The Amnesiac, Sickly Beauty Is Pregnant With My Dragon Cub - Chapter 43.1

Yu Xuanji quickly pushed Cang Lan away. As the other party tried to lean in again, she said, “Stop fooling around, let’s cook first. Go to Tushan Bai’s vegetable garden and see if there are red chili peppers and garlic. Pick some other seasoning plants while you’re at it.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Yu Xuanji couldn’t help but smile and press a hand to her forehead. She had asked Cang Lan to find these seasoning plants in the garden, but she had certainly asked the wrong person.

“Forget it, I’ll wait for Tu Shan to finish her work and go with her instead.”

Hearing this, Cang Lan immediately felt slighted. She stood defiantly in front of Yu Xuanji and said indignantly, “What does my lady mean by that? Do you think I can’t find them? There is nothing between heaven and earth that I cannot find.”

Yu Xuanji continued washing the crawfish, thinking to herself that she needed to get this dragon out of the kitchen quickly. Otherwise, with how clingy Cang Lan was being, they wouldn’t finish washing this bucket of crawfish even by tomorrow.

Seeing Cang Lan’s indignant expression, Yu Xuanji smiled and said, “Alright then. Go find some red chili fruits and white garlic for me. Garlic grows underground, so you’ll have to look carefully so you don’t pick the wrong thing.”

Cang Lan said proudly, “Lady, you have too little faith in me. How could I possibly pick the wrong thing?”

Yu Xuanji smiled and said, “Fine, you are the most capable. Go now. Both of these vegetables are spicy; if you aren’t sure, taste them. You can handle spicy food, right?”

Cang Lan tried to recall—she didn’t think she had ever eaten spicy food before—but she puffed out her chest regardless and said, “I can!”

Yu Xuanji put down her brush and the crawfish, literally pushing Cang Lan out of the kitchen door. She smiled and cautioned, “Just taste a tiny bit when you find them. I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle it.”

Cang Lan turned to leave. “It’s just a mere chili pepper, how could I not handle it? Just you wait, Lady.”

Yu Xuanji smiled and sighed. Just as she looked up, she saw Cang Lan return. Cang Lan cupped Yu Xuanji’s face with both hands and gave her a fierce kiss on the lips.

Mwah—

After the kiss, Cang Lan licked her lips with satisfaction, smacked her lips as if wanting more, and then ran and skipped toward the east.

Yu Xuanji shook her head, watching Cang Lan’s figure disappear into the distance, and instinctively touched her lips with her hand. After touching them, she looked at her right hand—which had just been handling crawfish—in horror, and rushed to the well to wash both her hand and her mouth thoroughly.

Cang Lan arrived at the vegetable garden in Tushan Bai’s backyard. It was filled with fruits and vegetables of all colors and varieties, even more than what she had planted herself. Cang Lan felt a sudden urge to summon a gust of wind to sweep all the vegetables and the soil away with her.

But if she did that, Yu Xuanji would surely get to the bottom of it and ask where the vegetables came from. If she couldn’t explain it clearly, they would end up in a conflict over a trivial matter.

However, Cang Lan actually quite enjoyed “flirting and bickering” with Yu Xuanji. Tushan Bai had said that occasional flirting could add a bit of romantic interest between a couple, so things wouldn’t become dull.

“Red… what-pepper,” Cang Lan muttered to herself as she searched through the garden. Finally, she spotted a patch of bright red chili fruits. She picked one and remembered what Yu Xuanji had said about tasting it to see if it was the right thing.

Yu Xuanji had also warned her to eat only a little and not to have too much at once.

Cang Lan looked at the chili fruit lying in her palm—it was less than half a finger long. She thought to herself, how much flavor could this possibly have? She casually wiped the dust off and stuffed it directly into her mouth to chew.

At first, it had a sweet and crisp taste. A hint of a smile appeared on Cang Lan’s face, but as she continued to chew, she realized something was wrong.

A wave of heat rushed straight to the top of her head. Cang Lan’s face turned red instantly, and her lips became a vivid crimson. She sprinted around the vegetable garden with her mouth wide open, her face flushed and her lips swelling up.

In the blink of an eye, Cang Lan ran to the well, cupped some ice-cold water, and poured it into her mouth. Her mouth felt painful, numb, swollen, and hot. she stuck out her bright red tongue, panting and gasping for air, her chest heaving up and down.

Slumping down by the well, Cang Lan used her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead and the water from the corners of her mouth and face. She licked her hot, painful lips with her numb tongue and leaned against the well, crying in agony.

Yu Xuanji heard the sound of “wuwu” sobbing from outside. Thinking someone was being bullied, she put down the crawfish and walked out. She looked closely and saw that the person slumped by the well, crying loudly, was actually Cang Lan.

“A-Lan!”

Yu Xuanji ran over, but Cang Lan acted as if she had seen a ghost and avoided her, covering her face tightly with both hands, refusing to let Yu Xuanji see.

Cang Lan cried while shaking her head awkwardly, the sounds coming from her mouth sounding a bit strange.

Yu Xuanji crouched in front of her, gripped her wrists, and forced her hands away from her face. She asked anxiously, “A-Lan, what on earth happened to—”

Her words stopped abruptly. Yu Xuanji looked at Cang Lan’s swollen, “sausage-like” lips and choked back the rest of her sentence. She asked with a stiff neck, “How did you end up like this?”

Cang Lan’s two swollen, hot lips couldn’t close. She pouted and said, “Lady, I just took a bite of a chili pepper and became like this. Lady, look, are my lips still there?”

Seeing Cang Lan in such a state, Yu Xuanji felt both anxious and frustrated. She led her by the hand into the kitchen, mixed some cold water with white salt, and handed the bowl of salt water to Cang Lan.

Before she could tell her to rinse and spit it out, Cang Lan took the bowl and gulped it all down in one go.

“…”

After drinking the salt water, Cang Lan’s face showed a look of pain. “Lady, this water is so salty, it’s not good at all.”

Yu Xuanji was helpless and could only prepare another bowl of salt water. This time, before she could even open her mouth, Cang Lan snatched the bowl and downed it again, complaining, “Lady, it’s still not good.”

“…”

Yu Xuanji sighed. “If it’s not good, why did you finish it?”

Seeing Cang Lan’s sly expression, Yu Xuanji was originally resigned, but at the sight of her lower face swollen like a sausage, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Ahem.” Before Cang Lan’s resentful gaze could sweep over her, Yu Xuanji took out the sugar jar, scooped a spoonful of white sugar, and mixed it into some spring water. “Here, try this.”

Cang Lan took a sip of the sugar water, and her eyes lit up. The sweet taste instantly filled her mouth. She gulped it down in a few seconds, then held the bowl longingly, looking at Yu Xuanji with puppy eyes. “Lady, I want more.”

Yu Xuanji slowly pinched Cang Lan’s chin and said, “Open your mouth, let me see if your tongue is swollen.”

Cang Lan obediently opened her mouth, but her eyes remained fixed on the sugar jar, wanting to snatch it and eat it all at once.

From the corner of her eye, Yu Xuanji saw Cang Lan staring intently at one spot and knew she was up to no good. Her tongue wasn’t blistered, but it was red and swollen, especially at the tip, which was flushed with blood from the spice.

Cang Lan kept her mouth open, acting obediently while holding the bowl to her chest. She pointed to the sugar jar and said pitifully, “Lady, mouth hurts, want to drink that sweet water.”

It was cloyingly sweet, yet incredibly cute.

Yu Xuanji gave Cang Lan another bowl of sugar water, intending to send her out to play afterward. But she hadn’t expected the dragon to become addicted. After finishing one bowl, she wanted a second; otherwise, she would follow behind and nag incessantly.

Seeing Cang Lan’s pitiful state, Yu Xuanji knew that her condition was partly her own fault. If she hadn’t asked her to pick chilies, this might not have happened.

Fine, fine. Yu Xuanji rubbed the top of Cang Lan’s head, thinking that since she was young, being greedy for sweets wasn’t a big deal. If she wanted sugar water, let her have it; she was a dragon, so drinking a bit more shouldn’t cause any harm.

With that thought, Yu Xuanji gave Cang Lan another bowl of sugar water. Originally, Cang Lan wanted to devour it in one go, but when she heard Yu Xuanji say it was the last bowl, she started sipping it slowly like a little cat.

Once Cang Lan finished the water, Yu Xuanji smiled and took the bowl, washing it by the sink. “A-Lan, I’m going to the garden. You stay in the kitchen and help me wash these crawfish again; I’ve already cleaned them once.”

Cang Lan glanced at the sugar jar and nodded vigorously. “Don’t worry, Lady!”

Yu Xuanji was certainly not worried—at least not about the crawfish. She went to the garden alone, picked some chilies, and noticed a few Sichuan peppercorn trees nearby, laden with fruit regardless of the season.

Looking at Tushan Bai’s beautiful little garden filled with vegetables and fruits, Yu Xuanji felt very envious. She planned to build a small garden in front of her bamboo house in Denglin and would get the seeds from Tushan Bai when the time came.

Initially, Cang Lan was indeed washing the crawfish properly. After finishing, she brought the wooden basin back to the kitchen, her eyes fixed on the sugar jar.

She set down the basin of crawfish and, while Yu Xuanji was away, quietly unscrewed the sugar jar. She took a large spoonful, put it in fresh water, and downed it in one breath.

So refreshing!

It was the first time Cang Lan had ever had such sweet water, and she couldn’t help but make herself a few more bowls. She rubbed her bulging stomach, looked at the white sugar crystals inside, and took a spoonful to put directly into her mouth.

The moment it entered her mouth, an overwhelming sweetness hit the top of her head. Cang Lan’s face contorted in pain, and she ran outside, spitting out the sugar crystals. “Blegh—”

It was too sweet. No wonder her lady only put a little bit in. Eating this stuff directly was far too unpleasant.

Cang Lan’s mouth and tongue didn’t hurt as much as before. She rinsed her mouth with more water. Once the discomfort faded, she looked up to see Yu Xuanji returning with a basket full of produce.

Yu Xuanji had picked many cloves of garlic, chilies, and other pungent vegetables. She had also picked a small watermelon from the field.

Cang Lan had never seen such a thing. Yu Xuanji took out the watermelon and handed it to her, saying, “This is a freshly picked watermelon. It’s still warm inside; it needs to be chilled to taste good.”

Just as Yu Xuanji finished speaking, she saw Cang Lan about to use magic to freeze it. She stopped her with a smile. “If you freeze it directly like that, it will get ruined. I’ll teach you: put the watermelon in a bucket, sink it to the bottom of the well, and leave it for a few hours. It will become cold, the flavor will be sweeter, and it will be crispier.”

Cang Lan was already salivating just hearing about it. She immediately did as Yu Xuanji said, sinking the watermelon into the icy well water, then followed Yu Xuanji back into the kitchen.

As soon as Yu Xuanji entered, she noticed that the sugar jar had been moved, and there was sugar grains scattered nearby. She opened it and saw that a significant amount of sugar was missing. The culprit was currently squatting by the vegetable basket, poking at the vegetables.

Seeing Cang Lan acting like a child, poking here and there, Yu Xuanji smiled and said, “A-Lan, help me prepare the vegetables. Clean them well. There are also a few mushrooms I found; we’ll stir-fry them together later.”

Cang Lan had never eaten mushrooms before. She pulled a few plump white mushrooms from the bottom of the basket and sniffed them, catching a faint fragrance.

Yu Xuanji was scrubbing the pot, preparing to light the fire. When she turned around, she saw Cang Lan holding a mushroom to her mouth, about to eat it raw.

“…”

Yu Xuanji dropped her flint and rushed to Cang Lan, grabbing her chin. She was so anxious she started to stutter: “Did you… did you swallow it? Spit it out, quickly!”

Cang Lan swallowed and said, “Lady, I was testing the mushroom for you to see if it was poisonous. These mushroom tastes sweet and quite good; it shouldn’t be poisonous.”

Yu Xuanji’s voice was trembling. She touched Cang Lan’s forehead and muttered to herself, “What’s going on? Could she have been driven mad by the chili?”