Chapter 143
Chapter 143: She Likes His Dragon Form—Next Time, He’ll Shift for Her to Pet
Chong Ming’s golden eyes darkened.
He stood slowly, bent down, and used the napkin to wipe the sauce from the corner of Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth.
Jiang Tea Tea froze like an idiot—chopsticks in one hand, spoon in the other, eyes round.
What was he doing?
Who told him to do that?
Chong Ming folded the napkin into a neat little square and set it on the table. Then, perfectly righteous, he asked, “I’m following doctor’s orders. How is that shameless?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s utensils clattered down. She snapped back to herself and rubbed her mouth hard with the back of her hand. “Doctor’s orders? Who wrote you those orders?”
“And don’t start trouble here. I can’t beat you right now, not ever.”
She wasn’t going to say the rest out loud—but in her head, she was already burying him under her roots.
Chong Ming nodded as if he agreed. “You’re right. The cub drained your abilities, leaving you depleted and weaker.”
“You have multiple abilities, too. Like tonight—your ice-type ability blocked many aberrant beasts from invading the Royal Military Academy.”
He had four ability types. And she was like a treasure chest—surprise after surprise.
From the day he noticed her, the surprises never stopped.
Jiang Tea Tea curled her lips. “And you still dare talk big in front of me?”
Chong Ming hit her with a killing blow. “What am I talking big about? Healer Cheng Yuan—the healer you trust most—said you and the cub both lack my psychic force soothing. He wants me to soothe you every day.”
“That’s his medical order. He told me to follow it.”
“To follow it, I’m living with you in one room and sleeping in one bed. What’s wrong with that?”
Jiang Tea Tea nearly choked. “No. Absolutely not.”
“At most, you can sleep in the hall. Leave a crack in the door. Release your mental power through it. Same room, same bed? Dream on.”
Chong Ming’s tone stayed maddeningly calm. “We should follow doctor’s orders, Classmate Jiang Tea Tea.”
“That’s your choice.” Jiang Tea Tea snorted. “What does it have to do with me? Move. Don’t block my snack.”
Chong Ming set a fresh napkin by her hand and stood. “Fine. I’ll wash up first. Eat. If you need anything, call me.”
He took two steps, and Jiang Tea Tea flicked the napkin onto the floor without looking.
Chong Ming paused, bent down, picked it up, and replaced it with another.
Jiang Tea Tea flicked that one down too, snorting as if to warn him.
Chong Ming stared at her for a long moment, then didn’t pick it up again. He went into the bedroom to wash.
Jiang Tea Tea felt like she’d won a battle. The food tasted even better.
She ate everything—including the extra dishes Old Loach had brought.
Stuffed, she ate fruit to settle it, burped, and slumped back in her chair, hand resting on her belly.
The cubs were quiet. Asleep.
She’d barely drifted when Chong Ming’s voice sounded behind her. “All right. Go bathe. Go to sleep.”
That low, unmistakable voice snapped her awake. She turned.
Black robe. Chest half-open. Water droplets clinging to muscle. Golden hair half-dry. Even his dragon horns looked wet.
Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue inwardly. He’d just showered, sure—but if you didn’t know that, you’d think he’d dressed like this to seduce her on purpose.
She walked right up, tugged his robe closed a little, and patted his chest. “A 150-year-old dragon and you still can’t wear clothes properly. Tsk. Don’t catch a cold.”
Chong Ming: “…”
If Sui Xuan Chu had been here, he would’ve been screaming inside.
His uncle’s 150 years of peacock display—wasted on a blind roommate.
Jiang Tea Tea hummed to herself and went to wash up. She could’ve used a cleansing art and been spotless instantly, but she liked water. Plants liked being watered.
Half an hour later, she came out with damp, towel-dried hair, pink cheeks, dewy skin, yawning.
Chong Ming sat on the sofa. He set down his lightbrain and stood.
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at him and headed straight for the half-round nest-like bed, glittering with gemstones.
She sat on the edge. “That sofa is your place. This bed is my place. We stay out of each other’s way. Deal. Good night.”
She flopped into the bed.
Maybe it was because this was Old Loach Chong Ming’s nest—soaked with his aura and scent—but her cubs stirred inside her belly.
Jiang Tea Tea pulled up the blanket, cast two protection arts, laid her hand over her belly, and went to sleep.
Chong Ming stood for a moment, then turned off the main light and left a small lamp burning. He went into the bathroom and carefully wiped up any water on the floor, making sure even if Jiang Tea Tea walked barefoot, she wouldn’t slip.
Only then did he return to the sofa.
In the dim room, he released psychic force soothing while opening his lightbrain.
On the screen wasn’t state business.
It was a guide with a title along the lines of: How a Beastfolk Man Pursues a Pure Human—seduction, throwing money, sweet talk, emotional support, praise, and countless other options and standards.
Chong Ming read it with the seriousness of a man reviewing military strategy.
Anyone walking in would’ve assumed he was working late on affairs of state.
Face-to-face soothing was far better than leaving a crack in the door with a wall in between.
Jiang Tea Tea had fought the Insect Clan and hunted aberrant beasts in the first half of the night. In the second half, she felt like a root plunged into rich soil—branches washed by spring rain, every pore of her body relaxing.
Even after only two or three hours of sleep, when she woke at 4:45, she felt refreshed and full of energy.
But she was in the Imperial Palace. She didn’t need to run.
She rolled over, planning to sleep in.
Then she heard faint sounds.
She turned inside the half-round bed and saw Chong Ming heading out.
Her body clock, trained for over three months to wake at 4:50, refused to let her fall back asleep.
She got up, washed her face, rinsed her mouth, changed clothes, and stepped out into the palace.
The steward from yesterday was already at the door. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, you’re awake. Would you like to take a walk, have breakfast, or look for His Highness?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “You stood here all night?”
“I didn’t,” the steward replied respectfully. “We work twelve-hour shifts. At night, we rotate every two hours.”
“Got it.” Jiang Tea Tea nodded, then asked, “Where did His Highness go so early?”
“To train,” the steward said. “No matter how late His Highness returns, he wakes at 4:45 and goes out at 4:50 to exercise.”
“If you’d like, I can take you.”
It wasn’t even five yet. And after the soothing, Jiang Tea Tea wasn’t hungry at all.
Idle was idle. A walk sounded fine. “Sure. Take me. And tell the kitchen to make breakfast extra generous.”
The steward relayed the order and led her along.
With the lights dimmed in the early dawn, the Imperial Palace looked even more ancient—winding stone paths, blooming flowers, thick trees.
Jiang Tea Tea got curious about just how huge the place was. She hopped onto a palace roof and looked down.
In lamplight and under her own eyes, it felt like two different worlds. Under her gaze, the palace looked even more magnificent and futuristic.
Palace after palace, layered endlessly.
Only two golden dragons lived here—yet the scale made it look like the Gold Dragon Clan had filled the entire place with descendants.
Below, the steward stared up at Jiang Tea Tea in shock.
The future princess consort’s ability level was terrifying. And she moved like she didn’t care about anything.
After she’d had her fill of the view, Jiang Tea Tea jumped down and continued forward.
About ten minutes later, she heard dragon roars—Sui Xuan Chu’s dragon roars.
The steward stopped. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, the training ground is three to five minutes ahead. At this time, His Highness Chong Ming and the Crown Prince are training. If you go now, you’ll see them.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded and followed the stone path.
The closer she got, the louder and more miserable Sui Xuan Chu’s roars became.
At the edge of the massive open-air training ground, she saw it clearly.
Sui Xuan Chu, disguised by drugs as a red-black dragon, was being kicked like a soccer ball by Big Golden Dragon Chong Ming, who’d deliberately shrunk his size to match Sui’s.
Again and again, Chong Ming punted him with a dragon claw. Again and again, Sui slammed into the ground. Again and again, he got up and charged—only to be battered down before he could even land a hit.
A perfect display of losing, fighting again, losing again, fighting again.
He didn’t dare run. Didn’t dare surrender.
Just one word: fight.
As the imperial family’s only seedling, the current Crown Prince, the future Emperor—his life was genuinely miserable.
Jiang Tea Tea couldn’t help thinking: Sui Xuan Chu had been so happy about her carrying his uncle’s cub—maybe he thought it meant Chong Ming would stop beating him.
Poor kid. Several scales had already been torn off.
Jiang Tea Tea cast an attack art at Chong Ming.
The invisible force shot toward Chong Ming’s dragon body.
Chong Ming dodged cleanly—then smacked his tail and slapped Sui Xuan Chu out of the air, smashing him onto the platform.
A ten-plus meter dragon couldn’t withstand that. Sui hit the ground, exhausted, and lay there unable to move.
Jiang Tea Tea hadn’t expected her sneak attack to miss.
She expected even less that Chong Ming would spot her and fly straight at her in dragon form.
His body was over two hundred meters long, deliberately shrunk to just over ten. Each scale gleamed like metal. Even the golden mane around his neck looked distinct and almost immortal.
His dragon muzzle was big, pure-blooded, powerful. His golden horns made Sui’s freshly matured horns look like a joke.
Watching that golden dragon rush toward her with her own eyes, Jiang Tea Tea realized something absurd.
She was hungry.
He looked delicious—nutritious, a massive supplement. The kind of thing she wanted to bury under her roots and eat slowly.
Chong Ming landed in front of her and transformed into human—high nose, golden eyes, high ponytail, training uniform, combat boots, broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs.
The moment he turned human, Jiang Tea Tea’s appetite vanished. She clicked her tongue, irritated. “Your dragon form is pretty. Why’d you turn human all of a sudden?”
So she liked his dragon form.
Next time, he should shift for her more.
Chong Ming kept his face unreadable. “Did you just ambush me?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked, innocent as a lamb. “Ambush you? Heaven as witness, I’ve been here less than ten minutes. Your training ground is far away. I didn’t even move a finger. How could I ambush you?”
“With my will? With my soul? Maybe your Imperial Palace has Insect Clan mixed in. You can’t find them, so you blame me?”
Chong Ming sighed lightly. “You don’t need to ambush me. If you want to help Sui Xuan Chu, you can support him openly and attack me together.”
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes. “Me support him? He should support me.”
On the platform, Sui Xuan Chu heard her and transformed back into human, wiping sweat off his face. He shouted, bright-eyed, “Sure! Roommate, come over! I’ll support you! We’ll beat my uncle together!”