Chapter 268
Chapter 268: Take Her Home and Confess His Love
Zhong Li He listened, then slapped him on the head again and scolded, hating that he fell short: “Are you a stupid bird?”
“I am 150 years old. I have held power in the Western Kingdom for almost a hundred years. What kind of storms have I not seen, what blessings have I not enjoyed? Do I need you to be my vice captain, to be my shield?”
“I am telling you, I do not need you to do anything for me. You are still young. I am clearing every obstacle on your path so your future can be open and bright, not so you can act on a whim and throw your future away just like that!”
Kong Que had not been raised crooked. He had always been obedient and worked hard. Now that he was not listening, could it be because he was influenced by that old dragon, Chong Ming?
Kong Que sat down and looked up at him. His eyes did not even blink, and his pupils were filled with him: “I study hard and try my best to handle everything so I can catch up with you and make you see me.”
“You are my goal, you are my idol, you are my every first time of worship. Where you are decides where I am.”
“If you are not in the Western Kingdom, I do not want to be in the Western Kingdom at all. I do not want to stand in the place where you once stood, shining bright while other people look at me.”
All his hard work was only to gain his approval and be seen by him. Everyone else, to him, was not even something extra that mattered or not.
If he did not look at him and chose to leave, leaving him alone in the Western Kingdom to rule it, then he might as well put a bullet in his head. That would be more straightforward.
Zhong Li He listened with his brows tightly furrowed. He felt that every sentence Kong Que said and every expression on his face now was a bit like a teenager in puberty.
[Could this be a late rebellious phase?]
He had said it before, what kind of child did not have adolescence, did not have a rebellious phase? See, here it was.
Yes, this was all that old dragon Chong Ming’s fault. It was definitely his problem. He had drawn out the child’s delayed rebellious phase. Unforgivable!
Zhong Li He suddenly changed the subject: “Fine, I got what you are saying. I will think about it. You can go out now.”
Kong Que looked at him deeply. [Did he really understand? Did he really know that wherever he went, I would follow?]
Holding on to doubt, he did not ask anything and did not say anything else. He slowly backed out of Zhong Li He’s room and went to the ship’s command room.
The moment the door closed, Zhong Li He’s first reaction was to tap open his light-brain wrist terminal and go online to search how to deal with a delayed teenage rebellious phase. He absolutely could not let him grow crooked. He had to pull him back so he could stand at the top, shining bright and leaving his name in history.
“Hahaha!”
After Zhong Li He and Kong Que left, Jiang Tea Tea had originally wanted to ask Chong Ming why he called her over. If there was nothing, she would leave. But Chong Ming had to rush to an emergency meeting, so she was left hanging alone in his office.
With nothing to do in the office, she logged onto StarNet and started searching for everything related to Chong Ming and Zhong Li He. She had not expected it, but once she checked, she actually found couple tags of the two of them, short stories, and fanfics.
Whether it was the short stories or the fanfics, they were all so explosive they made her bones tingle. There were stories where a 300-meter-long giant dragon wrapped his body around a little phoenix bird and tormented the little phoenix until he turned into a tiny chick.
There were stories where the phoenix bird teased the 300-meter golden dragon like teasing a little earthworm, using his beak to peck at him until dragon scales fell all over the ground.
There were stories where, once the door closed, they did not come out for eight days and eight nights. Other than nutrient injections, it was nutrient solution, and when they finally came out, their legs were weak and their waists were soft.
The more Jiang Tea Tea read, the more hooked she became, the more obsessed she got. She was like the head of a black anti-fan group, and her laughter echoed through Chong Ming’s office.
She lay on the sofa, then sat, then sprawled. No part of her posture was proper. Her eyes were full of CP gossip and spicy fanfics.
When Chong Ming finished his meeting and came back to the office, he saw Jiang Tea Tea lying on the sofa on her back, her legs hooked over the sofa back. The wrist with the light-brain wrist terminal was raised, one hand swiping the screen, a silly little laugh slipping from her mouth.
He deliberately lightened his steps, walked over, bent down, and leaned his head closer to look: “What are you reading that makes you so happy? Let me see too?”
Jiang Tea Tea was reading at the best part and did not expect the actual person to suddenly show up. She got such a fright that she quickly pulled back her legs and flipped up to sit on the sofa: “That Chong guy, do you know people can scare people to death?”
Chong Ming stretched out his hand and stroked her cheek with his fingertip: “I do not know that people can scare people to death. I only know you seem to have seen something interesting. Your face is all red.”
Jiang Tea Tea rubbed hard over the place his finger had touched and glared at him: “Are you a road inspector or something? Why are you managing so much?”
Not only her face was red, her ears were red, and her neck was red too.
Her whole person was red. She was funny and cute, and it made him want to hold her and kiss her.
Chong Ming narrowed his golden eyes a little: “You really are not going to let me see, so I can blush too?”
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes and, while putting her shoes on, said: “Your skin is eight zhang thick. A knife cannot even cut through it. How could you possibly blush?”
“Enough, stop talking nonsense. I have been waiting here for you for two hours. If you have something to say, say it. If you do not, I am leaving. School starts tomorrow, and I am busy.”
Chong Ming sat down beside her and turned his body to face her: “There are indeed two things I want to talk to you about.”
Jiang Tea Tea finished putting on her shoes and looked up at him, only to see him hand her a wet wipe. She reached out to take it, wiped her hands, and threw the tissue away. She was just about to ask what he wanted, when he stuffed a red fruit into her hand.
She stared at the red fruit for a second, then took a bite with a crunch. The sour taste made her eyes roll, but she chewed the flesh in her mouth with a blank face and handed the red fruit back to Chong Ming: “So sweet, try a bite.”
[Dog thing. Giving me fruit and picking a sour one. Let me sour him to death.]
Chong Ming did not doubt her. He bit down on the mark where she had bitten, slowly chewed, swallowed, and commented: “It really is very sweet.”
Jiang Tea Tea: “!!!!!”
It was so sour it almost made her teeth fall out, yet he said it was sweet?
[Does he not have taste buds?]
[We ate the same fruit. How can he taste sweetness?]
[Is he not seeing that I was trying to mess with him and now he is messing with me on purpose?]
Jiang Tea Tea shoved the fruit with two bites taken out of it into his hand: “If you think it is sweet, you can have it. Here, eat.”
Chong Ming let her push the fruit into his hand, kept his eyes on her, and ate the rest of the fruit in front of her, showing no sign of tasting anything sour at all, as if the fruit really was very sweet.
Jiang Tea Tea looked on and started to doubt if they were even eating the same fruit. Why was it so sour to her, but he did not even change his expression?
When he threw the pit away, Jiang Tea Tea stopped fussing over the fruit and simply asked: “You said there were two things. What are they?”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes rested on her and he said seriously: “The first thing is about the youngling in your belly.”
Jiang Tea Tea instantly became alert. She stood up, moved to stand opposite him, and crossed an arm over her belly, looking at him in a guarded pose: “The youngling in my belly is doing very well. Thank you for your concern.”
The sight of her defensive posture pricked his eyes a little. He softened his voice: “Do not misunderstand. I am not saying the youngling in your belly is not good. It is just that the youngling is eight months now. It might be born sometime within the next two to seven months.”
“So I want to discuss this with you. You can keep going to school. I will not limit your freedom. But when school ends at night, I will pick you up. Whether you go back to the Imperial Military Headquarters, the Imperial Palace, or stay on my ship, you need to receive my supernatural abilities and spiritual power to calm you every day, or drink my blood.”
“I am not trying to monitor you. It is just that as the youngling in your belly grows, it needs more and more nutrition. Once it cannot get what it needs from the mother’s body, it will hurt the mother’s body. I do not want you to have any problems because of it.”
Jiang Tea Tea pressed her lips together and studied Chong Ming, trying to see any sign of a lie on his face, but she could not find one.
He really seemed to be thinking about the youngling and about her, not because of anything else, not because he wanted to rob her of her little brat.
Jiang Tea Tea did not agree, but she also did not refuse. She only asked: “And the other thing?”
Looking at her, Chong Ming replied: “The other thing is your mountain estate and the wooden house you wanted to build. It is finished and ready for you to move in.”
“In the evenings after school, besides going to the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Military Headquarters, or my ship, you can also go back to your mountain estate. Of course, no matter where you go, you have to stay in the same room as me and receive my supernatural abilities to calm you. If needed, you can drink my blood anytime, anywhere.”
Recently, whenever he had a free moment, he kept thinking back to the feeling he had when he touched her belly and confirmed his suspicion again. There might be two younglings in her belly.
But whether it was one youngling or two, the first thing was to make sure she was safe. He could not let the youngling hurt her in any way.
Jiang Tea Tea tugged at the corner of her mouth, smiling with her face but not her eyes: “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I know my own body. If I need you, I will come find you. When I do not need you, I will treat you like you do not exist.”
“In the evenings after school, I will be wherever I want. You cannot control me, and you have no right to control me. All right, that is it. I am going home. You go do your work. Bye.”
After she finished speaking, Jiang Tea Tea stood up, left the sofa, went to the window, opened the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and released her flying device.
She pulled open the door of the flying device’s cockpit and sat inside.
There were two loud bangs as she shut the door.
She suddenly twisted her head toward the co-pilot’s seat and snapped: “What are you doing?”
Chong Ming was fastening his seat belt: “I am getting off work early today. I am going with you to your mountain estate to get familiar with the place.”
Jiang Tea Tea spat out two words: “Get out.”
Not only did Chong Ming not get out, he even reached over and set the navigation: “Let’s go. From the Imperial Military Headquarters to your mountain estate, a flying device at full speed takes forty-five minutes, right?”
Jiang Tea Tea cursed angrily: “Your face is really thick.”
Chong Ming’s thin lips lifted: “I thought you already knew that.”
Jiang Tea Tea took a deep breath, then started the flying device. She did not speed up slowly, but went straight to full speed and shot outward.
Since the Commander in Chief got off work early, once everyone else at the Imperial Military Headquarters got the news and finished their tasks, they could also clock out.
The staff members at the Imperial Military Headquarters were overjoyed. Getting off work on time was something they did not even dare to dream of, and today it had come true.
On the way, Jiang Tea Tea did not say a single word to Chong Ming. When he spoke to her once in a while, she did not respond.
Since she would not talk to him, he checked the official business handled by Sui Xuan Chu. After checking, if anything was inappropriate or not well handled, he called directly to scold him.
Sui Xuan Chu was scolded like a little dog. After the scolding, he felt wronged, yet it was like he was injected with chicken blood. He threw himself back into redoing everything.
Jiang Tea Tea had no idea that Sui Xuan Chu’s life was even harder and more miserable than hers. Besides the work everyone could see, the training, the resume building, he was quietly handling the official duties his uncle gave him.
His uncle was getting more and more over the top. At first, he handled a few cases of official business a month. Later, it became a dozen a month. Later still, it became twenty or thirty a month.
Ever since he reached adulthood, he had to handle official business almost every day. Sometimes it was more than ten cases, sometimes a few, sometimes one or two.
His uncle even set up a special advisory council of eleven people to help him handle government affairs, which he then had to review.
After he reviewed them, he still had to add his own handling opinions to the processed plans, trying his best to make sure every case of official business was handled perfectly, proving he had the ability to govern.
The identity of Crown Prince, after his adulthood, made him feel like countless mountains were pressing down on his back. He had to work hard, then harder, study hard, then harder.
After forty-five minutes of flight, near dusk, the flying device arrived at the mountain estate Jiang Tea Tea had bought. Looking down from above, they saw the wooden house.
When the flying device landed and Jiang Tea Tea got off, she finally had a clear sense that, in the interstellar space era, whether it was speed-type ability or quality, both were truly top-notch.
The wooden house was three stories high and sat on one of the mountain estates. Evening mist curled around it. The towering wooden house with the scent of wood stood on the mountain slope. All the lights were on, making it look like a pavilion and tower in the upper realm wrapped in immortal mist.
The interior was wide and low-key luxurious. A main spiral staircase went from the first floor to the third floor. Each floor had its own style, and no matter where you were, you could enjoy a 360-degree view of the mountain scenery.
The house was equipped with a fully automatic, latest home monitoring system. It made sure the air inside always circulated, staying fresh and at a comfortable temperature.
Inside, robot butlers followed orders and cleaned everything. Outside, there were hunting-type robots and bodyguards. Anyone who did not have Jiang Tea Tea’s permission and was not someone she brought would be captured. Those who resisted would be hunted down.
The bedroom was on the third floor, and the study was on the third floor too. The cloakroom, personal rest areas, and other spaces that showed the owner’s style were all on the third floor.
The view from the third floor was the best. It could see the flowing mist and clouds. The roof could also open up, so you could watch the stars through the glass.
Jiang Tea Tea walked from the first floor to the third floor, then turned to look at Chong Ming, who had followed behind her: “All I wanted was a small wooden house. You had people build me a palace?”
Chong Ming walked over and stood side by side with her: “Do you like it?”
Jiang Tea Tea licked her lips and said something different from her true feelings: “It is okay. Not bad.”
Chong Ming let out a light laugh: “I stayed up two nights designing it for you.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him in surprise and doubt: “Really?”
Chong Ming shot the question back at her: “Of course it is true. What good would it do me to lie to you?”
Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head and thought for a moment: “There is a benefit. You are eyeing my baby.”
Catching her off guard, Chong Ming grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms: “Jiang Tea Tea schoolmate, you should have more confidence. I am not eyeing your youngling. I am eyeing the youngling’s mother!”
“Give me a chance. Let us have a romance with marriage registration as the goal. Let me take care of you. If I do not take good care of you and you do not feel comfortable, you can stop anytime and kick me out. How about it?”