Chapter 5
Three years of living under someone else's roof honed Xu Qingzhou's ability to read people and situations.
She is very sensitive to people's emotions and is also good at interpreting a person's fleeting glances.
Moreover, Zhang Pengfei was unaware of her presence at the moment. His eyes and expression, a mixture of smugness, anticipation, and probing, revealed his inner thoughts openly and without concealment.
My fox is no ordinary fox; two thousand dollars won't buy it. But if you offer more money, I might agree.
The market was bustling with noise at noon, the air thick with the mingled smells of seafood, cooked food, and sweat, making it even more humid than usual.
Xu Qingzhou stood still, but felt a deathly chill rush up his spine, raising goosebumps all over his body.
Without hesitation, she stepped forward, pushed through the crowd, and stood in front of Zhang Pengfei.
Zhang Pengfei was surprised by Xu Qingzhou's sudden appearance.
Their eyes met, and he was taken aback for a moment, his hand stroking the fox paused slightly, before he quickly revealed his usual smile.
"Little Xu, what a coincidence."
Xu Qingzhou forced a smile and nodded slightly, his face expressionless.
She bent down and untied the rope around the fox's neck, then hugged it to her arms. She looked at Zhang Pengfei, as if remembering something, and handed him a bag.
"This is..." Zhang Pengfei took the bag with a bewildered look, opened it and glanced at it: "Clothes?"
Xu Qingzhou did not put the fox down.
In that awkward position of holding the fox, he pulled out paper and pen from his pocket and quickly wrote:
[These clothes are for Xiao Ran and Xiao Ning. Thank you for taking care of the fox these past few days.]
As soon as Zhang Pengfei finished reading the sentence, he subconsciously waved his hand to say, "Neighbors, there's no need to be so polite." But the next second, he realized the possible implied meaning in the second half of the sentence, and half of his smile disappeared.
"Oh," he said, a little guilty, but still forced a smile, "Don't mention it, there's no need to be so polite, no need to be so formal—"
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the childish shouts of the two twins beside him:
"Wow, it's Elsa!"
"mine!"
"No, this is my 'hehehe'..."
The two children were fighting over the clothes, neither willing to let go, and it looked like they were about to start a fight and burst into tears. Zhang Pengfei grabbed one of them with each hand, trying to break up the fight and coax them. He finally managed to free his hands to take out the clothes and said that each of them would get a set. When he looked up again, Xu Qingzhou had already walked away with the fox in his arms.
He paused, staring at the rope lying crookedly and forlornly on the ground. His brows furrowed, and a wave of irritation washed over him.
*
Stepping on the damp, fishy ground, Xu Qingzhou carried groceries in his hands and held the fox in his arms as he walked through the fresh produce section of the market and headed straight for the market entrance.
Her face held an unusually cold expression. The fox barked loudly, craning its neck to look over her shoulder at Zhang Pengfei, but she pushed it back down.
The movements were gentle, yet brooked no argument.
Chi Jun: "..."
He looked up at Xu Qingzhou and keenly sensed that the little girl was angry.
Thinking back on it a little, it makes sense; he seems to have been going to Zhang Pengfei's house too often lately.
Judging from this, Xu Qingzhou wasn't entirely without thoughts during this time; he had simply been restraining himself. So today, when he encountered Zhang Pengfei trying to betray him, he couldn't hold back his resentment any longer and revealed a bit of it.
Thinking of this, Chi Jun stopped making a fuss and nestled in Xu Qingzhou's arms, behaving unusually quietly and obediently.
After all, making Xu Qingzhou angry would not be good for his departure.
In fact, everything he did was in order to leave, including getting close to Zhang Pengfei.
Chi Jun had no good feelings towards Zhang Pengfei. It was only when they first met that he sensed an opportunity to leave from the way Zhang Pengfei looked at him.
His original plan was to win Zhang Pengfei's favor and quietly wait for Zhang Pengfei to one day consider buying him from Xu Qingzhou.
There was no "gratitude" between him and Zhang Pengfei, so escaping from him would have been a piece of cake. But unexpectedly, in his daily trips to Zhang Pengfei's house, he discovered something else—
Because of gambling, Zhang Pengfei was not only penniless, but also had a huge debt.
Although the plan to "buy him with money" almost fell through, things took an unexpected turn. By eavesdropping on Zhang Pengfei's phone calls, Chi Jun learned that the creditor was a "pet fanatic" who loved collecting all sorts of rare and beautiful small animals.
Zhang Pengfei's "affection" for him was simply a pretext to use this clever and intelligent fox as collateral to pay off his debts when the time was right.
Upon learning this fact, Chi Jun twitched the corner of his mouth, surprisingly finding that when he encountered this kind of thing again, his heart was as calm as a stagnant pool.
He continued to go to Zhang Pengfei's house every day as usual, and as time went by, he guessed that Zhang Pengfei was probably waiting for Xu Qingzhou to start school.
Because if Xu Qingzhou, overwhelmed by academic pressure, sends the fox to Zhang Pengfei's house, Zhang Pengfei will secretly take the fox out to pay off his debt, claiming that the fox has run away, and Xu Qingzhou will be helpless.
—After all, she asked for help herself, so who can she blame?
Chi Jun didn't expect Zhang Pengfei to be so impatient. Today, someone at the market asked about the price on a whim, and he couldn't help but reveal his little scheme. Unfortunately, Xu Qingzhou happened to run into him.
Chi Jun sighed expressionlessly, unsure of where to begin his吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).
*
Fearing that Xu Qingzhou would get too angry, he locked him in the house and forbade him from going to see Zhang Pengfei. When he got home, Chi Jun obediently lay down in the corridor.
Xu Qingzhou was busy cooking and didn't have time to pay attention to him. He didn't leave either. Even when Zhang Pengfei brought the two twins back, Xu Qingzhou subconsciously glanced at the stairwell. Chi Jun still had his eyes closed and didn't even lift his eyelids.
—It was as if the fox that used to frequently run to Zhang Pengfei's house wasn't him at all.
After lunch, Chi Jun curled up on the cement floor of the small rented room and took a peaceful nap.
When Xu Qingzhou returned after washing the pots and pans, he was quite surprised to see this scene, which he hadn't seen in a long time.
But then I thought about it again, and it was a good thing that the fox didn't immediately drop the bowl and rush to Zhang Pengfei's house.
While feeling relieved, Xu Qingzhou wiped his hands with a towel, but couldn't help frowning slightly.
In fact, after calming down, she wondered if she had misunderstood Zhang Pengfei because she was too concerned about the fox. However, her sixth sense was so strong at the time that she dared not overlook even the slightest possibility of putting the fox in danger.
After squatting down and watching the fox for a while, Xu Qingzhou sighed softly.
Oh well, what's done is done.
Fortunately, she didn't say anything rude to Zhang Pengfei at the time, so it wouldn't be too awkward when they met again.
Without thinking much, she gently touched the fox's ear, which bore the mark of a dark blue fox tail.
The pointed ears twitched silently, and Xu Qingzhou smiled slightly, no longer bothering it. She turned around, moved the small dining table to the door, placed the test paper on it, and began to study.
She started by writing a relatively difficult math mock exam.
After struggling for an hour and a half to finish writing, Xu Qingzhou rubbed his throbbing temples and then pulled out a Chinese language test paper to relax his brain.
Before she began to write, she glanced at the fox.
The fox was still fast asleep.
Xu Qingzhou put down his pen, stepped forward, gently moved the fan vent that was aimed at the fox a little to the side, squatted down in front of the fox to test the strength of the airflow, and then returned to his desk to write his problems.
Actually, Chi Jun woke up when she squatted in front of him to test the wind power.
He kept his eyes closed and didn't move. He lay there for a while to wake up before lazily getting up from the ground and stretching out with all four paws on the ground.
Originally, Chi Jun was about to head to Zhang Pengfei's house, but when he got to the door, he suddenly remembered his current situation. So he turned back without hesitation, wandered around the house for a while, and finally jumped onto the small table out of boredom to watch Xu Qingzhou write his exam paper.
Xu Qingzhou happened to be writing about Chinese reading comprehension questions.
As she read the article, Chi Jun followed closely behind.
This is a popular, fluent, and aesthetically pleasing essay, which Chi Jun also found enjoyable to read. However, he noticed a question at the end: "The essay repeatedly describes the sycamore trees in the cold wind at night. What is the effect of this description? Please provide a brief analysis based on the text."
Chi Jun: "?"
What's there to analyze?
Looking at the next few questions, they were all about dissecting the article and nitpicking the words. Chi Jun rolled his eyes and suddenly felt that the article had lost its meaning.
Upon closer inspection, Xu Qingzhou had already written more than two lines, meticulously dividing the text into four points, and seemed to have a terrifying tendency to continue writing without rest.
Chi Jun: "..."
He finally understood where Xu Qingzhou's bizarre comprehension ability came from.
Chi Jun shook his head, losing all interest in watching Xu Qingzhou do his homework. He jumped off the table to stretch his body, but as soon as his paws touched the ground, he suddenly stopped as if he had seen a ghost, turned around and jumped into the broken cardboard box, where he sat motionless.
Xu Qingzhou: "?"
She looked towards the door and heard footsteps approaching. Soon, Zhang Pengfei appeared at the door.
"..."
She looked at Chi Jun.
Chi Jun also looked at her.
What are you looking at? I didn't call you here.
Didn't you see I've been avoiding any appearance of impropriety?
*
The courtyard of the rented houses was relatively quiet in the afternoon, with bright sunshine and chirping birds.
Zhang Pengfei, carrying a bag of bananas and apples, stood by the door, smiling at Xu Qingzhou.
"Xiao Xu, study."
Xu Qingzhou quickly put down his pen, stood up, and nodded with a smile.
Here, take this fruit and eat it.
Xu Qingzhou was taken aback, and quickly shook his head in refusal.
“Oh, just take it. Actually, I came to apologize to you. You see, at the market this morning, I…” Zhang Pengfei said, scratching his head awkwardly, “I have this problem, I tend to brag a bit.”
"Seeing that they all like you, you little fox, I couldn't resist and just went along with it, hehe..."
Xu Qingzhou gently shook his head.
【It doesn't matter】
She also had some doubts about whether she had overreacted at the time.
"Oh, I'm glad you didn't take it to heart. You have no idea how ashamed I felt after you left..."
He tried to stuff more fruit into Xu Qingzhou's arms, but Xu Qingzhou refused repeatedly. Having no other option, Zhang Pengfei continued carrying it, his gaze sweeping over the pile of test papers on the small table before changing the subject:
"Hiss—I heard from your sister Qin Jia that you're a senior in high school, right?"
Xu Qingzhou nodded.
"Oh dear, kids these days have such heavy academic burdens. If they don't get into a good university, it'll be tough for them to find a job. Unlike us back then, if we could study, we studied; if we couldn't, we'd go to work in a factory. There was practically no academic pressure..."
Zhang Pengfei seemed to be in a good mood for chatting. He leaned against the door and kept rambling on and on, showing no sign of stopping.
Xu Qingzhou wasn't good at chatting with people, so at times like this he could only listen with a forced smile and nod.
Finally, a topic came to an end.
It seems like things are getting a bit awkward.
Xu Qingzhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if Zhang Pengfei should stop there and prepare to say goodbye, but unexpectedly Zhang Pengfei suddenly remembered something and even raised his voice a few decibels.
"Hey, Xu, your senior year of high school started early, right?"
Xu Qingzhou smiled helplessly and then cheered himself up.
【the day after tomorrow】
"The day after tomorrow."
Zhang Pengfei stroked his chin, looking at Chi Jun squatting in the tattered cardboard box, seemingly caught up in a troubling question: "So, what will happen to the fox now that school's starting?"
Xu Qingzhou followed his gaze to the fox, hesitated for a moment, and before he could answer, Zhang Pengfei quickly followed up with a suggestion:
"How about you leave the fox with me during the day? I'll keep an eye on it for you."
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