Translator: Deathbutlowkey from dummytranslations
Editor: Vivi ☺

The General’s Seduction (4)

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“You saved me at that time, but there were many reasons that I had no choice but to leave earlier. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you.”
　　
Yan Shuo thought deeply before he spoke. Shen Zhifan couldn’t help but look at him; as he was slowly recounting what had happened, Yan Shuo had a sort of distinct charm. His gaze was so settled and deep that the teeming of the outside world was incapable of intruding upon it.
　　
The current Yan Shuo attracted Shen Zhifan more than the spirited Major General of years back. The former hadn’t lost his sharpness; rather, he’d gradually taken that unmatched brilliance, crushed it, and affixed it beneath his calm severity. Although, after catching sight of those azure irises, one was sure to be entranced by the deeply-buried past within.
　　
He was like a worn book; even though he’d been flipped through, no one had really read and understood him. He hid a story that outsiders were unable to delve into, like a beam of moonlight suspended high in the dark night. That moonlight looked as if it were in reach, but in reality, it was enveloped by the imperceptibly endless night.
　　
A man with an untold story was the most enticing because he was already both mature and earnest. Towards young girls, he held a fatal appeal.
　　
Shen Zhifan suddenly thought of Princess Olivia. Even now, he still didn’t know how the princess who’d caused him to be taken in for interrogation in the middle of the night, and also gotten all the high levels of the Empire running around like headless chickens, looked like.
　　
But regardless of Olivia’s appearance, he felt that she couldn’t be very beautiful, and she definitely wasn’t very smart either.
　　
If she was a smart girl, why on earth would she have abandoned Yan Shuo to be infatuated with him then?
　　
However, if Shen Zhirou was here, she’d probably refute him at this point since the twenty-three year old Shen Zhifan possessed a disposition that the current Shen Zhifan wouldn’t be able to understand.
　　
It would equally be able to make young girls scrabble madly for something unattainable.
　
“It was very regrettable - while I was hospitalised, I saw the news about the N stellar system...I returned and tried to find you, but ended up empty-handed.”
　　
Speaking up to here, Yan Shuo’s mood unknowingly became downcast. He couldn’t help but turn to Shen Zhifan, but only saw Shen Zhifan gazing at his face, lost in thought.
　
Glancing at him from the corner of his eye, Yan Shuo felt both happy and displeased. Shen Zhifan’s gaze made something in his heart itch, and he couldn’t help but reach out to pinch the tip of his nose.
　　
Shen Zhifan was so startled that he almost bit his tongue.
　　
Yan Shuo’s eyes darkened, and his voice dulled a little as well, “My recount is very dull, but it's not so dull that you have to daydream, right?”
　　
He had leaned in very close, and Shen Zhifan felt like the tips of his ears were almost burning. There was nothing more unbearable than having his dream lover’s voice whispering huskily next to his ear.
　
“I, I…” Shen Zhifan seemed to have lost any semblance of control over his lips and tongue. He couldn’t help but move his head back a little; he couldn’t look the other man in the eye either, “I was thinking about things that happened back then as well.”
　　
There was no way he could say anything about his longing for the male god’s loveliness, right?!
　　
Seeing him recoil, Yan Shuo took the action as a silent refusal. Although he was used to it from before, as expected, he still felt a bit uneasy in his heart. [1]
　　
“I’m very sorry, at that time I didn’t find you quickly. I had thought that...you had encountered something unexpected during that incident.”
　　
“It’s - it’s alright,” Inexplicably, Shen Zhifan felt that Yan Shuo really looked sorrowful. This type of sadness emerged and...he was somewhat unable to comprehend it; he truly was quite confused, “Actually, it really didn’t have anything to do with you, you really don’t need to blame yourself, and nothing happened to me either. In fact, I believe that the me at that time being able to meet you was already the most unimaginable thing that happened!”
　　
There were some kinds of admiration that, once one’s emotions became fierce, one couldn’t help but blurt out.
　
After he finished speaking, Shen Zhifan’s ears became even more red. He became aware that something, somewhere in his body was pulsing acutely. Perhaps it was his heartbeat, or maybe it was somewhere in his nerves.
　　
In any case, it burned so fiercely that his mind became a little muddled.
　　
Yan Shuo froze slightly, as if he’d never thought that he’d hear such fervent...reverent feelings.
　　
One couldn’t help but mention that he became somewhat delighted because of these words. He’d previously never known that Shen Zhifan admired him so much...no, he did know of it a little, it was just that when they first met, the other hadn’t had time to convey it. Then afterwards, he had already passed this youthful age.
　
“I met you again two years ago,” Yan Shuo turned his eyes away, otherwise he didn’t know what he’d do if he continued looking at this passionate, ignorant Shen Zhifan, who seemed like a rabbit. Of course...these things would always need to be done, but at least he had told himself that there were some things that couldn’t be acted on with undue haste, “About you being in the underground Mech League, do you still remember that?”
　　
“...The underground Mech League?”
　　
At a loss, Shen Zhifan lifted his head. Here was yet another word that made him feel utterly bewildered.
　
“En, it’s an enormous illegal underground mech arena,” Yan Shuo’s brow creased faintly, “I originally went to close it down. It was there that I found you.”
　
Shen Zhifan suddenly thought of something that made his whole body lock up.
　　
“Are...are you saying that I was working in that illegal mech arena?”
　　
Yan Shuo nodded. Just as he was about to continue, he saw Shen Zhifan’s head droop down, as if he’d suffered a huge shock.
　　
“Hm?” Yan Shuo found it unexpected. Shen Zhifan’s emotions always seemed to go against his predictions, “What is it?”
　　
Shen Zhifan buried his face in his hands, “I was thinking of how embarrassing it is, coming across you while I was in that state.”
　　
Shen Zhifan had thought that he’d met Yan Shuo in the future when he already become world-famous. He would’ve never thought that he had actually been caught by him.
　　
Yan Shuo, “...”
　　
He couldn’t help the raise of his lips, he couldn’t do anything about it. The current Shen Zhifan and the one from before were as different as night and day. It wasn’t that the sixteen-year-old was stupid, it was just that, in front of Yan Shuo...he became so frenetic that he really was like a rabbit.
　　
...it was very cute.
　
Extremely so.
　　
“It’s not embarrassing.”
　　
Shen Zhifan took his face out from his palms, looking at Yan Shuo dazedly.
　　
“You were very cool.”

Shen Zhifan blanked out again, looking at Yan Shuo as if he hadn’t understood him; as if he didn’t dare to believe that these words had come from Yan Shuo’s lips.
　　
“En...at that time, we found you in the last combat field,” Yan Shuo massaged his temples as he recalled. “There were bloodstains all over your mech, dyed from head to toe, and the silver of the mech was practically completely covered by it. There were piles upon piles of others collapsed around you, and in the end only you were left standing, glaring at them. Then, when you saw us, you slowly got out of the mech. Although your body was so exhausted that it was shaking, you faced our guns coldly and expressionlessly, without a trace of emotion...honestly, no matter how you look at it, it was all very cool.”
　
Listening to him, Shen Zhifan became dazed.
　　
“It was only later on that I found out that you had been in the underground Mech League for the whole time, risking your life,” Yan Shuo couldn’t help but frown again, the depths of his eyes filled with vexation that could be seen at a glance, “I’m so sorry that I didn’t find you earlier.”
　　
Shen Zhifan closed his gaping mouth, pausing for quite a while. He suddenly said, “So it was like that...I - in that kind of place, I must have broken the law, right?”
　　
“En,” Yan Shuo nodded, then closed his eyes, “Although it didn’t matter, you weren’t very involved in those affairs. And you know, since it was me, separating you from that was very easy.”
　　
This was the first time that Shen Zhifan heard someone talk about bending the law in their favour so...brazenly.
　　
“I...no wonder afterwards I became a rising talent or something, I’d been using mechs all those past years,” Shen Zhifan looked at his own palms, and quietly said to Yan Shuo, “I, I would absolutely never sell you out.”
　　
“Hm?” Yan Shuo didn’t have time to react.
　　
Shen Zhifan whispered, “About you using your connections to help me out.”
　　
After speaking, he even made a zipping motion next to his lips. He was obviously making a very earnest promise.
　　
He was so adorable that the esteemed General’s heart trembled.
　
Why was the sixteen-year-old Shen Zhifan so cute?
　　
He really couldn’t bear it, so he reached out once more to pinch the other’s nose again.
　　
This time Shen Zhifan was paying attention, and so he watched as the General’s fingers almost gently touched his nose. That tender touch made him feel...an illusion of intimacy and pampering.
　　
Yan Shuo became aware of his loss of control, and began repeating in his heart that he couldn’t be hasty.
　　
And as such, he forced himself to change the subject.

“Didn’t you want an autograph?”

Shen Zhifan was still somewhat dizzy, and unconsciously let out an, ‘ah?’

Yan Shuo took out a felt-tip pen from his left breast pocket. He gently and earnestly took hold of Shen Zhifan’s hand, then wrote his name onto the latter’s palm.

Shen Zhifan felt that his palm was very itchy, but his mind was already a step ahead of him and had exploded first.

End of Chapter 13
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The author has something to say:
Insufficient funds for the spring dream play…

Be-because I can’t make it too hasty, right, it’s - it’s not because after writing and writing the car flipped so I couldn’t write it ha...haha (the author weakly explains while holding the little blanket).

TL note:
[1] Pretty sure this is referring to szf

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