Chapter 29

Asher headed back to the lounge and opened his Light Brain. His message still sat alone in the chat window, unanswered—a pointed silence on the other end. He gripped the device, his brow furrowed. It was absurd: just moments ago, he could picture her chatting and smiling at home, yet now she wouldn't even reply to his message.

He didn't believe for a second that Wu Ying was ignoring him out of fear he'd check up on her. That woman had plenty of nerve.

Asher glanced at his schedule and locked in the military district meeting time. "Da Li, I'm returning to Beta in three days. Reschedule my itinerary."

Da Li barely masked the surprise in his eyes, but his mouth snapped into action: "Yes, sir."

And so, three days later, Wu Ying turned around holding a dirt-caked trowel—and found Asher standing right behind her. She quickly raised her other hand to rub her eyes, stunned. "You—why are you back?"

"Isn't it normal for me to come home? Why so surprised?"

"But it's not time for the rotation yet!"

"Do you think I need to follow that schedule?"

Wu Ying let out an "ah." So he could come back every month or two if he wanted—he just didn't want to. It wasn't about not having time.

She calmly thought: Oh, there's another piece of evidence that he's been fobbing me off.

Asher stood outside the greenhouse, taking in the sight of it for the first time. It was far bigger than the videos Jiujiu had recorded—she'd clearly poured a lot of effort into it over this period.

She held her trowel, hands smeared with soil, her clothes and shoes dusted with grime.

But Wu Ying didn't mind at all. Her hair was tied up in a neat, no-nonsense bun, sleeves rolled to her elbows, her smooth arms glowing white under the sun, cheeks flushed, a sheen of sweat at her temples.

Asher didn't miss a single detail. He observed Wu Ying, and Wu Ying observed him right back. He'd just come from the military district, still in uniform. She suspected he kept an entire wardrobe full of military attire and just cycled through them daily.

The stiff military cap covered half his head, the rest half-hidden in shadow beneath the brim. His thin lips were pressed together, his gaze cold, the sharp-edged uniform glinting with a cool light. Wu Ying suddenly felt he was angry.

"According to the plan, you should be in the training room right now."

Wu Ying played dumb, blinking innocently. "What plan?"

The wind blew softly. Asher fell silent, staring at her with an unreadable look. Wu Ying had to fill in the blanks herself—maybe he was too furious to speak, or maybe he was already figuring out how to explain the schedule he'd left behind.

She had no idea if he'd kept a digital copy, but the written schedule he'd made was definitely hidden away by her.

Wu Ying made up her mind: if he asked, she'd insist she never saw it. Asher wasn't going to argue with her over something like that anyway.

She was spinning all sorts of thoughts when Asher said nothing at all—just turned and walked off.

Wu Ying took a few steps forward with her trowel, then backed up again. What the heck? He just leaves like that, giving her zero warning. She hadn't even gotten to call him out for hiding the fact he didn't want to come home.

Mom always said a man who married and still didn't want to come home wasn't a good man—either toss him out or knock some sense into him. The fact she was still standing here calmly talking to him was already more than he deserved.

Wu Ying relaxed and went back to slowly mixing soil and nutrient solutions. She muttered as she worked, "Does he think I'm idle? I do soil analysis every day, mix all kinds of nutrient formulas, take care of my darling flowers, and—right, right—all my coursework too. I can't split myself into enough pieces as it is, and he still wants more from me?"

"Exactly, exactly."

Jiujiu agreed unconditionally, and Wu Ying glanced at it with satisfaction. Besides, she hadn't skipped training entirely these past few days. Under Jiujiu's guidance, she practiced smart driving every day.

That's right—Jiujiu drove, she supervised.

Since she had the tech backing her, she ought to test how reliable that tech really was, right?

Wu Ying nodded firmly, her conviction growing. Once she finished her current tasks, she strode downstairs with determined steps.

Humming a little tune, swinging her arms freely—utterly at ease.

She'd just reached the living room when she spotted Asher sitting on the sofa. He'd shrugged off his jacket, his cap resting on the coffee table, its cold rim casting a faint reflection on the surface.

Asher's gaze locked onto her without wavering, pinning her in place. His voice was cold: "Come here. We need to talk."

Full of authority, stern tone, icy expression, those dark eyes bearing down with heavy pressure.

Wu Ying couldn't help her heartbeat skipping a beat. She pinched her hand to restrain herself—not out of fear, but excitement. This bristling preamble; if Asher wanted a fight, she'd be more than happy to oblige.

She ignored the word "talk" entirely, striding over with a light step and dragging a chair to sit across from him. The sofa just wouldn't do for a face-off between two people, but if there was no setup, you made one.

Wu Ying settled onto the chair, deliberately scooting back, bracing her hands on the seat, lifting her feet off the ground and swinging them restlessly back and forth.

As carefree as if she were out sightseeing. Asher's jaw tightened into a straight line. He instinctively wanted to tell her to sit properly, but the thought swirled around his mind and died in his throat.

Better to stick to business.

"Tell me what you've been doing these past few days."

Asher kept his face cold, and Wu Ying could read the disapproval in his eyes without him saying a word—like her teachers and parents back in the day, sighing with disappointment when they looked at her report card.

But Asher was far more intimidating. Wu Ying pouted. What's that supposed to mean? Like an interrogation.

She didn't want to answer. "Nothing much. Why do you ask?"

Asher directly had Zhi Yangyang project a table listing everything she'd done each day.

Her daily activities weren't fixed—scattered odds and ends that together stretched into a long, messy list. Wu Ying barely glanced at it before her brow furrowed tight, and she shot Asher a look of displeasure.

"You had it spying on me?"

"It merely recorded your daily routine. If you'd stuck to the plan, I wouldn't have needed it to compile your schedule."

Asher's gaze swept over the densely noted items on the projection. Zhi Yangyang had recorded everything in meticulous detail—even how many times she drank water in a day. But it was enough to expose Wu Ying's problem.

"Your focus is far too poor. Judging from this table, you have no time management at all. What you do and when should be fixed, not just going with whatever pops into your head."

Wu Ying suppressed her irritation. "I know what I'm doing. I know how far I've gotten in my studies."

"If you did, you wouldn't only train two hours a day—and even then, you'd have Jiujiu handle the smart driving. I told you long ago that smart driving can only be a supplement."

Wu Ying opened her mouth to retort, but stopped short. She admitted to herself—she had been slacking off a bit.

"I just thought that even with Jiujiu's new system installed, I should still get used to it. Besides, Nova said that with my level, if I ever ran into real trouble, I might as well just let Jiujiu handle it."

She was being stubborn, growing more self-righteous with each word. Asher cut her off. "So you just gave up training entirely? It's a robot—it doesn't need practice. You'd better come up with a better excuse."

Asher was deeply dissatisfied. In his view, Wu Ying's attitude toward mecha training was nothing like her attitude toward the greenhouse. If she'd put even a tenth of that energy and persistence into it, her mecha wouldn't be sitting around gathering dust.

"Are you saying I'm making excuses?"

Wu Ying's emotions churned. She understood that Asher wanted her to take mecha seriously, but she truly couldn't split herself into that many pieces. For her, ease and happiness mattered more than anything.

She was lucky enough that even with all this world's constraints, she could live well.

So having her grind like she was fighting for survival at the end of the world—she simply couldn't do it. Even those few days Asher had trained her had already drained her entirely.

She loved the greenhouse, so she was willing to work there. Her studies were something she absolutely couldn't give up. Apart from those, she genuinely had no idea where to carve out time just to relax.

Asher's schedule? She rejected it.

By his logic, a person should train relentlessly—train until you drop, and if you don't drop, keep training harder.

Wu Ying looked at his stern face and thought, he doesn't actually believe slotting in my classes and greenhouse work counts as some great mercy, does he?

He could go without sleep day after day, so he assumed everyone else was built like a draft ox too.

"My arrangements are reasonable. I'll add more mecha training time going forward."

With that, Wu Ying made to leave. She didn't want to keep hashing it out with Asher—differences in values were hard to reconcile.

Asher called after her. "Reasonable? Do you even have arrangements?"

He couldn't see any planning in her chaotic, spur-of-the-moment routine—she'd even bail out of class mid-lesson to nap.

"Ability issues can be solved slowly, but what about your attitude?"

Wu Ying whirled around, furious, glaring at him. She hadn't wanted to fight, and here he was, refusing to let it go.

She immediately rattled off her grievances. "What's wrong with my attitude? Everything I do is carefully considered. I'm a person, not a draft ox. Look at that lousy schedule you made—you had things planned out until eleven at night. Who wants to attend lessons at that hour? I'm exhausted after a whole day—can't I even rest?"

"If there's something unreasonable, we can discuss it slowly. I don't want to fight with you."

"Who wants to fight with you!"

Wu Ying was beyond irritated. He wore that stone-faced expression all day, like everyone owed him eight hundred billion. She'd already walked away, but he was the one who'd dragged her back.

He said her arrangements were unreasonable—she thought his were utterly inhuman.

Wu Ying took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "What exactly do you want?"

Asher was frustrated too. He couldn't understand why Wu Ying was all smiles around everyone else, yet with him, a few words were enough to set her off—he hadn't even said anything harsh. He didn't see a problem with himself and kept listing Wu Ying's flaws.

No self-discipline, no sense of time, bad temper, too emotional...

"I think you need to adjust your schedule."

"My schedule is fine!"

"It's a complete mess, and you still think it's fine?"

"If you think it's a mess, that's your problem—go figure out why on your own! I think it's just fine. I've learned everything I need to. Stop bossing me around!"