Wagging My Tail in the Ice Queen CEO’s Embrace - Chapter 9

Thinking this, Ming Ying ate her breakfast in big mouthfuls, leaving nothing behind, even the broccoli she had never seen before was completely finished.

Only with a full stomach would she have the strength to gather spiritual energy and heal her wounds!

Fu Anyu glanced at her watch, casually collected the empty plate, and left the bedroom carrying her laptop bag and the tray.

Ming ying was no longer surprised by her departure. Ever since she first saw Fu Anyu’s actions outside on television, she had vaguely guessed that this person, much like her father, was a busy individual with numerous trivial matters to attend to every day.

This was actually quite good, when she gathered spiritual energy, she wasn’t used to having others around.

Mornings were when the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was relatively abundant. After resting for a while, Ming Ying curled up in her small nest, closed her eyes, and began gathering spiritual energy. She directed most of it toward her injured leg and a small portion into her dantian, solidifying it as spiritual power.

After Fu Anyu stripped away the dark substance near her wound, whether it was a curse or a toxin, Ming Ying could feel the flow of spiritual energy in the meridians around her leg had significantly sped up. However, she also realized that the wound was extremely difficult to heal.

After probing the residual spiritual energy around the injury, Ming Ying concluded that this was likely the work of the evil spirit that had been chasing her, meant to render her incapable of escape. Accepting the reality of a slow recovery, she redirected most of the spiritual energy into her dantian, planning to first transform into human form.

She truly wasn’t accustomed to moving around in her demon form.

But since her spiritual power had been depleted all at once, transforming into human form would require time to infuse enough spiritual energy into the meridians throughout her body; otherwise, it would affect her mobility in human form.

Just as Ming Ying began redirecting the spiritual energy, she suddenly heard unfamiliar footsteps approaching. Startled, she hastily withdrew her energy, her large tail swiftly covering her eyes as she pretended to be asleep.

Squinting, she saw a plainly dressed young woman walk in, heading straight for the sandbox she used for relieving herself. The woman picked it up and left without any intention of speaking to her. Ming Ying breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered that Fu Anyu had mentioned someone would come every morning to clean the sandbox.

When the young woman returned with the cleaned sandbox, Ming Ying couldn’t help calling out to her, “Hey, don’t go!”

The young woman paused, looking at her in surprise.

“It’s stuffy in here. I’d like to get some fresh air,” Ming Ying tried to ask. “Can you take me outside?”

Almost instinctively, the young woman shook her head repeatedly, quickly walked out of the bedroom, and closed the door, locking it with a sharp “click”, as if moving even a moment slower would allow something terrifying to catch up.

Ming Ying: “…”

Attempt failed.

Ming Ying sighed in disappointment, went to the sandbox to relieve herself, then curled back up in her nest to continue gathering spiritual energy.

She spent the entire morning infusing spiritual energy into only a few small meridians near her dantian. After finishing, she rubbed her growling stomach and found the newly replaced “upside-down bowl” in the room, tapping it with her paw.

This thing was called a “food delivery bell” by humans. Though Ming Ying couldn’t hear the bell ring after tapping it, Fu Anyu had told her that the person responsible for delivering meals and water outside the bedroom would be able to hear it.

After waiting a moment, the bedroom door opened, and a rich, savory aroma of meat instantly wafted into her nose, enticing her to trot eagerly toward the source.

The one delivering her lunch was the same young woman who had cleaned the sandbox that morning.

After setting down the meal, the young woman turned to leave but suddenly felt a gentle scratch on her leg. Looking down, she saw the fox crouched at her feet, gazing up at her obediently, its fluffy white tail swaying occasionally behind it.

“Is there anything else you need help with?” the young woman asked, unnerved by Ming Ying’s stare.

“I’m so lonely all by myself. Won’t you stay and chat with me?” Ming Ying pleaded in a soft voice.

“Sorry, I have urgent matters to attend to,” the young woman immediately refused and stepped away.

Ming Ying quickly scurried ahead on three legs, positioning herself between the woman and the door. “Why are you running? I’m not going to eat you!”

“…” The young woman pressed her lips together, leaned against the wall, and seriously considered the possibility of bolting out the door while trapping the fox inside. But the next moment, the door swung open.

Fu Anyu frowned as soon as she entered, seeing the fox cornering her personal assistant against the wall.

At the sight of Fu Anyu, Ming Ying immediately backed away in fear. But her injured leg gave out, causing her to stumble and land flat on her back.

Fu Anyu’s frown deepened. She first dismissed the assistant and closed the door firmly before approaching Ming Ying. “What was that about?” she asked sternly.

“Why is your maid so afraid of me?” Ming Ying complained, feeling wronged. “I just wanted someone to talk to…”

“She’s my ‘assistant,’ not a maid,” Fu Anyu emphasized, then explained, “She isn’t afraid of you. I forbade her from speaking with you.”

Ming Ying: “…”

Realizing that the one to blame was the very woman she feared the most, Ming Ying instantly deflated.

Fu Anyu set down her laptop bag, crouched beside the dog bed, and picked up the braised pork rice the assistant had brought. She glanced at Ming Ying. “Come eat.”

The braised pork was tender and succulent. Ming Ying devoured even the fatty parts and skin, smearing sauce all over her fur.

While she ate, Fu Anyu picked up the closed comparison chart, opened it, and flipped through the pages.

Seeing that Ming Ying had nearly finished her meal, Fu Anyu suddenly asked, “How many characters have you learned?”

Ming Ying, who had spent the entire morning focused on gathering spiritual energy and hadn’t even opened the comparison chart, choked and started coughing uncontrollably.

Fu Anyu hurriedly patted her back and gave her some water. Once Ming Ying stopped coughing, she asked again, “How far have you gotten with the characters?”

Ming Ying, who was terrible at lying, could only flip through the chart with her paw and murmur, “Here…”

“Your progress is a bit slow,” Fu Anyu remarked, pinching the pages.

Ming Ying didn’t dare utter a word. She cautiously finished the rest of her meal, mentally preparing herself for a scolding as she waited for what Fu Anyu would say next.

Sure enough, Fu Anyu asked, “What were you doing this morning?”

“Sleeping…” Ming Ying attempted to lie, but one look from Fu Anyu made her crumble. “But I didn’t actually fall asleep…”

She felt she wasn’t entirely lying, gathering spiritual energy required closing her eyes and meditating, which was essentially “sleeping without actually falling asleep,” wasn’t it?

Meeting her innocent yet flustered gaze, Fu Anyu didn’t press for details. She closed the comparison chart and returned it to its place, saying calmly, “No more sleeping this afternoon. Study a few more pages.”

Ming Ying let out a reluctant “Oh,” then heard Fu Anyu add, “If you don’t finish the comparison chart, you won’t understand the residence rules. And if you don’t understand the residence rules, you can’t go outside.”

At this, Ming Ying’s ears instantly perked up.

Aside from going home, the thing she wanted most right now was to go outside, or at the very least, leave the bad woman’s bedroom.

Only once she was outside could she figure out how to find her way back home.

Ming Ying obediently nodded, then tugged at Fu Anyu’s pant leg and asked, “Then can I go outside the bedroom? Your bedroom is way too small. I’m stuck here day and night, I’m about to grow mushrooms from boredom!”

“No.” It was the first time Fu Anyu had ever been criticized for having a small bedroom, and she refused coldly.

“Why not?” Ming Ying pressed. “I won’t mess with anything again. At least let me take a look outside the bedroom!”

Fu Anyu thought for a moment, then took a thick copy of The Rules of Life for Demons from the bookshelf and placed it in front of the fox, laying out her condition: “Once you’ve memorized this thoroughly, you can go outside the bedroom.”

Ignoring the fox’s wide-eyed stare at the thickness of the rulebook, Fu Anyu set up her laptop and began working.

Ming Ying withdrew her gaze, cleaning the sauce from her fur while contemplating how to escape the bedroom while the bad woman was away.

She had no intention of staying long in the human realm, the demon realm was her home. Memorizing rules set by humans was a complete waste of time!

Fu Anyu left with her laptop after lunch; she had a meeting to attend at one in the afternoon.

The moment she was gone, Ming Ying closed the reference chart, set up a detection barrier on the door, closed her eyes, and continued gathering spiritual energy.

If it weren’t for the need to understand the human realm, she wouldn’t even bother learning human characters.

Before this, Ming Ying had hated gathering spiritual energy the most, it was far too monotonous. According to her father’s standards, she had to adjust her state to completely isolate herself from the outside world, unable to hear any external sounds, in order to solidify spiritual energy into spiritual power as quickly as possible.

But now, she actively seized every moment to gather spiritual energy, slowly filling her meridians, striving to manifest the other eight tails for storing spiritual power as soon as possible. That way, she could also maintain her human form for longer.

This was the first time Ming Ying had truly immersed herself in gathering spiritual energy. Once she entered a state of self-forgetfulness, she lost track of time as well.

So much so that when Fu Anyu returned home from work, she still hadn’t woken up.

Fu Anyu picked up the limp fox, sensing the gathering of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy flowing into her.

The little fox was fully focused on her cultivation.

Fu Anyu didn’t disturb her, gently placing her back on the dog bed before grabbing a change of clothes and heading to the bathroom first.

When the detection barrier was triggered by Fu Anyu’s return, Ming Ying had actually noticed, but her consciousness was still submerged in the profound state of gathering spiritual energy, unable to wake immediately.

By the time she finally managed to withdraw her energy and opened her eyes, she saw the bathroom door open as Fu Anyu stepped out, her dark hair damp and draped over her shoulders, loosely wrapped in a plain white bathrobe that only reached her knees.

It was the first time Ming Ying had seen Fu Anyu fresh from the bath, and also the first time she had seen Fu Anyu wearing clothes that revealed so much skin. She stared blankly for a few seconds before snapping back to reality, suddenly feeling her cheeks burn so hot it made her dizzy.

Noticing Fu Anyu approaching, she quickly buried her face in her tail, only to feel her tail grow warm as well.

“Awake?” Fu Anyu crouched in front of her. As soon as she brushed aside the tail covering the fox’s face, she felt the unusually high temperature of both the tail and the fox’s face. Frowning slightly, she stood up to fetch the ear thermometer.