novelraw Chapter 189
Chapter 189
Chapter 189: Wow~~
In the evening, the setting sun burned out on the horizon, and lights were lit up in every household.
Fang Xia served the last dish, and a table full of rich home-cooked dishes was ready.
For families living apart, the New Year is a long-awaited reunion, the most anticipated day of the year.
But for Xia Li’s family, who live only a hundred kilometers apart and can meet whenever they want, the New Year is just a grand family dinner.
Lucia started to eat heartily with her bowl in hand. Fang Xia kept picking up food for her. Seeing her eating so deliciously, Fang Xia’s face was filled with satisfaction.
Old Xia ate his food with his head down, not saying a word.
He secretly observed Lucia’s frugal attitude, treating every grain of rice as a treasure, and couldn’t help but sigh at how rough this child’s fate had been.
“Dad, have some alcohol.”
Xia Li opened the baijiu he had prepared at home and poured a cup for himself and Old Xia. The older generation doesn’t like to drink beer. They say beer is a foreign thing, and only baijiu is brewed from grain, so it’s more reliable.
Every time Xia Li drinks with people his age, he drinks beer, but when he’s with elders, he drinks baijiu, switching seamlessly.
Although he doesn’t like either of them very much.
Xia Yuanjun was eating, glanced at the small wine glass beside him, and then looked at Fang Xia.
Fang Xia didn’t give any indication, as if she hadn’t noticed. Seeing this, Xia Yuanjun, with his expressionless face, secretly rejoiced and picked up the bottle of wine Xia Li had placed on the table.
“Luzhou Laojiao, produced in our own province,” Xia Li said in a low voice.
Old Xia nodded, approving of his son’s taste.
◈◈◈
The New Year’s Eve dinner was coming to an end.
Fang Xia had originally planned to have Xia Li eat enough for three days, but she estimated that Lucia would finish it all in two more meals.
Lucia wasn’t picky about food. Except for fishwort, which she absolutely refused to touch, she ate whatever Fang Xia gave her. After finishing, she would say ‘Thank you, Aunt’ in a soft and sweet voice, which melted Fang Xia’s heart.
“This soup can be used to cook noodles tomorrow.”
While clearing the dishes from the table, Lucia held a plate of finished braised pork ribs, reluctant to pour out the soup at the bottom.
The highest praise a Sichuanese person can give to a dish is: “Don’t pour out the soup, keep it to cook noodles.”
This dragon had already learned the essence of Sichuan cuisine.
“There’s still chicken soup and sour duck soup. The braised pork rib soup is too thick…”
“They can all be used to cook noodles, with different flavors!”
Fang Xia wanted to say something, but the little girl’s honest and cute way of speaking made her smile.
“Mom, Xiao Lu is praising your cooking,” Xia Li said from the other side.
Fang Xia blushed: “Oh, I know, haha…”
“Stop cleaning up, the Spring Festival Gala is about to start,” Xia Yuanjun urged, holding the remote control.
Fang Xia looked at the time, it was almost eight o’clock. She quickly wiped her hands, took off her apron, and led Lucia to the TV.
Lucia was still wearing a pink polka-dot apron and holding a soup ladle in her hand. She came to Xia Li’s side, looking a little confused.
Xia Li couldn’t help but smile when he saw her confused look.
“Come here, sit with me.”
The sofa at home wasn’t big enough. It was already at its limit with three people sitting on it. Xia Li patted his leg, motioning for Lucia to sit over.
Lucia was a little shy.
After all, riding the Brave Hero in front of his parents… wasn’t very appropriate.
She turned and sat on the small stool that Xia Li had bought for her when she was learning Chinese characters.
This height was just right for her short legs.
“Why are you holding the ladle? Put it down, and take off the apron.”
“Oh, oh.”
Lucia obediently put the things down.
On the TV screen, there were no people, only a clock rotating. As the hands reached the end, a bell rang.
Then, festive scenes gushed out like an opened can of cola.
Lucia stared blankly, the red light from the screen shining on her face.
“The countdown at midnight is the main event… but we won’t be able to watch it.”
Xia Li squatted down beside Lucia without her noticing, startling her.
“We can’t watch it?”
“Yeah, people in the south rarely watch the Spring Festival Gala… especially the full version,” Xia Li chuckled.
Lucia didn’t understand this sentence at first, but she soon would.
“Hello? Xiao Qin, I’m at home… Three missing one? Okay, haha, I’ll be right there.”
Before the host of the Spring Festival Gala could even finish their opening remarks, Fang Xia’s phone rang.
The biggest entertainment event during the New Year… playing mahjong.
For middle-aged women like Fang Xia, things like the Spring Festival Gala and New Year’s Eve dinner were just formalities, a gesture of goodwill.
“Son, your Aunt Zhao…”
“Go, go quickly.”
As Xia Li waved his hand, Fang Xia was already at the entrance, changing her shoes.
Before leaving, Fang Xia called Old Xia to come along.
Old Xia wasn’t interested in playing mahjong, but then he thought, it wasn’t right for him to stay at home alone, so the couple left together.
The house instantly became quiet, with only the images on the TV screen flickering.
“How do you feel?”
Xia Li turned down the TV volume and turned off two lights in the house.
Hearing the ‘click’ of the lights being switched off, Lucia shrank her shoulders. The young girl’s face showed a mixture of confusion and ignorance, and more importantly, the dimmed lights and the suddenly ambiguous atmosphere made her feel nervous.
“Huh?”
“About the New Year, the human New Year, how do you feel?”
“It’s alright… not as grand as I imagined?”
Lucia organized her thoughts.
In her memory, she had seen the grandest human ceremonies, with pure gold carriages, knights holding mithril swords, flower petals flying all over the sky, and dazzling magic… It was a feast for both the eyes and the ears.
In comparison, sitting on a small stool and watching people jumping around on the TV screen seemed too ordinary.
Ordinary, but this feeling was warm, making the dragon feel comfortable.
There were no archers watching her from afar, and no sword-wielding knights eyeing her with hostility. Here, she felt safe enough to fall asleep at any time.
“Are you sleepy?”
“Mmm…”
“Go to sleep, you’re a dragon, you don’t need to stay up.”
Seeing Lucia’s head nodding like a pecking chicken, Xia Li picked her up.
The girl in his arms felt warm and soft, her cheek buried in his neck like a cuddly kitten.
Lucia had eaten too much today, and digesting food required a lot of energy. Her instinct to sleep after eating made her drowsy.
Squinting her eyes, Lucia caught a glimpse of the flashing, brilliant colors outside the window.
Magic…
No.
There was no magic in this world, the flashing lights outside were something else.
“Flowers…”
“What?” Xia Li paused.
Lucia’s drowsiness was gradually replaced by a certain interest, her eyes clear and bright under the dim light.
“Fireworks…” she murmured.
Xia Li: “…”
She was so sleepy that she looked like a dragon, and she was still thinking about this?
But there was nothing he could do, after all, he had promised her in advance.
“It’s dark now, and it’s cold outside. Are you sure you want to go?”
“Absolutely!” Lucia became completely excited.
Xia Li had no choice but to go to the balcony, take the bag of fireworks he had bought, wrap Lucia in a thick red scarf, and put a brown beret with bear ears on her head. Only then did he take her out.
Lucia tugged at the bear ears on her head and scratched her collar.
Xia Li had wrapped her up too tightly, greatly limiting her range of motion, she couldn’t even run.
“I don’t want to wear…”
Lucia trudged behind Xia Li.
“This is a ‘Dragon Limiter.’ If you don’t wear it, you’ll be recognized by humans,” Xia Li said, turning back.
Lucia: “…”
◈◈◈
Pouting her lips, Lucia knew Xia Li was lying to her.
What ‘Dragon Limiter’? It was clearly because he was afraid she would run off, so he deliberately wrapped her up like a candied hawthorn, so she wouldn’t go far.
The two of them came to the lakeside with a bag of fireworks.
There were many young people setting off firecrackers here, mostly in groups of three or five friends. There were very few sneaky couples.
The first morning Lucia came to Earth was at this lakeside.
She remembered it clearly. The weather was good that day, and it wasn’t so cold yet. Xia Li wore thin clothes and took her to see their reflections in the water.
The morning sun that day shone on the water’s surface, broken into pieces by the wind. Looking at her human form in the water, Lucia couldn’t help but wonder again and again if she would live like this forever.
Tiptoeing, Lucia walked to the lakeside.
The height of the railing was just right, reaching her chest. She leaned on the railing. There was no sun now, and her reflection in the water would change colors with the explosion of the surrounding fireworks.
Now, if she were to ask herself again if she would live like this forever… her answer would be ‘yes.’
“Crap, I don’t have a lighter.”
Xia Li patted his pockets, he didn’t smoke and basically never carried such things with him.
The only lighter at home was used to light candles during power outages.
Standing up with a firework tube in his hand, Xia Li suddenly thought of something and grabbed Lucia’s dragon claw.
“Fire,” Xia Li said.
The Evil Dragon’s expression froze, as if she was about to do something sneaky. She looked around at the humans, then shrank her neck into her scarf.
“But, there are people everywhere…”
If they were seen, she would be taken away to be dissected!
What Xia Li didn’t tell her was that being seen using magic wasn’t as simple as being dissected.
She might be sliced up for research.
“It’s so dark at night, no one will see.”
To Lucia’s surprise, Xia Li, who had always forbidden her from using magic, actually said such a thing.
Xia Li must have been confident, and he probably agreed to let her use magic because he knew she was looking forward to setting off fireworks…
Pursing her lips, her golden-brown eyes lit up in the darkness, staring intently at the firework’s fuse.
Lucia quickly glanced around and stealthily raised her middle finger…
“Use your index finger to light it!”
“Oh…”
Xia Li raised his hand and cupped Lucia’s right hand, leaving a space in the middle, as if he was shielding the lighter from the wind.
With a ‘whoosh,’ the flame ignited, the fire dancing at Lucia’s fingertips.
This flame burned with Lucia’s magic as its fuel. Its color was deeper than ordinary flames, closer to red.
Using dragon flame to light fireworks… how extravagant.
But, Xia Li even ate dragon saliva mixed with rice at home, so the appearance of dragon flame wasn’t surprising.
Thinking of this, Xia Li smacked his lips, reminiscing about something.
“It won’t explode, right…”
This was the first time Lucia was setting off fireworks. She had heard the banging sounds for several days and seen human cubs playing with them tirelessly. She wanted to play too, she had been itching to try it for a long time.
But now that she had one in her hand, she felt a little uneasy.
For her, fireworks were undoubtedly Earth’s magic. She had heard that these things were related to war.
“If it explodes, I’ll cover my arm with dragon scales… and then transform into a dragon head and carry you away.”
“You…” Xia Li was choked by Lucia’s serious words, “That’s a very dangerous thought.”
Then he smiled and gave Lucia a gentle look.
The Evil Dragon had such thoughts, he appreciated it.
But being carried away in a dragon’s mouth… forget it… that was a surefire way to get dissected.
“Don’t worry, this is a dud, it won’t explode.”
“Oh…”
As her fingertip moved, the fuse ignited smoothly, and the faint hissing sound in her ears was like a new countdown.
“Whoosh—Bang!”
The firework still exploded, but the explosion radius was very far.
A perfect arc crossed the sky and the lake at the same time, and the ‘cannonball’ in Lucia’s hand flew to the opposite side of the lake.
Seeing this, Xia Li helped her adjust the angle of the firework tube.
“Whoosh—”
A clear and long whistle pierced the sky, and brilliant fireworks bloomed in the air, along with the smile on Lucia’s face.
Although she had seen such sky-high fireworks several times recently, setting them off herself was a different matter.
“‘Gunpowder,’ this thing, was originally used for setting off fireworks… Later, it was used by bad people for military purposes. It changed from romance to fear. In distant lands that we can’t see, it has displaced countless people.”
Xia Li paused and continued.
“This feeling is a bit like magic in Azure Continent. The earliest magic was used to improve life, but later, it was used by humans for slaughter.”
He said so much because he wanted to take this opportunity to tell Lucia that the same ability used in different places could have two different outcomes. This concept was precisely what dragonkind, who were not good at controlling their own power, needed to learn.
But whether this dragon listened to it or not, he didn’t know.
“Whoosh—”
As the last firework exploded, the tube in Lucia’s hand felt hot. She shook her hand and found that it had gone out.
Only ten shots, and it’s already done!
Leaning sideways, she lit another one. Lucia set off fireworks by the lake, Xia Li stood behind her, chanting and supporting her.
Smelling the faint scent of baijiu from the Brave Hero behind her as he spoke, and the noisy sound of firecrackers in her ears, Lucia felt a stirring in her calm heart.
“Whoosh—”
“Wow~~~~~”
This time the firework had no color, it was pure white.
Lucia looked up. She liked this color, it reminded her of the color of her dragon scales.
Xia Li was chanting, then stopped talking.
The dragon couldn’t listen in now.
Changing her mindset was definitely not something that could be done by saying a few words. Besides, Lucia had come to Earth for less than three months and had already changed a lot.
“Wow~~”
The back of the Evil Dragon’s head was pressed against Xia Li’s chest, her bright eyes gazing at the fireworks, filled with longing.
“Wow, Xia Li, I want to eat it.”
“Don’t try to eat everything…”
You can’t eat gunpowder, why don’t you eat me instead.
Xia Li looked down with a faint gaze, and the Evil Dragon’s eyes had somehow fallen on him.
“Smoky nose,” Lucia wrinkled her nose, smelling Xia Li’s scent.
“This is called the aroma of alcohol. Baijiu is much more fragrant than beer.”
Xia Li pulled his collar and sniffed it. It wasn’t smoky at all, he only drank two liang.
“What…”
Looking down, he saw Lucia staring at him intently. The white fireworks had all gone out, but she didn’t even glance at them.
“Do you want to kiss me?”
Staring into those bright eyes, Xia Li also felt an inexplicable stirring.
“Want to bite you.”
“The way humans express affection is by touching lips. You’re human now… If you want to kiss, just kiss, don’t be shy.”
Xia Li simply closed his eyes, as if saying, “Come on, I’m ready.”
After waiting for a while, Lucia didn’t react. Xia Li opened his eyes a crack and saw the dragon squatting on the ground, acting suspiciously.
“I’m done kissing,” she said, blushing.
“? Where did you kiss??”
“The shadow.”
“You…”
Xia Li was exasperated and grabbed the stinky dragon, rubbing her all over.
“Fine, fine, if you don’t kiss, I will!”