Mr. Dragon slowly extended a wisp of divine consciousness, shyly moving around the bright red wedding quilt. Bit by bit, it wrapped around the corner of Mu Wanwan’s clothes.
Today, she was wearing a light-blue long robe, with a bit of cotton at the cuffs. The temperature outside had probably dropped.
His divine consciousness followed the hem of her clothes and slowly reached her face—
She was a little fairer than the last time he had seen her, but also a little thinner. There were faint dark circles beneath her eyes, probably from exhaustion after taking care of him. An indescribable soreness rose in his heart. Mr. Dragon’s divine consciousness gently brushed over Mu Wanwan’s eyelashes, like an invisible breeze, softly caressing her.
Her head was lowered, as though she was making a pouch.
The lamplight was warm. Even though he was only seeing through divine consciousness, Mr. Dragon felt more at ease than he ever had before.
How wonderful. She was still by his side.
Her eyelashes were still curved too. They were not especially long, but the arc of them made this dragon’s heart itch.
After Mr. Dragon relaxed a little, he felt that his body seemed somewhat different from before again—
His right arm moved slightly and touched soft fabric. It was cottony and very soft.
His heart swelled. Perhaps because his mood was so light, the pair of white ears exposed outside also twitched slightly.
Although his meridians hurt badly, Mr. Dragon was reluctant to withdraw his divine consciousness. He only watched quietly as she embroidered the pouch. What she was embroidering was a little abstract. In truth, he did not quite understand it—
There were two ugly things embroidered with golden thread that looked somewhat like horns. Beside the horns, there were two pointed things embroidered with white thread.
Mr. Dragon had not realised at all that Mu Wanwan had actually discovered his little secret. He only watched her embroider the pouch with twitching ears. After watching for a while, seeing that she had finally finished, he nervously tensed his body, his fingertips unconsciously touching the underclothes Madam had just changed him into.
Although his tail was still bare, at least he was no longer a naked dragon.
Also, he had just discovered that there was only one quilt on the bed. Did that mean that, these past few days, she had actually been sleeping together with him?
Mr. Dragon felt his chest heat up a little. Was this a side effect of losing his heart’s blood earlier?
Wanwan had no idea that a certain dragon had already escaped danger and regained consciousness. She only carefully finished the final stitch, then seriously tied off the thread and hid the loose end before holding up the finished pouch to compare it with Mr. Dragon’s horns.
Although her craftsmanship still needed improvement, the broken horns and that pair of ears should still resemble the real thing in spirit.
“Mr. Dragon, if I take this pouch out to sell, it definitely won’t sell.” She could not help laughing. “I’ll keep it for myself.”
Mu Wanwan dug out a few silver coins and a few copper coins and stuffed them all into the dark-blue pouch. Then she touched the two white furry ears embroidered on it, her hand itching a little.
She wanted to touch Mr. Dragon’s ears again.
But Mu Wanwan still restrained herself. Even if Mr. Dragon’s ears were fluffy, if she rubbed them more than ten times a day, would they start shedding?
She carefully placed the pouch beside the pillow, checked whether the door was locked properly, and prepared to sleep.
She extinguished most of the lamps in the room, leaving only one oil lamp whose oil was nearly used up.
The room dimmed, quiet except for the sound of her taking off her outer robe.
Mr. Dragon grew a little nervous. Although he had already slept together with Madam several times, he still could not adapt to this kind of couple-dragon life.
The lamplight was ambiguous, and he was still her husband in name.
By the time Mu Wanwan lifted the quilt with her slightly chilly hand, Mr. Dragon had already begun to heat up.
Mu Wanwan lay down on the soft bed after what felt like a long time and immediately felt as though all the bones in her body had softened. She had gone four nights in a row without sleeping. If this had been before, that would have been a breakthrough of the human body’s limits.
Even though she was now a cultivator, going so long without sleep or rest was still somewhat unbearable.
Almost as soon as she lay down in the quilt warmed by Mr. Dragon, she began to feel sleepy.
Finding a position where she would not touch him but could still stretch out her body, Mu Wanwan settled down and was just about to sleep when she accidentally glanced at Mr. Dragon. With that one glance, she saw his pair of white ears constantly twitching. Under the lamplight, the fine, slender fur looked especially fluffy.
Was Mr. Dragon’s pain making his ears twitch by reflex?
Although guessing that Mr. Dragon’s ears were twitching because of pain was rather cruel, Mu Wanwan still felt an itch in her heart. She endured and endured, but in the end, she decided to touch them one last time.
“Mr. Dragon, can I touch your ears?” Before making her move, Mu Wanwan routinely bullied the vegetable dragon. “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.”
Only this time, Mr. Dragon was awake.
When he heard her words, he was instantly a little dazed and did not even react to what she meant by “ears.”
But when her slightly cool, soft fingertip touched the fluffy extra ears that had once been mocked, his entire dragon body stiffened.
A tingling, numbing sensation exploded all the way from those ears beneath his underclothes, and Mr. Dragon’s face reddened almost instantly.
His—his ears that had never appeared again after he reached adulthood—why had they suddenly come out! Also, were those ugly things she had embroidered on the pouch just now actually his horns and ears?
These two questions had only just appeared in Mr. Dragon’s mind. Before he could think about them carefully, the sensation coming from his ears made his whole body go numb.
It was one thing that she touched them, but she actually pinched them too, and even stroked them all the way down from the tips to the base…
It was itchy, numb, and extremely stimulating.
As a result, the overly sensitive Mr. Dragon’s ears trembled even more fiercely.
After touching them twice, Mu Wanwan felt that the sensation in her hands was not quite right and quickly let go. When she looked, Mr. Dragon’s whole face was covered in a flush. Even the tips of his ears were red, and they were trembling again and again, as if he was very uncomfortable.
She panicked a little. After all, when she had rubbed the dragon before, this had not happened.
“Mr. Dragon, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?” Mu Wanwan did not dare touch his ears again. She hurriedly got out of bed, plucked a Blue Star Grass fruit, cut open its skin, and nervously tried to let him drink it.
Mr. Dragon had not yet recovered from the blow of having his ears discovered when he was suddenly stuffed with a mouthful of unpleasant Blue Star Grass juice.
The bitter juice slid all the way into his body, which lacked spiritual energy. In almost a moment, it was scraped clean by his meridians, leaving only a faintly bitter taste on the tip of his tongue.
Seeing that his complexion improved a little, Mu Wanwan finally let out a breath of relief. She threw away the fruit peel, obediently lay back down, and did not dare touch his ears again. In a small voice, she said, “Good night, Mr. Dragon.”
She covered herself with the quilt, closed her eyes, and in no time at all, sank into a long-awaited sweet, dreamless sleep.
As for a certain dragon, he remained stuck in the shock of having his ears rubbed for a long time before finally recovering.
She actually did not think he was deformed. Judging from her attitude just now, she even liked his ears. Mr. Dragon could not describe the emotions in his heart—
Other dragons’ ears were different from his. He had hatched in a sea near the abyss, in a place without any dragon life. When he was still a little dragon, there had been no others of his kind around him. He had even thought he was a demon beast.
But whenever he wanted to approach the abyss, the demons would bite him. Only one very good demon beast had protected him.
He had thought that was his father.
Although that demon beast had no fluffy white ears and no tail.
But just after he grew into a one-metre-long little dragon, that demon beast disappeared.
He had nearly been bitten to death and could only flee in a wretched state. Later, he finally learned that he was a dragon.
When he arrived at the dragon clan’s territory covered in wounds, because of this pair of ears—this pair of ears that he could not hide even after transforming into human form, ears that were different from all other dragons—he was judged to be a mixed-blood.
The dragon clan would not be soft-hearted, let alone sympathetic. Different was different. A heretic was a heretic.
Mr. Dragon endured the pain in his meridians and slowly withdrew this pair of ears.
He did not know whether Mu Wanwan had seen other dragons before. If she knew, if she knew that other dragons’ original forms did not have ears like his, would she think he was deformed?
But it was fine. Mr. Dragon deceived himself, and his dragon-self, thinking that as long as he put his ears away, as long as she could not see them, then he was normal. He was a dragon just like all the others.
The unease in his heart slowly grew. Listening to Mu Wanwan’s steady breathing beside his ear, Mr. Dragon could not help slowly reaching his hand in her direction.
Only when he touched her palm, forced her fingers to interlock with his, and felt her warmth did his heart settle a little.
He, this bad dragon, actually thought darkly that she had already married him in front of everyone. In this life, she had already been branded with his mark. When he recovered, if she wanted to leave, he would lock her up and make her stay with him forever.
Then, he would make her his true wife.
Dragon nature was greedy. He was the same. At first, he had only been grateful for her kindness to him. But gradually, he became unsatisfied with just that little bit of warmth. Under her constant giving, he became more and more greedy, wanting more and more.
As Mr. Dragon thought this, he mocked himself a little—
She thought he was unconscious. She thought he had no awareness. Perhaps she was only taking care of him out of pity and some other reasons. Perhaps she did not have many feelings for him.
But he…
He had already, pitifully, fallen deeper and deeper.
…
…
When Mu Wanwan woke up the next morning, she felt as though her hand was being held by a ball of fire. She opened her eyes and awkwardly discovered that she was once again holding Mr. Dragon’s hand and taking advantage of him. Feeling rather embarrassed, she let go of his hand and sat up, unconsciously glancing at Mr. Dragon.
With that one look, she felt that perhaps she had woken up the wrong way.
Where were the ears?
Where were the fluffy ears?
She closed her eyes and opened them again. Mr. Dragon’s head was still bare. There was nothing there.
That pair of white ears from the past few days seemed like her hallucination, as if they had never existed at all.
Mu Wanwan froze for a moment. Unable to stay calm, she knelt on the bed and carefully combed through Mr. Dragon’s long hair several times.
She really could not find those ears.
She felt that she might be suffering from nervous exhaustion. So had the past few days really been hallucinations caused by not seeing anything fluffy for too long?
But the feeling had not seemed fake at all.
It took a full dozen or so minutes before she finally recovered from the blow of losing the fluffiness. She picked up the pouch by the pillow, sorrowfully touched the not-very-good-looking white ears embroidered on it, counted the money inside, sighed, and tucked it into her clothes.
After washing up and making breakfast, she packed her things and prepared to set out. The sky outside was still not very late, roughly around seven or eight in the morning. It was just rather gloomy, as if it was about to rain.
Mu Wanwan thought about it, then still took that broken umbrella with her. If she could go to the market today, she definitely had to buy a new umbrella. It would be best to buy a straw raincoat too, since it would make working more convenient.
“Mr. Dragon, I’m going out.” Mu Wanwan glanced at the tiny bit of ginseng left and the one Hundred Treasures Fruit she had left behind, then frowned. There were no life-saving spiritual plants at home anymore. This time, since she had reached the second rank, she had to try and see whether she could get some higher-value seeds from Uncle Zong.
After closing the courtyard gate properly, Mu Wanwan left with the basket on her back.
This time, she followed her memory all the way to the place where she had met Hongye the past few times, but there was no one there.
She tried walking forward a little farther. In front of the palace where she and Mr. Dragon lived, there was also a somewhat remote area specifically for servants to live.
Since no one was waiting for her here, she would go find them herself.
When Mu Wanwan arrived at the side hall, she happened to see Fuliu walking out with an unhappy expression.
Fuliu also saw Mu Wanwan. Surprise flashed through her eyes, and she gave Mu Wanwan a slight bow, which counted as a greeting.
Mu Wanwan knew that this was actually extremely rude. After all, Mr. Dragon was still the nominal lord of the dragon territory, and she counted as the lord’s wife. But the current situation was stronger than they were; being alive was already not bad.
Mu Wanwan did not know that Ao Qin had not killed Mr. Dragon because he had not obtained Mr. Dragon’s horn and therefore could not open the core treasures of the forbidden land. She only thought Ao Qin was doing it for face and because he was twisted inside.
So she had always been very worried that Ao Qin might one day be in a bad mood and come to torment them. Fortunately, for the time being, none of that had happened.
Because of this, even though the maidservants were very disrespectful toward her, she did not feel dissatisfied.
“Why has Madam come out?” Fuliu looked Mu Wanwan up and down, feeling a little surprised. Why did she feel that the woman in front of her was somewhat different from the woman she had seen half a month ago?
This Madam’s eyes were brighter. Her appearance had not changed much, and her clothes were still very plain. The light-blue clothes had been washed somewhat faded, clearly old clothes she had brought with her before marrying. On her back was a somewhat worn large basket worth only a few copper coins, filled with some vegetables. On top was a small cloth bundle, which probably contained some handkerchiefs, pouches, and similar things.
Last time, Hongye had told her that this Madam had bought quite a few scraps of cloth.
Moreover, this Madam gave her a very comfortable feeling. Could it be because her strength had advanced?
Generally, the stronger someone was, the more mysterious they felt, and their temperament would change accordingly.
Thinking of this, Fuliu softened her voice. “Madam, are you going to the market?”
Mu Wanwan nodded at her. “I calculated the time. I should be able to go out now.”
Fuliu glanced at her basket. “Madam is going to sell vegetables this time?”
Mu Wanwan nodded and did not deny it.
Fuliu felt that this Madam lived even more miserably than she, a maidservant, did. For some reason, a very satisfying feeling rose in her heart. “Aiya, how many copper coins can selling vegetables earn? I remember Madam is at least a first-rank cultivator. How come you only know how to grow vegetables?”
Mu Wanwan maintained her smile. In her heart, she did not want to bother with her. She only said, “Can I go out today?”
Fuliu looked at her mockingly a few times, then called into the courtyard, “Hongye, are you done yet? Come here.”
“Coming.” Messy footsteps sounded, and Hongye quickly came out of the courtyard. However, her hands were still stained with some foul-smelling blood, with several black and white feathers stuck to them. It was unclear what she had just been doing.
“Ah, Madam is here too.” Hongye smiled at Mu Wanwan.
“Stop grinning like a fool. Hurry and check the record. Can Madam go out today?” Fuliu said impatiently.
Hongye waved her hand. “I remember the days. Madam can only go out tomorrow.”
Mu Wanwan nodded. “Then I’ll come again tomorrow morning.”
After saying this, she turned to leave, but unexpectedly ran into a guard coming out from the side, carrying a basket. At a glance, the basket was full of black-and-white furry lumps. The smell of blood was pungent, and blood dripped steadily from the bottom of the basket.
A bad feeling arose in her heart. Mu Wanwan saw the guard bow to her.
Mu Wanwan nodded at him. As the two brushed past each other, she clearly saw what was inside the basket—
It was a pile of fluffy lumps that had died miserably, with black-and-white feathers and tender yellow beaks.
No. There was still one that had not died!
She saw its tiny wing move slightly.
Mu Wanwan’s heart suddenly jumped. By the time she came back to herself, she had already stopped the guard.
“What is it, Madam?” Fuliu noticed her movement and stepped forward to ask.
“Fuliu, what’s inside this basket?” Mu Wanwan pretended to be a little embarrassed. “Are they chicks? Can they be eaten?”
“Chicks?” Fuliu was first stunned, then could not restrain herself from laughing. Even Hongye and the guard laughed aloud.
“How could they be chicks? They’re a kind of mountain sparrow from the outer area of our forbidden land. Perhaps because there’s a lot of spiritual energy in the forbidden land, they grow larger than the ones outside and have a bit of intelligence. They’re very fierce.” Hongye was straightforward. “This time, I heard Lord Ao Xue wanted to eat fruit when he went to the forbidden land, but they chased and bit him. In a fit of anger, he killed quite a few.”
“The masters look down on mountain sparrows like these, with low spiritual energy and not much meat, but servants like us were given quite a few.”
Fuliu was amused by this ignorant Madam. Looking at Mu Wanwan’s much thinner cheeks, perhaps out of sympathy, she casually said, “Madam is craving meat? That makes sense. Our courtyard was given a dozen or so. I’ll give one to Madam to eat, haha.”
Mu Wanwan thought, I was waiting for exactly those words. At once, she revealed a delighted expression. “Then I’ll thank you, Fuliu. It really has been a long time since I was able to eat meat.”
Fuliu proudly lifted her chin. “Hongye, go get the one you just plucked and give it to Madam.”
But Mu Wanwan shook her head. “Fuliu, I wonder if I can choose one from this basket myself?”
“Mm?” Fuliu was a little surprised.
Mu Wanwan hurriedly explained, “I want to pluck the feathers, wash them clean, and make a small decorative item.”
“Oh.” Fuliu did not think much of it and nodded at the guard. “Then Madam can take your time choosing. I’ll go back to work first.”
Mu Wanwan smiled gratefully at her. Without changing expression, under Hongye and the guard’s gazes, she grabbed the thin little bird she had just seen still breathing. She was not gentle at all, even deliberately pinching its tender yellow beak. “Then I’ll head back too.”
“Madam, I’ll wait for you here tomorrow,” Hongye said. Seeing Mu Wanwan’s somewhat hurried departing figure, she laughed with the guard.
The guard looked at Mu Wanwan’s thin back and shook his head. “How pitiful. She married our disabled Lord and can’t even get meat to eat.”
Hongye also nodded approvingly, then put away her smile. “Just like my sister-in-law. Eh, no, that’s not right. My sister-in-law is still very free, after all. Thanks to Lord Ao Qin’s kindness, she even received compensation.”
Moreover, although her brother had lost his cultivation now, he seemed to have regained consciousness recently and accepted things. He had given all the savings he had previously hidden to her sister-in-law and now acted as cowardly as a dog at home every day. Speaking of it, this Madam had the title of leader’s wife, Lord’s wife, but in reality? She lived even worse than servants like them.
Just one mouthful of meat had made her this desperate.
Hongye did not continue thinking about Mu Wanwan’s matters and walked back into the courtyard. She still had a lot of feathers left to pluck.
…
As soon as Mu Wanwan left everyone’s line of sight, she immediately changed her grip, holding the thin little bird she had been carrying in both hands. Feeling the blood continuously flowing from its small wing, she quickened her steps and returned to the palace.
“Chirp…”
As soon as she entered the courtyard and locked the gate, she heard the fluffy lump in her hands let out a soft cry, extremely weak.
Mu Wanwan hurried into the room, took Mr. Dragon’s spiritual medicine, and briefly treated the thin bird’s wound—
Starting from the end of its left wing, it had been cut open all the way by something sharp. Half of its wing was shattered, and its black-and-white feathers were covered in red blood.
Mu Wanwan’s heart almost broke from pity. That dragon called Ao Xue—what kind of demon was he?
How could he bear to kill such a cute fluffy little thing? And he had killed such a large number, simply because he wanted to eat fruit.
After helping the little fluffy lump treat its wound and applying some of Mr. Dragon’s ointment, she carefully wrapped a bit of cloth around the thin bird’s little wing and tied it into a knot. After thinking about it, she still took some fine thread and tied the thin bird’s little claws together.
She had heard that this kind of fluffy lump had a fierce temperament. She wanted to wait until its injuries healed before sending it away.
Mu Wanwan carefully smoothed out the thin bird’s feathers and said with heartache, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save your friends.”
When she saw those other thin birds, some had already been cut directly in half. Only this one had been lucky.
She thought she would not receive any response, but unexpectedly, after she finished speaking, the fluffy lump in her hand actually raised its other uninjured little wing and gently rubbed against her palm, letting out weak little chirps.
It was simply too heartbreaking. qwq
Mu Wanwan suddenly felt that losing Mr. Dragon’s fluffy ears was not so bad anymore. She had picked up a fluffy bird now. In the future, she would raise this thin little bird until it became plump and turn it into a big fat chirp.
If it wanted to leave, she would let it go then.
A faint smile appeared on her cheeks. Mu Wanwan gently touched the fluffy lump’s little head. “Little cutie, from now on, we have to live well.”
**Author’s note:**
Mu Wanwan: “Although I lost Mr. Dragon’s fluffy ears, now I have a chirp to pet.”
Mr. Dragon: “????”
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