Chapter 166

Chapter 166: If Flowers Can’t Be Pollinated and Won’t Grow Saplings, Might as Well Eat Them

Jiang Tea Tea’s pupils tightened. She tried to sit up and reach for her head, but Chong Ming pinned her wrists to the bed—firm, controlled, not hurting her.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said quietly. “I’m only telling you. You bloomed, and you smell good.”

Jiang Tea Tea stared at him, wary and sharp. “You—”

“I’m done,” Chong Ming said, cutting her off gently. He released her hands and straightened. “Sleep. I’m going back to handle state affairs.”

He turned to leave.

Jiang Tea Tea pushed herself up at once, suspicion blazing. “What are you suspecting?”

Chong Ming glanced back with a faint, unreadable smile. “What do you want me to suspect?”

Jiang Tea Tea searched his face for a crack, a tell—anything. There was nothing. He was cold and composed, as if he’d never leaned close to her at all.

Chong Ming seemed to understand what she was thinking. His voice softened, just a touch. “Everyone has secrets they don’t want others to know.”

“You do. I do. Sui Xuan Chu does. Everyone you know does.”

He paused, then continued, deliberate. “So don’t panic. Don’t be afraid. If you don’t want to say it, I won’t ask. If you ever want to tell me, I’ll listen.”

“And if you’re worried I’ll send you to the Ability Research Institute, or do something to you…” His gaze sharpened. “You don’t need to worry.”

“I won’t fight you for the cubs. I won’t steal them. But I won’t deny that they’re mine.”

His voice dropped, carrying a quiet, absolute promise. “My cubs’ mom can be commander-in-chief. She can become the best healer in the galaxy. She can do anything she wants.”

“But she will never lie in the Ability Research Institute and be dissected for research.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes narrowed, full of scrutiny.

Chong Ming stepped back two paces under her stare, then turned and left. He shut off the bedroom lights on his way out and closed the door behind him.

The room wasn’t pitch black—palace night lighting still filtered in faintly—but it was dim enough.

Jiang Tea Tea slowly lifted a hand to her head.

Two blossoms.

She froze, then sniffed her sleeve, her hair, her skin.

Flower scent. Tea scent.

The barrier technique she’d used to suppress her fragrance had dispersed at some point, and because the scent was her own, she’d ignored it completely.

Annoyance flared hot and immediate.

Jiang Tea Tea yanked both flowers off her head and popped them into her mouth like snacks. She chewed with vindictive satisfaction.

Her flowers. Her scent. Her business.

If they couldn’t be pollinated, if they couldn’t bear fruit and grow little saplings, then she might as well eat them herself.

Outside his residence, Chong Ming moved through the palace and realized the scent wasn’t contained to his rooms anymore.

The entire Imperial Palace carried it—faint, drifting, relentless.

His body didn’t calm down. The scales didn’t recede. The rut he’d been forced into wasn’t soothed or satisfied—it stayed lodged in him like a fever.

To force control back into his hands, he pulled a suppressant from his storage button and swallowed it.

Then he sent a message.

A new order.

In the Imperial Palace training grounds, guards and bodyguards from the invisibility warship—along with the unlucky Sui Xuan Chu—received the summons.

The largest training ground filled in waves. Thousands arrived, one after another, until the place looked like a sea of uniforms.

When they reached the field, they saw him waiting.

Chong Ming stood there in training clothes and combat boots, hair tied high. Old bite marks and fresh bite marks stained his neck. The air around him carried that clean, maddening flower-tea fragrance.

He didn’t split them into squads. He didn’t assign teams.

He only said, “Come.”

The crowd surged.

Beast form. Human form. Half-beast form.

They attacked him all at once.

Chong Ming stayed in human form and fought them like he was grinding down steel. No matter what form they used, none of them could touch him, none could catch him, none could even brush his clothing.

Wheel battles. Surround battles. Ambushes.

Even with him deliberately holding back, within an hour the first wave was obliterated.

They limped out.

Another thousand filed in.

The attacks began again.

Sui Xuan Chu ended up in a medical pod with bruises blooming all over his body. Only then did he finally have a chance to look at his lightbrain.

He saw Jiang Tea Tea’s message.

Then he saw Chong Ming’s Starnet post—the video of a full table of food.

He hadn’t gotten a single bite.

He’d been beaten all night, forced to chug nutrition fluid, then shoved into a medical pod.

His rebellious streak flared.

His uncle had a Starnet account.

So did he.

He was the Crown Prince. He had hundreds of billions of followers.

Sui Xuan Chu reposted Chong Ming’s video with a caption dripping with resentment.

“Anyway, I got drilled all night. I’m bruised and battered, and I didn’t get a single bite.”

Starnet exploded again.

Comments poured in, gleeful and merciless.

“So that’s what happened! I was wondering why only the mate’s voice was in the video and not the Crown Prince’s. Turns out the third wheel got kicked out.”

“Crown Prince, you not getting food is correct. Your uncle wanted his private world. You were in the way.”

“Royal uncles and nephews are the same as normal ones. When my uncle dates his fiancée, he throws money in my face and tells me to roll.”

“Your uncle throws money. His uncle throws instructors.”

“Poor Crown Prince. No food, only beatings. Moment of silence—then laughter.”

“Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming, look how pitiful the child is. Next time when you’re almost done eating, call him over to clean the leftovers.”

“Someone’s out here stealing every bamboo shoot in the ground. Be careful the Crown Prince shows up at your door tonight.”

“If the Crown Prince shows up, I’ll feed him late-night snacks. I won’t be like his uncle—eating without calling him.”

Sui Xuan Chu stared at the comments until his face went numb.

Perfect.

He’d meant to roast his uncle.

Instead, he’d become the whole galaxy’s entertainment.

Back in the residence, Jiang Tea Tea went to sleep like she always did now: defensive techniques layered over her body, shield arts stacked like armor.

In the middle of the night, she woke to a strange weight and warmth.

A golden dragon—no thicker than her calf but unmistakably real—was coiled around her. Her head rested against its body like a pillow.

It was still dark. Her mind decided instantly: dream.

She closed her eyes, turned away from the dragon, and went right back to sleep.

The dragon’s tail tip tugged the blanket up and over them both. Then it tightened its coil a fraction, drawing closer, and closed its gleaming eyes.

After drilling more than three thousand people for hours, even with the “culprit” sleeping peacefully, Chong Ming still couldn’t resist coming here.

He had to be beside her.

He had to touch her.

He had to sleep wrapped around her.

At dawn, Jiang Tea Tea woke again.

This time the bed was empty.

No dragon.

No scales.

Nothing.

She blinked at the ceiling, then huffed softly.

So it really had been a dream.

She pressed a hand to her belly and used magic to check the five cubs inside. They hadn’t grown bigger yet, but they were thicker—especially the two smaller ones.

Satisfied they were fine, she got up, washed, and changed.

The moment she stepped out of the residence gate, she saw Sui Xuan Chu waiting in a flyer. He waved at her and whistled like he was calling someone’s pet.

Jiang Tea Tea walked over, opened the passenger door, and climbed in.

The door shut with a thud.

Before she could ask a single question, the flyer rose straight into the air.

“Buckle up,” Sui Xuan Chu said.

Jiang Tea Tea pulled the belt across her and clicked it in. “No breakfast?”

“No,” Sui Xuan Chu said, tossing two nutrition tubes at her. “Drink.”

Jiang Tea Tea tossed them into her storage button without even looking. “What are you doing?”

Sui Xuan Chu angled his face toward her, expression proud. “I’m rebelling against my uncle. I’m taking you and running away so he can eat alone.”

Jiang Tea Tea made a sound somewhere between amusement and disbelief. “Your courage got big. You dare rebel against him?”

Sui Xuan Chu snorted. “You’re in my hands. His cubs are in my hands. I have the advantage. Why wouldn’t I dare?”

Jiang Tea Tea gave him a slow thumbs-up. “Using me to rebel against him. Impressive.”

Sui Xuan Chu grinned. “If you join me, we’ll rebel together. Our family of four—two of us are on my side.”

He said it like it was a flawless strategy.

Jiang Tea Tea stared at him. “Were you not drilled enough? Or did they drill you stupid? Do you want to be drilled even harder?”

Sui Xuan Chu’s grin cracked. He glared. “You always say my elbow bends outward. I think yours bends outward.”

“We live under the same roof. Same teacher. Same track. You side with him instead of me. Roommate, you’ve changed.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s lips twitched. “So you noticed.”

Then she said it casually, like she was talking about lunch. “Yesterday I stabilized your uncle and smoothed his mental power. I earned one hundred million. Want a red envelope?”

Sui Xuan Chu was instantly pacified. He immediately raised the price. “Half. Give me fifty million and I forgive you.”

“Go rob someone,” Jiang Tea Tea said flatly. “I don’t have that.”

Sui Xuan Chu brightened again. “Then 880,000 star credits works too. Thanks.”

Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes and sent him 880,000.

Sui Xuan Chu’s mood soared. He drove the flyer straight to school like he’d just won a war.

They met Huang Da Zhuang and the others, grabbed breakfast, and plunged into studying.

Time flew.

No night classes.

In a blink, summer break arrived.

Upper-years went to internships or the military. Lower-years went home or found training grounds.

And Jiang Tea Tea’s team of eight boarded a civilian ship for their mission.

They were on the same ship as Lang Xin Rui, Lang Xin Ping, and Lang Xin Chong.

Destination: the D-Sector Star System, Barley Star.

Most of the passengers were students returning home from Capital Planet. A few were ordinary travelers.

A civilian ship didn’t have wormhole jumps. The trip took eight hours.

The eight of them had a private room—beds, seating, bathroom, shower, everything.

Their mission involved the White Wolf Clan. The fastest way to complete it was to infiltrate from the inside.

To avoid making their entry too obvious, Cheng Xiao Ting—the one with distant ties to the White Wolf Clan—was sent to make contact with the triplets.

The triplets were near the cafeteria, toward the tail end of the ship.

Cheng Xiao Ting pretended he was picking up takeout and bumped into them head-on. Their eyes met.

When he turned to leave with his arms full of food, the triplets stopped him and tried to sound friendly.

“Xiao Ting, cousin,” Lang Xin Rui said, smiling, “why are you carrying takeout yourself? Just call service.”

Cheng Xiao Ting let out a long sigh. “You think I want to? Sui Xuan Chu, Jiang Tea Tea, Huang Da Zhuang—those people are picky. They insisted I come choose the food with my own eyes and my own hands, or they won’t eat.”

He lifted his chin, offended on principle. “No choice. My nose is better than theirs. I can tell what ingredients are fresh.”

Lang Xin Rui’s expression sharpened the instant she heard a name. “Jiang Tea Tea is on this ship too?”

“Yeah,” Cheng Xiao Ting said, as if it was nothing. “Break’s two months. She doesn’t have anywhere to go, so we decided to take her around to visit our families.”

Then he leveled them with a warning look. “And I’m telling you now: stay away from her. Don’t go provoking her.”

The triplets exchanged a glance.

They agreed too quickly. “We won’t,” Lang Xin Chong said stiffly. “She hates us. We’re not going near her.”

“We’ll act like we don’t have that sister,” Lang Xin Ping added, bitterness leaking through. “We won’t acknowledge her. If we see her, we’ll act like strangers. No conflict.”

“Best if you do,” Cheng Xiao Ting said coldly.

Then he walked away without another word.

The triplets waited a beat, then followed from a distance, watching where Cheng Xiao Ting returned.

When they confirmed Jiang Tea Tea truly was on the ship, they hurried back to their seats and began whispering.

“Dad and Mom already said it,” Lang Xin Rui said. “If Jiang Tea Tea doesn’t come home with us, they won’t acknowledge us. Now she’s on the same ship as us—perfect.”

“We call Dad and Mom,” Lang Xin Ping said quickly. “We say she’s coming back with us.”

“But if she sees Dad and Mom, won’t she flip?” Lang Xin Chong asked. “If she flips, our lie gets exposed.”

“And if our lie gets exposed,” Lang Xin Rui said flatly, “Dad and Mom will drop us even faster.”

Lang Xin Ping leaned in. “Then we tell Dad and Mom to come pick us up with Cheng Xiao Ting’s parents. Jiang Tea Tea won’t give us face, but she’ll give Cheng Xiao Ting’s parents face.”

“And we remind Dad and Mom to invite Cheng Xiao Ting’s parents and Jiang Tea Tea’s teammates to our home as guests,” Lang Xin Rui continued, voice crisp. “She won’t be able to refuse.”

“As long as she steps into our house,” Lang Xin Ping said, eyes glittering, “it counts as us bringing her back. We complete the mission Dad and Mom gave us. They can’t cut ties with us.”

“As for whether Dad and Mom can keep her at home and make her acknowledge us,” Lang Xin Rui said, “that’s their problem. Not ours.”