This Fox Has No Idea How to Be Sweet - Chapter 3

Half a month later, the new wife returned from Yangzhou to White Cloud Mountain.

Xuansheng had dressed with care and waited eagerly for this day. He filled a table with pastries he had made himself. Yet the moment his wife pushed open the door, his face stiffened into a sulk.

“Where have you been?” he demanded in a low voice. “Gone all this time, without so much as a word!”

“Yangzhou. Didn’t I have someone tell you?” Zhao Mingyue either missed the displeasure in his voice or simply did not care.

She casually took off her cloak and put down her whip. Seeing the table full of delicate pastries, she looked up with a smile. “Did you make these?”

“…The servants did.” Xuansheng kept his expression cold and lied wildly. “Too rich. There are plenty left over. If you want some, take a couple.”

Then he pointed to the plate in the center. “The hibiscus cakes are the better ones.”

But Zhao Mingyue waved a hand. “Not just now. I’ll go soak in the hot spring behind the mountain first. Wash the tiredness away.”

With that, she actually turned and left.

The door opened and closed, admitting a draft that stirred the red wedding curtains and chilled the fox to the heart.

The more Xuansheng thought about it, the angrier he became. With a sweep of his hand, he swept all the pastries off the table. Dishes smashed and clattered across the floor.

He had to have a proper talk with that woman!

She had agreed to come to his mountain and be his wife. She ought to fulfill a wife’s duties! How could she come and go as she pleased, paying no attention whatsoever to her husband?

Steam hung over the hot spring behind the mountain.

Xuansheng paced back and forth outside a rock wall, thinking about what to say when she came out.

Then he heard a splash from within, followed by Zhao Mingyue’s voice. “Big Fox? Is that you?”

“Ah… yes.” He hastened to explain, protesting far too much. “I—I was just passing by!”

She laughed. “Could you fetch me some clean gauze? I forgot to bring it.”

“…Gauze?”

His wife was hurt?!

Alarmed, the fox returned with gauze in the blink of an eye. “I’ve got it!”

“Oh, bring it in,” she called.

He raised his tails and gave them two little shakes. “Then I’ll… come in?” As he walked, he asked, “Are you still bathing? Are you…”

His wife was fully dressed, drying her hair beside the water.

Secretly disappointed, the fox let his tails droop at the very first glance.

As he came closer, he caught a faint scent of blood.

“Did someone attack your shipment?”

Zhao Mingyue did not deny it. “Just a scratch. Nothing to worry about.”

She began unwinding the old gauze from her wrist. One turn, then another. The last bit had stuck to the dried blood, and she frowned with pain.

“Don’t pull at it!” Xuansheng stepped forward. “Let me.”

The big fox had a man’s appearance, except for his furry fox ears and the nine long tails trailing behind him. When he concentrated, every tail lay perfectly still and docile, like a splendid fur rug spread across the ground.

With slow, gentle movements, he peeled away the old gauze and put on a fresh dressing. He stayed focused throughout, nothing like his usual ill-tempered self.

Watching him, Zhao Mingyue slowly began to smile.

When Xuansheng finished and raised his eyes, he looked straight into hers.

His wife’s gaze was usually sharp, but the drifting steam seemed to soften it. With a hint of a smile, she asked, “Big Fox, were you really ‘just passing by,’ or did you have something to say to me?”

Of course he had…

Oh, forget it. His wife was injured. Was he supposed to scold her now?

Xuansheng pursed his lips. “Just passing by.”

By now, Zhao Mingyue had worked it out. “Are you angry with me?” she asked with a laugh.

“Of course not!” the fox protested.

“Liar.” She reached up and pinched one fluffy white ear. “Whenever you lie, your ears turn to the side.”

“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself.” Xuansheng jerked his head away. Embarrassed at being caught out, he grew angry. “How rude!”

Zhao Mingyue laughed aloud. “We’re husband and wife. How is touching your ear rude?”

“I hate having my ears touched!” He clapped his hands over both ears. “Hate it! I don’t like it!”

“Oh, really?” She gave him a meaningful look. “I touched them the night before I went to Yangzhou. That wasn’t what you said then.”

“…Huh?”

They had hurriedly held their wedding feast the day after Zhao Mingyue arrived on the mountain. The festivities lasted seven days. Xuansheng had been busy entertaining guests from far and wide, getting drunk every night. He remembered nothing he had said or done.

He was not even quite sure whether he and his wife had… consummated the marriage.

He wanted to know, but could not bring himself to ask. Instead, he settled for following her lead. “That night… what did I say?”

Zhao Mingyue smiled faintly and crooked a finger at him, all mystery.

Xuansheng brought his ear closer.

“You said…” Deliberately imitating his drunken voice, she murmured, “My wife… that feels so good…”

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