Wagging My Tail in the Ice Queen CEO’s Embrace - Chapter 34

The night passed in the blink of an eye, and it was soon time to wash up and go to bed.

Since Ming Ying’s injured paw couldn’t get wet, Fu Anyu once again used a damp towel to wipe her body, just like she had done at the beginning.

As the towel brushed over her fur, the dampened strands clung obediently to her skin. A question suddenly popped into Ming Ying’s mind, but after glancing at Fu Anyu a couple of times, she didn’t dare to ask.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing her unease, Fu Anyu took the initiative to ask.

“Can I ask you something?” Ming Ying said softly. “It’s… a bit of an embarrassing question.”

“Go ahead,” Fu Anyu replied.

“Right now, I can’t transform into human form, so it’s natural for you to help me bathe like this,” Ming Ying said, watching Fu Anyu’s expression closely. “But, if I transform into human form in the future, will you, still do this?”

“Why do you think it would make me uncomfortable if you were in human form?” Fu Anyu countered.

“I…” Ming Ying was stumped. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she finally answered, “Haven’t you read yuri novels? I was thinking.”

Fu Anyu stopped what she was doing and looked at her calmly, waiting for her to continue.

“I was thinking…” Ming Ying’s voice grew even softer. “In your eyes, would women… be different?”

“I remember telling you this when you first arrived,” Fu Anyu reminded her. “We are both women.”

Ming Ying was taken aback for a moment before suddenly recalling the scene when Fu Anyu had said those words.

Back then, Fu Anyu had originally intended to undress and bathe in front of her, but because of Ming Ying’s startled reaction, she had drawn the curtain to block her view.

From the looks of it, Fu Anyu really didn’t seem to mind such things.

“The yuri novels we read are mostly derived from reality but idealized beyond it,” Fu Anyu explained. “You can think of them as a utopia in the spiritual world, a projection of an ideal world.” Therefore, neither the authors who write yuri novels nor the readers who enjoy them are necessarily homosexual. In fact, many of these authors and readers are even men. However, due to the nature of this genre, a significant portion of both authors and readers are indeed homosexual themselves.”

Ming Ying suddenly understood and nodded.

“If we were to define someone’s sexual orientation based on whether they’ve read or written yuri novels, then I could also assume you are homosexual,” Fu Anyu continued.

Ming Ying’s heart skipped a beat, and she blurted out without thinking, “I’m not!”

Fu Anyu smiled faintly, gently scratching Ming Ying’s head with her fingertips before continuing to wipe her body.

But Ming Ying felt her cheeks burning with heat, so much that she didn’t know what to do with herself. She couldn’t understand why she was suddenly so emotionally stirred, her heart racing wildly. In a soft voice, she called out, “Fu Anyu…”

“Go ahead.”

“If I stay in the human realm for too long, will I get scolded when I go back home?” Ming Ying tried to distract herself by making conversation.

“Are you worried about picking up ‘shameless’ customs from the human realm?” Fu Anyu asked, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

“I… I have been worried about that, actually,” Ming Ying admitted sheepishly, tucking her paws in. “The customs between the two places are just too different. And I feel like everything in the human realm is so free, like…”

She thought for a moment before continuing, “For example, human girls aren’t forced into arranged marriages when they come of age. They’re free to love whoever they choose, regardless of gender or whether their bloodline is pure…”

As soon as the words “bloodline” left her mouth, she instinctively clamped her lips shut.

She’d complained too much! She’d almost revealed her identity!

Before Fu Anyu could respond, Ming Ying hurriedly added, “But the demon realm is still my home, and I have to go back eventually…”

Before she could finish, she stopped herself again.

Not long ago, she’d clearly reminded herself not to mention “home” or “family” in front of Fu Anyu, so why had she brought it up again so casually?!

Oh, and she wasn’t supposed to talk about romance either.

Realizing this belatedly, Ming Ying felt utterly frustrated. She wished she’d never been given a mouth, her talent for “bringing up the very topic she shouldn’t” had truly improved!

Just as Ming Ying was about to sink into a state of self-reproach, Fu Anyu spoke up, “You wandered into the human world by accident. Even if you return with a changed temperament, it’s understandable.”

Seeing the little fox look at her, she added, “Besides, when you were away from home for just a day or two, you worried your family would miss you. Now that you’ve been gone for so long, the first thing they’ll be concerned about when you return is your well-being. They’ll care about whether you’ve fallen ill or been injured. If they notice you’ve picked up any bad habits, they’ll only feel more distressed for you.”

“…” Ming Ying couldn’t help but recall her days at home.

Although her parents often scolded her for being disobedient, the moment she showed the slightest discomfort, they would immediately fuss over her, checking in late at night to see if she was sleeping well or if anything was wrong.

With that in mind, her fear subsided. Leaning against Fu Anyu’s hand, she let out a soft “mm” and made a firm decision in her heart.

After drying the fox, Fu Anyu was about to carry her out when Ming Ying said, “Fu Anyu, when you take a bath later… can I stay?”

Afraid of being misunderstood, Ming Ying quickly added, “I still have many questions I’d like to ask you. Aren’t you going to a conference in the neighboring city soon? I’m afraid if I don’t ask now, you won’t have time to answer me later.”

She remembered what Xiao Du had told her before: if she had questions, she should just ask Fu Anyu directly and not be afraid. Besides, she was now determined to integrate into human life as much as possible, and being able to calmly look at another woman’s body without flinching was probably one of the lessons she needed to learn.

Fu Anyu didn’t respond, but her action of placing the fox back on the vanity silently conveyed her consent.

She brought over a plastic stool, set it away from the showerhead, and placed Ming Ying on it.

“This way, you don’t have to worry about the gauze getting wet,” Fu Anyu explained.

Ming Ying crouched on the stool, watching gratefully as Fu Anyu left the bathroom and returned with a waterproof bag for her clothes. Then, right in front of her, Fu Anyu began unbuttoning her clothes.

At first, Ming Ying still didn’t dare to look. After repeatedly reminding herself, “We’re both women,” she finally gathered the courage to watch Fu Anyu.

This was the first time she had seen a woman other than her family members undress and bathe.

Fu Anyu happened to need to wash her hair that day. Water cascaded down her smooth skin from her hair as she stood under the shower, lathering shampoo into her hair. The faint scent of jasmine soon filled the entire bathroom.

Ming Ying was mesmerized, completely forgetting the questions she had intended to ask.

Her gaze followed the droplets of water downward, her vision gradually blurring. She stared blankly for a long time, breathing in the room full of jasmine fragrance, before a thought slowly surfaced in her mind:

Fu Anyu, it seems, really does like jasmine.

Back when they first met and during their time together, her body and her room had always carried the faint scent of pinewood.

Though she thought this, Ming Ying found herself intoxicated by the steaming floral aroma. Her gaze toward Fu Anyu grew somewhat infatuated, though she remained completely unaware of it.

Through the mist, she noticed that Fu Anyu’s already exquisite figure took on an added layer of hazy beauty, like a sheer white veil swaying before her, partly concealing, yet revealing enough to see the full picture. If she could transform into human form right then, she would want to draw closer, gently part that veil, and approach the cold beauty within the mist.

“Didn’t you have questions to ask me?” Fu Anyu suddenly spoke.

Ming Ying’s mind had gone completely blank. Only when questioned did she snap back to reality, but her gaze remained dazed. She nearly blurted out, “What questions could I possibly have?”

Fortunately, her rationality remained intact. In her urgency, she brought her bandaged paw up to her nose, took a deep breath, and was instantly sobered by the pungent smell of medicinal oil.

“I want to know about the living conditions of the demon race in this city,” Ming Ying said nervously, finally snapping out of her strange state. “And also, about the neighboring city we’re about to visit, I’d like to hear you talk about the local situation there.”

These past few days, she had either been reading novels or browsing through H City’s cultural records. She had basically figured out the customs and popular culture of the human race in H City, but no matter how much she scoured the e-book collection on her tablet, she couldn’t find any books related to demons.

“After applying for identification and residence permits, demons can live just like humans,” Fu Anyu replied while putting on her bathrobe. “The specific rules and regulations are all outlined in the Demon Race Living Guidelines.”

If she hadn’t mentioned it, Ming Ying would have completely forgotten about that guide. Back when she was planning her escape, she had indeed crammed it for a while, but after her attempt failed, she never touched that thick book again.

“There’s an e-book version of the guidelines. I’ll add it to your collection later,” Fu Anyu said, fastening her bathrobe. She used a dry towel to rub her hair, then picked up the fox and walked out of the bathroom.

Ming Ying lay on her arm, smelling the faint jasmine fragrance drifting from her damp hair. Watching droplets of water fall onto Fu Anyu’s hand, she couldn’t help but ask, “Can’t you use spiritual energy to dry the water? Why aren’t you using it?”

She recalled that earlier, Fu Anyu hadn’t used spiritual energy to absorb the water from her body either, opting instead to dry herself with a towel.

“Gathering spiritual energy takes both time and effort,” Fu Anyu said, placing her on the bed before fetching a hairdryer. “If I can avoid using spiritual energy, I try not to.”

She told Ming Ying she was going to dry her hair and then returned to the bathroom with the hairdryer. A few seconds later, the unpleasant sound of the dryer echoed from the bathroom. Fortunately, since Fu Anyu had closed the door tightly, the noise wasn’t too loud.

Still, Ming Ying found it incredibly irritating. Yet she knew deep down that this irritation didn’t stem from the noise of the hairdryer, nor from the fact that Fu Anyu had told her to read on her own instead of explaining things to her personally.

She didn’t understand why she had been staring at Fu Anyu for so long. Beneath the clothes, the cold beauty was the same person, yet through the misty steam, an impulse to draw closer had surged within her, and even, a desire to pull the other into an embrace, to protect everything about her.

Ming Ying swept her tail across her face. Stranger still, this time she didn’t blush or feel her heart race as she had before, yet the restlessness filling her chest refused to settle.

What in the world was going on?

After wrestling with herself for a long time, Ming Ying still found no answer. Hearing Fu Anyu open the door and step out, she instinctively wanted to ask, but the words stuck in her throat, and somehow, not a single syllable came out.

She thought, this probably wasn’t something she should ask either.