Chapter 1 "Do you like it?"

Li Yinian covered his wife's eyes, protecting her as he guided her slowly into a brand-new room.

It was a north-facing, four-bedroom, two-living-room, 140-square-meter, fully furnished apartment.

Li Yinian slowly released his hand, cautiously watching his wife's face as she opened her eyes to see everything in the room, her watery eyes filled with joy and emotion.

Seeing how happy she was, he couldn't help but reveal a touch of joy himself.

"Look at this, this is our family photo. I brought it back yesterday afternoon and hung it here!"

As if eager to be rewarded, Li Yinian pulled her into the living room, pointing to the huge family photo on the feature wall to show his wife.

The photos taken yesterday turned out great, with even their two-year-old children wearing bright smiles.

Xu Lian's pale and dull face also looked more radiant, but in an instant, she became a little uneasy and asked, "Is such a big house very expensive? I remember this place is much more expensive than our old house. That mortgage hasn't been paid off yet, where did you get the money?"

"I..." Li Yinian opened his mouth, memories flashing through his mind of him pleading with the original owner of this house, which was originally intended as a wedding home, and using almost all his savings to buy the 15-day ownership.

Fifteen days, the little time left on this planet.

"The owner of this house didn't want it anymore because they went to the upper levels, so I got a bargain," Li Yinian said, hugging Xu Lian, his large frame leaning his head on her shoulder. He was afraid his lying skills weren't that good.

He added in a low voice, "I always wanted to work hard so that one day you and the children could live in such a big and nice house."

"Mm," Xu Lian raised her hand, returning Li Yinian's embrace, and said softly, "I've always believed in you..."

"So, I wanted to cash in everything early. For the rest of our days, I'll be with you and the kids."

As soon as Li Yinian finished speaking, Xu Lian couldn't hide the astonishment in her eyes. She incredulously pulled the man's head away from her shoulder and looked at him: "You... you're not..."

The woman's lips trembled slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words "Aren't you going back?"

Yes, she was also reluctant to let him go.

Knowing that he would die if he made this choice, she felt heartache, but at the same time, a sense of comfort and relief flashed through her heart, and finally a sob escaped her lips.

"Don't you regret it?"

She didn't want to ask him to leave, nor did she want to personally ask him to go, but in the end, she still softened. "If you stay, do you know what the end will be?"

"Our family will be together forever." Li Yinian's arms tightened around her, his hands sliding down her shoulders to hold hers tightly. He said seriously, "I want to be with you forever."

Li Yinian looked at Xu Lian intently, and she looked back at him just as earnestly.

Staring at her husband's face, Xu Lian felt a moment of confusion, as if his temperament had changed a lot in the few days he had been gone.

Originally, because of her poor health, the burden of the whole family fell on his shoulders, and the fatigue that was always revealed on his face and the kindness and gentleness between his brows now seemed to have lessened, replaced with more determination and... melancholy?

Xu Lian didn't know how to describe her husband's change. In the past, when Li Yinian came home, he was like a traveler who had finally returned from a long journey, exhausted but joyful to be back in his hometown.

But now, he was more like a wanderer who had been drifting for a long time and met someone from his hometown in a foreign land, filled with emotion in addition to excitement.

"Okay..."

Xu Lian finally raised her eyes and fixed her gaze on the photo on the wall, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

She had a strange feeling in her heart, she just felt that her husband shouldn't stay here.

At the Ji Sheng residence,

"I wonder what the situation is like up there, and whether our son will be able to adapt."

A middle-aged woman with permed shoulder-length hair suddenly sighed while holding her rice bowl.

Her husband, Ji Sheng, sitting opposite her, couldn't help but cough several times before he came back to his senses.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the water today?"

Liu Ying subconsciously looked at the fish head soup in her bowl. The soup was milky white, and it smelled normal.

"I'm not talking about the soup." Ji Sheng sighed and said, "You nagged when the child didn't go up, and you're still nagging now that he's gone up. Aren't you concerned about me, a grown man, sitting in front of you?"

The commander, who was usually imposing outside, was now complaining like a jealous young man.

"We agreed you'd make me soup, but you still made the soup that our son likes."

"Hey, don't you like what your son likes too?"

Liu Ying raised her eyebrows at his words and slammed her small palm on the table, glaring at him. Ji Sheng immediately shut his mouth and didn't say another word.

Then he quickly ladled a bowl of hot soup for her and handed it to her despite her angry stare.

"Here, fresh fish soup, you drink it first."

Ji Sheng's humble appearance quickly calmed Liu Ying's anger. In fact, she wasn't really angry, but she couldn't help feeling upset and wanting to cry at the thought of being separated from her child forever.

She also told Ji Sheng her thoughts.

"If you can't bear to part with the child, then I'll have someone send him back?"

"You dare!"

Upon hearing Ji Sheng's joking words, Liu Ying almost got up to chase after Ji Sheng and beat him a few times. Was this something to joke about?

"You..." Liu Ying glared at Ji Sheng, then laughed and said, "What kind of father are you?"

"Yes, I didn't do well in the past. You've worked hard all these years, and you've taken care of Xiaojun all by yourself."

Liu Ying never thought that Ji Sheng would suddenly say such a thing.

"Oh, is the commander finally free to return to the family?"

Liu Ying said jokingly as she stood up and began clearing the table. Ji Sheng followed suit and walked closely behind his wife.

Meeting Liu Ying's questioning gaze as she turned her head from time to time, he first gave a shy smile that didn't quite suit his temperament, and finally said, "Yes, I'm free to return to the family now. I submitted my retirement application two days ago after sending Xiao Yuan onto the starship..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ying's body stiffened, and she turned her head back, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You... you just gave all that up?"

"Yes, at this point... I don't want to..."

With a "clatter," the sound of the dishes falling to the ground interrupted Ji Sheng's words.

The woman in front of him suddenly threw herself into his arms and began to sob.

Liu Ying suppressed her sobs and couldn't help but hiccup. After a long while, she finally lashed out, "You only gave all this up now? I told you to give it up every time you were injured and almost died, but you wouldn't! You only want to give it up now? Do you know how long you've made me worry?"

Her words hit Ji Sheng's heart like a hammer.

[I gave my whole life, the first half to my country and people, and the second half to Hua Lan Star.

I am lucky and honored to have witnessed the birth of Hua Lan Star, but I also regretted that in my long life, I didn't have time to properly accompany my wife, give enough education when my children were naughty, and in the end, had to separate from them in this way...

I guess I'm not born great either. If I had known everything in advance, I think I would have given all this up and sent my children away.]

In a daze, Ji Sheng seemed to hear a familiar yet unfamiliar voice in his ear. He couldn't help but raise his hand and gently hug his wife, patting her back lightly, and muttering softly, "I really wanted to be with you all the time..."

This time, he had no regrets.

At the Zhen Donglai residence,

"Honey, what are you looking at?"

A man with graying temples looked at his wife, who was standing by the window staring at the "beast" above, and stepped forward to call out.

"Ah! You scared me to death!"

Xie Wei turned her head and glared at her husband, patting her chest and saying, "I'm looking at the place where our son went."

The family had signed up together, but only their son was selected. Now that the conspiracy had been exposed, Xie Wei was both afraid and excited.

Afraid that her son had almost been sold by aliens, but excited that they finally had someone who could survive.

She hadn't considered whether Zhen Po might have failed the memory alteration and died. In her eyes, her son was already safely up there.

"What's so good about looking at that?"

Zhen Donglai stubbornly said that he didn't miss his son, but a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes. How could he not miss his child?

"That brat... doesn't even send a word of reassurance after going up there. Old Sun next door said that his son died and they even had someone send a message, ugh!"

"They only send messages when someone dies, stop cursing our son!"

Xie Wei glared at Zhen Donglai and turned to look at the beast above, muttering, "What do you think the place our son will live in will be like? Will it be as good as here?"

"Of course."

"The water won't be so murky, will it?"

"What are you thinking? Didn't they issue a notice saying that our son and the others will be assigned to a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains to work hard to rebuild a new home?"

"Oh, a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains... Like the ones described in our textbooks when we were kids?"

"Yeah~ That brat is really lucky. He gets all the good things! Unlike us, we were born in the year the water resource war started, and now we're old... sigh, it's the end of the world."

Zhen Donglai said in a humorous tone, and Xie Wei couldn't help but chuckle. The couple laughed, and tears welled up in their eyes...

As the starship's power system was activated again, the starship slowly rose and headed towards the direction of Blue Star. Zhen Po looked at the increasingly distant Gu Lan Star, and suddenly he raised his head to look at his face reflected on the glass.

He didn't know when his face had been covered with tears...