At the start of her sophomore year, Ying Rushi and the three girls in her dorm went to a mixer with three upperclassmen from the university across the street. The three top students, all single, claimed they'd bring their school's heartthrob junior to make an impression.
Unexpectedly, the heartthrob said to be the most handsome man in all the realms was none other than Qingshan, her ungrateful childhood friend who'd vanished before the college entrance exams. Their names even fit together in a line of classical poetry.
Thinking back, out of neighborly affection and the bonds of classmates, Ying Rushi had looked out for Qingshan all the way from kindergarten through high school. He was always eating her chicken legs, sleeping in her bed, enjoying her parents' care, and taking up space in her heart.
With that in mind, Ying Rushi figured the guy would at least say something nice about her in front of the upperclassmen.
"Your names sound like you two might be related," one of the upperclassmen said curiously.
The little ingrate lowered his peach-blossom eyes and answered with casual shamelessness.
"She and I have shared a bed for years."
Qingshan and Ying Rushi had bickered for over a decade. Qingshan could infuriate her with a single remark, so Ying Rushi could only bite him to shut him up.
Speaking of that gentlemanly grudge, years ago Qingshan had sneered disdainfully:
"Ying Xiaoru, if a dog bites you, do you have to bite it back?"
Back then, Qingshan didn't know that Ying Rushi had developed a secret during her teenage years, and had decided she could never tell him.
Years later, Qingshan grabbed her by the collar and grinned like a cunning fox, saying he wanted revenge for that bite.
Ying Rushi was stunned. "Didn't you always say that if a dog bites you, you don't bite back?"
Qingshan patiently explained, "Back then, I still wanted to be human. Then I realized it was too exhausting. Being a dog is a better deal."
Then, with warm breath, he gently licked her neck.
Without either of them noticing, the fox from back then had become the hunter.
As she struggled to accept herself, his love gave her the best kind of healing.
And she became the only anchor for his wandering soul.
*A serious, steady, old-fashioned heroine x a glamorous, sharp-tongued, scheming childhood friend who's brilliant in every way
Theme: Loving others is a faith; loving yourself is a conviction.
