Wagging My Tail in the Ice Queen CEO’s Embrace - Chapter 56

Ming Ying had a long and terrifying nightmare.

She dreamed she had returned to her bedchamber, where everything was as usual. The maids were methodically tidying her room, making the bed, folding clothes, dusting, while the chamberlain stood nearby giving instructions.

But when she went over to greet them, an invisible barrier blocked her path, preventing her from taking another step forward.

Panic-stricken, Ming Ying retreated from her bedchamber and rushed toward her mother’s room.

When she burst through the door, her mother was sitting at a table, embroidering. Hearing footsteps, her mother looked up and met her gaze, calling out gently, “Yingying, you’re awake? Come here and let Mother take a look at you.”

“Mother!” Overjoyed, Ming Ying stepped forward, ready to throw herself into her mother’s embrace, but the same invisible barrier appeared before her once again.

She froze for a moment, then hurriedly said to her mother, “Mother! There’s a barrier blocking me! Please, pull me through!”

But her mother seemed not to hear her words, asking instead in surprise, “Yingying, why aren’t you coming over? Why aren’t you speaking to Mother?”

Growing frantic, Ming Ying instinctively raised her right hand and began pounding on the barrier again and again. Yet the barrier remained unmoved, while her hand bled, crimson blood trickling down the invisible surface.

Only then did Ming Ying look at her right hand and notice it was still wrapped in bandages. Yellow-brown medicinal oil had seeped through, and a pretty bow tied atop the bandage was stained dark on the lower half.

That was the bandage Fu Anyu had wrapped for her.

In the next moment, her mother’s figure dissipated before her eyes, transforming into snow-white petals that swirled and flew out the door.

Shocked, Ming Ying snapped back to reality and raced after them.

“Mother! Don’t go, Mother!!”

She chased the petals all the way, and wherever she passed, the figures of guards and maids bustling about suddenly faded, disappearing at a visible rate. The surrounding flowers, grass, and trees all withered.

Suddenly, she heard a loud rumbling from behind. Turning, she saw all the palaces within sight collapsing, glazed tiles shattered, pillars carved with celestial foxes toppled and broke into pieces. A great fire ignited at the far end, quickly spreading all around, thick smoke billowing into the sky.

“Someone, save me! There’s a fire! Father!! Third Sister! Sixth Brother!” Panic-stricken, she dodged and fled, but the paths were all blocked by withered trees and the burning wreckage of palaces.

Hearing a strange noise from above, Ming Ying rolled aside, barely avoiding a falling, flaming beam. Tears streaming from her eyes, she opened her mouth to call out again but realized she didn’t know who to call.

Within these palace walls, every fox spirit she knew, and those she didn’t, had vanished.

No one answered, no one came. Soon, she was trapped in the center of the inferno, crying out to heaven and earth in vain.

In despair, Ming Ying knelt on the ground, raising her hands and clumsily manipulating her spiritual energy to conjure a wind, pushing back the raging flames that sought to engulf her.

She struggled against the fire for a long, long time, unable to stop it from devouring her family’s palace. In the end, she could only erect a protective barrier, desperately holding on.

As her spiritual energy drained, her four tails dwindled to two, and the second one grew increasingly transparent as the barrier weakened. Just when she felt she could hold on no longer, a cool breeze brushed against her face.

Catching the familiar scent of jasmine, Ming Ying looked up in astonishment.

She watched Fu Anyu descend from the sky, leaping into her barrier. The water spiritual power swirling around her fingers surged toward her, condensing into a thin, watery shield around her.

“Fu Anyu,” Ming Ying murmured her name softly. Seeing her kneel on one knee before her, tears immediately overflowed, and she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Fu Anyu’s neck. “Sister, sob”

Fu Anyu held her close, gently patting her back.

“I’ll take you home,” she said, then scooped Ming Ying up in her arms and strode out of the barrier, advancing through the flames.

Any fire that tried to approach was blocked by the watery shield.

A great blaze consumed everything in its path, as if even heaven and earth were collapsing, yet the woman and the fox managed to depart unscathed.

Ming Ying clung tightly to Fu Anyu, burying her face in her chest, not daring to let go, sobbing uncontrollably.

“You’re all I have left, sister. Please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t leave,” Fu Anyu replied softly. “I’m here. Wake up now. I brought pork floss bread and yogurt for you.”

Ming Ying felt her shoulders being gently shaken and looked dazedly at Fu Anyu.

For a moment, she couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality.

Her mind remained hazy for a long while before she slowly emerged from the nightmare. The scene before her shifted, no longer a sea of flames, but Fu Anyu’s bedroom.

Fu Anyu was sitting beside her, wiping her face with a damp towel. On the small table not far from the bed lay two bags of bread, a container of yogurt, and a phone she had never seen before.

“I had another nightmare.” Ming Ying said to Fu Anyu once she was fully awake, her voice muffled. “Thank you for waking me, sister.”

She didn’t want to recall the terrifying dream, how all her clansmen had vanished, along with the plants they cultivated and the thousand-year-old palace, all reduced to ashes.

As if, they had never existed at all.

Noticing her furrowed brow, pale complexion, and reluctance to talk about the nightmare, Fu Anyu turned to fetch the bread, unwrapped it, and placed it in her hands. “Eat something first. It’s getting late.”

Ming Ying was so hungry she felt weak, but the nightmare had distracted her. The aroma of the bread made her swallow hard, and she took a big bite as soon as she got it.

Fu Anyu then opened the yogurt and, as soon as Ming Ying swallowed her bite, scooped a spoonful and fed it to her.

Ming Ying was too busy stuffing herself to speak, only managing a thank you after wolfing down her food for a while.

“How are you feeling? Are you cold?” Fu Anyu asked. “When I came in, you were on the floor, right under the cold blast from the air conditioner.”

Ming Ying nearly choked, then realized she must have rolled off the bed while thrashing in her dream to avoid falling, burning beams.

“I’m fine, I’m not cold,” she quickly shook her head. Noticing the concern in Fu Anyu’s eyes, she hurriedly pulled her tail out from under the blanket. “My tail keeps me warm! We fox spirits are very resistant to the cold!”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help glancing at the floor and noticed the Shiba Inu plush lying lonely by the table. It seemed that after Fu Anyu returned, she had only picked up Ming Ying, not the plush.

A warmth spread in Ming Ying’s heart. As she lowered her head to drink the yogurt, it inexplicably tasted sweeter than before.

After finishing breakfast, afraid that Fu Anyu might ask about her nightmare, she quickly changed the subject. “What did the ‘sack man’ say? Was that his cat?”

“Yes.” Fu Anyu placed the yogurt container into the bread paper bag as she spoke. “Although the cat threw a bit of a tantrum after seeing him, overall it was very well-behaved. It really is his house cat.”

“That’s good, then we don’t need to send the cat to the Monster Management Bureau.” Ming Ying breathed a sigh of relief, though she couldn’t help feeling a bit sad.

That black cat might be willful, but at least it still had a home to return to after running away.

But her… did she really still have a home to go back to?

Seeing the little fox suddenly look dejected, Fu Anyu frowned slightly, unable to guess why she was feeling down. After a moment’s thought, she set the packaging bag aside, picked up the newly purchased phone, and placed it screen-side down next to Ming Ying’s hand.

“This is your phone,” she said. “It already has a SIM card inserted. Give it a try.”

Ming Ying’s eyes widened as she first noticed the glass phone case on the back.

It featured an illustration of a nine-tailed white fox looking up at the moon. Its soft, fluffy tails filled the entire image, their edges tinged with crimson. Mist swirled around the fox’s body, and the pale yellow moonlight cast a warm glow over the entire scene.

Ming Ying loved this illustration. She couldn’t resist picking up the phone, tucking her right hand, which still carried the scent of medicinal oil, close, while carefully stroking the glass case with her left hand. Then she flipped the phone over to face the screen toward herself.

“How do I turn it on?” she asked Fu Anyu.

“Press and hold the power button.” Fu Anyu demonstrated once.

Ming Ying held the phone, watching as a row of glowing characters appeared on the screen, soon followed by the home screen. She felt both excited and grateful.

Seeing the little fox’s smile return, Fu Anyu’s furrowed brow finally relaxed.

She sat on the edge of the bed, teaching the little fox how to register an account and download new apps. Then she took out her own phone and had Ming Ying scan her QR code to add her as a WeChat friend.

“From now on, if you have anything to say, you can message me directly. No need to have Xiao Du relay it for you.” After setting a contact name for the little fox, Fu Anyu added.

Ming Ying nodded and opened the contact’s name editing field, but she wasn’t sure what to set as Fu Anyu’s contact name.

Fu Anyu only had one account, which she used for both work and personal matters. Even her ID was a combination of her English and Chinese names, making it highly recognizable. Adding her actual name as the contact seemed somewhat pointless.

But Ming Ying was afraid Fu Anyu might check her phone from time to time and didn’t dare to set a contact name that might seem inappropriate. After thinking it over, she carefully typed in the word “Sister.”

“You’re getting more and more used to calling me ‘Sister’ now,” Fu Anyu remarked after seeing the contact’s name, unable to hold back a comment.

She hadn’t forgotten how, in the beginning, the little fox had insisted on being the older sister due to her age.

“Yes, because you really suit the role of an older sister,” Ming Ying admitted openly, without a hint of embarrassment. “I’m becoming more and more dependent on you.”

As she spoke, she was still staring at Fu Anyu’s profile picture, contemplating what kind of avatar she should set for herself, completely unaware of the change in Fu Anyu’s gaze.

“Do you have any pictures of foxes?” Ming Ying asked, looking up at Fu Anyu after deciding on her avatar. “I want a white fox as my profile picture.”

Fu Anyu then taught her how to use the image search engine in the browser. Once Ming Ying had chosen the image she wanted, Fu Anyu showed her how to save it to her photo gallery.

“You can view the saved images in your gallery from now on,” Fu Anyu explained. “If you want to change your profile picture later, you can upload it from the gallery as well.”

Under her guidance, Ming Ying successfully changed her profile picture.

Looking at the winking white fox, Ming Ying had another idea. She simply shoved her phone into Fu Anyu’s hands and said seriously, “I want to use my true demon form as my profile picture.”

That way, when Fu Anyu sent her messages, she wouldn’t be distracted by other foxes.