Chapter 47, Li Juanxin Can Also Be Tough

It's been a few days since the incident with the Bai Clan seventh elder took place.

Li Juanxin was given a new symbol by his father to learn. But it had been giving him a hard time to draw. The symbols were small and hard to remember, but he'd taken to copying them as soon as he could and practicing every single day. Yet, there was not much progress. He was still having trouble drawing the symbol. "Daddy,  I don't think this symbol is right." He looked up at his father with a pitiful expression.

"You have to focus and draw it. It will come in handy when someone attacks you." Li Jain said dismissively. He was standing across the table from Li Juanxin, watching as he struggled to make the shape on the paper.

"No, no, Daddy, I need your help. Please," Li Juanxin pleaded. 

"Why don't you try drawing each line of the symbol separately, then try to connect them at the end?" Li Yujian suggested. 

"That might actually work. Thanks brother." He took another moment to concentrate before starting to add little lines to the symbol. After some concentration, he finished creating one long line connecting each symbol. Once he had completed that process, he turned to his father. "Daddy, look I did it!" He proudly presented his masterpiece.

His father looked over it critically. "It looks good. Now if you repeat this process over and over,  it should be easier for you to remember the patterns and gain more results."

 Li Juanxin nodded. "It's all thanks to brother Jian."

"Wah..." The little fox next to him  gasped dramatically. He was clearly not pleased that Li Juanxin didn't thank him. The young fox was obviously jealous that Juanxin likes his older brother more than he did.   

"What are you dissatisfied about? All you did was rub your head against me and lazy around all day. I can't praise you for that!"  Li Juanxin rolled his eyes at his young fox, who seemed unimpressed with his response and whined.

 Its tail swished back and forth, sending tufts of fur into Juanxin's face. Li Juanxin sighed, picked it up with one hand and started heading out the door. "Come on. It's time for your training."

The little fox wiggled around until he managed to free himself. "I'm not going to train," he huffed.   

"Oh yeah? If you don't train, there's no way you're going to get that honey cake you 've wanted for so long, is there?" Li Juanxin smirked at him.

The young fox pouted for a minute and then reluctantly agreed. They headed out the door, and entered the training room. The training area was a large, rectangular space with a few exercise equipment scattered throughout. Each section of the space was divided into two separate areas where they practiced combat training and regular training. 

"Okay, Fluffy. Use Icy tail technique to freeze the ground underneath your opponent, and use your Frost claws technique on their body to tear into it," Li Juanxin instructed,  placing both of his hands on his hips and glaring down at Fluffy.

The targets were Li Jain cones. A dozen or so of them. Li Jain adjusted the appearance and strength of his cones to that of a level higher than Juanxin cultivation. In that way it'll be a challenge, and a good practice target.

When he first told Juanxin to practice his attack on his cones, the little guy refused; saying he wouldn't attack his father. This force Li Jain to adjust the appearance.

At his owner's orders, Fluffy immediately dashed towards the first target and began to claw into it, destroying it and causing snow to fall to the ground. When his claws made contact with the ice beneath them, they immediately froze solid. 

30 minutes later, all of the cones were defeated.  However, after the 30 minute mark, Fluffy was able to successfully use Frost Claw technique. His claws became covered in thick white frost.   His attack power now increased by 5%.

"Good work, you've mastered the first level of Frost Claws. Father was right, the more you used the technique, the more likely it is to level up. You'll probably be able to master the second level next month," Juanxin complimented his fox.

Fluffy gave him a cocky look and strutted off. "Yeah, yeah, let's go get the cake."

Li Juanxin smile and pick the little fox up over his shoulder, "We'll get the cake, but fist, you fox needs a bath." He grinned wickedly, enjoying seeing his fox displeasure at having to wash him.

"What?! No! Let me go! Didn't I take a bath this morning?" Fluffy yelled.

Juanxin laughed and ran off to his bedroom. "Well you did. But after training, you smell like dirty socks, old shoes and sweat." 

"The training was your idea!" Fluffy whined again,  kicking his tiny feet furiously.

"You did benefit from it. And besides, I don't want people to notice you because you stink!" Juanxin cackled.

"I don't care!"

"Well, I do and you're having a bath!" With that, he dumped the fox in the tub and began to bath him thoroughly, massaging soap and shampoo through his hair and grooming it gently. The little fox squirmed indignantly, but couldn't get away.

After a while, the water was tinged a light shade of pink, and Fluffy looked completely clean. Juanxin helped him rinse off. "There, all done."

The fox ignored him, and walked off with a huff.  

Juanxin couldn't care less. He took off his clothes and began to shower.

_________ 

Li Jain was in the kitchen preparing a meal. The restaurant is becoming more and more busy, especially after business starts picking up. More and more people kept coming after learning how good his food was. Not like he was complaining, but he hardly gets time to spend with the little ones.

"Daddy, Fluffy has a sweet tooth and wants to eat honey cake." Juanxin came in with Fluffy in his hands.

"Sorry sweetie, I've run out of honey. But the recipe was sold to the old man Lan restaurant. You go buy the cake there." Li Jain said and took out twenty gold coins from his pocket and hands to Juanxin with the Joyous restaurant VIP  card.

Juanxin accepted the money and handed Fluffy the card. "Thanks daddy. We'll be back later."

"Have fun and be careful."

"Don't worry. We got this," Juanxin reassured him with an easy grin. He then left with the Fox and headed out the door.

Once they were outside the gate, Juanxin stopped a passenger carriage that drove them off to Joyous Restaurant. They arrived at the Joyous Restaurant and were greeted with many customers.  

"Hello, welcome to Joyous Restaurant. May I take your order?" One of the waitresses asked. Seeing the young boy dressed in an elegant robe, holding a cute white fox in his  arms, she assumed he was from a rich family and didn't want to offend him.

"Four pieces of Honeycake and two cups of Honey Water please." Juanxin replied politely. He noticed the surprised face of the waitress. Apparently this dessert just came out last week and only VIP customers knew about it.

Seeing her doubts, Juanxin took the VIP card from Fluffy and sure it to her. "This says I'm a VIP member. That means my order doesn't need to include the usual stuff." 

She glanced at the card nervously before handing Juanxin his order and excusing herself to make their drinks. The rest of the time went smoothly as well.  

.....

"That white fox is so cute. I want it." Said young girl at the far end of the left corner table.

"If the young lady wants it, then I'll buy it for you." The servant next to her said.

"Really?! Thanks." She smiles brightly.

"You are quite fond of that animal. Luckily, the master gives us more money just in case." Another servant said.

The girl flushed slightly at the statement, and answered softly, "Yes. Furry animals are soft and gentle and are very nice to hold."

"We'll get it in a while." 

....

Li Juanxin was busy eating with Fluffy and had no idea that people had plans of buying his fox. Once they were done eating, he picked up Fluffy and put him on his shoulder.

As soon as he got out of the restaurant, he was blocked by a group of three boys and one girl. "Get out of my way." Juanxin tries to bypass them, but they still cross in front of him. "What do you want?" He asked irritatedly.

"Don't be angry, little girl. I want to buy your fox; how much is it?" The girl among them who was about thirteen years old said  confidently. 

Li Juanxin frowned: "First of all, I'm not a girl. Second, he's my pet and not for seal." He snapped. This girl was a little bit too cocky.

"Not a girl? How can a boy have a cute furry animal as a pet? That is not  normal. Are you some sissy? Pervert!" She scoffed . Her servants behind her nodded their heads along and snickered.  

Juanxin was getting more and more irritated by the moment, "It's not like it was given to me by your Papa!" He snapped.

"How dare you insult my Dad? Do you know who he is?" She said through gritted teeth, glaring daggers at him.

"Why won't I dare? From the moment you open your mouth, you've insulted me. Not only did you block my way and call me a girl, you also offered to buy my pet and called me a sissy and pervert. What the hell are you anyway?" Juanxin questioned with rage bubbling up inside of him.   He was starting to get angry at how disrespectful she was being.

"How dare you talk to our young lady like this? You need a tough lesson!"  One of the boys stepped forward and threw a  punch, before he could land a hit, Juanxin stepped aside and took out a paper from his robe.

"Iron fist!" He chanted, the paper dissolved and the symbol engraved on the back of his hand. Before anyone could react, he slammed the palm of his hand down hard onto the boy's  chest, knocking him flying.  He then spun around and delivered another punch to the other one's jaw, sending him stumbling backward into his companions. 

The first boy fell to the ground and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Come on Fluffy. Icy tail!" Li Juanxin didn't give them time to recover and immediately order  Fluffy.

The fox received the order and  started running straight toward the group of thugs.

"Wait!" The girl screamed.