My Exclusive Dream World Adventures
Chapter 229 - Chapter 229 229 Why are you looking at me like that

Chapter 229: 229 Why are you looking at me like that? Chapter 229: 229 Why are you looking at me like that? “Respected Captain, I must remind you that it’s almost lunchtime, and you promised Madam you’d return home for lunch.”

Within the cockpit of the spaceship Dawn, Taichu reminded Chen Xu, who was still seated, working at his station.

His gaze moved from the screen, and he stretched his back to alleviate the stiffness and soreness from sitting for hours as he said, “You monitor my home and have to let me know face to face?”

“That is my duty.”

He said, “It’s also your duty to follow my orders, isn’t it? Can you turn off the monitoring?”

“Sorry, I must follow your orders, but I have to make an exception for supervising you. You are the acting Captain, bearing the most important responsibilities, and thus, you must be under the strictest supervision.”

“Forget I said anything.”

He casually closed the file on the screen, stood up, and walked out of the cockpit.

Just as he had the authority to restart Taichu, Taichu had the authority to monitor him, although it was limited to monitoring. Even if Taichu detected any acts of betrayal, there was nothing it could do.

Ousting a Captain, even an acting one, was not within the AI’s power. This stemmed from the deep-rooted wariness of the Dawn’s human crew towards artificial intelligence.

If that wasn’t the case, he certainly couldn’t outplay Taichu, for there were too many rules and regulations aboard the ship to memorize, and even now, he didn’t know how many times he had broken them, costing him quite a few credit points.

His residence was not far away. Taking the delivery pod, it took only ten minutes to arrive.

When he reached the door, thinking about Yang Jinxia sitting at the table full of food waiting for him, he suddenly stopped. It was then he realized that the current state between them was a bit improper.

“How did it come to this?”

He couldn’t help but knock on his head, recalling the side effects Taichu had mentioned about using the learning machine: because the brain had absorbed too much new knowledge in a short time, it would become somewhat more sluggish than usual while assimilating this information.

It had been many days since the second use of the learning machine. In order to digest this information and truly apply it, he had spent a lot of time each day reviewing, so was his reaction slower than before?

He should have noticed it when she suggested having a meal together in the morning.

Knocking on his head again, he felt a bit of self-reproach. How did he let his guard down when he faced her?

If he got too close to her in his dreams, how should he face her upon returning to reality?

“Remember, you must maintain a distance from her.”

After preparing himself mentally at the door, he subconsciously glanced at the time–it was 12:03 PM. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, and the door automatically opened.

“You’re back.”

Yang Jinxia, wearing an apron in the kitchen, poked her head out when she heard him, smiled at him, and said, “One more soup, and it will be ready. Please take a seat.”

Chen Xu’s expression became distant for a moment. After work, returning to his exquisitely decorated house, Yang Jinxia in an apron cooking in the kitchen, greeting him home with a joyful voice–this warm scene was once what he had longed for and had worked hard to achieve.

After a while, Yang Jinxia came quickly out of the kitchen, holding the handles of a pot with both hands, and placed the pot on a mat on the table. Then, she pinched her earlobes and inhaled sharply, obviously having burned herself.

“Are you alright?”

Chen Xu’s heart tightened as he stepped forward and grabbed her hand, notcing the thumbs and index fingers of both hands were a bit reddened. He pulled her to the sink and ran her hands under the water to cool them.

“Don’t carry hot pots directly next time. Wrap them with a wet cloth to avoid burning yourself,” he said with a hint of reprimand in his voice.

“I understand,” Yang Jinxia replied as he held her hands, their bodies nearly touching. She looked up at his profile with a gentle gaze.

“Okay.”

At that moment, Chen Xu realized that something was not quite right and let go of her hands. To hide his embarrassment, he pretended to be nonchalant, washed his hands, picked up a hanging cloth to dry them, and walked out of the kitchen to sit at the table.

Yang Jinxia watched his movements, a smile appearing on her face. She shook the water droplets from her hands, pulled a piece of paper towel to dry them, took off her apron, and hung it back in its place before following him out.

By then, Chen Xu had already ladled out a bowl of soup and was about to take a sip with a spoon when he looked up and saw her standing by the table. He stopped ladling the soup and, somewhat stiffly, said, “You sit too.”

Yang Jinxia reached out, took the bowl of soup from in front of him, and placed it in front of herself. She then picked up the empty bowl before her, filled it with soup, and set it down in front of him before taking her seat with satisfaction, smiling as she said, “Thank you.”

Chen Xu was speechless at the smile on her face.

“This soup was made by me, give it a try,” Yang Jinxia said, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

Chen Xu took a taste and nodded, “It’s pretty good.”

Yang Jinxia also tasted it and blinked, “Seems a bit bland.”

“The soup doesn’t need to be too salty; this is just right,” Chen Xu replied.

“Okay,” Yang Jinxia brightened up, watching him finish the bowl of soup. Not waiting for him to stand up, she reached out and took his bowl first.

Chen Xu said, “You don’t have to do that; I can do it myself.”

While serving the rice, Yang Jinxia spoke, “When I was studying, I loved eating at Xiao Ya’s place. Sitting at the dining table and watching her mother serve everyone made me envious. I thought having a mom like that must be really happy.”

Chen Xu thought about her family background and felt a softness in his heart, guessing that her nominal grandmother was probably quite strict with her. As he thought about it, he held out his hand to receive the bowl of rice she offered, saying, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied with a smile.

She had smiled too many times since the morning, the most she had since he had known her.

In truth, she seemed like a very aloof person. He remembered the first time he saw her, what attracted him most was her cool, elegant demeanor.

Whether in a previous dream or in reality, she seldom smiled, and even when she did, it was often just a polite gesture.

He had never seen her as happy as she was today.

Back when they were still together, he would wake up early in the morning and watch her as she slept. Even in her dreams, her brows were always slightly furrowed as if they could never be smoothed out. Since then, he knew she must have been carrying many burdens.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” His gaze lingered too long, and Yang Jinxia thought something was on her face. She took the spoon, used its polished underside as a mirror, but noticed nothing.

He said, “I just think that you’re different from before.”

“Really?” Yang Jinxia touched her face and laughed, “Maybe it’s because I don’t need to worry about other things now. All I have to think about is what meals to prepare three times a day. No need to think about anything else. It’s an unprecedented level of relaxation.”

Chen Xu watched her radiant smile and lost himself for a moment.

Maybe her leaving him had something to do with him as well. If he had been strong enough to protect her from the elements, why would she need to face those difficulties and pressures alone?

Whether in the vastness of space, on this strictly stratified spaceship, or back on Earth, the only way to live a better life was to become stronger and attain a higher status.

And it was at this moment that he felt an unprecedented longing for power.

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