Chapter 156
Chapter 156: The Tea Tree Spirit’s Flower Bud Gets Yanked Off By Chong Ming, So Outrageous
[A date?
That word was enough to kill. How could it come out of that old mud loach’s mouth? She really could not believe it.]
Jiang Tea Tea stared at the two words for a long time. She stared until they started to look strange and unfamiliar. Then she waved at Sui Xuan Chu.
Sui Xuan Chu came over and leaned next to her, asking: “What’s wrong, roommate?”
Jiang Tea Tea showed him the message on her light-brain wrist terminal and asked: “Did someone hack your uncle’s account?”
Sui Xuan Chu looked at the big word “date”. In his heart he let out a silent wow. This was just like his uncle. He had sent his uncle a voice message, and his uncle had taken action. Beautiful.
Of course, Sui Xuan Chu could not tell Jiang Tea Tea that he had sold her out. He put on an exaggerated face and said: “I also think his account was hacked. But then again, looking across the whole M31 Star System, who would even have the ability to hack his account?”
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at the light-brain wrist terminal and said: “No one has the ability to hack his account. He just took the wrong medicine and sent the wrong message.”
Sui Xuan Chu made a small sound: “Is there any chance he really is asking you out on a date, roommate?”
Jiang Tea Tea let out a scornful little laugh: “Sui Xuan Chu, do you even hear what you’re saying? Him asking me out on a date. Is that possible?”
[Possible. Very possible.
His roommate’s belly was carrying his uncle’s baby.
His uncle, that obviously pure-hearted old dragon, had started to catch fire.
How could a dragon on fire just let himself burn? Of course he would drag his partner home.]
Standing firmly on his uncle’s side, Sui Xuan Chu said: “Whether my uncle would ask you on a date or not, you just have to go look at the Academy gate, right?”
“Hurry up and go. I’ll stay here and do homework with Huang Da Zhuang and the others. I’ll help you keep notes for that notebook assignment and whatever.”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned: “Are you serious?”
Sui Xuan Chu was very decisive. He directly called an Academy single-seat flier for her and stuffed her into it, saying: “Go to the gate and take a look. If he’s not there, just come back.”
Jiang Tea Tea did not believe that Chong Ming, that old mud loach, would stand at the Academy gate waiting to go on a date with her. Being shoved into the single-seat flier, she did not struggle. She thought this was a good chance to slip out of the Academy, take a long detour, go to the back mountain of the Academy, sink her roots into Mother Earth, and absorb Mother Earth’s nutrients.
Huang Da Zhuang watched the single-seat flier fly off and asked Sui Xuan Chu: “Sui Xuan Chu, top student rank, where did my Sister Tea go?”
Sui Xuan Chu could not say that his roommate had gone on a date with his uncle, so he just laughed: “Classified.”
Huang Da Zhuang was shocked: “Classified? You mean my Sister Tea is carrying out a secret mission?”
“Shh, keep it low-key, low-key.” Sui Xuan Chu quickly made a shushing gesture. He did not deny it, letting Huang Da Zhuang imagine whatever he wanted.
Huang Da Zhuang covered his mouth and said in a muffled voice: “I get it, I get it.”
Sui Xuan Chu pulled his gaze back and said: “Come on, let’s go do homework. When we finish, I’ll treat you all to a meal outside.”
Huang Da Zhuang, Cheng Xiao Ting, and the others nodded quickly: “Okay, okay. I know a late-night place. The prices are commoner level, the dishes are fresh, lots of people go there to eat.”
“Perfect. We finish our homework today and then go. For the late-night snack, and for Commander in Chief Chong Ming, hurry and do your homework.”
The seven of them went to the library together, took over a corner, and started to study and do their homework.
Jiang Tea Tea walked out of the Academy and looked around. Other than Academy staff members and all kinds of flying devices parked not far from the gate, she did not see Chong Ming at all.
She was very happy about that. She was about to take out her own flying device and fly to the back mountain of the Academy when a flying device stopped right in front of her.
Jiang Tea Tea had just started to step back when the window of the flying device rolled down. Chong Ming, with his hair, eye color, and face all disguised, stuck his head out and looked at her: “Get in.”
Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head slightly down and to the side and looked at him. His hair and pupils were disguised as black. His big golden dragon horns were also disguised as black. His cold, sharp features were disguised into an ordinary face. He had not bothered to disguise his voice, and he had not hidden his aura at all.
Even the flying device he was driving looked, from the outside, like one of the hundreds of white two-seater flying devices you could see at a glance on the street.
He wore a white shirt and long pants. His disguised long hair was tied into a ponytail. Because of his eyes and his aura, one look was enough to tell he was not ordinary.
“Jiang Tea Tea…”
Chong Ming opened his mouth again and had just called out her name when Jiang Tea Tea’s hand reached for his forehead.
His voice cut off at once. He narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at her.
Jiang Tea Tea felt his forehead, then touched her own.
Dragons were pure yang, a great tonic. His forehead did feel a little hotter than hers, but not hot enough to be a real fever.
No fever, yet he had come to ask her on a date.
[Oh. She understood now. He was thinking about her babies. He wanted to confuse her, make her drop her guard.]
Jiang Tea Tea waved her hand to refuse: “If you want a date, go ask someone else. I still have homework to finish. See you.”
“Jiang Tea Tea.” Chong Ming saw that she was about to leave and called out to her. He got out of the flying device and came to stand in front of her: “Get in. I’m not working overtime today. Come have a meal with me.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes turned, and she lifted her chin to look at him: “Is there anything in it for me?”
Chong Ming lowered his gaze into her dark, shiny eyes and asked in a husky voice: “What do you want?”
“Give me some dragon blood to keep as backup?” Jiang Tea Tea asked.
Chong Ming nodded: “Alright. Get in.”
He was a little too easy to talk into things. She suddenly felt like she was bullying an honest old dragon.
Jiang Tea Tea shook her head hard and threw out that messy, wrong feeling. She followed Chong Ming around to the other side, to the front passenger seat.
Chong Ming opened the passenger door.
Jiang Tea Tea sat down naturally.
Her matter-of-course attitude made Da Ma Zi and the others, who were in the invisibility warship protecting their Commander in Chief, almost stare their eyes out.
When had their Commander in Chief ever opened a car door for someone else?
Even when leaders and sovereigns of other nations came, they had never enjoyed this kind of treatment.
So schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea was not only the Zhenlin Empire’s only Variant 3 Level S plant-type healing master. She was also the future Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and regent Prince of the Blood consort that their Commander in Chief was personally training.
Their Commander in Chief really was different, a man among men. Other men did not want their female partners to outshine them or surpass their skills.
But their Commander in Chief was willing to give his female partner the stars, and even stuff a moon in there. He would lift his female partner up, let her step on his shoulders, and let her climb higher and stand higher.
They were sure that even if their Commander in Chief registered his marriage with Jiang Tea Tea, he would not easily reveal her status as Prince of the Blood consort. He would push her step by step until she sat firmly as Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and became the top tier healer in all Interstellar Space. Only then would he reveal her identity as Prince of the Blood consort.
The flying device rose into the air. Chong Ming switched it to autopilot. Then he reached back into his space knob storage device and took out a bouquet of flowers…
“Hold it farther away. Quickly, farther away.” Jiang Tea Tea twisted her body sideways against the car door and stared at the bright red flowers in his hand like they were a deadly enemy: “Don’t let them touch me.”
[Why in the world had he taken out the bright, blooming reproductive organs of plants?
He wasn’t planning to give them to her, was he? No, no. If she wanted flowers, she could bloom them herself. She might not have bloomed yet, but that did not mean she couldn’t.]
It was Chong Ming’s first time buying flowers, and his first time giving flowers to a pure human woman. He had not expected her reaction to be this intense, as if the flowers in his hand were poisonous beasts or live artillery shells.
Chong Ming put the flowers back into the space knob storage device and looked at her: “You don’t like flowers. What do you like?”
Jiang Tea Tea opened the window of the flying device and let the wind blow away the floral scent in the small space. She took several deep breaths of the air outside, then turned her head and met his gaze. She said in a faint voice: “I like your blood. I like your meat. When you have nothing to do, just bleed a bit more and cut off some meat for me.”
Chong Ming could see that she really hated flowers. She hated them so much she could not stand even a little floral scent: “Alright. Next time there’s a chance, I’ll let you taste my meat.”
Jiang Tea Tea could not believe what she had just heard. She asked, unsure: “You’re willing to let me taste your meat?”
Chong Ming’s disguised black eyes were like a deep abyss, trapping Jiang Tea Tea inside: “If you want it, if you like it, I’ll let you taste it when there’s a chance.”
In his beast form, his scales were hard and difficult to bite or chew. In human form, it would be a bit easier. Letting her bite him twice and gnaw him twice was no big deal.
Jiang Tea Tea smiled until her eyes curved into crescents. She gave Chong Ming a good guy card: “Chong Ming, you really are a good dragon.”
Chong Ming’s lips hooked up a little: “Thanks for the compliment.”
Jiang Tea Tea said with a bright smile: “You’re welcome. You deserve it.”
[She had already drunk dragon blood. Next she would try dragon meat.
She would be the first demon in their Demon Clan to eat dragon meat and drink dragon blood.
When she brought her babies back to the Demon Clan, her bragging could go all the way to the sky.]
Jiang Tea Tea had never gone on a date. Chong Ming had never gone on a date either.
A dragon and a demon, and neither of them had ever dated.
Jiang Tea Tea felt that he was only being nice to her because he was thinking about her babies.
She just waited to eat snacks and watch a movie.
In the 360 degree wraparound, ultra high screen, immersive theater, Jiang Tea Tea did not even last ten minutes. Her head tilted to one side, and she fell asleep.
Chong Ming listened to her even breathing. With his good eyesight, he watched her sleeping face for a while. Then he opened the forum about how to pursue pure human women. Under a long list of “how to pursue pure humans” steps, he left a bad review.
Jiang Tea Tea was woken up by the sound of applause and sighs. The 120 minute war movie had ended. The people who had watched the movie with them clapped while talking excitedly: “This movie was so tight and thrilling. The male lead is based on Commander in Chief Chong Ming. He isn’t as handsome, domineering, and calm as Marshal Chong Ming, but the resemblance is already very strong.”
“Especially the final battle with the insectoid race on Jindou Star. In the sky there were all kinds of warships, fighter craft, and unmanned drone swarms. On the ground there were mecha armor units and mechanical hounds and mechanical panthers carrying heavy firepower. The scenes were so grand, so bloody, so realistic.”
“Right, right, it was so realistic, so real it felt like we were actually there. The female lead was super pretty too, a Level S-2 plant-type combat healing master.”
“Yes, the female lead was very cool, with a great figure. She fought so clean and sharp, and she treated calming supernatural abilities and smoothing spiritual power all the same.”
“Do you think Commander in Chief Chong Ming, in real life, also has a plant-type combat healing master like the female lead following behind him, always supporting him?”
“Impossible. Based on my many years of worship and research on Commander in Chief Chong Ming, if someone like the female lead in the movie really appeared at his side, he would not let her stand behind him to support him. He would push her to the place where she should stand so she could shine.”
“Exactly. Look at the job appointments from Imperial Military Headquarters, Imperial Palace, and all kinds of public officials. The ratio of females to males has already reached 4 to 6. That is far higher than other nations, who are still at 2 to 8 or 1 to 9.”
“The head of the Information Department and the deputy secretary general around Commander in Chief Chong Ming are all female, and very outstanding.”
“From this, we can see that in Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s eyes, outstanding women should not stand behind men. They should stand alongside men, or even above men.”
“Commander in Chief Chong Ming has never supported the idea that a woman’s duty is only to marry a man and have children and care for younglings.”
“He once said that raising younglings is the work of both men and women, not just women. Women also have the right to chase their dreams and be unstoppable. Anyone or anything that blocks a woman’s growth is breaking the law.”
Jiang Tea Tea leaned her body toward Chong Ming and quietly asked him: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming is loved by so many common citizens. Now that you are hearing this in person, how do you feel?”
Chong Ming also tilted his head toward her and said: “I don’t feel anything. It’s how it should be.”
Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue at him: “Narcissist.”
The big lights in the theater switched on.
Chong Ming reached back into his space knob storage device and took out a mask. He handed it to Jiang Tea Tea: “Cover your face. Let’s go.”
Jiang Tea Tea took the mask and covered her face. She had just stood up and taken one step when Chong Ming grabbed her hand.
Jiang Tea Tea pulled back on instinct: “What are you doing?”
Chong Ming reminded her: “The lights aren’t very bright, and there are steps. I’ll hold your hand while we walk.”
[Jiang Tea Tea: “????”
He was holding her hand?
Even if she only had three and a half layers of spiritual power, she was still a strong demon, not some weak little white flower.]
“That’s not really necessary…”
“Sorry, could you please walk a little faster?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s words of refusal were drowned out by the urging voice of the person behind them.
She could not pull her hand back. She could only let Chong Ming hold her hand.
His hand was big, hot, and dry.
Jiang Tea Tea suddenly thought of how, back at First Hotel, he had dragged her onto the bed, his hand burning hot as it gripped her jaw and neck.
Because the movie was new, many people had come to watch it, and some media were doing random interviews.
As soon as Jiang Tea Tea and Chong Ming walked out of the theater, they were stopped by an interviewer, who smiled at them and asked: “Hello, mister, miss. We are staff members from Video Channel. We’d like to interview you. What do you think of the movie ‘New Student’ you just watched?”
Chong Ming looked at Jiang Tea Tea: “What do you think?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked: “I watched for ten minutes and then fell asleep. What could I possibly think?”
Chong Ming nodded, then looked at the interviewer: “She only watched ten minutes and slept for a hundred and ten. She has no thoughts.”
“As for me, I think the movie was very grand, the scenes huge, and the story flowed smoothly. But in 120 minutes, it didn’t show even one tenth of how bloody the battlefield really is.”
“A real battlefield, whether on a planet or in space, once it starts, is always either you live and I die, or I live and you die.”
“Battlefields are bloody. Hard won victories need to be remembered. Next time they shoot a similar movie, I suggest they apply to the relevant authorities to view the battlefield recording archive, then discuss with the relevant authorities how to restore a battle as faithfully as possible.”
The interviewer froze for a moment, then quickly asked: “I’m sorry, but I want to ask, is it really possible to apply to view the battlefield recording archive?”
Chong Ming answered: “It has only been a few years since our Zhenlin Empire ended the war. Many younglings and young people never took part in battle and never faced war directly. They don’t know how cruel war is.”
“If they are filming related shows and restoring related battles, and their paperwork is in order, they can apply to the relevant authorities to view the battlefield recording archive.”
“The premise is that the filmed show and written lines can really restore the battle, instead of just letting the audience see romance and see women silently supporting men from behind.”
“The movie we watched today is adapted from the Jindou Star battle seventy six years ago. In that battle, Commander in Chief Chong Ming was the remote chief commander. He was not actually on scene at the Jindou Star battle.”
“At Jindou Star, the general who led the on site command was a great, smart, strong, and unyielding female major general, Ling Si Tong.”
“But in today’s ‘New Student’ movie, they did not mention Major General Ling Si Tong at all. They put all of her credit on a man.”
“They even said the male field commander’s prototype was Commander in Chief Chong Ming. That is misleading. It misleads the broad masses of common citizens and younglings.”
“The victory of the war was not only the credit of Commander in Chief Chong Ming. It was the credit of the whole Empire and all the soldiers.”
“We can worship one person, but we cannot worship anyone blindly. Whoever did the work should receive the credit. Please do not casually stuff other people’s achievements onto one person. That is unfair to the soldiers still alive, unfair even to the soldiers who died. It is unfair to everyone.”
The staff member doing the interview felt a strong shock in his heart. The other people coming out of the theater clapped and cheered even more: “He’s right. Dragon Clan big brother in front, what you said is so right. If you adapt something, you should still restore it.”
“The scenes were grand and realistic, but if they don’t restore the truth, something will always be missing. We can’t really understand our own decades old history.”
“Decades ago is not that far from us. Filming shows that choose to forget is not right.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at Chong Ming standing next to her. This dragon really was the top tier enchanting Universal Heartthrob. He was always giving off charm.
Look at that. He watched one movie and already drew so much love, applause, and worship. And this was when he was still in disguise.
If he were not disguised, this entire cinema would probably crash. They would be surrounded by his fanboys and fangirls until not even a drop of water could get through.
This even made her heart beat faster for no good reason. She felt a little thirsty, a little hungry, a little greedy for him.
The interviewer felt that this segment of the interview would definitely explode in popularity when it aired. He quickly asked again: “Mister, may I have your surname? Could you leave a contact number or address? Later we can send you a gift.”
Chong Ming refused: “No need. Goodbye.”
When he finished speaking, he pulled Jiang Tea Tea away with him.
Jiang Tea Tea felt that her head was a little itchy. As she walked with him, she reached up and scratched it.
The two of them left the cinema and got into the flying device.
Chong Ming turned his head to remind Jiang Tea Tea to fasten her seatbelt, but his gaze stopped on her head: “Jiang Tea Tea, your head?”
Jiang Tea Tea had already felt her head itch inside the theater, but now it no longer itched. “What about my head?”
“Don’t move.” Chong Ming reached his hand toward her head. “There’s a flower bud on your head.”
Jiang Tea Tea let out a cry: “There’s a flower bud on my head… ow, that hurts…”
She did not finish her sentence. She reached up and held her head.
Chong Ming pulled his hand back. His hand drooped in front of her: “There was an unopened flower bud on your head. I picked it off for you.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at the round, deep green flower bud in his palm. Her pupils suddenly shrank tight.
A flower bud.
He had yanked off the flower bud she had grown?