Even If I’m Reborn as a Cute Dragon Girl, I Will Still Make a Harem

The door to the room creaked open. Chen Xing stepped inside, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the dim light.

The teenager was still lying there, motionless, as if all the life had drained from him. If it weren’t for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Chen Xing might have believed he was already dead.

“How horrible… to strike a young boy so brutally…”

Chen Xing kneeled beside Tadashi, propping him up. He winced at the sight of the teenager’s face that was swollen as a pig’s head. The boy couldn’t even open his eyes.

With a shaky voice, he whispered, “Hey, boy… Can you hear me?”

“Who… are you?” Tadashi’s lips quivered as he struggled to force his weak voice out of his throat.@@novelbin@@

“You can still talk… That’s good… That’s good…” Chen Xing pulled out a thermos, filled a cup with warm water, and brought it to Tadashi’s lips. “Here… drink some water. Be careful, don’t choke.”

Glug, glug…

Tadashi’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank, desperately absorbing the liquid into his body.

“I won’t be feeding you anything for now. I only have cookies and instant noodles here. In your condition, you should only be able to handle liquids,” Chen Xing said softly.

He poured a little more water onto his hand and gently wiped the blood from Tadashi’s face. It was only then that Tadashi managed to barely open his eyes to make out the disheveled middle-aged man in front of him.

“T-Thanks…”

“No need to thank me. After all, we’re the ones who captured you. We should be the ones to apologize to you,” Chen Xing replied.

Once he had finished cleaning Tadashi’s face, he realized that the boy was actually quite good-looking. He pulled up the chair Tadashi was sitting in and loosened the ropes binding the boy’s wrists a little more.

The teenager’s hands were already turning black due to poor blood circulation. Had Chen Xing not loosened the ropes, they might have started to necrotize.

When he finished, Chen Xing sat cross-legged in front of Tadashi. He pulled out a crumpled cigarette box from his pocket, shook out a cigarette that was obviously of inferior quality compared to the one he had yesterday.

“Want one?” he asked, offering it to Tadashi.

“N-No, thanks… We… don’t smoke…”

“Good. Kids shouldn’t smoke.”

Chen Xing smiled as he tucked the cigarette back into the box. Since the kid didn’t smoke, he decided not to either. Besides, he’d heard that secondhand smoke was even more harmful than smoking itself.

“My son, that little rascal, started smoking a long time ago. I blame myself, really. I was so focused on work back then, I didn’t have time to discipline him. If I could go back to that day when I first caught him smoking, I’d take the day off and teach him a hard lesson.”

“……”

“Do you have parents, boy?”

Tadashi bowed his head and shook it.

“What about relatives?”

Tadashi shook his head again.

“Sheesh, that’s rough for someone so young like you.” Chen Xing let out a long sigh before asking again, “Why didn’t you go to an orphanage? At your age, there’s no reason they wouldn’t take you in.” ꭆᴀΝỘ₿Ë𝙨

“We… don’t like orphanages…”

“Why?”

“There’s no freedom…”

“No freedom?”

Chen Xing was taken aback for a moment before he burst out laughing in amusement. “You can’t even afford a meal. Is freedom really a priority?”

“…In any case, We hate it there. We stayed for a week and escaped.”

“So… how long have you been out on your own?”

“Five years…”

“Five years? You’ve been begging on the streets for five years?”

“We are not beggar!”

Tadashi suddenly lifted his head and snarled like an enraged little beast. Chen Xing froze, then quickly apologized.

Tadashi stiffened for a moment before his angry expression softened too.

“No, We are sorry too…”

“No need to apologize. Anyone would be angry at being called a beggar,” Chen Xing said, shaking his head with a smile. He paused for a moment before continuing, “In fact, I’m really impressed. You refuse to steal, rob and beg, yet you still managed to survive. That’s truly remarkable.”

“It’s nothing amazing…”

“Hoho, that rascal of mine at home can’t even wash his own clothes. I really wish he could come and learn a thing or two from you.”

“It’s too bad that…”

The light in Chen Xing’s eyes dimmed briefly, but his expression quickly returned to normal.

“Haha, oops, I’m getting off-topic. Let’s talk about something else.”

“……”

“Who is that woman to you…?” Chen Xing asked cautiously.

“!”

Tadashi immediately tensed at the question, glaring at Chen Xing like a wild animal guarding its food. His lips pressed together tightly, as though determined to remain silent.

“Chill, chill…” Chen Xing waved his hands and smiled. “I’m not like that idiot, Wang Defa. I know I’m not going to get anything out of a kid like you. I’m just curious…”

“……”

“It’s true… I can tell that woman isn’t your relative—if she were, you wouldn’t be wearing rags, not with how wealthy she is.”

“……”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it…”

“…She is…” Tadashi suddenly spoke up, his voice hesitant. “She’s my future consort…”

“What?”

Tadashi spoke very softly, so Chen Xing didn’t quite catch it.

“She is… Our… future… consort…” Tadashi spoke slowly and clearly, though each word trembled with emotion.

Chen Xing froze for a moment, trying to process the meaning of Tadashi’s words. Then, suddenly, he burst out laughing like the audience of a comedy show.

“Hahaha, that’s… that’s… really… surprising…”

“W-What… What’s so funny about that?!” Tadashi retorted indignantly.

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just shocked by your statement. So, what happened next? Did that woman say yes to you?”

“…Not yet, but I’ll work harder and move her with my sincerity, no matter how long it takes.”

“Haha, that’s the spirit! A man gotta have that kind of determination!” As if recalling some old, exciting memory, the disheveled man suddenly began gesturing animatedly with his hands as he spoke.

“I really miss those days. You remind me of the time I was pursuing my wife. Although she has put on weight now, her face has some wrinkles, and she’s always naggy, complaining about this and that, she was actually the most beautiful woman in our village twenty years ago. The line of men who wanted to marry her could stretch from the entrance of the village all the way to the farthest corner. Back then, I was penniless. I had nothing, but with my words, I won her heart. I wonder how many sons of rich families were stomping their feet.”

“That was truly the proudest time of my life. I thought, if I could win her, I could conquer anything in society. But… reality gave me a hard slap. My business failed and I lost all my savings. I had no choice but to do sales, running around the streets and alleys promoting products. At that time, nearly all my relatives started avoiding me.”

“She went from being a pretty young girl who loved dressing up, to a naggy woman who had to worry about the finances of the family. Now that I think about it, I wish she hadn’t chosen me. Then, she wouldn’t have to suffer with me for so long. Instead of enjoying what life has to offer, she spends her days pinching every penny from morning to night, trying to make ends meet.”

“Come to think of it… it’s been so long since I even bought her new clothes…”

Drip…

Tadashi snapped his head up and realized the man before him had tears streaming down his face.