Lu Qing wiped his hands.
"Yeah, the little beast and us are friends now, and all my friends have names, like Big Girl, Little Houtou; they all have their own names!" Little Yan counted on her fingers, earnestly adding, "So the little beast should have its own name too."
"Is calling it 'little beast' not good?"
"'Little beast' doesn't sound nice, and there are lots of animals called little beasts. We need to come up with something special," the little one shook her head.
Lu Qing really wanted to say that even names like Big Girl, Little Houtou were pretty commonplace outside.
He thought for a moment, seeing the black little beast peering curiously into the kitchen from outside.
He asked, "Little thing, what about you? Do you want a name too?"
The black little beast's eyes showed a moment of contemplation, then it nodded.
"Brother, look, the little beast wants to have its own name too," Little Yan said happily.
"Since that's the case, then let's pick one."
Seeing that the black little beast also felt that way, Lu Qing didn't refuse any longer.
Only, what would be a good name?
Lu Qing considered for a while then had a sudden inspiration.
"How about 'Little Li'? Does that sound good?"
"Little Li?" Little Yan tilted her head.
A look of puzzlement also appeared in the black little beast's eyes.
Clearly, neither of the little ones understood the meaning of the name.
"Yes, the little beast looks a lot like an animal called a raccoon, so we could call it Little Li. Also, 'Li' is associated with fire, and look at its fur. Doesn't it somewhat resemble a burning black flame?"
Lu Qing explained as he took a piece of charcoal and wrote out the character for Li.
After some time studying, he had gotten the hang of writing the characters of this world.
Little Yan might not have understood completely, but the black little beast, hearing Lu Qing's explanation, instantly felt that the name Little Li was quite prestigious.
It gazed steadily at Lu Qing, its eyes shining.
"You like the name?" Lu Qing noticed its reaction and understood, "Then from now on you'll be called Little Li. As for a surname, you can take one if you want, or leave it if you don't. If you'd like to take a surname, you can have ours and be called Lu Li or Lu Xiaoli."
"That's great, little beast, you have a name now!" Little Yan beamed, "You're called Little Li, and I'm called Little Yan. Our names sound pretty similar, don't they?"
Emotion glistened in the black little beast's eyes, bright and sparkling.
With a name now, the black little beast's stay at the Lu Family's home felt even more fitting.
It and Little Yan began chasing each other around the house, playing together.
Of course, it was mostly Little Li amusing Little Yan; otherwise, with its speed, even a hundred Little Yans wouldn't be able to touch it.
"By the way, Little Li, I want to ask you about something."
Lu Qing saw the black little beast playing happily and suddenly remembered something.
Little Li paused and looked towards Lu Qing.
"Yesterday, was someone in the mountains chasing you, trying to capture you?"
Lu Qing recalled the conversation he had overheard from the Wei Family's guards last night.
They had said that their Young Master had fallen into a ravine while chasing a peculiar black little beast in the mountains.
At that time, he had suspected whether the little beast was Little Li, and now was a good time to ask.
Little Li cocked its head, then nodded.
"The one trying to capture you, were there six or seven people in total, with one about my age?"
Little Li nodded again.
Lu Qing broke into a sweat. It really was that fellow.
His expression immediately turned serious, "Little Li, stay inside the house for the time being, don't go out. If other people come by, find a place to hide and don't let them see you, got it?"
It wasn't keen on meeting other people anyway.
Lu Qing turned his head again and reminded his sister, "And Little Yan, once we're outside, you must not mention anything about Little Li staying at our house, even to your friends. Otherwise, Little Li could very likely be taken away by others. Then, you would never be able to see Little Li again. Do you understand?"
"I understand! Little Yan won't tell anyone about Little Li!" replied Little Yan.
The moment the little one heard she might never see Little Li again, she immediately tightened her little face and answered earnestly.
She had finally become friends with Little Li and did not want to lose it.
Seeing Little Yan complying, Lu Qing finally relaxed a bit.
He was always fairly confident about the little one's ability to keep a secret.
For example, there was a considerable amount of silver in the house that he had warned her not to talk about, and until now, she hadn't let slip a word. Stay updated with empire
It wasn't that Lu Qing was being overly cautious.
Although it was true that Young Master Wei had fallen into the valley by himself, in the end, it was still related to Little Li.
This time Young Master Wei had nearly lost his life, and even though he was recovering, his body had been greatly weakened. In the future, it would likely take many precious medicinal materials to heal completely.
Having suffered such an ordeal, who could say he wouldn't harbor resentment towards Little Li?
It would be fine if he never saw Little Li, but if he did, he'd probably try to catch it for revenge.
Lu Qing remembered well that the guy's character was not exactly pleasant.
Although Little Li was a Red Light Spiritual Beast and, in his assessment of superpowers, on the same level as the Inner Organ Realm,
Lu Qing didn't think it could defeat the guards of the Wei Family if it really came down to it.
Human methods of combat were too varied, and their schemes were too cunning, not something a simple spiritual beast could understand.
Not to mention, the Housekeeper of Wei was also a Martial Arts Expert of the Inner Organ Realm.
Thinking of this, it seemed better for Little Li to hide and not meet with the people from the Wei Family for a while.
In fact, Lu Qing preferred to have Little Li hide deep in the mountains, far away from here for a time, until the people from the Wei Family had left.
But seeing how it had waited on the eaves all night for a fish this morning, he knew that Little Li had started to see the nearby area as its territory.
It wouldn't be easy to get it to leave this place.
If it couldn't resist the temptation of the fish and sneaked over like today, the risk of being exposed would be even greater.
Rather than that, it was better to let it hide in the house and avoid these troubled times.
In the following days, after further questioning, Lu Qing learned that Little Li had no parents nearby.
In this vast mountain, there was only this one Black Night Spirit Fox.
It didn't even know how it had come to be in the mountain.
All it knew was that since it became conscious, it had lived in the mountains, just in a different area.
It had only recently wandered to the mountain area behind Jiuli Village.
Knowing this, Lu Qing felt truly at ease about keeping Little Li. He no longer worried that one day two adult Black Night Spirit Foxes would jump out and come accusing him.
And so, Little Li officially moved into Lu Qing's house.
Since Young Master Wei's injuries had stabilized, Lu Qing no longer needed to stay at Half Mountain Small Courtyard all day.
His life returned to its previous rhythm.
Every morning he would go to Half Mountain Small Courtyard to greet his master and study medical skill for the morning, after which he could spend his time as he pleased.
He could go fishing, grow vegetables, and practice martial arts.
For Little Li, such days were undoubtedly blissful.
Each day it could be the first to enjoy the fresh fish Lu Qing caught, and the taste was simply too divine.
After eating its fill, Little Yan would massage and scratch its itches.
These days were far more comfortable than its life in the mountains.
Little Li didn't want to leave at all; it just wanted to stay at home forever.
As the days passed, the incident Lu Qing was worried about, that Little Li would be discovered by others, never occurred.
And Young Master Wei, under the elder doctor's meticulous treatment, began to recover at a visibly quick pace.
Finally, on the seventh day after Young Master Wei woke up, he was able to get out of bed and walk around.
This also meant that he was strong enough to withstand the journey and could start his trip back to the Wei Family.