Chapter 36 - Mental Case

After catching, Ming looked down at her bewildered face, and clutched her tight, not giving her enough room to move. "Nice try, wife."

Before she could retort, Ming cut her by talking to the dragon. "Sorry for the smoke screen but I'll take my wife now. Don't worry, I'm not a man who hurts my wife... We'll be back," said Ming with utmost politeness to Nianshi and commanded his mount, "Kuaisu, to the residence."

"No, I don't want to go!" She tried to shift her body and said, "Nianshi... do something." She extended her hands out to the dragon but Nianshi only sighed thinking of his predicament.

In reality, Nianshi could have prevented Ming from catching or taking her. That smoke screen was merely a speck of dust blurring her descent a bit but not entirely with his sharp lion's eyes. Even with his eyes closed, he could still catch her, but his main reason for not reacting was because he did not feel any hostility from Ming nor fear from Xinyi. Instead, he could only see a married couple's quarrel.

Nianshi was centuries old, so this was nothing new to him. For him, it was like he was a pet sitting in front of his quarreling owners. The man wished to reconcile with the wife but the latter wished to make the husband suffer and to stand in between them would only mean trouble for him. 'Oh my, better not get involved and let them settle their problems on their own.'

However, Xinyi did not notice this personally. She had nothing else in mind at the moment but to get away from this man whom she believed never wanted her.

Nianshi casually waved a hand at them. "I wish you luck, Governor. May you succeed with your plans," said Nianshi, saying it out of goodwill using a few words so that his mistress would not misunderstand him. Alas… to everyone's ears, it gave off different meanings.

To Ming, it meant, 'Go for it, Lord Governor. Make her submit to you and be lovey-dovey.' And encourage him.

In the guard's minds, 'Wow! The revered dragon is so supportive to the Governor so that his master could spend more time with her husband and make babies.'

But to Xinyi, "Traitor! You're supposed to be under my command. I'm your master. Why are you obeying him?" She shouted to Nianshi in the top of her lungs with her fist up in the air.

Ming squinted his eyes with her sharp yell near his ears and hurriedly covered her mouth with his palm but Xinyi bit it with no care. "Aargh! That hurts, stop it," yelled Ming and glared at her but she bumped her forehead on his lips, making him shout in pain again. This scene played in front of everyone, making the horse feel sorry for his esteemed master and brought them away from the amused spectator's scrutiny.

The city guards thought this was a funny and cute episode for the young couples. They never thought their admired Governor would also face the same love problems like them. Zang Wei giggled in secret but showed total ignorance. For him, his Governor's marriage was a private matter. His task at hand was more important to him.

For the wise dragon, he didn't care to look back at his mistress but faked a conversation with the frightened guard he placed on the tree earlier. Unfortunately, the guard plainly misunderstood him. Nianshi was sorry to see the poor guard rattled when he talked to him. Unknown to him, what frightened the guard was Nianshi's big mouth which opened and closed with sharp teeth exposed in front of him. At last, the guard could not bear thinking the dragon would devour him in a snap and fainted.

When Ming and Xinyi were far enough, "I told you, we need to talk. I know my mistakes so let me explain first." Ming said seriously, hoping she would stop her ranting… and it was effective. After that daring jump she made, Ming made sure she couldn't get away from his hold this time.

She looked away with her hands folded on her chest. Xinyi knew fighting him on the air with no animals around would do no good. Also, if she speaks with Kuaisu, she was not sure if the horse would listen to her since he sensed the stallion's loyalty on Ming.

"Humph, fine, let's talk but I want to investigate the snake's body first. I want to know why he acted that way," she said with her face away from him.

"We can go back now but promised me you won't let go of my hand," he said while his face was very near her, his breaths graze her ear and cheeks. If there were space enough, Xinyi would have moved away from him but sorry for her, there was none. But Ming didn't know the effect of his actions on her.

Xinyi moved her head further from him and thought of something. "Do you need to keep on holding me while we're checking a dead body of a snake? That's kinda weird. People might think you're too obsessive." She chuckled and snorted, trying this tactic again. Little did she know, it would backfire on her instead.

Ming heard the snort but remembered her first night in Anjing and bet this was her way to intimidate him... and it challenged him. So he said "Hell, yeah. Who cares what they think? I'm the governor anyway. I have privileges and holding my wife's hand is one of them." And teased her as he whispered, "And your way of laughing is kind of cute too."

Xinyi's ears went red, not only of the way he said it but because he intentionally brushed his lips to her ears to make her submit. She placed her palm on her ear to keep his lips from touching her face. "Don't... Fine." Xinyi had no way to retort as she looked away, feeling her face blushing from those words.

Ming saw her face turned rosy pink and unknowingly captured him and blurted without thinking, "Do you know you're cute when you blush?" He said this statement for real this time and not a tease. Hearing him said it deepened her blush. She slouched and lowered her head but her palm did not leave her ears.

Ming smirked to see her shy and felt refreshed. This was a completely new feeling for him. He couldn't believe he had fun teasing her. However, he stopped, knowing he had a lot of making up to do. This time, he formulated a plan to make her listen to his explanations and to clear up the mist of misunderstanding between them.

While Xinyi wondered what he ate for acting this way now. It even crossed her mind that maybe, just maybe… he was a mental case now.