"Are you satisfied?" He lowered his gaze and saw the little sable gnawing on a large piece of steaming osmanthus cake, its expression so blissful it seemed about to melt.
"Yes! I've never eaten such delicious food!"
Soft and chewy, with the pure fragrance of osmanthus in every bite, the little sable smiled more genuinely than ever before, its eyes curving into two little crescent moons.
Xiao Zi raised an eyebrow, "Did your master mistreat you? You've never even tasted osmanthus cake?"
"Vixen, are you going to laugh at me again?" The little creature in his arms lifted its head, a few crumbs of osmanthus still clinging to its mouth.
But Xiao Zi wasn't intending to laugh. He was just curious. If this little thing had never even tasted the most common osmanthus cake, what did it usually eat?
"What does Mo Ze feed you?" While the little sable was devouring its treat, Xiao Zi stealthily extended a paw to rub the fur on its head.
"Rice, but it's not the master who feeds me."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zi's hand froze. His expression inexplicably turned complex, "Rice? Just rice?"
The little sable didn't see anything wrong with it. After eating piece after piece of osmanthus cake, it nodded its little head, "Yes."
The leftover rice from any maid or guard after their meals would be put in a wooden basin and fed to the little sable.
The air was humid on rainy days, and sometimes the wooden basin would even sprout mold. But since the little creature was a Xuan Beast, eating moldy rice was no issue.
However, most people in the Nine Heavens had already achieved辟谷 (bì gǔ - abstention from grain), so very few people ate. Thus, she was always hungry.
"Has the Divine Realm become so impoverished that it can't even feed a Xuan Beast properly?" Xiao Zi's brows furrowed tightly. No wonder the fur didn't feel as good.
After finishing the osmanthus cake, the little sable let out a contented burp in his arms, "That's why I ran away."
Xiao Zi gazed at her, an unidentifiable emotion swirling in his purple eyes.
Never seen a market, never tasted osmanthus cake, and only ate moldy rice on a daily basis. How could this little creature have lived such a miserable life?
But the little sable didn't seem to care. It stretched out a small paw and tugged at Xiao Zi's clothes, "Since you bought me so much food, I'll kindly tell you why that woman always comes to the palace."
Xiao Zi lowered his gaze. The little creature said mysteriously, "Because that woman has developed feelings for the Demon Emperor!"
"Feelings?"
"That's right! The kind of feelings between a man and a woman!"
Xiao Zi's tightly furrowed brows instantly relaxed. He looked at the little creature in his arms, unsure whether to laugh or cry, "How old are you? You already know about feelings between men and women?"
Hearing this, the little sable became displeased, "Vixen, don't just look at my palm-sized body. In terms of human years, I'm already sixteen."
"Oh? Then tell me, what are these feelings between men and women like?"
Xiao Zi smiled, looking at the little sable with interest, occasionally extending his slender finger to tap its head.
"Buying her all sorts of food and worrying she'll go hungry, seeing her often yet still missing her."
"You could open a school, Teacher Sable."
But just then, a parked horse by the roadside lost control, pulling the carriage and charging wildly down the street.
"Quick, get out of the way—! The horse has lost control—!"
"Bang—bang—" Stalls were constantly overturned, fresh pastries scattering on the ground. Now, it was charging directly towards the osmanthus cake stall.
"Ah! The osmanthus cake!"
The little sable's round eyes were filled with urgency. It pushed off with its feet and leaped from Xiao Zi's embrace, rushing towards the runaway horse carriage.
"Hey!" Xiao Zi quickly caught up. Just as the carriage was about to hit the stall, he used his spiritual energy to stop the out-of-control horse.
The little sable was safe, and the osmanthus cake stall was also unharmed. However, Xiao Zi's expression was extremely grave.
"The aura of the former Demon Emperor!"
"I felt it too..."
"But... didn't he already die?"
The surrounding citizens quickly gathered, murmuring and speculating incessantly.
"Let's go back." The slender figure instantly vanished from his spot. The little sable looked at the osmanthus cake stall.
The whispers and guesses of the surrounding people echoed in its ears. It also realized, it was over... it had caused trouble...
...
"So, you exposed yourself?" Lin Ze rubbed his temples and sighed, his weariness deepening.
Xiao Zi lowered his head and sat on a nearby chair, "Yes."
"Just to save that Xuan Beast?" Lin Ze pushed himself up, his face extremely solemn. "Vixen, have you forgotten that she is Mo Ze's contracted beast?"
It wasn't that Lin Ze was being overly cautious. It was just that he had discovered, as the Queen, that he could not hear the thoughts of demon or spirit beasts that had not yet transformed into human form.
Therefore, he had no idea what the little sable was thinking, and had no choice but to be wary.
The little sable sat outside the main door, its small paws nervously unable to find a place to rest. It could only press against the door crack to listen to their conversation.
The guards at the door didn't know her identity, and they often saw her entering and exiting the Demon Emperor's study, so they paid no mind to what she was doing.
"I never forgot." Xiao Zi tilted his head up, his face full of helplessness.
"Although that little thing appears stubborn and unyielding on the surface, she is sensitive and soft-hearted. I bought her so many foods, and it happened that I saved her, even at the risk of exposing myself."
"Getting some information out of her wouldn't be that difficult, right?"
The little sable often accompanied Mo Ze, so it was normal for her to know things others didn't. Perhaps this small clue would be enough for that little devil to follow the thread and find the truth.
Xiao Zi sighed softly and turned to look at Lin Ze, "You can read minds, can't you? You must know what I'm truly thinking, right?"
Lin Ze stared at him for a moment, and the solemnity on his face gradually faded, "Yes, what you said is indeed true."
Outside the door, the little creature froze, its blood turning ice-cold...
So everything he had done was devoid of emotion, merely to exploit her trust...
Buying her osmanthus cake, candied hawthorns... all just to pry the desired clues from her mouth...
The small figure took one step after another, leaving the place.
"I will handle the matter of your exposed identity. Send your spiritual energy into this jade pendant." Saying this, Lin Ze took out a jade pendant and handed it to Xiao Zi.
Xiao Zi recognized it immediately. As long as the jade pendant carrying his spiritual energy was made public, they could claim that it was a treasure left by the previous Demon Emperor, and the aura in the street was emanating from this jade pendant.
Then, with a little suppression of rumors, the matter would basically be resolved.