Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After Shen Zaiqing said those words, she could feel the other party clearly stunned for a moment, as if the gap between what she said and what he wanted to hear was too large, causing him to pause.

She knew it how could the Patriarch’s call be a pure “telephone home visit”?

While waiting for Long Sheng’s response, Shen Zaiqing focused her gaze on Long Xin.

She noticed that in the time it took for her to lower her head and raise her eyes again, Long Xin had already hollowed out a hole in the center of the watermelon a hole big enough to accommodate herself—and then, like a sinking ship, let her body slowly submerge into the watermelon flesh.

“Long Xin is very good at disguising herself; you’ll realize it as time goes by. It’s only been two days, so she can remain calm, but once a long time passes, her violent nature won’t be hidden anymore. Professor Shen, we are worried about your safety.” This voice in her ear smoothed out the smile at the corners of Shen Zaiqing’s eyes.

Shen Zaiqing felt a surge of anger: “Patriarch, if you put it that way, this telephone home visit is meaningless. First of all, you don’t trust the words coming out of my mouth at all.”

“Long Xin has a very good personality. I am not worried about my own safety.”

Thinking back to the first day, when Long Xin realized Shen Zaiqing liked little dragon cubs, she had confessed the fact that she wasn’t one, prepared through and through to be kicked out.

Was that not frank enough?

Shen Zaiqing grew angrier: “There isn’t even basic trust. Patriarch, I think our communication can stop here.”

A voice of restraint sounded from the other end of the phone as Long Sheng said: “Wait, let me tell Professor Shen about some of the bad things Long Xin has done in the clan.”

Shen Zaiqing felt there was a deep misunderstanding between Long Xin and her clansmen. From a bystander’s perspective, it would be easier to find the source of the misunderstanding and understand what was truly going on. So, she calmed her emotions and slowed her breathing: “Go ahead.”

Long Sheng was of advanced age and spoke very slowly. Shen Zaiqing was in no hurry and listened to him talk.

As she listened carefully to the voice on the phone, her gaze rested through the glass door on the half-cut watermelon in the center of the living room.

She now knew why Long Xin insisted on placing the watermelon on the floor.

Her fragile coffee table simply couldn’t withstand Long Xin’s tossing and turning.

The center of the watermelon had already been hollowed out by Long Xin, leaving a ring of red flesh around the edges.

To eat the surrounding flesh, Long Xin would lunge fiercely in one direction, and then the watermelon, as if fitted with an engine, would swing toward the direction she pounced.

After hitting a wall, Long Xin even knew how to turn around and pounce/bite in another direction.

Then Shen Zaiqing saw this ordinary watermelon, with a Long Xin inside, behaving like a small boat with horsepower, rampaging through her living room.

She was eating with such joy.

However, Long Xin knew how to exercise restraint and had good control. Although she was lunging and bumping, she stopped most of the time before hitting the wall, then turned around at the right moment to eliminate another direction.

With a layer of plastic film underneath, the watermelon glided smoothly forward without leaving any marks on the floor.

The juice and flesh of the watermelon all went into Long Xin’s stomach; not much splashed onto the ground, and it would be clean with just a little tidying up.

After all the red pulp was eliminated by Long Xin, the watermelon was left with only a ring of green-and-white rind. Long Xin lay flat at the bottom of the watermelon rind, her short legs propped up, and her belly bulging like an inflated ball.

With her eyes half-closed, she lay comfortably inside the watermelon rind.

She was tired from eating and needed to rest.

Long Xin’s watermelon was finished, and the several stories from the Dragon Patriarch were nearing their end.

Shen Zaiqing shifted her body, changing her posture as she leaned against the railing.

From these seemingly ironclad events, she discovered quite a few loopholes.

“Patriarch, may I ask if you witnessed these things you mentioned with your own eyes?”

While he might not be occupied with “ten thousand matters a day,” handling the affairs of the entire Dragon Clan, large and small, was enough to keep him busy. How could he have the leisure to stare at Long Xin all day? Long Sheng said unhurriedly: “These were all reported to me by people in the clan; many were brought forward proactively by the victims.”

“Then let me ask you another question. Among the people who reported these things to you, were the vast majority of them White Dragons?”

“As far as I know, there is deep-seated resentment between the White Dragons and the Azure Dragons. And generally, it is the White Dragons who target the Azure Dragons.”

“Does Professor Shen think we have wronged Long Xin? But there is both witness and physical evidence; Long Xin is a bad dragon.” Long Sheng’s voice suddenly became hurried.

“The reason she wasn’t thrown into the Dragon Clan prison is because her parents performed meritorious service for the clan. I was soft-hearted and wanted to give her a chance to reform. Confining her to Longya Mountain was the best choice. I didn’t expect her to apply for entry into Building No. 3 without my permission.”

“If Long Xin causes trouble in human society, the reputation our Dragon Clan has painstakingly built for decades will be ruined. Therefore, she must be sent back to Longya Mountain immediately.”

Hearing this, Shen Zaiqing gave a light chuckle: “Patriarch, you needn’t worry about her causing trouble. I am her adopter; I have the duty and obligation to look after her. If she causes trouble, I share the responsibility with her my work and life will both be affected. I care about this much more than you do.”

“So, I’ll be the one to worry about this.”

“As for the witness and physical evidence you mentioned,” Shen Zaiqing sighed, “in our world, evidence must be verified as true before it can be used as the basis for a verdict [Note 1].”

“It seems you haven’t heard Long Xin’s voice from beginning to end, have you? Based only on one side’s story, without verification, you’ve already reached a final conclusion for Long Xin. I feel that is inappropriate.”

Facing Long Sheng, Shen Zaiqing’s tone and attitude were already considered mild.

If the person in front of her were Su Wu’an, she would probably be arguing with him by now.

Long Sheng felt that Shen Zaiqing didn’t believe what he said because the examples he gave weren’t vivid enough, so he began rambling to her about other things.

Shen Zaiqing couldn’t stay any longer, but she still listened patiently for him to finish before preparing to interrupt.

Her attention could no longer be focused on the phone; Shen Zaiqing simply went to see what Long Xin was doing now.

At some point, Long Xin had poked her head out from the cradle-like watermelon rind, her two hands gripping the edge of the rind, her nose pressed against it, showing only the part above her eyes.

Her bright yet shy eyes peeked secretly at Shen Zaiqing.

Who knows how long she had been staring at her like that?

Being watched by such a gaze, Shen Zaiqing’s temper vanished, and her heart softened beyond measure. After the voice on the other end of the phone stopped, she spoke warmly to Long Sheng: “Patriarch, based on her current performance, Long Xin can definitely receive an excellent score. I will continue to observe her in the future and also perform my assessment duties well.”

“Since Long Xin has already entered the adoption process, let’s follow the procedure.”

“Let’s talk next time. I’m hanging up now.”

Putting down her phone, Shen Zaiqing looked toward the living room. Long Xin was still looking at her with sparkling eyes, her posture unchanged, and her gaze held a faint hint of expectation.

Shen Zaiqing stepped forward, pulled open the glass door, and walked in. She squatted down beside her and called out softly: “Long Xin.”

Staring at her soft and mushy expression, she asked: “What’s wrong? Need help?”

Long Xin rolled over, nestled inside the watermelon rind that had been eaten so clean not a speck of red could be seen, and nodded.

She was soaking wet all over, stained everywhere with watermelon juice.

Moving closer, Shen Zaiqing noticed her eyes were also covered with a thin mist of water—wet and looking utterly harmless.

“I want you to help me drag this to the bathroom. I need to go rinse off.”

If Long Xin climbed out and walked to the bathroom herself, she would surely leave many sticky footprints on the floor. If Shen Zaiqing helped her by dragging this watermelon rind to the edge of the bathroom, she wouldn’t ruin the floor when she got out.

Shen Zaiqing smiled and said: “Don’t you know magic? Can’t you just fly over?”

Besides, she had seen it just now she had turned into a “little motor,” making half a watermelon move around the living room. Moving the watermelon rind to the edge of the bathroom shouldn’t be a difficult task for her.

Long Xin raised her limp arms and said weakly: “I have no strength left.”

She had used all her energy on eating the watermelon, like fighting a war, lunging and biting with all her might. As a result, she had overextended herself, and her physical strength was severely lacking now.

Long Xin thought that if the Professor didn’t help her, she would just rest in the watermelon rind for a while longer until she had the strength to go out.

But how could Shen Zaiqing not help her?

She dragged the boat-like watermelon rind to the edge of the bathroom, then pinched the scruff of Long Xin’s neck to lift her up and place her under the bathroom showerhead to rinse.

Shen Zaiqing even expanded it into a “full-service” treatment.

She rinsed Long Xin clean under the bathroom spray, then wrapped her in a large bath towel and carried her to the sofa.

Long Xin’s vision was completely blocked by the towel. After feeling herself being placed down steadily, she used her hands to push against the towel surrounding her.

She couldn’t touch anything and didn’t know where she was.

A pair of hands pressed against her face, gently rubbing to absorb the water, and then her head was released.

Shen Zaiqing was right in front of her.

Long Xin turned her head to look and found that Shen Zaiqing was sitting on the sofa, while she had been placed on Shen Zaiqing’s lap.

With a thick towel padded underneath, she couldn’t feel anything else, but this awkward position… clearly meant Shen Zaiqing had serious business to discuss with her.

“Tell me, that man we met at the supermarket today, and the anger you felt by the lakeside yesterday—what was that all about?”

Long Xin realized the atmosphere wasn’t right and instinctively wanted to flee, but her neck was still being held by Shen Zaiqing. She couldn’t run even if she wanted to.

“And when you first arrived, how did you get so swollen like that? There must be a reason, right? Let’s hear it.”

Shen Zaiqing still had a smile on her face, but there was an added touch of seriousness in her eyes. She had made up her mind that today, she would definitely pry Long Xin’s mouth open.

Long Xin’s head was also held in place, forced to meet Shen Zaiqing’s gaze. Looking into Shen Zaiqing’s eyes, she was so nervous she kept swallowing: “I…”

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