Chapter 164
Chapter 164: The old golden dragon’s desire for his partner makes his scales pop out
As the supreme leader of the Zhenlin Empire, Chong Ming mostly used his StarNet account to repost major news about changes in the Empire.
In the more than 100 years since he registered the account, he did not post often, and it was the first time he had ever shared anything about his private life.
The video he posted shot straight to the trending list on StarNet and was forwarded and commented on by countless ordinary citizens of the Zhenlin Empire.
Someone left a comment: “A 6 second video, more than ten dishes, and that picky, crisp female voice was like a whole basin of dog food thrown in my face and forced into my mouth.”
Another person replied: “No, it wasn’t dog food flying over and forcing itself into your mouth, it was someone prying my mouth open and pouring the dog food in. And I still think it tastes amazing!”
Another comment said: “Even our excellent Commander in Chief Chong Ming gets picked on and disliked. My heart suddenly feels balanced. I feel super cute now!”
Someone quickly argued: “Cute my foot. He’s showing off his love, showing it off. He’s telling you men that even though he’s so busy, he still makes time to cook for his partner. Unlike some of you who make three to five thousand star credits a month and still use ‘busy’ as an excuse.”
Another person added: “Exactly, exactly. You men don’t really think Commander in Chief Chong Ming posted this video to complain about his woman, right?”
Someone wrote: “Fine, fine. Men’s reading comprehension is truly amazing. We really have to give them a thumbs up and say we’re impressed.”
Another said: “Exactly. He posted the video and purposely recorded his woman’s voice to show off his love, to rub his love in all our faces.”
Someone analyzed the video: “Look at the whole 6 seconds. His partner didn’t even show a finger. You only hear a voice, and the voice is so clear and sweet, picking on his cooking like she’s acting spoiled. Tell me, who wouldn’t like that?”
Another commented: “I like it. Just from his partner’s voice, I can imagine his partner must be small and delicate, fair-skinned, pure and beautiful at the same time. Let’s be real, how do I steal the Commander in Chief’s partner?”
Someone cried out: “Sob sob sob, Commander in Chief Chong Ming suddenly feels so down-to-earth, and he even has a woman. My heart feels so cold now.”
Someone else posted: “Look. Commander in Chief Chong Ming is busy with a thousand things every day, and he still has time to cook for his partner. Then look at some other men. Ask them to cook a dish or take care of the kid, and their only excuse is ‘busy, busy, busy’.”
Another agreed: “Right. From now on, if any man still dares to use busy as an excuse, think about it. No matter how busy or amazing you are, can you be busier than Commander in Chief Chong Ming? Can you be more amazing than Commander in Chief Chong Ming?”
Someone shared their own story: “I already grabbed our guy at home by the collar and shoved the video in his face. He’s now obediently cleaning up after the kid.”
Another person laughed: “Hahaha, that’s the way it should be. From now on, whenever some man says he’s tired and making money is hard, just throw this video of Commander in Chief Chong Ming at his face and scold him right to his nose.”
One more comment said: “That’s right. I’m eating dinner with my husband right now. Are you jealous? Good, be jealous. Picture already edited!”
A StarNet friend took a screenshot of the video and then edited themselves into the picture, making it look like they were eating together with their heartthrob idol, their idol, Commander in Chief Chong Ming.
StarNet was full of lively noise. Besides StarNet friends from the Zhenlin Empire, there were also StarNet friends from other nations in other star systems. They all joined in on being force-fed dog food. They felt Commander in Chief Chong Ming was no longer out of reach and that he had become cute.
Jiang Tea Tea did not know anything happening online. She picked apart more than twenty dishes on the table one by one. She even complained that the juice was too thick and the fruit pieces were cut too big.
From beginning to end, other than the few seconds when he posted the video and text, Chong Ming only ate, listened, and watched her.
After she finished talking, he picked up some meat and put it in her bowl: “All right, I remembered everything. I’ll improve next time. Come on, eat more.”
Jiang Tea Tea felt like she had punched a pile of soft cotton. She could not find a hint of impatience on his face, so she could only eat by herself, bite after bite.
There was not too much food, but not too little either. Jiang Tea Tea finished about half of it, and Chong Ming cleared the rest.
After the meal, Chong Ming answered a call and talked for about ten minutes right in front of Jiang Tea Tea. When he hung up, he took her out for a walk.
They walked for 45 minutes after dinner. The sky had just gone fully dark. Inside the Imperial Palace, the lights were as bright as daytime. Chong Ming brought Jiang Tea Tea to the garden of the Imperial Palace.
The trees in the garden were all tall and straight. Some were so thick one person could not wrap their arms around them, and some needed several people to wrap around.
Each tree had lived for hundreds or even thousands of years. When Jiang Tea Tea arrived, the windless trees began to move their branches on their own, and the leaves rustled.
In the very center of the garden stood a Nutrient Fruit tree so large that several people could not wrap their arms around it. As soon as Jiang Tea Tea reached the base of the tree, the fruit began to fall down with a rustling sound.
Golden yellow Nutrient Fruit dropped all over the ground. Not a single one hit her, and very few were damaged. Almost all of them were whole and perfect.
Jiang Tea Tea shouted in delight: “Chong Ming, this tree is dropping fruit for me to eat. Hurry, help me pick them up!”
It was also the first time Chong Ming had seen a Nutrient Fruit tree drop good fruit on its own without people picking them, instead of dropping rotten fruit.
He took out a box from his space knob storage device, bent his waist, and began picking up Nutrient Fruit from the ground.
Jiang Tea Tea patted the trunk of the Nutrient Fruit tree: “Thank you, that’s enough, that’s enough. You don’t need to drop any more, I can’t eat that much.”
“You’re so big, so beautiful, so handsome. Keep going, you can live a thousand years, ten thousand years, and become the sweetest Nutrient Fruit tree.”
The huge Nutrient Fruit tree shook its branches once, and a fruit about the size of her palm dropped.
Jiang Tea Tea reached out and caught it right in her palm. It really felt like the Nutrient Fruit tree understood her encouragement and expectations.
Jiang Tea Tea raised the fruit and took a bite. It was seven parts sweet and three parts sour, just right for her taste. She looked up at the tree: “Thank you. Your fruit is so sweet. I like it very much.”
The giant Nutrient Fruit tree shook its leaves again, making a rustling sound, as if it was answering her words.
While he picked up fruit from the ground, Chong Ming watched Jiang Tea Tea from the corner of his eye. In that moment, he felt like she could talk to the big tree.
The hundreds and thousands of years old trees in the Imperial Palace garden all seemed to like her. On a night without wind, their branches and leaves kept shaking.
Jiang Tea Tea finished the fruit in her hand, then bent down to help Chong Ming pick up fruit. She put both the good ones and the bad ones into the box.
The Nutrient Fruit tree had given her a gift. She liked it all, good or bad. She wanted all of it. She could eat them and absorb the nutrients inside.
After they filled two big boxes with Nutrient Fruit, Jiang Tea Tea put them into her own space knob storage device and left in high spirits.
Chong Ming followed one step behind her. As he watched her jump lightly along the path, he smelled a fresh fragrance.
This fragrance was like the scent of the flower that had fallen from Jiang Tea Tea’s head before. But now there was no flower on her head. The scent was coming from her body. When he picked her up earlier there was no smell, and at dinner there was no smell. It started the moment she bent down to pick fruit and grew stronger and stronger.
As he breathed in this fragrance, his supernatural abilities grew restless. His spiritual power felt soothed and calmed, and he felt so comfortable that he wanted to change into his beast form.
Chong Ming held back the urge to transform into his beast form and followed Jiang Tea Tea back to their living palace. In an instant, the fragrance from her body filled the whole bedroom where they stayed.
Even when she went to the bathroom to wash up, the scent did not fade. It drifted out of the bathroom, faint but steady.
Chong Ming took out the flower with white petals and a yellow center. It was in full bloom and looked as fresh as if it were still on the branch.
Jiang Tea Tea washed up in the bathroom for half an hour, completely unaware that the barrier art she had set had faded away. The scent of flowers and tea was now spreading from her whole body.
When she opened the bathroom door, the strong mix of flower and tea fragrance poured out from the bathroom to the bedroom. It drifted out the window, spread through the entire Imperial Palace, and even farther away.
Smelling the sudden strong scent and looking into the golden eyes of Jiang Tea Tea that had suddenly deepened, Chong Ming tightened his grip on the light-brain wrist terminal in his hand. He stood up and walked to her: “These are the files for the mission you will do in a few days. Besides your biological parents, here is information on the other important criminal suspects from the White Wolf Tribe. Look over them first, remember their faces and their supernatural abilities.”
Jiang Tea Tea took the light-brain wrist terminal he passed to her: “Okay.”
The closer he was to her, the stronger her scent became. The smell only fed his desire for her more and more. He wanted to get close to her, press against her, hug her, kiss her…
The tips of Chong Ming’s ears turned red. He stepped back two steps: “I’m going to wash up.”
Jiang Tea Tea did not even look at him. She just answered: “Oh,” then walked to the bed with the light-brain wrist terminal in hand.
Chong Ming watched her sit cross-legged on the bed, the light-brain wrist terminal resting on her legs, her long black hair hanging down, as she seriously read the files. Then he went into the bathroom.
Before, he would take a warm bath. Now, warm baths were not an option. He filled the tub with cold water and added ice.
The bathroom was not very big or very small. The scent left from when Jiang Tea Tea washed up clung to the air and would not leave. It seeped into every corner.
Breathing in the scent tormented Chong Ming. The golden dragon scales on his body popped out. He soaked for a full half hour in ice water to force the scales back down and cool his burning desire for Jiang Tea Tea.
Jiang Tea Tea carefully finished reading the files that Chong Ming had given her about several important criminal suspects from the White Wolf Tribe. They were all related to the fake young miss, and their supernatural abilities were all level S or above. They had speed-type abilities and roar-type supernatural abilities.
But to her, after staying here so long, other than not being able to beat Chong Ming, she had not found anyone else she could not beat.
Jiang Tea Tea put down the light-brain wrist terminal and flopped back on the bed. She put her hand on her belly, and the babies inside bumped their heads and bodies against her palm.
Chong Ming came out of the bathroom with his whole body icy cold, wearing a black bathrobe. He had tied the belt tight at first, but when he walked up to the mirror and saw the bite marks Jiang Tea Tea had left on his neck, he stopped.
He loosened the belt a bit and tugged the robe aside from his chest, exposing his chest. Leaving the bathroom, he stepped into the bedroom. His eyes could not help but turn toward the bed, and his feet automatically carried him closer.
The dragon scales he had forced back down with ice water and willpower surged out again, appearing across his chest, his neck, and his face.
All the control he had over his desire for Jiang Tea Tea shattered the instant he saw her.
Hearing footsteps, Jiang Tea Tea sat up and looked at Chong Ming. Her gaze froze and her heart suddenly beat faster: “Chong Ming, there are dragon scales on your neck, your chest, and your face. What’s wrong? Are your supernatural abilities out of control again?”