Chapter 326: Chapter 187: Brother, You’re Not Getting Soft on This Little Fox, Are You?
Hearing Lu Yuan’s words, the Fox Spirit transformed into her human form.
Lu Yuan stared in disbelief at the Fox Spirit’s transformation. She was, without a doubt, a gorgeous young woman!
Her delicate, pretty face held a pair of beautiful, expressive eyes that sparkled with a captivating light whenever she glanced around.
This pitiful, lovely appearance was a world apart from the vicious fox face she’d had just moments ago.
So, she was a fox from the Half-demon Race!
Lu Yuan sized up her face, his gaze drifting down to her figure. She had the makings of a true beauty!
Seeing her man momentarily mesmerized, Su Liyan gave his waist a sharp pinch and said reproachfully, "Lu Yuan!"
Wincing in pain, Lu Yuan snapped back to his senses. He glared and demanded, "Little Fox, speak! Who sent you to seduce us!"
Su Liyan covered her mouth and gave two symbolic coughs. "Alright, dear, now’s not the time for an interrogation. Let’s tie her up and take her back."
Lu Yuan readily agreed. He used his sash to lead the stunning young woman toward the Prefecture Yamen.
On the way, Su Liyan teased him, "A moment ago you were calling her a Fox Spirit. How come you’re calling her Little Fox now?"
Lu Yuan paused before replying, "Well, I’m just following my wife’s lead, aren’t I?"
"Hmph. Dear, you’re just a smooth-talker trying to fool your wife. Treating me like I’m one of those dwarves from East Japan. Who do you think you’re kidding?" Su Liyan crossed her arms and walked alongside Lu Yuan.
"What are you looking at? Just follow along quietly!" Su Liyan didn’t forget to turn back and scold the Little Fox.
After returning to the Prefecture Yamen, Lu Yuan personally tossed the Little Fox into the woodshed.
Worried the Little Fox might make a racket during the night, he took off his right boot and sock, then stuffed the sock into her mouth.
Lu Yuan patted the Little Fox on the head and pointed at the sole of his boot. "Look at this! You’ve worn out my perfectly good boot!"
With her mouth gagged, the Little Fox couldn’t speak. Seeing the resentful look in her eyes, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but shiver.
Before leaving, Lu Yuan placed several Talismans on the woodshed door, creating multiple layers of protection. He was terrified the Little Fox would escape while he slept.
He also arranged for a few of his trusted subordinates to stand guard in shifts. The subordinates guarded the woodshed door, unaware of what was locked inside.
「The next morning!」
Lu Yuan woke up, got dressed, and summoned two trusted subordinates. He wrote out a prefecture order and handed it to them.
Lu Yuan said, "You two, make a trip outside the city and bring back all those Rifles and mortars for us. If the city gate guards try to inspect you, just show them this prefecture order."
During the few days Lu Yuan had been in Dongchang City, all the officials and soldiers, big and small, had learned that he was the new Lord Prefect.
The guards at the city gate would naturally recognize the prefecture order and wouldn’t inspect the weapons his subordinates were bringing in.
After last night’s incident, Lu Yuan felt that Dongchang City was far too unsafe.
That’s why he was busy having the Mansion Guards bring in the firearms first thing in the morning, just in case they were needed.
Dressed, Lu Yuan was about to go check on the young woman tied up in the woodshed.
Su Liyan quickly looped her arm through Lu Yuan’s, intending to go with him.
’With that Fox Spirit’s Charm Skill, what man could resist falling at her feet?’
Lu Yuan ordered his subordinates to open the woodshed door.
The gorgeous young woman blinked her eyes. Her hands were bound, her mouth was gagged, and she was sitting on a pile of straw.
Lu Yuan glanced inside and confirmed the girl hadn’t escaped, which put him at ease. ’This lead can’t go cold,’ he thought.
Several subordinates stared at the young woman in the woodshed. She seemed to have a natural magnetism, and they found it hard to resist the urge to rush toward her.
One of the subordinates said, "Young Master, you went out last night. Where did you find such a beauty?"
"Hey, you! Less talk. Take her to my room!" Lu Yuan said.
"Yes, Young Master!" the subordinates replied. They escorted the beauty, following behind the Young Master and Young Madam toward Lu Yuan’s room.
Once back in the room, the subordinates brought the beauty inside and then excused themselves.
’If the Young Madam hadn’t been there, the subordinates would have been worried the Young Master might do something to betray her.’
Su Liyan pulled the gag from the Little Fox’s mouth. Unfurling it, she said, "Dear, no wonder one of your socks was missing when I helped you with your boots last night. So this is where it was."
Lu Yuan just chuckled sheepishly, not responding.
Lu Yuan and Su Liyan sat down, while the Little Fox stood before them, her hands still tied.
Lu Yuan took a sip of hot tea. "Speak. Were you responsible for what happened to the last Prefect? And why were you following my wife last night?"
The Little Fox’s eyes welled with tears. "I... I didn’t harm the last Prefect."
Lu Yuan slammed his hand on the table and roared, "Liar! If you don’t tell me the truth, don’t blame me for getting rough."
Su Liyan looked at her husband, thinking, ’He’s not being any gentler than I was last night, treating this Little Fox so fiercely.’
If pushed, while Lu Yuan might not have the heart to kill her with a single slap, he could still find other uses for her, making the Little Fox understand that he was not a man who let anything go to waste.
Terrified by Lu Yuan’s threat, the Little Fox dropped to her knees with a THUD. "My Lord, I’ve been truly wronged! I was with the last Prefect that night, we... we spent the night together, but I absolutely did not harm him..."
Under Lu Yuan’s coercion, the Little Fox, being young, finally broke. Her mental defenses had already collapsed.
The Little Fox was of the Half-demon Race. For as long as she could remember, she had never known who her parents were.
She vaguely recalled being on the verge of starving to death on the street when a stout middle-aged man got out of a carriage, picked her up, and took her home.
This man became the Little Fox’s adoptive father.
From a young age, her adoptive father drilled into her that she was of the Half-demon Race. He used all sorts of psychological manipulation, ensuring no one else was ever allowed to see the Little Fox.
And so, the Little Fox willingly locked herself in her room every day, never stepping foot outside, playing the part of a cloistered young lady.
An old servant in the house brought her three meals a day, never missing one.
Until a few days ago, when he had her get close to the previous Prefect.
And so, the reluctant Little Fox became her adoptive father’s tool. By leveraging her identity as a member of the Half-demon Race, she could get close to officials that the Xingzi could not.
When the previous Prefect saw the bewitching Little Fox, it was, you could say, love at first sight.
So-called love at first sight was nothing more than lust at first sight.
The previous Prefect spent his days lost in wine and women, and his personal fortune was gradually drained away by the Little Fox. His luck as an official ran so low that the Xingzi were able to bite through his neck.
As Lu Yuan and Su Liyan listened to all this, they realized the Little Fox was also a person with a bitter fate.
Listening to her story, Lu Yuan began to imagine the Little Fox’s life.
’On a dark and stormy night, an old man enters the Little Fox’s room. Reeking of alcohol, he pounces on the sleeping girl and commits some sordid act...’
Thinking of this, Lu Yuan felt that the Little Fox before him truly had a difficult life.
Su Liyan lightly tapped her man’s hand.
Lu Yuan quickly pulled his thoughts back to the present.
Lu Yuan shook his head and pressed, "Is that the truth? How do we know you’re not just lying to fool us?"
To think she could get away with just a few words was to seriously underestimate Lu Yuan and Su Liyan.
Foxes are the most cunning of animals, after all.
Lu Yuan took a sip of tea, wagged his index finger, and said, "Too cunning by half."
The Little Fox said in a soft, delicate voice, "What do I have to do for you to believe what I’m saying~"
Looking at the Little Fox kneeling on the floor, Lu Yuan felt a stir of compassion. Her story did have a certain ring of truth to it.
Seeing that the two of them remained silent, the Little Fox stopped kneeling and simply stood up...
