Chi Yan’s heart then completely settled in his chest, even though he had subconsciously chosen to believe Ye Yingzhi earlier on.
He glanced back at the bookshelf, and sure enough, Hu Xing was no longer there.
Chi Yan kept his phone and saw that Ye Yingzhi had already packed up his books and the cake box on the table and put them in his school bag.
He looked up, somewhat not expecting this. “We’re going now? You’re… not going to study anymore?’
Ye Yingzhi nodded. “No, I’m not. Let’s go home. It’s still early. There’s no traffic jams at this timing. There’s still time to buy food and cook.”
“Oh.” Chi Yan followed him dazedly, somehow feeling like he was some kind of country-wrecking beauty who had bewildered the emperor from attending his morning courts.
When he got into the car, he took off his backpack and held it in his arms. The little black fox that was unwilling to be left out stretched out its head and looked at him.
Ye Yingzhi glanced at it indifferently. “What is this?”
Chi Yan recalled that Hu Xing had sent Old Yuan away deliberately so he wouldn’t be involved in these kind of strange powers and chaotic matters, saying that it was not good for ordinary people. He didn’t know about these things before. Every time he saw a ghost, he called Ye Yingzhi and told him about it. Now that he knew about it, he naturally didn’t want to involve the other party any more. So he blurted out his own made-up a story, “Old Yuan has been chasing a girl recently. So she entrusted the fox to him because she has been going out a lot these days. But because he has to go out to practice every day, he couldn’t look after it, so he entrusted the fox to me. The main reason for inviting me to dinner today is this. I’ll take care of it for him for the time being.”
There were all kinds of pets now. Foxes were rare, but it was not that rare.
When Chi Yan spoke until this point, he carefully asked Ye Yingzhi, “…I’ve forgotten to ask you, can I take this fox to your house?” He remembered Ye Yingzhi saying that his house was rented to him.
Ye Yingzhi wasn’t bothered and replied indifferently, “It’s fine, my house isn’t afraid of having small animals, but small animals are afraid of me.”
Chi Yan treated that as him making a joke, so he didn’t pay any attention to it.
After returning to Ye Yingzhi’s home, Chi Yan set a nest for the little fox in the kitchen. As he said before, as soon as Ye Yingzhi went into the kitchen to cook, the little fox “rubbed” and ran out. The lazy appearance it had was gone, it looked like a black lightning bolt, making Chi Yan laugh upon seeing this sight.
It was already five o’clock by the time they returned home. Ye Yingzhi sat down on the chair after preparing whatever he had to prepare in the kitchen. He put the cake onto a plate, took a small silver fork, sliced a small piece and put it in his mouth. He tasted it with his head tilting sideways.
Chi Yan sat across from him and looked at him impatiently before asking, “Is it delicious?”
Ye Yingzhi poked out a small piece and handed it to Chi Yan. Watching Chi Yan eat it before he unhurriedly said, “Do you like this?”
He poked the cake with his fork and ate the rest without hesitation. “I know how to make this too now. I will make it for you another day.”
“Okay.” In fact, although the cake was delicious, the taste was also common; If you ate too much of it, you would get tired of it easily. It was still the hot pot that Ye Yingzhi made that was more delicious. No matter how much you ate, you wouldn’t get tired of it.
But he was ashamed of admitting that because it made it seem as if he was coveting for his hot pot everyday.
As before, In the evening after taking a bath, Chi Yan nested on the spot at Ye Yingzhi’s bed that already belonged to him and was ready to sleep. When Ye Yingzhi came out of the bathroom, he was almost asleep.
Ye Yingzhi laid down and turned off the lamp. Borrowing the moonlight, he looked at him with narrowed eyes him for a long time. Then he reached out, touched his hair gently and softly said, “Consider yourself obedient, you didn’t abandon your husband because you have the protection of that female fox.” His voice was deep, containing a hint of teasing.
Then he leaned over, brushed his scattered hair off and kissed him on the forehead before laying down beside him and held him firmly in his arms.
Chi Yan hummed softly for two times, then he settled himself on Ye Yingzhi’s shoulder and slept soundly.
Nothing happened that night, the next day they were together in the study room. Ye Yingzhi was holding onto a notebook, doing something. Chi Yan sat beside him holding his own notebook, arranging data. Although the tutor was out temporarily, he has to report to the other party by regular mail. Naturally, he didn’t dare to slack off too much.
The two people were sitting side by side, practically looking like elementary students sitting at the same table.
When it was time to eat, the both of them would come out to eat together. When it’s time to take a bath and go to bed, they would rest together. Their work and rest were very synchronous.
It was not until midnight that he suddenly heard the faint cries of animals outside the door. Chi Yan lay there and discerned the sounds carefully. He realized that it seemed to be the cries of the little fox, Ah Sheng. Foxes were no more common than dogs and cats, and this was the first time he heard a fox’s cries.
Chi Yan’s heart went “thump” for a moment. He recalled Hu Xing saying that the little fox could suppress evil and vaguely guessed that something was amiss. He glanced at the sleeping Ye Yingzhi beside him, quietly turned the bedside light on his side slightly, picked up his phone and gently got out of bed, and pushed open the bedroom door.
Humans were also changing with the times. In the past, people went out with torches and candlesticks to feel safe. Later, humans took phones, and now phones have become the most secure thing for them.
It could give illumination, and more importantly, it meant the possibility of contacting the outside world and others. Perhaps the greatest fear of man was not monsters and disasters, but the despair of isolation and helplessness, the despair of knowing that he was in a desperate situation but unable to escape with no one that could save him.
The voice came from the stairs. Chi Yan came to the edge of the stairs, and looked down. The little fox was staring with its pair of brownish orange eyes while blocking the staircase. When it heard the noise, it looked back and saw Chi Yan. It ran up two steps and stood firmly in front of him. Its limbs were on the ground, its neck hair stood up, and its head leaned low and forward, as if it were ready to attack at all times.
Chi Yan switched on the wall lights in the corridor on the second floor, and he could vaguely see two pale figures in the shadows of the corner on the first floor, standing there straight, one without a nose and one without ears.
This time, two victims appeared at the same time.
The little fox showed its teeth, growled and posed a threatening gesture, but the two things were seemingly unaffectedly, moving stiffly upstairs step by step.
Chi Yan involuntarily retreated a step, unexpectedly, the little fox also followed him and retreated a step.
Chi Yan stared at the little thing under his feet and inwardly said, “Miss, no, you look powerful, and your master praised you for your ability to help her. But in fact, are you a fox that could only appear to be fierce but is actually weak inside and only knows how to pretend?”
His heart was doing somersaults inside. Staring at the two figures on the stairs, he resisted the impulse to run away, to lock the bedroom door, retreat into the quilt and hide beside Ye Yingzhi.
The corridor suddenly brightened in this moment, and Chi Yan looked over. Ye Yingzhi opened the bedroom door which he had just come out from, and was leaning on the door in his pajamas looking at himself. His face was calm, with a touch of soothing calmness and elegance.
The light of the bedroom ceiling light was bright and flowed out of the open door, illuminating the dimmed corridors.
At that moment, Chi Yan suddenly did not feel frightened.
He looked back at the stairs and the two figures had already disappeared.
Ye Yingzhi looked at him with a slight tilt of his head. “Why aren’t you sleeping in the middle of the night but instead went out?”
Chi Yan quickly picked up the little fox and made up a reason. “It’s nothing… I just heard the fox calling out, fearing that it might be hungry or sick.” After listening to Hu Xing saying that ordinary people should not involve themselves in these kinds of things, he intentionally wanted Ye Yingzhi to avoid them. He dared not let him know what he saw just now.
Ye Yingzhi took another long look at him before he said, “Don’t hold it. This animal is different from ordinary pet dogs and cats. It may carry more germs or parasites. Besides, men and women should not get close to each other. I heard that foxes are spiritual. This is a little female fox. It’s not very good for you to hold it in your arms.”
The first sentence was reasonable, but the second sentence was pure nonsense. However, Chi Yan immediately and obediently put the fox on the ground.
Ah Sheng immediately ran downstairs honestly, it seemed like it had returned to its nest.
Chi Yan was secretly relieved, having seen those two things at the bottom of the stairs, he dared not bring the little fox down to its nest at this time.
Ye Yingzhi watched him who was apparently too frightened to speak silently, he couldn’t help showing a little smile and waved to him. “What are you still standing there, why don’t come back to sleep soon?”
Chi Yan followed him into the door and carefully locked it before climbing up and turning off the bedside light on his side. After a long time later, he peeked at his roommate who seemed to have fallen asleep again before quietly and unconsciously scooting closer to the direction of his bedmate.
In the darkness, the corner of Ye Yingzhi’s mouth bent upward almost invisibly.
The next day, Chi Yan hid on the balcony and called Hu Xing to inform her about what had happened last night.
Hu Xing’s voice sounded very tired. “It is still unable to suppress them and there are two victims this time… That thing is really getting anxious.”
Chi Yan knew that Hu Xing had been busy with this matter for two days. Every night she tried to catch the demon’s tracks, but nothing was found.
“By the way, Sister Hu, there’s another thing. After yesterday, the little fox was a bit depressed. It didn’t eat much of this morning. What’s going on?” Chi Yan had no experience in raising small animals, let alone foxes. When it came to problems, he had to consult the owner as soon as possible.
Hu Xing was very anxious when she heard this. She asked for the address of Ye Yingzhi’s home and said that she would come at once.
Sure enough, she arrived more than an hour later. Chi Yan lied to Ye Yingzhi that the girl Old Yuan was pursuing recently came to pick up the fox and went out with Ah Sheng in his arms.
Hu Xing held the little thing in his arms tenderly and stroked its ears. The little fox laid on her and whimpered, rubbing her arms.
She looked at Ah Sheng in her arms and sighed. “Fortunately, it’s not a big problem, but it’s just a backlash because of evil energy.”
“Backlash by evil energy?” Chi Yan curiously asked. Didn’t you say that the little fox can suppress evil spirits? It would still get backlash from evil energy?
Hu Xing nodded. “Ah Sheng is much more sensitive to this kind of thing than we humans, and it can also sense evil that I can’t detect. Looking at it like this… It should be that these past two days, you have been exposed to something very evil. I didn’t realize that the evil spirit of that thing is so strong, such that the evil energy of the people killed by it was so heavy that it could rush back to Ah Sheng.
“If so, I will have to take Ah Sheng back for self-cultivation. I can’t let it stay here any longer. You have to be more careful.” Hu Xing urged him.
Chi Yan inwardly say it’s fine. He couldn’t bear to see the little fox suffer here. Besides, to tell the truth, he felt that the little fox wasn’t as effective as his roommate yet.
He couldn’t help asking Hu Xing, “Sister Hu, what’s going on with my roommate? You say he’s an ordinary person, but it seems that every time he appears, the ghosts disappear.”
Hu Xing shook her head and said with a faint smile, “I don’t know. Man is a very complicated living spirit. Some people are full of luck, some people are unlucky and some are born just born with the ability to drive evil. All these can’t be clearly defined. It is Tao that studies man and heaven. I learned the art of demon suppression and evil elimination since childhood. What I learned are only spells so I can’t be sure about other field studies.”