Chapter 8

Five Dragons (1)

In the end, Mu Wanwan was unable to swallow the congee herself. She took the spoon, walked to the bed, scooped a spoonful of congee, and tried tentatively to feed it to the tyrant. 

Only, his lips were tightly pursed because of the pain. Mu Wanwan tried several times, but couldn’t push the spoon in. 

She thought for a while, and said in a low voice, “Excuse me.”

She squeezed the dragon’s jaw with one hand, forcing his mouth open, blew the congee to cool it down, then fed it to him.

It might be because he was too hungry— although he was seriously injured and disabled, the tyrant’s body still yearned for food. After stuffing the congee in, Mu Wanwan saw him swallow it instinctively.

There was a hint of joy in her eyes. If he could swallow on his own, that really saved her a lot of trouble.

However, perhaps because she had accidentally fed him a little too quickly just now, some of the soup snaked down the corners of his lips, shining with a glistening light, it just… felt strange.

Mu Wanwan’s face was a little red. Like a thief plugging his ears as he steals a bell1, she reached out and wiped the soup traces from the corners of his mouth. As she was about to finish feeding the remaining half bowl of congee, she heard Fuliu’s unfriendly voice from outside the door. “Madam, are you still not ready?”

Mu Wanwan thought for a while, then poured the congee into the porcelain bowl on the table. Before going out, she couldn’t help but glance at Mister Long, who was lying in bed. She said softly, “I’ll be back soon.”

She closed the door and followed Fuliu out of the yard. The air was much fresher, but Mu Wanwan’s heart was less at ease than it was when she was by the tyrant’s side.

Although it was hard on her eyes and nose when she was around him, it was all right once she got used to it.

While the dragon with broken horns and rotten tail was a little ugly, at least he wouldn’t harm her, nor would he disgust her like Bai Shuiyao. Beside Mister Long, she didn’t have to worry that she might be killed at any time.

“We’re here.” Fuliu pulled open the doors of the ancestral hall. “Madam, today is the last day.”

Mu Wanwan nodded and knelt before the row of golden tablets under Fuliu’s cold gaze.

Her knees were a little swollen. When she knelt on the smooth, icy ground, it stung like she was being pricked with needles; it hurt so much that Mu Wanwan sucked in a breath of cold air.

“Kneel well,” spat Fuliu, before walking away with the food container. Mu Wanwan quietly changed to a more comfortable position, then looked up at the golden tablets that had only been mentioned briefly in the novel.

These tablets were not quite the same as what she had seen on TV and in real life. The tablets shone with a golden light, and they were all enveloped in a layer of hazy white light, which seemed to be a protective shield, safeguarding the tablets tightly. 

The tablets were engraved with the words of this world. Because of the original body’s memory, Mu Wanwan could read them——

“The Supreme Leader, Long Ying of the Golden Dragon Clan…”

“The Supreme Leader, Ao Ming of the Green Dragon Clan…”

From top to bottom, there were a total of eleven tablets: Golden Dragon, Green Dragon, Red Dragon, Black Dragon, and White Dragon—there had been a leader from every clan before. The eleventh leader, the one who ruled before the tyrant, was Ao Bing of the Green Dragon Clan.

Ao Bing, Ao Qin… 

They were father and son, but the tyrannical leader was now Mister Long. 

Mu Wanwan sensitively noticed that something seemed to be amiss. Suddenly, a paragraph from the novel describing the friendship between the tyrant and Ao Qin flashed in her mind——

“The young five-clawed deformed dragon with black, white and gold spots in the past has now become the first dragon to break through the seventh rank. According to the rules, as long as he can break the dragon horn of the current leader, he can become the new leader.

The current leader, Ao Bing, was already very old. He had been seriously injured in a battle with the leader of the witch’s tribe a few days ago, but he still accepted the tyrant’s challenge. When the tyrant clutched the bloodied broken horns in his blood-stained hands, smiling before the terrified faces of countless from the dragon clan, it was Ao Qin who stepped forward and took the lead to congratulate him.”

Mu Wanwan didn’t think too much about this when she was reading the novel. But now, kneeling in the cold ancestral hall and looking at Ao Bing’s tablet, then linking it to the miserable appearance of Mister Long, who had been neglected in his bedchamber after his defeat, she felt as if she had touched upon some truth.

“Madam seems to be observing very seriously?” A somewhat icy voice suddenly came from behind her. The startled Mu Wanwan looked back reflexively to meet Ao Qin’s handsome, smiling face.

“I……”

A tremendous pressure had filled the air at some point; cold sweat slid down the corners of Mu Wanwan’s forehead, and it was so stifling that she couldn’t utter a word.

Ao Qin followed the direction of her line of sight just now, swept an indifferent glance at Ao Bing’s tablet, then shifted his gaze away unconcernedly. He stretched out and gently pressed his white and slender hands on her shoulder. His smile was very friendly, but it made Mu Wanwan feel almost cold all over. “What is Madam speculating about?”

When had Mu Wanwan ever experienced such pressure? She only felt that her chest was stuffy, and when she came round again, her mouth was already filled with a fishy sweetness.

“Madam, I am very sorry,” Ao Qin withdrew the pressure lazily, “I have just ascended to the sixth rank, and don’t have a very accurate grasp on my spiritual powers.”

Mu Wanwan’s throat was full of the taste of fresh blood; she was so nervous that she could barely speak——

For the first time, she became clearly aware of how dangerous this world was, and that she was just so small and weak. 

“It’s me who has overstepped.” Ao Qin withdrew his hand, his eyes bent into a smile. “Madam, don’t be nervous, I won’t do anything to you.

“Starting tomorrow, Madam need not come to kneel at the ancestral hall every day,” Ao Qin said in a low voice, seeming very respectful. “Please make sure to take good care of the sovereign.”

Mu Wanwan’s face was pale. She saw that Ao Qin was about to leave after he finished speaking, thought of a particular dragon’s miserable wounds, then gritted her teeth hard and said, “Lord Ao Qin.”

Ao Qin stopped in his tracks and looked puzzledly at this chongxi prop that was no different from the ant in his eyes.　　

“Can you…” Mu Wanwan gritted her teeth, “Give me some medicine, the sovereign’s wounds…”

“Has there been no elixirs for the sovereign yet?” Ao Qin narrowed his eyes, seemingly very annoyed and surprised at this. “Madam, please rest assured, I definitely won’t let those servants treat the sovereign like this.”

“The elixir will be delivered to you soon.” Ao Qin smiled, “After all, the sovereign is also my good friend. I won’t allow these servants to bully and humiliate him.”

Mu Wanwan thought, I’ll be damned if I believe you, but still smiled joyfully and thanked him several times under his mocking gaze. 

Footnotes:

1 a thief plugging his ears as he steals a bell: A Chinese idiom describing a person who is in the midst of self-deception, trying to deceive themselves that as long as they do not see/ hear what they are doing, it’s not happening (like an ostrich burying its head into the sand).

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