Seeing this, Burke laughed even more heartily.
After staring at Qin Chu's frozen face and laughing for a long time, Burke shook his head, his voice tinged with a sigh: "Before the old marshal passed away, he was worried that you were still single. He arranged several blind dates for you, but you didn't go. The people in our military thought you would stay single for the rest of your life. I never expected that you would find someone while doing a mission."
Qin Chu didn't speak, but he did suppress the imposing aura that seemed eager to drive the person out.
“Actually, I didn’t like Levy at first,” Burke said, “because it was obvious that we weren’t on the same wavelength, and even if we got together, it probably wouldn’t last.”
Qin Chu never expected that, in other people's eyes, his relationship with Levi was like this.
He opened his mouth as if to refute, but surprisingly couldn't come up with any reason.
Burke then changed the subject: "But after watching it day by day, I don't think it's a bad idea. Although Levy isn't a great guy, he's very good to you. He went to great lengths to bring a starship over to help you set up your cabinet, and knowing you needed people, he even specially selected a few. Every single one of the people he brought met the criteria. I don't believe it's just a coincidence."
"I just find it strange. You're not usually such an awkward person. If you didn't like someone, you would have rejected them long ago. If you liked someone, you should have gone after them. Why are you giving them the cold shoulder like this?" Burke shook his head, genuinely puzzled.
Qin Chu paused, holding the pen, and looked up at Burke: "You really like your wife."
“Definitely,” Burke said. “If she told me to die today, I’d hang myself from a crooked tree right now.”
"..."
After being interrupted, Qin Chu took a moment to organize her thoughts: "If it were something very dangerous that you had to do, and it had nothing to do with her, but she could help, would you involve her?"
Burke connected the recent events to his own thoughts and pondered for a moment: "If something like that really happened, and she could help, and I didn't ask her but someone else, she might think I was having an affair and twist my head off."
“…Never mind.” Qin Chu reached out and pinched his forehead.
“Alright, let’s get serious. Of course, having a son makes things a bit more complicated, but I wasn’t joking. If she were in danger and kept it from me, I’d be angry too. I’ll feel sorry for her, but what’s the point of being a husband and wife if you’re so calculating? How can you live like that?” Burke said seriously.
Qin Chu leaned back in his chair, a rare look of bewilderment in his eyes.
He always shoulders everything alone and is used to it; this is the first time he's heard Burke make this argument.
Levi's words echoed in his mind: "You're being so polite with me. Are we really lovers in the virtual world? Or is it just a casual fling or something?"
...
Friends with benefits? How could he even think of that?
"He went to see you, didn't he? Were you still quite angry?" Burke asked.
Qin Chu nodded.
Burke found it quite strange that Qin Chu was so stubborn; it was the first time he had ever seen Qin Chu like this in all these years, which was quite a feat for Levy.
"Think about it, if Levi were in danger, and it was something you could help with, but he refused to tell you, and when you asked him, he coldly said it was none of your business, how would you feel?"
Qin Chu was taken aback. What was he thinking?
He suppressed the urge to beat her up.
When Burke looked up, he saw that Qin Chu's face was dark and gloomy.
"Look at you, this is a classic case of 'only the magistrate is allowed to set fires,'" Burke laughed, almost breathless.
After a while, Qin Chu ran his fingers through his hair and began to explain part of Levi's background: "He had no reason to do these things for the empire."
The Crown Prince Levy appeared out of nowhere. Although Burke had long suspected that his background was not simple, he was still taken aback when it was finally confirmed.
Shocked as he was, Burke still said, "I don't know what you went through in the virtual world, but since he came to you, have you ever considered that you yourself are a reason?"
"...Alright, let's go to the training ground first." Qin Chu stood up and walked out of the office.
Burke's words were somewhat beyond Qin Chu's previous understanding, and for a moment he didn't even know whether he should listen to them.
As the two walked into the corridor, Burke clapped his hands again: "Actually, I can understand your mindset of keeping it a secret even if you know the other person can help, for fear of hurting them."
"Hmm?" Qin Chu turned to look at him.
“But not to my wife, it was to my son.” Burke’s expression was complicated. “So, what exactly is your relationship with Levy…?”
"..." Qin Chu turned and left.
"Hey, hey, don't go! I heard Noah say that you two seemed to have experienced several worlds, and the relationship was different in each world. Could it be that you were father and son in one of them? Then the relationship with the son must have been different..."
As the two walked, they happened to see Burke's son wandering around.
Upon seeing the two of them come out, the little boy immediately waved in their direction.
Burke's face lit up with a wide smile, but the silly boy completely ignored his own father and called out to Qin Chu, "Hello, brother! I've seen your training videos!"
Burke's face stiffened, filled with the displeasure of being ignored.
Just as he was about to discipline his son, a hand reached out from around the corner, grabbed his son by the collar without mercy, and lifted him up.
Levi emerged from around the corner, staring at the child in his arms.
For some reason, he felt very uncomfortable when he heard someone call Qin Chu "brother," as if something had been taken from him. He even stopped eavesdropping and jumped out.
Levi narrowed his blue eyes dangerously and scolded, "Brother? Is he your brother? Why are you calling him that? Didn't anyone teach you to call your father's friends 'uncle'?"
Just as he was about to rush over to rescue his son, Burke paused, turned to look at Qin Chu, and realized: "So it's not his son, it's his younger brother."
Chapter 144 Agree
"Younger brother?" Levi raised an eyebrow and looked at Qin Chu.
Qin Chu didn't say anything, told Burke to hurry up and pick up his son, and then turned and went to the training ground.
However, even on the training field, Qin Chu was clearly distracted.
He was thinking about Burke's words and reconsidering whether to involve Levy in their plans.
Qin Chu was indeed worried about Levi's safety.
After Levi sent him out of that world, Qin Chu searched for a long time in both the virtual and real worlds, but found no trace of Levi.
Having grown up without parents and with a distant relationship with his adoptive father, Qin Chu experienced that kind of worry and torment for the first time.
Before learning that Levi had woken up, Qin Chu thought countless times that if he hadn't stayed in the last world with Levi, Levi's connection with the outside world wouldn't have been severed, and he wouldn't have encountered such a crisis.
Even though Levi has returned, the lingering fear is still etched into Qin Chu's mind.
Qin Chu had already completely excluded Levi from his plans, and even went so far as to completely hide his relationship with Levi.
However, Levy's reaction and Burke's words made Qin Chu begin to reflect on whether what he was doing was right, and whether it was what Levy wanted.
He really didn't want Levy to suffer because of him.
But as Burke said, if he were in Levy's shoes, knowing that Levy's pirate crew was in danger but not letting him get involved... he would still feel angry, even heartbroken.
Just as Leviburn had no reason to get involved in the Empire's affairs, he also had no reason to care about the safety of the pirate crew.
I couldn't help but want to get involved, simply because of the other party.
They will subconsciously care about the other person's safety, and even if there is danger, they will not want to protect themselves.
They care about the other person's feelings, and if they see that the other person is feeling down, their mood will also drop.
He didn't know when, but he and Levi, two completely unrelated people, had become so closely connected.
I sat quietly in my bedroom all night.
The next morning, Qin Chu did not rest. Instead, he washed up and went to the training ground as usual.
"Good morning, sir." Someone greeted Qin Chu from the training ground.
Qin Chu nodded: "Good morning, thank you for your hard work."
Today is the day for routine maintenance of the training equipment, and the logistics personnel have arrived at the site early to inspect and repair the equipment.
With only a few days left before officially entering the virtual world, the most important thing for the members of the special team right now is to rest and adjust their condition. Therefore, the training started a little later today.
However, the venue was still somewhat noisy.
Qin Chu glanced at the direction from which the voice came and found that it was the space pirates brought by Levi who were wandering around early in the morning. He didn't know if they had gotten up early or had played all night and hadn't slept at all.
Having almost left the training ground, Qin Chu stopped again and walked back to the logistics department, saying, "Add a few more instruments to the field?"
The logistics staff member was taken aback and subconsciously asked, "How many?"
Qin Chu glanced at the pirates wandering around and replied, "Ten."
There's also a morning meeting.
Qin Chu ate something in the cafeteria, then walked towards the main conference room with Burke and the others.
Although the officers all met the physical requirements to re-enter the virtual world, they could not all go in with Qin Chu in order to ensure the safety and stability of the outside world.
In fact, Qin Chu had just woken up from the sleep pod, and according to the original plan, they did not recommend that Qin Chu go in.
But now Qin Chu not only has to go in, but also has to take on the training load of twenty more people.
The other two legion commanders still disagreed: "Are you physically capable? Although you've been recovering well in the training room recently, you still need to be careful. You may be young, but you can't be so reckless."
"The special prison has also replied, saying that four or five prisoners meet the criteria and are quite willing to cooperate. Why don't we wait for them to come over?"
Qin Chu nodded noncommittally. Seeing this, the others didn't say much either, but they were all anxiously wondering whether Qin Chu and that Crown Prince had become enemies or what.
They wouldn't even lend to a few people?
As he was pondering this in his mind, he saw Levi as soon as he entered the conference room.
This person was clearly there on purpose to ambush us. He sat casually at the conference table, and although he didn't put his feet up on the table like he did at the joint meeting, it looked pretty much the same.
"Hey." Seeing a group of people blocking the doorway, he raised his hand and greeted Qin Chu with great interest.
Those who were about to have a meeting looked at Qin Chu, then at Le Wei, unsure whether they should find a place to have tea first and give the space to the two of them.
But Qin Chu didn't stop and went straight into the conference room.
Qin Chu looked up at Levi.
This person happened to occupy the position of the Second Legion Commander, and the actual commander was now standing awkwardly behind the seat.
"...What are you here for?" Qin Chu asked.
Levi's lips curled into a smile: "Let's ask when some people will repay what they owe me?"
Those who had already entered the meeting room were completely confused.
This "certain person" is clearly their superior, but Qin Chu actually owes this crown prince something?
Are you going to pay it back or not?