Chapter 27: Did You Kill Feng Xuan?

 

Under Long Ling’s melancholic and resentful gaze, Su Muluo comfortingly patted his head.

 

Long Ling, looking very unhappy, grabbed Su Muluo’s hand, leaned in, and hugged his phoenix’s waist.

 

Su Muluo pushed him away: “Go away, I’m not letting you hug me.”

 

Long Ling wouldn’t let go.

 

Su Muluo: “I’m going to take a bath!”

 

Long Ling pretended not to hear.

 

Su Muluo: “If you don’t let go, I’ll hit you!”

 

Long Ling buried his face in Su Muluo’s shoulder, snuggling and rubbing against him.

 

Su Muluo: “……”

 

Su Muluo quickly tugged at the feather bracelet on Long Ling’s wrist.

 

Long Ling: “!”

 

He immediately let go, protecting his bracelet.

 

“This is something the phoenix said was for me!”

 

“Then what about what I just said?” Su Muluo said expressionlessly, “Still taking advantage of me.”

 

Long Ling huffed, “It’s because the phoenix doesn’t comfort me.”

 

Su Muluo asked, “Comfort you about what? Comfort you about being poor?”

 

Long Ling was even more displeased, grabbing Su Muluo’s hand again and refusing to let him go. “I don’t care; I want the phoenix to comfort me.”

 

Su Muluo tried to pull his hand free but couldn’t. He looked at Long Ling for a few seconds, then smiled and said, “Alright, alright, I’ll comfort you. It’s okay to be a little poor; as long as you’re good-looking, that’s fine.”

 

Long Ling found this a bit odd and not very comforting. However, he still enjoyed being praised by the phoenix, so he let go of Su Muluo’s hand.

 

He then eagerly asked, “Can I go take a bath with the phoenix?”

 

Su Muluo patted his head, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly. “Dream on.”

 

And then he went to take a bath alone.

 

The sound of water came from the bathroom, and Long Ling, feeling bored, sat on the sofa browsing through Su Muluo’s phone.

 

There was a lot of content on the phone, but he wasn’t interested in any of it; he preferred being with his phoenix.

 

When could he bathe with the phoenix?

 

Black Dragon thought whimsically.

 

Do phoenixes have mating seasons? If they do, could he cuddle with his phoenix then?

 

Also, can phoenixes lay eggs? Would they lay a nest of beautiful baby birds for him?

 

Long Ling recalled the memories left to him by the dragon clan and realized they didn’t mention whether phoenixes could lay eggs for their dragons. He couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful.

 

When Su Muluo came out of the bathroom, he saw Long Ling sitting on the sofa, intensely focused on his phone.

 

What could be so interesting?

 

Curious, Su Muluo walked over and glanced at the screen—right at the top of the search bar was “Bird Reproduction Methods.”

 

Also “Bird Egg Care.”

 

Su Muluo: “……”

 

Su Muluo: “???”

 

At that moment, the phoenix almost had a fit. He immediately snatched the phone back, shocked and incredulous. “What are you looking at??”

 

Checking out other pretty birds while he was in the bath??

 

That’s too much!

 

Thinking this, he angrily gave Long Ling a tap.

 

Long Ling looked innocent and said, “I just wanted to check in advance to see how phoenixes lay eggs and what preparations need to be made.”

 

Su Muluo: “???”

 

Leaving aside whether he could lay eggs, this dragon wanted to prepare in advance?

 

Preparing ten thousand years in advance?

 

So, Su Muluo’s face darkened, and he said coldly, “Then you’ll be disappointed. I can’t lay eggs. If you want eggs, find another bird!”

 

After saying that, he turned to leave, but Long Ling quickly got up and hugged him.

 

“I’m sorry, phoenix, don’t be angry.” Long Ling was very quick to apologize, hugging his phoenix tightly, leaning in to whisper affectionately in his ear, “I want the phoenix, not eggs.”

 

Su Muluo ignored him.

 

Long Ling buried his face in Su Muluo’s hair, rubbing and snuggling, “I was wrong. Don’t be angry, phoenix. I like you the most, you’re the prettiest—”

 

With sticky sweet talk and his breath tickling Su Muluo’s ear, Su Muluo felt itchy, pushed him away, and said, “Let go of me.”

 

“Not letting go,” Long Ling said, “I’ll let go once the phoenix isn’t angry.”

 

And he continued to snuggle.

 

Su Muluo felt that what was clinging to him wasn’t a dragon but a clingy big dog. He wasn’t really angry but finally couldn’t stand being snuggled any longer and laughed, “Alright, alright, I’m not angry anymore. Stop snuggling me!”

 

Long Ling finally relented and happily rested his chin on Su Muluo’s shoulder, no longer snuggling.

 

“The phoenix is the best,” he said with a smile, “Next time I won’t search for those weird things anymore.”

 

Su Muluo replied, “I’m not that great. The birds you were looking at earlier were much prettier than me.”

 

Long Ling saw this as a tricky question and immediately became serious. “No, they’re all bald birds and ugly. They don’t look as good as the phoenix.” He then added, “My phoenix is the prettiest bird. No one can compare.”

 

Su Muluo fell silent, but judging by his expression, it was clear that he was somewhat pleased by his dragon’s words.

 

Long Ling tightly hugged his phoenix, thinking that even if the phoenix could lay eggs, after those little birds or dragon hatchlings were born, the phoenix might focus all its attention on them and not look at him much. 

 

So it was better not to lay eggs; he only wanted his phoenix.

 

After a while, Su Muluo realized that Long Ling was still hugging him and immediately pushed him away, telling him to go take a bath.

 

At bedtime, Long Ling changed into the pajamas that the phoenix bought for him and tried to enter the room with the phoenix—only to be kicked out again.

 

“Go away,” Su Muluo said, shoving a quilt into his arms. “Go sleep on the sofa.”

 

“……”

 

Long Ling hugged the sofa, silently watching Su Muluo with a forlorn look.

 

Su Muluo remained unmoved and even tried to close the room door. Long Ling quickly stepped in front of the door and said, “But what if the phoenix acts like last night?”

 

He remembered how the phoenix was sweating profusely and had a dazed look in its eyes, almost like it was in a mating season… looking very tempting.

 

“I wouldn’t do that,” Su Muluo said. “I’m not sleepy tonight and only lost one feather.”

 

Feeling a bit confident, Su Muluo saw Long Ling reluctantly trying to say something and immediately said, “Go to bed quickly, or you’ll go bald!”

 

And then he closed the door.

 

—Though Su Muluo was quite forceful when kicking Long Ling out, after the lights were out in the room, he found himself unable to sleep again.

 

He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark. After a while, he pulled the quilt over his head.

 

The first half of the night was still very hard to bear, but in the early hours, a familiar drowsiness came over him. Su Muluo’s heart sank, sensing something was wrong, but he quickly fell into a deep sleep under the drowsiness.

 

As expected, he was soon awakened by a burning heat.

 

But this time it wasn’t as uncomfortable as before, at least not with that feeling of weakness and exhaustion. Su Muluo groggily opened his eyes and found himself lying in a man’s embrace.

 

“Phoenix,” Long Ling’s strong arms were wrapped around his waist, gently patting his back, and he asked softly, “Are you still uncomfortable? Do you want something cold to drink?”

 

“……” Su Muluo looked at Long Ling in a daze. “When did you come in?”

 

Long Ling noticed that his phoenix seemed to be feeling better compared to the previous night and honestly said, “An hour ago.”

 

Su Muluo: “?”

 

The dizziness vanished in an instant, and he immediately got up to try to push Long Ling out. However, Long Ling was quicker and wrapped his arms around Su Muluo’s waist, pressing him tightly into his embrace, not letting go.

 

Su Muluo was trapped in Long Ling’s embrace and poked him, saying, “Let go!”

 

“No, I won’t let go. The phoenix needs me,” Long Ling asserted, “It was after I arrived last night that the phoenix felt much better. This time I came early, so the phoenix isn’t as uncomfortable.”

 

Su Muluo was shocked and felt that this dragon had become even more shameless. Just as he was about to say something, Long Ling continued, “Since I became human, as long as the phoenix is with me, it has never experienced abnormal drowsiness. The phoenix can think about it; it’s true.”

 

After hearing this, Su Muluo was silent for a moment and said, “You’ve only been human for two days.”

 

Long Ling replied, “Two days can already prove a lot! Besides, after I hatched, the phoenix was affected by many anomalies because of me. Now that I’ve stabilized, as long as the phoenix stays by my side, it will stabilize too.”

 

He spoke with such reason and evidence that it seemed very convincing. For a moment, Su Muluo couldn’t think of a rebuttal.

 

Since Long Ling appeared in a stable human form beside him, he indeed had not felt drowsy as frequently as before. Moreover, the discomfort in the past two nights was also because his dragon wasn’t by his side… He had never spent a night apart from his dragon in the past eighteen hundred years.

 

There must indeed be some connection between them, but he didn’t expect it to be so profound that he couldn’t even be apart from his dragon for a while.

 

What kind of feelings did they have when they forged this connection back then?

 

Su Muluo fell silent, and Long Ling, keenly sensing something from his silence, lowered his head and gently nuzzled his soft hair, smiling, “So don’t drive me away, okay?”

 

Su Muluo looked at him for a while and said softly, “Then turn back.”

 

He still couldn’t quite accept being hugged to sleep by a man, feeling it was too intimate.

 

He didn’t want to let this dragon take more advantage!

 

Long Ling was still very pleased with this. He liked sticking close to his phoenix in any form, as it was all the same to him.

 

So he transformed into a small black dragon.

 

“Eek.”

 

The small black dragon wrapped around Su Muluo’s finger, its dark golden dragon eyes fixed on him unblinkingly.

 

Su Muluo patted its little head and said, “If you turn back while I’m asleep again, I’ll throw away your feather bracelet.”

 

The small black dragon: “!”

 

The small black dragon curled up into a little ball in his palm, looking very well-behaved.

 

Su Muluo’s eyebrows curved slightly as he pulled the blanket over himself and the little dragon, saying, “Let’s sleep.”

 

With his dragon by his side, he indeed slept very comfortably in the second half of the night. The next morning, Su Muluo was awakened by a clear bird call.

 

He opened his eyes and saw a paper crane on the bedside while the small black dragon was still curled up in his palm, hugging its tail and sleeping soundly.

 

To avoid waking his little dragon, Su Muluo did not get up. Instead, he reached out to retrieve the paper crane, unfolded it, and a line of text appeared in mid-air.

 

It was the biography of the former bird clan leader, Feng Hen. He had asked the old rabbit demon to investigate yesterday, and today he got the results.

 

However, after reading the investigation results, he frowned slightly.

 

Feng Hen’s life… could be described as very plain.

 

His talent was not outstanding, and he continued the leader position only because his father was the former leader of the bird clan. To stabilize his position, he had to marry the eldest elder’s daughter, and then left most clan affairs to the elder, rarely getting involved.

 

If it weren’t for meeting the human woman he adored, he might have stayed in his leader position and lived a plain life.

 

The boldest thing he did was to escape the bird clan with that human woman… and then he was caught and died inexplicably in an ice prison.

 

Such a person seemed to have no relation to the phoenix bloodline, especially since the old rabbit demon emphasized in the letter that Feng Hen’s strength was mediocre and not exceptional—if he truly had the phoenix bloodline, he would definitely not be so ordinary.

 

Su Muluo put away the paper crane and fell into deep thought.

 

Feng Hen’s parents had long passed away, and he himself had been dead for many years. Now, the only person related to him by blood was probably his illegitimate child.

 

If he truly had phoenix bloodline, then his child should also have it. With the phoenix clan now extinct, even a trace of bloodline would make the child a part of Su Muluo’s kin.

 

Perhaps he should go find Feng Xuan and inquire more about Feng Hen and that illegitimate child…

 

Just as this thought crossed Su Muluo’s mind, his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Liu He.

 

Su Muluo answered the call and heard Liu He’s urgent voice on the other end, “Mr. Su, did you meet privately with the bird clan elder Feng Xuan?”

 

A bad premonition surfaced in Su Muluo’s mind. He replied, “Yes, he came to see me yesterday. What’s wrong?”

 

Liu He was silent for a second and then said, “Feng Xuan was killed last night, murdered in a hotel—”

 

“And you were the last stranger he met before his death.”

 

“……”

 

A few minutes later, the call ended. The small black dragon lazily opened its eyes, tilted its head, and let out a “woof” at Su Muluo.

 

The phoenix was making noise and was unhappy.

 

It needed comforting.

 

Su Muluo said, “I’m not comforting you.” Then he patted the dragon and said, “We need to get up. We have to go out later.”

 

The small black dragon: “Woof?” Where are we going?

 

Su Muluo: “The Department of Abnormal Affairs.”

 

The small black dragon: “?”

 

Why do we need to go there again!

 

The small black dragon still remembered how its phoenix almost didn’t want it last time they went there. It grumbled in dissatisfaction, tightly clutching the sheets and showing that it didn’t want to leave.

 

Seeing the little dragon throwing a tantrum, Su Muluo couldn’t help but smile slightly. Innocently, he said, “It seems like I’ve caused trouble again.”

 

“The bird clan elder from yesterday was murdered, and since I was the last person he interacted with, I’ve become a key suspect. So, I need to go there for questioning.”

 

The small black dragon: “……”

 

It knew that every time they went to the Department of Abnormal Affairs, nothing good ever came out of it!

 

Every single time!!

 

So, the little dragon sulkily transformed into a human, hugged his phoenix tightly, and refused to move.


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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