CH 27.2

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

Hearing this familiar call from this unknown creature, Lu Qingjiu’s eyes grew wide. He said, “You…… you’re the little fox?!” 

The little fox bounced over to Lu Qingjiu’s side, nuzzling its head against Lu Qingjiu’s leg as if to say: That’s right, that’s right, I’m the little fox.

Lu Qingjiu, seeing the little fox’s appearance, was simply stunned. All the fur on the little fox’s body had exploded out to shape into a little round ball. He picked it up and found that the amount of fur had increased by quite a lot. Instantly, he understood what had happened to the little fox… The little kit had probably ran out of the house last night and somehow prayed to the well. After that, the fur on its body had instantly exploded.

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For a moment, Lu Qingjiu didn’t quite know whether to laugh or cry. This fox with exploded fur was actually very cute, like a little round ball.

He brought the fox back to the outer courtyard and saw Bai Yuehu, watering can in his hands, watering the grapevines in the courtyard.

“Yuehu.” With the little fox kit in his arms, Lu Qingjiu walked over to Bai Yuehu.

Bai Yuehu’s gaze fell on the fox kit.

Lu Qingjiu said, “After becoming like this, can it turn back to how it was before?” Holding the little fox was like holding a mass of fluffy fur.

Bai Yuehu thought for a moment. “If it can’t change back…” 

“You still can’t eat it.” Lu Qingjiu replied, on alert.

Bai Yuehu directly let out a regretful expression. He reluctantly answered, “It can’t change back, trim it with scissors.”

Lu Qingjiu glanced at the little fox. The little fox looked back innocently at Lu Qingjiu with its blue eyes. But because it had too much fluff, he almost couldn’t see its eyes any more. It had to be said, that well in the inner courtyard really produced very good results…

Seeing that Bai Yuehu wasn’t going to offer any other suggestions, Lu Qingjiu could only resign himself to carry the little fox back into the house and grabbing a pair of scissors. 

The little fox was really obedient. Clearly having noticed that being by Lu Qingjiu’s side was still very safe, it obediently stood in place. Lu Qingjiu began trimming the blown up fur on its body.

This was the first time Lu Qingjiu had attempted something like trimming fur. He could only try to lightly trim its fur, but the more he trimmed, the more he felt something was wrong. At that moment, Yin Xun arrived. The instant he entered the house, he yelled out, “Holy shit, Lu Qingjiu, where’d you pick up this a dog this time?!”

Lu Qingjiu, “…It’s not a dog.”

“If it’s not a dog, what is it?” Yin Xun reached out a hand and gave the little fox a rough stroke, “It’s a poodle!” 

Lu Qingjiu silently threw away the scissors he was holding. He felt like he had become an unforgivable sinner. What had clearly been a still cute fox spirit became a poodle after having its fur trimmed by him…

“Wait a moment, this seems like it really isn’t a dog…” After a close inspection, Yin Xun found that something wasn’t quite right. His eyes widened. “This… Isn’t this that fox from yesterday? How did it become ruined like this?

The culprit who ruined the fox, Mister Lu, guiltily averted his gaze.

“Poor little darling.” Yin Xun said, “You did this?” 

Lu Qingjiu could only helplessly explain how the little fox had been affected by the well in the inner courtyard, unfortunately resulting in this explosion of fur.

Hearing this, Yin Xun glanced over at the little fox who still didn’t understand what had happened. He comforted it, saying, “It’s alright. After a few days, your fur will grow back. When that happens, we can fix it again…”

Inwardly, Lu Qingjiu thought, we can only do that now.

With the addition of a fox kit in the house, it became a lot more lively. Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei warmly welcomed their new friend. Even though this new friend couldn’t speak the human language and had its fur trimmed to look like a poodle’s by Lu Qingjiu, when all was said and done, it was a furry creature and still incredibly likable. 

The chicks in the courtyard had already grown into fully-grown chickens. In the beginning, they were hostile towards the little fox, trying to peck at its fur. Only after being seen by Lu Qingjiu and being reprimanded several times did they finally stop, giving up on bothering the little fox.

So when Lu Qingjiu was cooking in the kitchen, there were two pigs and a fox lazing around in the outer courtyard, and the one seated on the chair was even a fox spirit. The four of them enjoyed the cool shade of a tree together, actually incredibly harmoniously.

Because of Bai Yuehu, the grapevines in Lu Qingjiu’s home also grew abnormally quickly, spreading to the entire courtyard from the trellis and shading it from the scorching sun, making the courtyard become completely cool. The most delightful thing were the bunches of grapes hanging from the vines. It could be imagined how pleasing it would be when the grapes become ripe. After calculating the number of grapes, Lu Qingjiu decided to ferment a barrel of grape wine for himself and sell the rest to Chao Qianyu. After finding out he was growing grapes in his home, Chao Qianyu called Lu Qingjiu practically every day wanting to buy them, offering an incredibly high price.

Lunch was the fresh mutton Lu Qingjiu had bought earlier. Taking out the portion of lamb chop, he simmered it in sauce. The mutton was very tender and didn’t have a strong rank odor. The braised lamb chops turned out extremely delicious. After finishing up the lamb chops, he made a pot of pumpkin mung bean soup to relieve the summer heat, thinking of just having a simple dinner of meat patties and salted vegetables. 

In hot weather, people’s appetite would usually be affected slightly, but there was no such problem in this family. Lu Qingjiu carried the lamb chops over to the table, then picked out a few pieces to feed to the little fox. He didn’t know if the little fox could actually chew through it, but might as well try.

Upon smelling the fragrant scent of the lamb chops, the little fox became extremely excited. It started chirping incessantly and refused to let go after biting into it. It was just that it was a little too small to bite through it. It had to expend a lot of energy biting on it, only able to finish a piece after nibbling on it for a long time. 

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Lu Qingjiu originally had his head lowered watching the little fox, but he suddenly felt a gaze on him. Raising his head, he found that it was Bai Yuehu watching him.

“It only ate two pieces.” Lu Qingjiu knew his family’s fox spirit’s protectiveness over his food, and could only coax him, saying, “I won’t give it any of the meat patties for tonight.” 

“Oh.” Bai Yuehu reluctantly accepted Lu Qingjiu’s answer.

After lunch, it was everyone’s break time. Lu Qingjiu went to the kitchen, and brought out some bingfen seeds, planning on making some bingfen. Bingfen was their number one method of relieving the summer heat here. They would rub the bingfen seeds between their hands, then place them into water. After that, they would add in gypsum powder, making it form into a lump of something like a transparent jelly. Finally, they would add in brown sugar and hawthorn. It felt fresh and cool in one’s mouth, whetting the appetite. Eating it could relieve the summer heat and cooled one down, so it was very popular.

Even though Bai Yuehu preferred meat a little more, he actually also welcomed these desserts, not picky at all.

Lu Qingjiu made a big basin of bingfen, then placed it in the fridge to chill. As he worked, the little fox followed by his heels, incredibly well-behaved. Because it was too small, Lu Qingjiu almost stepped on it several times while walking. 

“Be good, go to the courtyard and find the pigs to play with,” Lu Qingjiu said, “I’m busy.” After yet another incident of almost stepping on it, Lu Qingjiu could only crouch down and talk it over with the little fox.

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The little fox stared at Lu Qingjiu pitifully, its little paws pulling at Lu Qingjiu’s pants legs. It chirped quietly a few times, the reluctance in its watery eyes as if saying it didn’t want to go.

Lu Qingjiu stroked its little head, “There’s still stuff to eat in the courtyard… What’s wrong? Are you scared?” Seeing it like this, it was clear that it didn’t want to go to the courtyard.

The little fox seemed as if it could understand Lu Qingjiu’s words, its body silently curling up into a ball. 

Probably because Bai Yuehu had never hidden his desire to eat the little fox from the beginning, the little fox was utterly terrified of Bai Yuehu. The moment it got close to him, it would start to tremble. Those not in the know might even think that Bai Yuehu’s body was electrically charged.

Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment, then picked up the little fox and walked into the courtyard, calling, “Yuehu.”

Bai Yuehu currently had his eyes closed, taking a rest. Upon hearing Lu Qingjiu’s call, his eyes inched open a crack. He replied, “En?”

Lu Qingjiu thickened his skin and said, “Come hold this little fox in your arms for a moment.” 

Bai Yuehu, “…”

Lu Qingjiu said, “It’s scared of you. Can you hold it for a moment and tell it you won’t eat it?”

Bai Yuehu’s gaze shifted downwards, falling on the little fox. The little fox he was staring at instantly started trembling again.

Lu Qingjiu fixed Bai Yuehu with an expectant gaze. Bai Yuehu was silent for a moment before finally sighing and holding out a hand to the little fox. “Come.” 

A smile instantly bloomed on Lu Qingjiu’s face. He carefully placed the little fox into Bai Yuehu’s hand.

That little fox wasn’t bigger than a palm. When placed into Bai Yuehu’s pale, slender hand, it looked even more pocket-sized. It began to chirp, but didn’t dare struggle, only looking over at Lu Qingjiu pathetically to plead for help.

“What are you scared of.” Bai Yuehu said to it in an icy tone, “It’s not like I’m going to eat you.”

The little fox could understand human speech. After Bai Yuehu said these words, the trembling of its body clearly lessened by a lot. It was just that as Lu Qingjiu let out a sigh of relief, Bai Yuehu, this guy, then added, “At least not now I won’t.” 

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Qingjiu saw a strange puddle form on Bai Yuehu’s palm. The little fox’s eyes rolled, directly fainting — the little fox had actually peed itself in fear.

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu finally couldn’t hold back any more. With a “pfft”, he burst out into laughter. Of course, immediately afterwards, he hurriedly plucked the little fox out of Bai Yuehu’s hand. Then he rushed to the nearby water hose, dragged it over and seriously helped Bai Yuehu wash off his hands.

After having his hand peed on by the little fox, Bai Yuehu stopped moving, the entire fox simply frozen in place.

Lu Qingjiu washed Bai Yuehu’s hand clean, then wiped it dry. Seeing that he still hadn’t moved, he carefully tapped the back of his hand, and called out, “Yuehu?” 

Instantly, a thick black fog rose from behind Bai Yuehu.

Lu Qingjiu wasn’t very nervous upon seeing the black fog. Actually, every time he saw the black fog, it was when he was being saved. He hurriedly consoled him, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, it’s just a child. Children are always unreasonable. Don’t bother with it.”

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Bai Yuehu shifted his gaze upwards.

“Tomorrow I’ll go to town and buy you a lamb. We’ll roast an entire lamb over the weekend.” Lu Qingjiu could only resort to using food to bribe his family’s angry fox spirit, “I promise it’ll be filling.”

Only after hearing Lu Qingjiu’s promise did Bai Yuehu finally slowly lower his hand. He looked at the little fox that Lu Qingjiu had taken back. It was currently huddled in Lu Qingjiu’s pocket, not moving. He said with audible dissatisfaction, “How is it such a coward.”

Lu Qingjiu kind of wanted to laugh, but felt like it would be rather inappropriate with this kind of atmosphere so he could only hold back.

The little fox, which had been shocked unconscious, took quite a while to come to. After waking up, it was even more scared now, curling up in Lu Qingjiu’s palm, refusing to move. Lu Qingjiu stroked its fur and said, “See, you’ve already offended him this much, if he really wanted to eat you, you definitely would’ve been eaten long ago, so don’t be scared, he definitely won’t eat you.” 

The little fox’s movements stilled. It looked up at Lu Qingjiu, its gaze still filled with doubt.

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“If he wants to eat something, he also needs my permission,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared, there’s other, better tasting things in the house, you’ve got so little meat, he won’t be interested in you.”

Only then did the little fox stop trembling. It chirped a few times.

Lu Qingjiu smiled and said, “Yes, just think it through. It’s alright, Yuehu is really gentle.” — Except for when he was protecting his food. “So you really don’t need to be so scared of him.” 

The little fox didn’t make a sound, just stretched out its pink, soft tongue and gently licked Lu Qingjiu’s finger as if to say it understood.