My Wife is an Evil Dragon

Chapter 179

Chapter 179: I’ll Just Rub Against It

With just a week left until Chinese New Year, Qingcheng City was experiencing its coldest period.

The temperature kept fluctuating between zero and below zero.

There were two instances of sleet, with snowflakes falling like tiny grains of salt, melting instantly upon landing on one’s palm.

A thin layer of frost covered the car windows, and passersby carefully collected it, rolling it into a snowball the size of a sugar pill, finding amusement in it for a long time.

Every household had dug out their heaviest winter clothes, and children ran around in oversized down jackets that reached past their knees, resembling walking breadsticks.

The area downstairs in the apartment complex became livelier with each passing day.

Parents who had gone to work in other cities returned home, carrying large bags of luggage. Elderly people and children waiting at the entrance warmly greeted their family members upon seeing them. The families gathered together, having endless things to talk about, presenting a heartwarming picture of family reunion.

Every household began hanging lanterns, and even Old Man Huang, who usually didn’t care much about the environment of the complex, bought some festive small flags and hung them at the main entrance.

In the distance, occasional sounds of firecrackers echoed, startling the evil dragon in the living room, causing her to tuck her ankles in before curiously looking around. “It’s just firecrackers, don’t be afraid. They’ll be going off intermittently for a month.”

“I know……！”

Xia Li knew that Lucia had sensitive hearing, so he specifically comforted her.

The evil dragon responded loudly and, after a while, came running over with her little feet pattering.

She wasn’t wearing shoes either, her feet wrapped in a pair of thick towel socks, moving silently across the floor.

“…It’s cold, wear shoes.” Xia Li frowned.

This dragon just wouldn’t listen.

She loved eating ice cream and playing with cold water in the winter, and now she didn’t even want to wear shoes.

She was taking advantage of her strong physique to do whatever she wanted. If it were an ordinary girl, she would have been on an IV drip by now.

“Come here, come here.” Lucia beckoned to Xia Li mysteriously.

Xia Li didn’t know what this dragon was up to. As he bent down, Lucia placed her hand in front of his nose.

“I’ll just rub against it, I won’t go in.” The evil dragon said.

Xia Li: “?”

He had never even said that.

“Why is your nose dry?”

Lucia withdrew her small hand from Xia Li’s nose and then touched Little Cotton’s nose in her arms, unsure.

The cat’s nose felt wet, as if it were sick.

But Lucia had learned a lot about pets in the past few days. A wet nose on a cat or dog meant it was healthy, while a dry nose could indicate illness.

On the other hand, humans…

Xia Li’s nose was so dry, it didn’t look healthy at all.

“If my nose were wet, that would mean I’m sick.”

Xia Li reached out to hug Lucia’s slender waist, but Lucia wouldn’t let him, nimbly twisting her waist away.

“Come here, let me touch yours.”

Lucia shrugged her nose: “Mine is dry too!”

“I’ll just rub against it…”

“You can’t rub against it!”

After saying that, she ran off with the kitten in her arms.

She was all about teasing Xia Li, but he wasn’t allowed to tease her back.

After taking a few steps, Lucia poked her head out from behind the door again.

“…How much longer will you be typing on your keyboard?”

“Soon.”

Xia Li habitually pressed the enter key twice and glanced at the word count for the chapter. There were about two hundred words left to wrap it up.

“Don’t cook today, we’ll go out to eat later,” he said, pausing before adding.

“It’s almost New Year’s, and my mom keeps asking about you…”

“The great human wants to see me?” Lucia’s eyes lit up.

Zhou Anqi and Fu Yuan’s situation had taught Lucia a lesson.

Humans are social creatures. Their actions are not only influenced by their own emotions and environmental factors but also by a crucial element ━ their family situations.

As expected, Lucia knew that building a good relationship with the Brave Hero’s mother would indirectly give her control over him!

The little Brave Hero would submit to the Silver Dragon Queen’s authority in no time!

As soon as Xia Li mentioned Mrs. Fang, Lucia’s expression turned into a sly smile.

She hid behind the door, chuckling, her mind lost in who knows what thoughts.

Xia Li sighed and continued: “They plan to celebrate the New Year here in Qingcheng City this year, so they’ll definitely see you… But before that, we need to go back to our hometown.”

“Go back to your hometown?” Lucia looked up at the cracked and peeling white walls of their apartment. “Isn’t this your hometown?”

“This is where I grew up, so it’s also considered my hometown. But the hometown they’re talking about is where they grew up… My grandmother’s house.”

“Oh… Humans have so many homes.” Lucia exclaimed.

Xia Li showed Lucia his phone’s chat history.

It was his conversation with Fang Xia this morning. The main point was that it was almost New Year’s, and she wanted Xia Li to go back to her mother’s house with her to see her grandmother and wish her a happy New Year in advance.

Xia Li knew what Mrs. Fang was up to.

Wasn’t it just an opportunity for her to have her grandmother’s side of the family meet Lucia?…

In Mrs. Fang’s eyes, she couldn’t wait to take Lucia to meet all her aunts and uncles. Then she would urge them to get married, and after marriage, to have children. It was a natural progression in her mind.

“I’ve already agreed.” Xia Li put his phone away.

“I have no problem…”

Lucia wasn’t worried at all. For her, the more she met Xia Li’s family, the more control she would have over the little Brave Hero.

Xia Li waved his hand: “Alright, we’ll buy some gifts later. We can’t go back empty-handed this time.”

In the past, when Xia Li went back to his grandmother’s house, he always went empty-handed, leaving the task of honoring the elderly to Fang Xia.

Now it was different. Now that Xia Li had graduated from university and entered society, he had lost the protective status of a “student” during holidays and had to face the complicated etiquette of adulthood.

Not only did he need to prepare gifts for his grandmother, but it was also best to bring something for his grandparents to show his respect.

Mrs. Fang had so many friends. If Xia Li showed his filial piety a couple of times, she could brag about it to her friends for days on end, and she would definitely have a very happy New Year.

Thinking about it this way, he had quite a lot of gifts to buy.

When he came back to his senses, the evil dragon had already slipped away to the living room to read.

Xia Li gathered his thoughts, finished the chapter, and set it to be published later.

Recently, the royalties in his online account had been steadily increasing as the word count grew.

The “Azure Continent ━ Record of Experiences from Another World” that Xia Li was serializing online had become quite popular thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations. With the arrival of winter break, the comment section was even more lively.

In his story, the dragon, who was labeled as evil, was actually quite simple.

Yes, simple.

The silver dragon Lucia in the story had already been tricked by the Brave Hero into going to a human city. Her shocked and exaggerated reactions to the new things in human society created a stark contrast to her true dragon form.

Gap moe.

It was exactly the same as the Lucia that Xia Li had encountered on Earth.

In a way, these plots were not entirely made up by Xia Li.

They were based on real life.

【Q: Why do you like Lucia? A: Because she’s kind!】

【Playing with every meme will only hurt you. 】

【Daily question, when will the Brave Hero die?】

【Wait, aren’t silver dragons supposed to be lawful good? Why is the silver dragon in the author’s story different? 】

【It’s not a D&D setting. The author himself said it’s a brand new world view. Don’t bring everything back to D&D, okay??】

【I’m a setting enthusiast. The plot is irrelevant to me… but I’m curious, how can the author provide such detailed illustrations? These illustrations are interconnected and don’t seem like they were thought up on the spot. Using such a detailed world view to write a novel gives me the feeling of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut ━ although this is what attracts me as a setting enthusiast. 】

【Could he really be a transmigrator?】

【Hahaha, your question… Do they use simplified Chinese in another world too? Hahaha!】

Xia Li calmly closed the comment section.

Writing about a dragon native to another world was a controversial topic in itself. Let them argue if they wanted to. People’s views and ideas were different. If you tried to force others to agree with your views, you would only be making things difficult for yourself.

Xia Li closed the backend and noticed an exclamation mark next to his profile picture.

Clicking on it, he saw a bunch of private messages.

Most of the private messages were urging him to update. Occasionally, there would be a couple of macho guys criticizing the plot. Their criticisms were mostly the same: Why would a silver dragon with such powerful strength still live a humble life? Why was he still dragging things out when he was already writing a novel? Why not write a power fantasy?

Xia Li ignored all such messages.

He could only say that humans and dragons thought differently.

“Hmm?”

Xia Li opened the most recent private message. This one was more interesting.

【Are you a transmigrator?】

It was from a user with a completely black profile picture.

Xia Li casually clicked on his message history and found that the other party was a new account, and their comments were basically all on Xia Li’s novel. It could be seen that they were a highly engaged fan.

With the intention of establishing his persona or perhaps just to tease the other party, Xia Li replied with two words.

【Yes. 】

After replying, he closed the private message and opened the data interface.

Reading the comment section didn’t give Xia Li much sense of accomplishment.

But looking at his royalties definitely did.

Now his monthly royalties were already several thousand yuan.

◈◈◈

It was no exaggeration to say that he had already surpassed the vast majority of fresh graduates.

And this was just a side job.

If he were living alone like before, Xia Li might have chosen to lie flat. After all, he was young and could afford to waste a few more years to take it easy.

But his mindset was different now.

Now that he had Lucia, this kind of unstable job couldn’t satisfy him.

He didn’t mind if the popularity of his book waned, his royalties disappeared, and he could only live on instant noodles.

Perhaps Lucia wouldn’t mind either, and she loved instant noodles.

But Xia Li cared about this.

He still wanted to take Lucia to taste all the delicacies of this world, so naturally, his sights were set on the future.

Closing his computer, Xia Li went to the living room to call for the evil dragon.

The evil dragon had fallen asleep reading, her face pressed against the book. When Xia Li called her, she suddenly woke up.

“I wasn’t sleeping, my eyes were just uncomfortable!”

The evil dragon who said this still had a red mark on her face.

This dragon was like this. Every time she tried to learn something complex, her brain would get sleepy.

Biologically speaking… dragons were indeed a race that slept after eating and drinking their fill. Their physical structure was naturally unsuitable for learning knowledge.

Xia Li never strictly demanded anything from Lucia, so he just smiled.

“You drooled in your sleep.”

“Slurp!”

Lucia stuck out her little tongue and licked her lips, finding no drool. Instead, she tasted the ink that new books had.

“Let’s go, we’re going shopping today…”

As they were talking, a firecracker went off in the complex, startling Lucia and causing Little Cotton in her arms to widen her eyes in fear.

Xia Li took Little Cotton and put her back in her bed. “Let’s buy some firecrackers for you too. The ban on firecrackers was very strict in the past two years, but it seems to have been relaxed this year. Our district allows the setting off of firecrackers within a certain range.”

“Will it be very expensive…”

Lucia asked, following behind him.

There were no firecrackers in another world. This unknown thing always made Lucia feel uneasy… Of course, this uneasiness was mostly about the price.

“Why are you asking this?” Xia Li took a scarf and wrapped it around Lucia’s neck.

“Your story is very popular online, we’re making a lot of money. According to what we talked about last time, you’ll get a share. You’ve saved up several thousand yuan, buying firecrackers is nothing to you.”

“But I don’t want to buy firecrackers…” Lucia mumbled.

Xia Li knew what this dragon wanted to buy.

She wanted to buy a house.

“Buying a house doesn’t require you to…” Xia Li paused.

Maybe it actually did.

After all, this dragon was planning to buy a house bit by bit with her 1,200 yuan monthly internship salary.

“Hey, let’s go, let’s go out. Why think so much? You always say I overthink things, now you’re thinking even more than me.” Xia Li muttered.

Lucia lowered her head and reflected.

Was she overthinking things?…

The original her never thought about anything related to the future.

But after living with Xia Li, she started to think about their future together.

Buying a house was to change to a new lair and create a better living environment… This was a dragon’s instinct.

It was best to hoard more gold coins or food with high nutritional value.

And then…

And then it was to lay a big white egg. This was also a dragon’s instinct for reproduction.

After all, creating a better living environment was for the dragon egg. Adult dragons could survive unscathed even if they were thrown onto an iceberg, but incubating eggs required very strict conditions.

As Lucia thought about it, she found herself thinking a lot again.

She had changed…

Her thoughts, her state of mind, even her personality had changed a lot.

“Where has Wuqi gone to wander off to again?”

Xia Li’s voice came from the balcony.

He bent down and replaced the cat food and water on the balcony with fresh ones.

As New Year’s approached, every household was eating delicious food, and many generous people would put some out to feed stray cats.

This human food might not be as tasty as canned cat food for stray cats, but for Wuqi, it was definitely a rare delicacy, so he had been eating out these days.

This guy had really become a stray cat.

However, he had recently found several new girlfriends and had bragged to Xia Li about them several times. He must be living a very comfortable life.

After cleaning up the balcony, Xia Li went to the entrance to change his shoes.

Lucia had been waiting at the door for a long time.

She was wearing a light blue down jacket, a pink cashmere scarf wrapped around her neck, her hands in her pockets, revealing a small part of her cheeks as she stared blankly at Xia Li.

Xia Li adjusted her scarf, tucking her delicate earlobes inside.

“It’s cold outside. It even snowed a little yesterday.”

“I’m not afraid of the cold…” The evil dragon muttered.

Three silver-white dragon scales had already appeared on Lucia’s face.

These scales would emit colorful, shimmering light under the light, looking unpredictable and dazzling.

However, there were only three scales on Lucia’s face, and two more had grown on her arm.

The dragon scales on her arm were harder. According to Lucia’s feeling, they stored more magic power than the scales on her face.

This saved Xia Li some worry.

He had previously been worried that if more and more dragon scales appeared on Lucia’s face, covering her entire cheek, he wouldn’t be able to explain it away with “girls’ makeup.”

He might even be dragged to the hospital by Mrs. Fang to see a dermatologist.

But now, these dragon scales seemed to have followed Lucia’s wishes. After three appeared, they changed positions, and the extra scales began to extend to her limbs. Lucia said that they might grow on her back later on, she had a feeling.

A total of five…

Well, the “Mature Lucia Experience Card” couldn’t even be used for three minutes.

Not enough, not enough at all.

Useless dragon.

“What!”

Xia Li had been staring at Lucia’s little face for a while.

The Brave Hero’s smile was mischievous, the kind of sly grin that hid something.

Lucia snorted softly and buried her rosy cheeks further into her scarf.

“No, no, not now.”

Xia Li grabbed her dragon claw and led her out the door.

“What?”

Lucia looked up at him, not understanding.

Xia Li suppressed a laugh and locked the door. Lucia stared at him for a while, and only after they reached downstairs did she relax.

The cold wind was biting, it was indeed a bit cold.

Without the powerful magic protecting her body, it was still difficult for this human body to withstand sub-zero temperatures.

However, the clothes in the human world were very warm, and the Brave Hero’s smelly hand was also warm.

Lucia tugged at the big hand in hers and looked up again. “The scarf is quite long, do you want to wrap it around yourself too?”

“How can I wrap it around myself? If we each wrap it around ourselves once, won’t we be strangled?” Xia Li said.

Lucia thought about it and agreed. She could only put the big hand into her pocket.

“Then I’ll warm you up like this!”

“Can you put it somewhere else?”

Xia Li’s big hand was squeezed into Lucia’s small pocket, almost bursting it.

Girls’ pockets were not meant for storing things, and certainly not for holding their boyfriends’ hands.

“Where else?”

The evil dragon took Xia Li’s hand out and smoothed out her almost-ruined pocket.

“Put it…” Xia Li coughed lightly and looked around.

After making sure there were no familiar elders around, he touched his firm chest and said, “This place is warmer.”

“…”

Lucia thought for a moment, then ‘swoosh,’ unzipped the front of her jacket, and was about to stuff Xia Li’s hand inside.

Xia Li was startled.

Wait, you’re really going to put it in there?!