"Oh heavens!" Ai Hua hurried over to the boy who was clutching his hand and glared at her son. So this is how you seduce someone? I'd like to see how you'll ever find a wife!
Xiao Dong pursed his lips and looked at Jing Yi. He'd rather spend his time with him.
"How are you? Does it still hurt?" Ai Hua patted Shao Hai's head with one hand and pulled her rebellious child over with the other. "Look what you've done, Xiao Dong! It's all because of that pig-head of yours! Come on, console him!" She pushed him over and sat back down at the table. That should do the trick. She couldn't imagine that her son would fail to win over one mortal child.
It turned out a tad more difficult, though. Xiao Dong was disgruntled. How was this his fault? He hadn't done anything wrong! That stupid human child had tried to punch him on its own! Still, with the command of his king at the back of his mind, Xiao Dong stepped up to Shao Hai once again. He even went so far as to smile slightly.
Unfortunately, that half smile seemed like an insult to Shao Hai. Before Xiao Dong had the opportunity to hug him, too, the other boy tried punching him again. This time, his fist met Xiao Dong's cheek. The result … A certain dragon was unperturbed while a certain human child had two hurting fists now.
Shao Hai glared at Xiao Dong accusingly. The dragon looked back at him with a deadpan expression. You should have known this would happen, shouldn't you? You already punched me once and couldn't take it! How could you expect it to turn out differently this time?
He paid no heed to Shao Hai's protest, went forward and hugged him, too. His hands stroked Shao Hai's back and Xiao Dong's frown slowly retracted. He's ugly but considering he's human his physique isn't bad. I guess I can live with this for a while.
Shao Hai started trembling all over. After two tries he also knew it was futile to punch this strange boy but he didn't want to give up. First, he hugged his bride-to-be and now he was even feeling him up! How could he take it!
With the mindset of 'a gentleman can be killed but not humiliated', he tried to push Xiao Dong away. The dragon child stayed on his feet, though. Shao Hai grit his teeth. In another attempt, he first pulled out of Xiao Dong's arms.
The dragon let him go without any resistance. He had done a lot already, hadn't he? Nobody could expect him to do everything in one day. Xiao Dong even wanted to return to his mother's side but just then Shao Hai came running back. Surprised, Shao Hai stopped in his tracks and turned back to the human boy. Oh wow, he had always known he was handsome but he would never have thought he had this much appeal. It seemed he was irresistible in the mortal world.
Shao Hai lunged at him with the intention of pushing him to the ground. Xiao Dong misunderstood, though, and extended his arms. He caught Shao Hai and pressed him against his chest. Shao Hai, surprised by his reaction, wanted to get away and nearly fell backward. Xiao Dong grabbed his hand but lost his own footing in the process. Together, the two children tumbled to the ground.
Xiao Dong looked at the child beneath him, smirked and produced a question he had heard his father ask when in a similar situation with his mother: "My. Aren't we eager?"
Ai Hua, who had been sitting at the table observing the children, choked on her tea. Damn, this child! No … Damn this husband of hers! She'd have to tell Lei Jiang to be more cautious when Xiao Dong was around. What if he had said that somewhere in the dragon realm instead?!
"You —!" Shao Hai had obviously once heard such a question, too. His ears got red and he slapped the boy above him. Xiao Dong just smiled, though. He propped himself up on his elbows and stayed put.
Shao Hai protested. "Damn you! Get up!" He struck him with his elbow but the only one hurt was him again.
Xiao Dong's smile widened and his eyes started to sparkle. Why would he get up when he was in such a good position to comply with his king's orders? This … might actually be fun.
Guanyu, who was still being ignored, finally couldn't take it any longer. "Shao Hai! Let go of him!" She tried grabbing Shao Hai's arm but Xiao Dong parried all her attempts.
"What are you trying to do?", he asked with a frown. "Can't you see we're busy? Go and find something else to do. You're not getting him!"
"Who wants him?!" Guanyu stopped trying to grab Shao Hai and instead went for Xiao Dong himself. Unfortunately for her, a dragon wasn't as easily caught as a human child and she had even had problems with Shao Hai before. Xiao Dong just evaded every one of her moves, stood up and pulled Shao Hai up with him.
Ts. And just when it had started to get good. He decisively turned away and wanted to pull Shao Hai over to his mother but even if Shao Hai didn't like Guanyu he disliked Xiao Dong even more.
"Let go!" This time, he slapped Xiao Dong's hand.
It still didn't hurt but Xiao Dong at least stopped moving forward. He beamed at the human boy. "What is it, my love?"
Shao Hai gritted his teeth and pulled back his hand. "Leave me alone!" He ran back to Jing Yi and hugged him for a little comfort. He couldn't believe what that strange boy had done! He shot him an angry look. "Pervert!"
Xiao Dong smiled even more. Ah, who cared what he said? As long as he managed to fulfill his king's expectations.
"Demon!"
This let Xiao Dong freeze on the spot. "You —!"
Shao Hai lifted his chin smugly. See that? I might not be able to hurt you with my fists but you also don't like me calling you that, huh?
"Take that back!"
"Why should I? You're a demon! Just have a look at yourself!"
"What are you even talking about?! How am I a demon?" Xiao Dong clenched his fists. He was a dragon! How could anyone be so blind as to lump him together with these bastards?
"You're obviously a demon! What's with your hair, huh?"
"What about my hair? It's beautiful!"
"How is that beautiful? It's obvious it's like that because of some demonic magic!"
Why was Shao Hai reacting so strongly to Xiao Dong's hair? Well, he was probably the first one in the teahouse to pay any attention to it. Madam Zhong and Nie Huang had been preoccupied with the fact that there were finally guests again, Guanyu had been blinded by Xiao Dong's face and Jing Yi's whole attention had been on the fact that he was suddenly hugged.
Only Shao Hai who had turned jealous because of said hug took the time to actually examine his apparent love rival. And there was one thing you couldn't miss when looking at Xiao Dong: He was blond. In fact, his hair even seemed to shimmer with a golden luster when looked at in the sun.
It was an incredibly popular look in the dragon realm since the old king had sported a head full of knee-length golden hair. But in the mortal realm where the lightest hair color one might find was a dark brown it was obviously eye-catching. And not in a good sense. Thinking of him as a demon wasn't that strange for a human.
Unfortunately, comparing a dragon to a demon was the worst insult to a dragon since their whole race hated the demons with even more passion than the gods did.
Even Xiao Dong couldn't take it any longer. He lunged himself at Shao Hai and pushed him and Jing Yi, who was still in Shao Hai's embrace, to the ground. "Take it back!"
"I won't!"
The two boys started wrestling with each other. Of course, the only possible outcome was Xiao Dong winning. It didn't take long. Jing Yi had crawled away from the fight as soon as he could while the other two boys still rolled on the floor.
Madam Zhong, who brought the tea for them in the meantime, just took one look and then went back into the preparation room. Fighting a bit was quite normal for boys, no?
When Jing Yi pondered if he should follow her a large shadow fell into the teahouse, followed by two thinner ones. Jing Yi looked over and ran to the door of the preparation room. Madam Zhong took one look at his spooked expression and came back out. The tray she hadn't put away yet fell to the ground with a clang that interrupted the fight between Shao Hai and Xiao Dong. The two boys, as well as Ai Hua, looked up.
An obese man in expensive clothes stood in the entrance, two leaner ones beside him. All three of them had smug expressions when they took in the empty room.
After five days, Li Bo and his two lackeys had returned.