The Dragon King Insists That I Raise Him Chapter 4

Chapter 4 What Are You Crying For?

Tao Qingguan’s gaze followed Little Black, his mind cycling through various dishes: pickled fish, braised fish, steamed fish…

Little White can’t move, but he can still eat Little Black, right?

Tao Qingguan wiped his non-existent drool, feeling like life had renewed purpose.

Thinking of all those dishes, Tao Qingguan felt a bit hungry. The fish had fish food, but he hadn’t eaten breakfast—how miserable.

Tao Qingguan let out a soft tut and rummaged through the pile of food. Given his grandfather’s warning, he decided to eat the watermelon first. He wasn’t going to eat the rind anyway, so no pesticides would get into his stomach.

With a slice, the bright red flesh of the melon was revealed. Tao Qingguan scooped a piece into his mouth. Juice burst out, sweet and satisfying. He squinted contentedly.

The greatest joy of summer was probably eating watermelon under the Air Conditioner while watching TV.

However, there was no TV in the main hall. His grandfather had hung the newly bought 85-inch big screen in the bedroom, and Tao Qingguan naturally wouldn’t go to a place without an Air Conditioner, so he had to make do with a tablet.

The characters on the tablet were fighting fiercely. Tao Qingguan leaned back comfortably against a cushion, finally feeling like he was on vacation.

The meaning of life was truly in wasting time. Eating, drinking, and sleeping all day was incredibly enjoyable.

That evening, on a whim, Tao Qingguan cooked a huge spread for himself, using a lot of the food received that morning. Considering safety, Tao Qingguan made sure to blanch everything multiple times in boiling water.

He firmly believed that discussing toxicity without considering the dosage was sophistry. If the ingredients went through the hot oil again, no matter if there were poisons, their toxicity would be nullified.

Moreover, these dishes looked like they were home-grown. Even if they used a lot of pesticides, it couldn’t possibly be a lethal dose. Tao Qingguan suspected his grandfather had exaggerated.

Tao Qingguan pulled out a chair and sat down. A large table full of dishes for just one person looked a bit lonely, but Tao Qingguan didn’t mind. He picked up his bowl and chewed, chew, chew, chew.

Halfway through eating, he noticed the two fish in the Fish Tank staring at him. Tao Qingguan grinned, raising the glass of watermelon juice in his hand to toast the Fish Tank.

“Want some? Heh, you guys can’t eat it.”

Yan Jiu glanced over at the annoying fellow who spoke. The person was happily devouring his food, and from his joyful expression, it was clear the dishes tasted good. But the portion size…

It watched Tao Qingguan continuously pick up dishes, its expression unreadable. How did Tao Lihe teach this child? Even Tao Lihe himself would struggle to finish this amount.

Tao Qingguan didn’t notice Yan Jiu’s strangeness. He was in a good mood and accidentally ate until he was stuffed. He put the leftovers in the refrigerator and wandered around the hall to aid digestion.

Having eaten too much, he felt thirsty. Conveniently, there was a drink among the delivered supplies, so Tao Qingguan grabbed a bottle.

The transparent glass bottle contained a purplish-red liquid. As soon as he opened it, a rich grape aroma wafted out. Tao Qingguan took a sip, and his eyes instantly lit up.

This grape juice was much better than what he bought at the supermarket. Homemade was just different.

Tao Qingguan took a few more gulps from the bottle, and a warm current spread through his limbs. A comfortable feeling filled his body.

He stopped pacing and sat cross-legged on the floor mat, leisurely sipping the juice.

Tao Qingguan realized for the first time that drinking juice could also get you tipsy. The sweet and refreshing taste exploded on his taste buds, and his body felt light, as if all impurities had been washed away. He sighed and couldn’t resist taking another sip.

His head gradually grew fuzzy, and objects in his vision started to double. Tao Qingguan belatedly felt something was wrong. He squinted and brought the bottle opening to his nose, mumbling:

“Strange, it doesn’t smell like alcohol.”

His tone was uncertain, and he took another sip. “Mm… it’s a drink, hehe~”

A blush spread across Tao Qingguan’s fair cheeks, and a mist clouded his eyes. He shook his head, not entirely sober. The warmth that had been comfortable moments ago now felt like a wildfire, burning him uncomfortably all over.

He felt like he had been thrown into an alchemy furnace, only he didn’t have the Monkey King’s abilities and was about to melt.

“So hot,” Tao Qingguan muttered to himself. He grabbed his collar and yanked his shirt off. Taking off just his shirt wasn’t enough, but after fumbling a few times, he found only air—he had nothing left to take off.

His gaze was hazy as he looked around. His eyes landed on the Fish Tank. His brain, hot enough to steam, came up with a brilliant idea: putting his head in there would cool him down.

Tao Qingguan staggered to his feet and moved toward his target. His attention was entirely on the Fish Tank, and he accidentally tripped over the Air Conditioner blanket on the floor. Fortunately, he fell onto the floor mat, so Tao Qingguan didn’t feel any pain.

He stared blankly at the blanket that had tripped him, as if he couldn’t figure out what happened. But Tao Qingguan never liked to make things difficult for himself; if he couldn’t figure it out, he gave up. He tried to push himself up using his hands on the floor.

But the after-effects of the juice seemed to be kicking in. He felt like a weak shrimp and couldn’t get up after several tries. Instead, his stomach churned uncomfortably. He furrowed his brow, and tears started to fall, plop, plop.

Tao Qingguan himself was stunned. He looked at the liquid dripping onto his fingers, his moist eyes filled with bewilderment. It took him a long time to snap out of it.

“Sigh.”

A sigh drifted over, carrying a hint of helplessness from its owner.

A tall man appeared in front of the Fish Tank. His black hair was flowing and soft like spilled ink. He wore a green robe, the cloud patterns on the hem faintly visible with his movements.

The man walked up to Tao Qingguan and pinched the youth’s cheek with his long fingers, forcing him to lift his head.

“Now you know how to cry? Serves you right.”

Tao Qingguan looked at the man who had appeared out of nowhere, frowning deeply. The little bit of sobriety he possessed made him wary. With his face being held, he mumbled incoherently, “Who are you?”

The man before him was richly dressed, with sharp sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes. His facial features were distinct, almost like someone of mixed heritage. Even though Tao Qingguan wasn’t a face-con, he was momentarily dazzled by the man’s beauty.

Yan Jiu couldn’t be bothered to answer a drunkard’s question. He checked Tao Qingguan’s physical condition. The youth had consumed too much energy-rich food, and the undigested energy was all piled up in his stomach. If it were anyone else, they might have exploded.

Interesting.

A flicker of amusement crossed Yan Jiu’s eyes. According to human differentiation, Tao Qingguan belonged to the category with extremely poor talent, yet this little weakling had a far greater capacity for Spiritual Energy (Ling) than ordinary people.

All things possess spirit. Beings favored by heaven contain vast amounts of Ling, and humans are no exception. Talented humans can even use the Ling within their bodies to resonate with the Ling outside, achieving effects like summoning wind and rain. Therefore, normally, the more Ling inside the body, the better.

But there is a limit. For Ling, the human body is like a container, large or small. If the water inside overflows, the mildest result is damaged meridians; the severe result is instant death. Seeing someone like Tao Qingguan, who was drunk but whose body wasn’t affected at all, was a first for him.

No wonder Tao Lihe was relaxed about letting this child mess around; his body was tough enough.

Yan Jiu released his grip. His strength was considerable; by now, Tao Qingguan’s face was red where he had pinched it. The two red marks stood out starkly against the fair skin.

He paused, then raised his hand to wipe away the marks on Tao Qingguan’s face. The result was, naturally, that they wouldn’t rub off. He let out a soft ‘tsk,’ thinking, he wasn’t that tough after all.

Suddenly, a cool liquid dripped onto his fingertips. The crystal-clear tear paused briefly before sliding down his finger pad, leaving a dark stain on the sheet.

The youth looked at him, the corners of his eyes flushed red. His clear eyes seemed veiled in a thin mist, tears hanging precariously at the corners, about to fall. Coupled with the finger marks on his face, it looked exactly as if Yan Jiu had bullied him.

Yan Jiu was momentarily stunned and immediately stepped back, as if avoiding something contagious. “I only pinched you a little, what are you crying for?”

Hearing Yan Jiu’s words, Tao Qingguan blinked. He wasn’t someone who cried easily, nor did he intend to cry. But the tears were flowing uncontrollably, like incontinence. He tried to wipe them away, but they wouldn’t stop. The tears fell like a broken string of pearls, making the marks on the sheet even more obvious.

His slow brain processed things sluggishly, but he couldn’t figure out why. He was still completely dazed. He forced himself to focus and asked again, “Who are you?”

The youth deliberately put on a stern face, probably trying to appear more intimidating, but his teary-eyed appearance completely undermined any sense of menace.

Yan Jiu’s gaze swept over Tao Qingguan and he noticed something unusual. The tears flowing from the youth contained a large amount of Ling, as if his body’s self-protection mechanism was expelling the excess Ling he couldn’t handle. However, while others might bleed from all seven orifices, for this youth, it manifested as incessant crying.

Just letting Tao Qingguan cry wouldn’t stop anytime soon. For Tao Lihe’s sake, Yan Jiu raised his hand and tapped Tao Qingguan’s glabella, scattering the accumulated Ling in his body and guiding it out.

Tao Qingguan felt an immediate lightness in his body. He looked at the man before him with hazy eyes. Although he didn’t know exactly who the person was, his intuition told him there was no malice.

He frowned, and a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. “I know! You’re here for cosplay! But breaking and entering is illegal…”

A wave of dizziness crashed over him. He instinctively grabbed the man’s sleeve. Before he could think further, he plunged into darkness. The last image imprinted on his retina was the man’s deep eyes.

Seeing Tao Qingguan fall asleep, Yan Jiu withdrew his hand. A hint of confusion appeared in his eyes. What was ‘cosplay’?

Humans had come up with quite a few new things lately. Yan Jiu brushed the dust off his robe and prepared to stand up. As soon as he moved, his sleeve was tugged. He glanced down and saw the youth clutching his sleeve. He didn’t know what obsession the youth had, but even unconscious, he was tightly gripping that piece of fabric.

Yan Jiu applied a little force and pulled the youth’s hand away. He ignored the youth, who was sprawled on the floor in an extremely awkward position, and flicked his sleeve…

Returning to the Fish Tank.

There was still a month left until the assessment ended. He had set a rule for himself not to interact with any contestants until a Contractor was chosen. He had already broken that rule just now.

However, his original intention for setting the rule was to avoid dealing with a crowd of people. Whether he followed the rule in the end depended entirely on his mood.

Yan Jiu dodged Little Black, who swam over wanting a duel. It swam under a reef to avoid the harassment, then looked at Tao Qingguan lying on the floor mat, a dark shadow flashing in its eyes.

Tao Lihe was the chief examiner for this assessment. Yan Jiu had thought that although the man’s personality was unreliable, he handled matters fairly. He hadn’t expected him to abuse his authority by placing his junior so close to him—it was as obvious as the sun in the sky.

Deep thoughts seemed to churn in Yan Jiu’s eyes. The calm, waveless deep sea revealed the undercurrent hidden beneath, but those anomalies quickly vanished. It shifted its body, found a comfortable spot, and resumed napping.

He didn’t care how humans wanted to fuss around, nor did he bother to care. It made little difference to him who was chosen in the end, but compared to those wrinkled-faced fellows outside, Tao Qingguan clearly fit his aesthetic better.

As for who to choose in the end… he would decide then.

Anyway, his main purpose for coming up this time was to find his lost scales. The candidates were secondary. As long as they didn’t impede his actions, it didn’t matter who they were.