Little Fox still didn’t dare to take her paws away.
But then she felt something tickling her nose.
It was so itchy...
Her little black nose twitched, and finally she couldn’t hold it in anymore: Ah-choo!
A big sneeze.
Her paws instinctively dropped.
In front of her crouched a young man, frantically wiping his face: “Aah! You little fox, after all this time, this is how you greet me? I finally managed to conjure this cute face, and I just saved you—now you have to pay for my face!”
He flicked a strand of hair behind his ear, revealing a pouty face.
Hm?
Little Fox tilted her head, utterly confused.
Who is this person? He talked so familiarly, but she clearly didn’t know him. This was her first time leaving Mount Tu.
Besides, sneezing wasn’t her fault—if he hadn’t tickled her nose with his hair, she wouldn’t have been so rude.
Little Fox blinked, looking somewhat innocent.
But out of kindness, she reached out a paw and patted his hand soothingly as he wiped his face.
He finally lowered his hands, revealing a pair of clear, bright black eyes—shining like stars. The stray curls at his forehead parted naturally, and the ends of his hair were tied with a red ribbon. The edges of his collar were also red. It seemed he really liked the color red.
“Got it! I know what you can pay me back with.”
Hongjiao grinned. “Roast rabbit! I want you to roast me a rabbit!”
The more he thought about it, the hungrier he got, and he couldn’t help but swallow.
It had been so long since he’d felt this way.
Ever since Xiaomi had fallen asleep in their master’s arms, he’d lost his appetite. Nothing tasted good anymore—chewing felt like chewing on wax.
Their master said Xiaomi was just sleeping.
But later, Xiaomi disappeared.
The light in their master's eyes vanished completely. Even when he finally managed to take human form, their master showed no joy—he only coldly abandoned him at the Jingming Terrace without a second glance.
Hongjiao felt sorrier for himself than for his master.
His master had only been abandoned once—but he had been abandoned twice!
First by Xiaomi, then by their master.
He had tried to sneak off, following his master’s scent to find Xiaomi, only to run into Hongxiao halfway.
This was the first time in a long while that Hongjiao had felt genuine joy, and it seemed his craving had returned too.
He remembered gnawing on rabbit legs back in that bamboo-fenced little courtyard. In all his life as a snake, he’d never tasted anything so delicious. The aroma had been so tempting he nearly swallowed his own tongue.
After leaving Qianwu Town, he’d once tried to roast a rabbit himself, turning it over and over with flames—but it never came out tasting like it did back then.
It was never right.
And his master had given him two cold looks, scolding him for wasting time.
“Hongxiao, I’m Hongjiao. Our names sound alike. It doesn’t matter if you’ve forgotten me, but I just want to ask: do you still remember how to roast a rabbit?”
Suddenly, something struck him, and his expression froze. This little fox had lost all her cultivation—she didn’t remember the past.
What if she’d even forgotten the art of roasting rabbit!?
To him, that would be a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
It was the only thing lately that could spark a little interest in him.
Hongxiao... Hongjiao...
Little Fox was stunned for a moment. She didn’t even know her name was Hongxiao.
How strange this person is.
But how did he know she’d learned to roast rabbit?
She’d picked up the skill back on Mount Tu from the eldest elder in the fox clan—an old woman who’d achieved human form long ago. The elder had grown tired of eating raw food, so she’d concocted her own seasoning, which made anything roasted smell amazing.
Back then, many little foxes had crowded around, but while the others just ate, only Little Fox had sat aside, carefully committing everything to memory. She’d always loved learning new things, thinking that one day, when she took human form, she’d try roasting a rabbit herself.
The problem was, she only knew the method—she’d never actually practiced it, because she didn’t have hands to roast with.
Still, Little Fox nodded. She did know how to roast a rabbit; she couldn’t lie about that.
But her doubts grew.
All the companions who had started cultivating alongside her had already taken human form, yet she was still just a little fox. That baffled her too. And with what this person had just said—had she left Mount Tu before? Was there a forgotten part of her memory?
While she was puzzling over it, she suddenly felt herself being lifted.
Startled, she shrank back, thinking she was being hung up in a rope bag again. But it was that young man named Hongjiao, tossing her high into the air and then catching her steadily with both hands.
He spun her around, holding her up high. His clear eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and his grin stretched from ear to ear. “Great! You haven’t forgotten how to roast rabbit!”
The stray hair on his forehead was lifted by the wind, brushing past his spirited brows and eyes.
Little Fox felt dizzy from the spinning, her four legs flailing randomly in the air, her tail whipping around like a propeller.
She looked down at him and suddenly found this person really strange.
Was a roast rabbit really worth this much excitement?
But the way he looked—it was impossible to dislike him. His eyes curved into crescents, the tip of his nose slightly reddened, whether from excitement or something else. It looked like he wouldn’t stop until he’d spun her in a hundred and eighty circles.
He suddenly stopped, his dark, bright eyes fixed on her with sincerity. “Hongxiao, Hongxiao, can you still roast a rabbit for me? I miss the ones you made so much! You have no idea how long I’ve been craving them. I’ve even dreamed about eating them several times.”
This time, Little Fox had no way out. All she had were little paws—there was no way she could fulfill his wish.
Seeing that she didn’t answer, Hongjiao grew anxious. His eyes suddenly lit up, and a red light flickered at his fingertip before it flowed into Little Fox’s body.
“I’ve shared some of my cultivation with you. Now you can speak,” he said, looking at her expectantly. “So? Am I generous or what? A snake as good as me—where else in the world could you find one? Now can you roast me a rabbit?”
“I...” Little Fox felt a tickle in her throat, and a faint, hoarse sound escaped.
Her pupils trembled with surprise, and she tentatively tried again. “I...”
“I what? just answer me already!” Hongjiao grabbed one of her ears and leaned in, putting on a fierce expression. “Did you not hear me?”
Sharp fangs suddenly grew, and beneath the handsome young man’s face, a phantom snake image opened its massive jaws.
It lasted only an instant.
Little Fox was so startled by the sound waves that she shrank into a tiny ball.
Her round eyes were full of terror, her nose twitching slightly.
She looked utterly pitiful.
Hongjiao was like a child who’d done wrong, scratching his head sheepishly. “Fine, fine. When will you stop being so timid? You always fall for it every time.”
“I heard you,” Little Fox quickly said. Speaking human language for the first time felt strange, her voice low like a whisper. “But, I only have paws. I can catch a rabbit, but I can’t build a roasting rack, make the seasoning, or turn it over while cooking. It’s a lot of work. I remember when the elder roasted them—there were so many steps.”
“Can you... wait for me?” Little Fox felt it was hard to refuse. “Just wait three hundred years. Once I take human form, I’ll roast one for you right away.”
Hongjiao blinked, his gaze falling on her small, white paws. Her entire body was covered in fiery red fox fur, with only the four paws being white.
He pinched one of her front paws between two fingers, examining it for a moment. The pads were soft and still warm, nothing like his own cold snake body or the hard shell of his beast form.
Unable to resist, he squeezed it a few times, making soft chirping sounds.
They weren't even as sturdy as a rabbit's leg—expecting this little paw to roast a rabbit was indeed asking too much.
"Raising your cultivation, taking human form—that's not hard at all." Hongjiao’s lips curled into a smile. "From today on, you stay by my side. I'll share half of all the cultivation I've accumulated with you. My master's teacher said that if you do good deeds while cultivating, you might not become a fox demon one day—you could become a fox immortal!"
"Wow, that amazing? Such good fortune?" Little Fox's eyes lit up.
A fox immortal—she hadn't even dared to dream of it. All the foxes from Mount Tu had become fox demons; not a single fox immortal had ever emerged from there.
"Of course. With the bond we share, would I ever lie to you?" Hongjiao lifted Little Fox and placed her on his shoulder. "From now on, this spot is yours alone. Stick with me, and you won't miss out!"
Little Fox gazed at his shoulder blankly, a momentary daze washing over her.
In her memory, she seemed to have once stood on someone's shoulder, hopping and playing. But that had been because she was naughty and climbed up on her own.
This was the first time someone had willingly placed her on their shoulder.
Hongjiao stood up, and suddenly her view expanded.
A gust of wind blew, sending strands of red fur swirling into the air like a burning flame.
She felt utterly majestic.
"Did we know each other before? What kind of bond do we share, exactly?" Little Fox asked curiously.
At that moment, perched on his shoulder, her voice came directly against his ear.
Hongjiao’s face grew warm. For some reason, he remembered what Xiaomi had once said—that her father had cooked for her mother for a lifetime.
So, husband and wife meant one person cooking for another their whole lives.
A sudden inspiration struck him: if he wanted Little Fox to roast rabbits for him forever, why not trick her into believing it?
After all, she didn't remember anything now.
Channeling Xiaomi’s acting skills, Hongjiao cleared his throat twice and began his nonsense with a straight face. "You've forgotten the bond we once shared? Heartbreaking—true heartbreak isn't about loud arguments or big fights; it's when words are short and glances are shallow."
Naturally, he had learned that line from Xiaomi too.
Little Fox: "?"
She tilted her head to look at him. One moment, this young man had been brimming with sunshine; the next, his face had clouded over like a storm.
Concerned, she asked, "What's wrong? Were we really that close before?"
"Unusually so. Ah, we used to be," Hongjiao turned his face to meet her orange-yellow pupils, "husband and wife."
Little Fox was stunned. "Husband and wife? What's that?"
Hongjiao faltered. "Uh... a man and a woman—that's what makes a husband and wife."
Little Fox: "Do they drain each other's energy?"
Hongjiao corrected her, "No, no. It's more like... both wear bright red clothes and hold hands while walking a stretch of road."
Little Fox’s eyes lit up. "No wonder both our names have 'Red' in them—we really are husband and wife!"
Hongjiao: "Of course! You used to roast rabbits for me every day..."
Little Fox: "Hongjiao, where are we going now? To catch rabbits?"
Hongjiao: "To find my master—and my other master, Xiaomi."
Little Fox: "Xiaomi... That name sounds so familiar."
Through the mountain forest, the figures of the boy and the fox gradually faded into the distance. The little fox, perched on his shoulder, draped her tail into the hollow of his neck.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long, long into the earth, intertwining so that no one could tell which was the boy and which was the little fox.
The wind carried their fragmented chatter, sending it away, then gently sweeping it off.
