Mental Case

After catching, Ming looked down with a charming smile at her bewildered face, and clutched her tight, not giving her enough room to move. "Nice try, wife." 

Before she could retort, Ming cut her by talking to the dragon. "Sorry for the smoke screen, but I'll take my wife now. Don't worry, I'm not a man who hurts my wife... We'll be back," said Ming with utmost politeness to Nianshi and commanded his mount, "Kuaisu, to the residence."

"No, I don't want to go!" She tried to shift her body and said, "Nianshi... do something." She extended her hands out so the dragon would get her. Nianshi sighed, thinking of his predicament. 

In reality, Nianshi could have prevented Ming from catching or taking her. That smoke screen was merely a speck of dust blurring her descent a bit, but not entirely with his sharp lion's eyes. Even with his eyes closed, he could still catch her. But his reason for not reacting was because he did not feel any hostility from Ming, nor fear from Xinyi. Instead, he could only see a married couple's quarrel. 

Nianshi was centuries old, so this was nothing new to him. For him, it was like he was a pet sitting in front of his quarreling owners. The man wished to reconcile with the wife, but the latter wished to make the husband suffer, and to stand in between them would only mean trouble for him. 'Oh my, better not get involved and let them settle their problems on their own.'

However, Xinyi did not notice this personally. She had nothing else in mind at the moment but to get away from this man whom she believed never wanted her. 

Nianshi casually waved a hand at them. "I wish you luck, Governor. May you succeed with your plans," said Nianshi, saying it out of goodwill using a few words so that his mistress would not misunderstand him. Alas… to everyone's ears, it gave off different meanings.

To Ming it meant, 'Go for it, Lord Governor. Make her submit to you and be lovey-dovey.'

In the guard's minds, 'Wow! The revered dragon is so supportive to the Governor so that his master could spend more time with her husband and make babies.'

But to Xinyi, "Traitor! You're supposed to be under my command. I'm your master. Why are you obeying him?" She shouted to Nianshi at the top of her lungs with her fist up in the air. 

Ming squinted his eyes at her sharp yell near his ears and hurriedly covered her mouth with his palm. But Xinyi bit it with no care. 

"Aargh! That hurts, stop it or I'll kiss you," yelled Ming and lowered his head. But it was all a bluff with no other intention but to frighten her. Yet, she bumped her forehead on his lips, making him shout in pain. This scene played in front of everyone, making the horse feel sorry for his esteemed master, and brought them away from the amused spectator's scrutiny.

The city guards thought this was a funny and cute episode for the young couples. They never thought their admired Governor would also face the same love problems as them. Zang Wei giggled in secret but showed total ignorance. For him, his Governor's marriage was a private matter. His task at hand was more important to him. 

For the wise dragon, he didn't care to look back at his mistress but faked a conversation with the frightened guard he placed on the tree earlier. Unfortunately, the guard plainly misunderstood him. Nianshi was sorry to see the poor guard rattled when he talked to him. 

What frightened the guard was Nianshi's big mouth, which opened and closed with sharp teeth exposed in front of him. At last, the guard could not bear thinking the dragon would devour him in a snap and fainted. 

When Ming and Xinyi were far enough, "I told you, we need to talk. You can't get rid of me that easily, wife." Ming said so she would stop her ranting… and it was effective. After that daring jump she made, Ming made sure she couldn't get away from his hold this time.

She looked away with her hands folded on her chest. Xinyi knew fighting him in the air with no animals around would do no good. Also, if she speaks with Kuaisu, she was not sure if the horse would listen to her since he sensed the stallion's loyalty to Ming. 

"Humph, fine, let's talk, but I want to investigate the snake's body first. I want to know why he acted that way," she said with her face away from him.

"We can go back now but promised me you won't let go of my hand," he said this while his face was very near her and their noses almost touched. He intentionally did this to make her listen to him. If there were enough space, Xinyi would have moved away from him, but sorry for her, there was none. 

Xinyi looked away instead and thought of something to keep him away from her. "Do you need to keep on holding me while we're checking the dead body of a snake? That's kinda weird. People might think you're too obsessive." She chuckled and snorted, trying this tactic again.

Ming heard the snort, but remembered that night he checked on her and bet this was her way to intimidate him. Her actions challenged the man in him. So he said, "Hell, yeah. Who cares what they think? I'm the governor, anyway. I have privileges and holding my wife's hand is one of them." And he whispered in her ear, "And your way of laughing is kind of cute too." 

Xinyi's ears went red, not only from the way he said it but because he intentionally brushed his lips to her ears to make her submit. She placed her palm on her ear to keep his lips from touching her face. "Don't... Fine." Xinyi had no way to retort as she looked away, feeling her face blushing from those words. 

Ming sighed inwardly as he looked at her reaction. As if he had some vicious sickness that she didn't want to get infected with. He never wanted to act so ungentlemanly, but he had no way to handle her either. He knew it was his fault, and he didn't know how to make up for his mistakes. However, he couldn't deny her blushing face was really attractive, making him smile with his dimples out again. 

"Do you know you're cute when you blush?" he said to Xinyi, who at once became beet red from neck to her ears. She slouched and lowered her head, but her palm did not leave her ears. 

Ming couldn't hold himself from laughing, but hastily coughed out his bubbling laughter as not to create more misunderstandings between them. This time, he formulated a plan to make her listen to his explanations and to clear up the mist of misunderstanding between them. 

While Xinyi wondered what he ate for acting this way now. It even crossed her mind that maybe, just maybe… he was a mental case now.