Chapter 226 - 194: An Old Acquaintance Comes 10

Su Mo didn’t know when Xuan Qing left the next morning.

She was later woken up by the ringing of her phone.

As soon as she answered, Little Jiu’s excited voice came through: "Su Mo, why aren’t you at the clinic yet? I’ve been waiting for you all morning."

"I’m a little tired, so I’m not going to the clinic today." Su Mo’s voice was slightly hoarse when she spoke.

Little Jiu was taken aback on the other end of the line. After a moment, she cleared her throat and said, "Alright then, I’ll come over this evening to pick you and Sister Ying up for dinner. Ever since you started dating Xuan Qing, we’ve been getting together a lot less."

Su Mo groggily agreed, "Okay."

That evening, Fu Ying drove over with Little Jiu to pick up Su Mo, and the three of them went to a small bar.

Fu Ying noticed the marks Su Mo hadn’t managed to cover up and couldn’t help but tease, "Isn’t your man a little too possessive? As expected of a top-tier Enchanting Demon—he’s worth several men in one. If this keeps up, can you even handle it?"

Su Mo took an embarrassed sip of the fruit wine in front of her. "It’s... it’s not that bad."

Fu Ying chuckled. "I was thinking about introducing you to a few ’little puppy’ types under twenty-five, but now it seems I should wait."

’After all, there’s still a dragon waiting in line, and he’s a top-tier Enchanting Demon, too... He probably won’t be easy to deal with either.’

"By the way, when is Long Yan coming back? It’s been so long. Does he not know about you and Xuan Qing?"

"He still has some minor things to take care of over there. He knows everything about my situation; he’s known since the beginning of the year."

Fu Ying raised an eyebrow. ’Long Yan sure is patient,’ she thought. ’Then again, it fits his slow, gentle nature.’

Listening from the side, Little Jiu was getting anxious for them. ’That dragon is certainly broad-minded!’

It got too noisy inside, and Su Mo didn’t even notice her phone ringing in her bag.

Having had a bit too much fruit wine, Su Mo was starting to feel tipsy.

Seeing her flushed face, Fu Ying told her not to drink any more.

She saw the screen of the phone in Su Mo’s bag light up and shouted, "Your phone’s ringing!"

Su Mo casually pulled out her phone. When she saw the name on the screen, she couldn’t help but frown slightly, putting a finger to her lips in a hushing gesture.

"Hello, Xuan Qing?"

The line went silent as soon as the call connected. A few seconds later, he asked in a completely unruffled tone, "You’re out?"

"Mhm~" Su Mo said with a grin. "I’m with Fu Ying and Little Jiu."

She thought she heard him sigh. "Don’t drink too much. I’m not home, so there’s no one to take care of you."

Su Mo was a little drunk, but not unreasonably so.

She clutched the phone and mumbled, "A man’s words are nothing but lies..."

’When he’s home, all he knows how to do is torment me in new and creative ways. He’d never take care of me. Hmph!’

The man on the other end chuckled at her words. "Go home early, and call me when you get there."

"Okay~"

When Su Mo hung up, she saw Fu Ying looking at her with a knowing smile.

"Wh-what are you smiling at?"

"I was just thinking, maybe I should have pushed you to start dating a couple of years ago. Get some experience under your belt. Then you wouldn’t have run into a top-tier Enchanting Demon right out of the starting zone. How are any of those ’little puppies’ supposed to compete now?"

Little Jiu nodded in complete agreement. Honestly, she was starting to worry for Long Yan.

In the end, Little Jiu was the one who took Su Mo home. By the time they arrived, Su Mo was already asleep. Little Jiu took Su Mo’s phone and sent a text to Xuan Qing, letting him know she had been brought back safely and that she would stay the night to look after her.

Xuan Qing replied quickly.

Aside from a thank you, his message also listed some of Su Mo’s habits when she’s drunk. The sentences were short, but the details were exhaustive.

Little Jiu stared at the message, stunned. Xuan Qing’s understanding of Su Mo seemed to be far beyond what she had imagined.

「Several uneventful days passed.」

One morning, a strange patient suddenly arrived at Su Mo’s little clinic. To be more precise, it was a fox.

A Nine-tailed Fox, injured and unable to hold its human form.

When Su Mo went to open the clinic in the morning, she saw it lying by the door, its tail curled up.

There was a large, red bloodstain on its abdomen, and a faint smell of rotting flesh hung in the air around it.

She frowned and crouched down, her eyes fixed on the wound. "Hey, little fox, wake up."

The fox, which had been sleeping quietly, slowly opened its eyes.

’What beautiful eyes.’ Su Mo was momentarily stunned.

The next moment, the fox on the ground pushed its weak body up and walked toward her, its eyes seeming to glisten with tears.

It instinctively rubbed against Su Mo’s leg, letting out a series of pitiful whimpers.

Su Mo’s heart inexplicably softened. She bent down, picked it up, opened the door, and placed it on the examination bed inside.

"How did you get hurt so badly? Did you run into some highly corrosive liquid?" Su Mo patted its head reassuringly. "Lie still, now. I’ll treat this for you, and it won’t hurt in a little while."

The little fox let out a whimper and waited obediently, its eyes fixed on her retreating back.

Su Mo retrieved her surgical tools, put on a pair of gloves, and began to clean the wound.

"Don’t you worry, my skills are top-notch. I’ll make sure to stitch this up beautifully for you~"

"Wooo~"

The fox whimpered in response, as if to say, ’I trust you.’

After treating the wound, Su Mo carried the fox to a bed in the back room. "I’m going to put you on a drip. You should get some sleep. Your wound is still healing, so try to move as little as possible."

She inserted the IV needle, and just as she turned to leave, one of the fox’s tails suddenly wrapped around her wrist.

Su Mo smiled slightly. "Don’t be scared. I’ll just be right outside."

The fox’s tail nuzzled her palm, then another wrapped directly around her leg, followed by the rest of them winding around her hand.

The fluffy sensation sent a tickle through Su Mo’s heart.

Su Mo looked at the distinct, soft hairs on his tails and patted them reassuringly. "Be good now. I still have work to do."

"Wooo~"

The fox whimpered, retracted his tails, and watched her with shimmering, reluctant eyes.

Su Mo’s small clinic was always busy, and once things got going, she couldn’t stop.

By the time the stream of patients finally thinned out, it was time for lunch.

The little restaurant next door had already delivered their lunch, and Su Mo sat down with her two employees to eat.

The little fox propped up his weak body, staggered out, and sat down at Su Mo’s feet, staring up at her without blinking with those beautiful eyes.

Su Mo smiled slightly. She had almost forgotten about it.

She bent down, picked it up, and put a portion of her food on a plate for it. "Here, eat."

The fox lowered its head and ate quietly.

When he finished eating, he silently crawled into her lap and fell asleep, curled up against her stomach.

Su Mo didn’t even notice the fox suddenly appearing in her lap. The next time she looked down, it was already asleep on her knees.

Her employee across the table smiled. "Sister Mo, where did this little fox come from? It’s so cute."

"I found it at the door. It was injured, so I brought it in for treatment."

Su Mo stroked one of the fox’s tails and said with a laugh, "It can stay at the clinic for now, at least until it’s healed."

The fox lay quietly nestled against Su Mo’s stomach, being impossibly well-behaved.

Hearing this, his eyelids twitched slightly.

’No way am I staying at the clinic!’