CH 28.1

Who wouldn’t like a little fox kit tender and plump enough for one to squeeze out water? If you tried to apply this sentence to Bai Yuehu, then you may have to add the word “eating” after “like”. 

It was originally a snack that could be eaten in one bite. But because it had Lu Qingjiu’s protection, after some serious thought, Bai Yuehu decided to let it off. But not eating it didn’t mean that Bai Yuehu would be able to stand it stealing his food every day — even if it was only one or two pieces too small to fit between his teeth.

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In order to appease Bai Yuehu, Lu Qingjiu found a time that Saturday to take Yin Xun and the little fox to town to buy a lamb back to roast. Yin Xun had specially come along in order to help Lu Qingjiu carry the stuff back, while the little fox, scared of being left along with Bai Yuehu, had curled up and refused to come out of Lu Qingjiu’s jacket pocket. Lu Qingjiu and it had struggled for a long time before finally, he had no choice but to bring it along with him.

Since finding out about his family’s pickup truck’s real identity, Lu Qingjiu’s feelings towards it had become a little complicated. Its original form was indeed somewhat dislikable, but its current form as a pickup truck was very cute. Especially how it looked when those two orange-yellow headlights flashed and when it occasionally honked a few times to humor him. The pickup truck had even saved Lu Qingjiu before, although… to this day, Lu Qingjiu didn’t want to think too closely about the method it had used to save him.

Yin Xun still didn’t know what he was actually sitting on. He just complained about what exactly was going on with this pickup truck and why was it that when he sat inside, his back would feel itchy. Lu Qingjiu thought it over, but eventually still didn’t let Yin Xun know the truth, just randomly brushing it over with an excuse.

Upon arriving in town, they picked a fat lamb and asked the owner to send it over to the pickup truck after killing it. Lu Qingjiu went to the nearby market and bought a few spices necessary for roasting a whole lamb, and even bought several jin of potatoes, onions and other such side dishes to roast along with the lamb.

“Such a big lamb, will Bai Yuehu be able to finish it?” Even though he knew Bai Yuehu had a very big appetite, Yin Xun felt that eating an entire lamb was really a little too extreme. 

“He’ll probably be able to?” Lu Qingjiu had an inexplicable faith in Bai Yuehu. Anyways, since Bai Yuehu had come to his home, he had never once said that he was full, at most just saying pretty much. As for how much this “pretty much” meant, nobody knew. Bai Yuehu’s stomach was simply like an endless abyss.

“Oh, I was just thinking that we shouldn’t roast too much, if we can’t finish it, it’ll be a waste,” Yin Xun said, “But alright.” If they roasted the entire lamb, they should eat it right after it was roasted. It definitely wouldn’t taste as good reheated.

After buying everything they needed, they returned to the car and saw the little fox in the truck cab looking as if it was being teased by something, jumping back and forth. Yin Xun watched through the window for a while, then exclaimed in fright, “What’s it playing with?” It was as if the little fox could see something they couldn’t.

Lu Qingjiu had an idea, but he didn’t say anything, just pulling open the truck door, picking up the little fox and stuffing it back into his pocket. He lightly patted its head, telling it to settle down a little. 

The little fox really understood humans. After being patted by Lu Qingjiu, it didn’t move anymore, obediently curling up in his pocket.

A few hours later, the three of them returned to the house.

Lu Qingjiu parked the pickup truck and Yin Xun helped unload the items. This time, they hadn’t just bought food, they even bought a specialised charcoal fuel for roasting a whole lamb. The metal rack was borrowed from town by Lu Qingjiu, they would have to return it in a few days. Actually, the most traditional way to roast an entire lamb would be to place it into a stove and roast it in the airtight space. Lamb meat roasted like that was the most delicious, but they didn’t have the right things for it here, so they could only settle with this.

Lu Qingjiu entered the kitchen and started to prepare the lamb, letting Yin Xun take the little fox kit out to play. 

After these few days of contact, even though the little fox had gained a slight sense of security and no longer followed along closely behind Lu Qingjiu every day, when Bai Yuehu was around, it still wouldn’t dare go into the courtyard unless it was accompanied by someone.

To roast the whole lamb, it needed to first go through a round of marinating. Lu Qingjiu doing the preparation now meant that they would have to roast it at night, so eating might have to wait until 8 or 9pm.

In addition to the roast lamb, he also prepared a few other dishes. The weather was hot, and lamb was a heaty dish, so it would be best if he added some cooling side-dishes like crushed cucumbers to cool off the heat.

Just as Lu Qingjiu had his head lowered to cook, Yin Xun stumbled in, saying, “Qingjiu, there’s a visitor.” 

Lu Qingjiu asked, “A visitor?”

Yin Xun said, “I don’t know them, they seem to be someone from Bai Yuehu’s hometown.”

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu’s movements abruptly stilled. Someone from Bai Yuehu’s hometown? Wouldn’t someone from Bai Yuehu’s hometown just be a fox? A fluffy fox… Thinking of something, Lu Qingjiu’s eyes lit up. He asked, “Where?”

Yin Xun replied, “Why are you so excited? They’re in the courtyard.” 

Lu Qingjiu said, “I’ll go take a look.”

He wiped off the stuff on his hands, and went to the courtyard to join the commotion. Indeed, as Yin Xun said, there was a stranger in the courtyard. He was an extremely beautiful man. Even though his expression was very serious, the corners of his eyes and the tips of his brow all had a flirtatious look to them. Especially that pair of slightly drooping peach blossom eyes that showed a bit of distress, making onlookers unwilling to make things difficult for him.

But clearly, Bai Yuehu who was only interested in food didn’t buy into any of this. Faced with the offensive of a beauty’s tearful pleading, he still lay down on his rocking chair, not even opening his eyes.

“Mister Bai,” The man’s tone was clear and pleasant, with a hint of pleading, “Please, please sir help me, as long as you agree to help me, I’ll be willing to do anything for you.” 

Yin Xun, standing behind Lu Qingjiu, stuck out his head to passionately watch the gossip along with Lu Qingjiu. He whispered, “Yo, what kind of situation is this? This person’s really very beautiful, Qingjiu, aren’t you going to go out there? A vixen’s going to seduce Bai Yuehu.”

Lu Qingjiu shot Yin Xun a look, thinking, Bai Yuehu himself was a vixen, did he still need to worry about being seduced?

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After the man said this, he actually began to directly kneel down, but Bai Yuehu opened his eyes and affixed him with an emotionless stare, freezing him in place.

Bai Yuehu said, “Speak properly, don’t put on this act in front of me.” 

The man’s expression was stunned, “What?”

Bai Yuehu’s tone was a little cold, “Do I need to repeat myself?”

As soon as he said this, Lu Qingjiu who was hiding off the side and watching the show saw the enchanting smile on the man’s face disappear, and his temperament also went through some subtle changes. After letting out a sigh, the man spoke. This time, what came out of the man’s mouth made both Yin Xun and Lu Qingjiu choke. He said, “Mista’ Bai, today, ah’m asking ya a favour, mista’, won’t ya do it?” — That rough, manly Shandong accent made Lu Qingjiu feel as if he’d been struck by lightning. Yin Xun clearly had also suffered a strong shock, grabbing tightly onto Lu Qingjiu’s arm and refusing to let go for a long time.

“No,” Bai Yuehu said, “This house is small, we don’t have room.” 

The man said, “Mah kid’s timid, always being bullied at home, if ya promise to help me out, ah can…” Upon speaking to this point, he moved closer to Bai Yuehu’s ear, and spoke a few sentences in a low voice.

Bai Yuehu’s lazily half-lidded eyes opened. He gave the man a look, but still didn’t agree.

The man’s gaze spun around. Then, he suddenly turned his head and looked towards Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun who were peeking out by the side of the door. Their eavesdropping being noticed, Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun both felt a little embarrassed, eventually forcing out restrained smiles towards the man.

The man walked straight over to Lu Qingjiu. He stopped before Lu Qingjiu. This time, he spoke in an ordinary accent, “Mister Lu.” 

Lu Qingjiu, who had been directly named, said, “Ah, hello.”

“My name is Su Yan.” The man smiled at Lu Qingjiu. “It’s an honor to meet you at last.”

Now that the two were closer, Lu Qingjiu noticed that there was a little tear-shaped mole by the corner of the man’s eye. This tear-shaped mole added an aura that made people want to tenderly dote on him — That is, if he didn’t use that accent and speak in a Shandong dialect.

“‘At last’?” Lu Qingjiu replied, “Do you know me?” 

“Ah…” Su Yan seemed to realise what he said wasn’t quite appropriate, immediately correcting himself, smiling and saying, “I’ve heard people mention you before.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Oh, okay.”

As Su Yan spoke, a white, fluffy head poked out of his jacket pocket. It was that little fox kit Lu Qingjiu had picked up by the roadside, just that the fox kit’s fur really did grow to look a little like that of a poodle’s after being cut short. The little fox let out a few chirps of ‘jijiji’ and turned its head to look at Su Yan.

Su Yan said, “Who asked you to run around all over the place, even your fur has become like this…” He clearly didn’t know that its fur had become like this because of Lu Qingjiu, even thinking it had been bullied by someone, “Who made your fur like this, tell me later, I’ll teach them a lesson after I get back.” 

Lu Qingjiu let out a dry cough, his expression a little embarrassed.

Su Yan didn’t notice Lu Qingjiu’s discomfort. He lifted the little fox kit out of his hand, saying, “Mister Lu, I would like to have you foster Su Xi at your place for a time.”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Oh… Weren’t you here to take it home?”

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Su Yan said, “I’d like to, but seeing it, it doesn’t seem too willing to go back home with me.” 

Lu Qingjiu was stunned. 

Su Yan let out a bitter laugh, then gave a simple explanation of the circumstances. Of course, because Yin Xun, this outsider, was present, he spoke rather euphemistically, explaining Su Xi away as a pet. Lu Qingjiu understood after listening, it turned out that Su Yan had a lot of children in his family, and Su Xi was the youngest. It had been weak and sickly ever since young. When it reached the age when it should have been able to transform, it wasn’t able to take human form. It went without saying that all of the spirits believed in the law of the jungle. Even if they were all siblings, Su Xi was easily bullied. In the past, everyone had been fox kits, no matter how much they bullied it, they couldn’t go too overboard. But now, after its siblings all took human form one after another, Su Xi’s treatment became much worse.

Although those little foxes had taken human form, they still had the hearts of children, with no consideration for the severity of their actions. This time, they tossed poor little Su Xi over to Shuifu village — because amongst them, it was said that Shuifu village had a fox-eating monster and they wanted to have Su Xi lure the monster out.

“Oh, I understand,” Lu Qingjiu replied, “Has Yuehu agreed?” 

“This house is yours, naturally you need to be the first to agree.” Su Yan was very upright, “Of course, Su Xi is ultimately my family’s little fox. Every month, we’ll send over the money for his living expenses.”

Seeing Bai Yuehu had no intention of opposing this, Lu Qingjiu nodded his head and agreed, “Alright.” He also didn’t ask how much the cost for Su Xi’s living expenses would be, after all, a little fox kit wouldn’t be able to eat too much.

Seeing Lu Qingjiu agree, Su Yan let out a huge sigh of relief and said, “Really, thank you so much, Mister Lu.”

“It’s no problem.” Lu Qingjiu was originally considering if he should invite Su Yan in for dinner, but, worried that Bai Yuehu wouldn’t be happy, he didn’t speak the words in the end. 

After handing Su Xi over to Lu Qingjiu, Su Yan left. Lu Qingjiu returned to the house to continue prepping his whole roast lamb. Only Yin Xun was still stuck on that Shandong dialect of Su Yan’s, unable to extricate himself. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that no matter how beautiful the beauty, as long as their words didn’t match, it would always give rise to the kind of feeling that the soul had been placed in the wrong body.