Chapter 81: The Dragon Carving
On the tea table in Xiaojia's house, Li Mang saw the 'model' of the crystal dragon, and his mood couldn't calm down, he unconsciously moved his feet towards the tea table.
Li Meng was indeed a bit rude, but the Xia family had a very good impression of him and let him go with them.
He carefully picked up the crystal dragon model, gently stroking the scales on it with his hand. However, Li Mang furrowed his brow tightly because he couldn't feel even a hint of the crystal dragon's aura on it. What puzzled him was that the image of the crystal dragon had never been circulated in the world, so how could someone have made a model of it? This didn't make sense...
"When the electrician came to change the wire this morning, I picked up a toy on the side of the road. It looked pretty good, so I brought it back." The mother-in-law next to her explained. This crystal model is indeed beautiful, vivid and peculiar in shape, and it looks very elegant when placed in the living room.
"This was picked up outside this morning..." Li Mang's mind stirred again, he had reason to suspect that this model might be a disguise of the Crystal Dragon. The Crystal Dragon was heavily injured and escaped, and from the search location after Yan Huang and Chi You, it indeed lost its trace in Tianmen Village, and it is not impossible for it to turn into this crystal statue.
The crystal dragon is a Xuan-level spiritual beast, and it's not strange for it to transform into something smaller. Moreover, some heterodox beasts have innate abilities that allow them to disguise themselves as sculptures when in danger.
Xiao Yixiang beside him noticed Li Mang's unusual expression and couldn't help but ask, "Li Mang, what's wrong with this sculpture?"
"Is there a problem?" Li Mang was at a loss, the Xuan-level spiritual beast that the two super organizations, Yan Huang and Chi You, had been searching for, was brought back as an ornament. He didn't know how to describe his emotions. Although it was just a suspicion for now, Li Mang must get this crystal dragon, but what reason could he use? This made him worried.
"Aunt, I really like this model, can you give it to me?" Li Mang asked with a thick face. He didn't want to take advantage of Xiaojia's kindness, nor was he worried that the model wasn't the real Jiaolong. He had his own reasons for not choosing to buy it but instead asking for it with a shameless face.
Firstly, this thing is priceless. Even if it's priced at 100 million, organizations like Yanhuang would be willing to pay for it, and even counterfeit goods would be snapped up quickly. However, Li Meng didn't know how much to price it at. Ten or twenty thousand was too little, while over a hundred thousand might scare off the Xia family. He was more worried that if news of this got out, Yanhuang and Chiyou would find out, which wouldn't be good for either him or the Xia family.
So, rather than doing it that way, it's better to be thick-skinned and ask directly. Although it takes advantage of the Xiaos, other ways can be thought of later to make up for it, which would be more suitable.
"Take it if you like it!" said the mother-in-law casually, but it was a nice decorative item, and she had picked it up herself. It would be great to get along well with this future son-in-law, and Li Mang was more than satisfied, the more she looked at him, the more satisfied she became.
"Thank you, Aunt!" Li Mang's heart was racing with excitement, but he couldn't show it on his face. Although he wanted to hide the crystal dragon immediately, doing so would be too obvious, so he could only temporarily put it back on the tea table.
The appearance of the crystal dragon sculpture did not cause too much disturbance to their meeting, and Li Mang and the Xia family got along harmoniously afterwards, chatting happily. Even Xiao Tianxiao, who had a bad impression of him at first, also tried his best to please him.
……
Li Mang returned to Xiao Zhi Shuang's room, entering through the main door. Recalling the ripples of their encounter last night, they both felt awkward and sentimental.
"Li Meng, you bought so many things today, I have to pay for them." Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Xiao Yuzhu quickly found a topic to break the silence.
"No need, this is a gift for your family." Li Mang hastily stopped him, jokingly, he was still thinking about how to compensate the Xiao family, how could he take this money.
"But this is also too expensive." Xiaoyi Frost hesitated.
"...Don't mind, this is just task expenses." Li Mang could only find this excuse.
"Public funds..." Xiaoyi's eyes widened instantly, and then she carefully asked: "Isn't this bad?"
"It's all right." Li Mang smiled awkwardly.
Upon hearing this, Xiaoyi also didn't say much more, after all worried that Li Meng would bother her. After a moment of silence, she mustered up the courage to ask: "Can I have your phone number?"
“……” Li Meng fell silent, he wasn't a clueless rookie who couldn't understand the meaning behind this beautiful flight attendant's words, but her tone was still mostly one of admiration. When had he ever thought that he, a once-despised nobody, would be favored by a goddess?
Xiaozhi Frost waited for a long time but couldn't get an answer, and she felt a pang of loss in her heart. She didn't know why she would have such feelings for a man she had just met for less than a day. Human emotions are complex things.
"Of course." Li Mang smiled and gave her his phone number. Later, he would have to compensate the Xiao family, so it was only natural that he get their contact information as well. As for personal feelings... at this moment, Li Mang still had to face the issue of survival, who had the energy to talk about romance? Let's put that off for now!
Although the Xia family warmly invited him to stay, Li Mang still tactfully declined the invitation to spend the night and left Tianmen Village with the crystal dragon sculpture on his motorcycle.
This time, the task encountered unprecedented danger, but his luck was good. Not only did he escape the pursuit, but he also learned that Chi You wanted to kill him. The greatest gain is undoubtedly getting the crystal dragon sculpture. If nothing unexpected happens, he will get a crystal dragon, which will be the biggest gain of this trip.
……
The Classic of Mountains and Seas: Zhāoyáo Mountain.
"What should be done to awaken this crystal dragon? And how can it be made to acknowledge its master..." Li Mang had been pondering for a long time, and even used methods such as dripping blood to acknowledge ownership, but still failed. He couldn't help feeling somewhat depressed. Helplessly, he could only wait until he returned to the Yan Huang Academy to think of another way, as there were many materials in the Xuan Lou library that might be useful.
Li Mang put away the crystal dragon model and brought some fruit, paddling a bamboo raft to Tangting Mountain. However, he unexpectedly found that the White Ape King was already waiting for him, with several others by its side. Li Mang's arrival made them all spirited, their eyes fixed on the fruit in his hand, while the White Ape King stared at the banana on his right side.
Li Mang smiled secretly, but said nothing. He just put several bags of fruit on the ground and then turned around to leave. However, he saw out of the corner of his eye that the fruit was quickly taken away by a white gibbon and presented to the White Gibbon King.
These ancient white apes are not much different in intelligence from humans, and with some training they can handle some simple tasks. One day, this group of foolish monkeys will become his private free labor force, farming, hunting, and other small things will be handed over to them, and he won't have to do everything himself.
"Satellite signals of Li Mang's 9th unit have appeared at the Capital Airport!" The Huangyan Monitoring Unit sent out a flash report early next morning.
…
PS: The lucky money received during the Qingming Festival is really not a small amount...... zecsw, wine and song 68, card answer, M tiger, old monk loves arrogant loli, devil of the east.
