The sunlight was bright and beautiful that afternoon.
In the square of the neighborhood, there was never any shortage of elderly folks with time on their hands.
Within the community, it was always the same few people coming and going. When they saw me pushing a stroller out, several old ladies immediately squeezed over, their faces full of kindly smiles.
“Oh, look how big she’s gotten.”
“She looks at least a year old, doesn’t she?”
“Old Lady Li, what nonsense are you spouting? How could this baby be one year old? Didn’t the young lady just give birth at the start of the year?”
“Look at my memory, I’d forgotten. She’s really been well-raised, such a pretty little face. When she grows up, she’s sure to be a great beauty, just like her mother.”
“And those big eyes are beautiful, too. This little nose is so dainty, she really looks like her mother. It’s like she was made from the same mold.”
A few elderly ladies, having seldom seen such a cute child, crowded around the stroller in a bustle.
My daughter had been watching everything around her with wide-open eyes, curious about these unfamiliar sights. But when she saw people constantly approaching, she turned her little head toward me as if to complain.
[Mom, Mom, aren’t you going to do something? There are some bad people here trying to touch the baby.]
She didn’t speak, of course.
But I understood the look in her eyes.
Smiling at the corners of my eyes, I calmly nudged a few of the women away. “She’s a little shy with strangers. If she starts crying, she’s not easy to calm down.”
These old ladies knew how to read a situation, so they didn’t tease the baby any further, switching to small talk with me instead.
“How old are you this year?”
I’d already answered this once, but as there were a few unfamiliar faces today, I patiently replied, “I’m twenty by nominal age.”
At that moment, Su Liumeng approached from afar, holding a cup of fruit tea.
As soon as I spotted her, I waved from a distance, “Su Liumeng, over here!”
The two of us, each with a milk tea in hand, walked along the path leading out of the community. Su Liumeng touched her damp cheek, the memory of what had just happened replaying in her mind.
When Si Xinyan saw her, she’d boldly brushed her lips against Su Liumeng’s cheek right in front of the old ladies.
“Thank you, baby.”
Then, ignoring everyone else’s gaze, she took Su Liumeng’s left hand and pushed the stroller away together.
“Aren’t you afraid of people gossiping?” Su Liumeng asked.
I rolled my eyes at her, missing the point of her question a little. “Why would they? You’re so outstanding! If people knew, they’d be too busy being jealous.”
I started listing Su Liumeng’s virtues, “For example: high emotional intelligence, knows how to coax her wife, great fighting power—can beat anyone, makes money, assets all over the world, respected wherever she goes. Most importantly, her cultivation and talent are top-notch. Everyone’s just a fleeting passerby in the river of time, who knows when they’ll turn to dust? But you, you actually have a chance to transcend. You don’t even have to worry about that final, fatal limitation of lifespan.”
As the girl counted off her qualities on her fingers, Su Liumeng didn’t look happy at all. Instead, her eyes darkened slightly. “I never worry that my life will run short.”
She pulled me into her arms, her warmth enveloping me. Still lost in my feelings, I looked up to see Su Liumeng’s deep, earnest gaze. “I’ve always been worried about you…”
My heart started thumping uncontrollably.
Help!
Why is even Su Liumeng in her half-dragon form so alluring?
Could it be that my preferences are about to take a turn for the strange?
Recently, Su Liumeng has been staying in her half-dragon form for no reason, claiming it’s for the final bloodline fusion. With her two dragon horns now fully grown, even the dragon tail has started to emerge. I remembered being woken up by a tail smacking me in my sleep, and the memory was enough to make me want to collapse.
“Can’t you control your tail?”
Su Liumeng answered confidently, “Xiaoyan, you know cats, right? Dragons aren’t much different. Since ancient times, cats and their tails have been like two separate creatures, so—”
“So, you can’t control it much?” In the dark, I grabbed her tail—which was now as thick as my forearm—without noticing how tense Su Liumeng became. “Actually, it’s easy to solve. I’ll just grab a knife from the kitchen. If it can’t be controlled, our kind of big family can’t keep it.”
I gently squeezed her tail, my gaze as mild as ever, though my words were chilling. The moment I mentioned cutting it off, Su Liumeng started trembling all over. After a lot of pleading, she finally convinced her dear wife not to act rashly, promising she’d learn to control it in the future.
In the darkness, my eyes curved into a quiet smile.
The memory faded away. I gazed at the illusory face conjured by magic, the true visage only revealed to me.
Beneath the flowering tree, her strikingly beautiful and mature face had a unique charm.
Her two dragon horns were just right, radiating the unique aura of a dragon maiden—utterly stunning.
“Su Liumeng, don’t move! Let me touch your tail.” I took a step forward, exercising my queenly privilege, sounding rather domineering.
Though I was half a head shorter than Su Liumeng, the gentle smile at my lips was full of pressure.
“Just one touch~”
The words I’d said that night still echoed in Su Liumeng’s mind.
Su Liumeng watched as the girl hid a little hand behind her back, her body’s perfect curves falling into Su Liumeng’s gaze. She swallowed involuntarily, and only after confirming her beloved wasn’t hiding a knife did she, in her gradually stiffening body, awkwardly hand over her tail.
A dragon’s tail, like its horns, is the most sensitive spot.
A dragon has a reverse scale.
And in half-dragon form, the reverse scale is located about seven inches up the tail.
At this moment, her weak spot was held gently in my soft little hand.
It was a thoroughly insecure position, tantamount to handing over her most vulnerable self. Su Liumeng’s heartbeat grew faster.
“When I touch you, how does it feel?” I held the slick tail, the scales smooth rather than prickly, with a texture almost like running water. “I’ve always wondered—why is it that whenever I touch your tail or horns, you go all stiff, like you’re under some kind of spell?”
Su Liumeng’s whole body started acting strangely, her voice forced through gritted teeth, trying to hold herself together. “Baby, you’re doing this on purpose to tease me, aren’t you?”
“And you’re not even going to cool things down…”
“What does it feel like, you ask?” Su Liumeng moved closer, trapping my small frame with a rather domineering stance. “Ever played with electricity? It’s like when the current first turns on—you can’t stop trembling all over.”
I gulped, finally realizing that something was off about Su Liumeng’s state. My hand, as if shocked, quickly let go, and I stuck out my tongue, “I’ll go calm you down, we can talk about this later!”
But Su Liumeng gritted her teeth, grabbing my little hand. “Xinxin!”
My body stiffened. Uh-oh, this might get bad.
Her hold was soft, almost boneless, making Su Liumeng’s thoughts run wild and her courage grow—she couldn’t hold back anymore. “You never let me touch you. Isn’t it fair if you let me use your little hand instead?”
“I hold back every day, my hormones are going wild.”
Just thinking back over the past six months, Su Liumeng felt on the verge of a breakdown. Complaining about it right in front of Si Xinyan was pretty much begging for sympathy.
It really was that tragic.
After all, she’d managed to marry a wife who was like a goddess.
But all she could do was look—not touch.
And her wife had no self-awareness at all, sleepily snuggling over every night. It was pure torture.
Anyone who imagined it would feel utterly hopeless.
Su Liumeng was already being very restrained and self-controlled.
But in the last six months, she’d still given in…
Well, maybe two or three times.
Once you’ve tasted it, it only gets harder.
The spot Su Liumeng was holding seemed to be heating up. My little head drooped, no longer playful.
The events of our wedding night still had quite an impact on me.
Just remembering my nearly broken hand made me want to run away in the night.
But.
But if I just ran away now…
Wouldn’t that be completely irresponsible?
If anyone found out, I’d never live it down.
Su Liumeng saw how I wanted to run, unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes. She gave a bitter laugh, “It’s fine. I’m a mature person now, I’ll just have to comfort myself.”
Something in my heart gave a strange lurch.
Pushing the stroller forward, watching my daughter’s thoughtful little face, I couldn’t find any joy.
After a long while, biting my lip, I said, “I promise you—”
“It’s okay if you don’t—”
“Huh? You promise?” Su Liumeng had been comforting herself, but my answer nearly made her cry with happiness. The sudden joy showed all over her face. She wanted to hug me and spin around on the spot.
How did someone so averse to people like her suddenly change her mind today?
I stared at my neatly trimmed little fingernails.
It should… be fine, right?
It’s just a finger or two.
If it makes Su Liumeng a little happier, I think… I can accept it.
“Baby, what made you change your mind?”
Su Liumeng was so happy she started humming.
She held my soft little hand tighter, savoring the smooth touch, wishing she could squeeze just a bit more.
But she was afraid of hurting me, making me cry out in pain.
The reason I changed my mind? I suddenly stopped walking, looking at the veins in my arm. I stayed silent for a long, long time.
The unexpected silence made Su Liumeng’s mood plummet.
I slowly looked up, meeting her eyes. “I just suddenly realized—you were right just now…”
“I’m a little scared that if I don’t keep you company now, I might not get another chance later.”
At this point, I have no regrets left.
There are nine cultivation realms in total.
I’m confident I can stumble my way to the end.
But after that?
Each step up the Nine Sources Heavenly Ladder is harder than the last.
Even if I have Heaven’s favor, it doesn’t mean the road ahead will be smooth.
Facing reality, I can’t say for sure that I’ll make it to the end.
My daughter in the stroller had been listening all along.
She suddenly started babbling, and when she saw I was still lost in thought, she began crawling along the stroller and finally reached the railing, waving her chubby arms at me.
“Yiya ya—”
The dullness in my eyes gradually brightened.
“Su Liumeng!”
Su Liumeng was still deep in thought when I slapped her arm, snapping her out of it.
Excitedly, I said, “Su Liumeng, did you see that? Baby just crawled all by herself!”
With my daughter’s antics in front of me, I had no time for self-pity. I bent down to pick up Zhizhi. “Did you miss Mommy? Mommy will play with you now.”
As I was about to walk a lap with her, Su Liumeng suddenly grabbed my shirt from behind, her voice more serious than ever. “Don’t say such hopeless things again. I won’t let that happen.”
“Trust me.”
“Okay?”
“And besides, you still have your daughter. You’re not even twenty yet, why worry about things so far in the future?”
I looked up, my youthful face stunned for a moment, then slowly replied, “Okay.”
“I trust you.”
Just four simple words, but behind them lay deep trust.
When Su Liumeng heard this, it turned into an endless sense of responsibility in her heart.
Back in our room, I couldn’t wait to lie on the carpet with my daughter, clapping my hands in front of her. “Zhizhi, Mommy’s right here. Can you come over by yourself?”
“Yaa—”
Si Zhiruo giggled, pushing up on her chubby arms.
Her little legs moved quickly, and she reached my side in just a few tries.
She waved her arms, babbling in her milky voice.
I knew she wanted me to pick her up, so I put her on my knee, kneeling to face the door.
“She really can crawl.” Su Liumeng said.
I nodded hard. “It won’t be long before she’s standing.”
I pressed my cheek to hers, making the little one giggle nonstop.
Watching mother and daughter together, the harmony between them, Su Liumeng suddenly said, “Xiaoyan, let Chunqiao watch over our daughter for a bit tonight.”
I froze, then instantly understood.
My cute little face fell, almost a grown-up version of Si Zhiruo—our relationship plain as day.
Right now, a faint blush was spreading across it.
My daughter’s just a few months old. Of course, I don’t want her alone at night. Usually, she sleeps right beside me, within arm’s reach.
“Just for a few hours.”
I hesitated for a second. “I’ll put her to sleep first. A few hours should be fine.”
Looking at Su Liumeng, I blurted out seriously, “My period isn’t over yet.”
Su Liumeng leaned in, taking in my scent. I hugged my daughter tighter, instinctively pulling back. “That’s not important.”
“This sweet little cake—of course I’ll save the best for last.”
“You’re so annoying!” I snapped my head up, thumping her chest with my daughter’s tiny hand. “What kind of weird metaphor is that?”
Seeing her mom “hit the bad guy,” the little one laughed even harder, babbling away, then raised her free fist and smacked Su Liumeng’s face as she bent over.
Su Liumeng froze.
I froze too, giving her an apologetic smile, my tongue peeking out. “Uh, well—”
“There’s no sun tonight,” Su Liumeng replied gloomily.
“I’m going to see what the maid is making for dinner!” I jumped up and tried to make my escape.
Having just set a bad example for my daughter, I wanted to crawl into a hole.
Su Liumeng looked at the little one on her shoulder.
The usually aloof little face suddenly became expressive.
Was she smiling at her?
At the dinner table, I kept holding my daughter, which made eating awkward. No one else could help, so I put her back in the stroller.
Su Liumeng glanced at Si Zhiruo. “Xiaoyan, are you sure you’re not going back to school?”
I was chewing on a chicken nugget, not yet swallowed, so my answer was a little garbled, “I’d like to, but what about my daughter? I can’t take her to class. People would be speechless.”
I’d planned to hire a nanny so I wouldn’t have to skip school.
But seeing how wary Si Zhiruo is of strangers, I dropped the idea.
Seeing Su Liumeng go quiet, I pretended not to care. “It’s fine, even if I can’t go to school, my daughter can. She seemed interested in kindergarten before she was even born. Maybe she’ll fulfill her mother’s unfulfilled wish and become a big shot in both academics and cultivation.”
But of course, Su Liumeng saw through my forced smile.
Once, I’d told her I wanted to go to school with her, to make up for never sharing a classroom in our youth.
I’d never said it out loud, but Su Liumeng always knew—this girl, who poured over a decade of her life into her studies, couldn’t easily let go of school life.
Sure, now that we cultivate, school doesn’t matter.
But it’s like an obsession—for a good student who’s made it second nature, suddenly having to give it up is cruel.
From three to eighteen—fifteen years.
No matter how pointless it is, most would hope to see it through.
My hands trembled as I ate, trying my best to smile gently.
The dreams I’d hoped for again and again.
They seemed as far away as the unreachable sun.
Just like a name forever gone from the rankings among the stars.
Is this the price of growing up?
I stared at my fingertips, at the faint stretch marks on my belly, at my daughter’s laughter nearby—all constant reminders.
To lose is also to gain.
I looked at the concern in Su Liumeng’s eyes, then at my cute daughter, peering up at me.
At least—
I’ve never regretted it.
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