NOVEL NEXT 72
Chapter 72: Xi Tian’s anxiety
Getting off the airship and moving from Zone 1 to Zone 4 was quite a hassle.
Although it took more time, there were some benefits. The unexpected events along the way disrupted Xi Tian’s anxiety about being near home, allowing him to regain his usual calmness in facing the upcoming events.
He learned the town’s name from Buma’s father and its exact location, thinking it would be easy to find.
Unexpectedly, upon arriving in the town, all he saw were neatly built two-story houses with white walls and tiled roofs.
Xi Tian had thought of various things to say when meeting his biological father, but now, everything was once again thrown into disarray.
After walking for so long, Xi Tian’s legs were exhausted. With nightfall approaching and no familiar chain hotels in sight, they had to stay at a local guesthouse for the night.
The air here was humid, with a noticeable dampness in the atmosphere.
Lying in bed, the mattress felt uncomfortable no matter how he lay. Xi Tian felt that the mattress, pillow, and sheets were all damp and insisted on changing rooms.
The guesthouse owner, engrossed in listening to opera behind the counter, was completely indifferent to Xi Tian’s request, waving him off and saying, “Stay if you want, if not, leave.”
Already tired from the day’s journey, Xi Tian’s frustration flared up at the owner’s attitude. He turned off the owner’s opera and, suppressing his anger, said word by word, “I want to change rooms!”
The owner, a stout and robust man, though a sub-female, showed no signs of wanting to back down, retorting, “I told you, stay if you want, if not, leave! Find somewhere else if you can!”
Both were agitated, and soon they were yelling at each other across the counter.
Despite his stout frame, the owner made no move to escalate physically, though his words were far from kind. Ellis, standing aside with his arms crossed, kept a close watch on the owner while occasionally marveling at Xi Tian’s argumentative prowess.
Xi Tian, while eloquent, had never displayed such a confrontational side in front of Ellis.
He lived up to his reputation as the former head of the university debate club, speaking elegantly yet sharply, holding the moral high ground and striking directly at his opponent’s weak points. Ellis was deeply impressed by how the owner was gradually cornered in the argument.
Ellis made a mental note: never get into an argument with his master.
Just then, a booming voice erupted from a nearby room, “Fatty! Are you arguing with a guest again? How many times have I told you to curb your temper?”
The owner’s stout figure trembled, immediately deflating under the nickname “Fatty,” like a scolded child.
Accompanied by a sharp scraping sound, a petite and delicate sub-female emerged, surprisingly the source of the loud voice.
With hands on his hips, he scolded the stout owner mercilessly. The owner, in turn, resembled a reprimanded schoolchild, not daring to retort.
“I’ve told you countless times to put your opera aside and listen to the guests,” the sub-female turned to apologize to the guests but froze upon seeing Xi Tian’s face, blurting out, “Brother Xi?!”
“You know me?” Xi Tian asked, puzzled.
The sub-female shook his head, but continued to scrutinize Xi Tian’s face carefully, murmuring, “Too similar, really too similar.”
“What are you talking about?” Xi Tian frowned.
The sub-female composed himself, clearing his throat, “You look too much like someone I used to know. May I ask your name?”
“Xi Tian. Xi as in the sky, Tian as in heaven.”
“You’re Xi Tian?!” the sub-gender exclaimed, “What relation do you have to Xi Qisi? Do you know Lance Lake?”
Xi Tian shook his head twice, dimming the excitement in the sub-sub-fems eyes, “I apologize for my rudeness. You look so much like my brother.”
Xi Tian took the opportunity to explain his purpose for coming to the town, seeking his family.
The sub-female tightly grasped Xi Tian’s hand, “That’s right, there’s no mistake. You look so much like them, you must be my second brother and Brother Xi’s child. You probably don’t know me. I’m Svet Lance, your uncle. Father and Dad will be thrilled to see you!”
Svet then started pulling Xi Tian to leave.
At that moment, the owner finally spoke up, “Uncle, Grandpa has been asleep for a while now.”
“Oh, you should have reminded me earlier,” Svet responded sharply to the owner but turned to Xi Tian with a warm smile. “We’ll make do here tonight, and tomorrow morning I’ll take you to meet Father.”
He then instructed the owner to quickly prepare the best guest room for Xi Tian, his attitude remarkably accommodating.
Svet talked about many things related to the town as he led Xi Tian to the room.
Once inside and the door was closed, Xi Tian finally had some peace and quiet.
A sense of guilt suddenly washed over Xi Tian. He had already learned from Buma’s father that his biological father’s surname was likely Lance. There was only one family in town with the Lance surname, consisting of two sub-females who had adopted five children over time, all bearing the Lance surname. So, when Xi Tian arrived at the guesthouse and saw the owner’s surname on the business license on the wall, he knew it was Lance.
He originally intended to have a conversation with the owner, but the environment here made him lose control, and he acted impulsively.
Does a male need a reason to be impulsive?
Not really.
If a reason had to be found, it would be that the owner’s demeanor reminded him of the male who had taken him off his home planet. The long journey to this small town and the unplanned circumstances along the way had made him quite irritable. He was truly displeased with the owner’s attitude and disliked the damp environment here, leading to this strange idea.
“I regret it. I shouldn’t have argued. It just made both of us angry,” Xi Tian slapped his forehead. “What a stupid idea.”
Xi Tian let out a long sigh and hugged Ellis, who was standing by the bed, pulling him onto the bed.
Xi Tian buried his face in Ellis’s soft pajamas, rubbing against him until Ellis couldn’t help but laugh from the tickling sensation. Ellis hugged his master like a baby, softly saying, “No matter what, he shouldn’t show his anger in front of you. Just let it be.”
Xi Tian sighed, “I’m not worried about him; I’m worried about myself. Losing my temper so easily, unable to control my emotions, arguing like a shrew.”
“In fact, Master, you’ve been quite uneasy since we arrived in town,” Ellis observed Xi Tian closely as always. “It’s been almost a day since we got here, and you’ve only had one meal, not even a quarter of what I ate.
You couldn’t sit still along the way, always needing to talk to me. If I took a little longer to reply, you’d become visibly impatient and agitated.
You weren’t like this before. You used to just do what you needed to do, looking completely relaxed.”
Ellis gently stroked the short hair of the master who was hugging his waist, “Master is very anxious, right? You’ve been worried since we set off to come here.”
Xi Tian was silent for a while before murmuring, “You’re right.”
“I want to go to their place right now and ask why they abandoned me. But I also wish I could grow wings and fly out of this window, leaving here as fast as possible.
I both want to see them and don’t want to see them. I want to hear their story, but I also don’t want to hear it.
I’m afraid the truth I find out won’t be what I hope for. I’m afraid they won’t be the parents I imagined. Maybe they were just young and reckless, tasted forbidden fruit, and had me out of a mistake. Maybe they were on the verge of divorce but couldn’t abort me, so they had to give birth to me and then casually dumped me at a welfare agency’s doorstep before walking away.”
“All my life, I’ve met many people and seen many families. People can be good, bad, or mostly somewhere in between. A person’s life, mostly uneventful, just goes on. A family, mostly uneventful, can maintain a marriage until the end of life.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Xi Tian blinked, his eyelashes like little fans casting a faint shadow under the white incandescent light from the ceiling, making him look pale and delicate.
“Master is getting impatient,” Ellis laughed. “Nobody is born to face only bad things. What I want to say is, don’t force yourself to add drama.”
Xi Tian frowned and, through the fabric of Ellis’s waist, bit down hard.
“Hmph, you’ve grown bold, even daring to tease me?!”
Ellis cooperatively cried out in surprise and begged for mercy.
Being overly measured is still not good, even when treating a partner with forbearance.
However, how could he have argued with the owner?
It was a complete mess.
Xi Tian painfully held his head.
Author’s Note:
The short story “A Tour of Primitive Society” in the Zerg Tribe series has been completed. Feel free to check it out.
T/N: Do I see a potential next project Here…(⌒0⌒)／~~