Su Jiu sneered. "Sorry, I don't want to treat you."
The boy froze on the spot, as did the other nine-tailed foxes in the cave.
"Surely you don't expect me to fall over myself to help someone who refuses to show me the respect I deserve and questions my abilities right to my face?"
The young foxes fell silent, while the old foxes looked somewhat ashamed.
A few of the cleverer young foxes stole furtive glances at Silver Snow and Yin Ze, who stood to one side watching the spectacle.
Silver Snow spread his hands to indicate that he could do nothing. In truth, he felt his tribespeople deserved a lesson. They needed someone's help, yet turned their noses up at her bone age and questioned her abilities. Anyone would have been angry.
Su Jiu had only refrained from turning around and leaving out of consideration for him. How could he plead for his tribespeople now? If he actually opened his mouth, he would only damage the bond between them.
Had the old foxes known what Silver Snow was thinking, they probably would have showered him with abuse. But so what? He was simply a fox who put beauty before friendship...
Silver Snow had a thick skin and didn't care, but Yin Ze struggled under his tribespeople's stares.
Still, he knew perfectly well that it would be inappropriate for him to plead on their behalf...
Yin Ze glanced at Silver Snow, then at his tribespeople, and sent them a voice transmission. "Apologize to her first. Only then can I put in a word for you..."
The old foxes felt it would be humiliating to apologize to such a young girl, so they said nothing.
Su Jiu, however, was growing impatient with the wait.
She would not let that impatience show