[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent":3,"chapter-the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-chapter-153":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Fox Has No Malicious Intent",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2340606,4575,"Chapter 153: New Equipment for the Chen Ancestral Hall【Subscription and Monthly Tickets Requested】","the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-chapter-153",153,"\u003Cp>Is the quality of the tea leaves really this bad? Haven’t Yu Xueqing’s tea trees been growing for quite some time?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Sheng arrived at Old Chen’s house, ignoring the flattery of the tea master—an old man who couldn’t refuse the good fortune implied by the pun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, Fu Li.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing An Sheng’s arrival, Old Chen, constrained by the presence of others, couldn’t casually call him “Fu Li Lao Ye” as he usually did; after struggling for a long moment, he blurted out a poorly pronounced, grade-B standard Mandarin phrase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get lost, what drug did you take?” The tea master spoke up first, before An Sheng could say anything: “Don’t you see Fu Li Lao Ye has come to your door? Why are you chasing away good fortune?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen sighed helplessly and quickly set up a shrine for Fu Li Lao Ye, attending to the tea master and his apprentices so they wouldn’t say anything foolish here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our Zhangxizhen’s Fu Li Lao Ye isn’t just some pun-based good omen—he’s a true white fox immortal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of you, say less, make fewer wishes in front of Fu Li Lao Ye—it’ll be helping me, Old Chen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen settled Fu Li Lao Ye properly, then went out to the courtyard to help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it was evening, the sun in the Xiadong region didn’t set until after seven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the air-drying step, the tea leaves, having lost surface moisture and absorbed substantial heat, couldn’t be piled into a heap—they had to be cooled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant moving them to a shaded area, turning them over to lower their temperature and prevent internal leaves from yellowing or fermenting due to heat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen, the tea master, and his apprentices worked tirelessly until all the cooled leaves were spread evenly on round bamboo trays and placed in Old Chen’s air-drying room, marking the end of the first day’s tea leaf harvest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oolong tea processing is such a hassle,” An Sheng remarked, watching Old Chen, who had just finished shoveling leaves and was rubbing his aching lower back, face twisted in agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun-drying, cooling, and air-drying are merely the first step in oolong tea processing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rolling, pan-firing, kneading, and charcoal roasting are what truly kill you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rolling means placing the tea leaves in a round bamboo tray about 1.2 meters wide and shaking it vigorously, causing the leaves to collide and oxidize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tea leaves were tossed about like they were dying, and the workers responsible for rolling were just as exhausted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sigh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen let out a long breath, rubbed his aching back, and walked up to Fu Li Lao Ye: “It’s done—for now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fu Li Lao Ye, you’ve come here now because of the tea processing workshop, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ying ying ying—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The little fox, squatting on the tea table, looked at Old Chen, who had just picked up his teacup, its face solemn, raising a paw in a clear “stop” gesture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen froze, puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huuu—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next second, two additional tails suddenly sprouted behind the little fox on the tea table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three fluffy, snow-white tails fluttered in the breeze before Old Chen’s eyes; the fox wore a look of pure pride.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“!?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open involuntarily, and the tea he’d just sipped slowly dripped down from his open mouth onto his crotch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen stared, dumbfounded, trembling as he raised a shaking hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“F-F-F-Fu Li Lao Ye! How many people have you eaten to cultivate this?! Three tails already!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pah! How many demons have you eaten to cultivate this!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Old Chen rarely visited Yu Xueqing’s home, he’d recently learned—due to the tea competition—that Fu Li Lao Ye had traveled with Yu Xueqing and one of her classmates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now, just three or four days later, Fu Li Lao Ye had grown an extra tail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen was stunned—he’d only seen two tails last time!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ying ying! Ying ying!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The once-proud little fox’s face darkened at Old Chen’s comment, and it erupted into a stream of indignant yips:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wretch! I protect this region, subduing evil spirits and demons—I earn devotion energy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Granted by the Nine Heavens, my foundation is solid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You insignificant Old Chen, stop spouting nonsense—or I’ll take you to a spa, then call the police and have you locked up for reflection!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the fox jump up and curse, Old Chen flushed with embarrassment, realized his mistake, slapped himself, then drank three cups of Dongding Oolong as penance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cough—congratulations, Fu Li Lao Ye, your divine skill has reached perfection! Shall we head to the tea workshop? I’ve brought back all the tea leaves you requested.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen wiped the tea off his pants with a towel, subtly changing the subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ying ying!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The little fox grumbled a few times, then wrote on Old Chen’s phone screen:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【I’ll forgive your unintentional slip. Besides, how could I possibly eat people? Next time I’m free, I’ll take you to see the real dark forces in Jiule City.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Right now, come with me to sun-dry and air-dry the leaves. Then call Ah Hong—find out why no one’s showing up for the harvest. If he won’t help with work, at least he should pay for the foot massage and the bill.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Sheng wrote, dissatisfied—himself, Yu Xueqing, and Old Chen were all busy with tea processing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the one directly involved never showed up to help, and yet he owed them some gesture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, no matter what else, he’d open two three-thousand-yuan cards at a foot spa—Ah Hong would pay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, no, not necessary—Ah Hong just called. He got the report and is bringing groceries over to cook dinner.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen’s eyes twitched slightly as he read the high-end foot spa names on the screen—he couldn’t imagine what Fu Li Lao Ye’s former life must have been like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d never been to Hai Linglong Spa, where you paid three thousand to enter and another three thousand to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen rode his electric scooter, placing Fu Li Lao Ye in his usual vegetable basket, heading toward the ancestral hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tea farmers with tea fields, or tea companies with processing workshops, were all stocking up for the upcoming tea competition, preparing to promote and sell their tea there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Borrowing a tea processing workshop wasn’t easy, especially during harvest season—every workshop was running 24\u002F7.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But securing a small workshop was no big problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Chen rode toward the ancestral hall, where behind it, in the newly built structure for the New Year, stood a small tea processing workshop—previously used only for display.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, it was perfect for Fu Li Lao Ye to use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ying? Ying ying ying—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The little fox, curled up in the scooter basket, felt the warm evening breeze. As they passed the square in front of the ancestral hall, sharp-eyed An Sheng spotted a large sack hanging above the hall’s entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Sheng frowned, lifting a tiny paw to point at the crossbeam above the hall’s door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? Oh, you mean the sack? Earlier, Chen Zhi and the others blew up cow dung. We’d never had such an incident before, so their families, being wealthy, treated the whole village to a meal to apologize.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But after thinking it over and holding a village committee meeting, we decided such behavior couldn’t continue—we came up with a method to make an example.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Anyone who disturbs the peace of our ancestors gets stuffed in that sack, tied to a bamboo pole, and whipped around the buttocks—so our ancestors can have a good laugh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To that end, the village committee bought a secondhand projector and an 8K HD TV.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Sheng: 6\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1272,"2026-06-20T23:19:16.017Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f9e9ae3fc9ddd97f4b123908efd9b1762b7c19b82e0fa65c755a506b2eeb61e0","the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-chapter-154","the-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-chapter-152",354,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-fox-has-no-malicious-intent-cover.jpg"]