Pinching the dragon’s tail

Long Ling took care of Violet during her heat, and two days had already passed.

On the third morning, Long Ling woke up a little earlier.

She cooked a pot of nutritious congee for Violet and put it in a small clay pot on a small stove to keep it warm.

She took out her ledger, dipped a quill pen in an ink bottle, and spread out a yellowed parchment to calculate all of her current assets.

She had promised to compensate Annie for her losses and could only think of giving her money.

Long Ling couldn’t abandon Violet during her heat to complete her engagement with Annie.

No matter what, she couldn’t abandon Violet in that situation.

The money she earned from running the tavern, plus the pocket money her mother gave her, minus the repair costs for the tavern that Sylvia damaged last time, and the money for gifts for friends, she only had less than 100,000 gold coins.

She had to seriously run the tavern again and couldn’t be like before, working for three days and resting for two.

She estimated that she would have to mortgage half of the tavern’s shares to Annie. Last time, when she separated from Violet, she also lost a tavern, and she had been losing gold coins all the time.

Long Ling sighed faintly, and a drop of ink from the quill pen fell on the parchment, making the entire page dirty.

She crumpled the parchment into a ball.

Violet woke up and saw Long Ling sitting by the window in a daze, her eyelashes drooping, and the sunlight shone on her milky white cheeks, outlining a faint golden light.

Bright pomegranate flowers hung next to Long Ling’s hand, and ivy leaves hung down from the window, trembling gently in the breeze.

Many wooden boxes were placed on the windowsill, and the planted seedlings were growing vigorously.

When she was entangled with Long Ling a few days ago, she didn’t notice that Long Ling’s temporary residence in the tavern was also so vibrant.

Violet got out of bed and walked to Long Ling’s side, seeing that she was holding a crumpled ball of parchment in her hand.

She put her hand on Long Ling’s shoulder, and her beautiful cheek touched Long Ling’s soft profile: “What are you thinking about?”

Long Ling shook her head slightly: “I’m calculating the compensation for Annie. I left her at the engagement banquet, and she will definitely hate me in the future.”

Violet said softly: “I have already arranged for people to solve Annie’s matter. I can let her not have to marry and not become someone Alpha’s wife, and still get the largest sum of money. She won’t hate you.”

Although the dragons in this world have a relatively high social status, not every dragon is born with wealth and power.

A large number of dragons have no power or status and still hold the view that Alphas are more noble than Omegas, so that some Omegas must obtain the right to inherit property through marriage.

This is inherently wrong.

An Omega does not need to enter into marriage and should also get her own wealth, rather than having to be tied to another Alpha.

As a natural rule-maker and power holder, Violet’s thinking has long been freed from the logical scope defined by others.

Rules are used to control the weak and do not apply to the strong.

Violet smiled lightly: “No Omega would refuse to control power themselves. What’s better than relying on an unreliable Alpha than having their own say?”

A young Omega may miss an Alpha who seems very worthy of entrusting their life to, but Mrs. Rosalind, who has been married twice, definitely knows what is best for her little daughter.

Although Violet could solve it well, Long Ling still decided to compensate Annie according to the original plan because she had failed to keep her promise.

Long Ling heard Violet say unreliable Alpha and couldn’t help but ask: “Am I unreliable?”

Violet’s face gently rested on the top of Long Ling’s head, and she coaxed softly: “You are very reliable, you didn’t leave me alone during my heat.”

Long Ling was coaxed a little, and said softly: “Go and drink the congee, I cooked it for a long time, it’s delicious.”

Violet had already smelled the aroma of the porridge.

Long Ling put yam, black glutinous rice, longan, and red dates in it, all of which were good for replenishing qi and blood.

The porridge was cooked very fragrant.

She scooped it up with a spoon, put it in her mouth, and it tasted sweet and delicious.

It was just right to warm her stomach, and it was comfortable and pleasant to drink.

Long Ling peeled a round egg and put it in Violet’s bowl:

“Eat it, and go back to your own manor after you rest. I still have to think about how to deal with the aftermath.”

Violet looked at her a little disappointedly:

“I said I would help you solve it. It’s been several days, and my subordinates will report back when they’re done.

You always want to push me away. Do you really not want to get back together?”

Long Ling lowered her eyes, a little tangled: “Violet, I need some time.”

Just like her mother said, if she was with other Omegas, she would start a new life, but if she was with Violet, she would return to the past.

She wanted to live freely, go wherever she wanted, but as a lord, she would have a lot of official duties every day.

For Violet, she was just a regulator in her life, a way to relieve stress after work.

If Violet’s goodness to her only existed in private and then returned to the way she was before, she would only end up miserably.

Violet also knew that Little Long didn’t trust her anymore, and pulled over Long Ling’s hand and held it tightly:

“I will spend more time with you, I will never lie to you again, and that won’t happen again.

You like running a tavern, you can stay here, you don’t have to go back to the manor. Can you give me a chance?”

She begged: “Can you?”

Long Ling nodded slightly: “Eat well first, and go back to bed after you finish the congee.”

Violet listened to Long Ling’s words and quickly finished the congee: “Sleep with you?”

Long Ling looked at the red marks on Violet’s slender neck, and following the slightly open neckline, there were red marks on her snow-white peaks that she had bitten.

Long Ling didn’t notice it at night, but when she saw it during the day in the sunlight, she realized that she was a little rude to Violet.

Long Ling reached out to help Violet put on her pajamas, covering her collar tightly, and re-tied her belt:

“You sleep by yourself, I’ll go to the magic potion store to buy you some medicine later.”

Violet raised her hand to wrap around her waist, leaned close to her ear and said, “Do you want to apply it all over?”

Long Ling’s ears heated up all of a sudden: “I’ll go write a letter first.”

Violet smiled: “Drink some congee before writing.”

Long Ling finished drinking the rest of Violet’s congee before going to the table to write a letter.

Things had come to this point, so she could only write an apology letter first, one for Annie and Mrs. Rosalind, and one for her mother.

After she finished writing the letter, the door downstairs of the tavern suddenly rang.

Long Ling looked down from the window and saw someone wearing a military uniform, who should be Violet’s subordinate.

Long Ling turned her head and asked, “Your subordinate is here, do I need to avoid it?”

Violet leaned on the pillow, holding a picture book that Long Ling usually read:

“No, it should be about Annie’s matter. Don’t you want to know too? Let her come up and say it directly.”

She would make Long Ling no longer owe Annie anything, and save Long Ling from being haunted by her.

The picture book that Long Ling read was also a story about the Knights.

She finished half of the book and didn’t see any mention of the Dragon Palace.

What was Little Long thinking about all day long?

Long Ling responded lightly and went downstairs to open the tavern door.

The other party followed her up the stairs and gave Violet a standard military salute.

“Your Grace, after Miss Annie’s engagement banquet, I followed your instructions and allocated a separate fief to Annie from your territory.

If their family wants to settle in your territory and be permanently exempted from taxes, they must be subordinate to Miss Annie. Miss Annie has already received a large amount of wealth in advance.”

Annie’s family was originally just commoners.

After earning a lot of money through business, they gradually became wealthy merchants, but the land on the continent of Odd has always been hereditary.

Only dukes could be allocated land at the beginning, and other dragons could only obtain their own territory through military exploits.

Annie’s family was good at business, and no dragon had ever established military exploits in the army, and they had never had their own territory.

Even the manors under their name had to spend a lot of gold coins to rent every year.

Every bit of wealth they earned had to go through layers of exploitation, and they had to pay a large amount of taxes to the local lord every year.

The territory that Violet gave to Annie, although it was far away from her own manor, was rich in resources and had convenient transportation.

Annie became her vassal and also obtained Violet’s specially granted tax exemption.

Her family would not embarrass Annie for the sake of profit, but would also try to please her.

The benefits that Violet gave were all real, and Mrs. Rosalind and Annie kept their mouths shut.

Annie transformed from a wealthy merchant’s young daughter into a lord with an independent territory.

Not only did no one laugh at her, but they would also envy her for being able to get the protection of Duke Violet.

Violet waved her hand, signaling her subordinate to leave, but turned around and found Little Long staring at her blankly:

“Now you don’t owe her anything, so you shouldn’t feel so guilty, right?”

Long Ling didn’t expect Violet to give Annie a territory.

She knew that Violet, as a duke, had a large territory, but this was really too much.

If she hadn’t agreed to help Annie get engaged, Violet wouldn’t have to cede the territory.

She originally felt a little guilty towards Annie, but now she felt that she was most sorry to Violet.

Long Ling sighed softly and said what was on her mind: “I don’t know what to compensate you with.”

But this was what Violet wanted to achieve. Little Long couldn’t owe anyone, and she could only owe her.

Violet smiled slightly: “No compensation is needed. As long as I can be with you, I am willing to do all of these. Go buy the medicine and come back and apply it to me carefully.”

Long Ling’s heart was softened by Violet’s coaxing, and she immediately nodded: “Okay, I’ll go now.”

Long Ling put on her elven cloak, took the apology letter, and sent it out with the compensation money, before going to the magic potion store to buy a bottle of high-grade healing potion.

On the way back, the morning sunlight was very warm, and the streets near the tavern, separated by a street, were lively, with sounds of hawking and arguing everywhere.

She and Violet had stayed in the room for several days and needed to replenish their bodies.

There was a large beast meat that hunters had hunted, and a butcher’s stall selling beef and mutton.

Long Ling’s gaze fell on a young farmer’s bamboo basket.

The bamboo basket was covered with a red checkered cloth, and there were some hemp stalks underneath.

Occasionally, the sound of birds flapping their wings could be heard.

The young farmer was rubbing his hands from the cold and warmly solicited business when he saw Long Ling stop.

“This is a wild goose, a specialty of the Bunan Berel waters. It eats fresh fish, shrimp, and pasture from a young age.

I usually feed them water weeds.

They are specially used as tribute to nobles.

Buy these two and take them home. They are delicious no matter how you eat them.”

“How much are they?”

“Two wild geese together only cost one gold coin. I’ll help you tie them with straw rope.”

Long Ling bought two wild geese from the farmer.

They were covered with gray-brown feathers and were very plump.

Even a dragon as picky as Violet should think the ingredients were good.

She was about to leave after buying them when a timid voice suddenly came from the side.

“Pretty lady, buy some hawthorns, they’re very delicious.”

The little girl was only wearing a thin gray skirt in late autumn, and her nose was red from the cold in the morning.

The hawthorns in front of her looked very plump, and the berries were big and round.

Long Ling’s heart was filled with compassion, and she squatted down and asked softly, “How much do all the hawthorns cost together?”

The little girl didn’t expect that the pretty lady would be willing to buy her things. She thought of what her mother had told her and said quickly, “Only twenty silver coins.”

Long Ling handed the money to the little girl. The little girl thanked her profusely and took it, and found that Long Ling had given ten more silver coins. She immediately returned them to Long Ling: “Lady, you gave too much. My mother said that you can’t overcharge people.”

Long Ling had no choice but to take back the extra money.

She was carrying two geese, and she could barely hold them, so she could only watch the little girl’s small hands laboriously put all the hawthorns on the ground into the bamboo basket.

The young farmer next to her saw that Long Ling really wanted to buy them, and also came over to help the little girl put them into the bamboo basket, and asked Long Ling with a smile:

“These hawthorns are big and round, and they taste sour and sweet. You won’t regret buying them. Where do you live? Do you want me to send them to you?”

Long Ling asked the young farmer to help send them to the tavern.

On the way, she also met customers who used to come to the tavern for drinks, who asked her when the tavern would reopen and about her injuries.

Long Ling could only say that she was almost healed and needed to prepare for a few more days, and she would open when she was ready.

She put the things she bought in the kitchen first and returned to the room with the healing potion.

Violet had been waiting for Long Ling for a long time and hugged her waist: “Why did it take you so long to come back?”

Her gentle and slender hands wandered down and rubbed Long Ling’s plump dragon tail hidden under the cloak with dissatisfaction.

Long Ling almost didn’t hold the medicine bottle steady, and her cheeks flushed:

“I went to buy you something to eat on the way. You apply the medicine quickly, and I have to go to the kitchen to cook.”

Violet couldn’t help but ask, “What did you buy?”

Long Ling took down Violet’s hand that was still on her dragon tail:

“I bought wild geese, which can be stewed to replenish your body, and some very sweet hawthorns, which can be used to make candied haws.”

Violet looked at her charmingly:

“My whole body is about to fall apart now, and my back is very sore.

You apply it for me.”