Chapter 19
Chapter 19: She Doesn’t Smell Like My Dragon—She Isn’t the Female I’m Looking For
The moment Jiang Tea Tea spoke, she became the center of the world.
Stares hit her from every direction—sharp, incredulous, judgmental. People looked at her like she’d just announced she planned to eat the school gate.
But one gaze felt different.
Heavy.
Razor-edged.
A pressure that could crush bone.
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyes—and met the owner’s gaze.
Chong Ming.
Golden hair. Golden horns. Golden eyes. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs. He stood there with a presence that didn’t just fill space.
It owned it.
No wonder Huang Da Zhuang had lost his mind.
Huang Da Zhuang’s scalp went numb. He shook Jiang Tea Tea’s arm, voice low and furious. “Jiang Tea Tea, are you insane?! I was making a metaphor! I was fantasizing! I was excited! Why would you say it out loud?!”
His ancestral smoke hadn’t even risen twice before she stomped it into the dirt.
Jiang Tea Tea shrugged, utterly unbothered. “If you like him, you like him. If you love him, you love him.”
She smiled. “Male or female—everyone has the right to pursue love.”
Then she shoved the bouquet into Huang Da Zhuang’s arms. “Here. Go.”
“Present the flowers,” she urged cheerfully. “And while you’re at it, confess your love.”
Huang Da Zhuang caught the bouquet like it was a live grenade, brain buzzing like it had shorted. He glanced at the academy leadership.
The principal looked like he was about to faint.
The vice principal and discipline director were sweating.
His Highness Chong Ming was a top-tier beastfolk. Jiang Tea Tea’s voice had been loud enough that it might as well have been whispered directly into his ear.
Jiang Tea Tea gave Huang Da Zhuang a firm shove. “Go. Stop dawdling. We’re waiting on you.”
Huang Da Zhuang looked like a man walking toward his own grave.
Cold sweat poured down his back as he clutched the bouquet and stepped forward under countless eyes.
Chong Ming’s sharp gaze slid briefly over Jiang Tea Tea… flicked across Sui Xuan Chu beside her… and then settled on Huang Da Zhuang.
At last, Huang Da Zhuang reached his idol.
In the dead silence, he did something so stupid it was almost impressive.
He bowed at a full ninety degrees—so deep his butt pointed straight at His Highness—holding the bouquet up with both hands.
“Your Highness,” Huang Da Zhuang blurted, voice shaking, “welcome to the Royal Military Academy for inspection!”
Chong Ming took the flowers calmly. “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”
Huang Da Zhuang’s eyes went round as coins. His hand snapped into a salute like his body was possessed. “Not hard at all, Your Highness! For Your Highness, for the empire—I’m willing to die for the nation at any time!”
Chong Ming handed the bouquet to Adjutant Ai without even looking at it, then spoke to Huang Da Zhuang like a patient elder.
“Classmate,” he said, “you are a student. Focus on your studies. As for protecting the nation—when you have completed your training and gained real skill, the legions will always welcome you.”
Huang Da Zhuang’s soul screamed.
He answered with all the air in his lungs. “Yes, Your Highness! I will not disappoint Your Highness! I will study hard and improve every day!”
Chong Ming reached out and patted Huang Da Zhuang’s shoulder. “Good. Keep it up. I believe in you.”
Huang Da Zhuang’s eyes went red.
He’d been patted.
By his idol.
Jiang Tea Tea couldn’t bear to watch. She tilted her head and leaned toward Sui Xuan Chu. “Roommate,” she murmured, “don’t you dare be as pathetic as Huang Big Dog.”
Sui Xuan Chu looked at her like she’d offended his ancestors. “Are you talking about yourself?”
“I’m reminding you.”
“I’m very capable,” Sui Xuan Chu said flatly. “Thanks.”
“I’m capable too,” Jiang Tea Tea shot back.
Chong Ming stepped closer, stopping in front of them.
The principal hurried forward. “Your Highness, these are student representatives. This is Jiang Tea Tea, a powerless pure human, in the first-year Pacification Department. Her theoretical knowledge is solid, and she ranks top five in the year.”
“And this is Sui Xuan Chu, one of the twin chiefs of the first-year Combat Department. A black dragon clan beastfolk. Lightning-element ability. He has defeated the chiefs of first-year and second-year departments.”
Chong Ming nodded once at the principal, then extended his hand to Jiang Tea Tea.
Jiang Tea Tea hesitated.
Behind her, the vice principal looked like he was about to pop a vein, waggling his eyebrows furiously in silent command: Shake his hand, you little menace. Shake it!
Jiang Tea Tea reached out and clasped Chong Ming’s hand. “Hello, Chong Ming, Your Highness. Nice to meet you.”
Chong Ming’s grip was steady, controlled. “Nice to meet you as well. As a powerless female, your attitude toward learning and your vigor are worth emulating.”
He didn’t say the rest out loud.
He could feel her clearly.
No mental power fluctuation.
No trace of his dragon scent clinging to her skin.
She wasn’t the female he’d been searching for—the one from the First Hotel.
Jiang Tea Tea smiled, not the least bit intimidated. “Thanks for the praise. I’m also very satisfied with my learning attitude.”
Then she added brightly, like she was handing out a business card, “If you ever need your mental power combed and soothed, you can come to me. I’ll give you twenty percent off.”
Chong Ming’s gaze sharpened slightly, landing on the curve of her smile. “Fine.”
His voice stayed calm, but something in it tightened. “I’ll wait for you to succeed in your studies and soothe my mental power.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s smile deepened. “Deal.”
If the fake heiress wanted to become the top soothing therapist in the M31 Star System, it was simple.
Succeed in her studies.
Soothe the Big Golden Dragon.
Publicity from a top-tier figure like him would save her decades of effort.
Jiang Tea Tea was practically applauding herself internally. Genius.
Chong Ming released her hand and turned to Sui Xuan Chu.
Sui Xuan Chu clasped Chong Ming’s hand. Chong Ming offered him the same encouragement he gave all promising students.
Then he shook Chong Xing Qi’s hand.
Then another student’s.
One by one, he shook hands with every student in the welcome lineup, repeating encouraging words until it started to feel routine.
Jiang Tea Tea assumed that was the end—that they could go back to class.
Then Chong Ming’s voice carried over the gathering, low and decisive.
“In the past, the school’s person in charge guided me around,” he said. “Today, let first-year students act as guides. Take us on a tour of the Royal Military Academy.”
The principal, vice principal, and discipline director all but flinched, then started frantically motioning for the first-year chiefs to step forward.
The chiefs moved quickly.
And then—
Only three students remained standing in their original line like wooden stakes: Jiang Tea Tea, Huang Da Zhuang, and Sui Xuan Chu.
They stared at one another, as if silently asking who was going to volunteer to suffer first.
Chong Ming raised one eyebrow. “The three of you… don’t want to guide me?”
Huang Da Zhuang’s face went white.
He wanted to. He wanted to so badly his soul was vibrating.
But Sister Tea hadn’t moved, and he didn’t have the courage to be the first to step out.
Sui Xuan Chu’s expression didn’t change. He looked mildly annoyed, like he’d been asked to do something stupid.
Jiang Tea Tea, meanwhile, opened her mouth before her brain could stop her.
“Chong Ming, Your Highness,” she said bluntly, “I’m not familiar with the Royal Military Academy. I can’t guide you. You should find someone else.”
The academy leadership’s souls nearly left their bodies.
This wasn’t a powerless student.
This was a living ancestor jumping on their foreheads.
Chong Ming’s lips curved faintly.
His gaze slid to Sui Xuan Chu and Huang Da Zhuang. “And you two? You’re not familiar with the school either?”
“Familiar—” Huang Da Zhuang started.
“Not really—” Sui Xuan Chu began at the same time.
Neither of them finished.
A piercing alarm erupted across campus, sharp and urgent enough to freeze blood.
“Alert! Alert! Twenty-five Level 5 aberrant beasts have breached the school’s back gate and entered campus. All units be advised. All units be advised!”