15 – The Cub Becomes the Mother to Test the Father
He slowly shuffled over to the chicken wings, gently pushing the paper box containing them step by step toward Fu Shangbai’s hand with his little paws.
Tilting his head, he looked at Fu Shangbai, tentatively holding his finger and guiding it toward the paper box.
Uncle, Tuantuan still wants to eat.
Fu Shangbai couldn’t help but laugh again at this little chubby one.
How can he be so smart and adorable?
He took out the chicken wings inside. “There’s not much meat on these.”
Su Tuantuan swayed his fluffy big tail. No worries, if there’s no meat, Tuantuan will just eat the bones!
Perhaps feeling it wasn’t quite right to keep eating the uncle’s food, when he saw Fu Shangbai tearing the meat off the chicken wings to feed him, he immediately hugged Fu Shangbai’s wrist with his little paws, stood on tiptoe, and tried to feed it toward Fu Shangbai’s own mouth.
Uncle, eat!
Uncle should eat too, don’t just feed Tuantuan!
Fu Shangbai lowered his head and met the chubby fox’s big, bright black eyes, his heart softening. “You want Uncle to eat, hmm?”
Su Tuantuan obediently nuzzled his wrist. Uncle, eat!
Fu Shangbai gently rubbed the little fox’s head with his slender fingers. “Alright, Uncle will eat.”
He pulled down his mask and fed the chicken wing meat into his own mouth, then continued tearing off shreds of meat to feed the little fox.
Su Tuantuan now felt at ease, nestling contentedly between the man’s arms and happily eating.
Thus, when Secretary Zhu returned to his seat with a fresh piece of meat, he saw that the little treasure he had been longing for had actually been coaxed away by Third Master!
That little treasure who had just been begging him for food was now obediently squatting between Third Master’s two arms, happily waiting for meat!
Secretary Zhu suddenly felt as if his boss had stolen his treasure!
His heart felt sour.
He sat down and said slowly, “Third Master, you wouldn’t want to take it home to raise, would you? This is a fox, a second-class protected animal. We should hand it over to the state.”
Fu Shangbai lowered his head to look at this chubby little cutie.
He did indeed want to take the little chubby one home and raise it.
So he said, “Go and get a legal permit for raising a fox later.”
Secretary Zhu fell silent for a moment. “Third Master, a fox like this from the wild—don’t be fooled by how clean it looks. It’s definitely covered in germs. Your health isn’t good to begin with. What if you catch some virus because of it?”
Hearing this, Su Tuantuan gave Secretary Zhu a deep look.
Those wild foxes have germs, but he’s not a wild fox. He’s a very clean fox spirit!
The clean little fox proudly puffed out his little chest!
Fu Shangbai didn’t say anything.
He lowered his head and gently stroked the little chubby one’s fur. Looking at the little chubby one’s lively expressions, his dark eyes held a gentle smile.
He said to Secretary Zhu, “Don’t say our little chubby cub is dirty. The little chubby cub is very clean, right?”
Su Tuantuan happily wagged his big tail!
Right!
Secretary Zhu glanced at the fox. What’s wrong with saying it’s dirty? It can’t understand anyway.
Secretary Zhu continued muttering.
“Third Master, raising this kind of pet is actually quite troublesome. If it’s male, once it reaches adulthood, it will definitely go into heat and rub against everything—your tables, chairs, stools—it’ll rub against anything. You have a cleanliness obsession; can you handle that?
But if you neuter it, that seems too cruel… If it’s female, it’s even more troublesome. It’ll go out and run wild, then come back and give birth to four, five, or six cubs. How troublesome would that be?”The proud Su Tuantuan froze completely upon hearing the word “neuter.”
He didn’t catch what Secretary Zhu said afterward.
His mind was filled with only those few words—
Neutering, castration… castration…
He stiffly turned his head to look at Secretary Zhu. So being a human’s pet was this miserable?
No wonder Mother wouldn’t let him run around—humans were truly terrifying!
Su Tuantuan was so frightened that even the chicken wing in his mouth lost its flavor!
He couldn’t stay here any longer!
Time to escape!
He sprang to his feet, ran up to Secretary Zhu, and unceremoniously swatted him with his fluffy tail!
You villain, trying to castrate me—I’ll beat you to death!
Before Secretary Zhu could react, he nimbly leaped off the table and ran away.
Across the table, Fu Shangbai made no move to stop the lively, adorable little fox.
Watching the little fox depart, a hint of amusement flickered in his eyes.
Such a delightful little creature perhaps shouldn’t be kept by humans in the first place.
“What just happened?”
Secretary Zhu, holding his slapped cheek, turned in shock to look in the direction the little fox had fled.
“Third Master, can that little fox understand what we’re saying? Did it attack me because it knew I wanted to neuter it?”
Fu Shangbai withdrew his gaze and calmly wiped his fingers as he spoke.
“It’s not a fox spirit—how could it understand?”
He lied for the little chubby fox. “It’s because earlier you mentioned that raising a male fox is troublesome, and I thought so too, so I went to check whether it was male or female. It probably felt offended, so it stood up, stomped on my foot, swatted you with its tail, and ran off on its own.”
Secretary Zhu had been questioning reality, but upon hearing his Third Master “lie to him,” the big fool immediately relaxed.
So the little chubby fox ran off because Third Master offended it!
That scared him!
He thought the fox had become a spirit!
Fu Shangbai calmly deceived his secretary, then picked up his glass to drink water.
He glanced sideways out the floor-to-ceiling window, just in time to see the little fox dart into a small alley across the street.
His eyes darkened slightly.
That little chubby one earlier could indeed understand human speech.
But what did it matter?
The fox meant no harm to humans, so why should they harbor ill will toward it?
Su Tuantuan ran angrily to the side of the hotel across the street before suddenly remembering he had forgotten his main task!
“Oh no, I was so focused on eating that I forgot to test Uncle’s relationship with Mother!”
His eyes darted around and landed on a nearby small alley entrance.
His face immediately lit up!
“Don’t worry! I can still test it now!”
He dashed into the pitch-black alley, scanned the area to confirm no one was around and there were no cameras like the uncle in the hotel had mentioned, then confidently transformed into human form.
And not just any human form—he transformed into the likeness of his mother, Su Jiaojiao.
Touching his own stunningly beautiful face, the little one walked out with full confidence.
After just one step, his head spun, and he staggered, nearly falling!
“Oh dear, my demonic power is too weak—I can only maintain this illusion for two minutes!”
Steadying himself against the wall, he hurriedly walked out.
Within these two minutes, he must make sure the uncle across the street sees him disguised as his mother!
If Uncle showed no reaction upon seeing his mother’s face, then he might not know Mother, and Tuantuan had guessed wrong.
But if Uncle had a particularly strong reaction… hehe…His eyes shifted slyly, and he stepped out of the alley, looking up at the KFC across the street.
“Hmm, how can I get Uncle to look over here?”
Seeing Fu Shangbai inside the restaurant wiping his fingers without glancing outside, the little kid grew so anxious he scratched his head and ears.