Married the Second Generation Fox Demon with a Baby in a Flash Marriage - Chapter 57
“Mom, think back. Tell me everything from the time you were pregnant with me until I was born. Especially anything you felt was a bit strange.” Hu Mengmeng let Ye Xinyu rest while she and Su Mingli went to tidy up the rooms. Once they were alone, Hu Mengmeng began questioning her mother.
“It’s been eighteen or nineteen years; what do you want me to recall? Didn’t I already list all the important notes on that paper for you?” Su Mingli paused her movements and asked.
“Mom, I’m doing this for Sister’s safety, so she can smoothly give birth to your little granddaughter. Since Fox Mama isn’t here, there might be things you didn’t know or notice. If you tell me, I might realize something and gain some experience. Mom, just talk to me,” Hu Mengmeng pleaded, tugging at Su Mingli’s sleeve.
“Fine, I’ll talk. But I’m telling you, this is just between us—don’t go spreading it around.” Su Mingli’s expression turned awkward for a moment before she glared at her daughter.
“Of course! I just want to learn from the past to protect Sister. Mom, be specific. Where was Fox Mama from? How many tails did she have? Did she have any demon friends? What was her reaction when she found out you were pregnant? Did she give you anything that you still have? During the pregnancy, was she ever injured? Did she say anything that stuck with you as odd?” Hu Mengmeng rattled off.
Su Mingli rolled her eyes. How could she explain such intimate details? She remembered plenty of things that fox had said.
“Mom, this concerns the safety of your granddaughter and Sister!”
“Alright, alright, listen. Your Fox Mama’s name was Hu Yaoyao. I remember her saying she belonged to the Mount Qi Fox Tribe. She lived at Mount Qi before sneaking out to play. She spent two years wandering until she ran into a demon hunter, had a fight, and was severely injured. That’s when I picked her up. She rarely spoke about her past, so I know very little, and she never introduced me to any friends. When I found her, she only had one tail due to her injuries. As she recovered, her tails increased; at her peak, she had six. We officially got together during my freshman year of college. Since I had to live in the dorms, she’d be my pet during the day and turn into a person to be with me at night. She often went out alone—sometimes for a few days, sometimes for weeks—and every time she returned, she’d have a bit more tail. Near the end of the first semester, my health took a turn for the worse. I was constantly exhausted and felt unwell all over. My roommates said I looked deathly pale. I went to the hospital for a check-up and found out I was pregnant. I was terrified when I told her.”
Su Mingli reminisced about those days.
Upon hearing the news, Hu Yaoyao had been ecstatic. She insisted Su Mingli have the baby, promising to raise it herself so Su Mingli could stay in school, and vowed to work hard to support them both. As for the growing belly, Hu Yaoyao said she would use illusions to mask it. Su Mingli was only nineteen and completely overwhelmed; seeing her lover so happy gave her a sense of security. If she was going to have it, she’d have it—she wasn’t afraid.
Once Su Mingli was pregnant, Hu Yaoyao posed as her mother to get her permission to live off-campus, and they moved into their own little home. Hu Yaoyao looked after her, finding all sorts of special foods to nourish her, and Su Mingli’s health gradually improved.
About two months later, Hu Yaoyao suddenly came home one day and told Su Mingli they had to abort the child—that they couldn’t keep it.
By then, Su Mingli had already bonded with the baby. She had the resolve of a mother and had prepared baby clothes and envisioned a beautiful future with Hu Yaoyao and the child. Hearing this suddenly made her furious.
Su Mingli was adamant about keeping the baby. Hu Yaoyao disagreed, claiming that giving birth would cost Su Mingli her life. Su Mingli snapped back that if it cost her her life, that was her business and nothing to do with Hu Yaoyao. Hu Yaoyao got angry in return, saying if she had the baby, she wouldn’t help raise it—leaving Su Mingli to do it alone—along with a series of other things that infuriated her.
They had a massive fight that ended with Su Mingli suffering from “fetal agitation” (threatened miscarriage). After stabilizing her, Hu Yaoyao went out for several days. When she returned, she looked deathly pale. She claimed she was just tired from running back from the mountains. She brought lots of food for Su Mingli and placed a bracelet on her wrist.
“A bracelet? Mom, where is it? I’ve never seen you wear one,” Hu Mengmeng interrupted, sensing a key detail. This was the first mention of an object Hu Yaoyao had given her. Something must have masked the pregnancy; otherwise, as the Tortoise and Ye Shoutian said, she never would have been born safely if every demon and hunter could smell the “hybrid” scent.
“I run a food stall. I can’t wear things while cooking or kneading dough. Besides, it’s not even pretty—it’s ugly, made of copper!” Su Mingli said with a look of disdain, though her eyes were tinged with sadness. Wearing it reminded her of Hu Yaoyao, and she didn’t want to be reminded.
“Mom, show me, quickly!” Under Hu Mengmeng’s urging, Su Mingli took a box out of her luggage. Inside lay a bracelet that appeared to be made of brass.
Hu Mengmeng picked it up to examine it. There was no spiritual energy on it, and it looked ordinary, but the material was definitely not brass. Hu Mengmeng tried to channel spiritual energy into it; the bracelet absorbed it, and then… nothing happened. Any material that can absorb spiritual energy is not ordinary. Given her limited knowledge, she decided she had to ask Ye Xinyu.
“Was there something here before?” Hu Mengmeng asked, pointing to a notch on the bracelet.
“There was a green plastic bead, but I lost it after I gave birth to you. I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
“Mom, I’m keeping this for a bit. Keep going.”
Su Mingli continued, detailing the physical reactions during the middle and late stages of her pregnancy.
“Mom, after you gave birth to me, were you very weak? Besides those stabilization methods, did Fox Mama use anything else? Think carefully,” Hu Mengmeng asked. From the description, it seemed that besides being very weak and swollen toward the end, there were no extraordinary changes.
“After I gave birth, I was in a daze. I spent more time sleeping than awake. She was the one who looked after you. I don’t know how other people spend their postpartum ‘confinement’ month, but I spent mine lying down. She handled the meals and everything; I felt like I was paralyzed. By the time I was fully clear-headed, more than three months had passed. A few days later, one night, your Fox Mama explained everything. She said demon hunters were coming for her and she had to go into hiding for a while. She told me to take good care of you and said if she didn’t come back, I shouldn’t mind it.”
Su Mingli spoke flatly, as if so much time had passed that she had already done all her grieving, yet the sadness in her eyes was still palpable. Hu Mengmeng listened and instinctively put herself in the shoes of Ye Xinyu. She leaned over and hugged her mother.
“Mom, I will definitely find her. Our whole family will be together!”
“Take care of Xinyu first. Did you notice anything from all that I said?” Su Mingli patted her daughter’s back.
“Mom, wait. Relax for a moment. I want to check your body.”
Since purifying her spiritual energy, she hadn’t yet channeled it into Su Mingli for a check-up. Su Mingli had been weak for a long time after birth, and Fox Mama left immediately after she recovered—that was highly suspicious. Even after nineteen years, Hu Mengmeng hoped to find a clue.
She channeled her spiritual energy into Su Mingli’s meridians, searching everywhere. Indeed, she found something.
It was an object similar to the small array that sealed her own fox bloodline, but different. This array was extremely tight, locked down like a sphere that couldn’t be unraveled. Hu Mengmeng’s energy wrapped around the small ball to sense its shape before she withdrew.
“What’s wrong?” Su Mingli asked.
“Mom, after I was born, did Fox Mama feed you anything special?”
“I was in a daze then, felt like I was dying. I didn’t even know what I was eating, how could I remember? Aside from food, she only gave me this bracelet. Not a single thing of value.”
“Mom, this bracelet might be useful. I’m going to ask Sister about it. Let’s finish tidying up, it’s almost time for dinner.”
Su Mingli fell silent. Having been forced to recount her past, the numbness she used to protect herself had been shattered, leaving her in a complicated mood. Once they finished, Su Mingli went to help the Ye family cook while Hu Mengmeng went to find Ye Xinyu.
“Sister, look. I got a bracelet from my mom. What is it made of? It can absorb spiritual energy.”
“You got this from her?!” Ye Xinyu looked at the bracelet, her expression filled with shock.
“Yeah. It’s the only keepsake Fox Mama left my mom. I suspect it was used to mask the pregnancy. Sister, do you know what it is and what it does?”
“This is made of Copper Essence,” Ye Xinyu said, turning the bracelet over in her hands. “It would take refining hundreds of tons of fine copper to extract enough for this. It can be engraved with arrays and can hold a massive amount of spiritual energy; the arrays on these are usually extremely powerful. As for this notch—if I’m not mistaken, there should have been a Spiritual Jade Stone there. Even the lowest quality jade would contain more than twice the energy of your six-tail cultivation.”
Ye Xinyu’s expression changed again as she spotted a mark on the bracelet.
“Sister, what is it?”
“This mark belongs to the Liu Family of the Array Sect. The Liu family had only one bracelet like this. It went missing eighteen years ago. My mother was invited by the Liu family to help capture the demon that stole it. It was during that mission that my mother went missing and never returned.”
Ye Xinyu looked up at Hu Mengmeng.
“Huh? Does that mean… Fox Mama stole the bracelet? She used it for my mom, and then… she was caught when the truth came out?”
It was a staggering coincidence.
Author’s Note:
Hu Yaoyao: “I’ve appeared in the flashback scene! Yay!”
I previously wrote a short story about Fox Mama. It wasn’t finished, and I posted it on Weibo. Some of you have seen it, some haven’t, so I’ll put it here in the afterword.
“Meeting the Fox” Mini-Story:
Brief Introduction: At first, Su Mingli thought she had picked up a cat. After raising it for a few days, she felt it was more like a dog. It wasn’t until the fluffy ball transformed into a curvaceous woman on her bed that she realized she had picked up a fox spirit!
Hu Yaoyao had intended to “harvest” Su Mingli to heal her injuries, but she never expected to be raised as a pet. She was so pampered that she didn’t want to leave, so she decided to stay a little longer—and ended up losing her heart in the process.
It was mid-summer, 6:00 AM. The sky was a pale grey and the air was still chilly. Su Mingli was woken by her alarm. she crawled out of bed and got dressed with her eyes half-closed, only waking up fully once she splashed water on her face, revealing her round, apricot-like eyes.
Changing into her short-sleeved school uniform and sweatpants, she tied her hair into a ponytail. Su Mingli grabbed her backpack and bike keys, looking every bit the vibrant eighteen-year-old high school senior.
Before leaving, Su Mingli grabbed a handful of grain to feed the pigeons under the eaves. Her mother had bought them specifically to nourish her younger brother’s health.
As soon as Su Mingli stepped outside, she felt something was wrong. Usually, the pigeons would be cooing loudly at this time, but now it was silent. She walked over and froze; the pigeons were all dead, their necks bitten through!
“Who could be so wicked!” Su Mingli fumed. Following the bloodstains to a corner of the yard where junk was stored, she spotted the tip of a reddish-brown tail. She grabbed the tail, ready to give the culprit a thrashing, only to pull out a reddish-brown “cat” with a hint of orange.
Though it looked like a cat, its facial features gave one the impression of looking at a stunning beauty. It had amber-red eyes that were hooked at the corners—eyes that seemed to speak, radiating a sense of pitiable innocence. It stuck out a tiny pink tongue and licked its nose. Whether by accident or intent, it extended a front leg that was mangled and bloody, bent at an unnatural angle. It was broken.
“Ying…” it let out a low whimper of pain. Su Mingli’s heart softened instantly. Poor thing! Is it a stray or did it escape from someone?
Su Mingli used her towel from the drying rack to wrap the little thing up. It nudged her hand and hopped into her palm. Just as she was thinking of where to find a doctor, her mother’s voice rang out. She instinctively hid the creature in her backpack, leaving a small gap for air.
“Eldest girl! What’s going on? You’re so irresponsible! Those pigeons were for your brother, and you let them get killed? Now there’s nothing for him to eat!” A middle-aged woman with messy permed hair shouted, grabbing a broom to hit Su Mingli. This was Su Mingli’s mother.
“It wasn’t me! It must have been a wild cat!” Su Mingli dodged.
“A wild cat could open the cage and not leave a single one? Don’t you lie to me!” The mother began swinging the broom indiscriminately.
Su Mingli ran out with her backpack. She circled back once her mother was winded, put the bag in her bike basket, and pedaled away before her mother could catch up, leaving only a string of curses behind her.
Her mother had always favored her younger brother and held a prejudice against Su Mingli; being chased and beaten was something Su Mingli had become numb to. After pedaling for twenty minutes, she stopped, sweat drenching her bangs. She wiped her forehead and peeked into the bag.
The “kitten” looked up at her the moment the bag opened. Su Mingli’s gaze softened. She stroked its brow, and the creature squinted and let out a obedient whimper, nuzzling her palm. Its large eyes were brimming with moisture like a child trying not to cry.
“I’ll take you to get bandaged first!” Su Mingli pushed her bike to a nearby clinic.
A junior high classmate of Su Mingli worked there as a nurse. It was still early and the clinic wasn’t officially open, so Su Mingli knocked on her friend’s dorm door. She promised to buy her friend breakfast in exchange for bandaging the “kitten.”
While her friend used iodine and gauze on the injury, Su Mingli ran out to buy food. By the time she returned, the wound was treated. Su Mingli thanked her and left.
“I have to go to class. You can’t make a sound, or I’ll be in big trouble,” she told the fox at the school gates. The creature nudged her palm as if it understood. Su Mingli didn’t trust leaving it in her bike basket, so she took it to the classroom.
She reached the room during morning study. She ran into her strict homeroom teacher, but since she was usually a “good student,” he let her slide for being late. She sat down, put the bag in her desk drawer, and left the zipper open slightly. As she stroked the creature’s head, it stayed silent, its soft fur feeling warm against her palm.
When she tried to withdraw her hand, she felt two fluffy paws catch it, as if the creature lacked security. Su Mingli didn’t pull away; she spent the morning study period reading her book with one hand.
Inside the dark drawer, the creature’s amber eyes held a lazy, human-like expression. It licked its lips and bit Su Mingli’s fingertip, and a tiny, invisible flow of energy began moving into its body. Su Mingli, who was reciting English, felt a tingle that nearly made her yelp.
Is the little thing hungry? It didn’t hurt, so she didn’t pull away. She just hoped class would end soon—she hadn’t eaten breakfast either.
In the drawer, the fox took a few satisfying sips of energy and stretched its limbs. If Su Mingli could see it, her heart surely would have melted.
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