Dark Star Field [Interstellar]

Xue Ye glanced outside the door, looked away, and said lightly: "Don't worry, the gendarmerie is only maintaining the necessary order and will not interfere with our affairs."

He paused and looked around the audience. "Many of the people here are my elders. In terms of seniority and experience, it is really not my turn to speak here. But everyone knows that our family is going through a very difficult period. As the patriarch, I am capable. I will not deny what is lacking. But at such a juncture, I must stand up and take my responsibility. Because if I don’t even do it myself, then I have no right to ask anyone to contribute to the family.”

There was a brief silence in the venue.Some people lowered their heads, while others met Xue Yelai's gaze without any expression, waiting for his next words.

"I haven't been involved in the affairs of the family before. But I have always been at the center of the family, and I have a feeling for the overall atmosphere of the family. Everyone, our family has been at odds with each other. And I know, you are all like me Know this. Over the years, my father has worked hard to maintain the cohesion of the family. I hope we can once again have the same heart and mind as before. But now, my father can't continue to carry out such duties. So I..."

Speaking of this, Xue Yelai's eyes turned slightly red, lowered his eyelashes, but quickly raised them, and continued in a steady voice: "So I am determined to take over this burden and do my best to go on. Every one of you Both of you are people with outstanding abilities, with your help, our family will definitely be able to tide over the difficulties."

He paused, waiting for the others to respond.

After a while, Xue Hong, who was standing in the corner, slapped twice symbolically: "Well, that's pretty good. But I don't understand one thing, since you are all for the family, and you admit that you You don’t have enough qualifications and no experience as a patriarch, so why don’t you hand over the power of the patriarch to someone else, isn’t that everyone’s happy? ——Hey, I don’t mean to find fault, you said those words yourself.”

He was frozen next to him, and he was always embarrassed, but he couldn't think of finding a way for himself to go down.So as soon as he caught the loophole in Xue Yelai's rhetoric, he immediately attacked, hoping to make the other party unable to step down.

To his surprise, Xue Yelai did not show the slightest irritation at his words, but just looked at him very calmly.Just when Xue Hong was getting a little hairy, Xue Yelai spoke in a soft voice: "I reminded you just now that you are not a participant, but an observer. According to the regulations, unless there is an abnormal situation, the observer cannot If you want to speak without permission, you must first signal to the patriarch, and you can only speak after getting permission. This rule is not made by me, let alone against you."

"This...you..." Xue Hongyu hesitated.He originally thought that a young and energetic young master like Xue Yelai must have an impetuous mind. As long as he was agitated with words, the other party would immediately fight back recklessly, so he followed his rhythm unconsciously.

As a result, the other party didn't immediately pay attention to his provocation, which caught him somewhat off guard.What surprised him even more was that Xue Yelai stood up from his seat and walked towards him.

"What, what are you doing?" Xue Hong actually became nervous.He wasn't too afraid of the patriarch's authority, Xue Yelai's father had never treated him badly.But Xue Yelai is a brat, if he gets impulsive, it's hard to say what he will do.Mental power competition?Or fight directly?That was too ugly.

Before he could think it over, Xue Yelai had already stopped in front of him, and asked slowly, "Do you think that I asked you to sit in the corner to overwhelm you?"

"No..." Xue Hong couldn't help taking a half step back.The opponent didn't use his mental power, but he felt a strange oppression.But that wasn't an aura deliberately displayed to intimidate opponents—Xue Hong usually fought fiercely with others, and any bluff could not frighten him.

Xue Yelai gave him a sense of oppression similar to a kind of determination.Not to defeat anyone, not to be stronger than anyone, but because there is something that must be done.

Just thinking about it, I saw Xue Yelai slightly bowed to him, like a no-nonsense bow. "I have no hostility towards you personally, but I want to abide by the rules of the family. When I do not exercise the power of the patriarch, I am still a junior, and I will apologize to each of you in private for my offense. But now Here, the authority of the patriarch must be respected."

Xue Yelai turned around and faced everyone in the venue. "You just said, why do I refuse to hand over power to others since I know that I have limited abilities and insufficient qualifications. So if I ask you to elect a successor now, can you reach a consensus?"

After saying this, Xue Yelai felt a little nervous.

He knew it was impossible to avoid the question Xue Hong raised.If not today, here, sooner or later someone else will come up with it in some other way.

And his answer to this question actually has a three-point risk.

Since the attack, the original power situation of the Xue family has been broken.The three great elders acted independently, and the little patriarchs were also divided into different interest groups, fighting endlessly in secret.

Xue Yelai is not very clear about the specific relationship between these interest groups, but he understands the general situation.Therefore, he is [-]% sure that it is difficult to reach a consensus among these people.No matter who controls the power of the patriarch, there will be fierce opposition from others.The Xue family can no longer bear any more troubles, such a situation will only split the family.No one can guarantee whether such a split is beneficial to everyone, and it may accelerate the collapse of the family.

Based on such considerations, before the situation becomes clearer, even if Xue Yelai is only a nominal Zhou emperor, it can make the various vassal states live in peace for the time being, so that they will not fight against each other.

Xue Yelai's original confidence was [-]-[-], but with the addition of the Royal Gendarmerie, the confidence increased to [-]%.Changing the patriarch is an internal matter of the Xue family, and the emperor will not interfere easily.But what his opinion is, everyone in the Xue family has to consider it.

After a while of silence, the Great Elder spoke to smooth things over: "I don't think we need to rush into this matter. The ancients said that if the name is not right, the words are not right. If the words are not right, things will not be done. Ye Lai, you are the rightful successor of the patriarch. What do you have?" If you have an idea, speak up boldly.”

The Great Elder's statement was very cunning.He not only said that Xue Ye came to be the patriarch, but also said that there is no need to rush to change the patriarch. He encouraged Xue Ye to express his own ideas, but did not clearly express whether he would support it.

Xue Yelai sighed inwardly.He understood very well that the Great Elder could only help him so far, and it was unlikely that he could expect the other party to give him substantial assistance.However, with what the Great Elder said, at least Xue Yelai would not appear to be alone on the surface.

Xue Yelai bowed slightly to greet everyone, "Some things are said by a junior like me, which seems childish and ignorant. But if I don't say it, no one will say it. If I don't say it now, I probably won't say it again in the future. Our family is a big ship, and I want to do what we can to keep it going. The day the ship docks, we can all land safely."

He looked around the audience again, trying to observe everyone's expressions as quietly as possible.It can be seen that his words have more or less worked.No matter when, it is difficult for a person to give up the sense of belonging in his heart.A family is a big ship.This simple and naive metaphor will arouse people's hidden emotions at certain moments.When the whole world begins to look precarious, who doesn't want to have a powerful family as their ark to escape from the flood?

But this kind of emotion only lasted for a short moment, and then disappeared from the eyes of most people.After all, emotions are just stars dotted in the sky, and reality is the dark background.

He tried his best to restore his businesslike demeanor and tone, "Since this is the case, I will rely on you from now on. As I said just now, if there is any offense, I will apologize to every elder in private. "

After saying a few more words, Xue Ye looked at the time of the communicator, "So that's it for today. I have other things to do next, so let's take a step first, please forgive me."

Xue Yelai bowed deeply to the audience, and walked out of the conference room first, ignoring the different gazes behind him.

"It's over?" Xue Ruheng at the door asked with a smile, "It's faster than I thought." As he spoke, he glanced at Xue Hong who was still in the meeting room intentionally or unintentionally, as if to say: I thought, you I will give that kid some color to see, it's really not fun.

"I'll talk about it later." Xue Yelai also smiled slightly.He had thought about it from the very beginning, and today's meeting should be quick.The name is wrong, and the words are not right.Words do not go well, things fail.If he wants to gain the right to speak in the family, he must first rectify his name.As for other things, don't rush this moment.As long as he publicly announced the fact that he took over as the patriarch, it would end immediately when there was no objection.If it is delayed for a long time, not only will he show cowardice, but he will also be afraid that someone will come forward to make things difficult.Now he can't cope with their difficulties.

He didn't want to say anything more to Xue Ruheng, so he simply thanked him and walked away.Although Xue Ruheng is supporting him now, he is always wary of this person.This person is different from Xue Hong, and also different from Cao Ge.Although Xue Yelai didn't like those two people, they were not difficult to understand.But what Xue Ruheng was thinking, he still couldn't understand.

"Shall we go back?" Bai Yang greeted him from another direction.

"Go back." Xue Yelai nodded.I want to take a step, but my mind is still chaotic.He suddenly wanted to stay alone for a while, wash his face with cold water, and let himself be quiet.So he said to Bai Yang, "Wait for me, I'll go to the bathroom."

After closing the bathroom door, Xue Yelai leaned over the sink, splashed a handful of cold water on his face.Raising his head, he habitually wanted to brush the long hair on his shoulders behind him.The fingers touched the air, only to remember that the long hair had been cut off.

Xue Yelai was stunned for a moment, put down his hands, and stared at the air in a daze.As soon as the tense spirit relaxed for most of the day, an indescribable sense of exhaustion slowly surged up.

In front of everyone, he was just showing off his strength.The sad thing is that those people are obviously his family members, but when facing them, he feels more helpless than ever.

In the past, every year when the family gathered, he was in the bustling center and received countless greetings and cares.Although it is very clear that this seemingly prosperous family is actually close to each other, but I always think that no matter how weak the family relationship is, it is better than nothing.

Unexpectedly, the family bond has become so fragile.

Recalling all his performances of pretending to be calm just now, his heart became even more gray.Damn it, I feel like a bad clown no matter what I think about it, even if I try my best to pretend to be the crowned king, it will only be a funny show in the eyes of others.

Xue Yelai shook his head, splashed water on his face again, and said repeatedly in his heart: You are not as pitiful as you think.

He didn't remember where he heard such a saying: If you feel that you have suffered so much that you can hardly bear it, then divide the suffering into ten parts.At most three percent of it is what you really suffer, and at most one percent is what other people think you are suffering.So don't feel sorry for yourself, and don't blame others for their indifference to your suffering.

Those words had been stored in his mind long ago.At that time, he was innocent and happy, and he often thought: When I feel that I have suffered in the future, I will encourage myself like this, and I will definitely be able to get through it very strongly.

However, when I really suffered, I realized that the truth is the truth, and I am myself.

I understand the truth, but.

Everyone can learn enough truths for a lifetime at a very young age.However, everyone also needs to spend a lifetime to eliminate that "but".

Xue Yelai sighed.Unexpectedly, the headache struck again, as if a hand had pulled his nerves.

Since that severe pain, the pain has lessened when it reoccurs.But it was strange that whenever he had a headache, an inexplicable and powerful sadness would surge in his heart.It seems that someone said to him: Forget what you saw, forget what you saw.All men perish eventually, but some perish sooner, and there is nothing to be sad about.

Accompanied by this hypnotic voice, a shadow flashed rapidly in his mind.A ghostly face, vaguely visible.Xue Yelai felt that this shadow was a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere not long ago, but he couldn't remember it.

... Where exactly did I see it?

There were two tuk-tuk sounds from behind, and someone knocked lightly on the bathroom door.Bai Yang asked outside: "Are you okay?"

"Come in, the door is unlocked." Xue Yelai turned around and replied.This scene seemed familiar—when he took the sage exam, because he did not perform well in the mock test, he once hid in the bathroom and cried quietly.At that time, Bai Yang knocked on the door in the same way, but there was no question.

From the end of spring to the beginning of summer, in a short period of time, everything around him has been so different.

Turning the handle of the lock, Bai Yang's figure appeared at the door.Seeing the water marks on Xue Yelai's face, he seemed to want to say something, so he walked over quickly.

"Don't worry, it's just water." Xue Yelai smiled.

"But you are not happy." Bai Yang's eyes were quiet and soft, like a warm animal, "If you are not happy, I will feel uncomfortable."

Xue Yelai suddenly felt that Bai Yang, who said such words with a serious face, was actually just a big boy.He almost forgot that Bai Yang was younger than him—at least he thought Bai Yang was younger than him.

I remember that at that time, he often used his mental power to capture Bai Yang's inner picture, trying to perceive the other party's emotions.Later, he devoted all his energy to the family affairs, and the spiritual communication with Bai Yang became very rare.And what kind of mood Bai Yang used to accompany him these days, he almost never thought about it.

"I'm sorry to make you worry." Xue Yelai touched Bai Yang, like treating his young brother, "I'm a little stressed recently, but I will adjust it."

Bai Yang hesitated for a moment, and wrapped his arms awkwardly around his waist, "If you want to talk to me, I will listen. I don't have the mental ability to appease others, but I can be a listener."

Xue Yelai felt ashamed.He is indeed a psychic, but has he comforted Bai Yang?In the past, Bai Yang shut himself off and didn't give him a chance; now it's him who shut himself off, not wanting to and being powerless to distract himself.In the end, instead, Bai Yang was asked to worry for him, trying to comfort him.

However, it is always a good thing for two people to communicate with each other.

"Bai Yang, what do you think is the most difficult part of being human?" Xue Yelai asked with a sigh.

Bai Yang didn't answer, but stared at him more intently, as if telling him: I'm listening.

Xue Yelai gradually calmed down in his eyes, and said slowly: "When I was very young, my father told me: 'There are not many truths that a person needs to remember in his life, one of which is to know his own Boundary. There is an upper line and a bottom line. The upper line is the boundary that you cannot break through no matter what, and the bottom line is the boundary that you must keep no matter what. The upper line determines what you can do, and the bottom line determines what kind of person you are people.'”

"Before I was 19 years old, I was always looking for my upline. You know, that process was very interesting." Recalling the past, Xue Yelai had a different look in his eyes.People like him who were born with a golden spoon in their mouths and who are also very talented, were all flying in their youth.It doesn't take too much effort to learn any skills, and no matter what you want, someone will deliver it to you.After a long time like that, you will feel that you are omnipotent.

"At that time, I wanted the best for everything, including you." Xue Yelai smiled and touched Bai Yang's face.

Bai Yang hadn't seen Xue Yelai smile like this for a long time, like a begonia flower blooming in the starlight.He couldn't help but think of their first meeting—a handsome young man with crabapple flowers blooming on his palm, with a slender figure and quick movements.The long red hair fluttered dazzlingly, but it was ominous, as if a flame was burning in the wind that would destroy everything.

At that time, he naturally thought that such an association was because he had hatred for the Xue family, so he associated the Xue family with destruction.But later, when he recalled how he felt at the time, he realized that maybe it wasn't that reason.

The source of that feeling of destruction was Xue Yelai himself.

At that moment, when his fingers pinched Xue Yelai's throat, he felt compassion from the spiritual link between the two of them.It was a kind of compassion that hadn't been honed, as pure as a child's innocence, but it was also true compassion.

A person with a sense of destruction and compassion in his heart at the same time, he had seen one before Xue Ye came.that person.

It was this moment of hesitation that allowed him to resist the hatred that "that person" had instilled in him for a long time, and he stopped and did not kill him.

In the final analysis, "that person" is also contradictory.The hatred she instilled in him originally also had compassion.

"Bai Yang?" Xue Yelai caught the moment of dissociation in the other party's eyes, and called out in a low voice.

Bai Yang's eyes immediately regained his previous focus, "I'm listening. You said, you wanted the best for everything at that time. ——And then? Don't you want it now?"

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't. From now on, I can only go backwards until I reach the bottom line." Xue Yelai smiled wryly.People don't seek to be online all the time.At a certain stage, the world will start to collapse, step by step from ideal to reality.

Perhaps one of the tragedies of life is that the best time of your life, which you thought hadn't even begun, is already over.

Another sorrow may be that you don't know where you have to step back to be the bottom line, and what kind of effort you have to put in to keep this bottom line.The more you retreat, the less effort you give.But if you finally reach the point where you can't retreat, you will be crushed to pieces.

It's a scary feeling, and it can sometimes feel like you're alone and helpless.

"Then, have you found your bottom line?" Bai Yang asked softly.

"I want to do my best to keep our family's last strength." Xue Yelai's eyes moved, his voice was extremely low, and he moved closer to Bai Yang's ear, "And...keep us. If war really comes , I hope we can survive."

Although no further news came, Xue Yelai had a premonition that the wheels of war were rolling down on this planet.If one day he looked up and found that the shadow covering the sky above his head was not a dark cloud, but the fleet of the Star Alliance, he would not be surprised.

When that day comes, if you want the Xue family to be preserved and not be wiped out in the flames of war, you must gather the strength of the entire family.That's simply not something that one or two people can do.The whole family needs to stick together in times of crisis, whether it's to fight, or—

escape.

The last word only flashed in Xue Yelai's mind, and then disappeared quickly, like lightning disappearing into the dark sky.

"You don't have to work so hard." Bai Yang hugged Xue Yelai into his arms, "Maybe in the end, the ending will be the same."

"Don't be so decadent." Xue Yelai tried to adjust the atmosphere, "If you don't work hard, how will you know what despair is?"

He put his lips against Bai Yang's and whispered between his lips and teeth: "I want to live and live a good life with you."

Bai Yang didn't respond, but held his lips tightly, accepting his kiss obediently.

Xue Yelai suddenly felt a little curiosity.He hasn't felt Bai Yang's heart for a long time. I don't know what the inner scene of Bai Yang will be like at this moment?

Quietly allowing consciousness to infiltrate into the spiritual link, Xue Yelai once again "seeed" a large area of ​​water.It was like the surface of a lake at dusk or dawn, half shining with golden light and half submerged in darkness.The waters are calm, but there are slight waves in the darker half.

Xue Yelai concentrated on the waves in the shadows.That, he understood, represented negative mood swings.He doesn't intend to intervene in those fluctuations. Bai Yang's current state is very normal, and he can completely regulate his negative emotions by himself.But he also wanted to explore a little bit, what caused those fluctuations.

Suddenly, the ghostly shadow that had once appeared in his mind appeared again.This time it was much clearer, and it was vaguely recognizable as a woman with long black hair like seaweed, but her appearance was still blurred.

Xue Yelai was startled.He suddenly remembered where he had seen this shadow - in Bai Yang's heart, and in his own dream when he had a fever: one second it was a red-haired woman sitting on the lawn and counting falling flowers, the next second it was Suddenly turned into this horrible woman covered in blood.

... Who is that?Why did this unidentified woman appear in Bai Yang's memory and his own at the same time?

Xue Yelai's head began to ache again.The voice said again: Forget what you saw, forget what you saw.

"Ye Lai, may I tell you a story?" Bai Yang said at this time, with a calm sadness in his tone, "You told me the story of "Romeo and Juliet", and I will tell you one too. This is The only story I've ever heard before I met you."

"A hunter caught a pregnant female wolf. He took the female wolf home, chained it up, and prepared to kill the female wolf after the pups were born.

Although he wanted to take advantage of the female wolf, he felt sorry for her.He was good to her, healed her, talked to her, and hoped to do his best to give her a comfortable life before he died.

The female wolf knew the purpose of the hunter and knew that she would be killed in the end, so she hated the hunter very much at first.But as time passed, she accepted her fate and began to understand the hunter's difficulties.The hunter wanted to kill the she-wolf, not because of cruelty, but because he wanted to use the she-wolf to save his wife.This purpose is selfish, but not incomprehensible.

In this way, the hunter and the she-wolf thought they had trusted each other.Suddenly one day, the female wolf found that the chain that tied her had loosened at some point, but the hunter didn't notice.

Then, the she-wolf ran away.Hunter found out. "

Bai Yang's words stopped here.

"...and then?" Xue Yelai asked, realizing that his breathing had unknowingly become short of breath.

Bai Yang glanced at Xue Yelai, but didn't continue, "It's still a long time before this story is finished. It's getting late, let's go back."

He reached out to open the bathroom door.Xue Yelai rushed forward and pressed the door panel, "No, you can't. Tell me more, talk more." The voice was urgent, even pleading.He wanted to know the ending of this story, because it must have something to do with Bai Yang, and also with himself.

The dream he had when he had a fever, the shadow he saw when he had a headache, and the vision he saw when he was dying, these must be his memories.And this memory was sealed by someone for some reason.

A sage is a person with mental abilities, but when his physical condition is unstable, mental loopholes will appear.More powerful sages may invade through this loophole and perform a certain degree of hypnosis.

Xue Yelai was in poor health when he was a child and often had a fever.At that time, his father would stay by his bedside all night.

Is that really just simple companionship?

If his father modified his memory, what would that sealed memory be?

Too many questions surged up at the same time, making him eager to hear Bai Yang's story.He was afraid that once this opportunity was missed, Bai Yang would close himself again and keep silent about everything in the past.

Bai Yang turned his palm over, held Xue Yelai's hand that was pressing on the door, and turned to look at him, "Can I ask you, what do you think the story will be like?"

"I don't know." Xue Yelai blurted out.

"You really don't know anything?"

Xue Yelai shook his head, "I really don't know what happened in the middle of the process. However, I may know part of the final outcome. I think, no matter whether the female wolf forgave the hunter or not, she still has deep feelings for the hunter in the end." deep hatred."

The pregnant she-wolf must have given birth to her offspring and instilled in him her hatred literally.

The pup may have managed to escape from the hunter's home, or maybe it was not born in the hunter's home in the first place.Anyway, the pup spent some time wandering outside, and then was somehow caught again, and, by chance, given to the hunter's son.

The hunter's son didn't know the pup, but the pup knew the hunter's family crest.His mother must have told him how she had once been chained to a hunter's house like a dog, waiting in desperation to be slaughtered.So when the hunter's son was about to chain the little wolf, the little wolf bit his throat.

But, since the little wolf's hatred is so deep, why didn't he bite down?

Bai Yang seemed to see through Xue Yelai's doubts at the moment, and said softly: "The ending of the story is not exactly what you think. The female wolf does not only have hatred for the hunter, but also gratitude. Her life is very short and painful, and she has been kind to her." There are very few people. Hunter is one of them. She said that a hunter has compassion in his heart. People. Compassion is not true or false, only difficult.”

Xue Yelai suddenly recalled the last two words Bai Yang had said before.That was when they took the final stage of the sage exam, in the little tent among the mountains.

It's just that Bai Yang at that time didn't explain who the person who said these two sentences was, but just vaguely said "the person who raised me" and brought it over.

Also at that time, Bai Yang also said something——

"I know you are good to me. It's just that for you now, it's easy to give charity and sympathy. If I leave you when you haven't changed, you will always be merciful in my heart."

Could this be the thought of the she-wolf in Bai Yang's story when she escaped from the hunter's house?

Xue Yelai suddenly didn't want to hear Bai Yang's story anymore.Obviously, the female wolf failed to escape and was caught by the hunter.Otherwise, the hunter will always be merciful in her heart, and there will be no hatred for Bai Yang later.

Originally he thought that Bai Yang's hatred for the Xue family was entirely due to the extermination of the family back then, but now it seems that it is more than that.The hatred of the extermination of the clan is certainly a part - it is very possible that Bai Yang's mother was captured by the Xue family on the night the Su family exterminated the clan.But her deepest and most direct hatred for the Xue family comes from the "hunter" in the story.

At this moment, Xue Yelai's thoughts suddenly slipped to another place - the elder told him that this time his father was imprisoned in the Tower of Blood because someone reported to the emperor that the Xue family hid the Su family's old treasure. relic.

At that time, Xue Yelai was puzzled that the most valuable property and land of the Su family had been taken into the pocket of the Xue family, and there was something so special that it was worth taking such a big risk to hide it privately.

Thinking about it now, the so-called "relic"...

Is it human? !

Xue Yelai's heart trembled with fright at this thought.

"I..." Xue Yelai pursed his lips, his voice was astringent, "I want to know why the hunter wanted to kill the she-wolf? The sentence in your story 'Use the she-wolf to save his wife' ,What exactly does that mean?"

However, Bai Yang's answer disappointed him greatly: "I don't know. I have never understood this sentence."

Xue Yelai wanted to ask something more, but the communicator suddenly rang and received an order: Sage guards gather.

Xue Yelai didn't care about anything else, and hurriedly pulled Bai Yang to leave.

His current status is very ridiculous: he is the patriarch of the Xue family in name, but in fact he is just a small alternate guard.The huge contrast between the two seems like a joke.

If it was in the past, his life path should have been like this: after passing the sage examination, he would be awarded a position by the emperor soon and start a glorious official career.After that, he honed his official career for several years or more than ten years, and by the time he took over as the patriarch of the family, he had already entered the Senate, or a court title of equivalent rank.

That's the right track.

But now it has become like this.Whether it is the patriarch or the sage guards, it seems that they are just two empty titles.Neither the Xue family nor the empire has the energy to fill in the substantive content for these two titles.

Such a strong dislocation is like a sign, reminding Xue Yelai that his personal world and the world of the empire may be about to collapse.