The atmosphere in the dining room grew a bit delicate following Jiang Lijin and Chiron's brief exchange.
Tinia keenly picked up on this unusual atmosphere. His eyes darted around before he closed the distance to Jiang Lijin in a few quick strides, grabbing her sleeve and giving it a gentle tug.
"Sister, the things upstairs are all set up. Do you want to go up and take a look?" Tinia blinked his blue eyes, staring intently at Jiang Lijin.
Jiang Lijin originally wanted to refuse, but a long string of zeros in the Yunlan Group's corporate account flashed through her mind.
Forget it. You can't bite the hand that feeds you, not to mention his mother had just dropped a hundred million in "pocket money."
"Alright, let's go take a look." She stood up and nodded at Tinia.
The two walked up the stairs side by side.
The second floor had a completely new look. The spacious hallway was completely covered with pure white Alpha Star snow-fluff beast pelts. Stepping on it barefoot felt like sinking softly into a cloud.
Jiang Lijin pushed open the door to her room.
The originally somewhat monotonous furnishings had drastically changed. In the small living room, a set of cloud sofas was neatly arranged. Smart nebula curtains hung by the window, refracting fine starlight as the lighting changed. Finally, in the inner room, a suspended therapeutic bed that took up nearly half the space emitted a soft glow.
"Not bad." Jiang Lijin scanned the room and turned to Tinia. "Thank you for the trouble."
Hearing this, Tinia immediately frowned. He curled his lips in disapproval, took a step forward, and looked directly into Jiang Lijin's eyes.
"Sister, you shouldn't say thank you to me." His tone was serious. "All the good things in this world are meant for you anyway. Don't feel burdened; you deserve all of this."
Jiang Lijin raised an eyebrow.
She had to admit, Tinia really knew how to sweet-talk. He never treated his contributions as a bargaining chip, but rather presented the best things to her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
She didn't argue further and simply nodded.
"Do you have any plans for today, Sister?" Seeing her in a good mood, Tinia took the opportunity to invite her. "I rarely come to the capital planet. Why don't we go out for a stroll together?"
"Not today." Jiang Lijin shook her head. "I have to go to the Central Hospital with Chiron later."
Tinia's eyes widened. "To the hospital? Are you feeling unwell, Sister?"
"Just a physical examination," Jiang Lijin explained.
Tinia looked her up and down. Jiang Lijin had a slender figure; her loose loungewear hung emptily on her, and her wrists looked so fragile they might snap with a single fold.
It was obvious at a glance that she had suffered a lot in the past and lacked proper nutrition.
He swallowed the words he originally wanted to say and secretly made plans in his heart. A physical exam was indeed very necessary. They had to figure out her baseline health first so they could hire a specialized nutritionist later to nurse her back to full, healthy plumpness.
"Alright then." Tinia nodded obediently, smiling to reveal his little canine teeth. "The checkup is important. Go ahead, Sister, and come back early. I've called our family's head chef over to cook; they should arrive before noon."
Half an hour later, Jiang Lijin sat in Chiron's hovercar.
This time, Chiron didn't choose to drive manually. Instead, he sat in the driver's seat, resting his fingers on the control panel as he set up the automatic cruise route.
The scenery outside the window sped backward, and the inside of the car was surprisingly quiet.
"Are you getting used to the house assigned by the Female Protection Center over these past two days?" Chiron was the first to break the silence, his gaze fixed on the flight path ahead.
"It's pretty good." Jiang Lijin leaned back in her seat and replied lazily. "The house is big enough, and there aren't too many people."
Chiron chuckled softly.
"Commander Baal is in the military all year round, so his schedule is extremely regular. Young Master Tinia is energetic but simple-minded." Chiron tapped his fingertips lightly on the steering wheel twice. "What do you think of them?"
This question was asked very subtly. Chiron was a smart man. He wouldn't express his possessiveness as bluntly as Tinia, nor would he prove his presence through actions like Baal. He was more accustomed to quietly probing for the information he wanted during calm conversations.
Jiang Lijin turned her head to look at Chiron.
Among her current three beast husbands, she had known Chiron the longest and was the most familiar with him. Compared to Baal's dominance and Tinia's erratic energy, Chiron's emotionally stable, restrained, and polite personality actually suited her current tastes best.
Whether it was in her past life or the original host's life, they had only encountered extremely emotionally unstable people. Those people would praise you to the heavens when they were happy, and trample you into the mud when they were enraged. She was long tired of that rollercoaster-like emotional drain.
"No special thoughts." Jiang Lijin withdrew her gaze, her tone casual. "Everyone seems pretty easy to get along with. At the very least, they all have good manners."
She paused and added, "Much better than my three ex-husbands."
Hearing the word "ex-husbands," Chiron's fingers paused for a moment on the steering wheel. He said in a gentle tone, "It is our honor to receive such an evaluation from you."
"Now there are only two left that I haven't met." Jiang Lijin stretched and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. "I don't even know when they'll come, or if they'll come at all."
The Main Brain had matched her with five partners, but only three had appeared so far.
"I find it puzzling as well." Chiron's expression turned a bit more serious. "After the Main Brain announced the list, I tried to look up the background information on those two."
Jiang Lijin turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue.
"I couldn't find anything," Chiron uttered.
"That's normal. Even the Main Brain can't find anything, right?" Jiang Lijin wasn't too surprised. Although Chiron was already among the group of people at the peak of power on the capital planet, could his information network really be larger than the Main Brain's?
Chiron shook his head.
"It's not just that they can't be found in the official database. I even utilized some forces in the black market." Chiron slowed his speech, as if recalling the scene at that time.
"I asked someone to inquire about them. Those people who have spent years navigating the black market completely changed their expressions when they heard the names. They looked as if they had seen a ghost."
"Wait a minute." After hearing this, Jiang Lijin caught the main point. She stared at Chiron, her eyes full of inquiry. "Lord Chiron, you are a senior scientific researcher of the Empire and the director of the Central Hospital. How do you know people from the black market?"
Isn't this contrast a bit too extreme?
"When I was doing research in the past, some special experimental materials couldn't be bought through regular channels." Chiron's expression remained unchanged, his tone flat as he brushed it off in a few words. "I interacted with them a few times and kept some connections."
This explanation sounded reasonable, but Jiang Lijin's intuition told her it wasn't that simple. However, she couldn't be bothered to dig deeper. Everyone has their secrets.
In her mind, Xiao Yi's voice rang out at the right moment.
[Host, hearing what Chiron said, those two are definitely not to be trifled with. For even the black market people to be that terrified, they must be dangerous individuals who live on the edge of a blade. It's best if they don't come. If they really do show up, who knows what kind of trouble they'll cause.]
Jiang Lijin thoroughly agreed and replied in her mind.
[You are right. It is best if they never show up again in this lifetime. I have both money and leisure now, and my life is quite comfortable. I really do not want to bring any more trouble upon myself.]
The hovercar glided smoothly into the underground parking lot of the Central Hospital, pulling into Chiron's exclusive parking space as usual.
Chiron unbuckled his seatbelt, stepped out first, and walked around to open the passenger door.
"We are here." He reached his hand out to Jiang Lijin.
Jiang Lijin did not take his hand. Instead, she braced herself against the edge of the seat and hopped down on her own. Chiron did not mind. He naturally withdrew his hand and led her toward the exclusive corridor.
The architectural style of the Central Hospital exuded a cold, high-tech atmosphere. There were silver-white walls, sterilization robots roaming everywhere, and a very faint scent of medical antiseptic lingering in the air.
The medical staff passing through the corridors stopped to bow and greet Chiron the moment they saw him.
"Good day, Director."
Unlike the researchers at the Academy of Sciences, every single one of them discreetly sized up Jiang Lijin.
Chiron merely gave a slight nod, his pace never faltering.
They took a private elevator directly to the highest-level examination room located on the top floor.
There were no idle personnel around here.
"Go change your clothes first," Chiron said, pointing to the dressing room to the side. "I will wait for you outside."
Jiang Lijin took a pure white examination gown and went inside. By the time she finished changing and came out, Chiron had already started up the massive holographic scanning pod.
"Lie down inside," Chiron said, pointing at the scanning pod.
Jiang Lijin obediently lay down. The pod door closed, and a soft blue light swept over her body from head to toe.
Chiron stood alone in front of the control console, his eyes intently focused on the data jumping across the screen.
As the scan progressed, the various indicators on the screen gradually became clear.
Chiron's brows furrowed slightly.
