Chapter 87 Locking the Phoenix Tree (Twenty): The Fox's Greed and Desire...
"...You mean this amulet?" She chuckled twice, lightly twirling the tassel at the bottom of the amulet pouch with her fingertips. "We sorcerers also pay attention to warding off evil and bringing good fortune when we're out and about. Wearing it on our bodies is for peace of mind."
Upon hearing this, Gu Lianzhou had no doubts. He smiled and looked down at his waist, stroking the fragrant brocade pouch with great care. "Senior brother, thank you."
He really liked the charm bag.
Since meeting his senior brother, he felt as if he had received a great blessing. His senior brother treated him extremely well and never showed any disgust because of his half-demon body. On the contrary, he protected him in every way and was very patient with him.
He simply didn't know how to repay his senior brother.
"I must repay the kindness... I must repay the kindness..."
In a daze, he unconsciously murmured to himself.
Song Qiling was slightly taken aback: "What did you say?"
Gu Lianzhou slowly raised his head, and a golden glint suddenly flashed in his originally dark eyes, making Song Qiling's heart skip a beat.
"To repay a debt of gratitude...to my benefactor..."
"What do you seek—fame and fortune...or luxury cars and fine horses...or perhaps beautiful women?"
It was clearly still his junior brother's face, but his peach blossom eyes had become even more charming, as if they were filled with spring water, almost overflowing.
She tugged at the corners of her lips and tentatively asked, "A fox?"
As soon as the words were spoken, "it" said in a high-pitched voice, "My benefactor..."
Song Qiling's brow twitched violently.
Oh no, junior brother hasn't fully digested that fox demon yet, and the desire in his heart has awakened the fox's instinct to repay kindness.
All I did was write a Taoist talisman for him, why is he so moved...?
Song Qiling was both amused and exasperated. Seeing his junior brother repeatedly using the phrase "repaying kindness" with excessive enthusiasm, he couldn't help but want to tease him.
She beckoned to her junior brother with her finger, signaling him to come closer. Before her hand could fall, the tall young man had already left his seat, obediently squatted down in front of her knees, and looked up at her.
"..."
If he hadn't still been in human form, Song Qiling would have truly thought he was facing a furry fox.
She resisted the urge to rub the imaginary fox ears, cleared her throat, and said in a deliberately profound tone, "I don't want fame or fortune, nor do I want luxury cars. I want you to take my place..."
Her eyes darted around, and she suddenly realized that she had slept poorly the night before, with a sore back and weak legs. So she blurted out, "Shoulder massage and leg pounding."
As soon as she said it, she regretted it.
Because Gu Lianzhou moved so quickly, the non-existent fox ears seemed to twitch twice, and he suddenly stood up and went around behind her.
"...Actually, you don't need to take my words seriously." Song Qiling felt extremely guilty and tried to dodge by propping herself up on the table.
Before she could even get off the stool, two hands suddenly landed on her shoulders, pressing her back down without giving her a chance to refuse.
"My benefactor, behave yourself." The junior brother said in a foxy tone from behind, and with his natural instincts, he pressed down with his ten fingers and slowly kneaded the junction of Song Qiling's neck and shoulders.
As expected of a fox, I don't know where she learned her skills, but her strength was just right, and her grasp of the acupoints was extremely accurate. Wherever her fingertips touched, a feeling of soreness and distension spread, which was indescribably comfortable.
Song Qiling shut her mouth, swallowed the words she hadn't finished saying, and simply relaxed and leaned back in the armchair, letting the person behind her do as she pleased.
The junior brother's fingers were long and strong. Even through his clothes, Song Qiling could clearly feel that his body temperature was slightly higher than her own. Just as Song Qiling was feeling comfortable, she noticed that his hands briefly moved away and then, in a few breaths, landed on her calves.
The moment it touched me, a tingling sensation spread from my lower body upwards, quickly reaching my entire body.
Song Qiling immediately reacted like a cat with its fur standing on end, pulling her legs back and saying, "That's enough, that's enough."
Seeing that the hands were relentlessly reaching forward, she simply crossed her legs and curled up on the chair.
A pair of golden fox eyes blinked slowly at her, looking puzzled: "My benefactor, I haven't finished repaying your kindness yet."
"I've finished repaying my debt." Song Qiling awkwardly covered her knees, looking embarrassed. "I said you've repaid your debt and you can go back now."
Upon hearing this, the fox paused, its golden light slowly fading from its pupils, returning to their original black. The fawning expression on its face vanished, replaced by a look of utter bewilderment.
Gu Lianzhou frowned slightly as he looked at his senior brother's flustered sitting posture and his outstretched hand: "What... happened to me?"
Wasn't she just putting a talisman on herself? How come she's squatting in front of her senior brother in the blink of an eye?
Looking up again, he saw his senior brother's ears were slightly red. He shook his head at him and said earnestly, "This is a terrible thing, junior brother."
She omitted parts of what had just happened, only telling him that her junior brother had been possessed by a fox demon, "It seems that the dodder seed did not completely absorb it, which is why you did such an outrageous thing."
After a slight pause, she said seriously, "You should not leave the hospital these days. It's not too late to go out after the dodder has completely absorbed the demonic energy and stabilized."
The feeling of losing one's memory due to being controlled by a fox demon was unpleasant. Gu Lianzhou was annoyed by this sense of loss of control, but did not want to lose his composure in front of his senior brother. He nodded and replied, "Alright, senior brother should also stay away from me, lest he be harmed by that fox demon."
Song Qiling: "..."
What's meant to happen has already happened; it seems a bit too late to talk about it now.
Thinking of this, she put her leg down and said nonchalantly, "If I'm not there to watch over you, what if that fox demon takes the opportunity to open the door, drag you out into the street, and trample on your dignity?"
The image flashed through her mind, and she couldn't help but shudder. "Fortunately, there isn't much demonic energy left. It should be completely absorbed in about three days, at which point you won't need to be afraid of it anymore."
Gu Lianzhou pursed his lips and pondered for a moment. He felt that his senior brother's words made sense, so he stopped refusing: "Then I will keep watch for three days."
-
Three days is neither a long nor a short time.
Since his junior brother couldn't leave the courtyard, Song Qiling took full responsibility for his three meals a day. Fortunately, they had enough money to buy ready-made dishes from restaurants, so it didn't take much effort.
Aside from taking care of her junior brother's daily needs, Song Qiling's biggest problem was the fox hiding inside his body.
As she had predicted, the fusion of the fox demon's demonic markings with the dodder seed did not go smoothly. During this period, the fox demon's true nature—greed, wisdom, allure, and lust—inevitably revealed itself, even though her junior brother had tried to suppress it.
Foxes especially love to eat chicken. The fireplace-roasted chicken at Zuixianlou has a crispy, oily skin and is juicy inside. It is tender and not dry. Every time the junior brother takes a bite, his calm eyes will light up with a golden light, and then a greedy smile will appear. He will quickly eat the roasted chicken until only the skeleton is left, and finally finish by licking his fingers clean.
So Song Qiling crossed the chicken and duck off his junior brother's recipes.
The fox is clever and cunning. It can imitate its junior brother's serious demeanor and claim that it is feeling bored being locked in the courtyard and wants to go out for a walk.
So Song Qiling pushed her junior brother into the bedroom, locked the door, and turned around to see the fox hugging the quilt and crying pitifully.
The fox's lustful instincts flare up most frequently and are the most troublesome. It seems to be completely unable to distinguish between men and women, only knowing that the person in front of it who takes care of it and restrains it makes it feel both at ease and restless.
So one day, taking advantage of her unpreparedness, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist like iron hoops, and his furry head eagerly nuzzled into her neck, nibbling and sucking haphazardly. As a result, he ended up having his hands and feet tied up and being thrown onto the bed.
Helpless, Song Qiling stood guard by the bedside. He saw that this beast, wearing his junior brother's skin, had clear, golden eyes that shimmered with water, and a pure longing and incomprehension on his face. It was as if his reckless behavior just now was simply his nature and he had no intention of offending anyone.
The sight of her biting her lower lip, her face flushed red, made her inexplicably feel a little uneasy.
Listening to the fox's whimpering, Song Qiling bent down and rummaged through his body for some odds and ends—a spoon, scraps of cloth, a jade unicorn, and the hairpin she used to tie her hair.
During the body search, touching was inevitable. This beast used his junior brother's words to say some filthy things to her. She couldn't bear it any longer and stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth.
"Behave yourself!"
Fortunately, only the first two days were tough. By the third day, the junior brother was completely normal and could even remain unfazed by the roast chicken from Zuixianlou.
Song Qiling brought him the fire-avoidance diagram, but he saw that Song Qiling's eyes were darting away and his ears were so red that they seemed to be dripping blood. He refused to look at it again no matter what.
“Senior brother, the fox demon’s aura seems to have disappeared.” Gu Lianzhou said, pressing the drawing down with her hand before looking up at Song Qiling. “There’s no need to try anymore.”
Seeing that his senior brother still looked worried, he sighed inwardly: How did that fox demon torment his senior brother to make him so wary of him?
He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and loosened his collar, revealing the skin beneath, and said softly, "Look, the demonic markings are gone."
Upon hearing this, Song Qiling looked at his chest with suspicion, her gaze hardening.
Just as her junior brother had said, the place was spotless. Not only were there no demonic markings, but even the sealing runes she had left behind had disappeared.
"Where did the seal go?!" She leaned forward, staring intently at the patch of skin, questioning her own magic. "The seal drawn with gold ink from the mermaid's whiskers clearly wouldn't melt even in water or fire. When did it disappear?"
The conversation abruptly ended there.
She lowered her eyes in thought.
Hiss... It seems that on that day in the greenhouse, under the open collar of my junior brother's clothes, there was only a nine-tailed fox demon mark left on his chest.
"Could it be that the demonic energy was too strong and forcibly broke the seal?" It seems that this is the only possibility left.
Ultimately, her junior brother's physique was too special. She had never seen such a situation before, so she could only comfort herself that it was just a matter of having a few extra things. It was already a blessing that the person could stand in front of her unharmed.
"At least he didn't explode and die..." she muttered to herself, her gaze toward her junior brother growing increasingly complicated.
But then he saw his junior brother quietly look back, his dark eyes filled with expectation and trust, shining so brightly that it was hard to believe him. He was so obedient and pure that it was impossible for anyone to doubt him.
Whether it was her imagination or not, it seemed that although the fox demon had disappeared, it had left something else in her junior brother's body.
That indescribable, inexplicable... itchy feeling.
After staring at those eyes for a while, Song Qiling was the first to look away, saying, "Don't look at me like that."
Gu Lianzhou asked, puzzled, "What did I do wrong?"
Song Qiling pondered her words, her gaze shifting before finally settling on his still open and honest expression. She hesitated and said, "It's that kind of... hooked look."
Although Gu Lianzhou didn't understand what "with a hook" meant, he was willing to change. He lowered his eyelashes, then looked up at his senior brother again: "How is it now?"
He was honest and straightforward, so he was unaware of the subtle changes in his own aura. When he looked at his senior brother, his eyes and brows would always unconsciously smile.
Song Qiling blinked, feeling that this gaze was even more penetrating than before, looking straight into her heart, causing that inexplicable itch in her chest to surge up again. She stood up abruptly and said perfunctorily, "Much better."
What do you mean by "eye contact"? She must be out of her mind to say something like that.
After wandering aimlessly around the house, she suddenly remembered something and turned around and said, "Now that you've almost recovered, come with me to go shopping tomorrow."
The day after tomorrow is the eightieth birthday of the Southern City King's mother, and she should prepare a decent birthday gift.
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