Fox in the Forest

Why aren't you sleeping so late at night? Is there something lively going on?

The fox was eager to eat the melon, so he didn't rush to the kitchen. Instead, he peeked around the corner to see what was going on not far away.

Um?

The pair of animal eyes that were particularly bright in the dark night moved slightly, clearly reflecting the person hiding stealthily beside the big tree at the door of the kitchen.

He looked around from time to time, as if he was lying in ambush.

The fox narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly.

broken.

Came for it.

If it were any other suspicious and sensitive little animal, when it found someone squatting at the kitchen door, it might be so scared that it would give up.

But the fox doesn't.

There are so many people in the dilapidated temple, and it still dared to try to make noise to attract people. Now there is only one person here, so it just needs to be restrained a little.

Foxes are good at this.

Licking its lips, the red fox hid in the corner, its eyes flashing with ill intent in the darkness. Just when the man looked a little sleepy, it called out faintly:

“Ah~!”

Liu Heng:?!

What?

What sound??

The short cry sounded like a girl's, clear and lively, yet with an indescribable ghostly feeling, as if a goblin was greeting him.

"Who? Who is it?"

With a start, all sleepiness disappeared. Liu Heng held the tree trunk and looked around uncontrollably, wondering what the sound just now was.

"Hahaha--"

Seeing this, the fox hiding in the dark barked a few more times with a smile.

By the way, is there anyone who hasn’t heard the provocative laughter of the red fox?

When making this call, its voice usually becomes exceptionally delicate and soft, with a drawn-out tone and a slight tremor at the end, creating an echo effect, as if it were a strange sound echoing in the mountains.

Although there was no one in the forest now, Liu Heng was already starting to feel uneasy.

What's going on?

This is different from what he expected!

The fox chose their house and only ate some food without hurting anyone. There must have been some chance or guidance behind this!

He he he doesn't have any ill intentions...!

His scalp was tingling and Liu Heng dared not move.

The fox in the dark tilted his head.

Um?

Don't chase it?

The red fox thought for a moment, then deliberately stretched his body out of the shadow, exposing a large part of his tail to the moonlight.

Come on.

Come chase it.

When people finally looked over, the tail twitched with extra joy.

Liu Heng: ! !

Fox fox fox...

It's really a fox!!

His heart was pounding. He didn't know why, but when he saw the red tail that looked particularly soft and gorgeous under the moonlight, Liu Heng suddenly understood the descriptions of the fox spirits in the storybooks that sucked people's energy.

Just now, when he saw the tail swaying gently towards him, he was actually distracted.

So beautiful...

"Are you inviting me over?"

As his cheeks gradually felt hot, Liu Heng asked in disbelief.

"Yeah~"

The creature in the dark smiled and led him, hooking its tail again.

Liu Heng thought for a moment that there might be danger ahead, but for some reason, he felt more anticipation than fear.

After all, such a mysterious world, such moving creatures, as long as you can get a little touch of them, your life will be complete...

Unable to think any more, the boy walked straight into the shadows.

"Hmm~"

Seeing that the prey had finally taken the bait, the red fox in the dark smiled with its eyes curved, and a small chuckle of success escaped from its mouth. Then it used its tail to lead the human behind it, and led him away from the kitchen step by step.

Liu Heng followed its wish and chased it step by step.

Although the fox hid quickly every time and only showed a little fur as a reminder when he lost it, the elegant outline vaguely revealed in the darkness and the occasional laughter were enough to make his heart flutter and chase it regardless of the consequences.

It really looks like he has lost his mind.

Audience: …

[Although, if it were me, I couldn’t refuse. 】

[Ahhh, little fox, why are you hooking your tail? Don’t you know that your big tail looks very charming when it’s still? Why are you shaking it gently? Why?]

[Good boy, he is really good at seducing people. When this guy is lost, the little fox will quietly peek around the corner and whimper to him. I can't stand it. I am jealous ah ah ah!!]

[Why? ! The supporting roles in the previous ones were treated like horror movies, why is this one treated like a tyrant? ! ]

[Little fox, come and seduce me, seduce me, I have a lot of delicious food at home. 】

It was the first time that Liu Heng understood the foolish emperor in the story.

When he occasionally sobered up and hesitated to retreat with concerns, he looked again and saw the fox half showing its face at the corner. It looked at him lovingly with its rare raised eyebrows, as if inviting him again, which made him forget everything else and just continued to follow.

He didn't know where the end was, but it didn't matter whether he knew it or not.

The excitement of exploring secrets and the unknown lingered in his heart. The elusive red fox in front of him was like a reward within reach, which made his heart flutter and he just kept moving forward.

Maybe if we were faster, we could catch it...

So, what does the fox think?

In fact, it just wanted to choose a place farthest from the kitchen, intending to lure people there and then quickly go back to the kitchen to eat.

Those behaviors that may seem tempting to humans along the way are actually considered provocations by foxes and are just a means to attract enemies.

The little fox didn't think so much.

If it could know what Liu Heng was thinking, it would probably tilt its head with a puzzled look on its face, and then quickly run away, fearing that this human who had unrealistic fantasies about it would become angry and embarrassed after discovering that the goods were not what they had ordered.

But now, it doesn't know this and is still diligently leading people away.

Um……

Here, almost there.

After running for a long time, he finally led the man to the wall. The red fox turned around and smiled at the man, then quickly disappeared into the bushes nearby.

This was not the end of Liu's mansion, there was a corner ahead, so Liu Heng thought the fox was teasing him again and waited there for a long time.

It was not until he felt that the fox had been gone for too long this time that he looked around in confusion, and then he heard footsteps.

He thought it was a fox, so he turned around and shouted, "Fox!"

But what came into view was a familiar figure——

"ah?!"

Liu was so frightened that her hands hanging by her sides were shaking and her heartbeat quickened instantly.

When she heard the noise outside, she thought it was that dead guy who came early without saying hello. How could it be that kid from the Liu family...

Looking up from below, Liu Heng saw Liu's face clearly and his eyes widened immediately: "Madam Liu... Ugh!"

Suddenly, a strong hand holding a wet handkerchief covered his mouth and nose from behind.

Before Liu Heng could figure out what was happening, he inhaled the Mongolian medicine.

Under the grip of the mysterious man, he struggled for a while, but ultimately failed to resist and fell asleep.

Liu and the man who had just climbed over the wall were left staring at each other in bewilderment.

After a while, they slowly started to communicate:

"…You asked him to come over?"

"How is that possible! I thought you came early!"

"What's going on? Why is he out here at night? And walking here?"

"Who knows! He was running outside, I heard him, and I thought you were hinting at me, but now...what should I do?"

The red fox, who knew nothing about this, was happily running towards the kitchen.

Foxes can take shortcuts, but people can't; they can't squeeze into narrow aisles.

Even if the man guessed that the fox had returned, he would not be able to catch it.

The fox strode into the kitchen.

When it reached a familiar shelf, it paused.

Unlike last night, there is some strange powder on the ground now.

Um?

Curiously leaning forward to sniff, the fox had just moved his nose to inhale a few grains of powder when he couldn't hold back the irritation and sneezed seven or eight times in a row:

“Ah sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze—!!”

The little fox sneezed so violently that his whole body was shaking. His head was spinning like a propeller and his brain was almost shaken apart.

After it recovered, it took several steps back as if facing a formidable enemy, then lay on the ground and covered its nose with its paws to calm its emotions.

It seems that the head of the Liu family has prepared some anti-fox measures.

“Oh.”

Sniffing, the aggrieved little fox could only look for food on the road where no powder was sprinkled.

This is more strenuous than last night.

You can't just climb up the shelf to pick it up, you have to jump onto the stove, then jump onto the stone pillar, and then carefully look for food.

"A-choo! A-choo!"

But, the shelf also has anti-fox powder.

It finally caught half a chicken and almost broke its nose.

Red Fox:......

It walked silently to the place marked yesterday, scratched a few times with its claws, marking this place as an "extremely dangerous food spot", then licked the hard-earned food, and left the kitchen somewhat angrily.

There is so much food, what's wrong with sharing it?

I won't come here next time, I'll go to another one.

Even after getting the food, the fox still didn't quite recover.

When it left the room and was blown by the wind, it climbed up the wall and rubbed its nose, and its nose felt itchy again.

After squatting on the wall for a long time, the fox finally slipped while climbing over the wall and hit the drowsy servant who was guarding the door, waking him up immediately.

“Who is it?!”

The fox would run away the second after hitting someone, so of course he couldn't find anyone.

Fearing that something unexpected had happened, the servant quickly called out to the others:

"Wake up! Everyone, wake up!"

"There's a thief! A thief has broken in!"

fox:……

At this time, it had already hidden in the alley outside the mansion.

Seeing that the originally quiet nest was disturbed by its misstep, it licked its paws awkwardly, trying to hide its embarrassment with a smile.

hey-hey.

My feet are slippery. My feet are a little slippery.

Excuse me.

It pressed its ears, turned around and ran away.

Narration sums up tonight:

"When he showed up again, he unexpectedly ran into the young master of the Liu family."

"The young master didn't know about the conspiracy of the cheating couple to seize his family's property. He was still a naive and romantic young man. He wanted to see anything mysterious and novel he saw."

"Then, the young master was attracted by the mysterious aura of that person."

[It's just the body of a fox, hum! ]

[Oh, so that person is the eldest son of the Liu family... the one who obeys Liu's orders as described by those two people? He does look quite young and doesn't have much experience.]

[I have the experience card of a tyrant at such a young age. I am a winner in life! 】

[Eh? Since he is in this identity, and the little fox led him to the wall, according to the routine of this kind of writing, could it be just a coincidence...]

The narrator readily agrees:

"Yes, while quietly following him, the young master also accidentally saw the plot."

"But unfortunately, he was able to escape unscathed and even frightened others, but the young master was not so lucky. He was discovered."

[Oh no, will the young master be in trouble? ]

[Those two people are capable of killing me. If I were to run into them, wouldn’t I be…?]

[Oh, it's over, it's over. It looks like the little fox made a mess of the mansion just by eating! ]

[It's not the little fox that's causing trouble, it's those two people. I think the little fox's cheating will make those two people's plans go awry, isn't that a good thing? ]

[Careful analysis: First, it is inappropriate for those two to act in a hurry now; secondly...didn't the little fox awaken the security system in the mansion? ]

The narrator also reveals the turning point:

"Yes. When the two were about to take action, they heard noises from other people, and everyone woke up."

"Because of a very coincidental coincidence, he accidentally made a big noise. As soon as the two men had the evil intention of silencing him, they had to suppress it quickly, and revealed a flaw."

"And he, knowing nothing about it, keeps his achievements and fame to himself."

【ohhhhhhh European emperor fox! ! 】

[Hahaha, what a coincidence, it's really such a coincidence, but the whole logic is very smooth, and it even echoes yesterday's events, it's amazing.]

[If it weren't for that anti-fox fan, the little fox might not have stumbled and awakened the security system, so it really is one thing after another... but it's also really a coincidence. ]

[Haha, I guessed it. It turns out that the little fox will never make mistakes.]

[Hiss, interesting. So what did the young master see? Can he save his father's fate? Looking forward to it——]

Liu Heng was indeed fine.

When the two were hesitating about how to deal with him, there was a loud noise from the other end of the mansion. The lights in many rooms were turned on, and it seemed that everyone was awake, causing the two to panic.

At this time, even though they had objections to Liu Heng's sudden appearance, they did not dare to discuss it for too long and could only act separately.

Liu hurried back to the backyard, and the man was responsible for sending Liu Heng back to the room.

Thank God, Liu Heng's window was not locked, so the two of them entered through the window without disturbing anyone else.

Throwing the man on the bed, the man looked at the unconscious Liu Heng with an ambiguous look in his eyes.

He knocked the person unconscious from behind, so the other person probably didn't see him...

As long as he wasn't seen, then even if this kid saw Liu, it should be explainable.

But it would be best if the other person could treat everything that happened tonight as a dream.

Although time was tight, the man quickly dealt with all suspicious traces, took off Liu Heng's coat, put his shoes in place, and stuffed him into the bed in a very standard sleeping position.

The messy desk by the window was also carefully tidied up by him, trying not to leave any flaws.

"fox……"

But he was still too nervous and only paid attention to the movement outside the door. He did not notice that before he was put into the bed, the young man struggled and moved his fingers, as if trying to catch something, and actually pulled the jade pendant off his waist.

He knew nothing about it.

As soon as he heard the patrol's noise approaching, he quickly climbed over the wall and left, not daring to stay for a moment.

the next day.

"Master! Master!"

Liu Heng slept very soundly the whole night. It was only when the maidservant saw that it was getting late and kept calling him that he slowly woke up.

"fox--!"

When he regained consciousness, he sat up subconsciously and yelled.

The maids nearby were so hesitant and silent after hearing this shout that they just looked at each other.

Huh? What's going on?

Sleeping too long?

Is the young master having a nightmare?

Liu Heng didn't know what the maids were thinking. All he had in his mind was the vague impression of chasing the fox.

In the courtyard late at night, he followed the fox all the time, and the fox smiled at him...

But the touch of reality brought him back to consciousness, and when he looked down, he found himself sitting on the bed in only his underwear, as if he had not been out late at night.

But he clearly remembered that he went out last night and met a fox—!

As Liu Heng was groping to get out of bed, his hand suddenly touched something cold. He looked for it in confusion and took a look. It turned out to be a jade pendant.

Liu Heng's eyes widened instantly.

Where did he get the jade pendant?

He never uses this!

Hiss, what happened last night...

Liu Heng was confused by the numerous doubts and tried hard to review the situation in his mind.

Didn't he pretend to go to bed last night, and wait until midnight, then put on his coat and shoes without telling the maids and servants, sneak out of the window, and go to the kitchen to wait for the fox?

He still vaguely remembered that the fox was fiery red, with its tail wagging, and would wait for him with a smile at the corner. They ran and stopped along the way, and then they arrived...

But the memory after that is already blurry.

He only remembered that he heard footsteps at the last place, and then when he turned around, he saw a beautiful figure.

He was looking for a fox, so he looked up from the bottom—

ah!

My head hurts so much that I can’t remember my face!

Liu Heng knocked his head and felt a little painful.

So, is that a fox incarnate?

Did he go out? He must have gone out?

But why did he return to his room and change his clothes after seeing her?

What on earth is this…

Feeling a little dazed, but having to get up, Liu Heng let the maid play with him and looked into the distance.

The maid helped him wash and brush her teeth while looking at his expression and said, "Master, you finally woke up. There was a lot of noise last night..."

"Noise? What noise?"

Liu Heng felt something was wrong and asked hurriedly.

Upon learning that there seemed to be a thief breaking into the house last night but no one was found after searching all night, he fell into deep thought.

So, what is going on?

"Was there any strange noise in my room last night?"

After pondering for a long time, Liu Heng decided to ask the people around him.

The maid thought for a moment and said, "No, it's just that you were sleeping too deeply and I couldn't wake you up no matter what I did."

Can’t you wake me up?

Liu Heng frowned, changed his clothes and walked to the window. Looking at the window sill that was different from what he remembered, he turned around and asked, "Who of you cleaned up this place today?"

The maids were surprised: "We haven't touched it yet...Do we need to clean it up? Then we will do it now."

"No."

Liu Heng stopped the maids and looked at the neat windowsill with horror.

He remembered that he had accidentally knocked over the bottle when he went out through the window, but why was the table so neat now? ?

Did he, he, he go out or not?

Liu Heng began to doubt his life.

Could it be that...

For some reason, my memory of last night was not very clear, and coupled with the various strange things that did not match my memory, and then connected with the fox demon -

A bold guess gradually emerged in Liu Heng's mind.

Could it be that everything that happened last night was just a dream of the fox?

Otherwise, how can we explain all these weird things?

Thinking of this, Liu Heng quickly turned back, picked up the jade pendant on the bed, held it in his hand and stroked it gently, his ears turning red.

Could it be... that this is the token of love that the fox left for him?

Audience members who switched over: …

【This is evidence!!】

[Fuck, wake up! Why are you so shy about this?! ]

At daybreak, the little fox hid in the tree hole to rest as usual. The camera naturally turned to the human side, faithfully recording the current situation of Dihua after the fox's visit.

Then, the audience vaguely understood the boy's thoughts from the series of facial expressions and words after he got up, and were shocked for a moment.

[No, no no, you, uh...]

[Oh no, were those two people knocked unconscious by him? Did they lose their memory?]

[Emmmm, maybe being led by a fox at night is a fantasy in itself, so it is normal for the young master to have wild thoughts, right? ]

[Oh my, the evidence has been sent to you, but you haven't discovered it yet? Hiss, it seems that in the end, it will still be up to our big boss, Little Fox, to solve everything...]

In fact, the fox's two visits to Liu's house had already brought about some changes.

For example, last night there was a lot of noise, and Master Liu woke up early and found out that Liu was out again. Although he was finally appeased by Liu's excuse of making ginseng tea, he couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart, and ordered her not to go out at night in the future;

For example, when Liu Heng was having a meal, he looked at Madam Liu and felt that she looked more and more familiar. He lowered his head only after being reprimanded. However, he inexplicably had some doubts in his heart - it was strange, why did Madam Liu look like the figure in his dream?

Or maybe it was the distrust that was stirring in the hearts of the two plotters. One was wondering if the man was going to expose her, and the other was wondering if Liu was bribed by the Liu family. Although the two were still close on the surface, there were already signs of a split...

In short, the Liu family, which was about to head towards a predetermined destiny, gradually deviated from its track.

But what does all this have to do with the little fox who is obsessed with stealing food?

It has also been traumatized by the fox repellent powder!

When it slept in the cave during the day, it had a nightmare about the irritating powder rushing into its nose. It did not sleep well at all, waving its claws around as if attacking an imaginary enemy. It was rare that it did not sleep so obediently with its tail in its arms.

When it woke up at night and was ready to hunt, it was still frightened and did not choose to continue going to Liu's house. Instead, it turned a corner and headed towards an unfamiliar area.

The little fox looked around.

Let it see...

Is there any other good place here?

Red Fox: If there is no place for foxes here, there will be other places for them!