Janice gave a short gasp, her face instantly flushing red.
After a moment of bewilderment, Liu Qian was overwhelmed by immense delight.
Without stopping to straighten himself up, he strode to the windowsill and reached out with both hands, carefully gathering the three little lives that had just broken free, still slick with mucus, into his warm, broad embrace.
They wriggled in the crook of his arms, letting out faint hisses.
One was covered in deep, pure crimson scales like congealed blood.
One wore dusky purple scales, their luster subdued yet all the more mysterious.
The last gleamed with flawless, bright silver scales, as though formed from condensed moonlight.
The three hatchlings looked around in innocent confusion, like three exquisitely carved living treasures.
Moonlight spilled gently over them from outside the window, as though crowning this newborn miracle.
Held within Liu Qian's strong arms, the three newborn dragons immediately let out excited, infantile hisses, sharp and brimming with vitality.
Their long, snakelike necks rubbed affectionately against Liu Qian's chest, their rough yet warm scales brushing his clothes.
Three pairs of eyes, bright as the hottest coals deep within a furnace, shimmered with the bewildered light of newly awakened intelligence. They fixed unblinkingly on Liu Qian's face, filled with complete trust and dependence.
Janice approached with a gentle smile, her violet eyes brimming with wonder and affection.
She extended her slender fingers and stroked the hatchlings' little heads, covered in fine scales, one after another.
They felt warm and strange, pulsing with the vigor of new life.
Feeling this unfamiliar yet harmless touch, the three hatchlings turned their incredibly supple necks and tilted their little heads, studying Janice curiously with shining eyes.
The little one covered in deep purple scales seemed to share some marvelous resonance of the soul with Janice.