It was the end of August of NSC 241, and Lin Jingheng’s first summer break at the Black Orchid Academy was anything but relaxing.
Following an invitation from his teacher for professional mech design, the young boy interned for a month at the First Military Factory. His time at the factory was busier than staying at school during the academic year; he didn’t even manage to find time to return to his guardian’s home until shortly before the new school year began. The young boy stood frozen for a brief moment as he stepped through the door, noticing a nine-ring armed mobile parked in the front yard.
The nine-ring symbol was a special logo that only the Top Commander of the Union was allowed to use—this was Lu Xin’s personal vehicle. But it certainly wasn’t a Union holiday or special event, so shouldn’t Lu Xin still be in the Silver Fortress?
The young boy walked quickly up the stairs and heard Zhanlu’s familiar robotic voice ring out from the hallway, “Welcome back, did you enjoy your summer vacation?”
Lin Jingheng gave a small sound of acknowledgement as he took off his shoes by the door and put his slippers on. He opened the door to the living room and asked, “Why are you guys back home; did something happen?”
Zhanlu: “Yes, the medical capsule at home sent a message—”
Before he could finish, Lin Jingheng saw a shadowy figure jump toward him as soon as he looked inside the door. The next moment, his entire body was picked up and spun around in mid-air by a pair of strong arms. Lin Jingheng reached to grab onto the doorknob and yelled, his face red, “Did you get bitten by a mad dog!? Put me down, you menace!”
Lu Xin grinned brightly and whispered, “Shh—”
Lin Jingheng struggled out of the man’s grip. At fifteen, the adolescent boy was tall but as thin as paper, though he certainly believed his mental age had already matured past 100 years old. He thought he was an adult that knew how to handle himself appropriately but having that gorilla man Lu Xin pick him up with one arm around his waist offended his pride. The young man ran back two meters immediately after his feet touched the ground again, fixing his clothing frantically as he rolled his eyes at the great Commander Lu.
“Don’t yell,” Lu Xin lowered his voice and said, “she’s asleep.”
Lin Jingheng paused slightly and recalled Zhanlu’s unfinished line earlier about the medical capsule and grew a bit anxious. “What happened to Auntie Muller?”
Lu Xin gave him a look; his face twitched awkwardly for a few moments. It looked almost as if he wanted to laugh but was forcing himself to put on a pained and mournful expression. His eyebrows knit together as the rest of his features scrunched up like a gremlin. Lin Jingheng couldn’t read that strange expression on his face and frowned. “Speak properly, don’t give me that silly face; what exactly happened?”
Lu Xin: “.....”
He had planned to scare this boy at first but screwed up because he wasn’t able to contain his excitement. Realizing that his ad-lib didn’t work out, he gestured for Lin Jingheng to come over and whispered into the young boy’s ears in a mysterious manner, “She’s going to have a baby!”
Lin Jingheng didn’t quite catch that at first, but the frown on his face grew deeper as he sincerely asked some questions that were clearly too mature for his age: “How long has she been pregnant? Does the medical capsule at home need to upgrade to appropriate treatment packages for her? Also, why didn’t you both choose to breed outside of the womb? It’s not very safe or healthy to bear a child nowadays naturally; besides, won’t that also hinder her work?”
“....” Lu Xin was completely speechless at all of these practical concerns. It took a while for him to process everything and gave Lin Jingheng a pat on the shoulder, then sighed, “Oh sweetie, when dad says ‘your mom’s going to have a baby’ to you, your reaction should be to happily respond with ‘Really!? Am I going to have a little brother or sister? When will they be born to play with me?’ Not worrying about all these adult problems.”
Lin Jingheng never liked physical affection, even as a child, and quickly took a few steps back to escape Lu Xin’s evil paws. He then gave the man a questioning look as if asking, what the hell’s wrong with you?
Lu Xin looked helplessly at that little stern face and forcefully pulled the child over, locking the boy in his arms. “Let’s see you try and act all mature! Count down your blissful and carefree days until you turn 20, you ungrateful little twerp! I promise you’ll regret not living your life to the fullest when you grow up, wanna bet on it? Ouchie, stop struggling! Listen here you tiny edgelord, your thin waist ain’t even as thick as my thighs—"
-
The young boy locked himself in his room and habitually opened up a book to read but didn’t actually process anything from the book. His head was filled with inexplicable thoughts; he wasn’t sure what to make of it and only grew more frustrated as time passed. At his personal device’s reminder, he brushed his teeth and laid on his bed with a heavy heart—he still couldn’t fall asleep. The ceiling lights began to dim down. Lu Xin had commissioned a custom design for Lin Jingheng’s bedroom ceiling; it was an expensive recreation of the starry galaxy that glowed in the night. Even without Eden, it felt almost as if one was cradled in the gentle shimmer of stars in the vast universe. Both twins from the Lin family grew up in the swirl of politics and were raised to be quite sensitive children. Especially after Lin Jingshu, his sister, was taken away by the Eden Committee, Lin Jingheng had grown more repulsed by Eden. After completing his primary education, he had been blocking most of its functions from interfering with his life—and Lu Xin already knew. The Commander might be brash and unreliable at times, but he had really put in a lot of care in raising his adopted son.
They’re finally going to have their own child, he thought.
Almost as soon as this thought surfaced, the pretentious maturity he thought he had quietly backslid into the worries of a 15-year-old...or perhaps even younger. He insisted on not exposing his worries even when that fragile sense of security began to be shaken. This tired him and made him feel strangely isolated.
Suddenly, the lock on his door clicked to indicate someone had unlocked it with their fingerprint. When Lu Xin first adopted this child, he considered that the boy was only a few years away from entering the rebellious teenage years and would need some personal space. Thus, the first thing he taught the boy to do was how to change the permission settings on his bedroom door lock, but Lin Jingheng had never changed it in the past five years he had been living in this household. Even now, both Lu Xin and Professor Muller had permission to unlock this door.
Lin Jingheng was still in a bad mood and only wanted some quiet time to himself, so he purposely slowed his breathing and pretended he was asleep. Unfortunately, after seeing how ‘“sound asleep” his son was, Lu Xin didn’t back down and instead nudged the teen. “Hey, wake up, dad’s got a few words for you. You didn’t fall asleep yet, did ya?”
Lin Jingheng wasn’t amused. “You woke me up.”
“No way; if you really fell asleep and got woken up, you would’ve been ready to commit murder,” Lu Xin popped his bubble proudly. “You wouldn’t be so calm right now.”
“So what do you want? It’s the middle of the night.”
Lu Xin shoved the boy to the other side of the bed with his large body and took up half of the bed space, then laid down comfortably on the pillow. He was practically shoving the poor boy to the wall already but still couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position for himself, wiggling around the bed until the frame started creaking complaints. He even let out a dramatic sigh and said, “Why’s your bed so hard and small? I thought you could change the firmness and size of it.”
Lin Jingheng ground his teeth: “Apologies for the lukewarm welcome, you’re free to leave anytime.”
Lu Xin shot him a glance and turned on the reading light beside the bed. The warm lamplight graced his face like a translucent silk screen and softened the man’s sharp features as he said, “I know that you weren’t particularly happy about the news today, right?”
Lin Jingheng’s eyes widened for a split second but were quickly hidden by his annoyed expression. He said: “Am I supposed to jump up and down like a wild monkey like you to show that I’m happy? Listen, humans don't have this kind of tradition…”
As Lu Xin reached out a hand and placed it on the boy’s head, Lin Jingheng instinctively stiffened his neck—the gorilla’s next motion whenever this happened was always to press his head down. Yet this time, Lu Xin’s hand didn’t press down and instead brushed the boy’s head softly. He lowered his voice and said: “Daddy’s about 140 this year. I’m more than a century older than you, and we’re going to be the people that leave you first. By that time, you won’t have any family left, and even Jingshu wouldn’t be as close to you anymore—what’s going to happen to you?”
Lin Jingheng was still in his rebellious teenage phase, and his natural social awkwardness made him instinctively want to talk back to adults who spoke to him. Yet at this time, even though the words “I’m not a kid anymore” were already in his throat, he couldn’t manage to get them out of his mouth.
“Jingheng,” he said after a moment of silence. “That bet I made with you earlier was just a joke. More than a scholarship, I want you to have a much more colorful and happy life in the future. I want you to make some more friends, and maybe even date someone when you get a little older--don’t become like those boring and lonely Woltorians who end up in a political wedding even duller than the stock exchange. I don’t want you to live that pretentious ‘standard’ life for the purposes of showing off to the public. But...a true friend and someone you can truly love are not easy to find in life, especially in a place like this. If you aren’t lucky enough, you probably won’t even meet such a person your whole life. If that really is the case, I want you to at least still have a family around when time comes. This child will grow up with you, and by the time we all pass, at least they will still be there to care for you.”
Lin Jingheng made an acknowledging sound under his breath.
He rested his hand on the corner of Lu Xin’s shirt, then after a short while mumbled, “You can’t possibly die.”
“All people die.” Lu Xin laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “They say the younger sibling in the house usually gets the shorter end of the stick, so it’ll be our big baby’s job to feed the family in the future. The little baby’s job will be to bring a smile to everyone’s faces and be happy--how about it? Feel that burden on your shoulders lift a little?”
Lin Jingheng’s tense back finally relaxed as he listened to Lu Xin’s ramblings. He slid down his bed a little and rested a hand behind his head, his tight lips finally curling up slightly into a faint smile. Lu Xin, on the other hand, was already letting his mind run free beside him and began career-planning for this child that wasn’t born yet.
-
The next morning, Lu Xin had already left for the Silver Fortress by the time Lin Jingheng woke up. He left a copy of Zhanlu and an incomplete blueprint of a children’s playroom remodeling layout within the household digital butler system, then left the young boy a message through Zhanlu that a new family member was a big event the whole house needed to celebrate. As a part of the family, Lin Jingheng was also tasked with an honorable and difficult mission—to complete this blueprint before school started.
Lin Jingheng was a diligent and persevering child and accepted this mission. He didn’t even have time to sort through his luggage for the new school year when he locked himself up in the workroom for days, cramming books like Children’s Psychology, Preschool Education, and even Interior Designs. He then dug up the withered childish heart of his after a long struggle and came up with the idea of adding a special tunnel between the designated child’s room and the living room on the first floor—a giant slide that looked like a wormhole terminal.
It was the beginning of his second year at the Black Orchid Academy. Lin Jingheng was stuck in school for a good six months before he could finally go back home after New Years’ celebration. The child’s room was already completely furnished, and the secret surprise slide was fully installed with the best AI safety system.
“You built this pretty fast.” Lin Jingheng was not only half an inch taller than before but had also learned how to be a little bit more pretentious. He placed his hands behind his back and walked around the room like some sort of art critic—the resulting room looked decent, but Lu Xin was certainly a little too excited. “It’s alright...aren’t natural pregnancy cycles an average of 38 weeks?”
Lu Xin: “.... I only asked you to look over the layout, just how many random books did you read, where did you even learn that from?”
“It’s common human biology knowledge; do you really need to read a book for that?” Lin Jingheng gave him an ‘oh right, you don’t know because you aren’t a normal person’ mocking look. Almost as soon as he threw that glance, he felt Lu Xin pick him up by the nape of his neck and was shoved down the slide.
This kid might have grown half an inch, but his attitude sure hadn’t changed.
Lin Jingheng’s pretentious mature act shattered immediately. “What the heck’s wrong with you!?”
Lu Xin laughed by the entrance and said, “I finished this early so that you could play with it when you came back during winter break. Listen, fun stuff is always reserved for the big baby of our family!”
Lin Jingheng had a fast reaction; he quickly regained his balance, found a safe and comfortable position, prepared a whole stomach full of toxins to spew out, and was ready to throw it all at Lu Xin in complaint. Suddenly, a warm scent filled the slide tunnel that smelled like the detergent that Professor Mueller often bought. The entire household shared this sweet and warm scent of freshly dried laundry. The scent seemed to be cradling him inside this tunnel and distracted Lin Jingheng for a moment. Lin Jingheng forgot all of the curses he was going to say, and by the time he realized, he had already reached the end of the slide. A detailed 3D projection of Lu Xin stood before him and reached out a hand: “Daddy’s here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”