Chapter 166
Chapter 166: A Flower That Cannot Be Pollinated Will Never Grow a Sapling, So Just Eat It
Jiang Tea Tea’s pupils shrank. She tried to turn over and sit up, wanting to reach for her head, but Chong Ming pressed her hand down on the bed: “Jiang Tea Tea, you don’t need to be afraid. I just wanted to tell you that there are flowers blooming on your head. You smell very good.”
“You…”
“Alright, I’m done talking.” Chong Ming gently cut her off: “You go back to sleep. I’ll go back to dealing with my government work.”
He let go of her hand and straightened up.
Jiang Tea Tea flipped over and sat up, her eyes full of wariness: “What are you suspicious of?”
Chong Ming gave a soft laugh and asked back: “What is it you want me to be suspicious of?”
Jiang Tea Tea tried to read something from his expression, but found nothing at all. His cold, stern face was as steady as always.
When he saw her staring at him without speaking, afraid she would overthink, Chong Ming opened his mouth again: “I told you before, everyone has secrets they don’t want others to know. Secrets they don’t want to say out loud.”
“You have them. I have them. Sui Xuan Chu has them. Everyone you know has them. So you don’t need to panic, and you don’t need to be scared. You don’t say, I don’t ask. If you ever want to say it and want to tell me, I can listen anytime.”
“As for you being scared I’ll send you to the supernatural ability research institute, or do something to you, you really don’t need to worry. I won’t fight you for the youngling in your belly. I won’t snatch it from you. But I can’t deny that it is my youngling.”
“The mother of my youngling can become Commander in Chief of the Three Armies, can become the best healer in all of interstellar space, and can do anything she wants to do. But she absolutely cannot lie in the supernatural ability research institute being cut open and studied.”
When Jiang Tea Tea finished listening to Chong Ming, there was a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.
Chong Ming took two steps back under her gaze, turned around, and left. On his way out, he turned off the bedroom lights and closed the bedroom door.
In the not so dark room, Jiang Tea Tea slowly raised her hand to touch her head. There really were two flowers blooming there.
She lifted her arm and sniffed the smell on her body, then grabbed a handful of her hair and sniffed it. Sure enough, her whole body was full of floral and tea fragrance.
The sealing spell she had used to block her scent had disappeared at some unknown time. Because it was her own flower and tea smell, she had completely ignored it.
Annoyed, Jiang Tea Tea grabbed the two flowers from her head and tossed them straight into her mouth. They were her own flowers. She could not let others benefit from them. She chewed a few times and swallowed them.
No matter how bright the flowers bloomed, no matter how strong their fragrance was, if they could not find the same kind to pollinate, they could not bear fruit and could not grow little tea tree saplings. Eating them was just right!
When Chong Ming left his own sleeping hall, he found that the whole Imperial Palace was faintly filled with Jiang Tea Tea’s floral scent.
The restlessness in his body and the scales on his skin did not lessen just because he moved farther away from Jiang Tea Tea. His mating heat was still not soothed, still not released. His whole person was trapped in irritation.
To ease this irritation, he took a tube of mating heat suppressant from his space button and swallowed it.
The palace bodyguards and the personal guard unit on the invisible warship were being drilled when Sui Xuan Chu received a message and went to the biggest training ground in the Imperial Palace.
Over a thousand people went one after another. After they arrived, they saw their Commander in Chief waiting for them. On his neck were old bite marks and fresh bite marks. He wore a training suit and combat boots, his hair tied in a high ponytail, and his body was covered in a refreshing floral scent.
The thousand people did not divide into groups or squads. They all turned into beast form or stayed in human form and attacked Chong Ming together.
Chong Ming stayed in human form as he trained and sparred with them. No matter if the opponent was in beast form, human form, or half beast half human, none of them could take any advantage from him.
Wheel battles, group attacks, sneak attacks, not a single person could get close to his body, touch the corner of his clothes, or even brush a hair.
Even when he was clearly going easy on them, after one hour, the thousand people who could still stand and fight were already gone.
The first batch of over a thousand people was completely defeated and left. Then another thousand people came down from the warship and started a new round of attacks on Chong Ming.
Sui Xuan Chu lay in a healing pod. Only then did he see the message Jiang Tea Tea had sent him, and saw the video his uncle had posted on StarNet.
A huge table full of food, and he had not eaten a single bite. He had been beaten for an entire night and had two tubes of nutrient injection poured into him. Now he could only lie in the healing pod.
Sui Xuan Chu started to rebel in his heart.
His uncle had an account.
He also had his own Crown Prince account, with several tens of billions of fans.
Sui Xuan Chu reposted his uncle’s video and added a sour caption: “Anyway, I was drilled all night. I got beaten black and blue and didn’t get a single bite.”
As soon as Chong Ming posted a private video, it rushed onto the trending hot search. Then Sui Xuan Chu, the Crown Prince who could shake the empire’s scales, reposted it with that sour caption, and the hot search shot up again.
The broad mass of StarNet friends acted like they never needed sleep: “I knew it. When Commander in Chief Chong Ming cooks and eats, how could it be that only his partner is picky and the Crown Prince is not? Turns out that light bulb Crown Prince got pushed out.”
“Hahahaha, Your Highness the Crown Prince, it is only right that you didn’t get a single bite. Your uncle just wants a two person world and doesn’t want you standing there being an eyesore.”
“So the royal uncle nephew relationship is the same as our normal uncle nephew relationship. When my uncle goes on dates with his fiancée, he likes to throw gold coins at my face and tell me to roll as far away as possible and not appear in front of them.”
“Upstairs, your uncle throws gold coins at your face. The Crown Prince’s uncle sends countless drill instructors to beat him.”
“Poor Crown Prince. He didn’t eat, and he got beaten. Poor, truly too poor. I’ll mourn for him for three seconds and laugh for the rest of the time, wahahaha.”
“Commander in Chief Chong Ming, look at how pitiful the child is. Next time when you are almost done eating, call the child over. Someone needs to clear the leftovers, right?”
“Upstairs, you’ve dug up all the bamboo shoots in the field. You are robbing the bamboo shoots, how bold. Be careful the Crown Prince rushes to your house overnight.”
“If the Crown Prince wants to rush to my house, perfect. I’ll treat him to a late night snack. I definitely won’t be like his uncle and eat without calling him.”
“Crown Prince, come over, come over. I’ll be waiting for you in wind, rain, and snow.”
Sui Xuan Chu had wanted to roast his uncle, but he did not expect that he himself would become the target of all the StarNet friends’ teasing. Fine, fine, fine. If one person being hurt can please the crowd, then how wonderful.
For safety, when Jiang Tea Tea went to sleep, she layered every defensive spell, concealment spell, protection spell, and every other messy technique she had learned and could think of all over her body before lying down.
But when she woke up, she found herself wrapped in a little golden dragon as thick as her calf. Her head was resting on the golden dragon’s body.
It was still not light outside. She felt she must be dreaming. She closed her eyes, tilted her head away from the golden dragon’s body, and went back to sleep.
Chong Ming used the tip of his tail to pull the thin blanket up over the two of them. He coiled his body tighter around Jiang Tea Tea, moved closer to her, and closed his golden eyes.
He had drilled more than three thousand people and fought for over three hours. Even so, the one who had triggered his mating heat was sleeping peacefully without any guilt. He still could not help coming to her side, sleeping beside her, pressing against her, touching her.
Early the next morning, when Jiang Tea Tea woke up again, she was the only one on the bed. There was no golden dragon at all. From this, she decided that she really had been dreaming last night, dreaming that she was holding a big golden dragon.
Jiang Tea Tea touched her belly and used her spiritual power to see through it, checking on the five little ones inside. They had not grown bigger, but they had gotten a bit thicker, especially the two smaller ones. Their thickness was clearly different now.
After confirming the babies were fine, Jiang Tea Tea got up, washed, and changed clothes. She did not expect that as soon as she stepped out of the gate of the Imperial Bedchamber’s courtyard, she would see Sui Xuan Chu sitting in a flying device, whistling and waving at her.
Jiang Tea Tea walked over, opened the passenger door, and sat down. The door closed with a bang. Before she could ask anything, the flying device shot up into the air.
“Put on your seatbelt,” Sui Xuan Chu reminded her.
Jiang Tea Tea pulled the seatbelt over and buckled it: “We’re not eating breakfast?”
Sui Xuan Chu tossed her two tubes of nutrient injection with one hand: “No breakfast. Drink these.”
Jiang Tea Tea could not stand nutrient injections. She tossed them straight into her own space button: “What are you trying to do?”
Sui Xuan Chu turned his head slightly to look at her: “I’ve decided to rebel against my uncle. I’m taking you and running away so he has to eat alone.”
Jiang Tea Tea let out a long “oh ho”: “Your courage has grown. You dare to rebel against him?”
Sui Xuan Chu snorted proudly: “You are in my hands. His younglings are in my hands. I have the advantage. Why wouldn’t I dare to rebel?”
Jiang Tea Tea gave him a thumbs up: “You are using me to rebel against him. You’re really impressive. Should I give you a like?”
Sui Xuan Chu grinned, showing his teeth: “No problem, no problem. As long as you come with me, we’ll rebel against my uncle together. Let him know that if he dares to offend me, then out of the four people in our family, two stand on my side.”
His roommate was one of their family. The younglings in his roommate’s belly were also their family.
Right now the golden dragon family had four people. When they voted, it would be three to one. They could definitely stand up to his uncle.
Jiang Tea Tea asked him from the bottom of her soul: “Were you not beaten enough yesterday, or did you get beaten stupid and want to be beaten even harder?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s smile froze. He glared hard at her: “You always say I help outsiders, but I think you’re the one helping outsiders.”
“We live under the same roof. We study in about the same department with the same teacher. You side with him and not me, your roommate. You’ve really changed. You’ve truly changed.”
The corner of Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth twitched: “So you finally know that I’ve changed. Last night I helped your uncle calm his abilities and untangle his spiritual power. I earned one hundred million. Want me to send you a red packet?”
Sui Xuan Chu was coaxed at once. He raised his price on the spot: “Sure. Give me fifty million and I’ll forgive you.”
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes at him: “Go rob someone if you want that. I don’t have that.”
Sui Xuan Chu laughed happily: “If you don’t have fifty million, then eight hundred and eighty thousand star credits is fine. Thanks.”
Eight hundred and eighty thousand star credits was fine. Fifty million was not.
Jiang Tea Tea transferred him eight hundred and eighty thousand.
Sui Xuan Chu accepted the red packet as private stash money, then flew the device happily, taking Jiang Tea Tea all the way to the academy.
At the academy, they had breakfast with Huang Da Zhuang and the others, then threw themselves into intense studying.
There were no evening classes, and time passed quickly. In a flash, summer vacation arrived. The upper grade students either went on internships or entered the army. The lower grade students either went home or looked for training grounds.
Jiang Tea Tea’s group of eight also set out on a mission. The ship they took was the same ship that Wolf Xin Ping, Wolf Xin Rui, and their younger brother were on.
The ship was headed toward the D Sector star system, to a planet called Barley Star.
Most of the passengers on the ship were students returning to Barley Star from the capital planet. A few were travelers.
Civilian ships did not have wormhole space jumps. At normal speed, the distance from the capital planet to Barley Star would take eight hours of flight.
The eight of them shared a private room. The room could be used for sleeping or sitting. It had a bathroom, a shower, and everything else they needed.
Their mission involved the White Wolf Tribe. The fastest way to complete it was to first get inside the White Wolf Tribe.
To enter the White Wolf Tribe without being too abrupt, Cheng Xiao Ting, who just happened to look seventy or eighty percent like their white wolf younger male cousin, was sent to find Wolf Xin Rui and the other two.
Wolf Xin Rui’s group sat in a section near the dining hall, while Jiang Tea Tea’s group sat near the tail of the ship.
Cheng Xiao Ting pretended he had gone to pack up food. He “accidentally” bumped into them in person and met their eyes.
By the time he came back with both hands full of packed food, Wolf Xin Rui and her brothers had blocked his way and started to get close to him: “Younger cousin Xiao Ting, you want something to eat? Why did you come pack it yourself? You could have just called a server.”
Cheng Xiao Ting stood there with food bags in both hands and sighed toward them: “I didn’t want to come either. But Sui Xuan Chu, Jiang Tea Tea, and Huang Da Zhuang are very picky. They insisted that I come see the food with my own eyes and pick it by hand before they’ll eat it.”
“There’s no helping it. My nose is better than theirs. I can smell which ingredients are fresh and which are not.”
When Wolf Xin Rui and Wolf Xin Ping heard that Jiang Tea Tea was here too, they quickly asked: “Younger cousin Xiao Ting, you are going home and Jiang Tea Tea is coming with you?”
Cheng Xiao Ting nodded: “Yeah. It’s a long vacation, two whole months. She had nowhere to go. So I talked with Sui Xuan Chu and the others, and we decided to take her to visit all seven of our homes.”
“We drew lots to see whose house we would visit first. I drew the first spot, so I’m taking them to my house first. I’m telling you now, you should stay away from her. Don’t go ask for bad luck.”
Wolf Xin Rui and her two brothers looked at each other: “She hates us that much. Of course we won’t go crowd around her. But younger cousin, you…”
“Don’t call me younger cousin. We don’t actually have that close of a relationship.” Cheng Xiao Ting cut her off and put on his old “don’t come near me” face again: “The only reason I’m talking to you right now is to remind you. When you see Jiang Tea Tea later, keep your distance. If you make her mad, I’ll beat you up together with her.”
Wolf Xin Chong almost attacked him out of impulse, but Wolf Xin Rui held him back. She spoke up to show their stance: “Since you specially came to tell us this, we definitely won’t go up to her.”
“For the shame she gave us, we will treat it as if we don’t have this younger sister and won’t recognize her as our younger sister. You can tell her that too. When she sees us, she can pretend she doesn’t know us. We’ll mind our own business and stay out of each other’s way.”
“It better stay that way.” Cheng Xiao Ting threw down those words, then walked off with his hands full of food.
Wolf Xin Rui and Wolf Xin Ping looked at each other. They followed Cheng Xiao Ting from far away and saw where his group sat. Once they confirmed that Jiang Tea Tea really had come, they hurried back to their seats and started whispering.
“Dad and Mom said that if Jiang Tea Tea doesn’t come home with us, they won’t recognize us. Now that she’s on the same ship as us and under the same planet space station, we can use this and call Dad and Mom, and tell them that Jiang Tea Tea is coming back with us.”
“With Jiang Tea Tea’s bad temper, where she gives no one face, when she sees Dad and Mom, will she flip out on the spot?”
“Right. If she flips out, our lie will be exposed. Then Dad and Mom will be even less likely to care about us.”
“You two are stupid. Tell Dad and Mom to come pick us up together with younger cousin Xiao Ting’s parents. If Jiang Tea Tea doesn’t give us face or give Dad and Mom face, she will still have to give younger cousin Xiao Ting’s parents face.”
“Remind Dad and Mom that when they see Jiang Tea Tea, they should invite younger cousin Xiao Ting’s parents and Huang Da Zhuang and Sui Xuan Chu to come to our house as guests. Even if Jiang Tea Tea doesn’t want to go, she’ll have to go.”
“As long as she goes home with Dad and Mom, that means we brought her home. We’ll have completed the task Dad and Mom gave us. Then they won’t be able to cut ties with us that easily.”
“As for whether Dad and Mom can keep her at home and make her recognize us, that’s their problem. It has nothing to do with us.”
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