Chapter:13
This Is the Fox I Keep
Night had fallen.
The Jiang familyâs villa was silent inside and out, with only a few rooms faintly lit.
Lying on her pink princess bed, Guan Xuxu gazed up at the ceiling, where a painted starry sky glowed softly in the darkâa gentle luminescence that gave the room a dreamy warmth.
It was a thoughtful detail, meant so that if a child woke in the middle of the night, they wouldnât be frightened by complete darkness.
From the way the room was decorated, one could tell just how eagerly Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had awaited her birth.
It was a kind of parental love Guan Xuxu had never felt before.
Because back in the Guan familyâno one had ever celebrated her birth.
If anything⌠they had looked forward to her death.
They believed that if she died, her life could be exchanged for a lifetime of good fortune and smooth sailing for Guan Ruirui.
Xuxu closed her eyes, pushing thoughts of the Guans aside, and her mind turned to another question.
âSince coming to the Jiang household, not a single person had mentioned her real mother.
Had she passed away?
Or⌠was there something else behind it?
Just as that thought crossed her mind, a sharp, familiar cry pierced through her awareness.
Her eyes flew open.
As though suddenly recalling something, her expression changed. She grabbed her cloak and rushed to the window.
She threw it open, scanning the black night sky. Then, in the next moment, a yellow talisman appeared in her hand, and without hesitation, she tossed it upward.
At the same time, her lips moved swiftly:
âHeaven and earth be clear, yin and yang unitedâ
I bear the sacred order:
Come forth, pure wind!â
As the incantation left her mouth, she braced a hand against the window frameâand leapt straight out from the third floor.
In the same instant, a breeze wrapped around the yellow charm, returning to her like a living thing. It caught her mid-fall, cushioning her descent, and gently set her down on the ground below.
Up on the second floor, Jiang Suâwho had been absorbed in a game on his phoneâcaught sight of something dropping from above out of the corner of his eye.
Startled, he turned his headâand in that instant, his game screen flashed âYouâve been eliminated.â
âAw, come on! Are you kidding me?!â
He yelled, jumping from his chair. Remembering who lived upstairs, his irritation flared. He stomped to the window, planning to grab whatever had fallen and throw it right back up.
But when he leaned out, he caught sight of a shadowy figure darting quickly across the yard before vanishing into the darkness.
ââŚWhat the hell was that?â
With his sharp eyes, Jiang Su couldâve sworn that back view looked exactly like that weird âpray-to-the-godsâ girlâGuan Xuxu.
When did she get downstairs?
âŚ
Past the front gates, Guan Xuxu ran straight in one direction.
Soon, a large three-story villa came into view in the distanceâits lights bright, the sound of commotion spilling out from inside.
âAooon!â
That same familiar cry again.
She sped up, arriving at the gate.
Through the iron bars, she saw several bodyguards in the yard chasing a small figure around.
When one of them raised a collapsible baton, Xuxuâs face went pale. She shouted over the gate:
âStop! Thatâs my fox!â
She reached for another charm, but before she could use it, a voice crackled through the guardsâ radios. One of them signaled the others, and the baton was immediately lowered.
The gate slid open automatically. Xuxu hurried inside.
The small figure that had been surrounded turned the moment it saw herâand bolted straight toward her.
Out of the darkness emerged a tiny fox, its fur pure white like freshly fallen snow.
It had a round, fluffy body and a plump tail, and on its back was a little pet-sized backpack that bounced with each step.
The fox leapt at Xuxuâs legs, climbing up her body with soft âkyun-kyunâ cries. The fierce yowling it had given the guards moments ago was gone, replaced by childlike affection.
Xuxu sighed, half exasperated, supporting its hindquarters as she picked it up.
(With a nose like yours, thereâs no way you got the wrong placeâŚ)
But just then, something golden flickered in the corner of her vision.
When she looked up, she sawâstanding by the front entranceâa glowing mass of golden light. No, not light⌠a person.
Someone she knew.
Chu Beicangâthe formidable âNorthern Crane,â a man of immense power and status.
So this was his house.
Under the night sky, his golden aura was almost dazzling.
As her eyes adjusted, Xuxu approached slowly, clutching the fox, her tone awkward as she spoke:
âMr. Chu, Iâm so sorry. This fox is mine. It must have been looking for me⌠but somehow came to the wrong place.â
Chu Beicangâs gaze swept over herâthis girl standing in a thin nightgown hastily covered by a cloak, with faint creases and claw marks on the fabric. His brow furrowed slightly, though his expression remained unreadable.
ââŚDoesnât look to me like it came to the wrong place.â
His low, gravelly voice carried a chill that mingled with the night air, and his eyes shifted toward the fox.
Following his gaze, Xuxu looked down at Hu Piaoliangâthe little foxâwho was now stretching her neck, straining to get closer to Chu Beicang, staring up at him with glimmering black eyes.
If Xuxu hadnât been holding her tight, the fox wouldâve leapt at him already.
(Ah⌠sheâs drawn to his golden aura, of course.)
âHu Piaoliang!â she hissed, tightening her arms around the fox.
(That golden light isnât even mine yetâthereâs no way youâre allowed to touch it!)
At last, the fox stopped bristling, though her gaze stayed fixed on Chu Beicang.
Feeling a bit sorry for the little creature, Xuxu took a cautious step forward and explained, âShe just⌠likes pretty people, thatâs all.â
But in that very instant, Chu Beicangâstill standing in the doorwayâsubtly took a step back.
Xuxu froze, the corners of her mouth twitching.
(âŚDid he just recoil?)
Glancing down at the fox in her arms, whose fur was now a bit dirty, she came to a grim conclusion:
âHe wasnât repulsed by her.
He was repulsed by the fox.
Without a doubt.
