This projected image hadn't appeared in the domed restaurant alone — it showed at nearly every important spot across the entire starport. It even popped up as an alert on the public channels, viewable to anyone who tapped into it. Just now, for instance, the link had sprung up aboard no small number of warships berthed in port; open it, and there was Governor Chu's broadcast.
On the bridge of the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, Secretary Lilith ran the data-link through the ship's system; only once she'd confirmed there was nothing amiss with it did she put it up on the bridge display.
When Chu Xuan saw the white-haired old man before her — in military uniform, his commanding air undimmed — she gasped. "Grandfather? Why has he come?"
Beside her, Zhao Wan'er, Charlotte, and Lilith all turned curious looks on Chu Xuan at once.
"Sister Chu Xuan — just now… if I didn't mishear, Governor Chu seemed to be calling my brother Zhao Chen his… grandson-in-law? And you're the only granddaughter the Chu family has, aren't you." Zhao Wan'er eyed Chu Xuan with suspicion, wearing the very look of someone who'd caught a "little thief" in the act.
Back when they'd withdrawn from the Water Lily Star System, Zhao Wan'er and Chu Xuan had stayed together in the hangar the whole time; over those few days the group had gotten on well. But never in her wildest imaginings had she thought Chu Xuan might become her… future sister-in-law?
"Wait, wait, wait! There must be some misunderstanding here! There is absolutely some misunderstanding!" Chu Xuan's cheeks flushed crimson as she hurried to explain.
Then she began firing off comm requests to her grandfather one after another — every one of them refused.
It set Chu Xuan hopping with frustration. "What on earth is this old man trying to do!"
Charlotte and Lilith traded a glance and said nothing; if anything, they'd relaxed considerably. Whatever relationship the Commander might have with some woman or other, beyond a little surprise it stirred no other feeling in them. On the contrary — this relationship now voiced from Governor Chu's own mouth had, beyond any doubt, become a talisman guarding the Commander.
The two academies' teachers and students who hadn't attended the banquet in the domed restaurant now saw a vast video projection too, and heard what the white-haired old man on the screen had just said.
"Who's this fellow? Why does he look so familiar?"
"Are you dense? Have you forgotten the portraits hung along our academy's corridor — one of them is him! Governor of Chu River, Imperial Duke, Five-Star Marshal! This is the Chu family's own Chu Changhe!"
"Did he just say Zhao Chen is his grandson-in-law? Since when did Zhao Chen have any connection to the Chu family — and become a dragon-riding son-in-law of the Chu house, no less?"
"Holy crap, son-in-law of the Chu family! Doesn't that mean Zhao Chen's about to soar straight to the top!"
The two academies' people looked, at this moment, exactly like folk who'd just bitten into a big, juicy melon of gossip.
"Hold on — just now that 'Blue Fatty'… 'Yellow Rat' — who was he calling?" A Heaven's Glory student had barely opened his mouth when the teacher escorting the group silenced him with a glare.
Another teacher, of a milder temper, explained under his breath, "Think about it yourselves — what are the surnames of two of those three big shots of the Azure Star Region?"
Blue Fatty?
The Governor of the Azure Star Region…?
Yellow Rat?
Five-Star Marshal Huang Zhixiong?
Following the thread that far, more than a few students clapped their hands over their mouths. Those two nicknames — only Governor Chu would dare utter them; from any of them, it would likely be inviting disaster with a loose tongue.
But right now they were more curious still: what on earth had happened, that Governor Chu would come with such fanfare to collect his grandson-in-law — and bring his own fleet along to do it!
And let no one make light of those 300 warships. Apart from a handful of T4 Boreas-class Heavy Interstellar Battleships, the rest were, to a ship, T3-grade! It could be called nothing less than the Chu family's crack fleet. A formation like this could go head to head with a regular legion-grade Imperial fleet.
The Domed Restaurant
Among the guests on the banquet floor, expressions had gone complicated one and all; not one of them had foreseen this sudden turn.
Feng Dawei's face was black. "Zhao Chen is actually Governor Chu's grandson-in-law? And this old fellow actually dares to sail his own fleet straight into the Azure Star Region! What's going on at the Star Gate — why was there no notification whatsoever!"
Feng Xiaowei murmured beside him, "Brother… so does that mean there's no way for us to get at Zhao Chen now?"
Feng Dawei looked at his younger brother as though at an idiot. At a time like this, the fool was still thinking about revenge on Zhao Chen. Had it never crossed his mind what an enormous stir this would make once word got out? The three big shots of the Azure Star Region had dared no more than to pull one underhanded trick on Zhao Chen in the shadows. Yet Governor Chu had gone and raised his banner high and declared it outright: Zhao Chen is my grandson-in-law! Utterly against the rules of the game. The way things unfolded from here would run clean past their original plan.
In the central booth of the restaurant, Zhao Chen's face went briefly blank, then returned to normal — but inwardly he was thunderstruck.
Holy crap — this old man makes an entrance this big and calls me his grandson-in-law. He's absolutely doing it on purpose! He means to lash me to the Chu family's war-chariot! Sailing his most elite interstellar fleet over was, likewise, a show of how highly he prized Zhao Chen.
This old man actually wants to get one over on me — to make himself my grandfather on the cheap? Zhao Chen had originally supposed Governor Chu would only step forward to protect him; he'd never imagined the old man would pull a stunt like this.
At the same time, Instructor Qin, Su Lan, and Xue Xiaoxiao at Zhao Chen's side were all staring at him in astonishment. Governor Chu's words just now — "Zhao Chen" and "grandson-in-law" — had come out crisp and clear, every syllable of them, and they'd heard it plainly. It had never once occurred to them that Zhao Chen might share this kind of relationship with the Chu family.
Beep, beep, beep.
Just then the Azure Governor's handheld terminal flashed with a red light — a comm request. He opened it to find it was none other than Governor Chu. And there was a note appended:
"Don't you dare not answer — or see if I don't sail my fleet to your home system and blast your kennel to bits!"
Insufferable and high-handed as ever!
This old fellow hadn't changed one bit.
The Azure Governor looked helplessly to the two big shots beside him. Marshal Huang Zhixiong and Chairman Feng, so full of bluster before, now wore faces that came and went dark and uncertain, their moods a tangle.
Seeing no one speak, the Azure Governor had no choice but to accept the comm request, rising quietly to his feet as he did. When the video window appeared, Marshal Huang Zhixiong and Chairman Feng rose as well, professional smiles surfacing on their faces. At this the video windows outside went dark too, all movement in them stilled — leaving the onlookers baffled.
"Governor Chu, to come to the Azure Star Region in person — why not send word ahead? I'd have laid on a feast to welcome you!" The Azure Governor led off with a string of official pleasantries.
"Send word ahead? So you could hide my grandson-in-law away, is that it? Blue Fatty, Yellow Rat — I sent my grandson-in-law comm request after comm request, and time and again no one picked up. I hear you've carried him off to some celebration banquet. Where is he!" Governor Chu came out swinging, all the fury of a man calling others to account.
This was because the booth's canopy-screen not only sealed off sound from carrying out, but also blocked any unauthorized signal from getting in; apart from the comm signals of the three big shots themselves, Zhao Chen and the others had naturally been left in a "no one answering" state.
"Cough, cough… how could we possibly hide Zhao Chen away? Look — isn't Zhao Chen right here, perfectly fine?" The Azure Governor, smiling apologetically, turned the video feed toward where Zhao Chen sat.
Seeing Zhao Chen appear in the frame, Governor Chu instantly turned all warmth and benevolence. "Zhao, my boy — are you all right? Did these old rascals give you any trouble? If they dare bully you, you tell Grandpa! Grandpa'll set it right for you! Touch my precious grandson-in-law, and I'll blast his kennel to bits!"