The Fox Hunter's Unexpected Love Story.

Hu Lan woke up to the day's light illuminating the room. He squinted his amber eyes to adjust to the light. He was still lying in bed. He felt relieved realizing the surrounding was still familiar. His life had been chaotic lately ; he would sleep in one room and end up waking up in a totally different unrecognizable room.

Meanwhile Zhao Shenbao and his subordinates were busy as usual. Though his face was covered with a mask,one was able to easily tell Zhao Shenbao was definitely smiling under his mask. He looked jovial, providing great services to the customers and offering recommendations to certain products at the emporium.

*****

"Boss Zhao,I would love you to personally design my cloak,"a customer requested.

"Do you have any specific design in mind? Any patterns you would like to adorn your cloak with?"

"Yes I have some in mind."

"Ruoxuan get me my notebook from my room,"Zhao Shenbao instructed.

Zhao Ruoxuan obediently nodded and immediately rushed towards Zhao Shenbao's room. The barrier had been lifted allowing him to access the whole room at ease. The mentioned notebook was lying on the dressing table. When he picked it up,his eyes fell on something interesting. Intrigued by the strange creature in the room,he walked closer towards it, curiosity written all over his face. Even before touching it,he was attracted to the fox's fluffy fur,its thick fluffy tail. He slowly extended his hand while guarding against any reaction of hostility from the fox towards him.

Realizing the fox's harmless nature,his palm made contact with fox's back stroking it gently. Hu Lan felt offended because in real life this was equal to groping him. Without hesitation,he immediately retaliated and yanked his body away. He then jumped off the bed and rushed outside . Luckily, without the barrier restricting his mobility,he ran out of the room. Zhao Ruoxuan chased after him yelling hoping the others to notice the escaping fox and capture it. Hu Lan ran off to the reception room but Zhao Shenbao was quick enough to set a barrier before him and just then his body hit the barrier and bounced back. He fell on the ground feeling helpless and humiliated.

"Boss Zhao,that fox looks good. Can you make me a coat from its fur?"the customer who had been waiting to request a particular cloak design pointed out delightedly.

"I will see what I can do,"Zhao Shenbao said in a dismissive tone,"Let's talk about the design first."

Zhao Shenbao took the notebook from Zhao Ruoxuan authorizing him to lock Hu Lan in the hostage room.

Zhao Shenbao went ahead to discuss his client's requests.

'What was that repulsive lady talking about? Make a cloak with my fur?'

It then dawned him that he was a prey and his so called saviour was a fox predator.

"Young Master,where did you find that beautiful sassy fox? It almost pounced on me in the room,"Zhao Ruoxuan asked brimming with excitement and curiosity.

"At the usual place,"Zhao Shenbao replied nonchalantly.

"And will you make a cloak out of its fur as the customer requested?"Zhao Ruoxuan probed.

"I will find another one to replace it."

"Why?"

"It's still injured. I can feel it has strong cultivation prowess. I will wait till it regains its full power so I can extract its core,"Zhao Shenbao revealed with a sly smile.

Zhao Ruoxuan smiled in approval to Shenbao's intention. He knew how Zhao Shenbao was obsessed with becoming the most powerful human cultivator and he supported his wishes.

"I know foxes love meat. You can get some for that fox,"Zhao Shenbao suggested.

Determined to make Shenbao's plan successful, Ruoxuan left immediately. He went to a butchery at the market popular for having fleshy meat and got some for the fox.

Zhao Ruoxuan threw the large piece of meat on the cold floor.

*****

"That's your meal for today,"Zhao Ruoxuan said with half a smile and slammed the door. Hu Lan stomped his feet in fury. He couldn't put up with the humiliation of eating from the floor. He had gotten used to his human form that he could no longer stand the sight of raw unsliced meat. No matter how enticing the meat looked,he didn't make an attempt to have a test. He refused to stoop so low.

"How was it? Did it eat the meat yet?"Zhao Shenbao queried .

"I left it there within its reach. I'm sure it will eat it soon. All the foxes I've fed before usually love the meat I buy for them,"Zhao Ruoxuan bragged , building imaginary scenarios of Hu Lan savoring the meat he had bought , licking his mouth demanding for more.

"Tell everyone we're going out to hunt in the evening."

"Yes."

*****

As the sun sank below the horizon that evening, Zhao Shenbao led his team into the forest to capture foxes. When they used to hunt before,they would hunt all kinds of foxes regardless of the texture of their fur because apart from the fur other parts were useful as well but that particular time he strictly commanded foxes with high quality fur.

Although the others looked confused ,they still heeded to his command. Zhao Ruoxuan understanding Shenbao's motive ,he encouraged them to pay attention to the task assigned to them. By the time they returned to the emporium it was almost midnight. They locked the preys inside the hostage rooms. Given that they hadn't taken their evening meal yet,they roasted one to two wild rabbits they had caught along with the foxes.

*****

"Are you not going to take your meal?" Zhao Ruoxuan questioned when Zhao Shenbao suddenly left the kitchen while he and others were winding up with the cooking.

"Deliver them to my room."

"Young Master do I still need to deliver food to that fox?" Zhao Ruoxuan .

"Deliver mine first then you can deliver some raw meat later."

After doing the delivery to his young master's room,Zhao Ruoxuan proceeded to check up on the fox he had developed some sort of interest towards. He was stunned and pissed off seeing the treasured piece of meat lying on the floor not a single bite on it. Zhao Ruoxuan felt tempted to beat him up given his nature of despising ingrates the most.

"Hey stinky fox. You better eat that piece of meat or you won't eat anything from now henceforth,"Zhao Ruoxuan said in a threatening tone. He walked towards the piece of meat and kicked it towards the curled up fox. Hu Lan looked up ,pissed by the other's actions. In retaliation,he snarled at him pouring out his rage. His eyes reflected with a dangerous gleam ,he raised his ears and fur puffing out his fluffy tail aggressively,his intention of attacking any moment insanely vivid.