Chapter 147: The Secret of the Fox’s Tail

The little fox kept his head down, unmoving.

Wen Qian: "1."

The little fox hesitated.

Wen Qian: "3."

The little fox: "???"

The next second, Wen Qian yanked him onto the bed.

The little fox’s heat period had just ended, so it was incredibly easy for Wen Qian to pull him.

Qi Ke was always in a state of half-resistance when facing Wen Qian...

One reason was that as a Beastman, he was slightly stronger than a human. Another was his male instinct to go easy on a female.

So he tumbled straight onto the bed without even a hint of a struggle.

Wen Qian’s mind went blank when she saw the scratch at the base of his newly grown tail. She suppressed the urge to drag the little fox up and give him a beating, forcing a question through her clenched teeth: "Do you have nothing better to do?"

’He finally grew this beautiful tail, and now he wants to cut it off?’

The little fox buried his face in the pillow without a word, both of his tails drooping. Feeling Wen Qian’s stare, he slowly retracted one of them.

Her face cold, Wen Qian let him go and turned to find some ointment. She deliberately applied a little too much pressure while dabbing it on. The little fox immediately let out a HISS, and the rims of his eyes turned red.

"So you can feel the pain now, huh?" Wen Qian sneered.

’I don’t know what wire got crossed in this fox’s head,’ she thought. ’He usually treasures his tails more than anything, but today he actually tried to cut one off.’

"You were the one who said you like foxes with one tail..." the little fox mumbled, his face still buried in the pillow as if resigned to whatever punishment Wen Qian saw fit.

His words made Wen Qian laugh in exasperation. She gave the tip of his tail a pinch.

The little fox immediately let out a WHIMPER. "I... I’m still in my heat period."

Wen Qian snorted coldly, pulling her hand back to continue applying the ointment.

After calming herself down for a moment, Wen Qian decided to have a proper talk with Qi Ke.

She set the ointment down. Waiting until the man wrapped his arms around her from behind in a placating gesture, she finally spoke softly, "When I said I like a fox with one tail, it was because *you* had one tail. It’s not that I... dislike foxes with multiple tails."

She always felt the little fox was sometimes too sensitive and insecure. Given his looks and build, he should be the center of attention wherever he went.

He was always awkwardly hiding his true feelings when he spoke, and today he was taking it out on his own tail because of a single sentence she’d said.

"So how many tails do you like on a fox...?" The little fox nuzzled her neck with his chin, trying to curry favor, then gently pecked at the tip of her ear with his lips.

His kisses tickled, but at the same time, she was annoyed by his stubbornness. She reached back and pinched his ear. "I like *you*, you fox, no matter how many tails you have."

"Then how many tails do you think looks best on a fox?" he persisted, refusing to let it go.

Wen Qian: "...You look the best."

’I have this strange feeling that I’m coaxing a sulky girlfriend,’ she thought. ’But wait, I’m the girl here!’

’How did I end up with this kind of trouble?!’

"You’re just placating me!"

"I’m warning you, that’s enough..."

"Now you’re being mean to me?"

"You..."

Wen Qian was so exasperated she could barely breathe. Just as she was debating whether to solve the problem with force, a man’s low cough sounded from the doorway.

The door was opened from the outside, revealing Gu Mian’s calm face.

He glanced at the two on the bed, his voice light. "I knocked, but no one answered."

Wen Qian: "Is dinner ready?"

Gu Mian: "Yes."

He had overheard part of their conversation from outside. He never expected the Fox Clan could produce such a devoted lover like Qi Ke.

Recalling the Fox King’s past actions, Gu Mian sneered inwardly. He’d always assumed all members of the Fox Clan kept harems of wives and concubines.

His gaze fell on Qi Ke’s flickering tail, and Gu Mian spoke again. "Cutting it off is useless. A fox’s tail will grow back."

"How is that possible?" The little fox frowned. His tail had been cut off before and had never grown back.

"After reaching adulthood, members of the Fox Clan grow one tail every three years. The higher their rank, the more tails they have, up to a maximum of nine," Gu Mian said with a glance at him. "The precondition is... they have to have gone through a heat period."

The little fox froze. ’So, that means it wasn’t that I couldn’t grow more tails, but that the time just hadn’t come yet?’

He’d misunderstood, and that’s why...

A fox’s heat period would only trigger after being with their beloved. Remembering the looks from his own kind at the coffee shop, he secretly gritted his teeth.

’So those strange looks weren’t for any other reason, but because they were questioning how he could still be a...’ The little fox’s face instantly became a rainbow of colors.

Right at that moment, Gu Mian spoke again, his voice sounding cool. "Having your first heat period this late is pretty rare in the Fox Clan, isn’t it?"

The little fox was infuriated. He glared at him. "Keep your prejudice to yourself."

There were monogamous foxes in their clan, too. Like him, for example.

Gu Mian chuckled softly, his gaze then falling on Wen Qian. The cold look on his face instantly vanished, replaced by endless gentleness. "Come on, let’s go eat."

Wen Qian immediately stood up, but the next second, the little fox grabbed her wrist. She quickly soothed him by patting his head twice. "Let’s go together."

Wen Qian walked in front, with the little fox and Gu Mian following behind her.

By now, Shen Mqing was already sitting at the dining table, chopsticks in hand, looking ready to eat at any moment. ’When I get back to the Beast World,’ he thought, ’I absolutely have to recruit Gu Mian as a chef. And even if I can’t recruit him... I have to find a way for my own chefs to study under him.’

The entire table, laden with food, was all prepared by Gu Mian alone. It looked, smelled, and surely tasted delicious; just looking at it was enough to whet one’s appetite. Li Jiu was eating an apple as usual, but today’s apple was a little different, topped with some cranberries, blueberries, mangosteen, and grapes.

He tasted them one by one, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Chi Ye sat down next to Chi Heng, also quite surprised by the spread of dishes. He glanced frequently at Chi Heng, thinking to himself that his nephew’s path to winning his love was still a very, very long one.

And with the scent of hazelnut lingering in the air... he cast a thoughtful look toward Qi Ke.

After learning that Wen Qian didn’t actually dislike foxes with multiple tails, Qi Ke began to treasure his own tails even more, checking their condition in the mirror every day.

His late heat period had caused his tails to grow slowly, but according to Gu Mian, it was also for this reason that he would grow a third tail when his next heat period arrived...

The legendary "latecomer who surpasses the old-timer," so to speak.

Of course, that was on the premise that he was capable of growing that many tails in the first place.

For example, a three-tailed fox, no matter how early their heat period came, would have a maximum of three tails.

And a Nine-tailed Fox, no matter how late their heat period came, would have a maximum of nine.

So the little fox just needed to wait patiently. Sooner or later, he would become a fox with nine tails.

At this thought, the little fox’s narrow eyes squinted, and his two tails wrapped around one of Wen Qian’s legs each...