Some of the freshly picked mushrooms could, after a quick wash, be used in tonight’s dinner of chicken soup; while the rest needed to be sundried before it could be eaten. Drying the mushrooms would reduce their toxicity and make it safer for consumption.
When Lu Qingjiu saw that the chicken soup was almost done simmering, he added the fresh mushrooms into it and then covered the pot, preparing to pick some green onions from the backyard. Unexpectedly when he had just entered the yard, he saw a stranger standing in the middle of the yard, locked in a stare down with Bai Yuehu.
The stranger was tall, with long red hair, and a small red tattoo on his brows. Normally, people with red hair gave off a frivolous vibe, but this person didn’t feel frivolous at all. Instead, he gave off an air of solemnity that made others dare not laugh in his presence.
When he heard Lu Qingjiu’s footsteps, he looked up. His pupils were an inexplicable shade of red but the instant he saw Lu Qingjiu, they turned back to a normal shade of black.
This person’s appearance was too obvious. Even if Lu Qingjiu hadn’t seen him before, it wasn’t difficult to guess his identity. He must be Zhu Rong.
“Lu Qingjiu?” Zhu Rong called out his name in a low voice.
“Mr… Mr Zhu?” Lu Qingjiu had actually wanted to call him Zhu Rong but just as he was about to speak, he felt that it was not quite fitting and thus changed it at the last moment.
“You can call me Zhu Rong.” He said, “How have you been?”
“Not bad.” Lu Qingjiu was bewildered by his casual familiarity. This was their first meeting yet Zhu Rong’s attitude towards him was as if he were meeting an old friend.
Zhu Rong could sense his hesitation and forced a smile. “No need to feel awkward. Your grandmother and I are old friends.” It was clear to see Zhu Rong wanted to present himself as a warm person even though he was originally a steely-faced man whose smiles made him seem horrifying.
“Old friends?” Lu Qingjiu was astonished. “You know my grandmother?”
“En.” Zhu Rong replied, “Her culinary skills were pretty good.”
Good? Then he must have eaten his grandmother’s cooking, but Lu Qingjiu didn’t know why he had never met these people as a child. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that they had deliberately avoided him? Lu Qingjiu had some guesses in his mind, but since it was his grandma’s acquaintance, he replied, “Then… do you want to stay for dinner?” He wanted to know how much Zhu Rong knew about his grandma.
“No need.” Unexpectedly, Zhu Rong refused. He turned to Bai Yuehu. “I have some other matters to tend to.”
By the side, Bai Yuehu did not say a word but his gaze was cold.
“Ah, alright.” Lu Qingjiu could feel that the atmosphere between Bai Yuehu and Zhu Rong was not right and didn’t pursue this matter.
Zhu Rong nodded, “If you see the escaped dragon, remember to let me know. As long as it’s out there, you are in danger.”
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.
“Zf? Qts vbfr la kjca ab fja wf?” Oe Hlcuple jrxfv.
Ite Ebcu’r fzqgfrrlbc aegcfv ragjcuf. “Glvc’a Djl Tefte afii sbe jcsatlcu?”
Oe Hlcuple: “Let?”
Ite Ebcu jcrkfgfv, “Ktf vgjubc gjmf bcis vfnbegr akb xlcvr bo qfbqif. Mlgra lr atflg fcfws ktlif atf rfmbcv lr atflg ibnfg.”
Oe Hlcuple ogbhf. “Cw P lar fcfws?”
Zhu Rong wrinkled his brows, looking at Lu Qingjiu strangely but he did not reply. He merely waved a hand to signal he was leaving.
Lu Qingjiu watched his reaction as an incredible conjecture appeared in his heart. This theory had been in his mind before, but he had always felt that it was too absurd and hid it away in his heart. However, Zhu Rong’s reaction had confirmed this absurd theory. He turned his head slowly to look at Bai Yuehu.
Bai Yuehu saw Lu Qingjiu’s heavy expression and sighed. He raised a hand to touch the corner of his eyes and gave another sigh. “I just knew his arrival wasn’t a good thing. Ask away.”
Lu Qingjiu, “Is he my grandfather?”
Bai Yuehu pursed his lips, thinking silently. After some time, he slowly answered under Lu Qingjiu’s gaze. “That’s right.”
“He is my grandfather? That dragon is my grandfather?” Although he obtained the answer effortlessly, Lu Qingjiu was not happy at all. He recalled the dragon’s sad but gentle expression, and then thought of its sorry figure while imprisoned in that abyss. “Why, why did he eat my parents? Is it because he loves them?”
Bai Yuehu: “I don’t know, but I think there’s a misunderstanding.” As a dragon, he was most familiar with the habits of his race. If Lu Qingjiu’s grandfather lost control, then the first thing he would eat was Lu Qingjiu’s grandmother and not his own children. After all, when she was pregnant, he had already left her side and had never seen his children.
Lu Qingjiu was shocked by this revelation. He had many questions but didn’t know where to start. In the end, he could only squeeze out a single question. “So I’m the offspring of a dragon? With dragon blood in my veins?”
Bai Yuehu: “Have you never wondered why you could see and hear things that others could not?”
Lu Qingjiu: “I thought I was the main character.”
Bai Yuehu couldn’t help but laugh. “Who knows, you might still be.”
Lu Qingjiu: “…” Hey, that made sense. But seriously, he had never contemplated the reason he had this special ability. He had merely chalked it up to coincidence but now that he gave it a second thought, would such coincidences exist?
There’s no such thing as coincidence, everything happens as it is meant to.
Lu Qingjiu: “I have so many things I want to ask you. I’ll make a list later.”
At first, Bai Yuehu thought that Lu Qingjiu’s reaction to hearing the truth would be much more exaggerated than this. However, he never thought that Lu Qingjiu would suddenly say this and even planned as far as going back to write up a list. He opened his mouth, “Wait a minute…”
Lu Qingjiu: “En?”
Bai Yuehu: “Now that you know the truth, will you run away in fright?”
Lu Qingjiu was baffled. “Run? Where will I run to?”
Bai Yuehu: “Isn’t there a dragon wanting to eat you?”
Lu Qingjiu: “That’s right, and it’s even my grandfather.”
Bai Yuehu: “Is there nothing you want to say?”
Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment and his expression suddenly sunk. He slapped his thighs and cried out, “Oh no!”
Bai Yuehu also grew frantic. “What’s wrong?!”
Lu Qingjiu: “I forgot I was still stewing the chicken!”
Bai Yuehu: “…”
Before he could say anything else, Lu Qingjiu had already dashed into the kitchen and shortly a mournful wail was heard. “Damnit! It’s dried up!”
Bai Yuehu: “…” Once he thought of the delicious pot of chicken soup disappearing just like that, he actually began to hate Zhu Rong.
It was entirely Zhu Rong’s fault for bringing such earth-shattering news, that caused the three’s delicious and tender chicken soup to turn into a pot of dry as dust chicken and shrivelled up mushrooms.
Yin Xun had gone out in the afternoon and did not know what happened. During dinnertime, he could only look at his bowl tearfully while complaining that Lu Qingjiu was so inhumane as to finish the soup behind his back, not leaving him a single drop.
Lu Qingjiu’s head was about to explode. “I said that I accidentally let the chicken soup dry up.”
Yin Xun: “I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you at all! Even if you had forgotten about it, how could Bai Yuehu forget?!”
Bai Yuehu heard this and silently gritted his teeth, nearly snapping the pair of chopsticks in his hand. That’s right, he normally wouldn’t have forgotten about such a thing. But how was he supposed to remind Lu Qingjiu about the chicken soup under that sort of situation? If he did, he was afraid that matters wouldn’t be as simple as losing a pot of chicken soup.
Lu Qingjiu: “Alright, alright. Stop crying, I’ll boil some water for you to mix in, alright?”
Yin Xun: “Waa, you’re so heartless. Not only is the chicken soup gone, you even want me to drink hot water.”
Lu Qingjiu: “Then, what do you want to do?”
Yin Xun: “Cook another pot of soup tomorrow. This time, I’ll watch over it.”
Lu Qingjiu: “…fine.”
The three of them finished their dinner unhappily and then went to do their own things. Bai Yuehu went out, but no one knew his destination. Yin Xun touched his belly and went home, leaving Lu Qingjiu to sit in his bedroom. He took out a piece of paper and started listing all the questions he wanted to ask. It must be said that there were too many things he wanted to ask and a single piece of paper was not enough. Looking at the questions on the paper, Lu Qingjiu sighed again. In his peripheral vision, he noticed the diary on the wooden box next to the pillow as well as the black scales on top of the diary.
By now, he finally understood what his grandmother’s warning “Don’t have feelings for your tenant” meant. She had actually fallen for a dragon and even became pregnant with his child. Unfortunately, their story ended in tragedy. The corrupted dragon ate their own children they created and was mercilessly imprisoned while his grandmother left the world in grief.
Lu Qingjiu took out the dragon’s scale and after careful observation, he found that the scale seemed to have been touched many, many times. Some of the uneven areas on it had even become smooth. Comparing it to the black scale that had fallen from Bai Yuehu before, the contrast between the two scales was very obvious. His family’s dragon was indeed the most beautiful. Thinking of this, Lu Qingjiu unconsciously smiled and picked up the scales to kiss it gently. But right after he did so, he suddenly realized there seemed to be something wrong with his actions. The smile on his lips froze.
Ah… why would he think of kissing Bai Yuehu’s scales? Was it because of its overwhelming beauty? Lu Qingjiu didn’t dare to wander further down this road of thought and hurriedly stored it back in the pouch he had specially prepared for the scale. Afterwards, he returned the scale filled with scars in between the diary.
He didn’t know what his grandmother thought of every time she touched this piece of scale for so many years. Was she full of tender affection or bitter hatred? Lu Qingjiu could only guess.
Unfortunately, the answer was destined to evade him because the person involved was already dead.
He slowly rearranged everything and glanced at the numerous questions on the paper. He sighed, crumpling the paper with all the questions into a ball and throwing it into the bin by the side.
He was aware that asking Bai Yuehu wouldn’t bring him honest answers. If he really wanted to know what had happened all those years ago, he would probably have to find that imprisoned dragon who was also his grandfather.
However, recalling the reason for Zhu Rong’s arrival, Lu Qingjiu knew that it wouldn’t be easy to see his grandfather.
Nooooo! the soup!
These dragons are too hungry…🙃
Thanks for the chapter!!!
The fourth wall has been broken! 😂
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
I’m guessing that the grandfather, not knowing his beloved was pregnant, left her out of fear of losing control. He finally returned just to see she had children not knowing they were related! He ate them out of rage and jealousy and when he found out the truth, it was too late. My guess anyway!
Thanks for your hard work translating!
👀
I think he would have known his own family through smell, he probably ate them because they were in danger or injured, just like Yuehu almost did when Qingjiu was sick :3
I was thinking that too – they were injured because of the landslide, he wanted to save them, but accidently ate them or something?
“I thought I was the Main character” says the MC of the novel🤣🤣🤣
Fck, I laughed so hard at the soup part ahahahaha. Finally they eat smth that doesn’t taste so good >D
And psst LQJ, Mr. MC… there’re two dragons out there who want to eat you :3
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
The poor ex-soup 😢
I had wondered. I hope this means LQJ can live for a long time. Suddenly wondering about the guy who married the tree….
Thanks for the great translation ♥️
Thanks for the update
Lol this is starting to sound like Matsume Yuujinchou 😂
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
Mayday mayday!!! LQ is AWARE!
I also have a lots of Q’s to asked😒😒😒
He knew. 😂LQJ knew he’s the main character, that almost scared me when he broke the fourth wall. 😂
Also, I really like how they handle supposedly depressing revelations in such a chill and hilarious manner that we won’t feel uncomfortable or sad about