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Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC, currently attending intermediate college.
Ning Kongran: A fifth-grader at intermediate college.
Qiu Guangji: Ning Kongran’s best friend.
Qiao Zhiya felt embarrassed as he continued to cry and sob. He wiped the dripping tears with his arm, drilling his body further into Chu Rong’s arms. Trying to adjust his emotions, he tried to speak. But after a few minutes of trying, he was too tired to stay awake. In the end, he fell asleep directly.
Chu Rong noticed the youth’s body had relaxed in his hold. He couldn’t help himself but touch Qiao Zhiya’s head, carefully lowering the youth’s body for a more comfortable grip. With a gentle touch, he pushed back the messy blond bangs, and it revealed the flushed face and puffy eyes of the stupid Bald Chicken. Again, Chu Rong touched it.
‘The Bald Chicken is getting more and more stupid…’
He thought with a mixture of fondness and disgust. He pressed Qiao Zhiya’s slightly parted lips, all slack and dumb-looking in his sleep. Then, he tightened his grip, picked him up, and walked towards the wooden cottage.
There were two rooms in the wooden house. One of the rooms had its door closed, while the other was opened. It was no-brainer to which room he picked. But, before he entered, he sneakily opened the door to the other room with a small crack, and said with a terrifying cold tone, “I’ll take care of you tomorrow.” After finishing his threat, he entered Qiao Zhiya’s room and closed the door, blocking the peeping sight from the next door.
Chu Yan, who was hiding behind the door and peeping, froze when he heard his brother. Then, he threw himself back on the bed in a silent collapse, rolling on the bed a few times, trying to forget the absolutely-fucking-nightmare expression of his erge. He let out a long breath.
‘Forget it, who made me to have such brotherly love? I even sacrifice my small life for the sake of the big… Ahhhh—!! My life is over!!!’ QAQ
Sleeping until dawn, Qiao Zhiya opened his eyes in confusion. He stretched out his wandering hand and poked the generous chest in front of him. Then, he shamelessly rubbed his head into Chu Rong’s wide chest again.
The drowsiness faded away, and his memory gradually came back. Thinking of what happened last night, he felt a thump in his heart. He held his breath, rubbed back a little, and slowly raised his head to sneak a peek.
“Are you awake?”
Chu Rong looked at him with a casual drowsy glance before pinching Qiao Zhiya’s shaking ear. Then, he sat up and straightened the button on his clothes – that was somehow opened during his sleep – and said, “You’re already awake. Get up, it’s time for breakfast. “After saying that, he got off the bed and went straight to the bathroom.
“Boom!”
The bathroom door was closed.
Qiao Zhiya blinked stupidly, then sat up abruptly. First, he looked at the military coat on the bedside table, then at the extra pair of shoes at the door. His eyes widened suddenly, before bolting out of the bed and went straight to opposite room. Trying not to panic, he knocked on the door and whisper-shouted in a hurry, “Xiao Yan? Xiao Yan? Wake up, your Erge is here.”
There was no response. The room was as quiet as a tranquil pond.
“Xiao Yan?”
Qiao Zhiya became more and more anxious. Seeing that there was no response from inside, he was worried that Chu Yan had already been beaten black and blue, so he looked back at his room, grabbed the doorknob and unscrewed the door directly. He probed in and whispered, “Xiao Yan, yesterday—huh?”
The room was empty. The quilt on the bed was rolled up haphazardly, some daily necessities that hadn’t been cleaned up were scattered on the floor, and there was a note on the wall, saying: [I’m going home first, have fun by yourself, okay?]
Qiao Zhiya: “…”
An inexplicable pressure came from behind. After the “thud-thud-thud” of an approaching footsteps, Chu Rong’s voice came from above his head.
“I’ll take care of him when I get home.”
Immediately afterwards, Qiao Zhiya’s back collar was tightened, and his body was turned around. He was face-to-face with Chu Rong’s inscrutable expression.
“And as for you…”
Qiao Zhiya’s body stiffened, and he stared at the Marshal with wide eyes full of nervousness, like a prisoner waiting to be sentenced.
Chu Rong looked at him condescendingly, stretched out his hands to pinch his trembling pointy ears and tugged them lightly a couple times until he was satisfied. He squinted his eyes to cover the emotions in his eyes, and said in a soft voice, “Be good to me, or…”
Qiao Zhiya was so frightened that his heart beat wildly, while his eyes bulged out. But his thoughts were a jumbled mess – somehow, it was focused on all the wrong things. He was ultra-focused on Chu Rong’s wet face and hair (‘Ah, he must have just washed his face’) and how handsome he looked.
But after a moment of distraction, he snapped back due to his instinct going haywire. It told him not to be distracted by the handsomeness and instead try to save his life.
“I’m sorry!” He seemed to have been opened up to his Ren and Du meridians, and somehow gained superpower – after that quick apology, his ears moved out of his control. He flexibly bent over to walk around the Marshal, swished back to his room, and finally locked himself in the bathroom.
He sat on the toilet, shivering in fear.
‘What, what should I do?’ He thought as he almost cried. He was caught running away from home, and he cried so embarrassingly yesterday. ‘How would the White-Haired Monster punish me? He was strangely not too cold, but he felt a little weird…’
Somehow, Chu Rong’s “strangeness” made Qiao Zhiya flush uncontrollably.
With nothing in his hand, Chu Rong turned around and watched the scaredy-cat rush back to the room, with an unfathomable expression on his face. The Marshal raised his eyebrows slightly, walked over there in a good mood, and knocked on the closed bathroom door. “Hurry and wash up, come out and have breakfast after you finish.” Then, he casually walked to the living room.
Qiao Zhiya in the bathroom was startled and turned his head to look, only to feel that Chu Rong’s tone was strange and indescribable. In desperation, he hurriedly took out the communicator from his space button, trying to call Chu Yan who ran away first for advice.
In the end, before he could find Chu Yan’s number and send a message, a lot of missed calls and a message from Chu Rong came in. his communicator – which had been set to the “do not disturb” mode by Chu Yan – kept vibrating until his hands felt numb.
‘So… so many missed calls…’
This only made him panic even further. ‘The White-Haired Monster was so impatient, but sent so many call requests. He must have been super angry at the time.’
In a panic, he noticed that after the request was automatically rejected, a message popped up, which was sent not long after he ran away from home. Thinking of the message Chu Yan left to Chu Rong, his heart was in a tremor.
Subconsciously, he held his breath and opened the message.
Chu Rong: [Stay in place and be obedient. I’ll pick you up when you are done.]
He let out his breath, and all the tension and panic in his heart paused for a moment before dissipating into thin air. He reread this message a couple more times. Now, his heart felt sore.
His stiff body slowly relaxed, and finally, he bent slightly to hold his head while whining.
His last message was: [Do you still want me?]
And the White-Haired Monster’s reply was: [Stay in place and be obedient. I’ll pick you up when you are done.]
But he ran away from home instead.
To be able to find this place, the White-Haired Monster must have been looking for him for the past two days.
Qiao Zhiya gripped his communicator tightly, flipped through the numerous call requests, and his expression tightened with each one. He was silent for a while before getting up and walking to the exit. ‘I have to admit my mistakes. The White-Haired Monster must have been worried for these past two days. I can’t keep making him unhappy like this.’
Chu Rong didn’t expect Qiao Zhiya to come out of the bathroom so soon, and even came over and sat beside him. The corner of his mouth curled up in a small smile, and he rubbed the messy blond bangs. Ancestor Chu asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”
The Marshal knew Qiao Zhiya was afraid.
But still, the youth looked up at him, and suddenly held his hand with a serious face, and put his hand on her head. He said with an equally serious voice, “You can hit me.”
“…” Chu Rong’s raised mouth flattened into a deep frown. He rubbed and pinched Qiao Zhiya’s ears while reprimanded him, “What nonsense did you say this early in the morning? Why should I beat you?”
The youth was enlightened about his mistakes after a period of self-introspection. He firmly said, “Blind doting will only make people want a foot after being given an inch. Hit me, so I will remember this lesson.” Then, he turned his back to theMarshal, and even took the initiative to lie down on the chair so Chu Rong would have an easier time to spank his butt.
Chu Rong’s eyebrows twitched in irritation, and he made a note to himself to increase Chu Yan’s punishment in the future. He glanced down at the youth’s back – it looked thinner, although his butt looked quite plump and fleshy.
But then, he couldn’t help himself but glued his eyes on that buttocks.
After a long pause, his face turned black as he came back to his senses. He hurriedly looked away, and bent down and dragged Qiao Zhiya to sit up. He pointed to the breakfast on the table, and coldly ordered in an attempt to distract both of them, “Eat your breakfast. Don’t listen to nonsense, the Chu family doesn’t have a bad habit of beating children!”
–There is, however, a good tradition to give them “extra special” training.
Seeing that the White-Haired Monster seemed to be angrier than before, Qiao Zhiya was at a loss. He didn’t dare to talk nonsense anymore. He sat down at the table honestly, took a careful look at him, then took another look, before finally trying to flatter Chu Rong by actually putting a small bun into his bowl.
Seeing this, Chu Rong paused for a second. He also helped himself to a portion of the breakfast, trying to suppress the inexplicable fluttering emotions budding in his heart. He successfully calmed down before asking, “After breakfast, what do you want? Wherever you go, I will accompany you.”
Qiao Zhiya was stunned for a moment. Then, his eyes lit up, and he leaned over and asked carefully, “Aren’t we going back directly? You, you are not busy?”
“I’m not.” Chu Rong saw this sudden excitement, and compared it to his wilted expression that day when he sent him away. He felt a little guilty, so he compensated for it with a gentle head pat. “I was wrong before. I’m sorry. I am not busy anymore, you can enjoy the holidays and I will stay with you.”
“No, no need to apologize.” Qiao Zhiya shook his head quickly, almost flying with joy. Immediately, he wanted to say that he still wanted to go to the forest and visit the animal friends he met along the way. But then, he remembered his “sin” of running away. He immediately swallowed up with guilt, so he kept quiet. He sat up straight and shook his head, then obediently replied, “There is nothing I want to play anymore. Let’s go home, I miss home.”
Chu Rong showed a faint smile on his face. He reached out and pinched his ear, and then motioned him to continue his breakfast, but did not respond to his words.
Qiao Zhiya thought that he had acquiesced in his proposal to go home. Although he felt a little reluctant, he was still glad he said this the moment he saw Chu Rong’s good mood. He tilted his head to give Chu Rong easy access to pat his head, and ate breakfast happily.
In actuality, his head was full of beautiful images of spending the holidays with Chu Rong here.
After breakfast, Qiao Zhiya took the initiative to go back to his room to pack his things. Meanwhile, Chu Rong went to the yard and called Chu Yan, but the other party refused to answer his call.
So, Chu Rong sent him a “warning” text message.
Not even a minute later, Chu Yan took the initiative to call him.
“…Erge,” Chu Yan greeted cowardly. The background sound was very noisy, as if he was in an environment with many people.
Chu Rong thought, ‘Sure enough,’ and looked back at the door of the wooden cottage. Seeing that Qiao Zhiya hadn’t come out, he solemnly said, “I know you haven’t left yet. I will allow you to stay here for a few more days.”
Chu Yan’s tone immediately pitched up in surprise. Then, he replied in a flattering whisper, “Oh, Erge, you don’t need to thank me. We are brothers, these are what I should do–”
“I’ll settle the account with you when I go back,” Chu Rong added.
“—You really are my brother,” Chu Yan withered again.
Chu Rong suddenly realized that… Chu Yan’s crooked ways might have been encouraged by his and Chu Huai’s parenting methods.
As his older brother, he must rectify this immediately. He couldn’t allow Chu Yan to grow up wrong.
He remembered the countless black history of his younger brother, and the veins on his forehead popped up.
But then, he heard the rustling sound from the cottage behind, so he knew that Qiao Zhiya was coming out soon. He frowned, trying to suppress the desire to scold Chu Yan, and asked, “What has Qiao Zhiya been playing these days?”
“…What? Erge, why are you asking this?”
Chu Rong suddenly became angry. His cold voice now became outright threatening. “Do you want me to double your training after this?”