Extra 2: Dragon Cub (1)
Since the woman and the dragon had already exchanged their vows under the witness of the Heavenly Dao, there was no real need for any of the superficial formalities.
As the light gradually faded, Mu Wanwan and Mr. Dragon were teased by the crowd into sharing a brief kiss before joining everyone at the wedding banquet.
Sometimes, Mr. Dragon truly was an extravagant and wasteful dragon. Even the seasonings used in their wedding feast were no lower than third rank. The tables were decorated with genuine spirit stones and precious gems, glittering everywhere one looked. It was certainly a grand affair.
“The dragon clan’s money,” Mr. Dragon whispered into her ear, holding her hand and speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
Since it was the dragon clan’s money, then… they might as well spend it.
The banquet was so lavish that even the chief, who had deliberately come to support her while also intending to find fault, could not say anything.
The old friends he had brought along ate to their hearts’ content.
“You found a fine husband for your disciple. When are Chi Yan and the others going to get married?”
After receiving such praise, the chief felt that he had regained some face. Stroking his beard, he replied, “Who knows with her?”
His old friends did not know that Chi Yan had once had a human husband before becoming his disciple.
The wedding banquet did not last very long. None of the guests were tactless, and when they saw that the moon was about to rise, they began taking their leave one after another.
Mr. Dragon had originally planned to hold the banquet for half a month. However, the thought of having more time alone with his wife was equally delightful, so he did not stop the guests from gradually departing.
Before Aunt Yun and the others left, they specifically gave Mu Wanwan a few more reminders. After agreeing to return and visit Mengmeng in a while, they departed as well.
What surprised Mu Wanwan slightly was that Jiu Qing left without saying goodbye to her this time.
…
Jiu Qing truly was acting somewhat strangely.
In truth, even she did not know what was wrong with her. On such a joyous day, she could not stop herself from remembering her failed marriage to Ao Xue.
Once, they too had been like this pair of newlyweds, though they had neither received everyone’s blessings nor exchanged vows under the witness of the Heavenly Dao.
Ultimately, she had simply failed to see what sort of dragon he truly was. That was why she had allowed herself to be hurt for so many years.
At first, she had not wanted Mu Wanwan to walk the same path she had. Later, she had sincerely wished the couple happiness. However, thinking of herself still left her feeling melancholy, and she could no longer maintain her composure.
“Don’t fly so fast.”
A slightly teasing voice came from behind her.
Jiu Qing did not turn around. She was in a rather sorry state at the moment. Although she was no longer crying, her eyes were still red. Wu Jin’s voice was far too recognisable. If he saw that she had actually shed tears, he would surely laugh at her.
“…”
Wu Jin watched Jiu Qing, who had originally been flying at a leisurely pace, suddenly accelerate after hearing him speak. He felt a little helpless.
He slowly drew in a breath before darting forwards. In fewer than three breaths, he had reached Jiu Qing’s side. Like a child playing a prank, he caught hold of the corner of her robe.
Jiu Qing was already in a foul mood. Being tugged back by him caused her temper to flare. She turned and glared fiercely at him, her bright peach-blossom eyes rimmed with red.
“Let go!”
Wu Jin shamelessly clung to the hem of her robe, looking as though he was declaring that he simply would not release it. Jiu Qing was so angry that she nearly attacked him.
She struggled twice more, but Wu Jin still refused to let go. This was an outfit she had recently grown very fond of, and she did not want to damage it.
Jiu Qing finally lost her temper.
“What do you want?”
Wu Jin looked at the little princess who had once been so forceful that she would attack at the slightest disagreement. Now, even while he held on to her clothes, she merely restrained her anger and glared at him.
His heart ached.
During those previous years, she must truly have been hurt beyond measure.
So much so that she had now reined in her temper and become unbelievably quiet and reserved.
Seeing Jiu Qing like this, Wu Jin could not bring himself to use mocking words to attract her attention as he once had. He simply released her and turned his devastatingly beautiful face slightly aside.
“I have something for you.”
Jiu Qing straightened her robe.
“What?”
“Come with me.”
Wu Jin tried to take her hand as he had in the past, but Jiu Qing avoided him.
He did not take offence. He merely led her to a quiet place before handing her something he had gone to great lengths to find.
Jiu Qing stared at the perfectly preserved severed tail in shock.
“Where did you find this?”
After the battle with the Sun-Devouring Rat Clan had ended, she had tried searching for it. However, after finding nothing for two days, she had given up. After all, a severed tail no longer served any purpose.
Wu Jin looked rather pleased with himself.
“I found it on a fleeing member of the Sun-Devouring Rat royal family. Weren’t you always saying that having no tail was ugly?”
Hearing him say that made Jiu Qing feel somewhat embarrassed.
Wu Jin’s natural talent was not poor either. When they fought as children, there were times when Jiu Qing could not defeat him. Whenever that happened, she would cruelly mock him for being an ugly fox without a tail.
Looking back now, she really had been awful.
“Thank you.”
Jiu Qing accepted the severed tail. She summoned her seven large, fluffy tails and, under Wu Jin’s increasingly strange gaze, reattached the severed one.
Reattaching it only made it look better. In reality, it had no function at all.
And the pain remained.
Just like the wounds she had suffered in the past. They no longer appeared to have left any scars, but they still continued to ache..
Just like the wounds she had suffered in the past. They no longer appeared
However, the two severed tails looked a little bald after being reattached. Jiu Qing glanced at them and laughed.
“Look, I’m bald now too.”
Her smile was beautiful, and Wu Jin’s heart stirred.
“Jiu Qing, what do you think of me? Am I qualified to stand by your side?”
He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Ao Xue had not been dead for long, and Jiu Qing had clearly been upset just moments ago. He knew she still needed time to move on. He had only wanted to comfort her and give her all the time she needed.
But…
After watching the newlyweds exchange vows under the witness of the Heavenly Dao today, he could no longer restrain himself.
He was far too envious.
He had already waited for so long—so very long.
The young man who had once stood in a corner and watched her marry someone else, secretly and shamefully hoping that she would divorce him as his heart was torn apart, had finally glimpsed a sliver of hope.
He desperately wanted to hear her answer, even if it was not the one he wished for.
Jiu Qing froze. She raised her head and looked at Wu Jin. The moment she saw the emotions in his eyes, she understood everything.
She was no longer the ignorant, wilful young girl who acted recklessly, nor was she the little princess who could not read people’s expressions and only knew how to suppress them with force.
She understood Wu Jin’s gaze perfectly.
She was merely astonished. She had never imagined that Wu Jin might like her, and now she felt somewhat flustered and at a loss.
After a brief silence, Wu Jin studied her expression and relaxed slightly. Rather than putting her in an awkward position, he teased her in the manner most familiar to her.
“I know. I’m much stronger than you now.”
Jiu Qing smiled at him as well.
“Then, mighty Lord Tailless Fox, have you finished dealing with your official duties?”
Wu Jin looked at her helplessly. By tacit agreement, neither of them continued the subject.
He knew that Jiu Qing still needed time—time to move on and time to accept him.
The two of them headed back towards the demon clan. As she looked at the person beside her, Jiu Qing gradually recovered from the shock of discovering that Wu Jin actually liked her.
Wu Jin had never revealed anything of the sort before. She had always assumed he disliked her.
After struggling with the matter for a while, Jiu Qing gradually came to terms with it. She did not dislike spending time with Wu Jin, but she could not immediately begin seeing him as anything other than a friend.
It would be better to continue interacting naturally and leave everything else to time.
Many years after she and Wu Jin finally got together, Jiu Qing would recall how her future lover had lost control of his emotions in that quiet corner and sigh. Had she not attended Mu Wanwan and Mr. Dragon’s wedding with him, perhaps the story that followed would never have happened.
Meanwhile, as Jiu Qing and Wu Jin broke through the thin barrier that had stood between them, back in the slightly disordered courtyard…
After finally seeing the chief and his group off, Mr. Dragon appeared somewhat helpless, though Mu Wanwan could clearly see the relief in his expression.
“Madam.”
The sky had darkened. Soft moonlight fell across his face, casting a warm glow over his lips. He stood there looking at her, his gaze burning like powerful wine that had been buried underground for countless millennia.
“Husband…”
Mu Wanwan felt a little embarrassed as she spoke the word. As soon as it left her lips, starlight seemed to descend into his eyes. The corners of his eyes curved beautifully, and two shallow dimples appeared upon his cheeks.
“Mm.”
Mr. Dragon took her hand, his lingering tone carrying a trace of ambiguity.
“Say it again?”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
Suppressing the strange feeling rising inside her, she stammered, “H-Husband.”
“Madam,” Mr. Dragon responded.
His large hand encircled her waist while the other covered her eyes.
“We’re going home.”
When she opened her eyes again, she was greeted by warm lamps behind brocade curtains and glowing red wedding candles.
Mu Wanwan stared in surprise at the home that looked completely different from when she had left the day before.
“When did you arrange all this?”
“Just now. Do you like this colour?”
Light flickered at Mr. Dragon’s fingertips, and the room before Mu Wanwan instantly changed to another arrangement.
“I like it.”
Mu Wanwan looked at the brilliant red wedding quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks, which covered the entire bed, and felt her face grow warm.
**Click.**
Perhaps it was the wind, but the door swung shut behind them with a faint sound.
Now, they were truly and completely alone.
Mu Wanwan looked at his lips, made rosy by the surrounding red light. Without hesitating, she grabbed the front of Mr. Dragon’s robe, rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him.
Mr. Dragon’s eyelashes trembled. He was so nervous that neither of his hands seemed to know where they ought to go.
His nervousness quickly affected Mu Wanwan. After the long, breathless kiss finally ended, she looked into Mr. Dragon’s phoenix eyes, which were flickering with panicked golden light, and turned her head away.
“We haven’t bathed yet.”
“Mm… Mm…”
The dragon was flustered as well, though a small, inexplicable sense of disappointment arose in his heart.
Gathering her courage, Mu Wanwan said, “Let’s… let’s go together.”
The moment Mr. Dragon heard her words, the fluffy ears that he had successfully kept under control—and which had not appeared for a very long time—suddenly popped out.
They twitched irregularly.
Mu Wanwan’s eyes lit up.
Ever since Mengmeng’s nirvana, she had gone far too long without anything fluffy to stroke. She truly could not restrain herself.
By the time she returned to her senses, her hand was already resting on top of Mr. Dragon’s head.
Her fingertips met something soft. She gently stroked it twice, and a muffled groan that could not be restrained sounded beside her ear.
As though she had been burned, Mu Wanwan guiltily glanced at Mr. Dragon’s deeply flushed face and withdrew her hand.
“It’s a little… itchy.” The dragon desperately tried to preserve his dignity, pretending he was not overly sensitive.
“…Mm.”
Since he had said that, Mu Wanwan stroked the ears a couple more times, satisfying herself before finally pulling her hand away.
Mr. Dragon—who was suffering in silence and stubbornly refusing to admit it—trembled his ears and followed her suggestion.
“Madam, let’s bathe.”
Mu Wanwan nodded. Amid an intensely awkward and ambiguous atmosphere, the woman and the dragon made their way to the bathing area.
Their new home was enormous. Mr. Dragon had transformed the bathing area into a large indoor hot spring spacious enough to accommodate many people.
Mu Wanwan and Mr. Dragon’s gazes met briefly before both hurriedly looked away.
“I won’t look at Madam.”
Mr. Dragon spoke stiffly and consciously turned his back to her.
He had always been trustworthy, so Mu Wanwan believed him.
Nervously, she placed her hands on the sash of her robe. After struggling for quite some time, she ultimately kept one layer of clothing on before entering the pool.
The water temperature was just right. Mu Wanwan, who had been tormented by illness for the past two days, let out a comfortable sigh. Lost in relief, she naturally failed to notice how violently a certain dragon trembled after hearing that sound.
“Are you ready?”
The voice of Mr. Dragon, who had promised not to look, was trembling.
“I’m ready.”
Mu Wanwan moved further forwards and began removing the ornaments from her hair. Her dark hair spilled down behind her.
Mr. Dragon released a slight breath of relief. Like her, he kept one layer of clothing on before entering the pool.
The woman and the dragon silently soaked at opposite ends of the enormous pool.
Mist curled through the air, carrying waves of heat. Mu Wanwan gradually became sleepy. While thinking about how she would climb out later, she became distracted, slipped, and pitched forwards.
Instead, she fell into a warm and damp embrace.
“Madam, be careful.”
His body was burning hot, and Mr. Dragon’s voice was hoarse. His phoenix eyes had already turned a brilliant golden colour.
They were standing very close together, allowing them to sense every tiny change in the other with perfect clarity.
Mu Wanwan became aware of something and felt somewhat embarrassed. Supporting herself against his arm, she tried to stand, but she was exhausted from the day and failed several times.
A certain dragon, who had already endured great hardship, found this almost unbearable.
“Don’t move.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She thought he might be feeling uncomfortable. After hesitating, she tentatively asked, “Do you want me to help you…?”
A drop of sweat slid down Mr. Dragon’s forehead. He answered hoarsely, “All right.”
Mu Wanwan blushed and reached out. She had originally assumed that she would be the one taking the lead, but Mr. Dragon awkwardly pressed her hand beneath the water instead.
His awareness seemed delayed, as though he were barely managing to restrain himself. Mu Wanwan struggled against his firm grip, her face burning, unable to describe the strange sensation.
Perhaps it was because of the dragon clan’s innate gifts, but Mr. Dragon appeared to understand far more than she did. Or perhaps he was merely acting on instinct. By the time Mu Wanwan recovered from the indescribable haze, not only were her hands numb, but even her legs had turned flushed and weak.
Mr. Dragon’s ears trembled violently. As he panted beside her ear, barely suppressing himself, he finally understood the profound delight behind the dragon clan’s obsessive nature.
The night was still very long.
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