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The Bowl of Seven Emotions

Chapters List

Chapter 42: Instinct

--That is a vixen*.

[t/n: Over here, the word vixen has a double meaning -- vixen as animal and vixen as a metaphor to refer to a slut.]

That wasn’t logical at all!

Why did creatures like vixens exist? Hadn’t they said that their existence would be banished after establishing the country?

Right now, she really wanted to grab Gou Dan and clarify this. But with Shi Chengxuan next to her, she dared not say a word, and remained seated quietly in the car as he sent her home.

“Do you need me to help look for Bai Mian’s whereabouts?” What had happened today would definitely cause some commotion. To Bai Mian, this was likely a disaster.

Tang Susu shook her head. “No need.”

Whatever was about to happen was something that no one would be able to intercept.

Shi Chengxuan didn’t continue speaking. After sending her to her area of residency, he then drove his car and left.

Tang Susu walked briskly into her house and closed the door. Without even removing her shoes, she hauled Gou Dan out of her cloak and shook it firmly. “Hurry up and tell me, how come there’s a vixen?”

Gou Dan yawned, stretched out its little pink tongue, and licked its mouth. “What’s there to be surprised about? Even I’m a Hou*.”

[t/n: A Hou is an ancient mythical animal that resembles a dog and is known to be man-eating.]

“You’re clearly a cat!”

“Alright. I’m just a cat that can speak. Since a cat can already speak, there’s no doubt a vixen can turn into a human.” Gou Dan didn’t pursue the matter of its breed. Being a cat in modern times, its status was clearly very high. It even had its own dedicated litter box as a cat, much more blessed than when it was a Hou.

“Can a vixen...date a human?”

“Yeah. Haven't you flipped through a lot of Tales of the Strange*? Although most of them are fabricated, a small part of them is true. Vixens are the demons that humans come into the most contact with.”

[t/n: It’s a Chinese novel genre that documents strange events, such as supernatural events, and also tends to tie into religions.]

“Then will they also bewitch humans, just like what's written in the books?”

“That’s their nature.” Gou Dan’s answer gave Tang Susu chills.

Would Bai Mian have fallen in love with a man out of nowhere? Coming from someone who had known her for almost a decade, the answer was a definite no.

So why had the vixen bewitched her?

Seeing Tang Susu not saying a single word, Gou Dan jumped onto the floor. He then ran back to the sofa, found a comfortable spot to lie on a soft cushion, and said slowly, “Susu, it’s best that you don’t intervene in this matter. We can’t afford to offend the vixen now. He’ll leave your friend once he gets what he wants, and not threaten her life.”

“You know what he wants? Tell me.” Tang Susu turned to look at Gou Dan.

Looking troubled, Gou Dan remained silent for a while, then said hesitantly, “Once a vixen has sexual intercourse with a human, it will extract the other party’s blood. This blood is concentrated with angst. The way they obtain angst is a lot rougher than how you do but it’s very convenient. And amongst all the people I’ve met, your friend’s angst is the most concentrated.”

Tang Susu sat on the sofa. For a long while, she didn’t speak.

She was well aware of the consequences of losing angst.

When a normal human lost their angst, it couldn’t be replenished. Other than that, should she hope that the vixen would become soft-hearted towards Bai Mian and leave some angst behind?

Though she didn’t know the vixen, she knew this was impossible.

Clearly, that vixen was fixated on Bai Mian’s angst. It could be considered charitable if he let her keep her life.

She covered her face with her hands. Her mind was in a mess.

Yet Gou Dan continued rambling next to her ear. “Vixens are different from humans. They believe that the strong eat the weak. If you threaten them while being weaker than them, they’ll kill you without any hesitation.”

Tang Susu didn’t say anything more. She clearly knew Gou Dan’s worries. The previous owners of the Bowl of Seven Emotions hadn’t lived long lives. Their lives had been threatened from all around -- by both humans and non-humans.

Just like what it had said, the method with which vixens extracted angst was overly rough. If he knew someone could extract large volumes of angst without causing much damage, what would he do?

Almost without further thinking, the answer was already out.

But telling her to give up on Bai Mian was something she couldn’t do.

Bai Mian was her one and only best friend. When Tang Susu had been desperate and on the verge of breaking, she had been the only one whom she had been able to fully rely on.

If she were to choose to give up on Bai Mian, then next time she could also choose to give up on a lot more insignificant people. In the future, what would she become?

Tang Susu dared not think further. She was human and only wanted to be human.

The news of Bai Mian escaping from her marriage soon spread very quickly. Bai Mian’s father, Bai Qi, was sent to the hospital because of a heart attack and the Shen family released news that they were going to cancel the marriage agreement on their end.

As the culprit, Bai Mian hadn’t shown up since she had left that day. Her boyfriend seemed to have also disappeared.

The only thing everyone knew was that her boyfriend, Qiyang, was a model.

The ruckus was so big that it even became a topic of discussion in the company.

Though Tang Susu was looking at her computer screen, her thoughts had gone elsewhere. Even when Secretary Wu walked in front of her desk, she didn’t notice.

“Assistant Tang.” Secretary Wu knocked on her desk.

“Secretary Wu, what’s the matter?” Tang Susu shot up, lifted her head, and asked.

“Boss is going to the hospital to visit Mr. Bai in the afternoon. You tag along.”

She blinked her eyes, thinking that she had mistaken his words. Her index finger pointing towards herself, she asked again, “I’m tagging along?”

“It’s the boss’s decision.” Secretary Wu smiled and replied.

“Oh. Got it.”

She nodded her head. Her mind was in turmoil and she was still clueless.

The Di Jiang Group and the Bai family had business relations. With Bai Qi hospitalized now, it wasn’t weird of him to visit. The only weird thing was that he had brought an assistant along instead of his usual -- Secretary Wu.

Had Secretary Wu, who had been following Shi Chengxuan for almost a decade, lost favor? No one would think so; others would only think that it was just Tang Susu who had become temporarily favored.

Was there a need to have a reason for a man to dote on a woman?

With Bai Mian not around, as Bai Qi’s eldest son, Bai Le naturally had to stay in the hospital to look after his father.

He stood by the hospital bed, wearing a smile on his face, and listened to the greetings exchanged between Shi Chengxuan and his father. His gaze did not land on Tang Susu at all.

After Bai Qi and Shi Chengxuan finished their words of greeting, his gaze swept past Tang Susu and he crinkled his eyebrows a little. As Bai Mian’s father, he was well aware of Tang Susu’s existence, and seeing her in his ward today, he was a little taken aback.

He had never interfered with his daughter’s choice in making friends, but Tang Susu was an exception. When he had first met this lady, he had already felt that her motives weren’t pure, and yet both his children had treated her as if she was special.

Luckily his son was more sensible and had left her long ago while his daughter remained stubborn over all these years.

Seeing her next to Shi Chengxuan today, it was clear that their relationship wasn’t simple. Being able to overcome a person like Shi Chengxuan clearly showed the depths of her schemes.

Seeing her reminded him of his daughter who had left the engagement ceremony. Bai Qi’s expression became worse and he turned his head away.

Tang Susu didn’t miss out on Bai Qi’s gaze that was mixed with coldness and reluctance when he had looked over. Many years ago, when she had first met the Bai family head, he had also looked at her in the same way.

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