Chapter 149
Chapter 149: Beast Form Really Is Popular—Once She Touched Him, He Clung On
What was this old peacock even thinking?
Who was sneaking?
She wasn’t trying to pet him.
She was trying to kill him, bury him under her roots, and eat him.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at the dragon head resting in her palm and tightened her fingers, aiming for his neck.
Hard.
Too hard.
His scales were like armor. She couldn’t even get a grip.
Chong Ming tilted his head up, exposing his throat like he was offering it. “My scales are hard and sharp. When you touch my neck, be careful not to cut your hand.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth twitched.
Touch?
She was trying to snap his neck, not stroke him.
Was he blind?
Did he not feel the killing intent?
Why did it suddenly feel like she wanted his life—and he thought she was flirting?
“Is that so?” Jiang Tea Tea said through clenched teeth. “Your scales are hard. Let me try.”
She poured magic into her hand and squeezed openly.
His scales really were as hard as he claimed. Even with magic, she couldn’t break through and twist his neck.
Chong Ming lifted his head higher, as if presenting a better angle.
Like he was saying: go ahead. Try harder. I’ll even pose for you.
Jiang Tea Tea refused to believe it. She was a great demon. She still had over thirty percent of her magic power. His neck was in her hand.
How could she not snap it?
She couldn’t.
And to make it worse, Old Loach Chong Ming’s tail wrapped around her wrist.
He was treating her murder attempt like a game.
Jiang Tea Tea felt blood rise in her throat. She almost spat it in his face. “Didn’t you say beast form can’t talk?”
“Why can you talk in beast form?”
“Everything is possible,” Chong Ming said lazily. “Miracles happen.”
“Speak human.”
Chong Ming’s tone stayed calm. “When a beastfolk’s ability level reaches a certain point, many ‘impossible’ things become possible.”
“Beast-form speech is one of them.”
“In theory, every beastfolk man and beastfolk woman can speak in beast form. Most are just too weak to support it.”
In Jiang Tea Tea’s ears, it translated to: everyone else is trash, and he was the only one strong.
She released his neck.
His tail didn’t release her wrist.
It tightened like he was afraid she’d run.
Jiang Tea Tea shook her hand. “Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming, men and women shouldn’t be this close. Take your tail off me. Get lost.”
Chong Ming pushed himself upright.
He didn’t loosen his tail.
His golden eyes lowered, watching her. “It’s eleven. Time to sleep.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s temper flared. “You know it’s time to sleep, and you still won’t get lost?”
“It’s my bed,” Chong Ming said calmly.
Jiang Tea Tea shot back, “So I should get lost?”
Chong Ming paused, then conceded. His tail loosened.
He crawled to the far corner of the bed, coiled up, and buried his head like a pitiful little thing.
Jiang Tea Tea stared.
What kind of dragon coiled up like that—like a miserable lump?
Anyone who didn’t know better would think she’d bullied him, slept with him, then kicked him aside like a heartless monster.
“Hey.” Jiang Tea Tea pointed at him. “Get off the bed.”
Chong Ming’s deep voice came muffled. “Already asleep.”
Jiang Tea Tea laughed. “Can you be more ridiculous?”
Silence.
Jiang Tea Tea kicked him.
The coiled golden dragon didn’t move.
She kicked again.
And again.
His thick golden scales didn’t care.
Her foot turned red.
At that point, she understood. He was determined to sleep on the bed tonight.
Even if he’d shrunk from a two-hundred-meter beast form into a one-meter noodle, he still wanted the bed.
Truly—able to bend, able to stretch. The concept had incarnated in him.
Jiang Tea Tea had slept too comfortably on that bed last night to give it up.
So she lay down too.
The lights dimmed automatically. Two gemstones embedded in the half-round bed glowed faintly.
Wrapped in her blanket, Jiang Tea Tea cast a magic formula to shield herself and shut her eyes.
Chong Ming released mental power soothing as well.
In the dark, he lifted his dragon head and watched the back of her head in silence.
His whiskers curled slightly.
Meanwhile, Sui Xuan Chu had been dragged into training the moment he returned to the Imperial Palace.
Beaten. Drilled. Beaten again.
It didn’t end until midnight.
He didn’t get a bed.
He got the Imperial Palace medical room’s medical pod.
Wearing nothing but underwear and still in his drug-disguised red-black dragon form, he soaked in healing fluid, hissing through his teeth.
He nearly smashed the pod glass with his tail.
Finally, the treatment kicked in. The pain eased.
He closed his eyes.
He barely managed to drift—
When someone knocked on the pod.
Bang, bang, bang.
The pod opened. The avian beastfolk who’d beat him last night stood there, polite as death. “Your Highness, it’s 4:50. It’s time to train.”
Sui Xuan Chu stared, brain blank. “…Ten minutes. Training ground.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The avian beastfolk bowed. “Same as yesterday—training until 7:15.”
Sui Xuan Chu waved him off.
Once the guard left, Sui punched the pod glass and let out a soul-deep sigh.
Then he rushed through dressing, brushing teeth, washing face, and sprinted for the training ground.
Jiang Tea Tea woke up and realized it was already past five.
Her three-month body clock had finally broken.
And Chong Ming wasn’t on the bed.
She rolled happily, thinking he must’ve gone to train like yesterday.
She hummed a little demon clan tune, refreshed and cheerful—
Only to step out of the bedroom and find Chong Ming fully dressed, back straight, sitting on the sofa.
Multiple screens floated in the air. A lightbrain rested on his legs. Files were stacked beside him.
Jiang Tea Tea’s humming died in her throat.
Chong Ming looked up. “Nice song. Keep going.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth twitched. “Shouldn’t you be training right now?”
“Urgent work,” Chong Ming replied.
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “To wear a crown, you have to bear its weight. Commander-in-Chief really isn’t an easy job.”
She still had to give birth.
Still had to raise cubs.
Still had to become famous across the galaxy.
An absurd shortcut popped into her head.
Better than being Commander-in-Chief.
When she gave birth, she could livestream it across the M31 star system—broadcast herself laying five dragons.
Instant fame.
The thought barely formed before the fake heiress’s leftover consciousness inside her rejected it violently.
Going viral because you laid five dragons wasn’t real glory, it insisted. It wasn’t a woman’s true shining moment.
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes internally. It was just a thought. She wasn’t actually going to do it.
Chong Ming’s lips curved faintly. “Commander-in-Chief. Second only to one, above billions.”
“And when I’m angry, I can even challenge Sui Xuan Chu.”
“How is that not a good position?”
Jiang Tea Tea sneered. “If it’s such a good position, stay in it. Why are you trying to push me into it?”
“You’re suitable,” Chong Ming said simply.
Jiang Tea Tea slapped her belly lightly. “I still have to raise babies.”
“I can take over entirely,” Chong Ming said, calm as if he were offering to water a plant.
Jiang Tea Tea clapped once, dripping sarcasm. “Oh wow. So that’s what all the buildup was for.”
Chong Ming closed the floating screens and shut his lightbrain. His tone turned serious, like he was negotiating a treaty.
“First, the cub is yours. I won’t fight you for it. It will be registered under your name. You choose its name. You have absolute guardianship.”
“Second, whether we register a marriage is entirely your decision. Whenever you want to do it, I’ll cooperate.”
“Third, if you don’t trust me, we can sign legal agreements—anything that benefits you and the cub.”
Jiang Tea Tea walked up and stared down at him, unimpressed. “You’re the one who amends laws, and you’re talking to me about signing legal agreements? That’s not convincing.”
“And as for my cubs… you incubated Sui Xuan Chu on the battlefield and raised him. I can do the same.”
Chong Ming met her gaze steadily. “Any agreements signed before a law amendment will be enforced under the original law. My amendments won’t invalidate what we sign.”
“I raised Sui Xuan Chu on the battlefield because I couldn’t spare the time. When your cubs are born, I can raise them.”
“You climb toward the Commander-in-Chief position. Climb toward top healer. It’ll be faster.”
Jiang Tea Tea smiled without warmth. “Thanks for thinking of me. I’m not interested.”
“I’ll work hard. If I can do it, I’ll do it. If I can’t, I’ll drop it.”
Chong Ming gave a quiet nod. “Fine. I respect your choice.”
Then he asked again, voice softer, almost careful. “So… can I touch your belly today and say hi to it?”
“No.” Jiang Tea Tea stepped back immediately.
“Understood.” Chong Ming didn’t argue. He switched topics like a blade turning. “Go wash up. Afterward, bring out the homework you don’t understand. I’ll explain it.”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “Are you monitoring me twenty-four seven?”
“Not that much,” Chong Ming replied evenly. “Your homework got an A. Not an S.”
“I know because your eight-person learning plan was designed by me. Your learning progress and exam scores are recorded in a separate system.”
“I have access. Sometimes I check it—just to keep track.”
Jiang Tea Tea snorted and went to wash.
The sleepwear she’d worn was from his bathroom. She left it there and changed into her uniform.
When she came out, Chong Ming handed her half a cup of water.
She drank and sat down across from him, books open, lightbrain display ready, asking questions without ceremony.
Separated by a low table, he explained calmly—breaking concepts down, giving examples, laying out logic so cleanly she could connect the dots herself.
He was better than her teachers.
Half an hour later, what she hadn’t understood suddenly felt obvious.
She retook a test. Redid the assignment.
In the process, she drank two cups of milk, ate two red fruits, and three nutrient fruits.
When she finally stretched, her loose uniform rode up slightly, exposing a sliver of waist.
At that exact moment, the cubs moved.
Her belly rippled visibly.
Chong Ming’s golden eyes deepened, glued to her stomach.
His hand clenched into a fist, wanting to touch—and forcing himself not to.
Jiang Tea Tea noticed his gaze and yanked her shirt down. Her tone turned sharp. “What are you looking at?”
Chong Ming lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I just saw the cub move.”
“It’s alive,” Jiang Tea Tea said flatly. “Of course it moves. Stop making a fuss.”
Chong Ming’s voice dropped. “You’re right. I am making a fuss.”
Jiang Tea Tea snorted internally.
He’d incubated Sui Xuan Chu. Raised him.
Why did he still look like a man who’d never seen a cub in his life?
She stood. “Keep fussing. I’m going to eat.”
Chong Ming’s fist loosened. “I’ll go with you.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t answer. She walked out.
Chong Ming followed.
Outside the palace, she heard faint, broken dragon roars in the distance.
She gave Sui Xuan Chu two seconds of silence.
Gold dragon clan royalty wasn’t a place for ordinary people.
Sui Xuan Chu was already excellent, but in front of his uncle, he was still trash.
Other people could be trash and slack off.
He couldn’t.
He had to train harder than anyone.
Jiang Tea Tea packed extra breakfast.
When Sui Xuan Chu boarded the flyer, she shoved the whole bundle into his arms. “Eat.”
Sui Xuan Chu had already chugged two nutrient tubes and wasn’t hungry at all.
But his roommate remembered him. Thought of him. Packed him food.
He hugged the bag like it was treasure and looked at her with watery, grateful eyes. “Roommate… if you don’t marry my uncle, and I officially inherit as Emperor, I’ll grant you the title of High Noble.”
“I’ll make my brother or sister the second in line to the throne.”
“And I’ll push my uncle down to third.”