Chapter 330
When the four cabins turned into a grand two-story courtyard, the little fox grew an eighth tail. It no longer wandered in the wilderness, but lived with the transformed big tea tree Jiamuying, hunting and farming. It also inexplicably learned a lot of knowledge that could make the fox's head explode.
"I don't want to learn anymore!" The little fox rolled itself into a ball with its eight snow-white tails. From the ball came the cub's tired sounds, "Woo woo woo, I'm just a weak, pitiful and helpless cub. Why do I have to learn so many things!"
"When you grow your ninth tail, you will no longer be a cub." A wicked hand tore open its tail ring and said slowly and venomously, "It's almost there. I promise you will have more work to do after you transform."
Little Fox: “…”
It said quietly: "What you said makes me feel that I might as well be a cub for the rest of my life."
It is still Jia Muying's creditor! How can a creditor be forced to study?
"I'm applying to go out and play———" The little fox's eyes were filled with tears, "If it really doesn't work, I can dig the soil."
It really couldn't learn any more, as those spiritual strips looked like heavenly books. It would rather learn to use an abacus with its fox paws.
Looking at its miserable little appearance, Jia Muying guessed that it had indeed reached its limit. He seemed to remember that there was also a cub that learned to cry like this, but he couldn't remember its face for the time being.
"Study until lunch," Jia Muying said, "and then you can go out and play in the afternoon."
"Great!" Upon hearing the good news, the little fox's eight tails all stood up. "Can we have lunch now?"
Jia Muying: “…”
He sighed and said, "Study for another half an hour."
The expression on the little fox's furry face instantly changed into a very figurative one (.ò - ó.).
"I protest!"
"The protest is rejected."
After finally getting through this long half hour, the little fox had lunch and washed the dishes. He could not wait to sneak into the woods—the mountains were filled with the air of freedom!
It looked around in the mountains, and unknowingly strayed from the area where it usually stayed. Thinking of the new acceleration formation it had learned, the little fox became curious and used it directly on itself.
Because it didn't control the input of spiritual energy well, the whole fox flew up, and with the sound of "AOAOAOAHHHH", its eight tails shrank into a bundle behind its body.
Where on earth is the formation going to take it?
When the dizzy little fox stopped, it arrived at an unfamiliar area. After looking around, it came to a conclusion—it was lost.
The spiritual energy accumulated in its body was completely used up. It took a long time for it to recover on the spot before it gathered some spiritual energy to send a message to Jia Muying.
Fox, I'm so lost~
After Jiamuying said that she would come to find it later, the little fox, having resolved its worries, strolled around in the new place. With the place where it lived as the center, it searched all the mountains within a radius. There were only a few dozen kinds of prey, and it was rare for it to run so far, so it decided to explore the new delicacies on the mountain.
On the premise that Jia Muying would come to pick it up, the little fox let go and hunt. This kind of wild boar was something he had never seen before, so he caught one to taste; this kind of chicken had beautiful feathers, so he used it to make shuttlecocks; this kind of deer looked delicious, so he had to have a taste; this fast-running wild goat, he would eat one...
The little fox hunted as it walked. Its eight tails formed a semicircle behind it. Each tail was wrapped with its carefully selected prey. It looked like a moving chariot.
After sweeping all three mountains in this new territory, even though the little fox was picky, there were still too many prey on its tail to put them all down. It smacked its lips and thought that it could come to this place more often in the future. It didn't matter if it didn't have enough spiritual power, because Jiamuying would not ignore it.
Hehe, it’s really the smartest little fox in the world!
The complacent fox found a place with a good view to stop and rest. His head was filled with the joy of harvest, and only then did he realize belatedly that after sending the distress signal, he had to wait nearby and not go far.
Thinking of his wanderings in the three mountains... the little fox licked his paws, feeling a rare sense of guilt.
Jia Muying is so knowledgeable and knows so many things. I think even if it is in a mess, I should be able to find it quickly.
When people are embarrassed, they will pretend to be busy. The fox is the same. The little fox threw all the prey on its tail to the ground and piled it into a small mountain. Without prey, it shook its snow-white fur and decided to prepare a gift of compensation and apology before Jia Muying came. Although there were a lot of prey, they were all hunted for its own greed, and it was embarrassed to give them out as gifts.
Jiamuying might come at any time, and the little fox felt a little more anxious. It lowered its head close to the ground, its nostrils twitching, trying to find something to appease Jiamuying.
Just like that, the little fox sniffed around from one end of the mountain to the other. On a slightly sloping patch of grass, the little fox let out a low "eh".
There is a faint, fragrant smell here.
The little fox is always very active. After confirming that there is something that interests it, it immediately starts digging with its claws, with its eight tails helping it. Mud flies everywhere. When it comes to digging, the fox is super professional!
It quickly dug a deep hole in the ground, and the little fox sank completely into it, with no trace of it left. Only the mud that kept being thrown out of the hole proved that there was still a living thing inside.
When the tip of its claw touched something hard, the little fox felt the faint fragrance suddenly become stronger - it had found something!
It slowed down its movements and dug out a...big white egg? !
Little Fox: "???"
What kind of creature’s eggs are buried more than 20 meters deep?
The puzzled little fox climbed out of the deep pit with the big white egg dug out from the pit rolled up by its tail. The light in the pit was dim, and after coming out it discovered that there were some delicate faint patterns on the big white egg.
It looks pretty good.
The little fox swallowed his saliva as he thought, since it looks so good, it must taste good too, right?
Then it will give this big white egg to Jiamuying, and let Jiamuying roast it for their midnight snack. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?
In order to make this gift look more decent, the little fox carefully used his tail to wipe the dust off the eggshell of the big white egg, and put some soft grass leaves underneath it. After this care, the egg looked more delicious.
It wrapped the big white egg and the soft grass leaves under the egg with its tail, went to the place where the prey was placed before, put the big white egg next to the prey, and then squatted next to the egg and waited for Jia Muying obediently.
Maybe because it finally fixed its coordinates, Jia Muying came over within half an hour. Seeing the thin layer of sweat on his forehead, the little fox first pounced on him, then used its tail to wipe his face frantically.
Jia Muying, who was caught off guard and had his face covered with fox fur, was about to say something, but his mouth was full of fur when he opened it. He could only wait for the little fox hanging on him to stop first.
After all, the face area is limited. No matter how long the little fox delayed, it could only put down its tail in disappointment. Looking at the messy hair on Jiamuying's forehead, it stretched out its claws guiltily for him to scratch it, but the more it scratched, the messier it became.
Jia Muying pinched its rebellious paws, and then pulled a few snow-white fox hairs from her face: "Have you thought about the content of your trick?"
"I've thought about it. You listen to me first. No, you listen to my difficulties first..." The little fox almost said what Jia Muying said, but he realized that something was wrong and immediately changed his words. "Look at where we live. There are prey all around us. Although I'm not tired of it, I'm afraid you will be. So I immediately used the acceleration formation I learned some time ago to choose this mountain and hunt on the mountain to give you a new taste!"
Jia Muying glanced at the fox's tail, which was wagging constantly, showing its guilt clearly, and said calmly, "So all these prey were caught for me?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" The little fox nodded like a garlic, pretending to wipe away tears and said, "You finally understand my painstaking efforts!"
"I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful." Jia Muying seemed to be touched. He waved his hand and collected the prey that looked like a small mountain, leaving no one behind. "Then I will eat these prey from now on, and the ones stored at home will be left for you to eat. I will definitely not let you down."
Little Fox: “……?”
It was dumbfounded: "Don't I eat it too?"
He was even a little anxious: "If I don't eat with you, how will I know which one tastes good? What should I catch for you next time?"
"Don't worry." Jia Muying comforted it, "I will tell you carefully whether each prey tastes good and whether I like it or not."
Little Fox: “……Ah?”
It felt like there was a hole in its heart, and a heavy rain was pouring down from inside, all of which were its tears. If it had known Jia Muying would say that, it would not have said that!
The little fox was so sad when he heard the bad news that his two ears drooped down. That was the delicious new prey he had worked so hard to catch in the whole afternoon!
But now he couldn't take back what he had said, so he could only pat the big white egg beside him with his paws, holding back tears, and trying his best to suppress the despair in his voice: "This is the gift I prepared for you."
Damn it! If Jiamuying had known that he wanted to monopolize the delicacy, he should have roasted and eaten the big white egg when he found it!
The angry little fox slapped the big white egg under its paw vigorously. After a few seconds, he suddenly felt a little puzzled. Why did Jia Muying suddenly stop talking?
It raised its head and looked in the direction of Jiamuying, only to see that Jiamuying's eyes were fixed on the big white egg. His expression was a little strange, as if he was confused, but also surprised. It didn't quite understand.
嘉木英腦海裏突然冒出很多細碎的記憶，他向前伸出手，下意識地覺得應該有只紅金色的團子在他掌心撒嬌，團子捧起來暖融融的，稍不如意就會掉眼淚，嬌氣的沒邊。
可他再一眨眼，掌心空蕩蕩的，什麽也沒有，如同一場錯覺。
嘉木英的指尖碰到了被小狐貍作為禮物的大白蛋，指尖傳來細微的暖意，蛋很輕微地晃了晃，好像裏面存在着一個生命。
他的反應實在太奇怪了，以至于小狐貍的八條尾巴都竄到他眼前晃蕩：“嘉木英？嘉木英！”
嘉木英好像被小狐貍這一喊喚回了神，他露出一個淺淺的笑容：“謝謝你的禮物，我很喜歡。”
這枚蛋最後是被嘉木英抱回去的，不僅沒有成為他們當晚的夜宵，嘉木英還專門為這枚蛋做了一個毛茸茸的窩，窩裏畫着保溫的陣法，周圍還放着補充靈力的寶物。
看着嘉木英為這枚大白蛋忙前忙後，旁觀的小狐貍磨了磨牙，只覺得爪子有點癢，尾巴還有點想抽什麽。
……
小狐貍發現嘉木英變了。
之前嘉木英的時間有一大半都用在它身上，現在他每天的時間還給大白蛋分了許多，小狐貍經常能看到嘉木英和大白蛋互動，不是在給它調整陣法，就是在給它講故事，又或者給大白蛋用溫水擦洗，讓蛋殼上精美的紋路更加閃亮。
終于在某一天授課時，小狐貍忍無可忍：“你能不能少關注點那枚大白蛋！吃又不能吃，看又不好看！還不知道能孵出個什麽東西來呢！”
“別亂說。”嘉木英輕輕地敲了一下它的腦袋，親昵的意味大過責備，“等它孵出來你就知道了，很好看的。”
小狐貍：“……”
它當時就應該當機立斷地把這枚大白蛋烤了吃！
“我明白了。”它幽幽道，“你就是養我養得不新鮮了，想換個養呗。”
嘉木英哭笑不得：“你哪來的亂七八糟的想法？”
“我之前在大荒居無定所時經常去人類的城池。”小狐貍的表情充滿了怨念，“人類說子女不和，多半是老人偏心。”
嘉木英：“……？”
他這次真的是被小狐貍的腦回路逗笑了，他掐着在桌子前生胖氣的小狐貍的腋下，将它從桌邊抱起來，小狐貍直挺挺地伸着四肢，強行cos狐貍道具，八條尾巴在它身後不爽地打結成了一個麻花團。
“你覺得我偏心大白蛋啊？”嘉木英将它擱在膝蓋上，又變出把小梳子給它慢慢梳毛，“我還覺得我偏心你呢。”
“呵，你每天要給它洗兩遍，時不時就去給它調整陣法的溫度，找到什麽富含靈氣的寶貝都往它的窩邊堆，每天晚上還給它講睡前故事……”小狐貍咬牙切齒地将一件件事列出來，“還偏心我？我才不信呢！”
“唔……你這說的可不對。”嘉木英沉思了片刻，反駁道，“我幫你洗澡你害羞不願意，你房間的陣法刻得比它的窩要多，富含靈氣的寶貝我沒少給你準備，還有睡前故事你每天都要聽兩個……”
嘉木英這麽一列舉，小狐貍發現它确實比大白蛋得到的東西要多，如果真要以這些來論偏心程度，它好像才是被偏心的那個。
小狐貍舔舔爪子，心虛的同時又有點高興，但它還是別別扭扭的：“這都是你的借口。”
眼看着小狐貍已經被順好了毛，嘉木英自然不會去拆自己的臺：“那你覺得是借口就是借口吧。”
“算了。”小狐貍身後團成麻花的八條尾巴散開，慢慢地晃動着，它眯起眼睛，傲嬌道，“我不和你計較。”
等到今天的授課結束，嘉木英去忙其他事了，小狐貍東瞅瞅西瞧瞧，确定嘉木英不在家後，它掀了嘉木英房間的窗戶，盯上了床邊的大白蛋。
蹲坐在蛋旁邊，它的八條尾巴都嚣張地豎起，小狐貍用一種很凡爾賽的語調将嘉木英對他的好一一列舉，最後以輕蔑一笑做了總結。
嘉木英晚上回來，洗漱完準備休息時，一直規規矩矩、老老實實待在窩裏的大白蛋忽然從窩裏滾了出來，徑直滾到了嘉木英懷裏。
嘉木英摸了摸蛋殼，感覺到了一種淺淺的、委屈的情緒。
他溫聲問：“怎麽啦？怎麽突然不開心了？”
大白蛋不會說話，只是在嘉木英的胸口蹭了蹭，委屈的情緒變得更濃了。
嘉木英雖然不明所以，但他第一反應就是溫溫柔柔地開始哄，在大白蛋逐漸安靜下來後，他拽了拽被子給他和大白蛋都蓋上，還給大白蛋露出了一端透氣，又掖了掖被角。
“睡覺吧———”在黑暗裏，嘉木英隔着被子輕輕拍打着蛋殼，溫柔地哼着催眠曲，“晚安啦，寶貝。”
*
和大白蛋鬧別扭的事就這樣草草開始又草草結束，小狐貍不想和手下敗将多做計較，大方地放了它一馬，于是這件事就此翻篇。
沒了蛐蛐對象又不想學習的小狐貍掰着爪子，突然發現它已經很久沒有去人類城池玩了。念頭一起就很難遏制，小狐貍當天就纏上了嘉木英，嚷嚷着要讓他帶它去人類的城池。
它每次去人類的城池都偷偷摸摸東躲西藏，畢竟人類裏也有不少學了術法，有的甚至會捕獵異獸異植讓他們做仆寵，小狐貍很擔心與這些人遇上，畢竟它還在幼崽期，一般的異獸異植都是化形之後才會強大起來。
但要是帶上嘉木英，它就一點也不擔心這個問題了，誰要是不長眼地想抓它做仆寵，嘉木英的藤條一定能将那個不知天高地厚的人抽上天！
“去嘛去嘛～我真的好久沒有去人類的城池裏玩了～”小狐貍變着法纏他，八條尾巴給他比了四個愛心，看起來像白孔雀開屏，“大茶樹～大茶樹我知道你最好了～”
“去也不是不行。”嘉木英被它纏得沒辦法，幹脆提出了一個條件，“我們這趟去了回來後你要好好學術法，争取早日長出第九條尾巴。”
小狐貍的品種是九尾狐，但九尾狐在異獸裏比較特殊，所有出生後開智的小狐貍都是九尾傳承的候選，小狐貍們每長出一條尾巴，就能得到一點瑣碎的傳承，誰最先長出第九條尾巴，誰就是這一代九尾血脈的繼承者。
九尾正式誕生後，其他狐貍就再也不可能長出新尾巴，原有的尾巴也有可能在時間中日益倒退，除非這一任九尾死亡，傳承重新開始篩選。
小狐貍實在是太想光明正大地去人類的城池裏面玩，面對這個“好好修煉，卷不死就往死裏卷”的要求，它痛苦地沉默了，但想玩的心蠢蠢欲動實在壓不住，它最後含淚同意了這個苛刻的條件。
小狐貍雖然性子頑皮了點，但從來說到做到，見它上鈎，嘉木英也不再廢話，他将教學資料一收：“準備準備，我們出發了！”
小狐貍往嘉木英房間方向看了一眼：“你不帶大白蛋？”
嘉木英想了想自己一手抱狐貍一手抱蛋的模樣，緩緩搖了搖頭。
小狐貍的八條尾巴快樂地擺了幾下，它傲嬌道：“這是你不帶它的，我可沒說啊！”
“對了———”小狐貍三步并兩步跳下桌後忽然想起了什麽，它回頭道，“我們得先去挖點兒錢！”
在小狐貍的秘密金礦裏挖出了幾大塊金礦石後，嘉木英用靈力提煉了一番，得到了幾斤重的金塊，小狐貍指導着他将金塊變成一堆不規則的小碎塊，并很有經驗地告訴他人類都是這麽用的———雖然它之前不會提煉，在人類家裏拿了東西後都是直接放金礦石。
帶着新出爐的一袋子金碎塊，嘉木英抱着小狐貍去了離他們最近也最繁華的一座人類城池，在青石磚的城牆下，小狐貍仰着腦袋，發出一聲驚嘆的“哇”。
之前幾次它不僅要偷偷溜進去還要用尾巴卷着金礦石，哪像現在這樣還有空觀察？
嘉木英帶着小狐貍進了城池裏，小狐貍的眼睛都快不夠用了，在走到小吃街，各種香味漫過來的時候，小狐貍的尾巴啪啪拍打着嘉木英的胳膊：“我想吃這個！還有那個！”
“那個也要！這個也是！”它急得爪子在空中拼命指點，“還有那邊那個！旁邊那個！”
嘉木英嘆了一口氣：“你吃不完。”
“吃不完打包到城外，我能變大。”小狐貍滿臉嚴肅，“我絕不浪費糧食！”
要不是嘉木英在他們兩個身上都用了掩藏陣法，其他人看到一只八條尾巴的狐貍用人言指指點點，估計能吓暈這街上一大半的人。
考慮到小狐貍回去後就會學到天昏地暗，嘉木英也沒有在這時掃它的興致，凡是小狐貍點了名的，他都給它買了，然後一人一狐沉默地發現，金子的購買力好像有點高。
從付完錢就在等着找錢等了好一陣子的嘉木英：“……？”
Thinking about the gold ore that was placed in someone else's yard as high as a rockery after exchanging it for a big green and red quilt, the little fox said: "......?"
Of course, this was just a trivial episode. The little fox had a very happy time in the human city today, and his belly was so full that it would be even better if he didn't have to practice hard after returning!
When the little fox's eyes sparkled as he was selecting and choosing among the bright red and green fabrics in a cloth shop, Jia Muying, who was a little overwhelmed by the little fox's aesthetic taste, walked to the door and looked at the street to clean his eyes. He used an illusion on the little fox, so ordinary people could only see a young child.
There were many people coming and going on the street. Jia Muying was waiting boredly. Suddenly, a man walked past the cloth shop. He walked very fast and only half of his face was exposed. Jia Muying was sure that he had never seen him before, but an inexplicable sense of familiarity rose in his heart, as if a certain name was about to come out.
"Wait—" he said suddenly.
The person he called turned around in surprise. It was a very young boy's face, full of high spirits: "Eh? You called me?"
Jia Muying nodded first, then shook her head: "I just think you look like a friend I know. Have we... met somewhere before?"
As soon as he said this, he realized that it sounded like some kind of extremely bad routine, but the boy who was questioning gave him a hearty smile: "To be honest, I actually feel the same way!"
He immediately felt that the person in front of him was very friendly, as if they had known each other in the past, but he was very sure that he had never seen this person before.
Some fragmented memories came to his mind, and Jia Muying suddenly felt very sad. He asked, "Are you Bai Ze?"
"Tsk———" The boy put his index finger to his lips, took two steps forward and lowered his voice, "Don't shout so loudly."
"I am not worthy of this identity yet." The boy said, "After I have dealt with more fallen beasts and made great contributions, I can truly inherit the name of Bai Ze!"
The person in front of him was still smiling, but the boy didn't know why, he always felt that he seemed very sad. The boy's schedule was very tight, and he didn't have time to say much. In the end, he just patted Jia Muying on the shoulder and said, "I'm leaving, my friend! We'll meet again if we're lucky!"
He turned and merged into the crowd, and soon disappeared from sight. Jia Muying watched him leave, and a large number of memories surged in his mind, pinning him to the spot in pain, until the little fox patted him with its tail—
"Big Tea Tree! Big Tea Tree, what's wrong with you?!"
The little fox followed the owner of the cloth shop to the warehouse to pick out cloth that suited its taste better, so it naturally did not see what happened in front of the cloth shop. However, the little fox realized that Jia Muying was in a very bad condition.
It suddenly lost the desire to continue choosing. After quickly paying the bill, the little fox didn't want to continue wandering around the city. It just wanted to take Jia Muying back immediately, then put him on the bed and have a good sleep without thinking about anything.
"I'm sorry." On the way back, Jia Muying finally sorted out the memories that suddenly popped up and apologized to the little fox lying on his back, "I didn't let you have fun today."
"It's okay, Big Tea Tree." The little fox rubbed his cheek with his head. "At that time, the shopkeeper and I went to the warehouse to check the fabrics. Did you encounter any unhappy things outside?"
"No." It heard Jia Muying sigh, "It should be... a happy thing, right?"
"Big Tea Tree—" the little fox asked, "Are you going to cry?"
Jia Muying shook her head: "No."
"But you look so sad." The little fox is good at capturing emotions. Its tail gently touched Jia Muying's chest, where a heart was beating slowly. "It's raining so hard here."