ATNMDT Chapter 38

Beside his ear was her soft voice, and the ginseng in his mouth carried a bitter taste.

Mr. Dragon’s divine consciousness swept over the faint but visible dark circles beneath Mu Wanwan’s eyes. He looked at her worried expression, then finally his gaze stopped on her fingers, which had gained quite a few thin calluses compared to when he first met her, all from constantly cultivating spiritual plants and taking care of him. His heart felt as though it were being repeatedly fried and roasted—

How could he be so selfish, only thinking that he did not want to lose her concern?

She was already working so hard. These spirit stones were also something she had saved bit by bit.

Moreover, right now, the dragons outside were only playing a prank. If he did not recover quickly, what if next time they found it boring and simply killed her?

As this thought crossed his mind, Mr. Dragon’s expression turned ugly. In that instant, he was almost driven mad by the idea.

He absolutely would not allow that to happen.

His knuckles turned white. Mr. Dragon suppressed the fear in his heart, but his heart grew more and more uneasy.

“Does it hurt badly?” Mu Wanwan saw that his expression was growing worse. She soaked the towel, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and, feeling pained for him, touched his fluffy ears. After thinking for a moment, she took another Blue Star Grass fruit, held it in her hand, and forced a smile. “Mr. Dragon, don’t be afraid. Once I work a little harder, next time I go out, I’ll definitely earn more spirit stones.”

“When the time comes, you won’t be in so much pain anymore.” Mu Wanwan’s hand trembled a little. “Although it’s embarrassing, I asked Uncle Zong to see if he could get some Jinjiang Grass seeds, and also Snow Condensation Pills. I heard they’re very good for the demon clan.”

Mu Wanwan took a deep breath. Seeing his face twist more and more, she truly began to panic. She really was about to be tormented to death by this dragon—

At first, she had only thought of taking care of him and waiting for him to let her go once he recovered.

But she had been lonely for two lifetimes. Now, there was someone who depended on her wholeheartedly. Watching him suffer so painfully every time, she gradually became unable to let go.

Her words, one after another, were like gentle knives, causing Mr. Dragon unbearable pain.

He did not know how long he struggled before finally breaking free from the cycle of wanting to hurt himself. His eyes felt sore.

At a time like this, he could not be wilful anymore.

If she learned about the things he did not want to remember and came to despise him, he had no right to complain.

Because this was who he was. He was deformed, and his past was exactly like that.

By marrying him, she had already suffered so much.

If… if she hated him.

When he woke up—

When he woke up.

He would definitely tie her up, lock her away, make her wash his clothes and cook for him, not allow her to leave the house, and become a scumbag dragon. He would use the original form she disliked to mate with her, make her give birth to a hundred eggs for him, torment her day and night, and make her regret ever disdaining him.

Mr. Dragon’s palms were covered in sweat, humiliated and in pain, cruel and domineering.

Right now, he could only properly recover and strive to repair the fourth and fifth fragments of his core in one go. That way, he would possess some ability to protect himself.

Even if someone wanted to bully her, he could protect her.

Mr. Dragon’s heart clenched. In the end, he did not have the heart to seek death. He only withdrew his divine consciousness and went off, feeling terribly wronged, to absorb spiritual energy.

He did not even notice that his eyelashes were shamefully damp, sparkling faintly with water, bright and crystalline.

Mu Wanwan thought he had cried from the pain, and her heart felt even worse—

Such a once-mighty villainous dragon had now been so seriously injured that, while unconscious, he was almost crying from pain.

He really was too pitiful.

She changed the towel on Mr. Dragon’s forehead. After waiting a while, she replaced the ginseng slice in his mouth, fed him a Blue Star Grass fruit, and stayed by his side all afternoon. Only when she saw his complexion gradually improve and no sign of him vomiting blood did she finally let out a breath of relief.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness. He had not worsened again.

“Chirp!”

Perhaps dissatisfied that Mu Wanwan had been taking care of Mr. Dragon ever since she came back and had not touched it, Mengmeng kept chirping nonstop.

Mu Wanwan felt a little helpless. She glanced at the thin chirp, then looked at the sky. It was getting a little late. She still had to cook, feed the chirp, bathe, and cultivate plants, so she had to hurry.

Thinking about what she still needed to do later, Mu Wanwan took the towel from Mr. Dragon’s forehead and had just prepared to stand up when she suddenly felt dizzy. Her neck also hurt a little.

She rubbed her head and took a moment to recover, but her vision was still a little blurry—

Was she too tired recently?

Or was this the after-effect of not sleeping for several days?

Mu Wanwan sat back down and rested for a while before walking over to Mengmeng amid its anxious chirps. Mengmeng had always been a quiet and gentle little chirp, but today it was somewhat abnormal.

Mu Wanwan asked, “What’s wrong, Mengmeng? Is your wing uncomfortable?”

“Chirp!”

Mengmeng opened its big eyes and anxiously rubbed its little fluffy head against her hand. Mu Wanwan felt tickled by it and could not help laughing. “Haha, stop rubbing.”

“Chirp chirp~”

Mengmeng’s skinny little body stepped onto Mu Wanwan’s hand and flapped its tiny wings with effort. Mu Wanwan was afraid of hurting it, so she let it hop around on her hand.

“Chirp~” Mengmeng, however, seemed unsatisfied. Standing on her hand, it seemed to want to go somewhere.

“What’s wrong?” Mu Wanwan could only sit down and carefully hold the fluffy chirp. She watched as it shook its little head in a very human-like way, seeming to show great interest in her face.

“Mm?”

A thought suddenly appeared in Mu Wanwan’s mind—

People said the greatest illusion of humans was “my cat loves me.” Now Mu Wanwan was the same.

They said this kind of mountain sparrow had spirituality. Looking at Mengmeng’s cute little scarf and its adorable tender-yellow beak, Mu Wanwan became narcissistic.

She felt that Mengmeng must really like her. Such a lively chirp must want to give her a loving kiss.

Her gaze instantly softened. Mu Wanwan carefully leaned her head closer, preparing to nuzzle her little chirp.

But in the next instant, a sharp pain came from her neck. Mu Wanwan could not hold back a cry. She forced herself to suppress the urge to throw the fluffy chirp in her hand away, the pain making her toes curl.

Her head spun for a moment. With trembling hands, she placed the chirp on the table and reached up to touch the place where Mengmeng had bitten her neck hard—

Heavens. Her hand was covered in blood.

She was wrong. How could she have thought the chirp wanted to give her a loving kiss? *(:з」∠)*

Mu Wanwan wanted to cry but had no tears. She lowered her head to look at Mengmeng, originally wanting to scold it, but when she saw its pitiful little eyes and its little wing that was still seeping blood, she ultimately could not bear to. She only sighed resignedly. “You two… you two…”

She was so depressed she almost could not catch her breath.

What sin had she committed to end up with this dragon and this chirp?

“Chirp!”

Yet the fluffy chirp still called as if trying to please her. Its milky voice made her completely unable to ignore it.

“Alright, alright. I’m not angry with you anymore.” Mu Wanwan sighed and frowned as she looked at it, only to catch sight of it spitting a large mouthful of saliva onto the table as though presenting a contribution.

Ew!

There was even some of her blood in it.

Mu Wanwan almost could not bear to look. But the next moment, she saw an inconspicuous little purple leaf in that small mouthful of saliva.

What was this?

Mu Wanwan held her neck with one hand and no longer cared about being disgusted. Her instinct told her this was not anything good.

“Chirp chirp!” The fluffy ball kept chirping nonstop, circling around that small leaf as though claiming credit.

Even if she were slow, she now realised that the fluffy chirp probably had not bitten her on purpose.

Mu Wanwan looked at that unknown little leaf and suddenly felt a chill, her heart filling with lingering fear.

She furrowed her brows, even feeling that her neck no longer hurt as much. Thinking carefully, before this, both the fluffy chirp and the dragon had been fine. When she left in the morning, everything had also been calm.

Why, after she returned in the afternoon, did the dragon start looking terrible, and even the fluffy chirp behaved abnormally? And then there was this little purple leaf.

She could not tell what kind of thing it was, which meant it must be a plant of a higher rank than hers.

She did not know what this plant did, but if someone had placed it on her using this kind of method, it definitely was not something good. And judging from the dragon and chirp’s reactions, she should have been plotted against while she was out today.

Many scenes flashed through her mind, finally stopping on Lan’er’s flickering eyes.

Her heart felt as though it had been stabbed. Mu Wanwan could no longer sit still. In a hoarse voice, she touched the fluffy chirp’s head. “Mengmeng, thank you.”

A little dazed, she walked to the box, took some ointment, and simply treated her wound. Then she sat beside Mr. Dragon in silence for a long time.

The sky gradually darkened. Mengmeng was probably hungry and kept chirping nonstop. Only then did Mu Wanwan move.

She glanced at Mr. Dragon and tightly clenched her hand. The words “I’m sorry” seemed stuck in her throat, unable to come out no matter what.

The late-autumn night was very cold. Mu Wanwan silently took out all the things she had bought during the day and sorted them into categories. She found a small pouch and put the little purple leaf Mengmeng had spat out into it. Then she dealt with the housework.

She picked one of the warming stones she had finally managed to buy after earning money and placed it beside the chirp’s little quilt. Then she took out the five eggs that, according to the seller, could hatch spirit chicks and that she had bargained over for a long time to buy at the supposedly lowest price. These spirit chicken eggs were much larger than ordinary eggs. She wrapped them up, placed them in a basket, and after thinking about it, added two more warming stones inside.

Then Mu Wanwan began cooking, feeding the dragon, cultivating seeds, handling chores, washing up, embroidering, and making pouches.

Perhaps because her mind was elsewhere, the dragon horns she embroidered tonight were terribly ugly, even uglier than the previous pair. They were crooked and twisted, but actually quite close to his current real appearance.

Mu Wanwan looked at what she had embroidered and suddenly laughed, her eyes a little sore.

Life was hard. She knew that.

It had been like this in both lifetimes. She did not complain. She just felt a little chilled inside.

A little helpless.

She could roughly guess some things, but she was unwilling to think about them anymore.

Next time, she would take that plant to Uncle Zong and let him have a look. Mu Wanwan clenched one corner of the quilt, her mind in chaos. She did not know how much time passed before she finally fell asleep in a daze.

The room quieted down, but from her body, a faint purple mist slowly rose and drifted into Mr. Dragon’s body.

Mengmeng woke sharply, chirped twice, and waved its little wing. But Mu Wanwan was very tired and slept deeply.

She only felt as though her consciousness was being tugged by something.

**Author’s note:**

Mr. Dragon, looking fierce and terrifying: “One hundred eggs warning.”

Mu Wanwan: “…Goodbye, manually.”