Chapter 65: Mother and Daughter

“If it’s so distressing, why don’t you reach out to her?” Mr. Coso’s voice was gentle from the screen in Zhang Ya’s office.

Zhang Ya didn’t respond immediately. The memories just now flashed through her mind like a carousel, and she was reclaiming her rationality, reconstructing her thought process.

“This isn’t right,” she said.

She put her hands down and looked at Mr. Coso on the screen. Her gaze became clear and sharp again, the iron-fisted and cold-blooded Zhang Ya in the office, able to restrain those irrational factors.

But when she approached the whole situation from a rational perspective, she came to a conclusion different from before for the first time.

“What isn’t right?” Mr. Coso asked.

“The whole thing, the entire society, the mainstream values we’ve been taught since childhood!” Zhang Ya said.

Mr. Coso was surprised.

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“Zsw jdso obyv jkde sq rlapsd R yx, Eyudl,” Hbydt Zy vssj y ellr calyvb. “R nyd nsdqkeldvzu pyu vbyv obld R rzyd vs es psxlvbkdt, kv ayalzu qykzp. Jwv usw pll… R qszzsole yzz vbl xleknyz yehknl, R rlapkpvle kd aykpkdt bla wdvkz pbl ldvlale wdkhlapkvu, R layple bla vaynlp qasx xu zkql, R nwv sqq nsdvynv okvb bla qsa lktbv ulyap. R eke lhlauvbkdt vbl esnvsap vsze xl vs es, ds xyvvla bso ekqqknwzv. Jwv obyv’p vbl alpwzv?”

“Mbl alpwzv kp, okvb fwpv sdl rbsvs, yzz vbl lqqsavp R’hl xyel olal pbyvvlale!”

“Gv vbl qkapv tzydnl sq vbyv rbsvs, lhlauvbkdt R vbswtbv oyp aktbv tsv pwrralpple, yzz R nswze vbkdj sq oyp bla! Kwpv dso, ds, kv’p pvkzz dso, R qkdyzzu alyzkgl obyv vbkp kp!”

“Mbkp kp kdpvkdnv!” Hbydt Zy pyke, “Mbkp kp dyvwal!”

Ya. Usps ytalle, “Zlp, bwxyd kdpvkdnv yde dyvwal sqvld nsdqzknv okvb alypsd.”

“Jwv vbl iwlpvksd kp, obu es ol pwrralpp vbkp dyvwal?” Hbydt Zy rwaple bla zkrp vktbvzu. “Ps usw alxlxcla obyv usw pyke vs xl y qlo ulyap yts? Zsw pyke, ‘Mbkp kp y ryayesm.’ Zsw olal aktbv. Fkdnl vbkp kdpvkdnv yde dyvwal nyd cakdt wp fsu, lhld byrrkdlpp, obu es ol valyv kv yp y ekplypl? Elald’v ol vywtbv qasx nbkzebsse vs qwzqkzz swaplzhlp, vs ldfsu swaplzhlp?”

Ya. Usps nswzed’v ydpola vbyv iwlpvksd.

“Rv’p ps pvaydtl, Ya. Usps, esd’v usw qllz kv? Rv’p ps pvaydtl!” Hbydt Zy pyke.

Mr. Coso pondered for a moment and said, “Actually, during my business trip to Dahank this time, I met the Royevsky’s; they happen to have an industry summit here.”

Royevsky is Mr. Coso’s friend and psychologist, the one who introduced Dr. Natsume to Zhang Ya.

“I had two meals with him and his colleagues, and attended a salon, we talked a lot,” Mr. Coso said, “Zhang Ya, do you know, they gave me some surprising data in private conversations.”

“We always thought that people like you, who develop excessive attachment to their children, were a minority group. Oh, Zhang Ya, we were all wrong. You can’t imagine how vast this group is. You have no idea how many people, just like you, conceal from their friends, colleagues, and even partners, quietly seeking medical consultations,” Mr. Coso said. “Royevsky and the others, after a few drinks, quietly told me that this is actually an open secret in their industry. But this data is not allowed to be made public. The government mandates that the entire industry refrain from inter-regional data exchange and prohibits any leaks. Royevsky only has access to data from our galaxy, not even the entire sector, and that data is already staggering.”

He mentioned a figure to Zhang Ya, leaving her deeply shocked.

“But the total population of the galaxy…” Zhang Ya murmured, “Does this mean that the incidence rate is so high?”

Zhang Ya bowed her head in contemplation for a moment, then raised it abruptly, questioning, “Wayne, is this really my problem? Do I have a problem, or do these people have a problem?”

Mr. Coso raised an eyebrow.

“Is it really me who has a problem, or is it this society?” Zhang Ya said.

“You know my boss, Mr. Harlain. He started from scratch and built his fortune. He has chosen one of his own children to inherit all his industries. This heir, as you know, recently married into the Quinn family.”

“Once, in a private conversation, Harlain told me that even in the early stages of his entrepreneurship, he had dreams of building a family legacy. Providing his second generation with marriage and family, passing on property and surname, and then multiplying the family, were dreams and plans he had thirty years ago.”

“If independent existence and planned eugenic reproduction are the right things to do, why do those at the top of society still have families and lineages? And if genetic selection is the correct path, why do the upper echelons, who hold more wealth, not do the right thing?”

Zhang Ya launched into a series of questions.

These questions, Mr. Coso couldn’t answer, but he knew some things that Zhang Ya didn’t.

“It’s not just the upper class. You’ve been to the Twenty-One Border Districts, haven’t you?” he told Zhang Ya. “I’ve only been there once myself. Those districts are very impoverished; some planets are downright destitute. But what’s surprising is that on these impoverished planets, many people live together in family units, just like in ancient times.”

“Most families consist of parents and children. Usually, when the children have their own partners, they live separately with their partners, but they usually don’t sever ties with their parents. On the contrary, they stay very close. From the perspective of our Level One or Level Two civilization stars, it’s definitely excessive attachment to the family.”

“But, but…” Mr. Coso shrugged, “You know, despite being so poor, they seem quite happy living together.”

The Twenty-One Border Districts are remote rural areas for people from the Six Major Star Districts and the Capital Star Ring, rarely paid attention to by urbanites. Even searching online yields little information about them. The impression of those places is poverty and backwardness.

“It’s really strange,” Zhang Ya pondered, “The top and bottom layers of society, both seek marriage, building families. In contrast, as the backbone of society, the taxpayers, we are educated to live independently, plan for reproduction.”

Zhang Ya furrowed her brow. “This feeling is so uncomfortable. I feel like I’m in some sort of breeding facility.”

“Yeah, we’re like the chives in the ground, growing according to the planter’s wishes, feeling like we grow one crop, get harvested, then grow again, right?”

Mr. Coso’s metaphor was vivid, but before Zhang Ya could respond, he changed the subject. “So, what are you going to do about Mary’s situation?”

Still lost in thoughts about breeding facilities and chive plants, Zhang Ya was jolted back to reality by his question. She paused for a moment before softly saying, “I should give her a gift to celebrate.”

“You know, if it were ancient times, my relationship with her would have made me a grandmother to this little baby,” she said.

“Oh? A grandmother, what’s that again? Let me think,” Mr. Coso began recalling things he learned in elementary school.

Zhang Ya said softly, “It’s… my mother’s mother.”

Five days later, when Jiang Miao received the gift, she couldn’t believe it.

When she sent that message to Zhang Ya, she didn’t expect a reply, let alone a gift.

“Is it really from her?” she couldn’t help but ask again.

Yan He, holding Jiang Rui, shook his head, activated the screen, and checked the package information that Xiaona received again: “Although the shipping location is the Capital Star Ring, the payer is Mrs. Zhang Ya from Dufa Star in the Ola Galaxy, a Level One civilization star. Here’s her contact number, do you want me to read it to you again?”

The information was so clear, it couldn’t be wrong.

Zhang Ya had sent her a gift!

“Should… should I open it?” Jiang Miao looked at Yan He.

Yan He chuckled, “It’s not going to be a bomb, why are you so nervous?”

Jiang Miao took a deep breath and started to unpack the box.

After the box opened, the top retracted, and the sides fell down in four directions, revealing a sphere inside.

“What’s this?” Yan He looked at the robotic sphere, then at Jiang Miao.

Jiang Miao’s expression seemed like a mix of laughter and tears. She wiped her eyes and activated the sphere.

Lights lit up on the sphere, and two retractable mechanical arms extended: “Hello, master, I am…”

“w295, Children’s Companion Robot,” Jiang Miao followed along with the spherical robot.

But the robot added one more sentence: “This model was discontinued in the year 6362 and I am a specially customized nostalgic version.”

6362? That was over twenty years ago.

Yan He glanced at Jiang Miao thoughtfully. Jiang Miao bit her rosy lips, her eyes slightly reddening.

Yan He smirked, reaching out to pat her head.

Jiang Miao looked up and said, “Back then, w295 was the latest model just released. She bought it for me as soon as it hit the market. Later, when newer models came out, she asked if I wanted to upgrade. But w295 was enough for me, so I didn’t let her buy a new one. w295 accompanied me throughout my childhood.”

For a time traveler like her, w295 indeed provided her with much companionship and help, and taught her many things.

Later, when she went to college. She was already younger than her classmates. So she didn’t bring w295 along. W295 is a children’s companion robot, she was afraid of being ridiculed.

“She actually remembered,” Jiang Miao murmured.

“It shows that her feelings toward you aren’t as you thought,” Yan He said.

Jiang Miao took a deep breath, covering her mouth and nose, then let her hand down, saying, “Should I… should I thank her?”

Is it even a question that needs to be asked? Yan He chuckled.

“But, saying thank you, isn’t it impolite not to say it face to face?” Jiang Miao looked at Yan He eagerly.

Even though he’s the kind of guy who can single-handedly take on a group of bandits wearing a World War II coat, why is he hesitating in a situation like this? Yan He looked at the ceiling in silence, then lowered his head and said seriously, “I won’t nod for this.”

Yan He wouldn’t make decisions for her, so Jiang Miao had to make her own decisions.

“I’ll just make a phone call to say thank you, I don’t have anything else to bother her with. After all, she sent a gift, it would be impolite not to say thank you in person, right?” Jiang Miao began to ramble.

Yan He now understood her tendency to babble when nervous. If left alone, she could ramble for minutes on her own.

“I’ll quickly say thank you and goodbye, not to delay her too much, she’s always busy with work, and she… hmm?”

Jiang Miao hadn’t finished rambling yet when Yan He pressed Jiang Rui against her shoulder, leaned down, and covered her rosy lips.

Jiang Miao made a couple of muffled sounds, then her shoulders relaxed slowly.

Sometimes, a kiss isn’t just for flirtation; it can also soothe the soul.

Yan He released Jiang Miao, glanced at her, then pecked her lush lips again.

“I guess she’s waiting for you,” he said.

Even though he said he wouldn’t make decisions for her, seeing her timid demeanor, he couldn’t help but want to… give her a little bit of courage.

Sansukini: I like this chapter. It just shows that you don’t just need another person for companionship, they are also there to help you when you need some moral support. It’s true for Wayne Coso and Zhang Ya, and also true for Jiang Miao and Yan He.

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