Carrot and Stick, Four-Winged Angel

The moon shone brightly. Two pale, naked bodies were entwined in the entryway of the little house, their clothes scattered aside. Both of them stiffly twisted their necks, staring blankly at the people climbing out of the pit.

Thump, thump, bang!

Fourteen eyes met.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the courtyard became unbearably awkward, as though time itself had come to a standstill.

Ye Shu’s hand was still resting on Ao Xue’s waist, poised to exert force. Ao Xue, meanwhile, lay on the wooden board. Though her lips had been saying no, her body had long since arched in cooperation.

The group stared at one another, mouths agape and tongues tied.

“You... you two...”

Looking at the scene before her—enough to set anyone’s blood racing—Jiang Xin’s pupils trembled. Her heart ached so badly that she could hardly breathe.

Who could have imagined it?

Who could have imagined this?!

They had been so worried about that heartless man, afraid that he might be suffering torture. And yet this fellow had actually been sneaking around behind their backs, even carrying on in broad daylight, right there in the entryway, with the door wide open, shamelessly indulging in an illicit affair!

Only then did Ao Xue finally come to her senses.

“Eek!”

She abruptly rolled over and sprawled facedown on the floor, using the boards to barely conceal her exposed charms. Her face flushed crimson, even the tips of her ears burning red. She wished she could find a crack in the ground and disappear into it.

“D-Don’t look...”

By comparison, Ye Shu remained much calmer.

With a casual wave of his right hand, he drew a thin veil woven from moonlight and gently draped it over Ao Xue’s exquisite curves, concealing the springtime scenery that had inadvertently been revealed.

Then he turned toward the several women, whose expressions varied from shock to anger, and slowly forced an awkward smile.

“Well...”

“I can explain. You believe me, right?”

At that, the women all fixed him with skeptical looks and took a step back in unison, clearly standing together against a common enemy.

“What is there left to explain!”

Jiang Xin pointed at the bloodstains remaining on the floor. Tears glimmered in her beautiful eyes as she spoke in utter heartbreak.

“The witness and the evidence are both right here! What else do you have to say for yourself?”

Even Little Mingyue, sitting atop her head, looked at Ye Shu with disdain and nodded in agreement.

“Mother is right! Father is a big scumbag—a heartless man!”

“Hey, you little brat...”

The corner of Ye Shu’s mouth twitched.

This was an adult matter. What business did a little brat of five or six have butting in?

He suddenly swept his hand through the air.

Whoosh!

A powerful gust suddenly swept through the courtyard. Before Little Mingyue, perched atop Jiang Xin’s head, could react, the wind carried her toward a wardrobe in the yard. With a loud bang, it deposited her safely inside and shut the doors behind her, while also placing a sealing restriction over them.

“Let me out!!!!”

Locked inside the wardrobe, Jiang Mingyue anxiously pounded on the doors, straining her big eyes to peer through the gap and gnashing her teeth in frustration.

How hateful!

She hadn’t even finished looking at Father’s naked body!

“Children will get eye problems from watching this sort of thing,” Ye Shu said expressionlessly.

He added two or three more sealing restrictions before finally turning his gaze toward the women standing by the steps.

“Teacher...”

The Little Beast looked at Ao Xue, who lay beneath him with tears in her eyes, her face shy and bashful. His voice caught in his throat.

Why?

Why had things turned out like this?

He had clearly lost the election, yet somehow won the teacher’s support. That should have been a happy thing—so why had it turned into this mess?

“No, seriously. What’s with that expression?”

Ye Shu bared his teeth and scratched his head in distress. “It’s not like I wanted things to turn out this way. I had my reasons, okay?”

After all, what normal person would want to sleep with a dragon?

It wasn’t even a dragon girl.

It was a real dragon—a genuine, actual dragon!

Even furries were into beastfolk, not actual fucking beasts!

“Reasons? What reasons could you possibly have?” Jiang Xin accused him with an aggrieved look. “Does having reasons mean you can betray us? Do you have any idea how worried we were about you out there?”

“I know, I know.”

Ye Shu waved helplessly, but Jiang Xin paid him no mind and continued on her own tirade.

“And yet here you are, you Heartless Man, living it up and enjoying yourself!”

“Wait, when have I ever been living it up?”

Ye Shu was speechless. “I was clearly imprisoned here by this woman!”

“Imprisoned?”

Jiang Xin’s eyes reddened as she pointed at Ao Xue, who was beneath him, wrapped in sheer gauze, her face flushed as she clung to his arm and timidly hid in the crook of his elbow.

“Is that what imprisonment looks like? You’re clearly enjoying every second of it!”

“I’m not! I didn’t—”

Ye Shu hurriedly denied it, but he was completely unable to explain himself.

He had fought with everything he had just to earn this brief moment of respite. And now it had somehow become evidence against him?

“Listen, let me explain. I—”

“I’m not listening! I’m not listening! I’m not listening!” Jiang Xin covered her ears and shook her head like a rattle drum. “You Heartless Man! We even put an aphrodisiac in the stream to save you, and this is how you repay us!”

“You… I… Wait!”

The moment he heard the words “aphrodisiac,” Ye Shu froze. Then he abruptly raised his head and stared at them in shock.

“What did you just say?”

“You put an aphrodisiac in the stream?!”

Seeing that Ye Shu’s reaction was off, Jiang Xin suddenly felt a little guilty. Her voice dropped as she answered uncertainly, “Y-yes… Otherwise, how could we have slipped past the detection of those high-level beastfolk and made it here?”

“And then we saw you like this…”

She had not even finished speaking when Xia Hanmo suddenly reached out and tugged at her sleeve. Her expression turned grim as she quietly reminded her, “Stop talking. Just stop.”

At that moment, the Little Fairy Doctor suddenly realized something.

Ye Shu might really have been telling the truth.

There might actually have been a reason for everything they were seeing.

Of course, she would never have imagined what Ye Shu had truly gone through.

“So it was you… It was you…” Ye Shu stared blankly at them, muttering over and over, “That explains why I kept hearing the sounds of spring outside the courtyard. That explains why I suddenly lost control…”

At those words, even Jiang Xin—slow on the uptake as she was—finally understood.

Their well-intentioned plan had backfired. The Heartless Man had been drugged, allowing the Dragon Girl to take advantage of him while he was vulnerable.

In other words, they had basically caused their own disaster!

Once the whole situation had finally clicked into place, the girls all began to feel awkward and guilty. Their eyes darted around, and none of them dared meet Ye Shu’s gaze.

Only Jiang Xin turned her face away and muttered under her breath:

“Wouldn’t that still mean the Heartless Man got the better end of the deal? You got all the benefits and are still complaining.........”

“Got the better end of the deal?”

At those words, Ye Shu suddenly raised his head. With an utterly unhinged look in his eyes, he pounded his chest and protested, “You think I enjoyed it?!”

“That was a dragon! A dragon!”

“Do you have any idea what it means to face a dragon more than a dozen zhang long, whose eyes are bigger than my entire body? Do you know what I went through?”

“You don’t understand my suffering at all!”

The passionate speech, combined with Ye Shu’s utterly despairing expression, frightened Jiang Xin and the others into taking a synchronized step back. None of them dared imagine what exactly this man had been through.

“W-We didn’t mean to...”

Jiang Xin said tearfully, “We were only worried about you. We were doing it for your own good.”

“For my own good?”

Ye Shu abruptly rose to his feet and looked at the women, letting out a cold laugh. “You lot had better prepare yourselves! You’re all going to experience the pain I went through!”

“W-What are you planning to do?”

Seeing the madness in Ye Shu’s eyes, the women covered their chests and retreated together, their faces filled with terror.

He couldn’t possibly be thinking of.......

“What am I planning to do? Why, I’m planning to do it, of course!”

With a sweeping gesture of his hand, a thin stream of water immediately drifted over from the creek in the courtyard and was forcibly poured into Jiang Xin, Xia Hanmo, and the others’ mouths. Before they could struggle, the sweet-tasting water had already slid down their throats. An uncontrollable heat followed, and soon their eyes glimmered with lust, their gazes grew sultry, and soft moans escaped their lips.

Seeing this, Ao Xue, who had been clutching her veil, immediately relaxed.

Since he was taking his anger out on the others, he probably wouldn’t bother with her anymore, right?

She had barely formed the thought when Ye Shu hoisted her over his shoulder.

“Don’t!”

Ao Xue hurriedly cried out and pleaded, “Good husband, good master, please spare me! I really can’t take any more. Tomorrow—tomorrow I’ll.... Ahhh!!!!”

Hidden inside her burrow, the little flower chipmunk blinked curiously.

“What are Big Brother and Big Sisters doing? It looks like they’re having such a good time....”

Meanwhile, inside the wardrobe in the courtyard—

“Count me in!”

Jiang Mingyue furiously pounded on the door, her thunderous roar echoing outside. “Why didn’t you include me too?!!!”