Zhi Yao turned around to leave, but after taking just a few steps, she couldn't help but turn back around to look at Pei Chiyao again. Unwilling to give up, she said, "If you like that stupid cat, I'll leave it here for you now so you won't regret it later."
She hurried away, but as Zhi Yao was running, she suddenly realized...huh? Why does it seem like nothing around her was moving?
She looked back angrily to find that she had actually been running in place this whole time!
Pei Chiyao grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, lifting the little fox up into the air, but afraid of hurting Zhi Yao, his other hand supported her from below.
"When did I ever say I liked that cat?" Pei Chiyao looked at the struggling baby fox in amusement. "Hmm?"
But in his heart, he couldn't help but gradually start to look forward to seeing what she would look like as a human. He wondered if she would be just as cute when throwing tantrums and acting spoiled.
With Zhi Yao's strength, how could she fight against Pei Chiyao? She struggled for a few seconds before finally giving up.
She simply turned her head to the side, refusing to look at Pei Chiyao anymore.
Pei Chiyao sighed and said, "I'm not bothered by you being troublesome. I just feel that taking care of you is enough."
He patiently explained, "You still don't know anything yet. I need to teach you step-by-step how to be human. How can I have the energy and effort to raise other pets?"
Here, Pei Chiyao paused slightly. "And also, Zhi Yao, you were never just some pet to me."
But he didn't say that last sentence out loud.
After hearing all this, Zhi Yao finally turned her head to look at Pei Chiyao again.
Seeing that the spoiled little thing finally seemed to have gotten over her anger, Pei Chiyao finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Why do you have such a bad temper?"
He hadn't even said anything yet, but Zhi Yao was already bristling like an angry sea urchin, seeming both pained and sour.
And Pei Chiyao simply couldn't stand seeing her suffer even a little grievance - he had spoiled her rotten.
Seeing Pei Chiyao's helpless expression, Zhi Yao also realized that she might have misunderstood his intentions.
The little thing stretched out her paws, desperately clawing forward a couple times until she grabbed his lapel, then vigorously rubbed her head against Pei Chiyao's neck, saying, "Then you can't raise that cat."
She thought for a moment, then added, "Us foxes are very possessive! Since you've taken me in, you can't raise any other pets! Or date anyone either!"
Just thinking that Pei Chiyao would treat other people as nicely as her made Zhi Yao feel extremely uncomfortable in her heart, as if a hundred claws were continuously scratching at her.
"What if I did raise something else?" Pei Chiyao was in the mood to tease her a little.
But Zhi Yao said in all seriousness, "Then I'll leave! I'll stay far away from you and never see you again! After all, I'm so cute and beautiful, plenty of people would want to take me in. Humph, when the time comes, even if you begged me you wouldn't get me back."
This made Pei Chiyao laugh out loud. He reached out and gently flicked Zhi Yao's little nose, saying, "Mm, so I have to watch you more closely."
He had truly never seen such a narcissistic fox before.
He gently patted the little fox's bottom and said, "Alright, it's time to go to the set in the afternoon."
He would be very busy over the next few days - in order to quickly finish filming his parts, the crew had scheduled all of Pei Chiyao's scenes for this week.
Since it was just a small-budget TV drama production, the total only added up to twenty episodes. Pei Chiyao's individual scenes from the beginning took up half of that. Because at the start, the female lead appears in fox form before turning into a human later on in the story.
What was most troubling for the director was...up until now, Pei Chiyao still hadn't told him who would play the female lead.
...
On this day, Pei Chiyao was playing with the little fox in his arms, occasionally tweaking her whiskers and touching her tail. Seeing her bare her teeth at him in warning, his mood suddenly turned exceptionally good.
Older Brother Sun shook his head at Pei Chiyao's priceless expression!
Ever since he started raising this fox, it was like Pei Chiyao had come down with severe fox addiction - not only did he insist on taking the little thing with him everywhere, but even in his regular life he acted as if he couldn't be separated from her. This was truly incomprehensible to Older Brother Sun.
Could it be...this was the charm of a fox spirit?
Just as Older Brother Sun was staring at that ordinary-looking white fox, preparing to closely study her for a bit, the director hurriedly walked over and signaled to him with his eyes.
Older Brother Sun immediately followed him over. "What's the matter?"
"It's...it's..." The director stammered a little.
"If there's anything, just say it directly."
Only then did the director say, "Older Brother Sun, can you please ask God Chiyao who he wants to play the female lead?"
He was worried that Pei Chiyao had forgotten about this matter. This was his sweet historical romance drama - how could they film it without the female lead?!
If Pei Chiyao didn't want to look for someone, he would need to hurry and contact actresses from within the circle who had open schedules!
Originally, he had noticed a currently trending popular young actress. As soon as the little flower saw the male lead would be Pei Chiyao, she was also very willing to take the role. But that day, Pei Chiyao had warned him to save this role for someone, so he could only turn down that little flower.
Yet in a blink of an eye, Pei Chiyao had already nearly finished filming half of his scenes, and there still wasn't any news regarding who would play the female lead. This was truly agonizing for the director.
He was genuinely worried that Pei Chiyao had forgotten about this matter, which was why he came to ask Older Brother Sun.
Older Brother Sun also didn't understand what Pei Chiyao was thinking. He could only say, "Don't panic, I'll go ask him."
Older Brother Sun looked at Pei Chiyao, who was still playing with the fox. He quickly walked over to his side and cleared his throat, saying, "Chiyao, there's something I want to ask you. You previously told the director you had a candidate in mind for the female lead role - have you contacted her?"
Pei Chiyao raised his eyes to look at Older Brother Sun.
His expression gave Older Brother Sun an ominous premonition.
"You...didn't forget, did you?!" Older Brother Sun was shocked. He hurriedly whispered in Pei Chiyao's ear, "Chiyao! The whole crew is waiting for the female lead!"
Pei Chiyao retracted his gaze, looking down at the little fox kit in his arms without saying a word.
"What are you looking at it for?! It can't possibly turn into a human!" Older Brother Sun was nearly angered to death. "I'm going to find someone right now to see if there are any suitable candidates."
As he spoke, he irritably took out his phone.
"Wait a moment," Pei Chiyao stopped Older Brother Sun's actions and said, "Go tell the director that in a couple days, I'll bring the female lead into the crew."
A couple days?
Older Brother Sun was stunned again. "Who did you find?"
But no matter how Older Brother Sun pressed for answers afterwards, he wasn't able to get even a bit of information regarding the female lead.
Lying in Pei Chiyao's arms, Zhi Yao was also surprised to hear this. By the time Pei Chiyao carried her back to the car, she finally spoke up. "Pei Chiyao, who did you find to play this role?"
Zhi Yao had forgotten - this was the role she had been longing for!
But...she was currently a fox and simply couldn't act right now.
She knew the director couldn't wait much longer either.
As the little fox asked, she also felt it was somewhat of a pity.
Pei Chiyao poked her head and said, "You'll know in a bit."
Stingy!
Zhi Yao wrinkled her nose. Her big, fluffy tail whisked over Pei Chiyao, leaving only her back facing him as she prepared to sleep!
She had originally wanted to pretend to be angry to make Pei Chiyao tell her the answer, but after Zhi Yao closed her eyes, before she knew it she had truly fallen asleep.
And so, she didn't notice the strange changes happening to her own body...
...
By the time she woke up from her nap, the first thing Zhi Yao noticed was something off about her body.
She...she had turned back into a human!
She discovered that she was turning into a human more and more frequently!
Zhi Yao was just about to get up to tell Pei Chiyao about this when she discovered something—Pei Chiyao was sleeping by her side, and one of her legs was draped over his thigh.
Zhi Yao carefully withdrew her leg, only then realizing that she was wearing a nightgown.
Had...had Pei Chiyao helped her put it on?
The young girl looked at Pei Chiyao's sleeping face, involuntarily drawing closer.
He really is so handsome, more so than any person she had ever seen.
Zhi Yao leaned in more and more until the distance between them was so close that Zhi Yao could practically count Pei Chiyao's eyelashes.
She stared intently at the sleeping Pei Chiyao, trying to engrave his face firmly in her memory.
Pei Chiyao...Pei Chiyao...
Zhi Yao couldn't help swallowing hard.
She...she kind of wanted to kiss him, what should she do?
Pei Chiyao's lips...they looked so tempting...
