Chapter 454: Caught in the Mousetrap

"Empress, help us change," said Huo Qing coldly.

Ning Shu: (⊙０⊙)

So she climbed back off the bed, helped him take off his clothes, then they lay on the bed without a word.

Huo Qing turned around so that his back faced Ning Shu.

Ning Shu: …

If he didn't want to come, then just don't come. What was with this? If it had been the original host here, she probably would've been heartbroken from how cold Huo Qing was being.

Ning Shu also turned to her side so that her back faced Huo Qing.

Fudge, it was seriously annoying to have someone next to her. Since he was so large and muscular, he took over half the bed. How was she supposed to sleep this way?

Ning Shu closed her eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep, but she was suddenly woken up by the high-pitched shriek of an animal. The sound contained terrible pain.

Huo Qing hastily got up and paid no attention to the person sleeping next to him. He stepped on Ning Shu's leg so Ning Shu kicked him away. Huo Qing ended up falling to the ground, but he didn't seem to care at all as he anxiously called out, "Hu er, where are you?"

The fox's shriek sounded like a dog's bark, placed an octave higher. At the same time, it also seemed like a woman's shriek. It was a very eerie sound to hear at night.

"Hu er, Hu er!" Huo Qing was besides himself with worry. Ning Shu got off the bed and had Qing Zhu light a candle. Huo Qing s.n.a.t.c.hed the candle right out of her hand. He was sure that this cry was coming from nearby.

In the end, Huo Qing found the little fox under one of the windows. One of the fox's forelegs had been caught by a mousetrap and was currently bleeding. Huo Qing's heart instantly filled with pain.

"Call the imperial physician! Hurry and call the imperial physician!" Huo Qing's eyes were red as he shouted at Ning Shu. Huo Qing had always been very cold and collected. The original host had never seen him stirred up like this before.

"Go call the imperial physician," said Ning Shu to Qing Zhu. Qing Zhu hastily went, frightened by Huo Qing's manner.

Huo Qing crouched down again. He wanted to take off the mousetrap, but he was also worried about hurting the little fox so he was torn about what to do.

Tears overflowed from the little fox's eyes and she kept whimpering and calling out to Huo Qing. She truly looked very pitiful.

Ning Shu just took this in from the side. This fox's entire body was a golden color so she was very pretty. Her eyes tended to be very spirited with a trace of craftiness, but now her eyes were completely dim as she cried from the pain.

It was hard to imagine that it was actually a human soul inside this body. Ning Shu felt that her view of the world had widened. Could it be that in the future, she'd have to take a task in which she wasn't a human?

Huo Qing abruptly turned to glare at Ning Shu and demanded, "Empress, why did you place such a dangerous thing in your resting palace?"

Ning Shu answered calmly, "This subject wife hasn't been sleeping well these past few days. There's always mice scurrying about at night, so this subject wife had the maids get a few mousetraps. This subject wife never thought that this fox would come. It has never come to this subject wife's palace before after all. Who would've expected for this to happen?"

This fox had just arrived at the palace and hadn't gotten familiar with this place yet, so it hadn't started running wild like in the original storyline.

"This subject wife doesn't understand why it came today," said Ning Shu sincerely.

Huo Qing choked on his words. After all, there was no way he could say it was because he was here and the fox was attached to him so it followed him here.

As the emperor, there was no way Huo Qing would said this. At the very least, he wouldn't say this in front of Ning Shu, the empress.

Huo Qing stroked the little fox's head and consoled her. "Hu er, it'll be fine. The imperial physician will be here soon."

"Wuuuwuuuwuu…" The little fox was lying on the floor and in so much pain that her cries were very weak. Inside, she was cursing. Why the h.e.l.l was she so unlucky? How did she end up caught by this thing? It hurt to death! It was all because of Huo Qing, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d! If she hadn't followed him, she wouldn't have gotten hurt.

The more the little fox thought about this, the more upset she felt. The pain and her bitterness caused her tears to flow nonstop. When Huo Qing saw this, he wanted to just pull the little fox into his arms.

#comment: Hu er = fox + term of endearment.