CH 85.2

Translated by yuki

Edited by xiaowu 

The next day, Lu Qingjiu was once again unable to prepare breakfast in time.

When Yin Xun made his way over, he found the place silent. However, after yesterday’s experience, he didn’t worry about it and just wandered off to find a snack from the fridge. While he was enjoying his snack, he watched Bai Yuehu walk out of the bedroom with a bounce in his steps and a face full of satisfaction. Seeing Bai Yuehu’s facial expressions, a scary thought popped up in his mind – why did Bai Yuehu have such a satiated expression? Could his good friend really have been eaten up by the big black dragon disguised as a fox spirit?

“Bai Yuehu!” Mustering up his courage, Yin Xun asked, “Have… have you seen Lu Qingjiu?”

Bai Yuehu replied, “He’s still resting.” 

“Still resting? You two…” His thoughts went down the most obvious route. Could Lu Qingjiu really have been wrung dry by Bai Yuehu?

It was obvious to see that Bai Yuehu was in a really good mood. He didn’t pay too much attention to Yin Xun, heading to the kitchen to look for something to eat and leaving Yin Xun uneasily rooted in place.

It was around noon when Lu Qingjiu slowly stepped out of the bedroom to appear in the living room. As the weather was hot, he wore a short sleeve t-shirt which clearly revealed faint marks on his neck and even his elbows had some visible bite marks, as if he had been nibbled from head to toe by Bai Yuehu.

Yin Xun had seen enough, causing his liver to shrivel up. Walking over, he could only say, “Brother, you have worked hard.”

Lu Qingjiu grimaced, using a hoarse voice he cursed with a few choice swear words, “Damnit, it’s totally different from what I had imagined!”

“How is it different?” Yin Xun asked, “Is the structure of a dragon’s body so different?”

Lu Qingjiu’s ears immediately turned red, his expression also started to scrunch up, but he remained speechless, unable to say anything.

Yin Xun was a little lost, “Jiu-er, what’s the matter with you?” 

Lu Qingjiu gritted his teeth, “Nothing’s the matter.”

Yin Xun: … If nothing’s the matter, why are you so fierce?

Bai Yuehu  ingratiatingly sidled up to the limping Lu Qingjiu, pouring him a drink and massaging his feet and back, acting like a virtuous daughter-in-law. However Yin Xun watched these actions with growing puzzlement, if Bai Yuehu was the bottom in their relationship, why was Lu Qingjiu the one limping, could it be…

After pondering this matter, Yin Xun felt as if he had stumbled upon an extremely horrifying secret. He stared at Lu Qingjiu in astonishment, then turned around to look at Bai Yuehu, asking in shock, “Qingjiu?” 

“Yes?”

“So the one who went beyond human limits was you, not Bai Yuehu!”

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“Qekeke.” 

“…Jgslcu ws jrr.”

“Qekeke, Ale-fg sbe’gf lc remt j wlrfgjyif rlaejalbc.”

Lu Qingjiu grinded his teeth, thinking in his heart that the most miserable matter hadn’t even been mentioned yet. He knew that dragons were kind of related to snakes, but why on earth, when he was excited, this bastard would have two… At any rate, this knowledge shouldn’t be shared. Regarding these kind of matters, he could only be like a dumb person taking a dose of bitter medicine and keep it to himself.

Having eaten his fill, Bai Yuehu had fully satisfied both his mind and body. For the first time in his life, he had discovered something that was even more satisfying than eating food. No wonder his siblings and father were all so happy indulging themselves in such matters. Actually, it was also a good thing that Lu Qingjiu had one-quarter dragon blood, otherwise he probably couldn’t withstand Bai Yuehu’s “handling”. 

Of course Lu Qingjiu was unaware of Bai Yuehu’s thoughts. If he knew, he would probably be angered to the point of stomping his feet. Was the dragon heritage from his mother’s family to be used this way? Lu Qingjiu would have been fine if he just couldn’t transform, but why did he have to grow such a sensitive pair of juvenile dragon horns as well…

After clearing up what had gone on, Yin Xun once again turned around to look at Lu Qingjiu, this time with deep pity in his gaze.

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t say anything in the end. He could only collapse on the chair and let Bai Yuehu massage his waist that felt like it was about to break. He had wanted to put on a brave front, and act as if nothing had happened, but his body that was about to fall apart prevented him from doing so. To tell the truth, even just walking around was extremely difficult.

As Lu Qingjiu was unfortunately indisposed, the trio could only eat simple fast food such as instant noodles. Originally, Yin Xun wanted to volunteer himself, but Lu Qingjiu confessed that a certain body part of his couldn’t handle any more suffering, if he experienced diarrhea at this point, he would probably pass away right there and there on the toilet. 

As such they could only make do with what they had – eating porridge for that day. Even that porridge was made by Bai Yuehu under the strict supervision of Lu Qingjiu.

After about two to three days, Lu Qingjiu’s body finally recovered, the only remaining sign was a slight limp when he was walking. As such, they decided to go to town to buy some peanuts. While doing so, they coincidentally met up with Hu Shu. Seeing Lu Qingjiu, Hu Shu opened his mouth and blurted out, “Eh, in just the few days I hadn’t seen you, how did you become even more beautiful?”

Lu Qingjiu was dumbstruck, “Huh?”

Pang Ziqi  who was munching on a Shao Bing to the side, declared with an experienced tone, “With an appearance like you're kidney-deficient, could it be that you are dating someone?” 

Lu Qingjiu suspiciously looked at him, “You can even tell such things at a glance?”

PZQ  said, “Of course, looking at your dark under eye circles and unsteady steps, as well as slight limp when you’re walking… wait, why are you limping when you walk?”

Lu Qingjiu lied, “Oh, I accidentally twisted my ankle yesterday.”

“That would be why.” Pang Ziqi nodded. “How is your girlfriend? You should bring her to meet us. That’s right, as gratitude for helping us last time, let us treat you to a meal.” 

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Let’s talk about it when I’m free.”

Anyways back to Hu Shu’s point earlier, even though Lu Qingjiu had the look of someone that had been sucked dry, interestingly, this made others feel like he had become more good looking. From the corner of his eye to the tip of the brow, there was a faintly indescribable charm, as if a bottle of wine had been opened and was wafting a seductive atmosphere.

After chatting briefly with Pang Ziqi and Hu Shu, Lu Qingjiu successfully bought a few large sacks of peanuts and returned home. Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun had originally wanted to tag along but he had pushed them away. Since he had been surrounded by the two these few days, he wanted to take this opportunity to be by himself for a while.

After replenishing a few other ingredients, Lu Qingjiu slowly drove home in his small truck. 

When he got home, he was immediately greeted by Bai Yuehu as soon as he got off the truck, who also helped him carry his shopping.

Lu Qingjiu thought out loud that since it was going to be the Dragon Boat Festival next month, he had to remember to get the leaves for wrapping zongzi. Zhu MiaoMiao had also mentioned that she wanted to come visit during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Bai Yuehu listened carefully to Lu Qingjiu’s words and said that he would prepare the ingredients needed to make zongzi.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t bother fighting with him and just nodded in agreement. 

The next day, they planted the peanut seeds that were bought, it would take about two months for these to produce more peanuts.

Lu Qingjiu then needed to rest for another few days. His body had already recovered fully, but who could have expected that on a beautiful night when the full moon hung high in the sky accompanied by a few sparkling stars, he was once again pulled by Bai Yuehu into bed… Thus Lu Qingjiu finally realised his fragile body would never be able to completely recover.

However apart from this, there were no disadvantages when it came to dating Bai Yuehu. Bai Yuehu had grown gentler, not only did he take care of all the farm chores, he also did all the heavy lifting chores in the house, seemingly unable to let Lu Qingjiu handle anything too much. At the start, Lu Qingjiu had protested this a little, but gave this up after realising his protests were futile, instead concentrating his efforts fully on cooking.

As the days became warmer, the menu also became more varied. 

Lu Qingjiu bought a lot of seafood online and had it sent to town, then delivered them home with the small truck. As it was not easy to preserve seafood, he would normally cook them on the same day as a seafood hotpot. Furthermore, the fresh octopus was also delicious whether eaten raw with some wasabi or lightly parboiled.

While preparing the ingredients, Lu Qingjiu discussed the seaside with Yin Xun, telling him about the salty sea breeze and the possibility of being able to see lots of clams and other shellfish on the shore during the low tide. One could even gather lots of seaweed, as most people didn’t want them and just left them on the seashore.

Yin Xun listened in admiration, but he had been fated to spend his lifetime in Shuifu village – the furthest he could go was only to town.

Bai Yuehu also quite liked seafood, but the type he liked was the ones that had been cooked by Lu Qingjiu. Since he had eaten way too much of raw seafood, he no longer had interest in those. When he heard Lu Qingjiu’s words, he thought for a moment before asking Lu Qingjiu whether he wanted to visit the seaside. 

Lu Qingjiu shook his head, “It’s fine, since Yin Xun can’t go.”

“Not the human world’s sea,” Bai Yuehu clarified, “Do you still remember the sea I brought you to for your birthday?”

Lu Qingjiu certainly remembered it, since he still had Bai Yuehu’s juvenile dragon horn hanging on his chest. That sea was the most beautiful view he had ever seen, the clear waters reminded him of a blue crystal that people just couldn’t stop falling for.

“Can Yin Xun come too?” 

“Of course, “Bai Yuehu replied, “ That is actually a part of the alternate reality but since Yin Xun doesn’t count as human, it doesn’t matter whether he goes or not.”

“That’s good news,” hearing this, Lu Qingjiu started getting excited, “We can go for a barbeque by the beach, can the things there be eaten?”

“Sure, but it’s a little different from the human world’s food, although it doesn’t taste bad.”

Yin Xun also got excited, he had never seen a real sea. Seeing Lu Qingjiu’s expression, even though he didn’t know what the sea looked like, it must be really pretty. 

“Then, when can we go?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

“Anytime is fine.” Bai Yuehu replied flippantly.

Thinking, Lu Qingjiu said, “Then let me prepare food and a barbeque rack tomorrow, let’s go the day after?”

“Sure.” 

Yin Xun started dancing around like a loon, showing that he couldn’t wait for the trip. Watching him, Lu Qingjiu also felt happy. Thinking more closely, he hadn’t been to the sea for a while. The sea always had a special charm, as if it could engulf all the unhappiness, and let people forget the worries in their hearts.

Having decided, Lu Qingjiu started preparing for the trip. To make the trip a truly enjoyable one, he prepared all the things he could think of – barbeque spices, coal, rack, swimsuits etc.

Bai Yuehu didn’t have anything to prepare, but before going, he begged Lu Qingjiu to cut his long hair.

Even though Lu Qingjiu quite liked Bai Yuehu’s long hair look, upon seeing Bai Yuehu’s distress about his hair, he decided to help Bai Yuehu out, grabbing a pair of scissors and snipping a few times,  giving him a short haircut. Although his hair frequently regrew, but the fact that Bai Yuehu was such a beauty that he was almost memorised by the hairdressers in town made Lu Qingjiu not dare to let Bai Yuehu go to the hairdressers that often, just in case an employee grew suspicious of Bai Yuehu’s true identity. 

Once everything was ready, Yin Xun hugged his floaties and waited with Lu Qingjiu on the porch. In an instant, Bai Yuehu’s black mist surrounded them. The trio, together with the fox kit and the two piglets disappeared from that Shuifu village porch.

Author’s note:

Lu Qingjiu: I will definitely treasure you.

Bai Yuehu: Good. 

Lu Qingjiu: Wait… why is this different from what I had imagined?

Bai Yuehu: I will definitely treasure you.

Lu Qingjiu: ???