Free Web NovelChapter 111: Chapter 111: Lanlan, You Don’t Trust Me?
After Shi Lan finished washing up, she sat in a chair to dry her hair. That’s when she noticed a thermal container on the table. Curious, she opened it to find meat porridge, still steaming hot.
A few green vegetables had been added to the porridge. The moment she opened the lid, the fragrance of the rice assailed her senses, and Shi Lan’s stomach growled in protest.
Her eyes flickered. She found He Hanshi’s name and sent him a message: [The porridge on the table, did you make it?]
He Hanshi noticed the activity on his chip and immediately tapped it. Seeing Shi Lan’s message, he realized he’d forgotten to tell her about the porridge in her room.
’Good thing she saw it.’
He replied: [Yes, but it’s been a while, so it might not taste as good. If you don’t like it, you can get something else from the kitchen.]
Shi Lan wrote back: [Thank you, it’s delicious.]
She had a fever and hadn’t eaten anything since she woke up that morning until now, past two in the afternoon. Her stomach was rumbling with hunger. In fact, right after sending the message, she couldn’t resist taking a sip.
Maybe it was because she was so hungry, but in any case, she found it absolutely delicious.
Plus, the porridge was at the perfect temperature to eat, and she downed several large mouthfuls in an instant.
He Hanshi’s heart eased, and the corners of his mouth curved up. [As long as you like it. I haven’t cooked in a long time, so I was worried I’d be a bit rusty.]
Shi Lan was a little surprised to see this message. She had assumed He Hanshi had left it all to the kitchen robot, not that he had made it himself.
Even if he had relied on a machine’s convenience for the actual cooking, kitchen robots and humans have different cooking habits. The proportions are different, so sometimes the taste is naturally different too.
’No wonder it tastes so good.’
Shi Lan didn’t reply right away. But a dozen or so minutes later, she took a photo of the completely empty thermal container and sent it with a message: [Photo evidence. Clean plate club!]
She also found and sent a sticker of a small, ’contented’ cat.
When He Hanshi saw it, he finally couldn’t help but let out a low, pleased chuckle.
’Lanlan, you’re so cute.’
...
Shi Lan’s fever had certainly made both Jiang Xia and Yan Huoshui more cautious.
Whatever the case, Shi Lan couldn’t enter both of their cells on the same day.
Yan Huoshui temporarily gave up on the trust test, letting Shi Lan perform the Spiritual Connection on him first. Meanwhile, Jiang Xia had spent the last two days preheating his room in advance to prevent Shi Lan from getting chilled again.
Shi Lan looked at him, surprised. "Lord Yan, are you sure about this?"
After all, he was the one who had proposed the trust-building test. Shi Lan was worried he wasn’t actually ready.
The corners of Yan Huoshui’s crimson lips curled upward, and his sharp, fox-like eyes narrowed slightly. "Lanlan, are you saying you don’t trust me?"
His tone was the same as always, his slightly hoarse, soft voice carrying a flirtatious charm. But to Shi Lan’s ears, it felt barbed and a little dangerous.
Her survival instincts kicked in, and she immediately shook her head. "No, I trust you, Lord Yan. In that case, let’s begin."
With that, she immediately opened the door and walked in.
Considering how hot it was inside Yan Huoshui’s cell, Shi Lan had come prepared this time. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt under her jacket, so she took the jacket off after coming inside.
Yan Huoshui glanced at her sleeves, a flicker of regret passing through his eyes.
But he didn’t say anything, simply cooperating by sitting cross-legged on the nearby bed.
Yan Huoshui’s eyes glinted, and he transformed into his beast form. "Lanlan," he said, "treat me like this. It might help you relax more."
Shi Lan’s eyes were uncontrollably glued to the Red Fox on the bed. He stretched out lazily and lay down, his nine tails swaying flamboyantly behind him.
Every one of those big, bright red tails seemed to tug at her heart like a hook.
Originally, Shi Lan had felt a bit awkward sitting on the bed with Yan Huoshui. But after seeing him revert to his beast form, her awkwardness dissipated, replaced by an itchy-fingered desire in her eyes.
"Are... are you sure?"
Whether from agitation or excitement, her full, rosy lips trembled slightly, and her words came out with a slight quiver.
The Red Fox blinked his long, narrow eyes, a distinctly alluring smile appearing on his lips. "Of course. Come here, Lanlan."
He called to her softly, enunciating each word. As if bewitched, Shi Lan really did sit down on the bed, her palm uncontrollably landing on the fox’s fluffy back.
She knew better than anyone how comfortable a fox’s fur felt.
Yan Huoshui let out a subtle, comfortable sigh. He closed his eyes slightly, letting Shi Lan do as she pleased without urging her to start the treatment.
’He knew Shi Lan preferred his beast form to his human one. If that’s the case, I might as well make the impression a little deeper.’
Beneath his half-closed eyelids, a dark glint appeared in his crimson pupils. On the fox’s face, turned away from Shi Lan, the corners of his lips curled into a cunning smile.
The fox’s body was quite large, taking up two-thirds of the bed in the room.
Shi Lan could only sit in a small spot in the corner, leaning against the wall. She didn’t find it uncomfortable, but her eyes kept darting to the nine tails behind the fox, secretly lamenting that they were too far away to touch.
However, as if they knew what she was thinking, his tails suddenly lifted and moved closer, right in front of Shi Lan.
Two tails nuzzled intimately against her cheeks.
"Haha, that tickles."
Shi Lan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Her face was enveloped by the fluffy texture, which felt both numb and ticklish. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
She subconsciously grabbed the two mischievous tails and stroked them a couple of times from tip to base.
Yan Huoshui silently exhaled, thankful that Shi Lan was still far from the base of his tails. He could tolerate this level of contact.
If she were to actually touch the roots of his tails, that would be true torture.
Of course, Shi Lan wasn’t that tactless.
She stroked the tails while secretly glancing at the quietly lying fox. Only because Yan Huoshui didn’t say anything did she have the courage to do this.
Soon, she was enveloped by all nine tails.
Shi Lan gave each tail equal attention, stroking every one several times. The fox’s fresh, floral scent seemed to linger on her hands.
She let out a contented sigh. When she saw Yan Huoshui’s ears twitch, her gaze couldn’t help but drift toward them.
His ears were also a pure red. The fur near the ear canal was shorter, revealing a little bit of the pink flesh inside. They must be very soft.
In the end, Shi Lan wasn’t audacious enough to touch his ears right in front of him. Getting to touch so many tails was already an unexpected delight.
It was just a bit hot in the room. The steam from the hot spring pool constantly diffused, filling the cell with a hazy warmth. The back of Shi Lan’s shirt, pressed against the wall, was growing damp.
She looked at the Red Fox before her and finally pulled her hands back because of the heat, settling down to begin the treatment.
With the experience from the last two Spiritual Connections, Shi Lan was becoming more and more proficient. And Yan Huoshui truly did trust her; his spiritual power threads actively guided her toward his spirit sea.
The same Little Red Fox was trapped inside the Poison Cocoon, its nine tails also ensnared by toxic threads.
It had been listlessly squinting its fox eyes, but it seemed to sense the movement of Shi Lan’s spiritual power thread. Its gaze instantly snapped over, sharp and cold, its eyes filled with clear vigilance.
Seemingly viewing Shi Lan as a new threat, it began to struggle within the Poison Cocoon, only to become even more entangled in the toxic threads.
