The Amnesiac, Sickly Beauty Is Pregnant With My Dragon Cub - Chapter 37.2

Cang Lan confidently opened her bowl. Inside were about seven or eight snow-white balls, looking bouncy and floating on the surface. She introduced, “This dish is called ‘Cool White Jade Balls.’ I hand-pounded them into a paste and shaped each one myself.”

The appearance was decent. Yu Xuanji nodded in satisfaction. “This looks good.” But needing to be fair, she looked at Lu Xuan’s soup. “A-Xuan’s fish soup is also very fragrant.”

Huang Liu and An Zhi whispered to each other, “Wait, didn’t the King start with White Cabbage and Silver Fish soup? How did it become balls?”

An Zhi whispered back behind her hand, “I saw her boil the water dry. She added more, boiled it dry, added more—she did that about ten times.”

Ting Lan added softly, “In the end, the silver fish were burned to crisps. She pounded the bones and scales together into hand-made fish balls. By the way, she didn’t even gut the fish—just washed them and threw them in.”

The three demons grimaced, losing the courage to continue watching. They hunkered down, ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

Cang Lan uncovered another plate: stir-fried carrot shreds. They looked bright and had a faint, fresh aroma.

Yu Xuanji felt a secret wave of relief; she had finally found something edible.

Cang Lan served a bowl containing three white fish balls and placed it before Yu Xuanji. “Wife, try my fish ball soup first.”

With a smile, Yu Xuanji used a porcelain spoon to pick up a ball and slowly placed it in her mouth.

An Zhi and Ting Lan held their breath as Yu Xuanji ate it without changing her expression. They were terrified they would be next.

Under Cang Lan’s expectant gaze, Yu Xuanji nodded. “Mm, the fish balls are soft and springy. The taste is… good.”

Cang Lan blushed at the praise. “Try my carrots too. They’re quite light.”

As the demons watched, Yu Xuanji took a bite of the carrots. She paused for a split second, chewed slowly, and nodded. “Good. Indeed… very light.”

The demons sighed in relief. Huang Liu said, “The Lady’s reaction is quite natural. It must not be that bad.”

An Zhi was also confused. “Maybe it really is okay. Look at those carrots; they look proper.”

Ting Lan wasn’t convinced. “Don’t forget, the Mistress’s endurance is a thousand times beyond ordinary people.”

Lu Xuan then served a bowl of her fish soup to Yu Xuanji. Yu Xuanji took a sip of the fragrant broth and smiled. “A-Xuan’s soup is also excellent. Both are so good I can’t choose a winner.”

Cang Lan wasn’t having it. “No! You must pick a favorite!”

Seeing Yu Xuanji’s dilemma, Huang Liu suggested, “Since the Lady can’t decide, how about we all taste the dishes and vote?”

Yu Xuanji pursed her lips and looked around. “That sounds perfect.”

Huang Liu volunteered. She walked toward Lu Xuan’s soup, but a cough from Cang Lan scared her into switching targets. She dipped her spoon into the “Cool White Jade Balls.”

The Iron-Eating Beast, seeing Huang Liu hesitating with the soup in her mouth, urged, “Drink it! Why aren’t you swallowing?”

Huang Liu, in a panic, grabbed a ball and shoved it into the panda’s mouth. “You eat it then!”

The Iron-Eating Beast crunched it twice, tasted it, and—under everyone’s shocked gaze—slowly collapsed.

Cang Lan’s face fell. she kicked the reverted panda outside and gave a dry laugh. “Haha, it’s not even dark yet. Why did he fall asleep while eating?”

At the sight of the panda’s true form, An Zhi and Ting Lan’s eyes lit up. They scrambled after it, making terrifying laughing noises: “It’s a Giant Panda! Jiejiejiejiejiejie!”

Yu Xuanji put a hand to her forehead, watching her “useless” servants run off.

Huang Liu sat at the table, quietly set down the soup, and chose the safer-looking carrots. Before she could even chew, she clutched her throat, eyes rolling back, and fell backward. “Great King! Did you accidentally knock the entire salt jar into the pot?”

Cang Lan angrily grabbed her by the tail and tossed her out. “No such thing! I only added two extra spoonfuls of salt. I am not that kind of dragon!”

Now only Yu Xuanji, Lu Xuan, Cang Lan, and the Grey Wolf Demon remained. Seeing his companions fall, the Grey Wolf Demon decided to take preemptive action—he pretended to slip and “accidentally” knocked himself unconscious with a palm strike.

Grey Wolf Demon: Deceased (metaphorically).

Lu Xuan, speechless, prepared to sneak away with her fish soup while Cang Lan wasn’t looking.

Cang Lan sat down, picked up a bright white fish ball, and swallowed it whole to prove a point.

Yu Xuanji tried to stop her, but Cang Lan had already popped a second and third ball into her mouth. “Hmph, my cooking isn’t that bad—”

Before she could finish the word, Cang Lan fell straight over.

“A-Lan!” Yu Xuanji cried out in panic, rushing to hold her.

Cang Lan closed her eyes, imprinting Yu Xuanji’s anxious face into her heart before losing consciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, Cang Lan saw a surging lake. Out of the water rose a hideous, sharp-toothed Giant Jiao flood dragon, lunging at her.

Cang Lan dodged nimbly, a sneer on her face. “So it was you causing trouble in Qingyang Lake, pretending to be a Dragon Spirit? Today, I’ll let you see what the last True Dragon in this world actually looks like.”

Dragon horns sprouted from her forehead. In the blink of an eye, her body expanded like growing branches. A massive black shadow completely eclipsed the evil Jiao. Amidst the monster’s terror, the Black Dragon whispered a cold laugh: “A Jiao is but a Jiao. Even if you cultivate for ten thousand years, you are not worth a single scale or whisker of mine.”

Those were the last words the evil Jiao ever heard before it was swallowed whole by the Black Dragon.

The ripples on the water faded. The lake became calm, showing no sign of the battle. The clouds covering the moon drifted away.

Under the starlit sky, Cang Lan hovered over the water for a moment. Finding no further threats, she flew toward a nearby forest.

In the dark woods stood a dilapidated Mountain God Temple, housing a wedding sedan. Cang Lan recognized the Eastern Pearl on top—it was the same sedan that had carried the bride earlier that day.

The wedding party had vanished. The red sedan sat lonely in the ruins, with the faint howl of wolves echoing through the trees.

Inside, Yu Xuanji was curled up, shivering from the cold, her teeth clenched to remain silent. Hearing the cry of an owl, she didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.

She was supposed to have been placed on a boat at midnight and sunk into the lake. But something had happened; her sedan had ended up in this temple, and everyone else was gone.

The red veil still covered her head. Every small movement caused the cold jade ornaments of her headdress to knock against her forehead.

As the wolf howls drew closer, Yu Xuanji huddled tighter. She never imagined that instead of being taken by the Dragon God, she would end up as wolf prey.

Just as she prepared for the worst, the howling abruptly stopped. Only the whistling mountain wind remained.

Then came the sound of steady, unhurried footsteps. Yu Xuanji’s heart hammered against her ribs. Terrified, she shifted her weight, making a small noise.

The footsteps stopped. Yu Xuanji snatched a gold hairpin from her hair, gripping it with both hands and pointing it toward the entrance. She closed her eyes, determined to go down fighting, whoever—or whatever—was out there.

Sensing her fear, the person outside hesitated. Yu Xuanji’s knuckles turned white.

The footsteps resumed, approaching the sedan. Yu Xuanji’s heart was in her throat. Then, a hand slowly lifted the curtain, and the interior of the dark sedan was suddenly flooded with silvery moonlight.

Yu Xuanji’s eyelashes trembled. Seeing no immediate horror, she slowly opened her eyes, though her grip on the hairpin didn’t loosen.

In the soft, pearlescent moonlight, she saw a slender, pale hand reach under the red veil. The fingers were long and beautiful, whiter than the moon itself—the hand of a woman.

Yu Xuanji stared at the hand, her grip on the hairpin finally softening. She watched it, actually contemplating whether she should take that hand and step out.

Suddenly, a woman’s light laughter echoed—crisp and clear like silver bells:

“Lady, please alight from the sedan.”