novelraw Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Chapter 121: The Brave Hero… Accelerated!
The car slowly drove into the apartment complex.
Xia Li, with his clumsy driving skills, failed to reverse the car into the parking space after three attempts.
Lucia stood outside, gesturing to Xia Li, imitating the traffic police gestures she had seen.
“This way, this way… a little further in!”
“I see from the rearview camera that you’re about to hit the flower bed!”
“It’s fine, there’s still s~o~ much space!”
Lucia walked around to the front of the car and used two fingers to show Xia Li the distance.
This time it wasn’t some “fingertip universe,” it was truly less than three centimeters from hitting it.
Xia Li thought to himself, it’s a good thing he was being cautious. In the eyes of the evil dragon, as long as the car could still drive, bumping and scraping were no big deal.
She underestimated how much humans cherished their vehicles.
If Xia Li had scraped the car even a little, not to mention Mrs. Fang’s nagging, Old Xia would have been heartbroken.
“Uncle, this car will be parked in our complex for a while, it’s a family car.”
The old man in the guard booth, wearing a military green cotton-padded coat, was holding his phone, scrolling through videos, his two large yellow teeth exposed in a smile.
“Xia Li, ah, good, good, good, no problem, I saw you… This car is Xiao Xia’s, right? I saw it on her WeChat Moments.”
“Yes, it’s my mom’s, she lent it to me for a couple of days.”
Xia Li nodded to the old man.
This complex generally didn’t allow outside vehicles in, so this greeting was to make things easier.
Turning his head, Xia Li realized that the evil dragon, who had been clinging to him like glue, was gone.
Every time Lucia went out for some fresh air, she was like a husky, as long as she was out of Xia Li’s sight, she was a “let go and it’s gone” situation.
This made Xia Li feel uneasy unless he had the silly dragon in hand.
“What’s its name?”
“Its name is Five Flower Meat.”
“Five Flower Meat… such a delicious name.”
By the flower bed downstairs, an auntie was walking her dog, carrying a basket of vegetables, casually chatting with a young girl beside her.
She had seen this young girl in the complex quite often recently, and it was said she was the girlfriend of that Xia boy from Unit Two.
The girl was pretty and likable, but a bit timid, rarely greeting their neighbors.
Today, seeing the girl approaching, she thought the girl wanted to greet her and was already smiling in anticipation, but unexpectedly, the girl was only interested in the dog in her hand.
“Auntie, buying groceries to go home?”
Xia Li walked over and took the girl’s delicate hand that was pinching the dog’s mouth and held it.
Xia Li couldn’t remember this auntie’s name, but calling her “Auntie” was always right in this situation.
“Yes, I was out shopping today, and saw discounted vegetables at the supermarket on my way back, so I bought a bit more…”
The auntie weighed the basket in her hand and gave Xia Li a friendly look behind the young girl.
“When are you getting married?”
Xia Li couldn’t handle this kind of question, so he could only politely repeat:
“Soon, soon.”
“You have to invite us to the wedding, I watched you grow up.”
“I will, Auntie.”
“Woof, woof, woof!”
The corgi, previously held by Lucia, was finally freed. It hid behind its owner, instinctively baring its teeth at Xia Li who was approaching.
Seeing this, Lucia glanced down at it.
“Woof… Ow!!”
The corgi, barking halfway, was scared witless by those eyes. The auntie almost lost her grip on the leash, and couldn’t help but exchange a smile with Xia Li.
“The young lady really likes dogs, haha.”
“Yes…”
The auntie pulled the dog, Xia Li pulled the dragon, and the two struggled to separate these two species.
Pulling Lucia’s small hand upstairs, Xia Li took out his phone and turned on the flashlight to illuminate the way for Lucia.
Lucia walked behind, head down, not speaking, just rubbing the dog hair on her hand onto her clothes.
“Did you have fun with the dog?” Xia Li asked the evil dragon, turning his head.
“It was a bit fun…”
“More fun than me?”
“Not as fun as Xia Li.”
Xia Li, having won over the dog, was in a good mood, and pressed the soft little hand against his face.
The evil dragon seemed unwilling to put her hand on his face, and Xia Li clearly felt that hand retracting.
“If you like playing with small animals so much, let’s get one.”
“I don’t want to keep one…” Lucia shook her head.
“Why?” Xia Li took out his key to open the door.
“Because having me as a freeloader at home is enough.”
Lucia sat on the small stool by the door, changing her shoes.
She tore open the velcro on her small leather shoes, and was about to take her feet out when Xia Li suddenly squatted down and held her ankle.
“Pets are different. Pets provide emotional value and companionship.
And we can get a small one… like a cat. Cats have small appetites, except for orange ones.”
Lucia didn’t hear a word Xia Li was saying.
She watched as Xia Li took off her shoes, then the other one.
Xia Li brought over those ugly flip-flops, and as he was about to help Lucia take off her white socks, Lucia curled her toes, seemingly unwilling to let him do so.
“Take them off and change into a pair of warm cashmere socks. You’re still on your period…”
“I won’t change!”
Lucia’s tone was stubborn, and she quickly stuffed her feet into the flip-flops, running away with a clatter.
◈◈◈
“Hey, I’m just caring for you, why don’t you appreciate it at all.”
Xia Li followed, and the two nestled on the double sofa. Lucia silently hugged the big sheep plush and reached for the remote to turn on the TV.
The TV blared with chattering voices. Both of them were looking at the screen, but their attention was on each other.
“…This is one of the ways humans express ‘like.’ Only for someone they like are they willing to do this, to care for them.”
After speaking, Xia Li reached out and pinched Lucia’s small face.
“Do you understand?” he asked again.
Lucia didn’t say anything, pretending to be engrossed in the TV.
The TV was showing a sports channel. Xia Li knew without thinking that the silly dragon couldn’t possibly be interested.
This guy was playing dumb here.
Thinking she could get away with it?
No way.
They were sitting here together, could he let her run away?
“Kissing you in the car before, that’s because I like you. Wanting to change your socks just now, that’s also because I like you… And now, wanting to hold you, that’s also because I like you.”
Xia Li said “like” three times in one breath, he had said all he wanted to say in this lifetime.
For someone who wasn’t good at expressing emotions, if he wasn’t truly head over heels, this frequency wouldn’t happen to him.
If he didn’t say it a few more times, the silly dragon wouldn’t understand.
Xia Li was now Lucia’s life mentor.
And as a mentor, he had to learn to solve the problems himself before he could teach Lucia.
After saying this, Xia Li dropped the arm that was resting on the sofa, naturally landing on the evil dragon’s delicate shoulder.
As he pulled her into his arms, the evil dragon wriggled in his embrace like a caterpillar.
In the end, because the sofa was too crowded, she had to be held in his arms, albeit with a thick skin.
“Look, just like you always love to hug this plush toy, you hug it because you like it. Now I’m holding you because I like you, can you understand that?”
Lucia looked at the plush toy in her arms, then at the Brave Hero’s smelly paws resting on her waist.
Oh… Don’t mention it, at least their actions of holding something in their arms were quite similar.
Lucia thought carefully.
She really liked this plush toy in her arms, but that was because the toy was shaped like a sheep, and dragons all liked sheep.
And this sheep was a gift from the Brave Hero, she felt it was precious, so she cherished it so much.
She lifted her face and secretly glanced at the Brave Hero beside her.
Lucia pondered, then what was the reason she liked him…
Xia Li’s appearance had nothing to do with gold coins, but the feeling he gave her was very similar to gold coins.
Dragons liked gold coins because they were beautiful, sparkling and pleasing to the eye. Xia Li also made Lucia feel comfortable.
She wanted to take him out and look at him every day, and then lie on him to sleep. She felt the same way about Xia Li.
“Do you understand?”
Xia Li saw that the evil dragon had been thinking for a while, and was a little impatient.
Lucia looked away, she still felt that the human heart was much more complex than a dragon’s.
The feelings she understood were the same as Xia Li’s, but also seemed different.
“I don’t understand!”
“Come, come, come, if you don’t understand, I’ll continue to tell you… Put your ear closer.”
Xia Li was very patient. He threw away the obstructive big sheep plush, hugged the little dragon’s head, and made her ear press against his chest.
Lucia grabbed the sheep’s horns and struggled in Xia Li’s arms for a bit, but when she heard the strong heartbeat coming from his chest, she immediately became quiet.
The Brave Hero’s heart…
No matter how many times she heard it, it would give her a strange feeling.
“Hear the beating? This is liking.”
Xia Li’s voice came through his chest.
“But, if a human’s heart doesn’t beat, they die.”
“Bah, don’t say such unlucky things… I’m asking you to listen to the frequency, the frequency!”
Xia Li pinched Lucia’s face hard, making her small face red.
“A normal person’s heart rate is under one hundred, but if they are with someone they like, their heartbeat will exceed one hundred, and their body temperature will also rise… This kind of thing can’t fool a dragon, you know?”
Xia Li couldn’t calmly say sweet nothings in front of Lucia yet, every word he said now was an act of “hurting the enemy eight hundred, harming oneself one thousand.”
The rising body temperature, and the clearly felt accelerated heartbeat, these were all real manifestations.
Unfortunately, Lucia didn’t understand anything about heart rate and frequency.
She only felt that the Brave Hero’s heartbeat was very pleasant, inexplicably making the dragon feel at ease.
“Let me listen to yours too.”
Xia Li bent his head down.
The human and the dragon were entangled together in a strange posture on the sofa.
Bringing his head close to the evil dragon’s fragrant bosom, Xia Li felt his ear pressed against a soft layer of fat.
Although the target had shifted, the result was correct.
This soft…
Softer than the evil dragon’s face.
Thump, thump.
As a result, Xia Li didn’t hear anything, but he did hear his own heart beating like a drum.
“Oh… it’s speeding up!”
Lucia’s eyes sparkled.
She heard with her own ears the Brave Hero’s heart rate soaring, it seemed even his body temperature had risen.
“Xia Li, your heart is about to jump out!”