LBRDI Chapter 80

Dark History

Shen Mian and He Xing stood outside the dormitory, listening to the chaotic comforting voices of the little dragon cubs.

In order to appease Lu Yuan, who was already devastated and had come back to be stabbed twice by He Xing, the little dragon cubs even contacted Yan Tan.

The voice of Yan Tan on the light screen was loud and clear. “You’re not ugly! Look at your pink, it’s not saturated and it doesn’t hurt your eyes to look at! Very classy! And paired with black, it is especially stylish and unique!”

Rhein swallowed the small cookie. “Yeah!”

The little elven dragon followed Lansin back to Water Star yesterday, but the childcare centre hadn’t started school yet, so Lansin and Rhein were too embarrassed to disturb Shen Mian. He had not gone over the entire time and when he found out that Lu Yuan was coming over in the morning, Rhein finally couldn’t resist and flew over with the various desserts prepared by Lansin.

Gian tried his best to comfort the dyed little fatty. “Low-key! Modest! Classy!”

Rhein ate a scoop of pudding. “Yeah!”

Xing Fei emphasised, “Cute! Gentle! Distinctive!”

Rhein unwrapped a piece of milk candy and put it in his mouth, vaguely agreeing, “Yueh!”

t/n: he has something in his mouth, which made him mispronounce his words

Lu Yuan was surrounded by Gian, Xing Fei and Rhein and twitchingly asked, “Really?”

Gian, “Extraordinarily true!”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but climb up and stand in front of the mirror. He looked around for a while and whispered, “…It’s quite good looking.”

Xing Fei raised her hand sharply to cover her mouth, but her eyes had curled up and she nodded along with Gian, who was doing his best to hold back a smile.

Shen Mian held his arm and listened to Lu Yuan being successfully fooled by the other little dragon cubs for a while, before walking down the stairs with He Xing.

Only then did He Xing have time to ask, “What’s wrong with Lu Yuan? He wasn’t this colour the other day when we spoke on the phone.”

Shen Mian explained, “When some spotted dragon cubs prepare to go into their human state, their appearance will change a little. Lu Yuan only changed colours. Some cubs will shed their hair and the internal self-adjustment will be fine for a while. This happens to many genus’ dragon cubs. didn’t it happen to you when you were a child?”

He Xing, “…I think it did.”

Shen Mian became a little interested. “What kind? Discolouration or loss of scales? Or was it fur loss?”

He Xing suddenly remembered something and stiffly changed the subject. “The designer asked me to look at the drawings, so I’ll go over first.”

Shen Mian read the words “There must be something” from his back as he hurriedly left.

Dean Shen thoughtfully turned around to comfort Lu Yuan (to satisfy his curiosity), he had to get the words out.

……

Based on the resumes and interviews, Shen Mian chose six childcare teachers and two nutritionists and sent them a message telling them that the school year started on December 20 and if it was convenient, they could come over tomorrow to familiarise themselves with the childcare centre.

At the same time, he had also received several requests from dragon cubs who wanted to transfer. Their parents even came to the centre to ask if they could attend but not live in as they all lived in the residential area near the centre. Most parents wanted their little dragon cubs to be able to return home at night to rest, so when there was a childcare centre around their residence, they would naturally choose the centre that was closer, which was exactly what Shen Mian thought at the time.

Halfway through the afternoon, two worn-out adult dragons got out from a suspension car and rang the centre’s gates doorbell.

Unfortunately, Shen Mian was dragged by He Xing to watch the construction progress in the clearing. The soundproof walls around the mock battle arena were being built, the villa was under construction not far away and the noises of construction machines and dragons managed to override the quantum computers reminders.

But the dragon cubs found it too noisy and ran out into the open area early in the morning to bask in the sun.

According to the “home remedies” found by little Xing Fei, it said that it would help the colour fade. Hearing the sound of the doorbell, Gian stood up and ran to the door, skillfully took out a small stool from the guard room and stepped on it. “Hello, can I help you with anything?”

Lucas and Rod didn’t expect that it would be little dragon cubs who first answered. They were originally under General Zhao Xingchen and after many years in the army, they barely earned the rank of sergeant, but after being wounded, they couldn’t stay in the army any longer, so they had to retire. While the Empire paid a large amount of pension every month, if you were single and didn’t require a high standard of living, you could live off of that for the rest of your life, but you would still have to get a job if you wanted to have a family.

The both of them were very fortunate. The jobs they were originally assigned to were already full and because of employment difficulties, they reported to General Zhao Xingchen. The General simply found two jobs for them, which assigned them to the Crown Prince.

Rod scratched his head. He was so used to yelling at the top of his lungs in the army that he didn’t know how to speak while facing such a gentle and polite attitude from the little dragon cub.

Would a dragon cub this small become scared and cry if he accidentally became a little louder? And he had heard that the dean was a human. The dragon cubs taught by the dean were probably all like him.

Rod thought: If he ever got married, he’d like to have his dragon cub schooled here and be raised with good manners, not like him, who talks like he’s arguing and yells like he’s swearing.

Lucas bent down and asked, “Can I know if Dean Shen is in the centre?”

Gian swung his tail. “Please wait a bit, Uncle. I’ll go get the Dean.”
He jumped off the stool and ran towards the construction site. The other dragon cubs came over holding paws, tilting their heads up with curious looks.

There’s even a human-dragon hybrid cub here!

Both Lucas and Rod hadn’t been in contact with little dragon cubs in a long time and both felt themselves growing stiff under the cubs’ gaze. Lucas awkwardly scratched his hair, which he had just cut a few days before, and tried to talk to the little dragon cubs. “Are you all students here?”

The hybrid little girl nodded. “En. Is Uncle here to apply?”

Rod found that these little dragon cubs were not as timid as he thought, so he couldn’t help but chat with them, “You’re so young and you know how to apply for a job? Too clever!”

Xing Fei, “…Many little dragon cubs know how to do it and there were a lot of dragons that came here today to apply.”
The little girl jumped off the stool and gave up on communicating with the adult dragons.

Lu Yuan climbed onto the stool and asked with great interest, “Uncle, were you in the army before?”

He had seen many occupations before with his grandfather and sensed in both uncles a similar temperament to that of Uncle He.

Rod nodded with a big grin. “I got a little hurt so I retired.”

Lu Yuan, “Do you drive starships?”

Rod scratched his head. “There’s a lot to learn in order to drive a starship and people like us who can’t study well get confused when we see those operation keys, so we can’t drive them.”

Lu Yuan jumped off the stool and crouched on the side, very disappointed, leaving the other little dragon cubs and the two adult dragons with a fluffy black and pink back.

Rod poked Lucas and whispered, “Is that little dragon cub a cotton dragon? Do cotton dragons come in many colours now? It’s baby pink.”
It seemed like cotton dragons only came in this colour, but aren’t cotton dragons a solid colour?

Xing Fei and Rhein, “!!”
They just fooled, no, coaxed him at noon!

Lu Yuan couldn’t even care about the sadness and twisted his head to retort, “I’m not a cotton dragon, I’m a spotted dragon. It’s not baby pink, it’s high-class pink. Yan Tan said it’s the new trendy colour contrast.”

Rod and Lucas were a little confused, both thinking that little dragon cubs  know so much.

A few minutes later, a young man approached. His steps were quick and in a few minutes he was at the door, followed by a dragon that Rod and Lucas were all too familiar with- the Marshal, also the Crown Prince of the Empire. The Marshal held a green and gold dragon cub in his arms, not knowing what he was talking about and smiling.

This young man should be the centre’s Dean.

It was completely different to the graceful, shy and gentle image that Rod and Lucas had imagined. He was about the same height as the human forms of large-sized dragons. There was no expression on his face and no emotion to be seen as his eyes swept over.

The two dragons couldn’t help but become nervous.

Shen Mian had already gotten the two dragons’ files and recognised them upon meeting them, confirming again out of courtesy. “Are you Mr Lucas and Mr Rod? I’m Shen Mian, this centre’s dean.”

The two dragons were busy nodding and relaxed a little: The Dean was very easy to talk to.

Shen Mian opened the door to invite them in. “Please come in. He Xing and I were just watching the construction in the back. I didn’t notice the message from my quantum computer, I apologise.”

The two dragons quickly shook their heads, carefully stepping into the centre, slightly stiffly greeting He Xing and Shen Mian.

He Xing smiled. “It’s been a long trip. Go check out the dormitory first. We’ll talk after you two rest for a bit.”

He had always been thoughtful and considerate in his actions and words, relieving Rod and Lucas of the situation and allowing the two dragons to relax.

Shen Mian nodded at Rod and Lucas. He also saw that the two dragons were nervous, so he didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Come with me. The dormitory is in that building.”

He leaned over and rubbed the closed-up Lu Yuan and asked the other dragon cubs, “Are you coming up with me?”

The little dragon cubs were fine with it, but of course, they chose to stick behind Shen Mian and followed him into the dormitory building. Rod and Lucas’s dormitory was arranged on the first floor, one of the larger ones in the entire dormitory building and it was also very spacious for the sturdy adult dragons.

The adult dragon’s bunk beds were much taller than the cub’s one. Lu Yuan and Gian couldn’t help but go over and touch the hard ladder, thinking they’d have to sleep in a bed this big in the future.

Shen Mian explained to the two dragons what they would be doing in the future, paused and spoke, “The voyage is quite tiring, so you guys can rest first. Dinner’s at 6:30 and the dining hall is beside here. You can see the sign when you walk out. If there’s anything you’re not comfortable with, you can talk to me or He Xing.”

Rod snapped and stood up straight. “Not tired at all! It’s very nice. Lucas and I are in good health and if the dean needs to do anything, he can just order us around. Us large dragons are exceptionally good housekeepers and can work.”

Meals and housing were included and the salary wasn’t low, what a great job! So of course they had to work hard.

Xing Fei listened for a moment, feeling like the words keep watch over the family and protect the home sounded a bit odd.

Lucas nodded. “We can’t do anything else, we’re still strong enough to do the work of moving things and assembling large machinery and such.”

Shen Mian looked at their faces, which were still a little pale because they had been just discharged from the hospital and thought: They wouldn’t be enough for him to beat up even when added together.

He paused for a moment. “The centre doesn’t usually have any heavy work, so you guys can rest now. When school starts in a few days, just pay more attention to the little dragon cubs’ safety.”

He Xing coughed and was about to speak when his quantum computer buzzed. He took it out and looked at it. It was a call request from Zhao Xingchen.

It should be to ask about Rod and Lucas.

He Xing picked up the call. The light screen popped up and Zhao XIngchen was wearing casual clothes, slumped on the couch. “I called to ask if Rod and the other have arrived yet.”

He Xing set aside his quantum computer so that the camera was pointed at Rod and Lucas. “They’re already here. This is the dorm that was cleaned up ahead of time and the environment is similar to what we had at the base.”

Lucas didn’t expect General Zhao Xingchen to personally call to ask about it and excitedly spoke, “The environment is good and the job description was clear. Although Rod and I have been out of society for a while, we will definitely work hard and learn the rules and regulations of the centre, so as not to disgrace the Imperial forces!”

Zhao Xingchen sat up and talked about business matters seriously. “Don’t get out of touch and don’t be nervous about the job. We are in the army to watch the Empire’s gates and you coming out to work is to watch the childcare centre’s gate. The principle is similar.”

He Xing patted Lucas on the shoulder. “Who isn’t a gatekeeper? My main job now is to watch the house and you guys are still a bit better than me.”

Rod and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.

Shen Mian, “…”

Zhao Xingchen leaned in close. “Where are the little dragon cubs? Let me see the dragon cubs. Let Lu Yuan and Rhein say hello to me. I haven’t spoken to those two cubs yet.”

Shen Mian patted Rhein and Lu Yuan. Rhein flew up and openly bowed. “Hello, Uncle.”

Zhao Xingchen lay in front of his quantum computer. “Hello, Rhein.”

Lu Yuan jumped a few times but couldn’t reach the camera. Lucas was about to give a stool to Lu Yuan when he saw the tall and thin Dean, who didn’t seem particularly good at combat, leaning over and picking up the several hundred catty little fatty!

He just picked him up!
Lucas and Rod fell into a state of confusion: Where are the humans, who’s shoulders couldn’t resist hands and can’t lift, go?

Zhao Xingchen was surprised. “This is… a dyed version of Lu Yuan?”

Shen Mian explained, “His body has been preparing for his human state lately.”

Lu Yuan now felt quite beautiful and greeted Zhao Xingchen with his little short tail up. “Hello, Uncle. What do you think of my colour?”

Zhao Xingchen’s EQ promptly pushed back the “not very pretty” that came to his lips and he mulled it over for two seconds, deciding to build Lu Yuan’s self-confidence. “Actually, when I saw you like this, I suddenly remembered that He Xing was like this when he was your age.”

The little dragon cubs in the room and Dean Shen simultaneously focused their attention on Zhao Xingchen.

Rod and Lucas were horrified: Were they listening to something they shouldn’t? Will the Marshal hang us up and beat us until we lose our memory?

He Xing wanted to cut off the call immediately. “My colour didn’t change! What kind of rumour are you spreading? I’m solid gold, I’ve always been this colour.”

Zhao Xingchen said while laughing, “You didn’t change colour but you became small. Ah, Dean, I’ll tell you, he was always unable to control his size at that time. He disappeared in class and I looked down and found him on the ground. He once became smaller while he was sleeping and his tail was stepped on by Yan Huan, who was passing by, which resulted in them fighting from afternoon to evening.”

He Xing took a deep breath. “Did I tell the other dragons everywhere that you gained over three hundred catties at that time? You lack virtue, don’t you?”

Zhao Xingchen was very dissatisfied. “Why is a dragon like you like this? I’m doing this to… to adjust the atmosphere.”

He Xing wanted to pull him out from the screen to give him a beating.

Shen Mian watched for a while, feeling that He Xing was about to go into the screen to beat up Zhao Xingchen.

sauced

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