Chapter 126
Chapter 126: I Wanted a Wife and a Cub—But the Wife Didn’t Want Me, and Seeing Me Annoyed Her
“Yes, yes, Commander-in-Chief.” Cheng Lin Yue nodded frantically, seizing the chance to answer before Jiang Tea Tea could even speak.
Jiang Tea Tea, who had the galaxy’s worst common sense, didn’t actually understand what those “privileges” meant in practice. She was about to ask—
But Cheng Lin Yue steamrolled right over it.
“You want Sister Tea’s full report? My uncle is coming in two days. I’ll examine her together with my uncle, and then we’ll give you the report. Is that acceptable?”
Chong Ming’s golden gaze held on Jiang Tea Tea. “What do you say, Jiang Tea Tea?”
Jiang Tea Tea shot Cheng Lin Yue a look.
Cheng Lin Yue nodded like her life depended on it.
Jiang Tea Tea finally said, “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Now I’m going back to school.”
“Wait.” Chong Ming stopped her.
Jiang Tea Tea immediately bristled. “What now?”
Chong Ming walked into the office’s resting room. When he returned, he carried a paper bag.
He handed it to her. “For the last three months, your academic performance has been excellent. This is your next three months’ quota—and three extra bottles as a bonus.”
Jiang Tea Tea peered inside.
Six bottles of dragon blood.
Her suspicion didn’t vanish, but her hand moved anyway. She tucked the bag into her storage button. “Thanks.”
Chong Ming gave the slightest nod. “Go.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s flyer was already parked in his office. She didn’t even have to step outside. She boarded it directly, and the office’s massive glass window opened.
The flyer slid out into open air, disappearing into the sky.
“Hey! Hey!” Sui Xuan Chu burst back in and waved at the empty window like a forgotten orphan. “What about me? I’m not on board yet! You heartless women—you left me behind!”
The flyer was already gone, too far to hear him.
Sui Xuan Chu slowly turned back.
Chong Ming stood at the window in full uniform, tall and unmoving, hands clasped behind his back. Wind tugged at his blond hair.
Sui Xuan Chu cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. “Imperial Uncle… my roommate’s cub is—”
“Mine,” Chong Ming said, blunt and final.
Sui Xuan Chu froze.
Then joy detonated across his face. “So I’m getting a sister or a brother?”
“Beast God above!” He clasped his hands together like he was praying. “Grandfather, grandmother, Dad, Mom—bless us! Our Golden Dragon Imperial Clan finally won’t be just the two of us. We’re getting a new dragon!”
“Uncle, uncle, uncle—can I apply to incub—”
He stopped mid-word, eyes widening as a new thought hit.
Then he lunged right up to Chong Ming, panic flooding his voice. “Uncle! My roommate’s cub… it might not be okay.”
Chong Ming’s gaze snapped down, suddenly razor-sharp. “What do you know?”
Sui Xuan Chu swallowed and—without hesitation—sold Jiang Tea Tea out just as cleanly as she’d tried to sell him out.
“Yesterday she dragged me to the Military Department to ‘save’ her. She wanted me to take the blame, and she made me touch her belly.”
“My hand was on her belly—when the cub moved, it didn’t feel like a round, hard egg. It felt like a baby. Like it’s live-bearing.”
Chong Ming’s eyes darkened. His gaze dropped to the floor.
By the calendar, when he’d kicked her… she’d been in the conception window.
“Uncle,” Sui Xuan Chu asked carefully, “the cub has no shell… is it because of your kick? And because Jiang Yi Cheng punched her belly?”
Chong Ming lifted his eyes. His voice was a single word.
“Yes.”
Under normal circumstances, that kick wouldn’t have been heavy.
But for a woman in early pregnancy, it was devastating.
The cub still being alive at all was a miracle.
Sui Xuan Chu hesitated, then asked, “Jiang Yi Cheng—has he been sentenced yet?”
“The process is underway,” Chong Ming replied.
Sui Xuan Chu’s voice turned quick and practical. “Imperial Uncle, my roommate is carrying your cub. That makes it a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub.”
“Jiang Yi Cheng already committed treason—colluding with the insect clan and trying to capture me. That’s a capital crime.”
“And he punched my roommate’s belly. Doesn’t that count as attempted murder of a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub? Two crimes. Two bullets instead of one?”
Chong Ming nodded once. “Fine. Two bullets.”
Sui Xuan Chu exhaled in relief. “Then on behalf of my roommate… thank you, Uncle.”
Chong Ming’s voice turned hoarse. “I kicked her too.”
Sui Xuan Chu panicked and rushed to shoulder blame. “That’s on me! Not you! You came to inspect Royal Military Academy, and I told her if she kicked you, she could enter any legion freely. I egged her on!”
He looked like he’d swallowed a brick of guilt.
Chong Ming spoke quietly. “It’s not your responsibility.”
Sui Xuan Chu leaned closer, eyes bright with curiosity and dread. “So… Uncle. You want the cub.”
“But do you want my roommate too?”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes flashed. His voice came out rough, almost raw. “Your roommate, Jiang Tea Tea, treasures her cub above all else. She guards against me like I’m venom.”
“I want the cub… and I want her.”
“That road is long.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s spine straightened.
A one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old bachelor dragon had finally figured it out.
He wasn’t going to die alone.
“Got it,” Sui Xuan Chu said quickly. “I’ll go after my roommate.”
“And I’ll tell her Jiang Yi Cheng is getting fed two peanuts.”
Chong Ming’s gaze sharpened. “Watch her. Don’t be obvious. If she needs anything, call me.”
“Yes, Commander-in-Chief.” Sui Xuan Chu saluted like his life depended on it. “Mission guaranteed.”
He pulled his flyer from his storage button, climbed in, and shot out of the office window in a hurry.
—
Jiang Tea Tea set her flyer to autopilot.
Beside her, Cheng Lin Yue rummaged through her storage button like it was a bottomless treasure vault. One by one, she pulled out strange devices—shields, jammers, blockers—and attached them inside and outside the flyer with terrifying speed and precision.
Jiang Tea Tea watched, impressed despite herself. “Little Bunny, can those things flatten the three satellites watching my head?”
“They can.” Cheng Lin Yue’s face was earnest. “My uncle rushed them to me from Chang Sheng Star before I came to the Military Department. They’re not on the market. They’re more advanced than what the Military Department uses.”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned. “More advanced than the Military Department? Where did your uncle even get them?”
“He made them,” Cheng Lin Yue said simply.
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “Wait. I thought your uncle was a healer. A… black doctor. He also does military engineering?”
Cheng Lin Yue nodded as if it was obvious. “He’s a healer, he’s a black doctor, and he tinkers with military gadgets on the side. Sound shields, signal jammers, heat blockers… little things. Mini robots too.”
“You don’t know basic common sense,” she added gently, “but people who study medicine tend to learn whatever they touch quickly—and deeply.”
Jiang Tea Tea whistled. “Your uncle is amazing.”
Cheng Lin Yue waved both hands. “Not amazing. If he were amazing, he wouldn’t have been trapped in the Ability Research Institute for ten years.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at her. “You came to the Military Department to save me. Everything you said to Chong Ming—your uncle taught you?”
Cheng Lin Yue nodded hard. “Yes.”
“I sent him the video you forwarded—of you beating Director Li Ao.”
“He called me right away. Asked if you were hurt. Said he wanted to thank you… and I panicked and told him you were carrying a cub.”
Her voice turned small. “I didn’t mean to. I just… I was scared. You didn’t want anyone to know, and you went to the Military Department. I was terrified something would happen to you. Something would happen to the cub.”
“I told him I wanted to save you. He gave me a plan. That’s why I came.”
Jiang Tea Tea watched her shaking hands and softened. “You did help. You came in time.”
Cheng Lin Yue’s eyes went huge. “Really? I really helped?”
“You did,” Jiang Tea Tea said firmly.
Cheng Lin Yue’s face lit up—then fell again.
“But Sister Tea…” Her voice turned uneasy. “My uncle said the Golden Dragon Imperial Clan’s offspring are too rare. If you really are carrying a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub… when it’s born, you won’t be able to keep it.”
“Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming will take it into the imperial family.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s expression hardened. “The cubs are mine. Why should he get them?”
Old Loach didn’t even know how many there were.
He thought it was just one.
She wasn’t giving him even one.
When her contract with the fake heiress was complete, she was leaving with her cubs—returning to her demon clan and living as a grand, untouchable great demon.
Cheng Lin Yue spoke carefully. “Because he’s their dad. Because he’s the empire’s top authority.”
“I said you were uncomfortable,” Cheng Lin Yue admitted, “and that the cub wasn’t healthy, and I brought up the kick… to make him feel guilty enough to let you leave.”
“If I hadn’t done that… with how precious a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub is, you wouldn’t have walked out of the Military Department.”
Jiang Tea Tea pressed a palm to her belly, feeling the cubs stir.
Then she said, each word heavy and absolute, “I don’t care who he is. I don’t care how powerful he is.”
“The cubs are mine.”
“No one is taking them from me.”
Cheng Lin Yue looked like she wanted to cry from stress. “Sister Tea… you’re strong, but he’s stronger. And right now, he probably doesn’t know how many cubs you’re carrying.”
“If you really don’t want to give them all to him… when my uncle arrives, we can fake a medical report. We can say there’s only one cub—”
“Fake it?” Jiang Tea Tea cut in sharply. “You think you can hide Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cubs from someone like him?”
“He’s standing at the top of the world. He has endless capable people around him. If he wants something found, he says one word and the whole empire moves.”
“And Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cubs aren’t like other dragon clan cubs.” Jiang Tea Tea’s voice turned grim. “They’re born kings. If they shift into beast form, they radiate dragon pressure. Every beast kneels.”
“You can’t hide that.”
Cheng Lin Yue’s shoulders slumped. For the first time, she looked genuinely helpless.
Jiang Tea Tea patted her shoulder. “Don’t panic. The cubs are still in my belly. That means I decide.”
“And your uncle is coming. Once he’s here, we’ll talk and figure out a plan.”
Because the Golden Dragon Imperial Clan’s bloodline was so rare, Old Loach wouldn’t move rashly.
She still had time.
Cheng Lin Yue nodded weakly. “That’s all we can do.”
Jiang Tea Tea said quietly, “Thank you. For coming alone to the Military Department to save me.”
Cheng Lin Yue flushed and smiled, shy and sincere. “We’re friends. Classmates. Teammates. Of course I came.”
—
The flyer landed at the school gate.
Before Jiang Tea Tea and Cheng Lin Yue could even step down, Sui Xuan Chu was already there—leaning like a thug, whistling as they approached.
“Two cute, lovely girls,” he drawled. “May I have the honor of escorting you back to your dorms?”
Jiang Tea Tea and Cheng Lin Yue answered in perfect sync. “Ugly no.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s face cracked. He wobbled like he might fall over, then forced a fierce expression and charged toward them like he was about to throw hands.
“Who are you calling ugly? Say it again and I’ll punch you into orbit.”
“You’re not allowed to hit my sister!”
A young girl—fourteen or fifteen—rushed out and threw herself between Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu, pushing at him with trembling hands.
Sui Xuan Chu sidestepped easily and slid to Jiang Tea Tea’s side.
The girl spun around, eyes wet, and shouted, “Sister! Come here! Stay away from that man—he’s a bad person!”
Jiang Tea Tea narrowed her eyes at her.
Jiang Yi Bao.
The youngest girl in the fake heiress’s foster family. An A-rank water-element ability user.
According to the fake heiress’s memories, Jiang Yi Bao wasn’t innocent at all. When the fake heiress had been ignored at home and needed money, she’d asked Jiang Yi Bao for a loan.
Jiang Yi Bao hadn’t just refused. She’d mocked her for being fake. Told her she’d lived in luxury for over ten years and still wasn’t satisfied. Told her she was shameless for asking a child for money.
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth curled.
Chong Ming had investigated the Jiang family. Not only had he uncovered evidence of them trying to sell Jiang Tea Tea for profit, he’d also found tax evasion.
On top of that, the Jiang family’s son and daughter had committed crimes that stacked like a mountain: Jiang Yi Zhu had released an aberrant beast inside the school, framed others, and attempted murder. Jiang Yi Cheng had colluded with the insect clan and tried to abduct the crown prince.
The family’s assets had already been seized. There was nothing left to execute. No money. No property.
Jiang Yi Bao had been attending a closed boarding noble school. She’d paid for a full year. Then the holiday came—she returned home and found the house gone, the money gone, everything gone.
Only Jiang Tea Tea was still alive and living well.
And on her way here, Jiang Yi Bao had seen the newest Starnet news: Jiang Yi Cheng’s charges had increased again—attempted murder of a Golden Dragon Imperial Clan cub. The Supreme Judiciary had issued a statement. The process was simplified. Execution would be tomorrow at noon.
Jiang Yi Bao’s tears fell hard as she faced Jiang Tea Tea. “Sister… you’re my sister. How could I mistake you?”
“Dad and Mom are being exiled for life. Sister and big brother are being executed tomorrow. I only have you left.”
“Sister, you can’t abandon me!”