“Mother.” Yan Luo suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and spoke to Lu Yan.
Lu Yan looked over when she heard the voice. A flicker of complexity passed through her eyes before she smiled and said, “Luo’er, are you done with your work? Your cousin Xunche is here.”
Lu Xunche slowly stood up and gave a courteous salute. “Your Majesty.”
“Cousin Xunche,” Yan Luo responded and walked over to sit beside Lu Yan.
Lu Yan smiled and took Yan Luo’s hand, chatting on and on, intentionally or unintentionally steering the conversation toward Lu Xunche.
Lu Xunche, on the other hand, half-squinted his eyes and replied lazily and intermittently.
He looked even more lazy and annoyed than Yan Luo.
This was the grandson most favored by Old Master Lu. He was good-looking, intelligent, and clever, though with a bit of a difficult temperament. Still, he was the son-in-law Lu Yan had always set her heart on.
After chatting for a while and seeing that Yan Luo wasn’t engaging with Lu Xunche, and Lu Xunche couldn’t be bothered to speak either, Lu Yan pursed her lips slightly, then said, “Luo’er, Mother just remembered that a few of the imperial consorts wanted to discuss some matters with me. You two talk here, alright?”
With that, she stood up, and before leaving, gave the palace maids meaningful looks so they would all retreat, leaving the two alone.
The spacious palace suddenly became empty, and a faintly awkward atmosphere began to spread.
Lu Xunche tilted his head and looked at Yan Luo, his voice lazy and pleasant. “You…”
Yan Luo : ???
Wait… with her current identity, is he even allowed to call her so directly in private like that??
[D-dear Host…] Little Pink’s voice suddenly sounded in her ear. Yan Luo blinked in confusion as a response, and Little Pink’s voice continued, [Why do I feel like this guy’s aura is really familiar…?]
[It kind of feels like… kind of feels like…]
“What’s your system’s name? Junior.”
Before Little Pink could finish, Lu Xunche lazily propped up his head with his hand, a devilish curve on his lips as he gazed over indifferently and spoke.
Just as she was talking to Little Pink, hearing that line out of nowhere startled Yan Luo into blurting out, “Little Pink… Oh crap!”
Yan Luo : ???
Little Pink : ?!?!?
(º言º)
“Keep your voice down,” Lu Xunche raised a hand to his forehead with a look that said I knew it, then said, “Red-Orange-Yellow1, come out and greet the guest.”
[Host, there’s no such thing as ‘greeting guests’ among us true systems.] A young boy’s voice suddenly spoke up, sounding serious yet with a hint of grievance.
“Think about what you did before you talk to me,” Lu Xunche raised an eyebrow, sneering coldly. Then a small warm-colored light orb floated out from the center of his brow.
[Hello, dear dimensional traveler. I am System Red-Orange-Yellow, No. 001 of the Dimensional Management Bureau’s Combat Department. It’s a pleasure to meet you~ (*^▽^*)]
Yan Luo : …Is it supposed to be this thrilling??
Also, are all systems named like paint palettes? What’s with all these weird names?
Little Pink also emerged from Yan Luo’s brow, looking at Lu Xunche and Red-Orange-Yellow with what seemed like excitement. [Hello, Senior.]
[So you’re still in training. You’ll need to work hard to earn your official number, Little Pink.] The warm-colored light orb circled around Little Pink once, then spoke in a child’s voice that somehow carried the gravity of a seasoned elder, completely serious.
Only systems officially recruited by the Dimensional Management Bureau are assigned a standard number.
- 红橙黄 (hóng chéng huáng), literally red (红 hóng), orange (橙 chéng) and yellow (黄 huáng). ↩︎