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Chapter 18




Chapter 18
The little dragon cub probably hadn’t eaten or slept well at school.
After coming back home, he slept on top of Bai Huo from 9 pm to 9 am. When he was awakened by Bai Huo, he crawled up and ate a large plate of salmon, plus a big bowl of vegetable soup.
Bai Huo watched him wolf it down like he’dnever eaten enough food, and couldn’t help but feel distressed.
“Cub, eat slowly, you’ll choke.” BaiHuo sat at the table and propped his chin on his hand, watching him eat.
The little dragon cub ate very quickly. Hepicked up a piece of fillet and swallowed it whole, stretching another piece towardsBai Huo: “You eat.”
Bai Huo smiled and said: “I’m nothungry. It’s all yours, eat up.”
The little dragon cub stubbornly wanted tofeed him, so Bai Huo had no choice but to open his mouth, reaching out to rub thelittle dragon cub’s head: “Such filial piety.”
Recently, the weather had warmed up, andthe living things within the forestry station was in a state of recovery. Therewere green saplings as far as the eye could see. Bai Huo finished tidying upthe take-out boxes and glanced at the little dragon cub, who was running backand forth inside the house, and fighting with the fat bird to aid digestion. Hefelt that this weather would be wasted at the mahjong table.
“Lin Xi, fat chicken, how about we hangout at the children’s park today?” Bai Huo suggested.
Two heads turned at the same time, theireyes full of surprise.
“What’s that?” The little dragoncub asked.
“Did you take the wrong medicinetoday?” The fat chicken was shocked.
“Want to go? Just tell me and we’ll go,okay?” Bai Huo rubbed the little cub’s hair, enticing, “It’s fun and interesting.”
The little dragon cub instinctively trustedBai Huo, and nodded innocently.
The fat bird vigilantly flew up to thechandelier, snorting, “I’m not going. I have to prepare lunch for mylittle Hwamei.”
Bai Huo appeared disappointed, letting outa long sigh: “Oh, that’s too bad, I was planning to eat at the Hai DiLao tonight.”
“What?!” The fat bird’s eyeswidened, after thinking over it for a long time, he said with what seemed to begreat determination, “Then … then I’ll go, reluctantly.”
After making plans, the family of threechanged their clothes. Bai Huo picked out a very cute yellow jumpsuit for thelittle dragon cub, shaped like a dinosaur, it even had a small tail behind it. Thiswas very convenient for the little dragon cub, if he felt uncomfortable, hecould bring out his tail.
The fat bird was much easier to disguise,just fluff his feathers a bit, and place him on top of the little dragon cub’shead, pretending to be a spherical ornament.
The fat chicken looked as if he had nothingleft to live for. The little dragon cub looked up, and he moved with him,catching sight of Bai Huo’s casual, yellow accented outfit and sunglasses. Hecomplained indignantly: “Why do you guys get to wear matching outfits, butI get to be a statue?!”
“Who made you birds unable to takehuman form.” Bai Huo ruffled the bird’s feathers and grinned, “Whyare you blaming me?”
Before going out, Bai Huo sent a message toJi Bei, forwarding all the insane arts and crafts work the kindergarten haddemanded, a moment later, even the always patient and composed police officer couldn’thelp but send a string of exclamation marks in reply.
Xi City’s children’s park had gotten newfacilities and large investments, it could be said to be one of the city’s centralbusiness districts. On weekends, snacks, toys, and balloons were sold in largequantities, the urban management couldn’t disperse them all. It was noexaggeration to say that the park was packed to the brim.
This was the first time the little dragoncub has gone to a place so filled with humans. Dragons had sensitive noses, thestrong smells of humans and various foods mixed together and surrounded him, hefelt especially dizzy and lightheaded. He gotdistracted for a second, and was washed away with the crowd, pushed back a fewmeters. Fortunately, he had sharp eyes. He hurried forward with his smallsteps, grabbing onto his Dad’s big hand.
Bai Huo was talking to a popcorn salesmanwhen he felt a tug, glancing back, he smiled and ask: “What’s wrong?”
Seeing an unusual nervousness in the littledragon cub’s eyes, Bai Huo suddenly sensed something and picked up the child, placinghim on his neck: “Come here, this way you won’t get lost.”
Using the top of Bai Huo’s head as a table,the little dragon cub sat contentedly on his father’s neck and munched onpopcorn, occasionally raising his hand to feed the fat bird on his head. BaiHuo seemed to be determined to let Little Lin Xi experience a normal childhood.After strolling around the park, he started enticing the little dragon and thefat chicken to ride the roller coaster.
“It’s extremely exciting!” BaiHuo rubbed his hands and tempted.
The little dragon cub glanced concernedly atthe screaming humans overhead.
“Don’t be scared, your Dad is here.”Bai Huo patted his shoulder.
The little dragon cub obviously wasn’t tallenough or old enough to ride. Who knew what Bai Huo said to the beautiful womanat the ticket counter, but she unexpectedly permitted both father and son to getinto the cart.
Before launching, Bai Huo consciously inspectedhis son’s seat belt, and whispered to the little dragon cub, who was sporting agrimace: “Cub, if you feel scared at any time, just call out to me, okay?”
The little dragon cub didn’t understand,but he nodded.
Ten minutes later, the little dragon cub’s mouth twitched as he looked blankly at Bai Huo seated next to him, who was covering his eyes and screaming.
“Uwaggh–” As soon as he got outof the cart, Bai Huo leaned into a trash can and vomited.
The little dragon cub held out a bottle ofmineral water and asked, a considerate look on his small face, “Want morewater?”
Bai Huo’s eyes were still dizzy. He shookhis head absentmindedly, then he stared at the little dragon cub’s unperturbedappearance, and asked, pained, “Baby, why aren’t you scared?”
The little dragon cub tilted his head up athim, seemingly asking, “Was there something to fear?”
“Can’t you dragons fly? How can aroller coaster make you dizzy?” The fat bird was puzzled. He could clearlysee everything that transpired while he was perched on the tree, the one whocould actually fly was somehow worse off than the one who couldn’t.
“How are they the same?” Bai Huo’seyes were red, but he refused to admit defeat, grinning, “Besides, Ihaven’t flown in a while, I’m out of practice.”
The fat bird remembered that he’d lost ascale on his shoulder. When a dragon’s scales were damaged, they’d naturallyreduce the number of times they transformed into their true form in order to easescale growth. After his scales were damaged, Bai Huo hadn’t done much these sixmonths. Before that, it wasn’t unusual for him change shape in the middle ofthe night and fly a few hundred kilometers away to buy beer, or other such carelessthings. But even so, he wasn’t completely healed, otherwise he wouldn’t vomitbecause of a little roller coaster.
The roller coaster wasn’t atmosphericenough, so Bai Huo wasn’t reconciled. He decided to take the little dragon cubto the haunted house, but he soon learned that the child really was fearless.When the staff member dressed as a ghost jumped out to scare him, he actuallyyawned, making everyone feel embarrassed.
Exiting the haunted house, Bai Huo saw anice scream stand and walked over to buy a cone.
This was the first time the little dragoncub had eaten ice cream, and the coldness instantly appealed to him. He grippedthe ice cream cone and licked, his little tail swaying in his pants.
Bai Huo saw that he was enjoying it, and cheerfullybought two more cones.
They visited the zoo in the afternoon. Thelittle dragon cub was obviously more interested in the zoo than the park,sitting on Bai Huo’s neck, his eyes sparkled.
“Tiger!” The little dragon cubpointed excitedly at the beast in the cage, his cute voice making Bai Huo’s heartmelt.
Bai Huo beamed: “Yeah, it’s a tiger.”
The pitiful tiger was in the middle of hismeal. When he heard the voice, he suddenly trembled, and twisted his body, layingdown submissively in front of the little dragon cub.
The tourists were astonished.
Bai Huo saw someone take out a camera and turnedto leave with the little dragon cub: “Let’s go feed the monkeys.”
The little dragon cub was still young, he didn’tknow how to suppress his dragon breath. For regular animals, the breath of oneof the divine races had a natural oppressive power, making them instinctively submit,even beasts at the top of the food chain weren’t exceptions.
Before they could finish strolling aroundthe zoo, the fat bird started impatiently clamoring to go to Hai Di Lao.
Bai Huo also felt annoyed at all the lines,so he took the child to the restaurant early, so they could grab a table beforethe dinner rush.
They sat down and ordered all the availablechoices of fish, pouring them into the mushroom broth. Hai Di Lao was a qualityrestaurant, although the waiter was too enthusiastic, coming over every twominutes to check on them. The fat bird was repeatedly interrupted every time hewanted to request some food, and was starting to get infuriated.
Bai Huo waited for the little dragon cub toeat his fill, then he contentedly lowered the wine glass in his hand and calledover the waiter: “Bring something more intense, the stronger thebetter.”
The fat chicken was an eighty-year-oldancient Dapeng, but it was too hard to devote himself to vegetarianism in thishuman world, he preferred eating the various delicacies of human beings. Hotand spicy soup, chili oil pan, braised pork belly; he could never have enough. BaiHuo was the only thing stopping him from eating until he exploded.
“Chicken ah, don’t you know aboutself-control?” Bai Huo looked at his fat belly, a little worried, “Don’tblame me if you can’t fly anymore.”
“Humph!” The fat chickenswallowed a slice of spicy beef under the table, ignoring him.
The little dragon cub finished eating all theyellow croaker in the mushroom soup, and stared at the Basa catfish in the chilioil pan, drooling.
“You also want to continue eating?”Bai Huo supported his chin on his hand and smiled affectionately.
Bai Huo was afraid that the child couldn’thandle spicy food, so he hadn’t fed him from the spicy pot at first, but seeingthe child’s ravenous look, he filled up a small bowl for him, while the fatchicken glared angrily.
The little dragon cub had never eaten spicyfood before, so he took his first bite cautiously. But he quickly fell in love,biting out big mouthfuls of meat, obviously enjoying the food, to the point ofarguing with the fat chicken over the remaining portions.
When Bai Huo brought the child to thecheckout counter, the cashier repeatedly glanced from Bai Huo’s refined face tothe four-digit bill, his expression incredulous.
“Thank you, come again.” Thewaiter smiled and saw the guests out.
The little dragon cub burped in Bai Huo’sarms, and stretched his limbs.
Bai Huo laughed, rubbing his belly: “Oh,are you about to pop?”
The little dragon cub blushed and turnedover, laying his head on Bai Huo’s shoulders.
It was obvious that the child was in a verygood mood, his excitement hadn’t died down all day. At this time, it wasalready dark, the breeze was slightly warm, brushing Bai Huo’s face. Bai Huo huggedthe little dragon cub as he strolled down the side walk, looking at the bright citylights, there was no similar sense of satisfaction.
He was remembering his childhood, when hewas still in the Dragon Valley. He’d once gotten into a fight with someone, andwas sent to the top of the mountain to reflect. It was the end of the schoolday, and he looked on as parents of every scale type and color came to pick uptheir children. He sat alone, rocking his legs, watching the stars graduallyemerge, watching the foot of the mountain go from lively to silent, the warm breezebrushing across his face. He looked up, his amber eyes reflecting the star filledsky, lonely and deep.
“Fat chicken, let’s fly backtoday.” Bai Huo smiled and raised the little dragon cub to the top of hishead.
The fat bird was too round to standupright, snorting, “Did something possess you again? Have you forgottenabout your shoulder … hey, hey! Aaaahhhhhh–“
The scream disappeared into the horizon,along with a white shadow.
*
Standing beside a window, Xiao Shu lowered hisbinoculars and wrote down a note in disappointment.
“What was it?” Sitting nearby, a scholarlylooking middle-aged man put down his book and looked up at him, his eyes werevery sharp.
“It’s just a helicopter.” XiaoShu bit his lower lip.
“I’ve told you already, this way ofsearching is ineffective.” The middle-aged man leaned back in thereclining chair and spoke calmly.
Xiao Shu wasn’t reconciled: “But Ireally saw a dragon scale, it was definitely a dragon’s scale!”
“Where is this dragon scale?” Themiddle-aged man glanced at him.
“Someone… someone stole it,” XiaoShu looked down and clenched his fists. “I’ll bring it to you as proof.”
“Don’t be too shortsighted.” Themiddle-aged man closed his eyes, and said slowly. “Your internship is over,obediently follow me back to school. You’re still young, you need to learn towait for opportunity, don’t rush things.”
“But, even if the scale has beenstolen, the owner of the scale must still be in Xi City,” Xiao Shu walkedover to the older-man, pleading, “Father, give me a little more time, I’lldefinitely make him reveal his true body.”
“Didn’t your grandpa hand over hismanual to you?” Professor Xiao looked thoughtfully at his stubborn littleson, “What are you planning?”
“I’ve checked my grandfather’s notes, thatdragon fell in Yingkou City after accidentally ingesting some fish mint growingby the riverside.” Xiao Shu lowered his voice, and looked into his father’seyes. “Let me try, just one last time. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go backwith you. “
Professor Xiao narrowed his eyes, after along moment passed, he slowly smiled, “You’re indeed a part of the Xiaofamily.”
*
“Achoo!” Bai Huo sneezed as soonas he entered the house, the dragon cub squirming uncomfortably on top of hisshoulder.
“Who’s gossiping about me…” Bai Huo shook his head and turned on the living room lights. Afterlaying the sleeping little dragon cub and the fat chicken onto the sofa, he cheerfullywent to draw a bath.
After playing for a whole day, he smelled abit like a human, it was a little unbearable. Bai Huo bathed, then he wringedout a hot towel, planning to wipe down the little dragon cub.
The little guy was curled up asleep on thesofa.
“Come here, baby.” Bai Huo pulledoff the little dragon cub’s hoodie, only to feel a layer of cold sweat on hissmall back.
“Huh?” He looked down andobserved. The little boy’s complexion was off, his face was wrinkled in a frown,and he was whining unconsciously.
Bai Huo’s heart thudded. Oh no, was hesick?
Although the little dragon cub was very mature,he was still a child after all. His constitution was weaker than an adult’s.They were jostled by crowds most of the day, who knew how many harmful germsthey came into contact with. All dragon medicines grew in deep water, and they werescarce in quantity. It was difficult to get medicine for adults, let alone for children.
Bai Huo spoke softly to the little dragoncub, trying to wake him up. The latter opened his eyes in a daze, then frowned,rolling into Bai Huo’s arms, “It hurts.”
“Where does it hurt?” Bai Huoasked quickly.
The little dragon cub sniffed, but stayedsilent.
“It’ll be okay, Dad is holding you. Itwon’t hurt anymore.” Bai Huo hugged him tightly, his head drenched withsweat.
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T/N:
Hai Di Lao- Apopular hot pot restaurant. Not cheap, not expensive.
Who’s gossiping about me- Wikipedia “In certain parts of Eastern Asia, particularly in Chineseculture, Korean culture, Japanese culture and Vietnamese culture, a sneeze withoutan obvious cause was generally perceived as a sign that someone was talkingabout the sneezer at that very moment.”