"Don't worry about it. My best friend will talk to you when she arrives," Cen Yemeng said. "Her name is Bai Xiaobai. She's actually quite old, but she had surgery, so her physiological age is only twenty-two. She's a lively person."
Jiang Ye remembered that a neighbor's large dog when he was a child was also named Xiaobai, but he held back from saying it.
"I'm free these days. If she comes, tell her to come as soon as possible," Jiang Ye said.
"Okay, I'll share your contact information with each other, and you can communicate directly."
The call ended.
Jiang Ye pondered for a moment, then scrolled through his contacts, found Xu Aoqing, and dialed.
"Hello? What is it?" Xu Aoqing answered immediately.
"Are you still on Meteorite Star?" Jiang Ye asked. "An important person will be arriving soon. Please clear your schedule and come to my spaceship as soon as possible. I'll meet her with you."
"What important person?" Xu Aoqing asked.
"A merchant who will help process the bodies on Meteorite Star. She has connections with the higher-ups," Jiang Ye explained briefly. "I don't know the specifics. Besides, we haven't seen each other in so long, so it's a good opportunity to catch up."
"Since you've said so, how could I possibly refuse?" Xu Aoqing replied.
"There's something I feel I should ask you," Jiang Ye paused. "Do you have to phrase every sentence as a question? Doesn't it feel awkward?"
"It's a habit, so why would it feel awkward?" Xu Aoqing said.
"Can you try switching up your sentence structure?" Jiang Ye suggested.
"How would I switch it? Isn't this fine?"
Jiang Ye was speechless.
He had never met anyone like Xu Aoqing; she was truly a question-mark person.
Fortunately, she was the head of Meteorite Star. If she were an ordinary person, her superiors would have surely reprimanded her for speaking that way. Constantly being asked questions made people feel uncomfortable, like being interrogated. Jiang Ye felt that conversing with Xu Aoqing was like throwing bombs at each other; he'd toss a question bomb, and she'd immediately throw one back, making it tense, exciting, and quite a headache.
He hung up the phone.
Jiang Ye leaned over his desk, resuming his work.
His workload was increasing daily. Meteorite Star was in a state of wartime, Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star were in periods of great development, and he occasionally had to glance at the situation on Exile Star and check on his wife's work. His daily life was almost entirely filled with the琐事 (suǒshì - trivial matters) of various planets.
Jiang Ye remembered that during a training course, a classmate had said he hadn't slept in months, relying on medication to keep going, processing reports from his subordinates twenty-four hours a day. It seemed that statement was indeed true.
After several hours of work.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
"Bai Xiaobai" requests to add you as a friend.
He promptly agreed. Before Jiang Ye could even type a greeting, the other party sent a message.
Bai Xiaobai: "Are you Jiang Ye Laozu?"
Jiang Ye's face darkened. He replied, "What Laozu? What kind of title is that?"
Bai Xiaobai: "Aren't you an ancient person? Have you lived for over a thousand years? In cultivation novels, many thousand-year-old monsters are called 'xx Laozu,' so I called you Jiang Ye Laozu."
Jiang Ye: "Then what should I call you?"
Bai Xiaobai: "Call me Bai Jie, or just use my name directly. Either is fine."
Jiang Ye was speechless. The seniority was all mixed up. You call me Laozu, and I call you Jie? Are we just going to acknowledge each other's titles separately?
Bai Xiaobai: "I'll be there in 48 hours. I'm getting vaccinated now, and I'll depart after that."
Bai Xiaobai also sent a photo.
On a metal tray were dozens of syringes of various sizes, each with a different vaccine label.
Jiang Ye immediately knew that her current location was very far from Meteorite Star.
When he traveled between stars in the past, Jiang Ye had also received many vaccines, dozens at a time. They were usually broad-spectrum, one shot protecting against hundreds of pathogens, which was even more insane than gaining buffs in a game. The farther you went, the more vaccines you needed, because the evolutionary trees of pathogens in each star system were relatively independent.
It was said that in the early years, when delegations were exchanged between some distant planets, ambassadors who arrived in good health would fall into a coma within hours of arriving at their destination, nearly dying abroad and causing a diplomatic crisis.
...
Two days later.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng waited in the main conference room.
Both husband and wife were dressed formally, sitting on the sofa. Jiang Ye wore black, and Cen Yemeng wore red, exuding formality with a touch of festivity.
The door suddenly opened.
Xu Aoqing entered first.
She wore white, a long white dress that accentuated her figure.
"Two leaders, I'm not late, am I?" Xu Aoqing walked over quickly and extended her hand.
Cen Yemeng stood up and shook her hand. "Of course not."
Jiang Ye shook her hand. "Please, don't ask questions."
Xu Aoqing smiled. "What's wrong with asking questions?"
The three sat down to wait.
While waiting, Xu Aoqing began to report on the recent situation on Meteorite Star.
Jiang Ye was primarily in charge of the military, and many specific affairs on Meteorite Star were still handled by Xu Aoqing.
It was absurd that even when reporting work, Xu Aoqing still spoke entirely in questions.
"This is the situation in the main city. Do the two leaders understand?"
"This is my plan. Do the two leaders have any opinions?"
"Am I analyzing this correctly?"
Jiang Ye felt uncomfortable all over, with veins throbbing on his forehead, but he had no choice but to listen. He had to suppress the urge to reprimand Xu Aoqing. She would be the one handling the work on Meteorite Star in the future, his new right-hand person, and he couldn't offend her.
Finally, the main door opened again.
"Good morning!" a girl with a ponytail bounced in.
She wore a tank top, shorts, and slippers. Her slender legs were dazzlingly white. She didn't look like a big company boss, but rather like a young girl going on an outing.
Her entrance stunned all three on the sofa, leaving them momentarily speechless.
Bai Xiaobai took off her sunglasses, revealing her bright, lively eyes. "What? Did I come to the wrong place?"
"You're in the right place," Jiang Ye stood up and extended his hand. "Welcome, I represent..."
"No, no, no, no, no!" Bai Xiaobai exclaimed in mock horror. "I'm allergic to formal etiquette! Let's just be casual! Do you have popcorn and soda or anything? We can chat while we eat?"
Jiang Ye was taken aback, then waved to the guards at the door. The guards immediately ran out, and moments later, popcorn of various flavors was brought in, along with fruit-flavored sodas of different colors.
The most unconventional meeting Jiang Ye had ever experienced began. The three planet leaders and the CEO of a interstellar corporation, all four of them holding large buckets of popcorn and crunching away.
Fortunately, Bai Xiaobai was relatively serious when discussing business:
"I've looked at the situation on Meteorite Star. It's actually simple. My employees will be responsible for clearing the bodies, and you will assign some soldiers to ensure their safety. After the profits are calculated, we'll split the money. My company is professional in this regard; I've handled even bigger deals than this, and there are no problems."
Jiang Ye asked, "How do you profit from animal carcasses? Li Nannan said you're a food company. Can those carcasses, which have started to smell, still be made into food? And can you be sure that the alien creatures on Meteorite Star are all within the human diet?"