The Librarian and the Fox Princess: a Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu story, V.I

Chapter 34 - Bruised Ego

(Above image is "Kite Flying in View of Mount Fuji" by Katsushika Hokusai)

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Upon hearing the little princess say that she was Dong Hua's master, his underlings looked over to the almighty god to see his reaction. True to form, his stone face gave nothing away except vague nonchalance.

"You missed all the fun," she playfully chastised her teammates.

Apparently we did.

Si Ming eyed how the almighty god was cradling the little highness in the crook of his arm. The Star Lord regretted drinking far too much to the point of passing out. He unfortunately had as much tolerance as a kitten when it came to alcohol. He would have given anything to see how this current scene had developed.

"Because the both of you drank to your hearts' content and lost consciousness, you made Her Highness do all of the work in the library herself."

He looked at her, frowned, and then looked back at his disconcerted duo. "She worked to the point of injuring herself. She's so weak she can't even stand."

Feng Jiu shrank into Dong Hua's arms, nodded, and gave a little pout.

"Who would like to report to the Fox Emperor Bai Zhi that his granddaughter was forced to do such hard labor to the point of disablement? All because the colleagues who were supposed to help her decided that drinking wine was more important," he said sternly.

"Zhong Lin? Si Ming?"

They both looked at the ground shaking their heads vehemently.

"We apologize for being so incapacitated that we left Her Highness to be burdened by the workload alone," said Zhong Lin, the fear in his voice evident.

She reached behind Dong Hua's back.

I feel bad. She had written on his back with her finger. They're too scared.

His little fox was far more compassionate than he was. This was also one of the many reasons she had become so dear to him. He knew she had had her fun but never wanted to scare them so badly.

Be nice, she wrote.

That directive confounded Dong Hua. He wasn't quite sure how to "be nice." Thankfully, he was ambidextrous, meaning he could write with both hands, and reached around her to discreetly write how on her hip.

Like at lunch, she replied on his back.

"Never mind, the both of you. I'll personally attend to her injuries."

"Lin-er, the weather is nice today, why don't you ... go fly a kite," he instructed. His loyal steward furrowed his brow but bowed and nodded respectfully.

"Ming-er, you said you've had an eventful day today ... so, I want you to go take a nap."

"But, ...b-but, Your Lordship I just woke up from a nap," sputtered Si Ming.

Dong Hua shrugged his shoulders, knowing his little fox would find the jostling movement fun, to which she giggled in delight.

"Go take another one. How can these mortals depend on you to write decent fates for them if you're grumpy and sleep-deprived?"

Si Ming simply nodded. 

These blasted nicknames, Holy Ancient Mother, why?!

"Report back to the library tomorrow after court," he said and simply walked off unhurriedly while carrying his little fox.