Upon waking up, Yu Sheng found Ai Lin sprawled across the end of the bed, one arm outstretched.
Her drawing board leaned against the wall on the bedside table.
Yu Sheng let out a long sigh, recalling how last night he had failed to send this doll-like girl away.
The main reason was that every time he tried to drag her toward the door, she would make such a fuss that it felt like a headache was coming on.
He sighed again, noticing that Ai Lin showed no signs of waking up.
Yu Sheng stretched out his foot and kicked her gently twice.
“Wake up! If you don’t get up soon, I’m taking your drawing board away and letting you sleep in your painting again!”
Finally, Ai Lin stirred and slowly sat up, her messy hair a sight to behold as she blinked at Yu Sheng, bleary-eyed.
“Good morning... hey…”
“Good morning? It’s almost noon!” Yu Sheng fought the impulse to kick this unfortunate doll off the bed. “Do you have any idea how many times you rolled around in your sleep last night? You being a doll already makes sleeping odd, but why is your sleeping position so turbulent?”
“I don’t know,” Ai Lin replied with a big yawn, rubbing her eyes and stretching, adding grumpily, “Don’t complain so much. I’m so beautiful, and you’re not even happy sharing a room with me…”
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat looking at this little bundle, only about 66.6 centimeters tall. “You might be small, but your mouth is quite big. Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Ai Lin paid no heed to his words.
She crawled over to Yu Sheng and leaned in, demanding, “Help me brush my hair.”
Yu Sheng’s temples throbbed.
He jumped off the bed, raced to the bathroom, grabbed a comb, and tossed it on the bed. “No way, do it yourself.”
Ai Lin grabbed the comb, which was nearly the same size as her head, rolling her eyes dramatically. “See? I can’t hold it with just one hand! How about you make me a comb that’s usable for dolls…”
Then she started a long tirade about how no one cared about a doll's feelings, interrupted only by her own incessant complaints.
To anyone listening, it felt like sparks were flying from their ears.
“... Last life, I must have owed you something,” Yu Sheng finally snapped, taking the comb from Ai Lin and placing her back on the bedside table. “Sit still and don’t move.”
Ai Lin grinned victoriously, sitting on the bedside table while mumbling, “You made this body, so taking care of it is normal…”
Yu Sheng combed Ai Lin’s hair, trying to keep his irritation in check. “Is this how you use ‘taking care’?”
“It’s no big deal—hey, be gentle! Don’t pull it out; a doll’s hair is very precious.”
Letting out a long sigh, Yu Sheng managed to detangle Ai Lin’s messy hair from her tossing and turning in her sleep.
He hung the drawing board back on her and sauntered off to the bathroom to wash up.
“Hey, Yu Sheng! What are we having for breakfast?” Ai Lin’s voice came through the bathroom door a short while later.
With his mouth full of toothpaste, he muffled a response, “I’ll make some noodles. Just a quick bite before heading out.”
“Okay!” Ai Lin chirped, finally quieting down.
Still, Yu Sheng felt a nagging suspicion that Ai Lin’s temporary silence was just the calm before a bigger storm—his instincts were screaming at him.
Though it seemed strange for his intuition to be so heightened in this situation.
After washing up and drying his face, Yu Sheng looked in the mirror and noted that he seemed to be in good spirits, with a cheerful glint in his eyes.
It felt like ages since he saw this energetic side of himself, and for a moment, he was dazed.
Not long ago, he lived in this enormous, daunting city, filled with anxiety.
Every day was a battle with encroaching fears, sleepless nights filled with restless dreams, and he would wake up more exhausted, only washing his face every few days, never able to recognize himself in the mirror.
But now, he faced a youthful reflection brimming with energy, eyes sparkling with a hint of hope for the future—far from the image of a guy who’d spent the night being kicked by an ill-tempered doll.
“…My mindset is quite different now…” Yu Sheng couldn’t help but chuckle, whispering to himself.
Then, he heard Ai Lin's piercing wail from outside the bathroom: “Yu—Sheng! Did you fall in? I’m bringing Hu Li to fish you out—”
Yu Sheng’s grin collapsed as he whirled around and flung open the door, only to find Ai Lin standing outside, drawing board in hand, beaming at him.
“You’ve been in there for over half an hour!” she said, tilting her head back to look at him.
Ignoring her, Yu Sheng walked past her and opened his bedroom door to check if the fox was awake.
To his shock, Hu Li was standing right at the doorstep, peering in, as if debating whether to enter or not.
Startled by his sudden opening of the door, Hu Li jumped back, her fluffy tail exploding out like a fan, standing stiffly like a screen, and her big ears straightened in surprise.
After a couple of seconds, the startled fox relaxed, looking awkwardly at Yu Sheng. “Benefactor…”
“I’m curious, what were you doing?” he asked.
“I woke up but wasn’t sure what to do, so I just… waited. But I didn’t know if you were awake, so I didn’t dare knock,” Hu Li nervously explained, glancing anxiously at Yu Sheng. “Benefactor, are you okay? Where did you fall?”
“I didn’t fall anywhere! Don’t listen to Ai Lin spouting nonsense,” Yu Sheng scolded, raising his eyebrows as he eyed Hu Li, “You’ve been waiting at the door the whole time?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“From now on, this is your home. You don’t need to act all nervous; if you’re bored, feel free to watch some TV or something… Oh, I’ll show you how to use the household appliances when I have the time,” Yu Sheng casually mentioned as he turned to head downstairs. “Let’s go have breakfast. I’ll whip something quick, then we can go shopping.”
At the mention of “food,” Hu Li’s eyes lit up visibly, and she nearly skipped after Yu Sheng.
Yet, after a few steps, he stopped again, glancing back at the fox with an unsure expression.
“Benefactor?” Hu Li tilted her head.
“I just remembered something…” His gaze fell on Hu Li’s head. “You can retract your tail, but how about your ears? If you go out like that… it might attract too much attention.”
Hu Li looked somewhat puzzled.
She hadn’t stepped outside since arriving, so she had no concept of what the outside world was like, or how she might be perceived in her current form.
But because it was what the benefactor said, she believed him.
The fox girl rubbed her hands together, then reached up to remove her ears, stuffing them into her tail before hiding her tail away.
Silence reigned.
Yu Sheng stood frozen in the hall, still in the act of speaking moments before.
Suddenly, Ai Lin’s panicked shriek shattered the quiet: “Ahh—what are you pulling off your head, fox?!”
Hu Li revealed her fluffy ears from her tail, holding them proudly out for Ai Lin to see. “These are my ears.”
Yu Sheng nearly dropped his jaw. “They can be taken off?! They’re fake?!”
“They’re real,” Hu Li replied casually as she put her ears away. “Fox spirits excel in transformation.”
Yu Sheng was dumbfounded. “The fox spirits I know don’t look like that…”
Hu Li gasped in surprise. “Benefactor, have you met other fox spirits?”
Yu Sheng paused for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I haven’t.”
“For a fox spirit to learn transformation techniques, the first step is refining oneself. Once mastered, one can transform. My parents didn’t have enough time to teach me much, so I only learned the basics of transformation,” Hu Li explained earnestly, as if sharing common knowledge. “I heard from an immortal that powerful fox spirits can even transform into legendary figures from stories and history, traveling through time and space just by spoken word. But I can’t do that!”
Yu Sheng listened, overwhelmed by her imagination, trying to wrap his head around her words yet struggling to believe it.
It felt like she was pulling his leg.
But Hu Li's innocent face didn’t seem like one to fabricate stories.
“I still feel like something’s off,” Ai Lin mused, rubbing her chin, “My memory is foggy right now, don’t fool me… Where did you learn all this? Were you really fooled by that immortal? You know, they say anything when they’re being tour guides…”
Hu Li shook her head vigorously. “I don’t know, but my parents did teach me the transformation methods, and it is exactly like this—”
As she spoke, she inspected Yu Sheng curiously and then instantaneously changed the color of her hair and eyes, transforming into a version of Yu Sheng with black hair and black eyes.
Now, she looked just like an ordinary, beautiful girl, clearly a local.
“Is this okay?” the fox girl asked eagerly, looking at Yu Sheng.
He was momentarily stunned but eventually nodded, half in disbelief.
At least this time, her transformation appeared far more normal.
(End of Chapter)