Zheng Qing followed the direction of Zhu Si's finger and saw two familiar figures in the crowd.
Li Meng stood with her arms folded, clutching a skewer of candied hawthorn in her hand and glaring at him angrily, as if blaming him for interrupting the girls' gathering.
Beside Li Meng, Su Ya, the Little Fox Girl from Qingqiu Mansion, was twisting around and tiptoeing, seemingly trying to squeeze out of the crowd. But the surrounding throng was too dense, and despite all her effort, she had only managed to squeeze half her body free.
A large white tail tinged with blue, however, rested around the Little Fox Girl's neck like a flagpole, swaying vigorously as though cheering her on.
Zheng Qing's face immediately darkened.
He crossed the distance in a few quick strides, placing one hand on Su Ya's shoulder and grabbing that fluffy tail with the other. Su Ya and Poseidon both cried out in alarm, turning to see the furious boy.
Poseidon, on the other hand, was utterly shameless. It put on an obedient expression and chirped away, completely unconcerned that its tail had fallen into Zheng Qing's grasp.
Although Su Ya was a maid, she had come from a prominent household and still knew shame. Her fair little face flushed bright red, and her furry fox ears pressed tightly against her hair without moving.
"Didn't you say you were taking it home to do its homework?"
Pointing at the dejected Poseidon and the bit of grease at the corner of the fox's mouth, Zheng Qing demanded fiercely, "This is the homework it was supposed to do?"
Su Ya had none of her usual sass whenever she saw Zheng Qing. Her tail and ears drooped as she answered weakly, "Miss hasn't gone back yet... We were only going