"This is a at-filled flatbread, dummy."
"Huai Xu is calling Lord Dumpling a dummy again!"
"Tattletale!"
"Look, she's insulting Lord Dumpling again!"
"Be good, there are many people here, and Lord Dumpling eating might scare them." Zhou Li reached out and patted Little Cat Girl on the head. Although performing such an action might seem a bit odd to onlookers, he couldn't resist seeing Lord Dumpling in the form of Little Cat Girl. "Actually, that isn't tasty. How about we go out and have fish soup with rice instead?"
"Okay~~" Little Cat Girl nodded obediently.
"Are you going out?" asked Huai Xu, looking up.
"Wait a mont." Zhou Li took out his phone to check. "I still have to visit the Grottoes Cultural Relics Conservation Research Exhibition Center, the Scripture Cave Exhibition Hall, the Research Institute History Exhibition Hall, and the Research Institute Art Gallery."
"That many?" Huai Xu asked blankly.
"'Still more?'" Lord Dumpling was already very bored and didn't want to stay any longer.
"There are many people conducting research here," Zhou Li said.
"What's there to research about a cave covered in scribbles?" Huai Xu pouted, her legs stretched out straight, in a motion akin to an ordinary person stretching to relieve fatigue.
"There is much to research, such as ancient dietary culture, clothing culture, music culture, and entertainnt culture, among others. So people spend their entire lives trying to verify these things," Zhou Li said, shaking his head as he glanced at the Old Monster, who looked splendid yet totally unconcerned about appearances. "You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't understand?" Huai Xu gave him a sidelong glance, bit into her at-filled flatbread, and spoke while chewing, "Isn't it just about the food I've eaten, the clothes I've worn, the songs I've listened to, and the gas I've played? What's there to research?"
"I don't want to talk to you about it."
"What's there to chirp about?" Lord Dumpling also said.
"Lord Dumpling, you should be on my side. Why are you helping Huai Xu instead?" Zhou Li said helplessly.
"Oh! It's all Huai Xu's fault!"
"..."
By the ti they returned to the city from the Mogao Caves, it was already afternoon.
Zhou Li was a bit tired, so he took a nap to revive himself, and only then did he enter Mingsha Mountain again.
With plenty of ti today, he took Huai Xu and Lord Dumpling to slide down the sand dunes, ride cals, and try paragliding. It wasn't until close to sunset that he started his climb up the mountain.
He was still very tired.
Before reaching the summit, he already knew that the Little White Fox had arrived first and was waiting for him, because he heard voices coming from above—
"Didn't they say this Little White Fox ca for food? But it won't eat anything we give it."
"It isn't leaving either."
"So aloof."
"..."
Zhou Li hastened his pace, climbing rapidly upwards.
After seeing the Little White Fox, he smiled at her in greeting and then took out a box of chicken legs and a box of roasted quail from his backpack, whispering, "I don't know what you like, so I just bought sothing at random from a passing store. I often hear stories about foxes... enjoying chicken, so you must like chicken legs, right?"
The Little White Fox ran towards him.
Onlookers marveled at the scene because it seed like the Little White Fox had been specifically waiting for this person. A white fox in the Great Desert waiting for a human—many people's imaginations had already begun to run wild.
They waited until the sun had set and the tourists had scattered.
Only then did Zhou Li turn and quietly ask the Little White Fox sitting beside him, "What ti did you arrive today?"
"Morning."
"That early?"
"I didn't know what else to do."
"Why didn't you eat the food others gave you?"
"I was afraid I'd be full, and then I wouldn't be able to eat what you brought for ," the Little White Fox answered honestly. "If you brought food and I didn't eat it, you'd definitely think I don't like you."
"So, do you like ?"
"Hmm, possibly..."
"..."
Zhou Li didn't know what to say; he just smiled.
This Little Demon's affection was won too easily. He had done almost nothing, yet she already liked him.
Then he opened his backpack and poured out a lot of vacuum-packed food. "I brought you so things, sealed in plastic. Plastic is this transparent layer on the outside. You can take them and bury them sowhere you can rember. Dig them out to eat when you can't find anything else, but when you eat, you need to bite open the outer layer of plastic, and you can't eat this layer."
"It'll go bad."
"It won't go bad; it can be kept until next year."
"Really?"
"But you can only eat the at inside, not this outer layer," Zhou Li emphasized again. "Even though you're a Demon, it's not edible. And rember to throw the plastic bags into a trash can, like the one behind filled with lots of plastic wrappers and plastic bottles. It's best to do it at night when no one is around, so you don't get seen."
"Thank you, I'll rember that!"
"The new year is coming, and there's a serious epidemic outside this year," Zhou Li said. "During the new year, our country might restrict movent. There will be very few visitors. If you finish all of these, you should look for the people down the mountain who are dressed the sa."
"Then why did you co?"
"We're taking advantage of the school holiday, before the New Year, to travel."
"School holiday?"
"It's a break from studying."
"Are you still studying?"
"I am."
"Then I wish you great success in your exams!" the Little White Fox said seriously, bowing ceremoniously to him and emphasizing again, "Great success!"
"Thanks, but things are different now. I don't need to take those exams anymore."
"Then... then I wish you... may all your wishes co true!" the Little White Fox said sincerely after thinking for a mont to co up with the phrase. "People used to like making wishes in front of . They also said that wishes made in my presence would co true, calling very 'spiritual'."
"Really?"
"Actually... I can't really do anything," the Little White Fox said a bit shyly. "I don't know why they would say that."
"You're very honest."
"Demons don't lie; it's in our nature."
"Is that so..."
Zhou Li glanced at the two Fake Monsters lying through their teeth beside him, who looked back at him with a 'why are you looking at us?' expression of confusion in their eyes.
Pursing his lips, he continued, "Anyway, I'll just take it as if you are really that spiritual."
"Yeah!"
"I have to go down the mountain now; it's getting cold."
"Will you co again tomorrow?"
"No," Zhou Li shook his head. "We're leaving tomorrow, departing this city for a place far, far away. Perhaps we'll stop by here on our way back, and I'll co see you then. If we don't co back this way, it might be a very long ti before we can et again. Maybe you won't even recognize then."
"I have a good mory."
"I'll rember you too."
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye."
Carrying so much stuff was not convenient for the Little White Fox, so with a WHOOSH, she transford into a Little Fox Lady, looking a bit older than the Little Cat Girl that Lord Dumpling had turned into. But handling these scattered items was still cumberso as a Little Fox Lady because Zhou Li had forgotten to bring plastic bags. So, she held them tight against her belly, clasping them firmly lest they fall, and moved cautiously. Even so, a packet would occasionally drop, and she'd quickly bend to pick it up, appearing quite troubled.
Light, bare footprints trailed in the sand, much shallower than those of humans.
Fortunately, there were no tourists at night, so no one saw.
Zhou Li didn't help but simply waved to the Little Fox Lady until her figure was just a dot in the night. Then he turned and started down the mountain.
eting and parting—that's just how it is. He felt no regret; instead, it felt quite beautiful.
Descending the mountain was much faster than climbing up. Buoyed by a cheerful mood, his steps beca light. As he waded through the sand, the Little White Fox's words, 'may all your wishes co true,' struck Zhou Li as amusing. He mused that for such a wish to be potent, he first needed to identify what he was currently thinking or what he truly wanted. Otherwise, even the most powerful 'may all your wishes co true' would lack the fundantal basis for fulfillnt.
For a 'salted fish' like him, he rarely pondered such topics.
Lately... his main hope was for Huai Xu to successfully fill the gaps in his mory. They were making slow but steady progress on that.
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