Chapter 97: 4.15

Jia Hyson gasps and groans. His breath coming out in short uneven panting as his slim body writhes in a mixture of discomfort and pleasure. "No, ah, no, stop-!" 

The long black primary feathers graze over his bare body, the touch causing him to buck and twitch and gasp. "Da, hah, Da Gong, you, ahh, you stop right, right, hahahahahaha!"

His tiny limbs fruitlessly try to push away those awful feathers as they tickle his sensitive thin scales on his belly. 

"Cluck, cluck, cluck." Da Gong clucks sternly as he once again lightly brushes his feathers against the worm's sides.

[Don't leave me to chase ugly humans.]

"Noooo," Jia Hyson's body twists and turns in an attempt to escape, "I won't ahahaha, I won't, haha, promise, ah, ah, just stop hahaha!"

Ye Cheng watches the adorable scene of his family's Da Gong play with his family's Xiao Bang. The little lizard was really strange though, the way it shrieks and cries was really unlike any animal he's heard of. 

In fact, lizards are predominantly pretty quiet creatures that don't really make too much noise in general. Other than house geckos that like to make those clicking noises, Ye Cheng doesn't think he's seen or heard any reptile as vocal as little Xiao Bang. Not to mention Xiao Bang who doesn't click like a gecko but likes to 'mrp' and 'meep' and even occasionally 'muah', it really feels quite unusual. 

But also very cute ah. 

Ye Cheng felt very warm as he watches the unusual and cute Xiao Bang scream it's little head off as Da Gong bullies him to tears. By the side Da Shen, the old dog, was covering his eyes with his paws and Xiao Shua was facing away from everyone with it's ears flattened, the very image of 'see no evil, hear no evil'.

He has so many unique fluffy cuties, it made himself feel very fluffy inside. 

Meanwhile Tang Muxin was not feeling very fluffy. 

She had managed to arrive back unnoticed but not an hour later, a servant came to summon her to the main hall where this body's cheap father and his vicious main wife were. Luckily she could manage to muddle her way through the basic courtesies and greetings thanks in no small part to her terrible reputation of being an uneducated crazy wastrel. Unluckily it seems that her cheap father has been convinced by his wife to sell her into the palace when spring comes. 

It's the end of autumn currently. 

Tang Muxin listened numbly as her cheap father tries to sell her on the idea of entering the palace with coaxing words and half-truths while her mother smiles with faint smugness. She sneers inwardly. It seems no matter what time they live in, they'll always be human scum. 

The cheap father in a way has his good points. After all, it took him this long for him to run out of patience with the original Tang Muxin's frankly and objectively horrible antics and he did protect her a lot much to the dissatisfaction of other people. In fact, one may say that the Tang family could have been much more successful if not for the multiple blows in their reputation caused by the original pulling them down. 

However he was also a bit braindead like his daughter ah. Easily manipulated by the main wife and other concubines, he actually thought sending Tang Muxin, who has shown no talent, skills or even emotional intelligence, to the palace to essentially die instead of doing what most father's who want to kick out their kids and send them... literally anywhere else honestly. 

A more rural village in the backwater countryside or a monastery were good choices ah. Tang Muxin felt like not just her cheap father, but the main wife's brain was also quite unfathomable to persuade everyone to send her to the palace. After all, the humiliation and suffering would also be quite heavy if she was sent to the previously aforementioned options as well. 

Was it because of the money the palace would pay? It was, wasn't it? Fuck, they're already one of the richest families in this small area and yet they sold their daughter for some gold like their family was in poverty! 

The original Tang Muxin was in the wrong but these people should at least try to help correct her before it became this bad. Even if they had reached this breaking point, the actions they took to remove her were too stupid. It should be said brainlessness runs in this family. 

Tang Muxin sighs, she really can't wait to leave this place. Jin Bao her fellow transmigrator had given her lots of good ideas on how to proceed in the future but without basic knowledge she won't be able to take a single step until then. Fortunately Ye Cheng was a rare good man who was willing to more or less let bygones be bygones and help her when she was in need. 

Walking back to her isolated villa she can feel the sneers and whispers of the people around her. Even though it isn't truly 'her' they're sneering at, it still left an awful and familiar taste on the tongue. 

Her hands slowly clench. 

She hates that feeling. 

...

Jia Hyson was completely drained from the tickle attack but still somehow managed to convince Da Gong to go back to Tang Muxin's courtyard in the evening. 

Da Gong: 'Hmph, if the courtyard wasn't so nice who would want to go back again? Tch, it can't be helped, if the worm wants to go he'll accompany it ah.'

"Thank you," Jia Hyson croons as his slim noodle body wraps around Da Gong's neck with happily, his snout nuzzling affectionately against the feathery black cheek. 

"Tch," Da Gong pretended he didn't notice his worm being so physically intimate and coquettish while ignoring how his heart flutters beneath his breastbone. 

When the pair of unlikely animal companions arrive, they see Tang Muxin- all packed up and one step out the door.

Jia Hyson was suprised. Didn't they agree to leave in a few days time?

'Eh? Mu Mu what are you doing?' He telepathically calls out.

Tang Muxin: '...' Who the fuck is your Mu Mu? 눈_눈

"Plans have changed." She announces as she hikes up her makeshift sack filled with what sounds like an awful lot of stuff. It seems Tang Muxin had no intention of acting above material things and leaving with her pride and other such nonsense. She was going to be potentially facing a period of poverty, it's best to take as many valuables as she can to avoid that situation. "Let's go and sell tragedy again."

Jia Hyson: '...Okay.' Girl, it hasn't been a day yet and you're going to sell tragedy to the same person twice with such an aura filled with righteousness. Are you addicted to selling tragedy now? 

However Da Gong who had just been appeased flew into a rage again as he finally realizes what's happening. 

His worm wanted to go back to their courtyard and coaxed him so hard, Da Gong had thought it was because his worm was coquettish and enjoyed their alone time together. While Da Gong had still been unhappy with it he was a generous and accommodating rooster who can't help but give in to his worm's wishes. 

But! But! But! It turns out the only reason his worm wanted to come was because of the human woman! Now that she was leaving his work also wanted to leave! His worm didn't care about their courtyard at all!! ⋋(ಠ ⊝ ಠ)⋌

Jia Hyson of course, while not very well versed in rooster psychology, had good EQ and was very experienced in the art of coaxing crazy lovers. He could immediately sense he had made a misstep in his eagerness to cling to the protagonist. 

Initially he had planned it so during the two days before leaving with Ye Cheng, he can use the time to get Da Gong more acquainted and hopefully a bit more accepting of Tang Muxin who would feed them with food infused naturally with spiritual energy. Even if Da Gong didn't like her, if he explains that he had run out of spiritual energy syringes, Da Gong would reluctantly accept her as a chef if nothing else.

But now, the jealous rooster had been stimulated too many times and had no chance to properly recover from all the vinegar he had been guzzling. The food Tang Muxin had initially given them had too little spiritual energy to be properly acknowledged by the prideful and arrogant bird, so to Da Gong she probably just seemed like a piece of trash in his eyes.

Jia Hyson: 'Ahhh, this is a bit like when I tried to matchmake my sexfriends, where A was way too sticky with me and B was secretly in love with A but A didn't know who B was and just thought of him as a love rival.'

Bebe: '...Why were even your relationships with your casual fuckbuddies so complicated?'ლಠ益ಠ)ლ

Jia Hyson: 'I like having a little spice in my life ah.'╮(╯∀╰)╭

Bebe: 'Bebe thinks you're a little too spicy. You should tone it down.'

Jia Hyson: 'I can try, but only if you will take a lick to check my spice level~♡'(∩❛ڡ❛∩)

Bebe: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ 'ROLL.'

While they were bantering inside his head, Jia Hyson was busy selling meng and trying to appeasing Da Gong. This was probably the only thing he could do while multitasking, after all, he's spent many a time trying to coax and flirt with people while thinking about the newest chapter he had to write later and so on.

Bebe: 'Scum alert.'(￢з￢)

Jia Hyson: 'It's called being productive dumbass. Do you know how much time I waste trying to on damage control?'

Bebe: 'Well maybe you should stop causing so much damage.'

Jia Hyson: 'Tch, you really have an answer for everything now don't you?'

Bebe: 'Well it helps that you have a stupid question for everything.' (Ｔ∇Ｔ) /

Jia Hyson: '...' ಠ_ಠ

Unfortunately while he was great in doing this sort of scummy thing as a human to another human, as a dragon to a rooster, his abilities were greatly reduced. Not only in terms of body language and seduction techniques, but even the language barrier was very difficult to overcome. 

With the high-level linguistic improvement pill and the skill [Subtitles], Jia Hyson is able to learn, comprehend and speak animal languages faster than normal but he had always been a bit of a language slag and it hasn't been that long since he had arrived. It was inevitable that he couldn't spout his usual flowery and seductive bullshit. He really only knows basic sentences and words that probably read at an elementary school level. 

Da Gong is also aware of this and had always made it a point to be very patient with Jia Hyson, doing his best to help whenever it seems he's struggling with finding a word. However right now, Da Gong wasn't feeling very understanding.

"Da Gong, Boss, I'm sorry~" Jia Hyson chirps cutely, tiny claws gently tugging and pawing at the bird's soft chest feathers, "Forgive me? Please?"

"Hmph," Da Gong clucks coldly. He is an intelligent rooster that will not be fooled again. 

"Please~~~♡" Jia Hyson boops his snout against the large rooster's chest before peppering it with soft, light kisses, making Da Gong feel ticklish but on the outside and inside. 

"H-Hmph," Da Gong turns his head away from his worm. He will not be moved.

"Pwease~~~~~~♡♡♡" Boop. Boop. Kiss. Kiss. Boop. Nuzzle. Boop. 

Da Gong: ("ˆ ³(,,ಠ⊝ಠ,,) '…♡' 

Critical hit. Attack was super effective.

"Tch." Da Gong clucks irritatedly but he is still as gentle as ever as he picks Jia Hyson up with his beak and flings him onto his back. 

"Mrp!" Jia Hyson squeals in delight. His Da Gong was so adorable! "Mrp! Mrrep!" He continues to excitedly cry out happily and places as many soft kisses as he can to show exactly how pleased he was with his sweet chicken. 

Under his little worm's enthusiastic cheering Da Gong's feathers puff up pridefully and his neck straightens up as he struts back to Ye Cheng's house. Passing by a motionless Tang Muxin who had been watching this melodramatic scene of a slag man successfully winning back the enraged 'legal husband' by selling enough meng, Da Gong stops and stares up at her. 

Silver eyes glint dangerously, no longer looking down on this human. Even though she was clearly beneath him, this human was sneaky and filled with tricks. Da Gong can't afford to underestimate this woman anymore. 

However, she really was too ugly to look at. All pasty and pudgy. Da Gong really couldn't see why his worm seemed to be so infatuated with her ah. 

Disgusted, Da Gong 'tch'-ed disdainfully and began to run off toward Ye Cheng's house. 

Tang Muxin: '...…..' It seems I've made an enemy ah?

Feeling a bit stifled by constantly being suppressed by a rooster, Tang Muxin adjusted the heavy sack slung across her shoulder and also began to run after Da Gong. 

Even if she felt the rooster was a bit abnormal, a rooster was still a rooster. Physically, she should still be able to beat it despite her diminished physical strength. If not, all the trainers she had teaching her light footwork, parkour and other escape skills during her youth might as well just roll over and die!

Seeing the wretched home wrecking human try to outrun him, Da Gong clucks irritatedly and pick up the pace. How foolish. It seems this woman wants to lose face in front of his worm. Fine, Da Gong will generously let her hah.

Luckily during this time when the sun was almost completely set, most people had already closed up shop and were either at home having dinner or starting to drink themselves blind at a bar or indulge in less savoury things so not many people saw a small pampered-looking young miss carrying a huge sack while racing down the streets against the infamous black feathered tyrant. And even if they did, the pair were so fast and the scene was simply too ridiculous that many people couldn't help but believe it to be an illusion. Those that still felt the need to tell people what they saw would only be mocked and scolded for drinking too much.

Ye Cheng who had also been one of the people getting ready to have dinner, did not have the same privileges of denial as he was interrupted by from his bowl of rice mixed with savoury chicken soup in order to open the door and be greeted with two panting, sorry looking figures. 

Tang Muxin looked very messy after running, at some point having almost no care for her own life much less appearances with the way she ran. Her hair was all over the place looking like it had been played with by a cruel two year old, her body was covered in dust and grime, and she was matted with sweat in a rather unattractive way. However her eyes were bright and full of energy. She hadn't run so freely and for the simple fun competitiveness of it for a long time.

Da Gong was in a slightly worse state. His pristine black feathers were ruffled and also covered in dirt, even more so given he is closer to the ground than Tang Muxin and was more affected by the dust that flew up from under their feet. 

Unlike Tang Muxin and her sack though, he was carrying precious cargo so Da Gong had to sacrifice some of his speed and mobility for stability. Still, Da Gong gave the woman a grudgingly impressed look. This human was better than he had thought. Even better than Ye Cheng who Da Gong had always figured was very athletic among humans. 

Ye Cheng didn't notice the subtle improvement between the relationship of transmigrated super spy-assassin-doctor and tyrannical rooster. All he saw was the pair's bedraggled appearances. "Aiyah? What is this? Did you two go fight pigs?"

Da Gong didn't even deign to give Ye Cheng a 'tch' to such a question. He had beaten up most of the adult village pigs until they squealed for their daddies a while ago, those pigs are smart and won't try rise up against him anytime soon. Honestly, his human really was not smart. 

Tang Muxin raised an eyebrow and gave Ye Cheng a cold look. Did he really think she would be stupid enough to fight pigs?

*Cough* On second thought… it seems she really was. 

Ye Cheng, used to Da Gong's attitude and not really caring of Tang Muxin's ignored their frosty reactions. Still a bit befuddled he let them in. It was already late ah, it wouldn't be good to make Tang Muxin, this idiot girl, go back on her own. Even if he still didn't like her, his heart has inevitably softened given their last meeting. 

As they pass by, one embarrassedly thanking him for his kindness and the other strutting around like he owned the place, Ye Cheng notices the golden hue of Xiao Bang lying on Da Gong. With quick hands he picks up the limp dragon much to the dismay of his rooster friend. 

"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!" Da Gong protests loudly, flapping his wings angrily as he runs in circles underneath his worm that Ye Cheng had stolen from him.

"Oh hush you," Ye Cheng chides, lightly poking the distressed rooster with his toe as he brings Xiao Bang closer for inspection. 

Jia Hyson, who had finally been granted relief from the hellish ride back, slumped over Ye Cheng's hand, clinging onto his thumb in relief. Even though Da Gong tried his best, as a rooster, his skill does have limits and inevitably the ride was filled with bumps and all sorts of thrills. To Jia Hyson who can't stand fast-paced roller coasters and other such joyrides, it was quite an adventure ah.

"Cluck?" Having calmed down, Da Gong intelligently and patiently sat in place, waiting for his human's verdict. Ye Cheng was very good with animals and Da Gong did trust him implicitly. If he really saw something is wrong with his worm, then Da Gong will not hold Ye Cheng's crime of worm-stealing against him.

"Your little baby is tired." Ye Cheng knelt down and passed Jia Hyson back to Da Gong who gingerly help him in his beak. "Maybe it was clinging too hard to you, you were running right? It must have been quite a race given you're so dirty, did you forget about Xiao Bang? That's not very good ah." He chatters, "It's getting late and the temperature is dropping so we can give you a bath Da Gong or your feathers won't dry. However you can probably wipe down Xiao Bang here before you sleep. Do you remember how to do that or do you want me to do it?"

"Cluck." Da Gong lifts his head up arrogantly.

[Me of course.]

Ye Cheng chuckles and strokes the head of Da Gong who allows the affectionate action. "Okay, okay, I'll get some warm water and a rag."

"You can understand it?" Tang Muxin asks curiously as she watches the interaction. Her heart felt a little warm but at the same time a bit envious. She had never experienced such a sweet familial love like that, her life was cold and lacking in meaningful human interaction. Seeing Ye Cheng being so kind and caring toward his animals made her instinctively crave this sort of caring as well.

Ye Cheng stands up and stretches his back, his smile fading into something more neutral as he shrugs, "I've raised Da Gong since he was a chick. His body language, his personality, I have a good grasp of. I can't really tell what he's saying obviously, but we have a connection that makes it easier I suppose." His eyes soften, looking like a proud father, "Besides, Da Gong is special. Smarter than most animals really."

Tang Muxin blinks and glances at Da Gong who was carefully trotting over to the corner of the room where a nest of old clothes were, gently placing the tired Jin Bao on the edge of the clothing before rummaging through the pile and pulling a thin piece of fabric on top of the small dragon. Once satisfied, Da Gong turned to face the pair of humans and sat down, patiently waiting for the warm water and rag to wash his friend. 

"…Smarter than most humans too." She's seen husbands married for decades that were much less attentive than this rooster.

"Pft," Ye Cheng chuckles, "I think so too but most people aren't too happy hearing that."

"That's probably because they're dumber than a rooster ah," Tang Muxin tries to joke, delighted that she somehow got a positive reaction from Ye Cheng. Unfortunately she wasn't very skilled in joking given her usually serious nature, so it came out quite awkward and forced. Ye Cheng though was naturally sociable and was good at keeping a conversation alive. Feeling goodhearted given Tang Muxin's positive comment about his family's Da Gong he laughs naturally at her flat joke and offers her some dinner.

Feeling flattered, she tentatively accepts the olive branch. Ye Cheng of course, didn't forget to give Da Gong the warm water and rag, letting him play with Xiao Bang while he ate dinner with Tang Muxin. They began to talk over the table. Initially it was mainly Ye Cheng chatting about simple topics while Tang Muxin quietly listens however both were skilled conversationalists and quickly those lighthearted topics became serious.

"That sack…" Ye Cheng glances at the large makeshift bag by her side. He could see the contents inside and could already tell they weren't cheap things.

"My father is planning to sell me to the palace." Tang Muxin truthfully replies. The truth will come out sooner than later anyway, it's better to be upfront. "So I ran here with everything valuable I could carry."

Ye Cheng had already figured as much. Maybe not specifically the palace thing but why else would an unmarried woman run away from home in the middle of the night if not due to something like this. There have been many similar tales of this sort of thing after all. Though usually it's along the lines of escaping a forced marriage. Still. This was really troublesome.

Sensing his worries, Tang Muxin felt a little moved. After all, she was an old enemy of his, worse than a stranger, and yet Ye Cheng was so kindhearted to still look concerned for her. "Don't worry," She assures, "When you show me the ropes and teach me life skills I will be able to leave and live on my own."

Ye Cheng looks at Tang Muxin who had a confident expression on and felt that she was still naive and stupid despite the personality change. Just learning a few things won't magically give her the ability to live well by herself ah! If that was the case would poverty still exist? Not to mention she was a woman! A pretty young woman with no status or backing! There were many unscrupulous men and people of both genders that will look down on her and bully her just for her appearance alone. 

Ye Cheng had seen a lot of terrible things that happen in the streets. But there was little one could do without suitable money and power. After all, even the judicial system around these parts were fairly corrupt and rotten. 

However, Tang Muxin had already burnt her bridge with the Tang family it seems. Ye Cheng can't just not help her at this point. 

As he changes the subject and offers her his bed while he sleeps on the floor, he silently thinks about the future. His parents were old but they were healthy and lively, plus the village was very close knit and could support them in his place if he left for a while. He has many connections around the villages and even the nearby towns given his wandering merchant type business, so he doesn't have much to worry about work-wise at least. Currently he has a lot of savings too…

Ye Cheng thinks quietly for a bit longer before he goes to Da Gong. Whenever he made any big decisions he liked to go talk to Da Gong about it. While the rooster can't actually communicate back other than a few clucks of agreement or disagreement, Ye Cheng always felt much better and assured afterwards. Little did he know, it wasn't just Da Gong listening in, but a certain host and system duo as well.

Jia Hyson who was still laying limply on the floor failed to hide a small smile. Ye Cheng's plan wasn't in his calculations but it definitely made his own plan much easier ah.