Chapter 45: Circle it
At this point, it was winter in Lincheng, and the cold wind rustled at night. The little Phoenix lay on Long Ling’s head for a while, and suddenly felt a little cold.
It looked down at Long Ling, jumped on his shoulder slowly, and fluttered its wings, snuggling into his coat pocket.
Long Ling watched as the fluffy lump poked out of his pocket.
Little Pheonix: “Chirp!”
It pecked fiercely at Long Ling.
Long Ling hesitated for a moment, then swiftly inserted his hand before the phoenix could peck him again, gathering the fluffy creature into his palm.
Little Pheonix: “???”
It felt that Long was taking advantage of it again, so it angrily chirped and twisted its little head, looking for a spot to peck the dragon again… But after a while, it found Long Ling’s palm warm and comforting, sheltering it from the cold wind outside, which felt very cozy.
So it stopped chirping and silently nestled in Long Ling’s palm, not moving.
It looked very obedient.
Long Ling’s lips curled slightly. When his phoenix pecked him, it looked fierce, but it didn’t actually hurt. Now it was peacefully curled up in his hand, pretending to be good and adorable — it made him want to hold it in his palm, cuddling it affectionately.
After a while, he took his phoenix back to the rental house and asked, “Is Phoenix cooking today?”
Little Pheonix flew onto the sofa, looking like it didn’t want to cook or turn back into a human, hopping around on the sofa.
It didn’t want to turn back.
In case it turned back and the dragon took advantage of it again, and kissed it… After the kiss just now, if Qiansui found out within twenty-four hours, the phoenix would have a psychological shadow about kissing.
Besides, it was originally a phoenix, and it wouldn’t matter if it didn’t eat. Sometimes it was too lazy to cook, and it and its dragon wouldn’t eat anything.
Long Ling looked at the bouncing little phoenix and smiled, “Does Phoenix want some soup? I can make soup for you.”
Although it was always the phoenix who cooked, he had learned a thing or two from watching. They had bought some beef this morning, which was still in the fridge untouched.
When Little Pheonix heard there was soup, it tilted its head and thought for a moment, then chirped.
It wanted some.
Long Ling extended his hand to it.
Little Pheonix flapped its wings and flew into his hand, being carried into the kitchen by him.
A few minutes later, a pot of beef soup was ready, clear and fragrant with a sprinkling of green onions on top.
Confidently, Long Ling scooped a bowl and presented it to his phoenix, saying, “Phoenix, try it!”
Little Pheonix was obviously excited. After all, the beef soup smelled delicious. But now it seemed not quite appropriate to drink soup in this form, so it thought for a moment and turned back into human form.
Then it cautiously kept some distance from its dragon.
Long Ling: Tsk.
He should have just gotten rid of that cat earlier.
Su Muluo took a sip of the soup with a brightened eye.
Indeed, it was delicious!
Even better than what he made!
So he said to Long Ling, “Next time, you cook.”
Long Ling’s lips curved up. “Okay.”
Su Muluo happily finished a pot of beef soup with his dragon, then returned to his original form and jumped onto Long Ling’s hand.
Long Ling looked at the small phoenix in his palm and felt that he might not take advantage of the phoenix in human form tonight… Sure enough, next time he kissed his phoenix outside, he should use some diversionary tactics first to be safe.
But if the phoenix didn’t want to turn into a human form, besides preventing him from taking advantage, there was another problem — how would it bathe?
Long Ling asked, “Does Phoenix want me to help you bathe?”
Little Pheonix thought for a moment, spread its wings at him, and chirped.
It wanted to bathe.
Long Ling happily carried the small phoenix to the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Long Ling first filled the bathtub with shallow warm water, tested the temperature, and when he found it suitable, he put the phoenix in.
The phoenix’s feathers didn’t get wet or dirty. After Little Pheonix entered the water, it floated in the bathtub.
Like a fluffy little ball of fur.
Long Ling: “… Haha.”
This appearance was quite cute, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
But Little Pheonix thought he was mocking it again and immediately raised its head, angrily chirping at him.
What’s wrong with floating!
It’s not because it’s fat!
“I’m not laughing at you, Phoenix,” Long Ling said seriously, “I think you’re cute and beautiful.”
He even touched Little Pheonix’s head.
Little Pheonix somewhat proudly rubbed against his fingers, knowing it wouldn’t sink, and started swimming in the water.
Long Ling was silent for a moment, thinking, like a little duckling.
Of course, he had never feared death, so he directly voiced his thoughts: “Phoenix in this posture looks like a duckling.”
Little Pheonix: “…”
Long Ling: “But cuter than a duckling.”
Little Pheonix: “…”
This conversation was almost like yesterday’s replay. Little Pheonix remembered how it had pointed at the dragon egg and called it a duck egg, feeling a little guilty for a moment, so it didn’t say anything.
Forget it, it endured for the sake of the beef soup.
After bathing, Long Ling lifted Little Pheonix out of the water, wrapped it in a soft towel, and gently dried the water droplets from its feathers.
Little Pheonix: “Chirp chirp chirp.”
Don’t take advantage of the opportunity to touch its feathers.
“I’m not touching your feathers,” Long Ling said, “and I could have touched them soon.”
Little Pheonix was silent for a moment. “Chirp.”
Not letting you touch.
“Really not letting me touch?” Long Ling raised an eyebrow, smiling, “Then when Phoenix is in heat again, I can only watch from the side.”
Little Pheonix: “…”
This person is so bad!
It immediately turned its little head away, ignoring him.
Long Ling laughed and wrapped his phoenix in the towel, placing it on the big bed, saying, “I’m going to take a bath too, Phoenix, wait for me.”
Little Pheonix sluggishly buried itself in the soft blanket, calling out to indicate it understood.
A moment later, the sound of splashing water came from the bathroom. Little Pheonix boredly jumped around on the bed, suddenly noticing the ancient jade pendant left at the bedside was glowing faintly.
It returned to its original form, picked up the ancient jade pendant from a thousand years ago, and saw the light converging into a constantly jumping spiritual body.
“Phoenix Lord!” The spirit of the jade pendant was very happy. “I’m awake! Look, I’ve accumulated a little more power! I can transform without entering a dream!”
Su Muluo was about to say something when he heard Long Ling in the bathroom shout, “Who is Phoenix talking to?”
The spirit of the jade pendant was startled and said, “Is that Lord Long Ling?”
Su Muluo said, “Yes.” Then he turned his head and shouted back towards the bathroom, “I’m not telling you!”
Long Ling: “…”
The bathroom fell silent.
Su Muluo turned again, addressing the spirit within the jade pendant, “By the way, I have a question—do you know about Suyuan?”
Initially just asking casually, Su Muluo didn’t expect the spirit to actually respond. Yet, upon hearing the question, the spirit within the jade pendant became excited, saying, “Of course I do! Suyuan was where you lived thousands of years ago! Lord Long Ling was there with you at that time!”
Su Muluo was mildly surprised. “Was it a settlement of the Phoenix clan?”
The spirit in the jade pendant shook faintly, “I’m not sure about that. After all, back then, it was just you and Lord Long Ling living there.”
This revelation surprised Su Muluo. He had thought he would be with his clan at that time… But suddenly, he recalled something the spirit had mentioned before and a new thought crossed his mind.
“Wait, during that time, did you see any other Phoenixes?” Su Muluo asked. “Or was it just me and Long Ling the whole time? Did I never mention my clan?”
The spirit in the jade pendant tried hard to remember, “No, I never saw a second Phoenix, nor did you ever mention… I thought you didn’t like your clan at that time.”
Su Muluo fell silent. He had always believed that he had turned into an egg with the demise of the Phoenix clan. However, these words from the spirit gave him a new perspective.
Upon hearing the words “Suyuan,” he had a faint feeling that it was his homeland. If his intuition was correct, then Suyuan was undoubtedly the former settlement of the Phoenix clan.
But when the spirit was born, only he and Long Ling lived in Suyuan, and he had never mentioned his own clan to the spirit… Could it be that by then, his clan was no longer there?
If that were the case, he hadn’t left with his clan; instead, he had watched them die one by one before him…
Su Muluo’s eyes dimmed. But then, he reconsidered because he distinctly remembered Feng Xuan mentioning that shortly after the Phoenix clan’s chief gave the jade pendant to the avian tribe, the Phoenix clan perished.
He shared this doubt with the spirit in the jade pendant. After listening, the spirit said, “I don’t know about that either, but I remember when you handed me over to the avian tribe, you were already prepared to sleep, which means many things might have happened before that.”
Su Muluo frowned. If indeed he had handed the jade pendant to the avian tribe, then thousands of years ago, he was the chief of the Phoenix clan. How could he not have lived with his own clan members?
Moreover, if his clan was still around, he wouldn’t have been so quick to enter slumber. When he had made all preparations and truly decided to enter deep sleep… Perhaps his clan no longer needed his protection, or maybe they were no longer there at all.
Could it be that the demise of the Phoenix clan thousands of years ago wasn’t immediately known to the outside world? Perhaps it was only after he, the last Phoenix, chose to sleep that others discovered there were no more Phoenixes left in the world?
But why would the Phoenix clan be reduced to just him?
And his dragon companion—why were they the only two left in the end?
Su Muluo pondered silently. He had thought about these questions before, and now, this doubt grew stronger in his mind.
Another thing that puzzled him was why he didn’t directly tell the spirit in the jade pendant about everything that had happened thousands of years ago and let it pass on to his future self?
Or was it that back then, he was afraid that he couldn’t bear the truth, thinking that if his future self didn’t coincidentally encounter this jade pendant, he might as well never remember it again?
As countless thoughts crossed Su Muluo’s mind, the bathroom door opened, and Long Ling stormed out.
He approached the bed with a fierce aura, finding his Phoenix not speaking with any other woman but instead facing a floating spiritual entity in front of him. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Phoenix, what is this?”
Su Muluo said, “It’s the spirit in the jade pendant that I told you about.”
Long Ling responded with a casual “Oh,” then stared at the spirit for a few seconds before remarking, “Quite ugly.”
The spirit replied hesitantly, “…”
Su Muluo lightly slapped Long Ling and said, “Don’t say that about them. Apologize.”
Long Ling obediently took the slap and muttered, “Sorry,” then sat down beside his Phoenix.
Su Muluo pulled over a bit of blanket for him and asked the spirit in the jade pendant, “Since you know where Suyuan is, can you take us there?”
“No problem!” exclaimed the spirit, jumping up. “Even though the world has changed a lot over these thousands of years, I can still find that place because you specifically left a mark there!”
Su Muluo thought to himself that over these thousands of years, he must have wanted his current self to slowly uncover the truth, perhaps wanting him to know yet also not to know everything, which is why he hadn’t told the spirit everything.
Was that past truly so unacceptable to him?
Su Muluo sighed silently and said, “Alright then, after everything is prepared tomorrow, we’ll set off.”
The spirit replied, “Okay, I’ll go rest now and save up my energy for tomorrow!” With that, it retreated back into the jade pendant.
Su Muluo intended to place the pendant back on the bedside table, but Long Ling took it and tossed it into the living room outside.
Su Muluo asked, puzzled, “What are you doing?”
“If it has its own consciousness, we can’t let it stay in the room,” Long Ling explained. “What if it hears things when we’re… doing this and that?”
Su Muluo’s expression was deadpan. “I’m not doing this and that with you.”
Then he pulled the blanket and thought it wouldn’t be fair to let the dragon take advantage, so he transformed back into his original form.
Long Ling watched the little Phoenix trying to burrow into the blanket on the bed, finding it very cute as it fidgeted around. Unable to resist, he poked it.
The little Phoenix chirped and its feathers were ruffled!
Long Ling chuckled softly, transformed back into his dragon form, and rested his head next to his Phoenix.
The little Phoenix glanced at the dragon, flapped its wings, and flew up to settle on him.
For the little Phoenix, its dragon was clearly more comfortable than the bed. It quickly found a comfortable spot and contentedly nestled down on the dark dragon.
The dark dragon wrapped it in circles in its arms, its dark golden eyes watching its Phoenix quietly and attentively.
The little Phoenix met the dragon’s gaze, chirped softly after a few seconds, and pecked it gently.
“…,” the dragon said.
A smile flickered across the dragon’s eyes. It nuzzled the little Phoenix gently, as if guarding its most beloved treasure, and watched over its Phoenix until it fell asleep.
T/N: Hello hello! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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Also, check out the other series we have on HoH!
If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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