novelraw Chapter 293
Chapter 293
Chapter 293: Wife!!!
In the end, Xia Li decided to put marriage on the agenda.
Although they couldn’t get a marriage certificate yet, they could have the wedding ceremony in advance.
Most of Xia Li’s relatives hadn’t met Lucia yet, and he could use this formal occasion to introduce her to them.
Especially now that the dragon’s belly was growing bigger by the day, it was a matter of time before it couldn’t be hidden.
If he didn’t tell his relatives about Lucia’s existence soon, the baby would be born in half a year, and his relatives would probably be dumbfounded: When did you get married??
After some consideration and discussion with Lucia, Xia Li decided to settle this matter before the pet hospital got busy.
Upon hearing this, Fang Xia said that as long as the young couple was happy, anything would do.
The wedding date was set for the National Day holidays.
Lucia, being socially anxious, didn’t dare to go on stage to interact, nor did she want to go through too many complicated procedures. In the end, after much simplification, they even saved on a wedding planning company. They just found someone to act as the emcee and say a few words on stage, and then Xia Li would say a few words.
Then they would play a slideshow, recounting their thoughts on their journey from meeting in college to entering the marriage hall.
Since the content was entirely fabricated, even Xia Li himself didn’t feel very immersed in it.
After the slideshow ended, they didn’t waste any time and went straight to dinner.
This wedding was more like a gathering of relatives and friends, with the main purpose of introducing Lucia to Xia Li’s family and friends.
Not many people came, only five or six tables in total.
Xia Li specifically told Fang Xia not to send invitations to those who weren’t particularly close, and his parents understood, considering Lucia’s situation.
Among the more than fifty people present, there wasn’t a single family member from the bride’s side.
In the end, Zhou Anqi took the initiative to stand on the bride’s side with a few of Xia Li’s childhood friends, and Yivni also pulled Qin Chuan’s hand and sat over there, barely managing to fill up the bride’s side.
Lucia didn’t really understand these things.
But when she saw her friends cheering for her, she was genuinely happy.
Unknowingly, she had made so many friends.
Lucia had always felt that ‘being alive’ and ‘living with understanding’ were two different things.
When she was a giant dragon, controlling the wind and rain in Azure Continent, following her survival instincts to eat, drink, and eliminate waste, that was called being alive.
But when her heart gradually matured, and she understood who she loved and who loved her, that was called living with understanding.
She was grateful that she could live her life with such clarity.
“This is your aunt, this is your uncle, this is your elder brother…”
Weddings in Sichuan Province are usually held at noon, and the midday meal is the main feast.
At the beginning of the main feast, the newlyweds would change into their toasting attire and greet each other’s relatives from front to back. This not only allowed relatives and friends to deepen their impression of the newlyweds, but also provided an opportunity for them to change their address.
Whatever Xia Li called the other person, Lucia would follow suit. This was tradition.
Lucia, in her toasting dress, was tall and well-proportioned. The slit in the cheongsam extended just to her thigh, elegant yet beautiful.
She wore red platform shoes, her hair was tied up, and she wore gold hairpins and jade ornaments. Her smile was as gentle as jade.
“Aunt, Uncle, Elder Brother…”
Lucia followed Xia Li’s order, greeting the relatives at the round table one by one.
The girl’s innocence melted away at this moment, replaced by a virtuous and intellectual demeanor.
No matter from which angle one looked, it was impossible to tell that she was pregnant. Especially after she secretly ‘cheated’ with magic, her height had increased significantly, making her appear even more graceful, tall, and well-proportioned.
Everyone praised the Xia family for marrying a good daughter-in-law and urged the newlyweds to have children soon.
Although these were all formulaic words, when these familiar formulas finally applied to oneself, it was as if one was infected by the surrounding atmosphere and became a part of it.
Xia Li smiled and accepted the blessings of his relatives and friends, and toasted each of them.
His glass of baijiu was mixed with a lot of Sprite. As for Lucia’s glass, it was simply filled with plain water.
When they reached the last table, Xia Li came to his parents, who were already in tears.
“It’s okay, Mom is happy, happy.”
Fang Xia, dressed in festive Chinese attire, couldn’t hold back her tears any longer as she saw her son walking towards her.
Seeing this, Xia Yuanjun reached out and comforted her.
But Xia Yuanjun himself was also in tears, unable to speak.
Xia Li held his glass and waited quietly for a while.
After a moment, he turned to the bride beside him and said.
“Call her Mom.”
“Mom~”
Lucia smiled brightly and called out without hesitation, following Xia Li.
The word ‘Mom’ was ancient to Lucia.
When she walked out of the cave and spread her wings, she had left her mother.
She had never seen her again.
Lucia didn’t feel much about this; perhaps dragons were naturally indifferent in this regard.
She had guessed where her mother had gone, but after meeting the black dragon, Neer Hulk, and hearing him say that she was the only one with Sivana blood, Lucia knew she already had the answer.
Therefore, the concept of ‘mother’ was distant to Lucia.
But it was also close at hand.
Every time Xia Li’s mother cared for her, looked after her, peeled fruit for her, stuffed red envelopes into her hands, and cooked her favorite dishes…she was interpreting the meaning of the word ‘mother’.
Now, Lucia herself was about to become a mother.
She could feel the bond of kinship.
Subtly touching her belly, Lucia raised her glass and smiled gently.
Repeating the pronunciation from earlier.
“Mom.”
“Ai, ai!”
Fang Xia stood up with tears streaming down her face and hugged Lucia tightly.
Xia Yuanjun also stood up and hugged his son.
“A man makes countless vows in his life, but you cannot betray these vows you made today.”
“Take good care of her,” Xia Yuanjun said seriously.
This was probably the last thing Xia Yuanjun, as a man and a father, could teach Xia Li.
Xia Li nodded vigorously, promising him.
“I will.”
◈◈◈
The toasting ceremony ended.
Xia Li returned to the table with his friends.
And then he was completely drunk by his buddies.
These guys never usually pressured him to drink, but today was a special occasion, and there was no way Xia Li could refuse his friends’ blessings.
Even though the baijiu was diluted with water, he still drank his fill. When he returned home in the afternoon, he had to be carried back.
Fortunately, there was no custom of teasing the newlyweds in Sichuan Province. Seeing that Xia Li was truly drunk, everyone stopped trying to make things difficult for him. They pushed him back into his room and left in a flurry.
The surrounding noise came to an abrupt end.
Xia Li looked at the familiar ceiling of his home, lost in thought.
He just…got married?
Although he hadn’t yet obtained a socially recognized marriage, in the eyes of his relatives and friends, they were already considered husband and wife.
Even the ceremony just now, he was wearing a tailored suit, trying his best to straighten his back, dressing himself up as a mature and reliable adult, carefully lifting the bride’s white veil.
Then he made vows in front of everyone, and in front of a god that Xia Li wasn’t even sure of.
A year ago, Xia Li was still worried about taking Lucia in.
Whether it was for the gold coins in Lucia’s pocket, or the fear that Lucia would be caught by the police and implicate him.
Xia Li admitted that at first, he had kept Lucia by his side for a purpose.
Later, this purpose was muddled by the dragon’s sincerity and straightforwardness, and Xia Li decided to be friends with her.
And then he just gave himself away, fresh and pure.
It turned out that there was no pure friendship in this world.
At least not between Xia Li and Lucia.
◈◈◈
“What are you doing…”
Hearing Lucia’s footsteps coming and going beside him, Xia Li tried to sit up to see what was going on.
“Don’t move.”
Lucia pressed him back down.
Xia Li squinted his slightly drunken eyes and saw Lucia bringing a basin of hot water, soaking a towel in it, and then lifting Xia Li’s shirt.
‘Slap!’
Xia Li gasped.
The hot towel scalded him so much that his mind cleared up a bit.
Seeing Lucia scrubbing his stomach with the towel like a fishmonger, Xia Li was puzzled.
“You should replace the towel with a steel wool scrubber,” Xia Li said.
Lucia paused and explained, “Aunt Fang…Mom said this method can help you sober up quickly. You still have to be present for the dinner tonight…”
“You should get used to it early,” Xia Li lay back down, muttering.
“Huh?”
“Change your address. Didn’t we just have the tea ceremony? From now on, my mom is your mom, and my dad is your dad.”
“Mm-hmm…” Lucia nodded, indicating that she understood.
She even received a big red envelope from Mom today, which was called the ‘address-changing fee’.
Not only the address-changing fee, but also gold jewelry and a betrothal gift of 99,900 yuan.
Mom said that even though Lucia didn’t have a family, she should still receive these things. They wouldn’t mistreat Lucia.
Lucia thought to herself, humans in this world had so many rules…
And why was it that marriage, which was clearly a matter between two people, was paid for by the man in all these so-called ‘traditional’ rituals?
Lucia had nothing to offer in return. She could only place her hand on her belly and say something that even Fang Xia found profound.
Lucia said, ‘I’ll work hard’.
Fang Xia and Xia Yuanjun didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence, only Xia Li knew what the ‘work hard’ in her mouth meant.
“What about me?”
Lucia wiped Xia Li’s limbs and then continued to wipe his flushed neck with the hot towel.
Xia Li cooperated with her movements, tilting his head up.
“What…”
Lucia hooked her index finger and poked his Adam’s apple.
Xia Li’s throat tickled at the touch, and he couldn’t help but swallow. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down like a bouncy ball.
The second most prominent male characteristic, fun.
“You changed your address to call my mom ‘Mom’, what about me?” Xia Li looked at Lucia and said.
Lucia pretended not to understand and shook her head, trying to get away with it.
“You can call her Mom too. I didn’t steal your mom away.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“What do you want me to call you?”
“Hmm…” Lucia hesitated for a moment and said shyly.
“Dad?”
Her tone was overly cautious, making Xia Li’s body temperature, which had just cooled down, heat up again.
“No…”
Xia Li was a little speechless.
“We’re talking about serious matters, why are you calling me Dad!”
“…Don’t you like me calling you that?”
“I’m the baby’s dad now. If you call me Dad too, it’ll be confusing, which is not good,” Xia Li said seriously.
Lucia nodded, her cheeks already flushed.
She got up to change the water, and Xia Li’s gaze followed her all the way.
That graceful waist was tightly wrapped in the exquisite cheongsam. After taking off the cloud collar, she was even more alluringly sexy. Just a glance was enough to draw one in.
Xia Li sighed deeply.
From now on, pregnant dragon girls are not allowed to go out in their older sister form!
Otherwise, his body really wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Xia Li lay on the bed like a cripple, his eyes following his bride as she returned.
Lucia was wearing a magnificent pure gold phoenix crown. The gold pieces adorning the crown swayed from side to side as she wrung out the towel.
This phoenix crown was the one she had first taken a fancy to at the gold shop. At that time, Xia Li had laughed at her, saying, ‘You really know how to choose, you picked the most expensive one right off the bat’. Back then, Xia Li wasn’t familiar with Lucia, and he was certain that no one would buy such an expensive thing for this dragon.
Later, he was slapped in the face.
Now, let alone a gold phoenix crown, even the big bag of gold coins under their bed could be melted down to make a gold bed, guaranteeing to satisfy this dragon’s gold-collecting desires.
“I want…”
“What do you want?”
Lucia held the wrung-out towel in her hand. Unlike the mature and gentle demeanor she had forced herself to maintain on the stage in the morning, the girl’s flushed cheeks were as shy as ever.
“Husband…to wipe your forehead.”
“Huh?”
Hearing this, Xia Li was stunned.
He felt like he must have misheard.
“What did you call me?”
“Husband…”
“And?”
“And…hubby?”
“!!”
Lucia held the towel, standing shyly by the bed, her eyes no longer daring to look at Xia Li.
Xia Li sat up on the bed as if he had come back to life.
One second he thought he was drunk and about to pass out, the next he was fully revived.
Seeing his strong reaction, Lucia quickly took half a step back.
Because the dragon’s face was too thin, she was so embarrassed that she simply put the hot towel over her face, using the ostrich’s head-hiding method to avoid Xia Li’s gaze.
“Wife!!!”
Xia Li, full of energy, grabbed Lucia’s slender wrist and made her sit down.
“Come sit! Sit on the edge of the bed!!”
“I haven’t finished wiping yet…I need to wipe your back too. After wiping, you should rest and sleep. Otherwise, you’ll have to continue drinking with relatives tonight, and you won’t have any energy.”
“Sit over here first!”
“Alright…”
Lucia had no choice but to slowly sit down beside Xia Li.
Xia Li was very excited now, like he had been injected with chicken blood. His usually deep and unfathomable black eyes were now like those of a child who had received the ultimate reward, enthusiastic and satisfied.
“Wife, let’s discuss something!”
“What is it…”
“That is! Let the baby sleep inside today, leave some space for Daddy…”
“Pfft!”
Xia Li felt his shoulder being punched by his wife.
Lucia squeezed her wrist and said coquettishly:
“Say, saying such nonsense…Go to sleep!”