The Jealous Dragon - Chapter 1

Early spring. Just when the weather started warming up, the cold would creep back in.

I met a young man selling flowers by the roadside.

His skin was so fair it seemed to glow. His alluring, shimmering eyes gazed at me warmly, a faint beauty mark beneath one corner, and an intoxicating sweetness drifted from him.

“Would you like some flowers, Jiejie?” he asked.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Liu Yi was urging me to come home.

He had made sweet and spicy chestnut chicken, crisp and fragrant, with a plate of tiger-skin fried eggs mottled yellow and green.

In the photo, he wore light gray pajama bottoms. An immaculate apron was the only thing covering his bare upper body.

He had propped his chin in one hand to take a selfie with the food. The slight swell of muscle in his arm was rather stealing the show.

Even through the screen, I could almost smell his fresh pine scent.

“Buy one, Jiejie. Roses this beautiful deserve someone as lovely as you.” The young man’s eyes were clear and sincere.

I was about to refuse.

Then I remembered our fifth anniversary. Liu Yi had made me an entire five-tier fondant cake by hand, while I had forgotten all about him and stayed out with my best friend until late. When I finally came home, I was empty-handed. I hadn’t brought him a thing.

“Couldn’t you at least have brought me a rose?” he had asked mournfully that night. “Even one somebody else didn’t want.”

The refusal died on my lips.

“Which ones are roses?” I asked the young man.

He tilted his head, suddenly intrigued. “Do the flowers look different to you, Jiejie?”

I was puzzled. “They all look different.”

“Oh dear. My illusion isn’t working.” He chuckled and suddenly caught my wrist.

I wanted to pull away, to scream, to refuse.

But something seemed to have locked my body in place. I couldn’t move at all.

The pungent musk of a fox enveloped me like thick fog, choking the breath out of me.

I don’t know how long it took before my body finally returned to normal.

But I was no longer standing on a street bustling with traffic.

Soft, thick grass lay beneath my feet.

The young man stood in front of me, watching with interest. Silver bells adorned the fluffy, fiery-red fox ears on his head, and a flame-colored tail curled around his collar.

He beamed at me, every inch a sly little fox.

“So you have spirit sight.”

“And such a light birth chart, too.”

“Why aren’t there any ghosts hanging around you?”

“Do you belong to some immortal who’s still living among humans?”

The young man said his name was Su Yan.

He was a disciple of Grandfather Hu the Third of Mount Changbai.

Unfortunately, Shanhai Pass couldn’t hold him back. So he had run away from home and now wandered wherever he pleased.

Doing things the laws of Heaven rather frowned upon.

“Want to know exactly how much they frown upon them, Jiejie?” Smiling, Su Yan brushed the tip of his tail across my face. “You see, I’m very good at breaking up other people’s romances.”

Su Yan stuck a talisman to my forehead.

“From now on, you’re my wife.”

Blazing foxfire burned the talisman to ash.

I felt no pain, no heat.

Only the sense that someone very important in my heart was being drawn out of it, bit by bit, like a long, tenacious thread, until nothing remained.

When I came to my senses, I was back at the street corner.

All around me, countless couples walked close together along the busy street.

I stared blankly at the enormous bouquet of roses in my arms. “When did I buy these?”

“They’re from me.” Su Yan tucked his arm affectionately through mine. “I’m your boyfriend. Have you forgotten?”

Oh…

So that was it.

Su Yan took me to a nightclub for drinks.

The booming music made my temples throb.

Liu Yi’s messages grew increasingly urgent.

[Babe, where are you? Want me to come get you?]

[The food’s gone cold.]

[Why aren’t you home yet?]

Who was he?

Su Yan noticed what I was doing and slipped the phone out of my hand.

He told me to hold the flowers, took my hand, and snapped a selfie.

“Smile, Jiejie.”

“Aren’t you happy to be on a date with me?”

I managed a slightly awkward smile.

He hooked a finger under my chin and drew my face closer to his. “Kiss me.”

Huh?

“Come on, Jiejie.”

While I hesitated, he withdrew his hand.

The camera angle made us look as intimate as lovers unable to keep their hands off each other.

“Mmm. That looks good.” Satisfied, Su Yan made a few adjustments to the photo. “Post it on your Moments, Jiejie. How can you take responsibility for me if you won’t even make us public?”

We were a couple. Of course we ought to make it public.

I posted the selfie on WeChat Moments.

Su Yan supplied the caption: Been planning this for ages. Finally got my wish.

How sweet.

So why didn’t I feel the slightest flutter in my heart?

Not long after I posted it, the comments exploded.

[Girl, what’s going on? New man?]

[He looks like a scheming little bottom.]

[Perfect. Great for a woman who likes to top.]

[So it’s one husband and one wife now? Does your husband know? Did he agree to this?]

I was bewildered. I didn’t really understand.

“What do they mean?”

Su Yan lowered his head and tugged at the hem of my clothes, looking hurt.

“Jiejie, have you forgotten?”

“After we got together, you found another man. Liu Yi. You even told your friends you were only playing around with me, and he was the one you really loved.”

What?

How could I say something like that?

Su Yan’s eyes reddened with hurt.

I hurried to comfort him, but I had no idea what to say.

While I was still floundering, another message from Liu Yi arrived.

[What is that post supposed to mean?]

Su Yan wiped his tears. “Why don’t you just tell him where things stand?”

“Okay.” I paused. “What should I say?”

“Tell him I’m the one you love, and he needs to leave you alone.”

[I’m in love with Su Yan. Stop bothering me.]

“We’re all adults. Let’s leave each other a little dignity.”

[We’re all adults. Let’s leave each other a little dignity.]

“That should do for now.” Su Yan dried his tears and eagerly leaned over to look. “What did he say?”

Liu Yi typed, deleted it, then typed again. The chat kept showing that he was typing, but no message came through.

“Should I just block him?” I ventured carefully, afraid Su Yan would cry again.

Delighted, Su Yan clasped both hands into fists against his chest. His eyes shone with little stars. “Really, Jiejie? You’d really block him for me?”

I nodded solemnly.

A message came from Liu Yi.

[You don’t love me anymore?]

I replied:

[I don’t.]

Block.

Block him everywhere.

Su Yan pulled me into a blissful embrace. “You’re so good to me, Jiejie!”

This was how people in love were supposed to behave.

But I still had a nagging feeling that something was wrong…