I’m Really A Dragon

 “There’s a fire, put it out quickly!”

    “Come on someone, anyone!”

    …

      The night was ugly. The fire in the side courtyard of Duke Huai’s mansion was blazing into the sky and the yard had already been burnt clean.

    From time to time, the sounds of various objects collapsing would ring out and terrify everyone, and for a while, Duke Huai’s mansion was in chaos.

    Shortly before dawn, Duke Huai was sleeping soundly in his chambers when he heard shouts from the servants outside.

    “What’s going on?” he asked.

    A servant hurried in from outside to report

    “My lord, there is a fire in the side yard.” Duke Huai was stunned. 

“The side yard? That side yard?”

 “Jinyu Pavilion, the room where the third lady used to live.”

    Duke Huai thought to himself; ‘was this not the yard where the demon cultivator was settled?’ He took a deep breath, put on his clothes, and walked out.

    When he arrived at Jinyu Pavilion, the fire was almost extinguished, but the yard in front of him was already burnt, and a thick layer of ash had risen up from the ground. Finally, the fire was fully extinguished.

    Fortunately, this Jinyu Pavilion was not connected to the other places. It was a separate yard, so the fire did not spread to the other houses.

    This scene was a little too weird. Duke Huai, finally taking the time, tied his clothes. As soon as he walked in, he saw Charles squatting and shivering in the corner of the yard, crying loudly.

    Jiang Wuyi, looking at the little dragon crying in a ball on the ground, suddenly felt helpless.

    The tears of the dragon cub fell down like golden beans. It was as if he was frightened by the sky, and the people around couldn’t help but feel distressed by it. Rao, who was also a little kind-hearted, walked up to ask “Was this child burnt anywhere?”

    Jiang Wuyi shook his head.

    “No.”

    “He might have been frightened by the fire.”

    Duke Huai breathed a sigh of relief. Frowning, he turned around and shouted, “Who is on duty at Jinyu Pavilion tonight? How did the fire start?” He was furious.

   Jiang Wuyi then pointed at Charles and said, “He started the fire.”

    Duke Huai was stunned. “What… what did he start the fire for?”

    Jiang Wuyi replied “He was scared.”

    Duke Huai wondered “Scared? Scared of what?”

    Jiang Wuyi thought for a while, and then replied indifferently, “Perhaps it was a nightmare.”

    Duke Huai asked “…Do you always start a fire when you are frightened?”

    “What is wrong with that?” Jiang Wuyi replied.

    Duke Huai immediately stopped talking. He looked at the boy who was crying on the ground and then looked at the abrupt and strange yard that was burnt to the ground. He didn’t know what to say for a while, but finally he could only say politely, “It’s fine as long as you’re okay…”

    Jiang Wuyi nodded slightly, “Yes.”

    Duke Huai, smiling dryly, continued “I’m going to check the situation, it’s late at night, so there’s no need to make too much of a fuss. I’ll ask someone to prepare another room for this child later…”

    Having said that, Duke Huai muttered to himself, ‘Just don’t let him burn the yard again,’ as he re-evaluated this little demon cultivator in his heart.

    Jiang Wuyi, squatting down, gently brushed the ashes off the little dragon’s body, and said “No, he will be with me.”

    Duke Huai was overjoyed and replied “Alright, that can be arranged.”   

    The little dragon had cried until he felt dizzy that was when he finally stopped. He drank a few large glasses of water while holding the water cup, blinked his eyes, and then burped. He was emotionally unstable, and even a burp could spew out a cluster of flames. Jiang Wuyi, seeing the flame he burped, grabbed it with a quick swipe and pinched the fire in the palm of his hand. Raising his eyebrows slightly, he asked 

    “Do you still want to burn the house down?”    

     Charles realized it late and covered his mouth, sweeping his eyes to the window. The fear in his heart rose again and he couldn’t help reaching out to pull out Jiang Wuyi’s clothes.    

    Jiang Wuyi became curious and asked “What did you see?”

    Jiang Wuyi never coaxed people and he didn’t know why this little dragon was able to shed so many tears. Finally, after thinking about it, he reached out and patted the top of his head.

    “Shut up.”

    Charles was afraid of him, and subconsciously reached out to cover his mouth. He wanted to shut up but he couldn’t stop crying.

    After a while, the yard finally became quiet. Jiang Wuyi, taking a deep breath, carried the child back into his house.

    Charles took a deep breath and said in a low voice “I seem to have seen resentment…”

    He said the word resentment lightly and quickly, and then continued with a more vivid description “Really! His eyes were rotting and he was so close to me! Hanging from above with his face melting…”

    He shuddered as he said “It was terrible!”

    Jiang Wuyi listened to him in silence.

    It was the first time he had seen a dragon that was afraid of ghosts.

    So he couldn’t bear it and said “You are a dragon.”

    Charles nodded “Yes.”

    Jiang Wuyi wanted to say something, but he felt that the explanation might not make sense, so he simply gave up.

    “There’s no yin in that yard. If you really did see it, it was either as a pretense or an illusion. Even if it was a ghost, you don’t need to be afraid.”

    He always seemed to have a kind of self-confidence when it came to winning. With a little more stability, the little dragon couldn’t help but ask “Why?”

    Jiang Wuyi said “If there is an injustice or a debt, an ordinary resentful ghost will not hurt people indiscriminately. But, should it be a serious ghost, I will find it out.”

    Charles, yawning, asked “Then…how do you know it won’t?”

    Jiang Wuyi was a little sleepy. Seeing that he was serious, he patiently coaxed the little dragon.

    “How can I find you for no reason?”

    The little dragon lowered his head and muttered in a low voice: “You caught me for no reason…”

    Jiang Wuyi heard it and couldn’t help from chuckling, said meaningfully “Well, there’s a reason.”

    Charles raised his head in confusion. Jiang Wuyi had initially stopped talking and turned to go to sleep. But as soon as he dozed off, the dragon cub began to cry again. His eyes stared at the window, under the cabinet and towards the shadows in the dark crevices.

Jiang Wuyi was stunned for a moment, and then turned his head, looking at him.

 The little dragon asked pitifully “Can you not turn off the lights?”

    Jiang Wuyi nodded.

    Charles thought about it, and then moved the bamboo mat next to the bed and put it together with the bed.

    Jiang Wuyi, raising his eyebrows, looked questionably at the little dragon, looking at him cautiously, asked “…Is this okay? Jiang Wuyi?”

    Jiang Wuyi couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he was called by his name so naturally.

    It was like he was in a trance, and when he reacted, the little dragon cub had already acquiesced to lie with his back to him, but his eyes were wide open, as if he wanted to stare out the hole in the window.

    Jiang Wuyi didn’t speak any more, rather he lay down and closed his eyes.

    Early the next morning, Charles was awakened by the smell of the food. The food had already been prepared by the maids and set in front of the table. Seeing him sitting up on his bamboo mat, with his hair all messy and his lips curled up, Jiang Wuyi said

 “Go wash up, then come and eat.”

It was soft, so Charles obediently went to wash up. As soon as he came back, he grabbed a bun. Smelling it, he immediately jammed it into his mouth.

    Jiang Wuyi quickly stopping him gave him his chopsticks. “Try this.”

    Charles looked at the two thin sticks presented to him, then looked at Jiang Wuyi’s face and reluctantly imitated Jiang Wuyi’s posture to hold the chopsticks. However, he couldn’t clamp it easily. After a few tries, he lost his patience and used the chopsticks to poke a bun. Regardless of Jiang Wuyi, he quickly opened his mouth and bit down.

    After the two of them had their breakfast, Jiang Wuyi suddenly called him “Cub.”

    “Huh?”

    Charles was surprised, looking left and right; he then pointed to himself and asked “Are you calling me?”

    Jiang Wu nodded “Do you want to go out to play?”

    Charles excitedly asked “Is it alright?”

    Jiang Wuyi replied “Jing Yu sent someone this morning to invite us to visit the lake and we will have a feast on the lake at noon. He also said that there would be teams from the imperial city playing shadow puppets with the flower drum.”

    Charles immediately cheered up “I want to go!”

    Jiang Wuyi couldn’t understand why this little dragon was so happy, but seeing him laugh, he couldn’t help but feel better.

    And sure enough, after breakfast, Jing Yu came with the attendant.

    When he saw Charles this time, he did not look reserved as he was yesterday. Seeing his childish temperament, he felt a little closer to him.

    As they passed through the corridor, Charles heard something and perking his ears up, he listened carefully, and finally heard some sensitive words.

    “What… what lord?”

    He thought about it carefully, and when he turned around, he saw a group of women in brocade clothes in the garden behind, and his eyes lit up instantly.

    Listening to these people, he heard that the princess was a member of the royal family… Did he meet the princess of this country?

    Charles thought about it, and immediately pushed Jing Yu aside.

    “Wait a minute; I want to see the princess first!”

    “Hey…”

    Jing Yu’s expression was inexplicable, and before he could explain, Charles had already turned over the railing and ran away.

   Jiang Wuyi, arriving behind, raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw this. Immediately realizing, he turned around and ran after Charles. Jing Yu was even more confused, but seeing that both of them were already gone, he had to go with them, but his heart was more puzzled.

    ‘Where’s this princess from?’

    The author has something to say. 

    Cub: It is Her Royal Highness…

    Jiang Wuyi: …hehe 

If it doesn’t work I’ll fix it next chapter ( ɵ̥̥ ˑ̫ ɵ̥̥)