Chapter 23: Master Fox’s Repayment

"Whimper..."

Seeing Lin Ying almost fainting from pain, Ansheng scrambled to search her phone for ways to relieve menstrual cramps. Had he been capable of human speech, he would have called an ambulance for her long ago.

As a two-time bachelor who had attended health education classes, Ansheng knew that women had a monthly cycle, but the books had never mentioned that period pain could be this terrifying! Seeing someone faint from the agony gave his little fox soul a profound shock.

"First, keep warm, apply heat to both sides of the lower abdomen, and try to get the patient's body slightly heated..."

"Also, gently massage the area of the spasm..." Ansheng muttered, staring at the tutorial on the screen, his fox face suddenly showing a look of enlightenment. "I... understand!"

After browsing the tutorial, Ansheng first opened the door leading to the balcony to let the cold air escape. Lin Ying’s air conditioning was absurd; it was as if she had secretly turned her room into a freezer. Every time he left, he would turn the sixteen-degree AC up to twenty-three, yet whenever he returned the next day to scrounge for food, it would be back at sixteen.

As the cold air dissipated, the humid heat from outside rushed in, and the indoor temperature gradually rose. After opening the doors and windows, Ansheng ran downstairs, dragged a bucket to the second-floor bathroom, and filled it with hot water.

Aside from cuddling under the covers and watching adult videos, the only way Ansheng could think to raise body temperature was to mimic the winter habit of soaking feet in hot water to accelerate blood circulation.

*Splosh—*

Amidst the sound of flowing water, the bucket filled to the brim. Ansheng stood on his hind legs, placed his tiny paws on the rim, and used his strength to push the bucket of warm water to the bedside. He didn't care about the water spilling onto the floor; he could wipe it up later.

"Whimper?"

Ansheng jumped up and patted Lin Ying. Thanks to the rising room temperature, her complexion had improved slightly, though it remained a ghostly pale with a hint of blue, and she was still unable to speak.

"Whimper, whimper—"

Ansheng sighed, burrowed under the covers, and grabbed Lin Ying’s ice-cold ankles with his paws. He dragged her until she turned in a circle, allowing her to lie on the bed while her feet were submerged in the warm water. Ansheng poked his head out from under the quilt, grabbed her phone, and crawled back inside. He downloaded a benchmarking app to stress-test the phone’s processor, then placed the heating device directly onto Lin Ying's lower abdomen.

"At times like this, an Apple phone is a must..."

Seeing the phone's temperature rise, Ansheng, who was busy performing a "kneading" massage to relieve her cramps, let out a silent sigh of relief. Without a heating pad, the only thing he could think of that would quickly generate heat without causing harm was a phone running a heavy benchmark.

Five minutes later.

Lin Ying’s body temperature rose, and the cold sweat and chill on her arms vanished. Her cheeks turned rosy, no longer deathly pale, and Ansheng finally let out a long breath.

Under the covers, Ansheng stretched his entire fox body across Lin Ying’s lower abdomen to provide warmth with his own body heat. A fox’s body temperature is generally slightly higher than a human’s.

The phone had been moved from her abdomen to the bed, and Ansheng was now browsing a shopping app on it. He kicked his little legs as he scrolled, adding everything he liked to the cart. He bought a massive amount of glue, ranging from ordinary super glue to "foundry glue" that claimed to be able to stick an aircraft carrier together. He even bought canned surströmming.

However, when Ansheng saw the price, he gasped. A single can of surströmming cost over three hundred! The shop description explained that the three-hundred-yuan cans were genuine food for human consumption, while the ones for over a hundred were already bloated and spoiled—typically bought by influencers for pranks, and not recommended for ordinary consumers.

Ansheng thought for a moment and bought three bloated cans. He was so focused on the prank that he didn't realize what kind of psychological trauma those three cans of rotten fish would inflict on his little fox life.

*Gurgle...*

Just as Ansheng was shopping, Lin Ying’s stomach suddenly growled. Ansheng paused, lifted the edge of the quilt, and through the "mountain valley," locked eyes with her. He tilted his chin in a greeting. Lin Ying nodded silently, pulled the quilt back up, and tucked the "fox-brand" heating pad back into place.

...

About half an hour later, after washing away the fatigue of the day at Lin Ying’s house, Ansheng returned to Yu Xueqing’s bed, sprawled out, and fell into a deep sleep.

*Thwack—*

He had only been asleep for a moment when he felt someone patting his belly. Ansheng opened his eyes to see Yu Xueqing, already dressed, lying on the bed and playfully kneading his stomach with a happy expression.

"Whimper?"

*Master~ the fox wants to sleep...*

Ansheng asked what the good news was that woke him up so early, especially since he didn't have any morning classes. But his confused fox sounds, translated through Yu Xueqing’s "machine-translation" filter, came out as a soft, spoiled, and overly cutesy maid-like whine.

"Hehe... Little An, get up! Time to go scrounge for food!" Yu Xueqing looked at the little fox with delight, resting her cheek on his chest and nuzzling him, a look of pure enjoyment on her face. Little An’s white fur was inexplicably fluffy and soft, like velvet cake scented with fruit and flowers—it was incredibly comfortable, and she never got tired of nuzzling him.

"Eat where? I just got back after being stuffed..." Ansheng sat bolt upright, smacking his lips, and subconsciously let out a yawn as he asked her.

"It’s something delicious you’ve never had before!"

Yu Xueqing smiled brightly, scooped up the dazed little fox, and carried him to the bathroom to get him ready. The fox lay in the sink, fitting perfectly. Yu Xueqing took out pet trimmers and shaved the fur between the toes of his four little paws. Little An... seemed to have a slight quirk; he liked keeping his paw pads smooth and clean. Yu Xueqing didn't know why, but since the fox liked it, she didn't find it a bother.

"Little An, don't move, there are a few stray hairs here." After trimming his paw fur, Yu Xueqing spotted a few particularly jarring black hairs on his belly under the sunlight.

Ansheng was entirely white, except for his eyes, nose tip, and paw pads, which were black... Oh, and that little black bullseye on his belly.

*Click—*

Seeing the stray hairs, Yu Xueqing happily snipped them away.

Ansheng, who had been half-asleep, widened his eyes as if struck by lightning.

"Ah-Qing, you..."

Hearing the fox’s shrill cry, Yu Xueqing paused, looking puzzled. "Is... is that not supposed to be cut?"

A moment later, after brushing his teeth, Ansheng didn't use the home toilet for the first time; he ran outside. He stood in the garden, looking miserable, and spread his hind legs over the long-dried flower bed.

The stream of water, which should have been a straight line, inexplicably turned into a wide-spreading sprinkler. If not for the strength in his abdominal muscles, the split stream might have splashed all over his belly fur.

"..."

Watching the "sprinkler" in action, Yu Xueqing’s expression was complex and filled with guilt. She had just looked up what those stray hairs on a fox's belly were. In zoology, they had a very straightforward common name: "urination guide hairs." With them, a fox could pee straight as an arrow; without them, the fox would be stuck with a sprinkler.

"Ah-Qing, are you ready? The village chief is already outside our door." Yu Zhenghong’s voice echoed from the living room.

The only good news was that the fox’s hairs would grow back in a few days. The bad news was that for the next few days, the fox would have to carry a sprinkler with him wherever he went.

"Oh... coming, Dad!" Yu Xueqing covered her face, swearing that she would never be so clumsy with her scissors again.