Cen Ye Meng returned to her office. Just as she was about to close the door, Jiang Ye’s arm reached in.
Jiang Ye pushed the door open and, like a hungry tiger pouncing, embraced her, lifting her directly onto the nearby office desk.
Cen Ye Meng trembled for a moment, her face instantly flushing red. She turned her head away, "What are you doing! This is the office!"
"Still recognize your husband? Hmm? What's wrong with you today, you little shrew?" Jiang Ye nudged his face against Cen Ye Meng’s, like a dog sniffing for something.
Before Cen Ye Meng could speak, she was kissed fiercely several times.
Two clerks in the office were organizing files and were stunned by the sight.
After exchanging glances, the two clerks decisively put down their files, pretended not to see anything, and quietly slipped out of the office, closing the door behind them.
Outside the office, they could still hear Cen Ye Meng’s surprised cries of both anger and laughter from within.
"The commander and his wife are quite wild," one clerk whispered.
"I'm quite envious. My husband and I got tired of each other after two years of marriage," the other clerk said. "Both the commander and his wife are good-looking, so it's understandable that their charm lasts."
"When our commander was in exile on the alien planet, wasn't he leading the charge with a pregnant belly?"
"That's hard to say."
Inside the office.
Cen Ye Meng gave up resisting, held in her husband’s arms.
"Speak, what's wrong with you today?" Jiang Ye asked.
"What's wrong with me?" Cen Ye Meng turned her head, her tone very stubborn.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Jiang Ye asked.
"I miss you too much. I can't look at you, it will affect my work," Cen Ye Meng said, lowering her head. "There's still a lot to do today, I don't have time to mess around with you."
Jiang Ye reached out and pinched her chin, forcing her to look up.
Cen Ye Meng glared at him fiercely, "Let go of me, I need to work."
"I don't know why, but you avoiding me like this makes me very interested in you today," Jiang Ye said, pressing his forehead against hers. "Give me half an hour, and we can both relieve some stress."
Cen Ye Meng glared at him for a moment longer, the light in her eyes suddenly softening, her voice becoming very small, "This is the office."
"Just lock the door," Jiang Ye said.
"You need to maintain my image. I'm very dignified in front of my subordinates…" Cen Ye Meng said with a wronged look. "If you casually lock me in the office, don't I have any face? What do you take me for?"
"You are a warm and smooth flame," Jiang Ye said.
Cen Ye Meng was stunned, not understanding how her usually rough husband could come up with such a refined metaphor. In her momentary daze, Jiang Ye had already locked the office door.
…
Half an hour later.
Cen Ye Meng faced the mirror, tidying her buttons and trying to smooth her disheveled hair.
Jiang Ye sat quietly on the windowsill, gazing at the starry sky outside.
"Hurry up and get dressed and leave," Cen Ye Meng said. "I still need to meet some quartermasters and arms dealer representatives. I'm busy today."
"I suddenly regret it a little," Jiang Ye said.
Cen Ye Meng’s movements instantly stopped. She turned to look at him, "Regret what?"
"You've become a planet leader, and we'll both be very busy from now on. I've missed you a lot recently," Jiang Ye said. "I really miss the days when you stuck to me like glue."
Cen Ye Meng suddenly smiled, her smile complex.
"Husband, you know, I don't regret it," she said, continuing to tidy her appearance in the mirror.
"Why?" Jiang Ye was taken aback. "Don't you miss me too?"
"But the way you looked at me just now was like the second time you came to find me on the Junction Star," Cen Ye Meng said. "I'm completely captivated by that look, which contains the excitement of a reunion, physical desire, the fear of losing me, and the conflict of wanting to conquer me while also wanting to please me."
Jiang Ye was dazed, and after a moment, his expression turned to shock. "You actually like to torment me?"
"I'm also tormented, the way I look at you is the same," Cen Ye Meng said. "I hope our relationship has a longer shelf life, after all, we don't know how many years we'll live. So sometimes tormenting each other makes it sweeter, doesn't it?"
"No," Jiang Ye got up and put on his clothes. "I'm giving you a notice now. You're not allowed to deliberately avoid me like today anymore. Arrange my seat next to yours during meetings, call me husband when you should, look at me when you should. Do you understand?"
"No," Cen Ye Meng said. "During meetings, you'll still be at the end of the table, and I won't look at you much."
Jiang Ye glared, "You dare!"
"What is there for me to not dare?" Cen Ye Meng said.
Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled, "You can try it at the next intelligence meeting."
He stood up and left.
Cen Ye Meng’s movements suddenly stopped. She turned back and called him, "What do you mean? What are you going to do?"
"Just try it," Jiang Ye said without looking back, closing the door and going out.
Cen Ye Meng’s expression became uncertain.
…
Jiang Ye returned to Jiang Ye Star and continued his daily busy schedule.
In the past year, the population growth of Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star has been accelerating.
Initially, immigrants from Ha Er Star accounted for over 90% of the growth rate.
However, as the populations of the two planets increased, the number of immigrants from other planets also began to surge, even quickly surpassing the population of immigrants from Ha Er Star.
At the same time, with money in hand, Jiang Ye began to purchase more androids from Daughter Star and opened several new factories specifically for producing Solaris people.
In addition, the tourism industry on Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star also began to flourish, with the number of tourists soaring daily.
Currently, the total population of the two planets has reached 4.8 billion, with Jiang Ye Star having 1.8 billion and Bi Rong Star having 3 billion.
Originally, Jiang Ye had considered a problem: what if the planetary resources and market couldn't bear the rapid population growth of the two planets?
But now that Cen Ye Meng was preparing to take over the Exile Planet, they could simply migrate some of the population to support his wife's planet.
Jiang Ye convened several high-level secret meetings to formulate the development strategies for Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star.
Jiang Ye Star was the base camp, adopting a more long-term development model, focusing on the quality of life for ordinary people and the sustainable development of planetary natural resources.
As for Bi Rong Star, Jiang Ye positioned it as a money-making planet.
To the greatest extent possible, rapidly expand Bi Rong Star's population, economic scale, and military strength, using any means short of excessive measures.
The goal was simple: to enhance Jiang Ye's hard power and prepare for future competition for more planets both inside and outside the Milky Way.
Cen Ye Meng's preparation to take over the Exile Planet gave Jiang Ye a glimpse of the possibility of large-scale expansion.
As for why large-scale expansion was necessary, that was a question worth pondering.
Jiang Ye spent an entire afternoon sitting by the office window, like a sculpture, gazing at the sky in contemplation. When the first ray of sunset illuminated his face, he finally found the answer to this question.