Chapter 26

Chapter 26

After all, the little dragon cub was stillinjured, after crying, he laid on Bai Huo’s shoulders and fell asleep, a snotbubble still in his nose. Bai Huo gently hugged him back to the bed, but whenhe tried to get up, he found that the little cub still had a death grip on his clothes.No matter how he shook and pulled, the child refused to let go, so Bai Huo hadno choice but to sit back down.

His shoulders felt cool, Bai Huo reachedout and touched them, they were soaked.

He didn’t know where this little cub storedso much tears. Bai Huo was amused and distressed. He reached out, wiping thechild’s face with his sleeve.

The room quieted down. A few minutes later,a severing child carried a bowl of clean water in, together with Jing Lan, whowas smiling slightly at Bai Huo.

The inner hall and the outer hall wereseparated by only a few bead curtains. The inside movements could clearly be heardoutside. Even the patriarch of the water dragons, this immortal figure,couldn’t cover up his amusement.

Bai Huo sighed and said: “Don’t lookat me like that, you’ll be the same when you have a son.”

“Ah …” Jing Lan was a little flabbergasted,thinking to himself, fortunately, he wasn’t married.

The serving child wrung out a cotton clothto wash the little dragon cub’s face. Bai Huo looked on, and felt that he was somewhatclumsy, so he bluntly took away the cloth, wiping the little cub from head totoe.

The serving child was robbed of his job, andhad no choice but to stand awkwardly to the side. Upon seeing this, Jing Lanasked him to go out and bring two sets of clothes for Bai Huo and the littledragon cub.

“Do you mind if I spray fire for warmth?”Bai Huo shivered from the ice-cold water used to wash his face.

The Water Dragon Palace was located at thebottom of the sea, the temperature was naturally low. The food was raw and thedrinking water was cold, now even the face water was icy, it felt like Bai Huowas being punished.

Jing Lan glanced at the room full ofprecious Chinese medicinal materials and thought for a while before saying:“We can bring you a basin of hot water, but you might have to wait twohours.”

Bai Huo, the kitchen-destroyer, wasshocked: “What? Does it take that long to boil water?”

“No, it’s just that everyone hatesfire. Probably … the kitchen staff will need to decide by democratic electionwho will start the fire, and then another democratic election will decide who willboil the water.”

Bai Huo: “…”

Proper socialism!

The serving child brought in a bundle ofclothing. Before opening it, Bai Huo was afraid that he would pull out a pieceof kelp, but instead, he found an ash gray, large sleeved garment for himself,and a soft blue-green coat for the child. Although he wasn’t used to theseclothes, it was warmer than wet clothes, so Bai Huo reluctantly changed into it.Surprisingly, except for his short hair, which was a bit disharmonious, the effectwasn’t bad.

Bai Huo squeezed his son’s small hand againand rubbed his mouth, which were pouted after he’d gotten up to change hisclothes, then turned to smile at Jing Lan: “Look at how great my son is,he can adapt to any environment.”

Jing Lan observed the little dragon cub,who was holding onto Bai Huo as he slept on the crystal bed, for a long time,before pointing out: “I don’t think he looks like a water dragon.”

Bai Huo was baffled: “What do you mean?”

Jing Lan shook his head: “I also can’tsay for sure. I took his pulse before, and felt that it was slightly differentfrom a water dragon’s, but I’m not sure if it has anything to do with his damageddragon bones.”

Bai Huo squeezed his son’s small paw, and didn’trespond.

Jing Lan didn’t dwell on this issue, sayinggently: “The child is too young, his dragon bones aren’t fully developed, afterbeing damaged, there might be some other unknown symptoms. It’s obvious thatthe child wants to stick to you, so keep an eye out. “

Bai Huo nodded; his expression resembling adistressed old father whose child has a broken leg.

Sunshine didn’t reach the Water Dragon Palace;it was illuminated by night pearls all year round. The time was measured by alarge clock on the bell tower, it rang every six hours to divide day and night.

The little dragon cub slept all night. BaiHuo estimated the time he would wake up and slipped into the kitchen in advanceto grab three or four plates of fish. When he walked out, he bumped into thechef, the two meeting each other uneventfully. Bai Huo felt a little awkwardabout taking their things for free, so he patted down his body, but could only comeup with a bag of tea leaves gifted by the mahjong parlor, and a few rigged diceused for cheating. So, he cordially gave the chef the bag of tea leaves andfive dice.

Back in the room, the little dragon cub hadreally woken up.

“Cub, come eat some fish.” BaiHuo walked over to get him dressed. “Hungry?”

The little dragon cub sat up, looking downat his own paws in doubt while he let Bai Huo fiddle with him.

The clothes weren’t difficult to put on,but the little dragon cub wasn’t in his human shape, so the pants couldn’t fit.Bai Huo simply left him without, either way, the coat was long enough, andbesides, who hasn’t gone a few days pants-less when they were children.

After washing up, the little dragon cub finallyfelt alive, even his appetite woke up, swallowing big mouthfuls of fish. But itwasn’t enough to just sit and eat, he crawled into Bai Huo’s arms and insistedthat Bai Huo feed him.

“Eat slowly, don’t choke, if it’s not enough,Dad will go get more for you.” Bai Huo combed the feathers on his headwhile feeding him, his expression full of tenderness.

After the father and son had a sickly-sweetbreakfast, Jing Lan came in to check on them, informing Bai Huo that the littledragon cub could stay out of bed for a bit, but he couldn’t run too far. He hadto lie back down on the crystal bed every two hours.

“Okay baby, greet PatriarchJing.” Bai Huo picked the dragon cub up and straightened him out.

With a smile on his face, Jing Lan gentlysaid to the little dragon cub, who was watching him guardingly: “I andyour father were both taught by old Patriarch Zhuo, we can be regarded as pupilsunder the same master, please call me Shishu.”

The little dragon cub was clinging to BaiHuo’s shoulders, extending his head out to say in a crisp voice, “JingShishu.”

“Really not bashful.” Bai Huo pulledthe little dragon cub’s tail.

The little dragon cub blushed and covered BaiHuo’s mouth to prevent him from laughing.

Jing Lan had permitted the little dragoncub to call him Shishu instead of patriarch, Bai Huo didn’t treat itconscientiously, but everyone else understood the difference. Because of that,they couldn’t help paying special attention to the little dragon cub’s hotwater request. The original two hours were shortened to half an hour. Bai Huo speculatedthat the kitchen staff might’ve switched to fighting to decide who would boilthe hot water.

The little dragon cub was just like Bai Huo,he also didn’t like to eat the grass, but he really loved the Water DragonPalace’s fish. The fish here were all deep-sea fish, they were delicious and hadvery little bones. When he ate it, the little dragon cub’s tail wagged happily.

The more you eat, the better you recover, BaiHuo was very pleased to see this.

One day, Bai Huo slipped away to the kitchento bring the little cub sea urchins for afternoon tea, there he met Mr. Cheflazily reclining on a chair with a water cup in his hand.

The two were just nodding acquaintances,not particularly friends, so Bai Huo just wanted to say hello and leave. Who would’veguessed that as soon as Mr. Chef saw him, he was very eager, and steppedforward to hold his hand, speechless from overwhelming emotions.

“This, tasty, very tasty ah!”

After listening for a long time, Bai Huorealized that he was talking about the cup of tea in his hand. He stood dazedfor a moment, then finally got it. The water dragons hated fire and heat, sothe dragons here never drink hot water, hot tea or other such drinks.

Looking at Mr. Chef’s expressions, it feltlike an ancient eating ice cream for the first time. The excitement and noveltywere far stronger than the fear.

So happy about a cup of cheap tea, Bai Huosighed lightly. It seems that the comrades in the Water Dragon Palace reallylived in deep waters. As a passionate and generous young man from modernsociety, Bai Huo needed to help them. So, he stepped forward and gripped Mr.Chef’s hand, saying magnanimously, “What is a cup of tea? Do you stillhave the dice I gave you last time? Come, come, call your brothers over here …”

The little dragon cub didn’t see Bai Huoafter waking up from his nap, he rubbed his eyes, planning to go find hisfather. But just as he slipped out of bed, he found a little blue dragon thatwas slightly older than him quietly hiding behind the bead curtain at theentrance, peeking at him.

“Who are you?” The little dragoncub asked alertly.

“Ah, I was found!” Exclaimed thelittle blue dragon, grabbing his tail and running away, but before he could runtwo steps, he tripped on his own feet, and fell face down, “Ahh-“

The little dragon cub: “…”

“Be careful.” Footsteps wereheard, and an indigo silhouette lifted the child up, his voice gentle and pleasant.

The little blue dragon quickly climbed upwith his help, bowing his head as he blushed: “Patriarch.”

It was strictly against the rules to enterthe patriarch’s chambers without permission. The little blue dragon not only madea big blunder, he was even caught red-handed by the man himself, he almost peedhis pants in panic.

But Jing Lan just rubbed his head amiably,smiling, “Ah Zhen, what are you running from?”

“I … I heard the adults say,” Thelittle blue dragon stuttered nervously. “There’s a younger brother here, Ijust … just …”

Jing Lan smiled silently and opened the caseon the table, handing the two children a piece of crab meat paste.

Crab meat paste was a rare snack in the WaterDragon Palace, children especially enjoyed it. Instead of being scolded, thelittle blue dragon actually got a piece of crab meat paste, he wagged his tailhappily.

This was the little dragon cub’s first timeeating this strange delicacy, he blinked and tasted the crab meat paste,licking while he glanced at the little blue dragon. He was born and raisedamong humans, and had only met a small number of adult dragons. This was thefirst time he’d met another dragon cub, especially a dragon cub similar to hisage, he was very curious.

Jing Lan propped up his chin, a smile onhis face as he watched the two children nibble on the snacks, his brain almost meltingfrom the cuteness.

“Patriarch!” Ah Zhen shouted afew times before Jing Lan snapped back to reality, he coughed lightly, then asked,“What’s wrong?”

“Can I be friends with youngerbrother?” Ah Zhen asked in a whisper.

This question was asked at Jing Lan, but itwas actually directed at the little dragon cub.

“Of course, you can, but Lin Xi isyounger than you and a guest, you’re not allowed to bully him.” Jing Lansmiled and said.

Ah Zhen’s eyes lit up, he immediatelyturned around and bashfully introduced himself to the little dragon cub: “Your… your name is Lin Xi, right? My name is Ah Zhen.”

The little dragon cub nodded: “I’m Li LinXi.”

Ah Zhen got a response and flushed withexcitement.

A guard walked in and whispered something, glancingat the little blue dragon. Jing Lan nodded and turned back, saying gently:“Ah Zhen, your granny is looking for you.”

Ah Zhen didn’t want to leave, after all, he’djust managed to say hello, but the patriarch had spoken, he had no choice butto reluctantly look at his new playmate and say bravely: “I’ll come playwith you next time.”

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to sharehis crab meat paste in half and give it to Little Lin Xi: “For you, nexttime we’ll be friends.”

The little dragon cub had never experiencedthe start of a friendship, he stared blankly at the crab meat, forgetting torefuse.

As soon as Ah Zhen left, with the littledragon cub’s dislike of talking, the room quickly cooled down. Jing Lan lookedat the little dragon cub who was still staring down at the unfinished crab meatpaste, and asked worriedly: “Are you uncomfortable?”

The little dragon cub shook his head.

Jing Lan thought about it, then asked,“Should I take you to find your Dad?”

The little dragon cub immediately lookedup: “Thank you, Jing Shishu.”

Jing Lan smiled slightly, taking thechild’s hand, he led him out, the guards at the door dutifully following.

The kitchen at this time–

More than a dozen people were divided intotwo groups around a square table, staring at each other cautiously.

In the middle of the square table, a fairhand was covering an overturned porcelain bowl. The owner of the hand lookedfrom side to side, and said loudly, “Are all bets settled? I’m lifting myhand.”

Both sides nodded energetically.

Bai Huo’s mouth twitched, then he suddenly liftedthe porcelain bowl: “Start-!”

Jing Lan heard a commotion before he evenapproached the kitchen, baffled, he asked, “Is it a holiday today?”

The guard was also puzzled: “I don’tthink so.”

The little dragon cub’s ears twitched, catchinga familiar voice, he suddenly wanted to pretend to be deaf.

The patriarch visiting the kitchen was naturallya big event, but the workers were obviously immersed in their own world, nobodynoticed the people at the door.

The group stepped into the kitchen, exceptfor Jing Lan and the little dragon cub, the rest were stupefied, cold sweating.

My God, the workers were shouting energetically,encircling the square table, their sleeves brushed up to their elbows, and feetstomping on the stools. Their fists were raised, every face was flushed with angeror excitement. Where could the usual graceful disposition and polite behaviorbe seen?

“What are you doing?!” The guard couldn’thelp but roar.

The crowd looked back impatiently, but whenthey saw Jing Lan, they immediately fell silent, the dice dropping to the floor.

Bai Huo emerged from the depths of the crowd,looking at Jing Lan and his son in the doorway, he cheerfully slapped the tableand waved, “Ah, Jing Lan, we’re just one person short, you-umph.”

The little dragon cub shoved the crab meatinto Bai Huo’s mouth, and conveniently climbed into his arms, saying:“Crab meat paste, for you.”

Bai Huo nodded while chewing, rubbing hisson’s head to express his thanks.

Jing Lan withdrew his gaze from thescattered dice below the table, his expression was calm, there was even a faintsmile, but his words made the workers tremble: “Go get your penalty.”

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T/N:

pants-less- Wikipedia“Open-crotch pants, also known as open-crotch trousers or split pants, are wornby toddlers throughout mainland China.”

Shishu- MartialUncle

Bai Huo is a total card.