I will let you stroke it
They had not yet applied for the Star Alliance assessment. When the staff at Yunbao Branch learned about this matter, their opinions were very unified.
Apply, ah! Of course, they had to apply.
Even if their club did not make it onto the list this time, at least they would have gotten some experience and next time they would be better able to handle this on-site assessment.
In order to apply for it, their qualifications first needed to be confirmed by audit. After a club presented the information showing them to be qualified, they would permanently retain the right to apply for the assessment.
Yunbao Branch had never before been audited. So to apply for the Star Alliance assessment, Xia Qi first summited all the information about their club through the starnet and awaited approval.
To give more clubs the opportunity to participate in the Star Alliance assessment, the standard of the audit had been deliberately lowered. In theory, with Yunbao Branch’s current conditions, they should have no problem passing the audit.
However, Xia Qi was still a little nervous. After submitting the data, she periodically checked the starnet for the results.
The audit was pending for nearly two days. Xia Qi had begun to feel quite anxious when she checked the page and at last saw the bright red “pass” sign.
“Passed, we passed!” Although they had only earned the right to apply, Xia Qi’s face was still full of joy and she immediately shared the news with the other members of the club.
In less than half a year the club had gone from being in a terribly shabby and worn-out state into how it was today, Xia Qi was both proud and happy.
Hearing the good news, there was a trace of a smile on everyone’s faces.
Having earned the right to apply meant that the Star Alliance had acknowledged that their club measured up to their standard, there was no caretaker in the interstellar who didn’t know this.
Therefore, to a certain extent, whether their club passed the audit or not decided if they could hold their heads high when facing their peers.
The Star Alliance would not open the acceptance of applications until two months later, and the actual time for the field assessment was still some time away after that. During this period, all the clubs were busy making preparations.
Regardless of whether it was renovations or the construction of facilities, etc, every club spared no effort to add points to the assessment.
Even if it hadn’t been for the assessment, Xie Luan still planned to once more recruit some new employees, such as a dietitian who specializes in customizing nutritional recipes for cubs as well as a doctor and a logistician.
The club’s cub rations and milk powder had since long been replaced by several comparably high-rated brands in the interstellar. Xie Luan observed the cubs’ reactions when feeding them and had noted down the different preferences of each cub. He had then let the other caretakers prepare the food according to the preferences of the cubs.
Food rations and milk powder were the most common food for cubs, but such food was very monotonous. Several good nursing clubs would therefore hire one to two nutritionists to customize multiple nutrition meals for the cubs.
Of course, there was also the matter regarding the fighting instructor. Initially, Xie Luan had just intended for Zarad to be a temporary mentor. But at this time, Xie Luan felt that the other had accomplished the task very well and decided to entrust the work to him.
Having watched Zarad teach the cubs basic combat and patiently instruct the mermaid in how to use his ability better, Xie Luan thought that it would be a waste to let the other go back to being a guard like before.
Under the guidance of the other, the cubs in the club had in the end learned a lot. It was quite reasonable to let the temporary tutor become the permanent fighting instructor.
As for whether the other would leave after one year’s work as per the agreement, this matter was a discussion for a later time.
In addition to recruiting the three personnel just mentioned, Xie Luan originally also planned on hiring a cook in order to fulfill his promise to the staff. But in the end, the cook was provided to the club by the two adopters of the two small fluffballs in order to avoid the spread of recipes.
According to the previous agreement, Xie Luan had provided the recipes and the adopters of their two cubs shared the profits with him in return.
The first month, there was not much, but by the end of the second month, Xie Luan found that the number of credits in his crystal card had increased significantly, totaling no less than 50,000.
There were more cubs in the club than before. In preparation for the future, Xie Luan thought it through, then asked Xia Qi to go onto the starnet and add recruitment information for caretakers as well.
Two B-level caretakers were recruited. To recruit an A-level they first had to have enough income. Otherwise, with the A-level caretakers’ salary of hundreds of thousands a month, even if Xie Luan could go from his original world to Yinshan, there would still be a day when the money runs out.[1]
This time a lot of people were to be recruited at once, and naturally, it also meant that more people needed to be interviewed. Xie Luan did not have Xia Qi do it all by herself, but also sat down next to her in the office as an interviewer.
Xie Luan first and foremost valued the personality of the applicant and the attitude the other had towards the cubs. After observing and screening out those he felt were not qualified, Xie Luan gathered the resumes of the remaining people into a pile.
“I will read through them, then tell you which ones I’ve chosen. If you feel like there is no problem, we will hire them.”
Thinking about how he let the other handle this matter all by herself last time, and how busy she must have been, Xie Luan decided to take this remaining task on himself and waved to the one sitting next to him, indicating that she could leave first.
He had sat in the office and interviewed for a long time, all the way from early morning to afternoon. Now that everyone had left, Xie Luan relaxed into the back of his chair and could not resist covering his mouth with his hand, yawning.
As a result of this yawn, Xie Luan’s eyes turned red and some tears came out. At the same time, he heard a sound coming from his lap.
“Meaah.”
While the youth was interviewing people, he was quietly resting on his lap. Because there was a desk in front of him, the interviewees had not been able to see the nox.
Feeling this round nox move closer, Xie Luan reached out to stroke the nox’s back and then kneaded the two small horns on the nox’s head.
Allowing the youth to touch and grab the horns on his head like this, the nox continued to move closer until he was contently settled down, nestled snugly against his warm body. Only the ears next to the horns moved occasionally.
Very cute.
Seeing the ears twitching slightly every time he touched the horns, Xie Luan could not help thinking this.
“When you are big, you don’t have these two little horns…” Thinking of this nox’s humanoid form, Xie Luan was unable to resist saying this.
Still touching the small horns of the nox, Xie Luan said this sentence for no specific reason. He had only said it casually, but what happened next was completely unexpected.
All of a sudden the weight on his lap disappeared and a figure appeared in front of Xie Luan. His hand was then grasped.
Xie Luan was naturally stunned. Before he could react, the nox, standing in front of him in his adult form, lowered his head slightly and pulled his hand up to the left side of his head.
“…” Sticking out from under the soft hair, there were two small arched peaks, the visible tops seeming very similar to the horns he had just touched. Looking at the docile way the nox lowered his head to him, Xie Luan felt as if some important place in his chest had been struck by something.
It was a strange feeling. Xie Luan had still not been able to grasp the fleeting sensation, at present he also couldn’t say why he felt it.
Because of his cold expression, the nox’s face always gave people a feeling that he was not easy to approach, like a sense of indifference, or distance.
But there was no denying that this nox had a very handsome and good looking appearance. Silver hair, light cyan eyes, they were very beautiful colors…
Finding that the youth was slow to touch it, Ya Yi looked down and thought for a moment, he then lowered his head a little more towards Xie Luan.
Even in adult form, he had horns he could touch. Through the nox’s action, Xie Luan could see the message conveyed to him by the other.
At that moment, as if he did not know what to say, Xie Luan looked at the nox who was bowing his head to him, and finally moved his fingers to the horn the nox was showing him. Brushing aside the fair hair, he lightly touched the horn twice.
When he touched it, the ears did not move as they had while he was in cub form, but the nox gave another response. The silver tail behind him rose slightly and his azure pupils narrowed a little.
This reaction… It also seemed quite adorable.
Thinking this, Xie Luan’s eyes could not help turning to the silver tail behind the nox and observing the cold silver tail’s subtle movements.
Xie Luan was watching the tail, what he didn’t know was that the nox was observing him as well.
After looking at the silver tail for only just a few seconds, Xie Luan saw the silver tail move from behind the nox to within his reach.
I will let you stroke it.
Although the nox did not speak, the silver tail close to Xie Luan had clearly expressed the meaning in place of its owner.
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Translator’s note:
The nox-time will continue in the next chapter~
In the meanwhile, check out this beautiful fanart made by @grendoka (wattpad)/@gaivota_umineko (instagram). ^^
Also, this is a drawing I made earlier this week, a huge improvement compared to my stick figures from before:
[1] – Yinshan can mean silver mountain or money mountain. I am not sure if it is a place from some story or if it just means coming over a mountain of riches.