Chapter 87
At that moment, Shang Xi was taken aback.
She felt something was odd, but couldn't put her finger on it.
For no particular reason, she felt a little uncomfortable. She didn't say anything, just lowered her eyes to continue with what she was doing.
Something lightly brushed past her waist from behind, occasionally touching her. It had a steady rhythm, tapping her every now and then.
What exactly was it? Her mind was in a haze. On instinct, she reached back to grab it and throw it aside.
She only managed to pinch the pointed tip, and felt the soft fur.
Almost the instant she grabbed it, the man beside her tensed up, his body rigid as he let out a muffled groan.
Shang Xi was dumbfounded.
She...she had grabbed...
Gu Wen's tail???
She was so frightened she flung it away violently, her hands shaking as if she had been poisoned. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"
Other than that night four years ago, this was the first time she had touched Gu Wen's tail while sober! Though she didn't remember, the last time when she was drunk, she had grabbed Gu Wen's tail quite firmly to "bare her heart" to him.
"It's alright," Gu Wen's ears turned red. "You can touch it anytime you want."
"I..." I don't want to!
Alright, maybe I do want to a little...
Shang Xi could feel her own face turning red. It was one thing to think it in her heart, but to have Gu Wen say it outright was another thing entirely.
She was utterly mortified!
The next second, she heard the man's low, hoarse voice. "My ears...you can touch them too."
"What?" Shang Xi turned her head. She saw Gu Wen bending down towards her slightly. He was so tall even in his wolf form, yet he lowered his head like that, within her reach. His dark hair and black furry ears right there for her.
Shang Xi stared at the silently bending man, his head lowered.
For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
She couldn't describe what she was feeling. When humans tame animals, the animals would raise their paws when their owners reach out.
She hadn't tamed Gu Wen.
Yet he seemed to voluntarily allow himself to be tamed.
As he slowly bent down towards her, a word popped into her mind: submission.
Wolves are such proud creatures, not to mention Gu Wen, an intelligent wolf man with human-level IQ.
Even she wasn't foolish enough to not realize wolf men would never easily bend down and expose their ears and vulnerable necks like this.
Let alone someone as powerful as Gu Wen, with hundreds of wolf men following him.
He definitely had the arrogance to back it up.
Yet here he was, before her, exposing his neck and ears to her.
It was a display of absolute trust from the wolf man.
He trusted her.
Was she...very important to Gu Wen?
Shang Xi somehow had this delusion.
There was a fruit knife beside them. Surely he, as the head wolf man, wouldn't be oblivious enough to let his guard down right?
What kind of trust was this?
She blanked out briefly. Just then, those pure black, slick furred ears that were sticking up slowly bent towards her.
Huh?
Shang Xi was stunned.
She watched as those standing ears bent towards her again.
Eh??
Wow!! It could bend like that too?
Shang Xi was completely dumbfounded, her attention completely captured.
With his head lowered, taking in the woman's scent, Gu Wen was feeling a little high. Spouting nonsense, he said: "Go ahead and touch them. Ears are made to be touched."
Well, it was true that wolf ears were made for their mates to touch.
As if bewitched, Shang Xi slowly stretched out a trembling hand and touched the tip of his ear.
It was so soft and warm.
She tried pinching it lightly. Gu Wen immediately lifted his head to meet her gaze. His features were sharp, his face flushed red, and his pitch black eyes stared intensely at her.
Snapping back to her senses, Shang Xi quickly withdrew her hand and hastily turned away, her heart racing for some reason. "I...I was just..."
"Thank you."
"Let's start cooking first."
In her heart, Shang Xi scolded herself ten thousand times. Shameful! She actually reached out to touch him! Where was her dignity?
As Gu Wen watched the woman who had started slicing potatoes, the corner of his lips quirked up slightly, hinting at his delight.
Shang Xi started shooing him. "Nothing else for you here, you should go."
Gu Wen responded and left.
Like a beast patrolling his territory, he went to every corner of the house, leaving his scent on door handles, windows, tables - everywhere his hand touched.
He sat on the sofa, also leaving his scent there.
If there was only the milk scent of the baby before he entered,
now, there was the overpowering, intimidating scent of a powerful beast.
The baby was used to his father though, so he didn't mind.
Shang Xi didn't know that from that day forth, no birds dared to fly onto her balcony anymore. Cats and dogs passing by the door would tuck in their tails as they ran by. Later, they didn't even dare to pass by.
Shang Xi quickly cooked the dishes, mainly because eating plain boiled lamb was too simple for Gu Wen. She just needed to boil it for ten seconds.
She stir-fried three side dishes for herself.
Her son was now also eating more meat compared to rice and vegetables.
Holding a lamb rib in his hands, he swallowed it down, bone and all, with his tiny sharp teeth. He was teething, so his gums were very itchy and he felt like chewing everything all day.
Shang Xi had even seen him hugging the big tree in the garden and gnawing at it before.
Gu Wen would usually disdain eating bones since he had no lack of food. Besides, supermarket meat couldn't compare to the nice taste of meat from sheep on the grasslands.
But this was specially cooked by Shang Xi for him.
Just like his child, he ate it bones and all.
The sounds he made while chewing were definitely louder than the baby's. With his formidable set of teeth as a grown, powerful wolf man, one could imagine how sharp and sturdy they were.
Shang Xi thought he was like someone munching on potato chips.
So fierce...
When the family of three returned to Nanfeng Courtyard, the time was half past five.
There was a familiar face in Nanfeng Courtyard.
Qin Ming.
As soon as Shang Xi saw him, she thought of the fallen wolf man Gu Wen went to deal with at noon in Wild Picnic Park.
Qin Ming would always appear whenever there were issues with fallen wolf men.
Sure enough, as soon as the two administrators met, they went into the study room.
Downstairs, the wolf men of Nanfeng Courtyard all had rather grave expressions.
Shang Xi was puzzled. Could it be...the issue wasn't that simple? But Gu Wen had been quite relaxed the whole day as if it wasn't a big deal.
Shang Xi looked towards Black Tail beside her and asked, "Black Tail, what happened?"
For a moment, Black Tail's eyes lit up at her initiating a conversation with him, as if it was something that made him very happy.
But in the next moment, his excitement extinguished.
"The fallen wolf men from Snow Mountain have come together and descended the mountain," Black Tail said with worry. "There's probably dozens of them. They worked together."
Shang Xi's eyes widened. No wonder Gu Wen only settled three at noon.
Green Tail was furious. "Do they think gathering together would allow them to kill the administrator? Are they planning a final suicidal struggle? Great, might as well capture all of them in one go, less trouble in the future."
Cyan Tail gave an affirmative grunt. "The number of fallen wolf men doesn't exceed a hundred. After we deal with them this time, there wouldn't be many left."
Black Tail cheered up. "That's right! We're not afraid of them!"
Blue Tail was curled up on the sofa in the corner, completely silent with a deathly pale complexion, trembling all over as if terrified.
Gu Wen and Qin Ming came out from the study and headed downstairs.
Qin Ming's gaze landed on the obviously frightened female wolf man. He paused for a beat before striding quickly towards her.
But even as he stood before her, she didn't lift her head. In the past, she would have already smelled his scent and followed him to the study room before coming downstairs after him.
Qin Ming pressed his lips in a thin line, and spoke to comfort her. "Don't be afraid, nothing will happen."
Blue Tail raised her head to glance at him before shifting her gaze away. "I'm not afraid at all."
Even as her body kept shivering.
Qin Ming was taken aback for a second. "From today onwards, stop working at the flower shop first."
Blue Tail abruptly stood up, her eyes red. "Thanks for the reminder and your concern."
After saying that, she turned and ran upstairs.
Qin Ming's brows furrowed heavily.
Since last week, this female wolf man seemed to have become estranged from him.