind to hold the light for me.”

Chen Zixuan rushed to beat her to it. “I’ll stay! I can handle a simple task like this. Sister Zhao’s work is far more complicated, I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it.”

With her claim justified, Zhao Er had no choice. She was both ashamed and furious, yet she feared angering the sole mecha repair technician in District 7. Gritting her teeth, she turned and left.

Shen Buqi didn’t understand any of these petty mind games. Guiding the light, he used the purple flint from that day to meticulously polish the piece, utilizing highly intricate craftsmanship.

This counted as doing personal business during work hours, but he had already far exceeded his quota for today’s tasks. When the boss hired him, it had been explicitly agreed upon beforehand that as long as he completed his work, he could use whatever materials he wanted and do whatever he pleased.

Shen Buqi wasn’t the type to feel self-conscious like others. Under the incandescent light, he carefully embedded the microchip bit by bit, putting an immense amount of effort into the exterior design.

Chen Zixuan had no idea what he was crafting. She marveled, “Brother Shen, what are you making? It’s so beautiful.”

Shen Buqi was usually disinclined to talk to people while working, and today was no exception.

Failing to get an answer, the young girl didn’t get upset either, continuing…

“Brother Shen, do you know that our District 7 is going to introduce those identification bracelets? I heard everyone has to collect one. They are so annoying, they claim it’s for safety, but aren’t they just afraid we’ll run around?”

Shen Buqi’s hands paused in their movements. He asked, “What bracelet?”

Chen Zixuan had faced rejection after talking to him so much over the past few days. Receiving a response today made her practically over the moon, and she eagerly explained the details to him.

“It’s nothing much, it’s just kind of similar to my positioning bracelet. But I heard from my sister that it also functions to display identity information. When you go out in the future, one flash of that bracelet will let everyone know exactly who you are.”

She curled her lips in distaste. “So annoying, it’s just like a dog tag. Are people from District 7 not considered human? That’s exactly why I wanted to go to District 2. I heard from our teacher that the protector of District 2 is an S-class Omega, so District 2 offers incredible benefits and preferential treatment to Omegas…”

Shen Buqi lost interest in her subsequent words. He simply sank into a new, deep contemplation.

What should he do?

How could he protect A-Shi and keep him by his side?