Chapter 159 - A Gift for Childe Ling (2/2)

Yuwen Tong gave the order to rest for a day in this county.

Ling Zhang had been in a state of preoccupation and his security guards had been worrying about him for two days.

At noon, they had just finished lunch when Yao Yi walked up to Ling Zhang and informed Ling Zhang in a mysterious tone of voice, “Childe Ling, we sent you a gift. It’s right in your room. Would you care to go and check it out?”

Ling Zhang looked at him with a disbelieving expression on his face. “A gift to me?”

Yao Yi inclined his head. “Yeah. All of us pitched in a couple of copper coins to buy it.”

‘All of them pitched in money to buy it?’ Though Ling Zhang felt somewhat surprised, since this gift had been sent collectively by so many people, he believed that he must not trifle with it. Immediately, he rose to his feet and returned to his room.

Yuwen Tong, who had instructed Yao Yi to cheer Ling Zhang up, followed in his wake. ‘Finally these guys made their move,’ he thought.

Ling Zhang pushed open the door and first looked in the direction of the table, but there was nothing on it. Then his eyes swept around the room but the gift was still nowhere to be seen. Suspecting that Yao Yi and others were playing a trick on him, he was just about to leave when his eye suddenly fell on a curious object on his bed. After a brief moment’s hesitation, he walked over.

It was a thin cotton-padded jacket with something wrapped inside, something moving!

Ling Zhang was amazed. ‘What is this thing? It’s alive?’

He cautiously stepped closer and observed a small patch of soft, smooth and white fur showing amid the cotton-padded jacket…

Ling Zhang softly unfolded the cotton-padded jacket and, when he saw what it was that had been mysteriously wrapped in it, he was thrown into shock, eyes dilated with pleasant surprise gleaming in them.

“Is this…”

A little soft fluffy creature had curled into a ball lying in there, its limbs and tail beneath its body, two small ears p.r.i.c.ked up, eyes shut…

It looked like a little fox.

As if this little soft creature had struck something into his heart, Ling Zhang stared fixedly at it, eyes sparkling. Slowly, he stooped down to take a closer look, fascinated by it.

Yuwen Tong, who had followed Ling Zhang and entered the room shortly after him, naturally had seen the whole process. He squinted his eyes and looked at the little white ball-like creature. ‘A living thing?’

“A fox! It’s a fox cub! A white one!” Ling Zhang excitedly beckoned to him to check it out.

Yuwen Tong walked up to the bed and confirmed the species of it. “It’s a white fox. The color of its fur is pure and it has a pretty healthy const.i.tution, too. It’s really something of a rarity.”

Ling Zhang reached out his hand and softly stroked the little fox from the back of its head to its neck and to its back. The soft, warm touch of it even brought a involuntary twitch to his hand. It reminded him of Ada, his dog, which had also been like a little ball of fur when it had been a cub.

“How did they come to get this? They are amazing,” Ling Zhang observed delightedly.

Yuwen Tong softly uttered “Um” and then replied, “I’ll reward them later.”

Ling Zhang nodded repeatedly. “I’ll express my grat.i.tude to them as well.”

“They did this to cheer you up. My reward for their service will be enough,” remarked Yuwen Tong.

“It’s very considerate of them to do so. I’ll thank them in person.” Eyes fixed on the white fox cub, Ling Zhang didn’t even have the time to give a backward glance at Yuwen Tong.

“When Ada was a cub, it also looked like a fluffy ball like this little fox. It was stunning. Maomao was much younger at that time as well. They were two little guys. The two of them used to race each other trying to find me on their little short legs. The way they toddled along never failed to make me laugh.” Ling Zhang couldn’t help but talk to Yuwen Tong about the past.

Surprisingly, as he was reminiscing, memories of those days seemed to be a long long time ago. Those things that had happened in his last life filled him with nostalgia.

These words also gradually melted Yuwen Tong’s heart. It was not because of the two little guys Ling Zhang had mentioned but because of Ling Zhang. He couldn’t help wondering what Ling Zhang had looked like at that time –he must be a teenager who would affect an air of sophistification and stoop down to pick up his younger brother. He might even feign sulkiness and lecture him. Yuwen Tong believed that it must have been a very, very pity-inducing scene.

Yuwen Tong slowly exhaled, looked at this Ling Zhang in front of him and asked, “Would you like to take it outside and go for a walk?”

Ling Zhang pulled his mind out of memories, shook his head and replied, “It’s too young. I don’t think it’s a good idea to expose it to too much wind. Let it stay here. By the way, I have to go and ask Yao Yi and the others about how to raise a fox cub.”

‘Yeah. I bet those guys know all about it,’ thought Yuwen Tong after secretly giving a snort.

“There’s got to be someone in the county seat who knows about how to raise it. Maybe we should go and make some inquiries.”

Ling Zhang straightened himself up. “Okay.”

He affectionately stroked the fox cub again. This time, the little fox let out a faint grunt which sounded as soft as its body and sent Ling Zhang powerless to leave. “It woke up!”

However, the fox cub merely woke up for a few moments and gave two grunts. It didn’t even open its eyes. After rubbing itself against Ling Zhang’s hand when he was stroking it, the fox cub fell asleep again, showing no sign of awaking soon.

Ling Zhang regretfully watched it fall asleep. “I thought it woke up.”

Yuwen Tong found that he had been standing in this room for quite some time but Ling Zhang’s eyes had been fixed on that fox cub all along, that he had been totally ignored.

“Let’s go. The county seat is bustling today. With luck, we might encounter someone with the right expertise in the street.”

Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head. This time, he finally took his eyes off the little fox.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuwen Tong brought Ling Zhang out of the room. When the little white fox was no longer in sight, Ling Zhang’s eyes found their way back onto Yuwen Tong. “I wonder if it’s a good idea to take it to the capital city.”

However, the next remark of Ling Zhang’s was still about the little white fox.

Yuwen Tong’s face darkened with annoyance.

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