Chapter 9 The Clever Fox Has a Solution: "I'm Waiting for You"
Just as the Prince of Wei and Tinglan exchanged a few ambiguous words, they heard a loud commotion inside the room. Upon approaching, they saw the person they had brought lying unconscious on the ground. They were immediately alarmed and asked, "What happened?"
One of his men leaned over and whispered a few words to the Prince of Wei, implying that the boy had acted too quickly and they hadn't been able to stop him. Who would have thought that a Taoist priest would be so impulsive, using his sword like a hammer?
"How dare you! Why did you injure someone?" King Wei shouted angrily.
The subordinates hurriedly chased after them and whispered, "This Taoist priest is the one who presented the golden elixir to the Emperor. The Emperor values him highly, so we can't touch him for now."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhou Yiqing remained calm and composed, continuing to spin around and ring a bell while chanting incantations, "This fellow Daoist is possessed by an evil spirit. I am performing a ritual, so how can you say I am harming anyone?"
He sighed as he spoke, giving off an expression that said, "You mortals can't be reasoned with."
King Wei, having suffered a loss he could not speak of, growled at his subordinates, "Who exactly brought this guy along?"
The subordinates dared not speak. They had already reached an agreement, but it turned out that this Taoist priest was probably a first-timer in the palace and did not understand the rules or the implied meaning. They wondered which remote mountain temple he came from. No matter how skilled such an unorthodox person was, he was of little use.
A strange, joyful atmosphere filled the hall.
Regardless of how others were humiliated, the fox suddenly perked up, stopped thinking about running away, its dizziness and stomachache disappeared, and it felt indescribably comfortable all over. It immediately stood in front happily to watch Zhou Yiqing pretend to shake the bell.
Seeing Ji Qing staring at him expectantly, Zhou Yiqing raised an eyebrow. "You'd better tell me honestly how you sneaked in."
How could I not know? This silly fox has such abilities? There must be more to the story.
Tinglan's eyes gradually darkened. He had just realized that he was not good at interacting with people normally. He was a skilled scheming machine, but he lacked human emotions.
As the Grand Master of Ceremonial, he had become accustomed to acting stealthily, luring people out of their holes, and killing them silently. Anyone could be his bait, and he would do anything to achieve his goal.
When the Prince of Wei launched his attack, he could have easily stopped the man directly, but instead, he used the young prince as bait. Tinglan knew that years of fighting within the palace had chilled his blood, and years of scheming had become a habit. Indifference and detachment were ingrained in his bones.
Now that I realize it, I feel terrified.
His feelings for Ji Qing were probably not related to love, so he didn't take Pei Yue's words seriously. He was just trying to keep Ji Qing by his side after being in the deep palace for so long and occasionally seeing a living person.
Eunuchs are not worthy of discussing love.
Tinglan twirled the jade thumb ring on his hand; his fingertips felt slightly cool.
A moment later, the Taoist priest who had been knocked unconscious slowly woke up. Instead of looking at Zhou Yiqing, who had smashed him, he stared at the thirteenth prince with a look of surprise and fear.
"You... what are you?" His pupils dilated, as if he had truly seen something beyond his imagination.
The noisy room fell silent instantly, and all eyes turned to Ji Qing's face.
Ji Qing took two steps back, thinking, "Oh no."
Zhou Yiqing thought to himself, "You actually managed to tell? If I hadn't known beforehand and seen his true form, I wouldn't have been able to tell whether Ji Qing was human or demon." He gripped the copper coin sword, ready to give this guy another blow.
You should just faint already.
To everyone's surprise, the Taoist priest spoke very quickly, uttering several words in the blink of an eye, "Your Highness's aura is pure white, untouched by dust. I have never seen such a pure person."
The fox was dumbfounded, and so was the person in the house with ulterior motives.
Only Tinglan chuckled softly.
Zhou Yiqing remained silent for a moment, put down his sword, and patted the Taoist on the shoulder. "A loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise," the ancients said. "There are advantages to not being good at your craft; you'll suffer less physical pain."
King Wei had just thought that this guy was finally useful and had become somewhat interested when he heard these words. He was so angry that he clenched his fists and looked away.
What nonsense are you spouting? Pei Jiqing is a bastard, he has no knowledge whatsoever. He can't find his mother, he's not even listed in the family genealogy, he's just a pretty face that looks impressive.
Having suffered such a huge humiliation and lost so much face, while Pei Jiqing was praised instead, King Wei could no longer stay. He turned and left with a flick of his sleeve.
Zhou Yiqing helped the Taoist priest up, took out his whisk from his waist and flicked it, still looking like a hermit master. He cupped his hands to the fox and said, "Amitabha, I will take my leave now. I will return with some talismans to pray for blessings."
The chaotic farce eventually subsided, and everyone left. Qiu Yuan was so frightened that she kept patting her chest, but she still said happily, "I knew that Taoist priest was quite capable. Your Highness is truly blessed."
Fox smiled at Qiu Yuan, then leaned against the window, gazing absently at a red figure from behind.
Why did Tinglan leave too? There were still things I hadn't said to him.
After Qiu Yuan finished brooding, she went to get busy, and the fox ran around the house like a roc spreading its wings.
The fox ran into the inner room, proudly put its hands on its hips, stood in front of the mirror, and asked the mirror with a smug look, "Don't I look especially like a human?"
The mirror doesn't speak; after all, it's just an ordinary mirror.
The fox took it as tacit agreement, then spun around triumphantly, admiring its own superb transformation skills from all angles.
It's flawless, and its tail never pops up out of nowhere. It's practically genius.
Who says I'm stupid? I'm not stupid at all.
The clever little fox, with its non-existent tail wagging, wandered around the room, then scurried to the bedside, pulled out a box from under the bed, took out a packet of candied fruit from the box, and popped it into its mouth, chewing it heartily.
Now that the crisis is over, we should celebrate! Let's have a couple more packs.
*
Zhou Yiqing, under the guise of praying for blessings, returned again and, without any hesitation, ate half a box of snacks from Ji Qing. After feeding the fox for so many years, he finally saw some food that had been returned to him, so he had to eat more.
After finishing the last piece of cake, he felt a bit choked. He struggled to smooth it down for a while, took a sip of tea to clear his throat, and then asked, "What's going on? Weren't we supposed to be going down the mountain to undergo tribulation? How did we end up here?"
Ji Qing lowered his head and recounted everything from the strange things he encountered to being pulled into a car and taken to the capital. He finished with a sneer, as if complaining, "They lied to me first. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here. There's no cabbage here, and no chicken here."
Zhou Yiqing fell silent. Explaining the meaning of "royal" to this little fool was too difficult, so she could only try a different angle: "They don't grow cabbages here, but... don't you think they're actually quite rich? Aren't you eating well?"
The fox shook its head in confusion, "If you have money, why don't you lease a mountain to raise chickens? Don't they like to eat them?"
Zhou Yiqing rubbed her forehead. She had thought that Xiao Jiqing would learn a lot this time, but all she could think about was eating and drinking. She hadn't learned anything serious. But then she thought that this was not bad. At least she didn't have to worry about the vixen causing trouble for the country.
What bad things could a fox spirit who just wants to eat good food do? Even if you let him eat as much as he wants, he can only eat two chickens and a plate of sticky rice at most in one meal.
This emperor, surnamed Pei, was wealthy throughout the land and could never be impoverished by his wealth.
“Now, even if I wanted to take you away, I couldn’t. You should hurry up and finish your tribulation. Once you’re powerful enough, run back as soon as possible.” After worrying about the fox spirit harming people, Zhou Yiqing turned to worry about people harming the fox spirit and asked with concern, “Also, does Guan Ning know?”
"My sister doesn't know," the fox said, head bowed. "How is she at home? Does she miss me?"
The Taoist priest thought to himself, "She's doing so well, living such a comfortable life. Since she's fasting, she doesn't need to eat and spends all her time playing mahjong, beating everyone in our temple to a good beating... Now that you're gone, she has no foxes to pet, so she pets our little Mimi, Dahua, and Qiuqiu. Sigh, she's petted Qiuqiu so much that she's rubbed her fur bald. Hurry up and finish your tribulation so you can go back and save Qiuqiu from this predicament."
"Guan Ning is doing well. I miss you all the time. How are you doing? Apart from that king, has anyone bullied you? If I go back, I can pass on a message to your sister."
The fox sat on the bench, counting on its fingers, "No, the people I've met are so nice. Tinglan brought me lots of delicious food and played with me. Qiuyuan is also very nice, cooking for me. I even met a Seventh Brother..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Yiqing interrupted him with wide eyes, "Seventh Brother? Which Seventh Brother?"
The fox tilted its head and thought for a moment, "His name is Pei Yue. Although he didn't bring me any food, he was still very nice."
Zhou Yiqing leaned back, covering her forehead with her sleeve, then sprang back a moment later, asking hurriedly, "You saw him? How is he?"
"It didn't feel very good... When I saw him, he was covered in blood, but he wasn't seriously injured."
"As long as it's not too heavy," Zhou Yiqing murmured to herself.
A moment later, the Taoist priest did another sit-up, his eyes wide. "Wait, didn't you just mention Tinglan? How do you know him?"
"Tinglan is the best." The fox jumped up, circled the room, and happily showed it to Zhou Yiqing, "Look at this, this, and that, they were all gifts from him, and he even treated me to dinner."
“He’s a pretty good person…” Zhou Yiqing replied dryly.
If that's the case, then Pei Yue shouldn't be a problem in his hands. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around and saw Ji Qing carrying a long sword.
The Taoist priest was shocked and gasped. He immediately jumped up from his seat, shouting, "Put it down! Don't take this thing!"
The fox simply wanted to show off the gift he had received. He bent down, gently placed the sword on the ground, and said anxiously, "What's wrong? This was a gift from Prince Ning. He's quite kind."
Zhou Yiqing scratched his head. "Oh dear, it's not good for me to tell you. In short, the further away you are from swords, the better. Don't play with these things. And the further away you are from people who use swords, the better. Once you get through this tribulation, everything will be fine."
The fox was puzzled, but still obediently put the sword away.
Zhou Yiqing left, taking half a box of snacks with him. Fox sat at the door waiting for Tinglan, holding a bag of fried crispy beans and crunching them loudly.
He wanted to go out and find Tinglan directly, but Zhou Yiqing said that there were still a few highly skilled Taoists among them, and to avoid any accidents, it was best not to go out for the next few days.
So the clever fox could only come up with one idea: to sit at the door and wait there, so that Tinglan would see him as soon as he entered.
When it's mealtime, the fox goes inside to eat. When it gets bored, it pokes small holes in the ground with a stick and plays with yellow leaves.
It got dark, and Tinglan didn't come.
The fox lit the lamp by the door, patted its behind, and prepared to go back. It could wait again tomorrow, and when it arrived, it could play with Tinglan as soon as possible.
Only Tinglan was willing to play with the fox, and the fox cherished this good friend and hoped he would come soon.
The fox raised its head, looked at the lantern, and chose to continue sitting at the door, resting its chin on its hand, watching the path gradually light up in the distance, hoping to see a red figure appear there.
The Grand Master of Ceremonies, having worked tirelessly day and night, finally emerged from the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs just as the moon rose high in the sky. Recalling the events of the day, he couldn't help but furrow his brow.
The young prince was already unwell, and the Prince Wei's outburst during the day likely worsened his condition.
Just as I was thinking this, my feet involuntarily veered into the side path.
Just to take a look.
After all, he felt guilty about what happened during the day.
So he turned to those around him and said, "It's getting late, let's go home early, you don't need to follow me."
After dismissing his attendants, Tinglan walked alone toward the thirteenth prince's palace.
He doesn't even know what kind of emotion he's feeling now. He's like he's possessed. Emotions that have been dormant for more than a decade have suddenly become intense and uncontrollable.
She entered the palace at the age of ten. From then on, all the past events, deep hatreds, and grudges were entangled in her dreams, blood-red dreams, where she could never sleep peacefully again.
Those who cannot even live a single day are merely ghosts clinging to life.
Ahead lies the Changqiu Palace of the Thirteenth Prince. Two ginkgo trees stand outside the palace, their golden leaves falling in abundance, a truly fitting sight.
The palace gate was half-closed, and the lanterns were blown by the wind, rattling against the door. This startled the person sitting at the door, who was wearing a sky-blue robe, with a few ginkgo nuts piled in front of him. His face was red from the autumn wind, and he was looking up at him.
The fox had been so engrossed in playing with the ginkgo nuts that he forgot to look up. But when a red shadow caught his eye out of the corner of his eye, he looked up to confirm it, then immediately jumped up, kicking aside all the embarrassing little nuts and sticks, and cheered, "You've come!"
"Your Highness... are you going out?" Tinglan was stunned.
He didn't understand why Ji Qing's excitement was meant to welcome him.
"I'm not going out; I'm waiting for you."
Tinglan felt that he was becoming even more obsessed.
He couldn't understand what the thirteenth prince wanted. Why was it worth dealing with him?
But with the bright moon shining high in the sky, Tinglan felt that if all of this was a transaction, it was worth it.
He wanted that fire.
He had walked for too long in the night, and the wind and dew were heavy.
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