His voice felt stiff, as if he wanted to push Yu Tan's hand away from the model's face. Yu Tan shouldn't be touching others after touching him. It made him uncomfortable.
Yu Tan's lips curled into a smile, an unexplainable sense of satisfaction in his tone: "Just what you see. You didn't stay with me, so there are plenty of people who will."
Hu Xiaoyu shook his head and took a step back. "This is wrong. You promised me, you said... we'd be together... and after that, you wouldn't touch anyone else."
Yu Tan looked at the young man's pale face, unaware that it was the result of Hu Xiaoyu's recent excessive use of spiritual energy. Yu Tan felt a mix of frustration and pity, but his habitual indifference never revealed his vulnerability: "You're wrong. I never promised anything."
He remembered that night when they first got together. Hu Xiaoyu had mumbled something about only allowing him to be with him, but if he wanted anyone else, he wouldn't kiss him again.
At the time, Yu Tan had just laughed. He didn't care. No one could order him around.
Of course, his disregard hadn't shown on his face. Instead, he had directly blocked the boy's soft, sweet lips, enjoying the treasure he had been given for free.
Hu Xiaoyu lowered his head and thought for a moment.
He remembered that Yu Tan didn't respond back then.
He had made his request, thinking Yu Tan's silence was agreement, but he didn't realize that it was a rejection.
Hu Xiaoyu licked his lips: "Well, now I'm saying it. I don't want you to touch anyone else. Make them leave."
Yu Tan's fleeting sense of pity was completely overtaken by anger. How could Hu Xiaoyu be so confident?
He had done wrong, yet he was still so righteous. This was enough!
He turned to kiss the model's face again, thinking it was a mix of perfume or something else. He thought to himself, how unbearable it was.
On the surface, Yu Tan was lazy and indifferent. "Are you ordering me? Or begging me? If it's begging, I might... reluctantly comply."
Hu Xiaoyu rarely had extreme emotional outbursts, but now, he was truly furious.
He interrupted Yu Tan's words, speaking slowly but clearly: "I'm not begging you. I'm starting to dislike you, Yu Tan. I think you're bullying me, and it makes me sad. Yu Tan... apologize. If you apologize, I can forgive you."
If he didn't apologize, Hu Xiaoyu stared at the floor, his green eyes flashing momentarily.
In half a year, he'd return, but for now...
Yu Tan had become too much. He didn't want to see him.
Yu Tan shoved the model aside and strode over, grabbing Hu Xiaoyu's chin.
He growled, "Dislike me? Why? And... do you even deserve that?"
Hu Xiaoyu pushed Yu Tan away, and when the mocking gaze landed on him, he punched Yu Tan.
His punch was strong, and Yu Tan's cheekbone immediately reddened, with visible skin breaking.
But even though it was Hu Xiaoyu who had hit him, he felt his eyes sting as though he had been punched.
Yu Tan's face was hit and turned slightly, but then he slowly looked back at Hu Xiaoyu with a dangerous glare. He instinctively raised his hand.
But when he saw the tears in Hu Xiaoyu's eyes, his raised hand dropped limply, his heart tightening as if something was gripping it.
Yu Tan hated this feeling. He had been the one hit, and he was the one threatened. Yet this little thing... was crying.
He glanced at the two confused models in the living room and snarled at Hu Xiaoyu: "There won't just be them. There will be others. You'd better be content with being pampered for a while."
Hu Xiaoyu covered his eyes with his hands, just like a little fox, curling up in the grass when he didn't want to face something.
After a long time, he lowered his hands, his eyes clear and distant—marked with the noble and indifferent aura of the fox clan's young master: "It's my fault. I mistook the person. This place is not my home. Nowhere is."
Yu Tan's pupils shrank when he saw Hu Xiaoyu looking at him with such eyes. How could he look at him like that?
This wasn't right!
His instincts told him to grab Hu Xiaoyu's hand.
Hu Xiaoyu dodged him, no longer the child who once sought Yu Tan's protection. His words were sharp, hitting Yu Tan's sore spot precisely: "Don't touch me unless... you beg me!"
As expected, the man in front of him lifted his chin disdainfully, looking down on him, not even bothering to speak, just sneering.
There was nothing more to be said. Hu Xiaoyu turned and walked away.
He was stopped at the door by A-Jiu, who called out, "Boss," with urgency and a pleading tone.
A-Jiu had heard everything in the living room.
No one knew better than him how much Yu Tan cared about Hu Xiaoyu, and Hu Xiaoyu had never been like this—hitting people, scolding, even using words to hurt others.
He had a bad feeling. When a good-natured person was hurt, they would never return easily.
In the living room, Yu Tan's angry shout came: "Let him go. Once he leaves, don't let him come back!"
Hu Xiaoyu smiled at A-Jiu, with a hint of a sigh: "Goodbye, A-Jiu."
He arrived with only his phone, and now he left, still alone, but his once joyful heart had turned into a pool of still water.
It turned out that when leaving the demon clan, the old foxes had been right—humans were scary creatures, neither being too far from nor too close to them.
The humans, the favored children of the heavens, were not so easy to deal with.
Hu Xiaoyu walked down the mountain path, a bird landing on his shoulder.
He turned to look at the bird. "Just repaying a kindness... I guess I was overthinking it, right?"
Yu Tan had already forgotten him, and he had foolishly considered him a friend, a family. It was probably just a joke, one that Yu Tan laughed at every day.
That day, it took Hu Xiaoyu nearly an hour to descend the mountain. Then he took a taxi to the studio.
The path down the mountain was long enough for him to calm down and think about what to do in the future.
He had expended so much of his spiritual energy to help Yu Tan regain his health. He would still help him overcome the upcoming calamity. After calculating, his repayment had exceeded the limit, so using the studio as compensation should be fine.
When he worked, he would regain his spiritual energy, and with enough energy, he would be able to fulfill his debt of gratitude smoothly.
Yu Tan's body had already recovered about fifty to sixty percent. It should be able to achieve what the human world calls health and longevity. With the jade made from the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox and the talismans he left behind, everything would be smooth sailing in the next six months.
So smooth, in fact, that Yu Tan wouldn't even need Hu Xiaoyu's care anymore.
Six months would pass quickly. Hu Xiaoyu rested his head against the car window, motionless. He missed home.
He missed the Fox Clan's home, and longed for a fox den to take a nap.
Meanwhile, Yu Tan kicked the two models out, and the living room was in complete disarray.
He found a candy under the crooked sofa cushion—an orange-flavored one, just the kind Hu Xiaoyu liked. He wanted to throw it away but ended up clutching it tightly, sitting among the wreckage for a long time.
What would he do if his little toy ran away?
He would catch him and lock him up!
Then what?
Yu Tan squeezed the candy wrapper in his hand, his dark eyes rarely showing a hint of doubt. Why couldn't Hu Xiaoyu just listen to him?
He couldn't see the future, and didn't know that when Hu Xiaoyu returned, he would be lying in an ice coffin.