Very soon, the day of departure arrived. With the experience from last time, Mu Wanwan prepared many things before setting off this time.
First were the two silver coins needed to enter the city. She was rather glad that after leaving the market last time, she had not spent all her silver coins on meat. Right now, the only money she had left on her was these two silver coins.
The low-grade spirit stones had been used by Mr. Dragon when the pain had become unbearable, but fortunately, his tail had improved quite a lot during this period and had not continued rotting.
Next were the Burning Grass and Blue Star Grass, which carried the future hopes of the whole household.
Over the past two days, each time she cultivated seeds, she had nearly drained all the wood-type spiritual energy in her body. At last, on the day before departure, she managed to finish cultivating all the seeds. However, because it still took quite a long time for seedlings to grow into mature plants, there was no way for her to take all the successfully cultivated seedlings to the market this time.
But Mu Wanwan calculated it. Of the one hundred and fifty Burning Grass seeds she had originally bought, after subtracting the failures and some newly cultivated seedlings, she had harvested a full one hundred and eight stalks of Burning Grass. As for the thirty Blue Star Grass seeds, she had harvested sixteen plants.
The Burning Grass she had just cultivated to maturity was much more tender than the ones she had seen in the kitchen, and they were also slightly larger. Blue Star Grass, meanwhile, was a bluish-green plant. Its two long, thin leaves spread open, revealing a small, round, translucent jade-green fruit in the middle.
According to common knowledge, this small translucent fruit was the essence of the entire Blue Star Grass.
Because there were still some Blue Star Grass seedlings at home, Mu Wanwan decided to take all the mature Blue Star Grass and Burning Grass away to exchange for money and seeds. The ones left at home could be used as supplements after Mr. Dragon finished eating the Hundred Treasures Fruits.
As Mu Wanwan thought this, she packed everything she needed to take into the basket on her back. Then she washed her hands clean and walked into the room. Her gaze unintentionally swept toward Mr. Dragon—
Perhaps the spirit stones and Hundred Treasures Fruits she had placed beside him these past few days had been somewhat effective. The bluish-purple colour on Mr. Dragon’s lips had faded a little, and the colour of his tail had also brightened slightly. Though it was only a tiny bit.
But at the very least, he no longer looked as frightening as when she had first seen him. He seemed more like a living dragon now.
It was already night. A lamp had been lit in the room. The warm lamplight and the dragon lying on the bed both made her feel less lonely.
Mu Wanwan walked to the bedside and sat down. She took out the list she had written earlier with brush and ink, then said to Mr. Dragon on the bed, “If everything goes smoothly this time, the things should sell for thirteen low-grade spirit stones. Then after deducting the cost of buying seeds next time, the pure profit will probably only be ten low-grade spirit stones.”
Mu Wanwan calculated in a low voice. In truth, she did not really need Mr. Dragon to know. She just did not want managing the household alone to feel so lonely.
“It’s already the end of October now. The weather is getting colder and colder. When the time comes, we’ll also need to buy some winter clothes and warming stones.” The more Mu Wanwan calculated, the more her head hurt. “None of that is cheap…”
Mr. Dragon lay quietly on the bed, listening to her mutter about tomorrow’s plan and the things the household was lacking. His heart felt uncomfortable. These days, the amount of time he could stay awake was still very short. If he could remain conscious for half an hour a day, that was already considered good.
With both the spiritual energy Mu Wanwan fed him and his own efforts, he had finally managed to reconnect the third shattered piece of his core. While this reduced some of the pain and the curse, it also allowed his right hand, along with part of his wrist, to move slightly within a small range.
If he was given another half a month, perhaps he would be able to open his eyes and see her with his own eyes.
And during the less-than-half-hour or one hour each day when he could wake, what he saw of her was either her taking care of him or cultivating seeds. The only time she rested was when she slept at night.
If he could, he truly did not want her to suffer even the slightest bit more. Yet he was so useless. Aside from lying on the bed and accepting her kindness, he could do nothing.
This feeling of powerlessness was even stronger than when he had been hunted down as a child.
So strong that sometimes, he even wanted to wake up regardless of the cost.
But if he destroyed his own cultivation and gave up his core in order to wake, it would be equivalent to giving up the possibility of advancing further in cultivation. It would also mean becoming truly crippled trash. Even if he really woke up, perhaps it would not be a good thing for her.
He wanted to recover quickly. He wanted to regain enough strength as soon as possible, so he could take her away and protect her completely.
As Mr. Dragon thought this, his chest felt stuffy, as though it was being torn apart by guilt.
“Mr. Dragon, your complexion looks terrible.” Mu Wanwan had been calculating for a long time and was so overwhelmed that she almost wanted to give up. Then she glanced over and noticed that her dragon’s strangely handsome face was even paler than usual. She even saw a thin trace of blood seeping from the corner of his lips.
Could his condition have worsened again?
Thinking of the tragic sight of him vomiting blood last time, Mu Wanwan shot to her feet, picked up the ginseng root that had already had nearly half of it cut away, sliced off another small piece, and hurried to the bedside. She reached out and pinched his chin.
Her slightly warm, soft fingers pressed against Mr. Dragon’s lips, instantly pulling him out of that self-blaming state.
Before Mr. Dragon had time to react, he felt two warm, soft fingers holding the familiar slice of ginseng gently prying open his slightly sharp teeth and placing it into his mouth.
So this was how she had fed him ginseng slices when he had been unconscious before. It was not… that way…
The guesses he had made in his mind before were completely overturned. Mr. Dragon felt rather complicated, but very quickly, he realised something, and his ears heated again.
This time, it was actually just that his emotions had surged too strongly and affected his condition. It was not serious damage like before. But she looked very anxious. So, in truth, she also cared about him a lot, right?
Mr. Dragon’s heart quietly began beating a little faster. His soft tongue, by reflex, gently licked once, just like the instinctive swallowing he did when drinking porridge while unconscious.
The damp warmth touched Mu Wanwan’s fingertip. One person and one dragon both stiffened at the same time.
Mr. Dragon swore that it really had only been a reflex. He was even a little afraid that Madam would find him disgusting. He did not dare move at all, only his eyelashes trembled and his ears turned bright red.
Mu Wanwan stiffened for a second. The fingertip he had licked felt a little hot. She quickly pulled her finger out. There was a faint shine on it. Mu Wanwan silently walked out to wash her hands clean, pretending that nothing had happened.
In truth, she felt something rather strange in her heart. She could not say she disliked it, but she could not say she liked it much either. In short, it was very complicated. Anyway, when she had changed Mr. Dragon’s ginseng slices before, she had also touched his tongue and teeth, though Mr. Dragon had not moved back then…
It should just be a normal instinctive reaction, right?
Mu Wanwan silently thought. After all, Mr. Dragon could also swallow by instinct. It was probably similar to that…
She would just treat it as being licked by a puppy!
Mu Wanwan found herself a passable excuse and stopped letting her thoughts run wild. She helped Mr. Dragon wipe away the bit of blood at the corner of his lips, checked through the things she needed to take tomorrow once more, and then prepared to sleep.
As for a certain dragon, although the thing in his mouth was clearly a slice of ginseng, he kept thinking of other things, and his cheeks remained hot.
Fortunately, he had already been awake for a long time today. Very soon, he could no longer hold on and fell unconscious again, continuing his struggle against the curse inside his body.
**Author’s note:**
Mr. Dragon: “If it weren’t true love, who would willingly become a licking dragon?”
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