Chapter 554: Chapter 554: Coming to Celebrate Your Birthday
Hearing her daughter say this, Su Wan felt reassured. Her daughter had always been well-behaved and sensible from a young age; if she said she would tell her, she definitely would.
Su Wan spoke gently, "Alright, you’ve had a long day too, go take a bath and rest early. You have to report to Empire University tomorrow."
"Mhm."
Gu Yan had also been admitted to Empire University, but she had not chosen the Military Academy; instead, she was accepted into the College of Humanities.
As the person with the lowest combat abilities in the family... no one wanted her to suffer too much, so when it came to choosing a major, Gu Yan ultimately chose to study history at the College of Humanities.
Although she didn’t inherit any special talents from her parents in other areas, Gu Yan particularly loved reading books, which she had in common with her parents—she was especially interested in the study of Ancient Earth culture.
Especially after hearing about her mother’s experiences on Ancient Earth, she was quite shocked and even somewhat yearned for it.
Once Su Wan noticed this tendency in her daughter, she immediately told her, "You have a spatial superpower, and these kinds of things cannot be tried lightly. What if you go and can’t come back?"
The reason Su Wan ended up like that in the past was partly her own body’s protective mechanism and partly thanks to Doris.
Seeing her mother so serious, Xiaoyan immediately realized the seriousness of the situation and said she would definitely not try something as rash as traveling to Ancient Earth.
Xiaoyan had her own ideas, but she also had one major characteristic: she always listened to her mother, Su Wan. As for what her father and brothers said, well, that depended on the situation.
Su Wan talked warmly with her daughter for a while until she finally left, assured. Gu Jue was busy with official matters and had gone to his study for a meeting, so Su Wan went back to the bedroom to rest.
She had worked hard to arrange this grand birthday banquet for her children, but she believed that all the hard work was worth it for her children’s sake.
After her mother left, Xiaoyan carefully combed her hair again, but she didn’t wear any expensive jewelry; it looked good on her head but felt quite heavy.
But, would this look okay?
Xiaoyan sat in front of the mirror and opened her jewelry box, which was filled with all sorts of items—there were gifts from her mother, her brothers, aunts and uncles, and even some from strangers.
Today she had received lots and lots of gifts, some of which Vermilion Bird helped her put away, but a large portion still filled up her room.
These were the ones Vermilion Bird had selected, as some gifts from alien aristocrats could be dangerous—better safe than sorry.
After ensuring there was no danger, the larger items were placed in the storage of Commander Gu’s residence; Xiaoyan could go and see them whenever she wanted.
There were also a few starships, flying vehicles, and mechas... The mechas were fine as they could be shrunken into a button, but the others were too large and had to be docked at the spaceport, in the Imperial Family’s private warehouse.
Now, the items in her room were all smaller ones. After Xiaoyan finished combing her hair, she began to unwrap the gifts.
She liked some gifts, didn’t care for others, and there were even gifts from people she didn’t recognize. Oh, and some were from her favorite aunt.
No matter what, receiving gifts was always a joy!
But Xiaoyan also noticed something else—today was both her and her older brother’s birthday. Because her older brother was born just a bit earlier than her, he hadn’t received many gifts at all today.
Sitting there, the young girl earnestly began to sort the gifts. The ones she liked, she kept for herself; those that were obviously for boys, she put to one side.
Oh, and the mechas, she decided to give all of them to Brother Little Mushroom.
As for the starships and flying vehicles, she checked her light computer and chose her two favorites. Then she gave one each to Brother Little Mushroom and planned to give the rest to her mother, as she wouldn’t use that many.
Even though there were housekeeping robots to assist, the young girl still ended up sweating as she sorted the gifts. Just then, a fair hand reached over with a clean, white towel in its grasp.
"You’re sweating; wipe it off."
Hearing this familiar voice, Xiaoyan suddenly lifted her head. She didn’t reach for the towel; instead, she opened her arms and directly hugged the hand’s owner!
"Brother Little Mushroom, you’ve finally come!"
The silver-haired youth’s appearance had matured into that of someone in their twenties, presumably he grew up always comparing himself to Gu Chen.
This person was indeed the Insect God.
His usually impassive eyes would always mist over with a warm glow whenever he saw Xiaoyan.
"Xiaoyan, sorry, I’m late."
"You’re not late at all. It hasn’t struck midnight yet!"
Besides her own family, Xiaoyan’s favorite person was Brother Little Mushroom, but unfortunately, Brother Little Mushroom was very busy. Over the past decade or so, he had only visited her occasionally.
The young girl released her embrace of the Insect God and said unabashedly, "Where’s my birthday gift?"
"The gift is ready for you, but you’ll have to leave this place to see it."
"Ah."
It was so late, and her parents wouldn’t allow her to go out. But the other person was Brother Little Mushroom, so there shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Seeing her hesitation, the Insect God spoke softly, "We’ll sneak out quietly. Your mom and dad won’t know, and then I’ll bring you back quickly."
"Mm! They’re just worried about me."
"I know."
Although it had always been troublesome to avoid Su Wan and Gu Jue over the years, the Insect God was well aware that the couple truly cared for Xiaoyan.
And they were also very strong. With them around, Xiaoyan could grow up happy and without troubles.
Now, Xiaoyan had finally grown up.
On this end, Gu Jue had finally finished his work. He hadn’t actually been very busy these past few years because the situation within Landis Star didn’t need to be mentioned—everything was managed smoothly. Back when they were at the Wasted Star in the Empire, those conservative, powerful aristocrats had already been dealt with.
Those who wanted to stay had to follow the new rules of Landis Star. Those who didn’t want to abide by the new rules could leave.
Or they could completely fade from the power center of Landis Star.
It appeared that the Gu Family monopolized the power, but they did not rule with tyranny. Over the years, members of the Imperial Family in politics like Gu Zilan and Gu Chen had promoted many capable civil officers.
And on the military side, besides the Royal Star Fleet and the probationary commanders from the same batch as Su Wan, three more batches were recruited. The first batch of probationary commanders including Su Wan and those from the second batch had all officially been promoted to Commanders.
The Starship Fleet had received substantial expansion, and the number of Star Warriors had reached one percent of the entire population of Landis Star!
This military might was now very daunting to other planets in the Universe.
The people from the Universe Alliance back then, despite some smaller developments over these years, were far behind Landis Star.
But now, the situation had undergone new changes. The newly emerged Plantmen had their own planets, and because they were being harshly oppressed by the Beastmen and Insectoids, conflicts had begun to arise in some areas.
The meeting Gu Jue was attending concerned a conflict that arose between a civilian Spacecraft and a Plantmen spacecraft.
