Inside the tenth-floor penthouse office of Dry-Well Mega Department Store #1, Nine-Tailed Fox Matriarch Su Meiniang sat stuck on the leather sofa like a fifteen-foot-wide snowball with ears.
Every time she breathed too hard, the static electricity locking her nine giant fox tails together went crackle-pop, threatening to rip her three-hundred-year-old fur out by the roots.
Just as she was about to bite her own tongue in despair, the inner door of the office swung open.
In walked Hong Ling, accompanied by newly promoted First-Floor Cosmetics Supervisor Hu Xiaohong—whose three blindingly soft, pearlescent white fox tails were swaying behind her red Dry-Well apron like three clouds of pure celestial silk!
When Su Meiniang saw her former steward Hu Xiaohong’s tails, her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets.
“Xiaohong?!” Su Meiniang squeaked from inside her giant dandelion knot. “What happened to your three tails?! Last week your third tail was thinner than a broomstick and had a yellow scorch mark from an alchemy stove! Why are your tails glowing like Rank 7 Immortal Moon-Silk?!”
Hu Xiaohong bowed respectfully—not to Su Meiniang, but to Pei Xuan and Hong Ling—before turning to her former Matriarch with a bright, professional department-store smile.
“Matriarch, that is because I stopped using our valley’s greasy flower oil and switched to Dry-Well Fluffy-Fur Mint Shampoo!” Hu Xiaohong said enthusiastically, holding up a large golden tub that smelled like warm royal honey, snow-lotus nectar, and morning dew. “And for an emergency static-knot crisis like yours, Lord Pei has…
