by Dragon King
“Your tattoo is saying otherwise. It is the best proof for what you took.” Refusing to take her eyes off Hao Ren for even a second, the pretty little girl insisted.
“And why is that?” Hao Ren asked.
“Well, I can’t state my reasoning with you… Anyway, I know for a fact that you have my bead. Which pocket did you put it in? It should be close to your stomach, right? Humph, you’d better not make me search you.” She asserted.
“Search me? How is such a little girl talking so big?…” Hao Ren shot her a glance and carried on with his meal.
It also seemed that she had starved herself while waiting for Hao Ren this morning as she devoured her meal at a fast speed.
Seizing the chance, Hao Ren raised his head and observed her quietly. He found that the white shirt she was wearing was not a common white shirt. Even though the shirt indicated vigorous spirit of a middle-schooler overall, it was more of a retro style shirt. The lace knot on her chest was butterfly-like and adorned her petite body perfectly.
Also, the bottom of her shirt was tucked into her jeans, displaying a nice contour of her slim waist. Along with her idyllic style floral patterned wooden sandals, Hao Ren was convinced that this girl must have come from an extraordinary background.
Particularly, for someone who was at the age of a middle-schooler, her casual gesture of throwing out 500 Yuan so carelessly was definitely not a common gesture among ordinary middle-schoolers.
At this moment, the pretty little girl abruptly lifted her head. She seemed to have noticed that Hao Ren was studying her. To conceal his interest and thoughts, Hao Ren quickly put his head down.
Needless to say, the appearance of such an adorable little girl in a university cafeteria had attracted attention from many of the university students.
“Ay, they must just think this is my little sister…” Hao Ren reassured himself.
“You’d better leave as soon as you finish eating. Since you came all the way here by yourself, your parents must be worried,” Hao Ren said to her.
“As long as you return to me what is mine, I will be able to go home with ease. I’m warning you, if my parents find out what I have lost and decide to come to you for it themselves, you will be in very serious trouble.” With her eyes on Hao Ren, she suddenly spoke in a calm and mellow manner.
Nonetheless, her words obviously hinted at the underlying threat.
This time, her remarks almost caused Hao Ren to break down. He honestly had no clue what she was talking about. “Kids at this age, whatever small matters they run into, always like to involve their parents so they could just conveniently hide behind them. With that being said, if her parents do get involved, this would become a very sticky business for me.” Thoughts were running wild in his head.
Yet, Hao Ren still didn’t think that he had taken anything that was hers. He came out with nothing on him yesterday. After the encounter with her, all he brought back to the dorm were two decks of cards.
As for the bead that she kept on babbling about, Hao Ren was wearing pocketless pajamas and a pair of slippers at the time. How could he have possibly brought anything away with him? She must have dropped it somewhere else.
As for the round of green patterns on his skin, they were an allergic reaction resulted from his overconsumption of seafood from a while ago according to the doctor.
However, judging from her stubborn character, he was afraid that her family would also believe that he had taken something from her. By then, there would be no way for him to explain himself anymore. Thinking of this, Hao Ren felt that he was developing a mild headache over the trouble he got himself into from trying to save someone.
“Stop following me. I said I didn’t take anything from you, and that means I didn’t take anything from you. Even if you get your parents to come with you, I would still say the same thing,” Hao Ren declared as he stood up and grabbed his tray.
After that, he returned the tray and walked out of the cafeteria. Yet, when he turned his head, he found that the little girl was still following him.
Hao Ren decided to stop paying attention to her and walked right into the library building while drawing out his student ID.
Beep… Verification was approved by the card reader and the entrance to the passage had opened.
She wanted to follow him inside but was denied access as the entrance quickly closed off.
Standing on the other side, Hao Ren gave her a small wave and walked into the lobby of the library without any hesitation. He was relieved that he finally got rid of her.
“You will come to me yourself.” standing outside the passage, the pretty little girl confidently stated.
4 Cottage by the Beach
After ditching the mysterious little girl, Hao Ren went to the second floor of the library to look up some information. In the end, he borrowed a few books that he found were relevant and walked out of the library.
As he expected, the little girl was nowhere in sight when he got out
Looking up at the gloomy sky, Hao Ren was still thinking about this whole incident involving the little girl. He wondered if he’d be doomed next week.
If her parents really came to see him about it, how annoying would that be… It was completely her own fault for losing her belonging. Yet, she blamed him for it just so she could shirk any responsibility of her own.
When he returned to the dorm room, his roommates were all concerned with the cause and the aftermath of the incident. However, all Hao Ren told them was that it was smoothly resolved and did not go into any details. He didn’t want to drag his roommates into something so troublesome and annoying.
“The little girl is very pretty though. Just give her a few years, she’ll definitely become the most popular girl in any school.” Zhao Jiayi sighed in admiration while patting Hao Ren’s shoulder as he tried to comfort him.
Sure, she was pretty, but she was also a huge troublemaker. Therefore, the smart thing to do would be to avoid any contact with her.
“Didn’t you have to go home this week? Did you finish looking up all the information you needed?” Zhao Jiayi asked.
“Yep, I am just getting ready to leave for home now.” Hao Ren placed the books he borrowed from the library onto the desk and took out another empty backpack.
“Come back earlier tomorrow, so we can play cards in the evening!” Again, Zhao Jiayi patted Hao Ren’s shoulder while instilling a friendly reminder.
“Sure, I will. Thanks for your help today. ” Hao Ren waved to his dormmates as he left.
On the bus home, Hao Ren couldn’t help but roll up his sleeve to examine his wrist again.
The green marks were very much like dragon scales. Thanks to his mighty scrubbing, the color had lightened a lot.
He imagined if his grandma saw this, she would surely think he had been hanging out with the wrong crowd in school and got himself a tattoo… Hao Ren let out a heavy sigh. As he opened the window, a cool breeze came in and lightly caressed his face. Gradually, he fell asleep.
When Hao Ren woke up, the bus had already traveled for more than an hour - he was almost home.
Sleepy and dazed, he grabbed his backpack and got off the bus. He started walking along a wide concrete path.
From time to time, there were expensive and fancy cars driving by him. In contrast, as he was carrying a backpack and walking on foot, Hao Ren seemed a little miserable.
It took him exactly thirty minutes to walk to an area where there were houses.
If Hao Ren’s classmates had seen this, they would definitely be astounded. Hao Ren’s home was actually located in the harbor area which had the finest views of the ocean in East Ocean City. Moreover, embedded among the group of cottages, his house was the seemingly ordinary looking two-story cottage that was only two hundred meters away from the beach.
“Grandma!” Feeling a little exhausted, Hao Ren shouted as he pushed open a carved-through iron gate.
“Ren, you’re back!” A kind and benign looking elder came out of th
e house and welcomed Hao Ren with an everlasting smile. “How come you are so late today?”
“Heehee, I have an assignment that is due next week, so I had to look up some more information before I could leave.” Following his grandma inside the house, Hao Ren asked, “How was your week, grandma?”
“Business as usual - did some cleaning around the house, took some walks along the beach, tended to the flowers and lawn, and did some stock trading as well. Uncle Wang is off this weekend. Let grandma show off her cooking this time,” grandma answered with a chuckle.
“Stock trading? How much did you earn this week?” Hao Ren inquired lightheartedly.
“It is not a business where you can just make money every week. In fact, I lost 6000 Yuan this week. But you know, this is not what Grandma cares about nowadays. Actually, there was news from Norway, your parents are about to finish their expedition and might be able to come home next month.” Grandma explained to Hao Ren as she walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, next month? That is soon.” Hao Ren followed her into the kitchen to help out.
Actually, they had hired a cook - Uncle Wang. It was so that someone could cook for Grandma and keep her company here in the cottage. As Hao Ren’s parents were abroad and Hao Ren had to go to school during the week, it could get boring and lonely for Grandma.
However, Uncle Wang had to go home this weekend due to some family business. Therefore, although there was not much to do at home for Hao Ren, he had to come home to make sure his grandma had company.
Besides his parents who were elusive and rarely home, he was closest to his grandma.
“Grandma, there is a question I have been thinking about today.” While cutting up vegetables, Hao Ren asked, “do you think dragons exist?”
“Dragons?” Grandma seemed to be interested in such topic. Her eyes lit up as she thought, “Apparently, some residents of East Ocean City had had encounters with dragons here back in the days.”
“Really?” Hao Ren was now genuinely engaged as well.
“Yes. Actually, I had an encounter myself. I was young then, in my 20s. One day, I was working in the field, and a storm had come upon us out of nowhere. A good friend of mine and I were trying to find a place to shelter ourselves. It was then that I saw a chunk of awfully thick cloud suddenly descend to a low altitude…”
Along with his grandma’s story, Hao Ren felt as though his heart had been suspending in midair. He urged, “Then what, Grandma? Keep going!”
“Well, at the time, I saw a flash of dragon-shaped lightning protrude out of the cloud and swam across the sky for a bit. I was terrified. I later thought it was an illusion. Yet, when I thought of it more, the cloud was greyish to white, very different from the other clouds in the sky which were pitch-black.” Grandma seemed deeply lost in thought as she recalled the incident.
“Lightning… I guess it was a natural phenomenon after all,” Hao Ren stated.
“That was what your father said to me as well. But you know, he never had any interest or tolerance for supernatural phenomena. However, that good friend of mine later told me that she indeed saw a white dragon come out of the cloud and start sucking up water from the lake. She also saw a broad spout of water ascend skyward from the lake. I asked if it was true, and she said she was absolutely sure about it and would never lie to me.”
Grandma’s description was so vivid and detailed that it was giving Hao Ren goosebumps.
If dragons really did exist, then…
“Why did you want to ask about dragons all of a sudden?” Snapping out of her reminiscence, Grandma asked Hao Ren.
“Oh, I was just curious.” Retracting his surprised expression, Hao Ren lowered his head and continued chopping vegetables.
“Here in East Ocean City, it is said that many people have seen dragons in the past. Also, according to legends from the past, there was supposedly a dragon palace nearby. Allegedly, East Ocean City got its name for this reason,” Grandma added.
“Like the East Ocean Dragon Palace from the legends?” Hao Ren turned and asked.
“Haha, maybe.” As she finished washing the vegetables, Grandma placed them into the pot.
“How come we don’t see dragons anymore then?” Hao Ren inquired.
“It could be due to the change of environment. With the deterioration of the environment, many creatures have gone extinct.” Grandma’s response had left Hao Ren speechless.
Just like that, the two chatted intermittently about various topics and finished dinner. After watching TV together for a while, they went to their beds respectively.
After he went to his room, Hao Ren had trouble sleeping. He opened the window and gazed up at the splendid starry sky. Coupled with the sound of waves from far away, he thought about the story that his grandmother told him earlier. He had developed an intense desire to find out whether dragons existed in this world or not.
Lifting his wrist, the green colored imprint was still evident on his arm. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that the pattern resembled dragon scales.
“Ay, I’m probably overthinking this…” He closed the window, turned off the light, and proceeded to sleep.
5 Time to Find a Girlfriend
The next day, Hao Ren woke up early in the morning. He did some exercises and cooked breakfast for his grandma. Then he took a walk along the beach with her in the pleasant sunny morning.
“Ren, you been looking much more energetic these days.” Grandma said to Hao Ren kindly in the sea breeze.
“My appetite got bigger than before as well.” Hao Ren smiled.
“Hehe, are you seeing someone at the university?” Grandma smiled and asked.
“No…” Hao Ren denied.
“You must have. Did you forget your grandma knows anthroposcopy? You seem to have good luck with women lately.” Grandma chuckled.
“Studying is my priority at the university. How can I start dating?” Hao Ren said pretentiously.
“That’s your father’s opinion. I, on the other hand, encourage my Ren to date. Bring her to grandma if she is a nice girl.” Grandma’s smile spread warmth like a sunflower.
“Alright, I will bring her to you as soon as I get a girlfriend,” Hao Ren promised seriously which made grandma’s smile even brighter.
The two of them watched the ocean on a reef for a while before Hao Ren and his grandma headed back slowly.
He picked up many little shells along the way and put them in his pocket.
“You’ve collected a lot of shells growing up, haven’t you?” Grandma turned over and asked.
“As souvenirs.” Hao Ren threw a shell high up in the air and caught it.
“Hmm, Ren, you been fond of the ocean ever since you were a little boy. Therefore, your heart is as vast as the ocean.” Grandma praised him as she stamped on to the soft sand with her cloth shoes. She then murmured to herself, “You are also filial and kind. How come no girl is into you? Ah! When shall I see my great grandson…?”
Hao Ren did not see through his grandma’s sneaky thoughts. He thought she was just missing her son. He stayed with her for another while after he had walked her back to the house. Then he started to pack up for school.
Grandma stuffed his backpack with all kinds of snacks and local products, making his bag bulge a lot more than it used to be.
“Bring it to school and share it with your classmates. I like Zhao Jiayi and those young fellows.” she walked Hao Ren to the door and urged.
“Ok, I know. You take care of yourself, grandma.” He threw the heavy bag onto his back and started his journey.
The people here all transited in their own vehicles. Due to the small number of residences here, there weren’t any bus stops. The closest one was located near a tourist attraction. Hao Ren had to march for half an hour before arriving at the bus stop. It was like a full cardio workout for him.
Hao Ren thought to himself on the bus, “It was a pretty pleasant weekend.” The bus headed towards the city in the salty sea wind
.
Sure enough, Hao Ren started to distribute his snacks as soon as he arrived at school. It would take him over two weeks to finish them all by himself. The reason why grandma packed so many snacks for him every time was to let him share them with his friends.
“Grandma is the best. Should I find a girlfriend to cheer her up?” Hao Ren thought to himself as he handed out the snacks.
The strange thing was, unlike before, he didn’t feel tired after carrying these things for half an hour. Hao Ren tested his wrist strength secretively and found himself lifting the table up a few centimeters from the ground with only one hand.
He asked in doubt, “Zhou Liren, didn’t you say you want to arm wrestle with me last time?”
Zhou Liren was opening up a pack of chips in excitement. He turned around immediately. “Why, you want to arm wrestle with me?”
“Let’s give it a go,” Hao Ren sat at the table.
“Damn, did I not defeat you hard enough last time? I will only use half of my strength for the sake of all the snacks you have brought.” Zhou Liren put the chips down and sat opposite to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren’s physical strength was in fact not bad. His leg strength was very strong due to his constant jogs. That was why he was able to catch the falling little girl last time without falling down.
However, he hadn’t practiced upper body strength in particular, and that was why he always lost to the 180-centimeters tall Zhou Liren in arm wrestling.
They got into position and grasped each other’s palm. Seeing this, some students from next door and the surrounding dorm rooms who were here for the snacks gathered around them.
“Let me show you what an Instant Kill is!” Zhou Liren rolled up his sleeves in confidence.
Considering the “green tattoo” on his arm, Hao Ren did not roll his sleeves up.
“Three, Two, One!” As the judge, Zhao Jiayi let go of their gripped hands.
“Ah!” Zhou Liren shouted as he gathered all his strength.
Bom! His arm was pressed onto the table immediately.
Everyone was surprised to see this.
