Chapter 125
Chapter 125: Commander-in-Chief, You Kicked Sister Tea in the Belly and Made Her Mad—Are You Trying to Kill the Cub?
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him like he’d just tried to sell her air.
Then she laughed—cold, sharp, pure mockery. “So you spent all that time testing me, and now you’re blaming me for snapping back and playing mind games?”
“Truly impressive, Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming. Prince Regent Chong Ming. Official Chong Ming.” Her sarcasm dripped. “You get to say everything—good or bad—and it all sounds righteous.”
“Should I kneel in front of you and shout, ‘Thank you for appreciating me and thinking so highly of me’?”
She didn’t believe a word.
She wasn’t some fragile girl of this star system.
She was a demon—an all-around spellcaster in a world that called everything an “ability.”
And he was the empire’s highest authority. If he learned everything she could do, how could he not be tempted?
Chong Ming’s golden eyes darkened. “I said all that, and the only words you heard were ‘bared your teeth’ and ‘mind games.’ You didn’t believe anything else?”
Jiang Tea Tea twisted her wrist, trying to slip free. “If you want me to believe you, let go. Back off.”
Chong Ming answered instantly, striking straight at the heart of it. “You want to run.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth tightened.
In front of a one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Old Loach, she—a so-called great demon—felt like a rookie.
But she didn’t deny it. “Yes. I want to leave. I don’t want to see you. What about it?”
Chong Ming didn’t release her. If anything, his grip tightened—firm, controlled, unshakably patient.
“Leaving doesn’t solve the problem. You don’t believe what I’m saying because you don’t trust who I am.”
“That’s fine. I can reflect. I can examine what I’ve done to make myself unworthy of your trust.”
“But the cub in your belly—”
“It has nothing to do with you.” Jiang Tea Tea cut him off, hard and merciless. “Stop inserting yourself into my cub.”
Chong Ming’s jaw tightened. He forced himself to compromise. “Fine. I’m not ‘coveting’ your cub.”
“But a dragon clan cub needs psychic-force soothing from its father—”
“You’re not its father,” Jiang Tea Tea snapped.
Chong Ming’s voice stayed calm, almost clinical. “Jiang Tea Tea. Your overeating is because the cub hasn’t received psychic-force soothing from its father.”
“And your craving for my dragon blood is the same—”
Jiang Tea Tea slammed the words back into his mouth. “You’re so confident I’m the one from First Hotel and the cub is yours? Want me to remind you how hard you kicked me at Royal Military Academy?”
Chong Ming’s expression changed in an instant.
Something sharp flickered across his face—shock, anger, something like guilt.
Jiang Tea Tea seized the opening. She wrenched free, scrambled up from the sofa, and put distance between them.
Knock, knock, knock.
Urgent knocking struck the door.
Chong Ming pulled himself back into control. His gaze swept Jiang Tea Tea’s face, then her abdomen, and then he looked at the door.
It opened a crack. Sui Xuan Chu stuck his head in. “Commander-in-Chief… my classmate Cheng Lin Yue has urgent news about my roommate Jiang Tea Tea’s condition. I took the liberty of bringing her here. You—”
The moment Chong Ming heard “Jiang Tea Tea’s condition,” he cut him off. “Let her in.”
Cheng Lin Yue stepped inside—tense, stiff, clearly terrified.
Then she saw Jiang Tea Tea.
In an instant, the fear vanished. She rushed to her.
“Sister Tea! Are you okay?”
Her eyes swept Jiang Tea Tea’s messy hair, her reddened eyes, her pale face.
Oh god. She must have suffered here—because of the cubs.
“I’m fine,” Jiang Tea Tea said, softer than she’d been all day.
Cheng Lin Yue grabbed her hand and pressed fingers to her pulse. “How could you be fine? Are you uncomfortable? Is your belly hurting?”
Jiang Tea Tea hesitated, then admitted quietly, “It’s… uncomfortable.”
That was all Cheng Lin Yue needed.
She released Jiang Tea Tea’s hand and spun around, facing Chong Ming like she was facing a monster. Tears and snot poured down her face as she cried, voice shaking.
“Commander-in-Chief! Sister Tea awakened late. She was already weak.”
“Less than seven months ago, you kicked her at Royal Military Academy. Her belly hurt for days, and she even bled. Then at the 30-School Military Academy Championship, her foster brother Jiang Yi Cheng punched her in the belly!”
“One kick, one punch—she was already weak, and it made everything worse. Then she came back and didn’t rest for three months because of the brutal course load—she was forcing herself just to keep performing!”
“My medical skills aren’t great. I can’t treat much.” Cheng Lin Yue’s voice broke. “But Sister Tea has taken care of me. She helped me overcome my fear of people. She helped me learn and improve.”
“She even beat Director Li Ao for my uncle Cheng Yuan.”
“She has done so much for my family. I’m begging you—Marshal—please, for the sake of her belly, let her go. Let her keep a good mood!”
Jiang Tea Tea stared.
Little Bunny wasn’t just here to save her.
Someone had taught her exactly what to say—and how to say it.
Chong Ming’s gaze moved past Cheng Lin Yue and landed on Jiang Tea Tea. He stared for a long time before he asked, voice low, “The cub… is it in bad condition?”
Cheng Lin Yue nodded quickly, wiping her face with shaking hands. “Bad. Very bad. There’s no shell. We don’t even know if it can survive the full ten to fifteen months.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth went dry.
No shell. Ten to fifteen months.
That wasn’t something Cheng Lin Yue would invent on her own.
Someone had coached her with frighteningly professional detail.
Chong Ming’s breath caught. “I’ll find a healer—”
“She’s the best healer.” Cheng Lin Yue cut him off, terrified but stubborn, pointing straight at Jiang Tea Tea. “Commander-in-Chief, Sister Tea is the best healer in the entire empire—maybe the entire galaxy.”
“If even she can’t guarantee this, no other healer can.”
“And if you bring in the wrong healer—someone like Li Ao’s people—and they see a cub without a shell, they’ll treat her like a rare specimen. They’ll study her. They’ll dissect her.”
Chong Ming’s fingers twitched, then curled into a tight fist. His gaze sharpened on Jiang Tea Tea.
“So that’s what you were afraid of.”
Jiang Tea Tea lowered her eyes, refusing to meet his gaze—silent, which was as good as confirmation.
Cheng Lin Yue shifted again, putting her small body between Jiang Tea Tea and Chong Ming, trembling but determined.
“Commander-in-Chief… Sister Tea’s condition and the cub’s condition have only ever been handled by the two of us.”
“I’m asking you—please let me take her away. She can’t have huge emotional swings. She needs a pleasant environment.”
“She… she gets tense here. It’s bad for her, and bad for the cub.”
Chong Ming’s brows drew together. He stepped forward.
Cheng Lin Yue stepped back, shaking all over, but she still didn’t move aside.
Chong Ming’s voice remained controlled. “Classmate Cheng Lin Yue. I have two sentences to say to Jiang Tea Tea. Step aside.”
Cheng Lin Yue looked back at Jiang Tea Tea, eyes wide. She’d follow Jiang Tea Tea’s lead.
Jiang Tea Tea nodded once.
Only then did Cheng Lin Yue slide aside—still trembling.
Chong Ming stopped in front of Jiang Tea Tea. He looked down at her, and for once his words came with something that sounded almost like sincerity.
“I’m sorry. I had no ill intent. I only wanted to find you. I never expected you to have cubs, and I never expected my kick would—”
“Mine.” Jiang Tea Tea cut him off, blunt as a blade. “The cubs are mine. Not yours.”
Chong Ming yielded in words immediately. “Fine. They’re yours. Don’t get worked up.”
Jiang Tea Tea seized the chance. “If you don’t want me worked up, then stop letting me see you. I want to leave.”
Chong Ming answered without hesitation. “Fine. I’ll let you leave.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes lit up. “Really? You’re not lying?”
Chong Ming nodded. “You can leave with your classmate.”
“But I need a full medical report.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s expression turned feral. “So you do want my cubs. Or you want to dissect me. Just say it. Why circle around like this?”
Chong Ming’s voice slowed. It was careful—measured, as if he was afraid any wrong word would trigger an explosion. “I don’t want your cubs.”
“And I won’t allow anyone to dissect you.”
“I want the report because I want to know if you’re healthy. If the cub is healthy.”
“Don’t be afraid,” he said quietly. “You’re carrying a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub. I will grant you special protection. In the Zhen Lin Empire… including me, no one will be allowed to harm you.”