Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Long Xin was not resigned to this at all.

Losing the big fish was just due to her hand slipping; she didn’t know what was on the big fish’s back, but it was slippery, and she hadn’t held on tight enough, so it escaped.

Of course, there was a reason for getting slapped in the face by the fish tail, too. When she pounced over, her landing point was poorly chosen.

She chose a position too far back, and since her grip wasn’t firm, she was hit squarely by a sweep of the big fish’s tail.

This was only her first attempt, and there were many reasons for its failure; it did not demonstrate her true strength.

Long Xin quickly pulled herself together and set her sights on a new big fish. Seeing it stranded in shallow water, lying there quietly, she thought her opportunity had come.

This was her time to show off her skills.

Shen Zaiqing stood on the shore with her arms crossed, watching with increasing interest.

Long Xin’s mental journey was written all over the dragon cub’s face, clear at a glance. She had personally watched her fall into the abyss, and now she was watching her climb out of the trough, brewing her second kill.

It wasn’t that Shen Zaiqing hadn’t suggested that Long Xin use her human form to catch fish. The water in the pond only reached their knees, the silt wasn’t particularly deep, and if they held a net, the fish wouldn’t be able to escape so easily upon contact.

At that point, catching fish would be a breeze easy and impressive.

But Long Xin rejected her proposal, insisting on jumping around in the fish pond in her dragon cub form.

She said that only this way provided a sense of conquest.

Thinking of her blunt fingers and her “milk-fierce” expression, Shen Zaiqing thought, Fine, let her fuss. It was rare to come out for an experience, after all.

She would let her play to her heart’s content first; once her body and mind were both exhausted, she would know to restrain herself.

When that time came, she would make her appearance.

Shen Zaiqing moved under the shade of a tree to continue watching the “Duel of the Century” between dragon and fish.

For the new round of attack, Long Xin had stored up enough strength. With her hands raised and her back slightly arched, she used powerful explosive force to leap and pounce toward the back of the big fish.

She firmly grabbed its back before the fish began to struggle. She had learned to be smart, successfully pinning the fins on both sides of the fish and clutching them tightly in her hands.

This time, no matter how the fish thrashed, it would be impossible to shake her off.

Long Xin saw the dawn of victory, and the corners of her mouth curled into a smile; she wouldn’t let go this time for anything.

Another thing worth being happy about was that this fish was even bigger than the previous one. As long as she captured it, she could wash away her previous humiliation.

It was a good opportunity to prove herself.

The hands and feet Long Xin used to pin the fish’s body had already begun to exert force. The fish had presumably been subdued by her power, as it hadn’t moved at all.

Long Xin thought her victory was secured and was about to look up to show off her results to the Professor on the shore, but before she could even open her mouth, the silent big fish began to exert its strength.

It thrashed its tail frantically in the stranded silt like a clockwork toy, sliding from one end of the silt to the other at an extremely fast speed shiu shiu shiu.

Long Xin pounced on its back, wobbling unsteadily, completely unsure of how to handle it.

After being carried along for a distance by the big fish, her grip on the fins was shaken loose. With another roll from the big fish, Long Xin fell from its back into the mud.

Before escaping, the big fish even slapped a tail-full of mud onto Long Xin’s face.

“Tsk tsk, she’s turned into a mud ball.” Shen Zaiqing, standing under the shade of the tree, witnessed the entire process. The corners of her mouth twitched; she regretted not bringing her phone down.

She should have recorded Long Xin in this state.

If she were lucky enough to encounter that drunken Long Xin again, she would play this video on a loop in front of her to see if she still dared to act so cocky.

Long Xin was covered in mud from head to tail, a black mass that blended into the surrounding environment. If it weren’t for her opening her eyes and making her whites obvious, Shen Zaiqing would have had to spend quite a bit of effort to find her.

Long Xin had lost all her strength and dignity in the struggle with the big fish. She didn’t want to move anymore; she only wanted to sit in the mud and reflect on life.

Or call for the Professor to come and rescue her. That big fish actually hadn’t run far; it circled in the water and returned to stand before Long Xin, looking at her with a provocative gaze.

This look was clearly malicious. Long Xin, looking at the tail swaying gently in the water, was traumatized.

Just as the atmosphere turned tense, a green net descended, covering Long Xin’s head. After rolling once inside the net, Long Xin was scooped up by Shen Zaiqing.

The big fish was also scared away by Shen Zaiqing’s movements.

Seeing that Long Xin was covered in mud, Shen Zaiqing couldn’t stay still. She took a long-handled landing net, walked to the shore near Long Xin, made a scoop toward her, and picked up the mud ball.

She didn’t put Long Xin down but carried the net all the way to the end of the fish pond, reaching the edge of the mulberry field.

The irrigation channel in the mulberry field had clean water, which had been pumped up from the fish pond this morning.

Of course, “clean” was relative.

Compared to the water in the fish pond now, it was much cleaner; the pond had been completely stirred up by Long Xin and a few big fish.

Shen Zaiqing placed her net into the irrigation channel, and a cloud of black mud instantly spread out. She then held the handle and moved the net back and forth on the water surface a few times; Long Xin, sitting in the net, was quickly rinsed clean.

The little green dragon had returned.

Shen Zaiqing placed the net on level ground and let the little dragon walk out on her own.

Seeing her look of utter awkwardness, Shen Zaiqing persuaded her: “Alright, stop competing with the big fish. Catching some small fish and shrimp is enough for us to eat. I’m not making fun of you; I know that big fish was hard to deal with.”

“Once you’ve done your best, you can accept failure calmly.”

“Also, Aunt Liu came over just now and said they have guests coming for lunch, so she asked us to catch a few more.”

Shen Zaiqing gestured a size to the little dragon: “She said catching ones about this big is enough for braising. They don’t need to be too big; if they’re too big, her pot won’t fit. Stop thinking about your big fish; let’s get to work.”

Having successfully persuaded Long Xin, Shen Zaiqing pulled her back into the water.

She wore a set of waterproof fishing gear and pulled the large basin Aunt Liu had prepared for them, entering a fish-rich area of the water.

Shen Zaiqing came down mainly to assist Long Xin; the task of catching the fish was still to be left to her.

Catching small fish was something Long Xin was adept at. After aiming at a target, she would pounce forward—one pounce, one catch. Within minutes, several lively fish were added to the large basin Shen Zaiqing was pulling.

She also liked to hold her breath and dive to the bottom to find small river mussels, small turtles, and small crabs.

Shen Zaiqing felt that the provocation from the big fish hadn’t worn off yet; otherwise, how could she explain the behavior of catching crabs the size of rice grains and putting them in the basin?

Or perhaps she was just having too much fun, catching whatever she saw.

Gradually, Shen Zaiqing realized the latter was more likely.

Whenever Long Xin dived underwater, she would always bring up some surprising items.

“Professor, what is this?”

“A field snail too small to eat.”

“And what about this?”

“A clam not enough to fill a tooth gap.”

“I caught a big fellow! What is this?”

“A barely passable soft-shell turtle. Put it in the basin.” Having caught a soft-shell turtle, a trace of a smile finally appeared on Shen Zaiqing’s face. Otherwise, with Long Xin catching things and her releasing them, the contents of their basin wouldn’t increase or decrease—how would they report back?

Seeing her look this way, Long Xin grew thoughtful: It seems the Professor really likes this thing called a soft-shell turtle. I should dive to the bottom and search again, striving to catch another big one.

A few minutes later, she truly made a discovery.

When she dived underwater, her fingers touched a very hard object, just like the turtle shell she had felt earlier. She tried to reach her hand into the mud to lift it up, but despite exerting force, it didn’t budge.

It must be a big fellow! Not on the same level as the previous turtle.

When Long Xin surfaced for air, she couldn’t help but report to Shen Zaiqing, her face full of irrepressible excitement: “Professor, there seems to be an exceptionally large and heavy turtle down there. I can’t even move it.”

“Long Xin,” Shen Zaiqing wanted to call her back, but she had only just called her name when her little dragon disappeared again. She didn’t care at all about the words that were to follow; her mind was entirely on the “big turtle” she had discovered.

As soon as she finished her breath, Long Xin immediately dived back to the bottom to continue her tug-of-war with her turtle.

This turtle was truly heavy; she used every trick in the book but still couldn’t pull it up.

Running out of air again, she had to surface once more.

“Long Xin.” Shen Zaiqing called her name again the moment she surfaced, but Long Xin still ignored her. Her head popped out for a breath, her body did a swirl, and she dived back to the bottom.

Watching her, Shen Zaiqing suddenly felt as if she were seeing the little Shiba Inu from her grandfather’s house; when that dog was having too much fun, he was in exactly this state unable to be called back.

Shen Zaiqing recalled this person’s comments from yesterday afternoon, saying she didn’t like being a dragon cub and that becoming one was just to please her.

And now?

Playing so self-forgetfully, it didn’t look like an act at all, nor was she coming to please her. She even tried to pin the blame on her.

It was completely contradictory.

“Professor, there really is a huge and heavy turtle down there. Don’t you want to come and help me?”

“Long Xin.” This was the third time Shen Zaiqing had called her name. She finally reached the end of her patience. The moment Long Xin’s head emerged from the water, she bent down, grabbed the scruff of her neck, and lifted her from the water, suspending her in mid-air.

Long Xin was still talking incessantly, using her hands and feet to describe: “Professor, the turtle is this big! It hasn’t run away yet, it’s been staying in the same spot. We can’t let it go!”

“Long Xin, there is no turtle down there.” Shen Zaiqing met her gaze and spoke calmly.

“Professor, I really felt it! You have to believe me. It’s just too heavy; no matter how I pry, I can’t lift it.” Long Xin’s arms were still flailing, wanting to charge back underwater for three hundred rounds of battle with the turtle.

Shen Zaiqing told herself to remain calm and then said patiently, word by word: “Long Xin, that is not a turtle. That is my foot.”

“Did you hear clearly?”

The change in expression on Long Xin’s face was more spectacular than a face-changing performance. She reached out to scratch her cheek, her hands and feet stopped flailing, and her entire being was characterized by just two words: awkwardness.

Shen Zaiqing placed her back into the water.

Long Xin’s body submerged, leaving only her eyes above the water surface, staring at Shen Zaiqing’s profile. Awkwardness Awkwardness writ large.

Shen Zaiqing picked up the snails clinging to the stones, not lowering herself to her level.

The two of them fussed in the fish pond for a while longer before being called up by Liu Mao; the sun was getting stronger, and he was about to refill the pond.

Aunt Liu was also calling them, urging them to get the ingredients to the kitchen quickly, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough time to cook lunch.

Shen Zaiqing’s clothes were stained with many mud spots, mostly caused by Long Xin pouncing around while refusing to listen. After finishing her task, she prepared to go upstairs to change into clean clothes.

Long Xin was fine; she had been in dragon cub form from start to finish. If she got dirty, she could just be rinsed under a tap; she was easy to clean. Once cleaned and transformed back into human form, not a single stain could be seen on her. The clothes she wore had nothing to do with catching fish in the pond, so they were brand new.

Since she didn’t need to change, she didn’t go upstairs with Shen Zaiqing but stayed in the first-floor courtyard to help.

After being in a fish pond, there was always a fishy smell. Shen Zaiqing took a shower while changing. When she finished and came out, she heard that the number of voices on the first floor had increased significantly.

She thought that perhaps Aunt Liu’s guests had arrived.

The courtyard became lively as more people arrived. The voices Shen Zaiqing heard were coming from the first-floor courtyard.

While she was showering, the ends of her hair got wet. She was currently drying it with a dry towel. It was very cheerful downstairs, and she couldn’t help but walk to the window and poke her head out to look down.

Aunt Liu said they were guests, but she didn’t know if they were her relatives or friends. Shen Zaiqing also heard two tender children’s voices and thought they must have brought children with them.

Standing by the window, Shen Zaiqing’s gaze swept across and saw a woman with a face full of smiles standing in front of Long Xin, conversing closely with her.

She had rarely seen Long Xin chatting so relaxedly with someone.

In social situations with strangers, it was mostly a case of others asking and her answering. In front of her, she was even more shy, often needing her to lead the way with words.

But in conversation with this woman, Long Xin was talking back and forth as if a chatterbox had been opened, and her demeanor was very relaxed.

Was this someone Long Xin knew?

This thought popped into Shen Zaiqing’s head, but then it felt strange. Long Xin had told her that she was unfamiliar with human society, knew hardly anyone, and had no friends…

What exactly was the relationship between this woman and Long Xin?

Shen Zaiqing’s brow furrowed, her gaze fixed on the woman standing face-to-face with Long Xin.

Next, Shen Zaiqing witnessed an even more incredible scene. Her hair-drying movements stopped abruptly, and her mouth hung open in shock.

She saw the woman lean forward and reach out to hug Long Xin, and throughout the process, Long Xin showed no resistance whatsoever.

What the hell?

Long Xin was her dragon; even she hadn’t hugged her like that.

Why would this woman of unknown origin perform such an act toward her?

Shen Zaiqing tossed the towel in her hand and hurried downstairs.

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