The three of them continued forward. Lu Shanqing skipped ahead, looking around. While Lu Shanhuai wasn’t paying attention, she tugged on Long Shiyu’s clothes and said, “Brother Shiyu, can you promise me something?”
Long Shiyu: “?”
Lu Shanqing blinked. “Can you be my boyfriend? You’re much more handsome than my previous boyfriends.”
Long Shiyu said, “…your previous boyfriends?”
“Yes,” Lu Shanqing smiled, showing her dimples. “I’ve had three ex-boyfriends, but they wouldn’t even share a piece of candy with me, so I don’t want to be with them.”
She gently pulled on the corner of Long Shiyu’s clothes, her eyes filled with anticipation. “So, Brother Shiyu, will you be my boyfriend?”
“…No, I can’t,” Long Shiyu said.
“Oh… am I not pretty or cute enough? But everyone praises me so much. Even the teacher says the same and often gives me sweets.”
“Because I have a boyfriend.”
The little girl was stunned.
Then she burst into tears.
The little girl sobbed her heart out. Lu Shanhuai hurriedly picked her up and comforted her. “What’s going on?”
Sniffling, Lu Shanqing said, “B-brother Shiyu said he has a boyfriend…”
Lu Shanhuai found it amusing, but he continued to console her. “Okay, okay, don’t cry anymore. If you want to be upset about something, be upset with the fact that you were born twenty years too late. You can’t compete with Brother Shen in that regard. See, you can’t even memorize the multiplication table, and Brother Shen outperformed me in every exam back then. So you have to remember… Hey, what was it again? Oh right, the early bird catches the worm!”
Lu Shanqing cried even louder.
Long Shiyu: “…”
While he didn’t know how to console children, he was pretty sure that this wasn’t how most people did it.
Lu Shanqing cried along the way and finally calmed down a bit as they were about to leave the training ground.
Before leaving, she tugged on the hem of Lu Shan’s clothes, sniffled, and said, “Brother Shiyu, promise me that if you ever break up, you’ll tell me…”
“What are you talking about?” Lu Shanhuai flicked her forehead. “Go back and memorize your multiplications first.”
As Lu Shanqing left, she turned back to look at Long Shiyu every other step, obviously reluctant to leave.
Long Shiyu returned to Shen Zhaomu’s residence and was greeted by the scent of food. Shen Zhaomu had returned and was sitting on the sofa, watching a documentary about the planet Bei’en.
Long Shiyu removed his coat and offhandedly began to sort through the hanging clothes, categorizing and rehanging them.
Shen Zhaomu glanced at him. “Come here.”
Long Shiyu sat down beside him.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Vtfc Itjbwe jrxfv, “Qts vlv sbe ub bea ab rff Oe Vtjctejl?”
Oe Vtjctejl tjv wfcalbcfv fjgilfg lc atf vjs atja tf tjv ajxfc Oe Vtjcdlcu jcv Obcu Vtlse ab atf agjlclcu ugbecv.
“P pera tjqqfcfv ab gec lcab tlw.”
“Ljnf ifrr mbcajma klat atfw, frqfmljiis Oe Vtjcdlcu.”
Ktf vbmewfcajgs qijsfv ja j ibk nbiewf. Ktfs kfgf mibrf, jcv atflg ygfjatr kfgf kjgw, ilxf ibnfgr tevvifv abufatfg bc atf rboj, ktlrqfglcu.
But their conversation was quite the opposite. Shen Zhaomu reached out and pinched Long Shiyu’s chin. “Remember not to test my limits. You know the consequences.”
The room’s atmosphere turned a bit tense.
Long Shiyu blinked slowly. Shen Zhaomu couldn’t tell what emotions he was feeling. “Okay.”
“Following the rules will benefit both of us.” Shen Zhaomu let go and continued watching the documentary.
However, his attention soon left the documentary.
Long Shiyu had originally been leaning on Shen Zhaomu as he sat, but he was currently inching away from him and towards the edge of the sofa.
Within minutes, the young man had silently shifted to the other end of the sofa.
In short, he didn’t want to sit next to Shen Zhaomu anymore.
After a while, Long Shiyu stood up and prepared to return to his room.
“Come here,” Shen Zhaomu said, producing a plate of hot takoyaki seemingly out of thin air.
Long Shiyu: “…”
He sat back down obediently — still on the other corner of the sofa — and stared at the box of takoyaki.
Shen Zhaomu didn’t give him the box. “Come closer.”
Long Shiyu reluctantly shuffled closer.
“Closer.”
Long Shiyu finally returned to his side.
The documentary continued to play, and the aroma of takoyaki filled the air.
Shen Zhaomu had a habit of touching something while watching a show. In the past, he’d pet the old black dog at home. Afterwards, it was his pet cockatiel. In short, he’d pet anything that was alive.
Long Shiyu was focused on eating takoyaki when Shen Zhaomu suddenly reached out and rubbed his head.
Long Shiyu: “?”
Shen Zhaomu was quite satisfied. The black hair under his hands felt extremely soft and fluffy. He said, “Don’t mind me, focus on your food.”
As he petted the dragon’s head, he touched something hard.
Looking up, he saw silver-white dragon horns. They were as sharp as blades, had a wondrous luster and were etched with exquisite patterns, resembling a work of art.
Long Shiyu was enjoying his takoyaki so much that not only was his long tail swishing on the ground, but his two dragon horns had also been exposed.
Shen Zhaomu found it amusing and grabbed one, giving it a slight shake—
This time, Long Shiyu’s head also shook, preventing him from eating the takoyaki. He shook his head vigorously, breaking free, and turned to look at Shen Zhaomu with a blank expression.
Shen Zhaomu smiled. “I’m just giving it a small shake.”
Long Shiyu began to move back to the other end of the sofa.
He had only moved a few centimeters when Shen Zhaomu reached out and hooked an arm over his right shoulder. “I just brought you some food. Why are you getting disobedient again?”
The hand on his shoulder moved upwards and started petting his head vigorously again.
This seriously interfered with Long Shiyu’s enjoyment of the takoyaki. He felt so wronged that his tail curled up, but he remained silent.
Despite his unhappiness, he didn’t show it on his face and allowed Shen Zhaomu to torment him without any protest.
Shen Zhaomu found him truly fascinating. He was forbearing like an evil dragon tamed by… his favorite princess.
The next moment, Shen Zhaomu laughed out loud at this ridiculous thought.
He probably had some sadistic traits in his personality. Whenever he saw Long Shiyu’s appearance, he couldn’t help but imagine how the young man would look when he couldn’t suppress his anger anymore.
Cats would extend their claws when they’re irritated, much less the noble dragons. However, Long Shiyu’s temperament was truly too good. He didn’t get angry at all after being tormented in this way. He just stared at Shen Zhaomu with a protesting gaze because he could no longer eat takoyaki as quickly.
Even his stare didn’t have much threat behind it.
If he’d been in dragon form, he likely wouldn’t even bare his fangs if Shen Zhaomu stole his food. He’d just curl his tail up and glare at him.
Shen Zhaomu smiled. Finally regaining his conscience, he retracted his hand. Only then did Long Shiyu continue to eat in silence.
After a while, Shen Zhaomu asked once more, “Have you ever encountered other dragons?”
“I have in the past, but not recently,” Long Shiyu replied vaguely with half a takoyaki in his mouth. “I don’t know where they’ve gone. It seems like I’m the only one left.”
He spoke without emotion, as if he wasn’t saddened by the decline of his own race.
Shen Zhaomu commented, “That’s fortunate, at least you won’t be attacked by them.”
Given his low-level bloodline, Long Shiyu was likely regarded as a creature that brought shame to his clan, and dragons attacking other dragons was a common occurrence.
Long Shiyu: “?”
“Why would they attack me?”
Shen Zhaomu was taken aback.
Then, on second thought, he realized that Long Shiyu hadn’t been in contact with other dragons for a long time and might not know about such matters.
However, the dragon clan was almost extinct, and there was no need for the young man to be burdened with that knowledge.
So Shen Zhaomu reassured him, saying, “It’s alright.”
He started vigorously rubbing the other’s head again.
Long Shiyu: “…Sob.”
After a while, Shen Zhaomu received a notification on his terminal.
It seemed that the association had discovered succubi activity near the capital, and had alerted all nearby hunters to be vigilant.
They weren’t particularly powerful, but they could easily blend into a crowd. Typically, the association assigned novice hunters to deal with them. Shen Zhaomu didn’t pay much attention to it.
He had encountered succubi two or three times before. They were indeed stunningly beautiful. After using their spiritual power to pull off some small tricks, they would be able to easily enchant orinary people.
However, Shen Zhaomu possessed a strong mental fortitude and had never succumbed to their charms.
Deep in thought, he glanced sideways once more.
The bridge of the young man’s nose was perfectly straight, and his disheveled black hair only added to his charm. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his beautiful eyes, and even his ears, partially hidden beneath his tousled locks, had a faint blush.
No matter how many times Shen Zhaomu looked at him, he couldn’t help but be struck by his delicate and radiant features. His eyes were like pools of water, his lips were as pink as cherry blossoms. The silver scales on his skin glistened with a unique brilliance.
Sitting there, he looked like a living work of art, capable of leaving even the most ruthless dragon hunter awestruck.
At that moment, Long Shiyu raised his eyes and shot him a glare. The corners of his eyes were slightly upturned, lending a seductive air to his gaze, yet his eyes remained clear.
It was a truly enchanting sight.
Shen Zhaomu: “…”
He withdrew his hand, rubbed his temples, and began to suspect that the one before him was an incubus masquerading as a sobbing little monster.
Author’s Note:
Scold dragon: one minute
Coax dragon: half an hour
One cutesy sob a day: 1/1
Let him eat or he’ll eat you ! I laugh so much at the “why would they attack me ? (They don’t want to die)” misunderstanding
Long (poor, bullied dragon who couldn’t even eat his takoyaki in peace) Shiyu: QAQ
Shen Zhaomu has such an amazing brain hole — from beginning to end, he didn’t ask anything, everything is just own assumption.
Thank you for the chapter!
SO CUTE BRO I FOUND THIS TOO EARLY NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR CHAPTERS ☹️☹️
adorable dragon
Poor cute dragon bullied so he can’t eat…so mean! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️
Lolololol thanks for the chapter!
Sob sob. I want takoyaki
Hahaha doesn’t want to sit by you 😆