My Wife is an Evil Dragon

Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Habit is a Scary Thing

The day before New Year’s Eve.

Xia Li’s friends who were working out of town all came back one after another.

Even Chen Tao’s company, which he often complained about as having a “black-hearted boss,” was on holiday break, and Monkey rushed back from afar for a family reunion.

The gang members of Building Number Three, Shangdong Chaoyang Residential Complex, gathered once again ━ this was especially precious for the few who had experienced the “leaving the group” incident before.

However, no one brought up the issue of leaving the group. There was no need to talk about such topics. It was enough to know that Yuanzi and Anqi were as good as ever.

“No…”

Monkey hadn’t been back for a long time, and looking at the people in front of him, he was a bit out of the loop.

“There’s a traitor among us??”

“To be precise, only the two of us haven’t ‘betrayed’ the group.” Chen Tao nodded, solemnly patting Monkey’s shoulder.

In front of the two, Boss Xia was holding Lucia’s hand, and Lucia was sipping milk tea. Yuanzi and Anqi were standing together, and although they weren’t holding hands, it wasn’t hard to see their relationship from the looks on their faces.

“Putting it so euphemistically… aren’t you just forever alone?” Zhou Anqi said with a sly smile.

“…” Chen Tao choked and couldn’t refute.

They had been brothers and sisters for twenty years. Even if they couldn’t take a bullet for each other, they shouldn’t stab each other in the back.

Chen Tao wanted to cry but had no tears.

He turned to seek some comfort from Monkey, only to find him typing on his phone.

“You’re not going to be a traitor to the organization too, are you?” he asked suspiciously.

“No,” Monkey waved his hand. “I came back recently, and my mom arranged a blind date for me… I just started chatting with her, just to deal with it.”

“…”

Chen Tao cried even louder this time.

The group walked and stopped, chatting about random things.

There was no specific purpose for this meeting. It was just a reunion after a long time, a small gathering as usual.

The next day was New Year’s Eve, and there would be a lot of visits to relatives in the following days. It would be impossible to gather everyone then.

After wandering around, they arrived at the subway station. They decided to go to the city center since they had nowhere else to go.

Lucia didn’t participate in the discussion, just silently followed behind.

She still had a psychological shadow about the subway.

She had encountered a pickpocket on the subway last time, so this time she was extra careful, protecting Xia Li, afraid that he would be stolen from by pickpockets.

Fortunately, nothing happened along the way.

Out of the subway was a row of large shopping malls. No matter how many times she saw them, Lucia would be shocked by the tall buildings built by humans.

The humans in this world had no magic.

But the things they created with their own hands were like real magic.

“Lu-mei, let’s go play claw machines!”

Zhou Anqi was in high spirits. Now that she had Lucia, she quickly left her boyfriend aside and was attracted by the machines in the mall, pulling Lucia along.

There was a large arcade on the fourth floor of the mall, and it was packed with people at this time.

“Claw machines?”

Lucia had never been to a place like this. She had only seen similar small games at street stalls.

“Do you know how to play claw machines?”

“No.”

“Tsk… where has Xia-ge taken you? He hasn’t even brought you to an arcade?”

Zhou Anqi looked at Xia Li with dissatisfaction. Xia Li was walking with the boys, and suddenly a question stunned him.

“No, Xia Li took me to ride that kind of rocking car…”

Lucia explained for Xia Li, pointing to the racing cars in the arcade.

They were all rocking cars. There was no difference between racing cars and children’s cars for Lucia.

“Pfft,” Zhou Anqi laughed. “Okay, I’ll go exchange for coins. You wait for me here.”

The arcade was quite noisy, with all kinds of young people sitting in front of the machines, some calmly inserting coins like gamblers, some holding guns and shouting loudly.

Lucia was dazzled and quickly fixed her gaze on the boxing machine next to her.

Strength test. Punch to break the score and get a lot of lottery tickets.

“Don’t go there.”

Xia Li saw the dragon’s eyes glancing over there and stopped her in time.

He was afraid that Lucia’s punch wouldn’t break the score but the machine itself.

The evil dragon nodded: “I’ll just play the rocking car and that… doll thing.”

Xia Li felt ashamed.

He had said he would take Lucia to more places, go on dates with her, and let her see the world…

But the places he had taken Lucia were few and far between.

However, there were reasons for this.

Firstly, Xia Li and Lucia were both homebodies. Lucia was even more of a homebody than him. If she could stay at home, she would.

Secondly, Xia Li’s daily study and part-time job were very demanding.

In the past, just writing his “Record of Experiences” would take up most of his afternoon. Now he had endless reading and studying, and he had even less free time.

It was fortunate that Xia Li’s girlfriend was Lucia…

If it had been any other girl, she would have been calling him non-stop, asking: Why aren’t you replying to my messages? Why aren’t you spending time with me? Don’t you love me anymore??

Lucia was led by Zhou Anqi to play claw machines, while Monkey and Peach went to play racing cars next to them.

Xia Li wasn’t interested in these things, so he found a row of chairs outside and sat down. From here, he could just see Lucia seriously learning how to play claw machines.

“Boss…”

Fu Yuan wasn’t interested in the arcade either, so he came over and sat with Xia Li.

“How are things between you and Anqi?” Xia Li asked with concern.

“We haven’t told our parents yet…” Fu Yuan sighed. “Anqi only told her family that she’s on holiday break, she hasn’t told them about quitting research yet.”

“When are you planning to tell them?”

“The day after tomorrow. I’ll visit Uncle Zhou’s house on New Year’s Day.”

“You…” Xia Li paused.

This guy was really giving them a new year, new surprise.

Wasn’t he afraid that Zhou Anqi’s mom would sweep him out with a broom?

Not only did her daughter quit research on New Year’s Day, but she even brought her boyfriend home.

The Zhou family certainly didn’t expect that after guarding against everyone for their daughter, they didn’t guard against the guy next door.

“Forget it…” Xia Li shook his head. “It’s good that you’re being brave. What you lack most right now is courage.”

Fu Yuan nodded, understanding the deeper meaning of this sentence.

“Haha… Lu-mei, I didn’t expect you to be a claw machine master!”

Zhou Anqi’s cheerful voice came from not far away.

Xia Li frowned, his eyes fixed on the scene over there.

The arcade was a 360-degree camera zone. What was this dragon doing?

Don’t let her use levitation magic again and grab all the dolls from the boss.

“Boss… teach me some love tips, like how to make a girl happy.”

Fu Yuan was also looking at the claw machine, his eyes softening when they landed on Zhou Anqi.

“I can’t really teach you about that,” Xia Li replied.

“How do you usually coax your wife?” Fu Yuan asked humbly.

“I usually don’t coax her.”

“What if she gets angry?”

“If she gets angry, she’ll be fine after a while,” Xia Li said.

If she wasn’t fine, she might step on him or bite him.

In his memory, Lucia had never thrown a tantrum.

So far, the biggest threat Lucia had posed to Xia Li was the phrase: I’m going to tell your mother!

“What about other things? How do you make her happy?” Fu Yuan asked again.

“…She’s happy just being herself.”

“Huh?”

Xia Li thought for a moment and said, “Especially when she’s eating.”

Fu Yuan: “…”

Fu Yuan was completely dumbfounded.

Forget it, forget it.

Everyone’s way of being in love was different. Zhou Anqi and Lucia had such different personalities that even if he learned it, it wouldn’t apply to him.

But come to think of it…

The boss’s love life was a little too normal to be normal.

Other guys were sweating and their moods were like roller coasters when they were in love. How was he so relaxed?

“Tsk…”

Fu Yuan was pondering with his head down when he heard Xia Li beside him let out a muffled tsk and then stood up, slapping his thigh.

“Lucia!”

Xia Li walked towards the claw machine in the store.

Lucia was fiddling with the joystick, trying to grab a large turtle in the glass cabinet.

◈◈◈

Unsurprisingly, the large turtle was caught by the claw and then dropped into the hole.

“Amazing!”

Zhou Anqi cheered from the side.

This series of operations seemed smooth and flowing, but if you looked closely, you could see that the claw of the claw machine had clearly loosened, but the big turtle on it fell down half a second later.

Zhou Anqi was an ordinary person after all, and her eyesight wasn’t that good, so she couldn’t see anything amiss.

But Xia Li was different.

“Green turtle, hehe.”

Lucia bent down to pick up the plushie from the compartment.

Suddenly she felt a shadow looming behind her. Lucia mechanically turned around and saw that the person behind her was the Brave Hero. The expression on her face became even more guilty.

Xia Li stared at her silently.

That look seemed to say, ‘You’re not allowed to play anymore.’

Lucia blinked her lively eyes. That look was like an apology, or a plea for forgiveness.

“Xia-ge, Lu-mei is a claw machine genius!”

Zhou Anqi excitedly held up a string of dolls in her hand.

“She’s already caught ten… I’ve never seen anyone so lucky in my life. This machine seems to recognize her. As long as she plays, she hits every time!”

Xia Li nodded slightly in response to Zhou Anqi, but his gaze was still fixed on the evil dragon’s guilty little face.

Without Xia Li saying anything, Lucia could tell from Zhou Anqi’s words that she had gone a bit overboard.

If she kept going, she would definitely be suspected…

“I’m going to play the rocking car.”

Lucia wiped the sweat from her hands and went straight to the racing car area.

Peach and Monkey had just finished driving and got off the car. Seeing that the two girls also wanted to play, they sat back in and directly started a four-player PK.

Lucia was a master at claw machines, but when it came to driving, she was definitely a rookie.

The rocking chair she had ridden before only had an idling steering wheel, no accelerator or speed button.

All three competitors had already sped off, but she was still moving slowly, like a little turtle. In the end, Xia Li had to put her foot on the accelerator to get the car going.

Adult rocking chairs were indeed different from children’s rocking chairs. They were much more fun.

Although she got the last place, Lucia was the happiest one among them.

“Xia Li, I can drive… I’ll drive for you next time!” the evil dragon said confidently.

“You’ve barely scratched the surface,”

Xia Li pulled the stinky dragon to his side.

Lucia was holding Zhou Anqi’s hand on one side and Xia Li’s hand on the other.

After hesitating for a while, she decided to stick close to Xia Li.

Zhou Anqi wasn’t disappointed either, and instead grabbed the silly Fu Yuan on the other side.

“Lu-mei, do you want to learn how to drive? Why don’t we sign up for the same driving school when the weather gets warmer?” Zhou Anqi suggested.

Lucia didn’t understand what a driving school was, so she looked up at Xia Li for his opinion.

“She… doesn’t need it for now. Let’s talk about it later,” Xia Li refused for Lucia.

They hadn’t even gotten their marriage certificate yet.

There was no rush for a driver’s license.

◈◈◈

This small gathering ended in the afternoon.

Hou Zijie had to go deal with his blind date and left early. Seeing this, Chen Tao didn’t want to be sandwiched between two couples and also started to back out.

The remaining four looked at each other, and in the end, they chose to go back to their own homes.

After Xia Li got home, he started typing on his keyboard. Today’s task wasn’t finished yet.

Lucia wanted to talk to him in the small dark room several times, but seeing how busy he was, she backed out again.

“What’s wrong?”

Stopping his actions, Xia Li called out to the sneaky dragon.

Lucia walked over and placed the big turtle she had caught in the arcade in Xia Li’s hand.

“What are you doing? I’m not angry,”

Xia Li said with a helpless smile.

Even Lucia wasn’t being petty, what was he, a grown man, being petty about?

He didn’t let Lucia use magic outside because he was afraid that she would be discovered. They were too weak now and couldn’t afford any trouble.

But the claw machine was fine. This little trick couldn’t even be seen by Zhou Anqi, who was closest to Lucia, let alone anyone else.

“Here’s a big turtle for you.”

Lucia still wanted to give the doll to Xia Li.

Xia Li frowned. “Why are you giving me a green turtle? Green is unlucky.”

“I gave the others to Anqi. After all, she was the one who spent money on the game coins…” the evil dragon explained.

Xia Li pouted and reluctantly stuffed the turtle into a drawer, putting it into the cold palace.

“By the way,” Lucia fumbled in her pocket.

She was wearing the brown bear coat she had changed into a few days ago. Winter coats weren’t washed often. If she didn’t get tired of it, it was normal to wash it once every one or two weeks.

After fumbling around in her pocket, Lucia took out two red pieces of paper and handed them to Xia Li.

“There’s two hundred yuan.”

“You want to buy me for a day again?”

“No…”

Lucia shook her head.

Xia Li’s expression became strange.

His Brave Hero sales were so bad that the evil dragon wouldn’t even buy him when she had money?

But think about it carefully.

Where did this dragon get the cash??

“Who gave it to you?”

“It’s wild,” Lucia replied.

“What??”

“I suddenly found it in my pocket this morning, so it’s wild,” Lucia explained.

Xia Li was silent for a moment.

He had seen people lose money from their pockets, but he had never seen money grow in their pockets.

What kind-hearted person would put money in someone else’s pocket? Santa Claus?

Thinking of the word “old,” Xia Li paused.

“Take it,” he said.

“Huh?”

“It could only have been my grandma who gave it to you… She’s not very good at communicating with people, especially with our generation. She’s very restrained. She was probably afraid that you wouldn’t accept it, so she quietly put it in your pocket.”

“But I don’t remember it at all…”

“Didn’t you take off your coat for a while when we were eating? It must have been then.”

Xia Li’s two sentences made Lucia’s face sink.

Thinking back to the old woman standing by the low wall, smiling and waving goodbye to her, Lucia felt uneasy.

She could feel that loneliness.

“Thank you, Grandma…” Lucia said to the air.

“What does Grandma usually do when she’s alone at home?” she asked sincerely.

“Maybe she watches TV… and grows some green onions and coriander, oh right, and houttuynia cordata, that kind of grass with a fishy smell that I gave you before, she loves that stuff,” Xia Li replied.

Lucia thought for a while and then said, “Why doesn’t Grandma live with other relatives, like Aunt and Auntie’s family? That way she wouldn’t be lonely, right?”

“Your question…”

Xia Li was a little surprised that Lucia would think about this.

She could actually think about the problem from a human perspective, and she thought very thoughtfully.

“My mom and aunt have both tried that. But the elderly like to live in the place they’re used to. My mom brought her to the city, but she felt uncomfortable all over. She said the city is big, but to her it’s like a cage. It makes her feel more cramped than the bungalow in the countryside.

Every person’s lifestyle and pace of life are different. It’s not something that can be changed overnight to make my grandma change her lifestyle. She’s old and doesn’t want to be bothered, so my mom just lets her be.”

Lucia rarely cared so much about a human, so Xia Li patiently explained a lot.

After a few seconds, Lucia looked up again and asked.

“Then will she be lonely?”

“Maybe,” Xia Li said with a wry smile. “My grandpa passed away early, and she’s used to this loneliness.”

“Used to…”

Lucia fell into deep thought, muttering to herself.

Xia Li had told her before that habit was a scary thing.

She hadn’t taken it seriously at the time.

But now, she understood.