This Kid Really Was Popular with Girls
"You're lucky." Dugu Bo nodded, trying to keep his tone calm, then bent down to explain to Jiang Lan the snake's age and suitability.
Jiang Lan picked up the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent and examined it curiously, turning it over and over.
He held the snake up in mid-air, pinching it by its seven-inch mark. Its tail and wings drooped, and it had completely given up resisting. Its eyes even revealed a kind of despair, like someone who hadn't checked the almanac before leaving home.
Doro poked his head out from his shoulder, stretched out his little hand and poked the fleshy crest on the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent. The crest was soft and bouncy, and it would wobble when poked. Doro poked it again and again, having a great time.
Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the depths of the dense forest, accompanied by a girl's anxious shouts.
"Grandma! My snake! My Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent is gone! It was just chasing me a moment ago!"
Another aged but steady female voice followed. "Don't worry, it won't go far, it's nearby."
The bushes rustled, and a young girl rushed out first.
The girl was about sixteen years old, with a bright and beautiful face, a mature figure, and a graceful and well-proportioned body.
She had large, brown eyes with long eyelashes, and a slender, supple waist, like a serpent.
When Jiang Lan saw the other person, she secretly wondered, "Could this be Meng Yiran?"
When Meng Yiran rushed out of the bushes, only one thing was on her mind: her Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.
She chased the snake all morning, along the outskirts of the forest, but the damned snake disappeared as soon as it slithered into the treetops.
She was still annoyed when she pushed aside the last bush, and suddenly the view opened up before her, and she froze.
A child was standing in the open space.
A child dressed in a penguin onesie, wrapped from head to toe in a black and white fluffy onesie, with the penguin on the hat pointing upwards and orange webbed feet stepping on fallen leaves, looked like a penguin chick that had accidentally wandered away from Antarctica.
He was holding the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent she'd been chasing all morning with one hand, while the other hand was pulling at her eyes, which were hidden by her hat. Her cheeks were chubby.
Meng Yiran's brain swung violently for 0.3 seconds between "He stole my snake" and "Oh my god, so cute," before the latter prevailed overwhelmingly.
"So cute!!!" Meng Yiran screamed, completely forgetting about the snake. She rushed over in three steps and scooped Jiang Lan into her arms. Her movements were so fast that Jiang Lan didn't even have time to react before she felt her entire face being pressed against something soft. The hood of her Penguin Suit was pushed up onto her face, and everything went black. Only her nose could still smell a faint fragrance of flowers and grass.
"Little Guga--!" Jiang Lan's muffled voice came from Meng Yiran's arms. Her two short legs kicked wildly in the air, and the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent in her hand swung back and forth. The snake's face was full of "I really didn't check the almanac before I went out today"—first, she was pinched by a little kid and couldn't move, then a white ball of fluff gnawed on her crest, and now she was being tossed around in the air like a rag doll accessory. If snakes could cry, they would be crying right now.
"Still, don't be rude." The Snake Granny emerged from the bushes, frowning as she saw her granddaughter hugging and squeezing a strange child. But as soon as she finished speaking, her gaze fell on the child being tormented by her granddaughter, and she suddenly stopped. So cute. No, that's not the point. The point is the person standing three steps behind the child. The old man, dressed in a green robe, was tall and thin, with a sinister face, his hands behind his back, staring at her granddaughter with an extremely unfriendly gaze.
The Snake Granny's pupils contracted instantly.
Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo.
He was a renowned Titled Douluo of the Heaven Dou Empire, unparalleled in his use of poison. He was aloof and arrogant, and rarely made friends with others.
How could someone like that be here?
Who is that child being held in her granddaughter's arms?
"Senior Dugu?" Snake Granny asked tentatively, her tone clearly cautious.
Dugu Bo nodded slightly, acknowledging his identity.
His gaze lingered on the Snake Granny for a moment before returning to Jiang Lan, who was being kneaded and rubbed in Meng Yiran's arms. His eye twitched involuntarily.
His apprentice is really popular with girls.
Meng Yiran didn't notice the change in her grandmother's tone at all; her entire attention was on the Little Penguin in her arms. She lifted Jiang Lan up to her face, his big brown eyes shining like two stars. She gently pinched Jiang Lan's chubby cheeks and pulled them apart, watching his little face being stretched into a round pancake shape, and let out a happy sigh, "Oh my god, how can there be such a cute child! Grandma, look at his Penguin Suit! And his little webbed feet! And this chubby face! It's so soft to pinch!"
"Ugh... Let... Let go..." Jiang Lan's mouth was pulled into an oval shape as she protested in a muffled way, but Meng Yiran completely immersed in the joy of petting the baby and had no intention of stopping. She hugged Jiang Lan in her arms, burying her face in the hood of the Penguin Suit and rubbing against it again and again. The fluff on the hood tickled her nose, but she didn't care at all.
Doro stood on the ground, looking up at Jiang Lan's miserable state, took a bite of the Ju Zi, and let out a gloating "doro". Jiang Lan glared at it through the gap in his hat, but the white ball of fluff not only didn't help, it turned around and faced away from him, continuing to calmly gnaw on the Ju Zi.
"Still." The Snake Granny finally couldn't stand it anymore. She reached out and patted her granddaughter's shoulder, whispering something in her ear.
Meng Yiran froze instantly.
She slowly turned her head, following her grandmother's gaze to the old man in the green robe standing not far away, then slowly turned back, looking down at the Little Penguin in her arms, whose hat was askew and whose cheeks were flushed red from being rubbed so much.
Disciple of Titled Douluo?
She treated someone's disciple, Titled Douluo, like a plush toy, and crumpled him for several minutes?
Meng Yiran released her grip as if she had been electrocuted, and Jiang Lan finally gained her freedom. She landed on a pile of fallen leaves and scrambled to run behind Dugu Bo.
Unfortunately, before he could run two steps, a hand reached out from behind and scooped him up again.
"I'm so sorry!" Meng Yiran lifted Jiang Lan up in front of her, clasped her hands together, and looked apologetic. "I didn't know you were Senior Dugu's disciple! But you're just too cute, I couldn't resist!"
Jiang Lan had been thoroughly rubbed and had lost all her temper. Her hat was askew, and there were still red marks on her cheek from being pinched. She looked at Meng Yiran expressionlessly and said, "Sister, could you please put me down before you apologize?"
Meng Yiran then realized that she had picked Jiang Lan up again. Her face flushed, and she quickly and gently put Jiang Lan back on the ground.
After regaining her balance, Jiang Lan first straightened her crooked hat, then zipped up her Penguin Suit costume, walked up to Doro, snatched the half- Ju Zi from its hand, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Chewing with bulging cheeks, he mumbled something indistinctly, "What a disloyal bastard."