Chapter 3

"..."

Seeing the white fox greet him, Chen Fengshui's face stiffened, and he immediately turned around, not daring to delay for even a second, running away at full speed.

In fact, the first person An Sheng met when he arrived in Zhangxizhen wasn't Yu Xueqing, but Chen Fengshui.

Back then, after An Sheng came out of the mountains, he chose to take a slow train south to Zhangxizhen to mooch off some meals.

Because there was Taoist culture here, as well as legends of fox immortals and the pun-filled story of "Lord Fuli."

Zhangxizhen was a very livable city for a fox like An Sheng.

However, when An Sheng transferred to a tricycle to reach Zhangxizhen, he happened to run into Chen Fengshui, who saw An Sheng lying on a fruit basket in the tricycle at a glance.

Then, Chen Fengshui notified the Forestry Bureau to come and arrest An Sheng.

There were no farms near Zhangxizhen, only a few tea mountains, some farmland, ponds, and fish fry factories.

Since there were no farms, Chen Fengshui felt that the fox must be a wild animal.

You have to know, the legend of Lord Fuli made foxes rank among the immortals locally; as the saying goes, it's easy to invite a god but hard to send one away.

Ordinary families wouldn't, and wouldn't dare, keep a fox as a pet at home.

Letting a wild animal of unknown origin into the village—who knew if it carried viruses or if it would damage the villagers' property?

So, Chen Fengshui decisively reported it, saying a wild animal had broken into the village and asking the comrades to make a trip.

An Sheng had arrived by train, and then left Zhangxizhen with both hands holding onto an iron cage in a pickup truck.

The Forestry Bureau arrested An Sheng, and in subsequent routine checks, they were surprised to find that An Sheng was not an artificially raised Arctic fox, but a genuine albino red fox of the Xia-North subspecies.

Xia-North red foxes were only distributed in the Jing-Ji region; there was no distribution in other parts of the Xia Kingdom.

Once the check results came out, the Forestry Bureau was stunned and hurriedly called the Public Security Bureau, saying there might be smuggling and poaching involved.

The Public Security Bureau also pulled relevant surveillance to track An Sheng's trail.

Afterward, the uncles at the Public Security Bureau were also stunned.

That albino red fox had taken a slow train by itself at night to the Xia-East region.

After a meeting and discussion, they unanimously decided to send the albino red fox back to the Xia-North region and let the zoo there handle it themselves.

Their Xia-East region also had Xia-East subspecies red foxes.

Moreover, their budget was really limited and they couldn't take care of a fox cub from a brother's home.

For Chen Fengshui, An Sheng's arrival was just a small episode outside of daily affairs.

It wasn't until a week later, when Old Chen saw An Sheng riding a speedboat from the coast into the river, returning to Zhangxizhen riding the waves, that Old Chen stopped speaking directly.

Old Chen went to apologize overnight with a braised lion-head goose, Maotai, and roast chicken.

Otherwise, Old Chen really couldn't explain why he was imprisoning a genuine second-class protected animal in his home.

He couldn't tell the public security officers that the fox had become a spirit, could he?

Even now, Chen Fengshui still felt lingering fear when recalling his second meeting with that fox.

"Sigh—the country is really getting better, the green mountains and clear waters are developing, and even the foxes have become spirits, knowing they belong to the country's protected animals, running into the village to pull a scam; it's really a damn strange thing..."

"What the hell did I see? I saw a fox sitting on a stool fixing a door lock!"

"I couldn't even bear to drink that bottle of Maotai."

After getting far away from Yu Xueqing's house, Chen Fengshui looked back and couldn't help but shake his head.

He wanted to complain about being bullied by a fox in the village, but didn't know where to start or how to complain to others about such a bizarre thing...

Old Chen was worried his wife would send him to a mental hospital.

You say a fox from Xia-North ran thousands of miles to Zhangxizhen to bully you?

You must be drinking fake liquor mixed with industrial alcohol to have such a dream!

Being scammed by a fox, and yet not even daring to talk about it.

Old Chen felt very aggrieved; he had roamed the mountains and fields for fifty years and had never encountered a wild animal he couldn't handle.

But one as wild as An Sheng was truly a first in Old Chen's life.

He even lost a bottle of 12-year-old cellar-aged Maotai because of it.

After all, foxes are vengeful; if he didn't handle this matter well, Old Chen was worried the fox would assassinate him.

It's a second-class protected animal!

Times have developed, technology has progressed, and protection laws that didn't exist before have been perfected.

In short, Old Chen was just submissive, aggrieved, and wanted revenge, but was afraid of going to jail.

"Old Chen, why are you running faster the more I call you? I was just going to borrow a bottle of WD-40 lubricant."

Seeing Chen Fengshui running away, An Sheng couldn't help but scratch his triangular fox ears and sigh.

In the whole town, besides Yu Xueqing knowing he was human-like, only Old Chen knew he had become a spirit.

However, he seemed to have scared Old Chen earlier, and now he took a detour whenever he saw him...

Back when he returned to Zhangxizhen, An Sheng hadn't actually done anything; he just pulled on Old Chen's pant leg and lay on the ground, stiff as a board, sticking out his long tongue, looking like he was about to drop dead.

Then, he followed Old Chen home, wanting to mooch a meal at his place.

Old Chen knew he was a second-class protected animal and knew he had become a spirit; if he didn't eat at his house, where else could he eat a big meal?

It's just a pity that Old Chen lacked loyalty; after one meal, there was no second.

It forced him to catch mountain chickens in the village, and for that, he even got into a standoff with the local bully, a King Cobra.

"If there's no WD-40, pencil lead can make do."

An Sheng let out a long whimper, turned around, and with a running start, climbed up the courtyard wall.

Foxes are also known as elves of the forest; some fierce foxes with strong climbing abilities can even build their nests in trees seven or eight meters high.

A wall of just over two meters was no challenge for An Sheng.

He walked along the wall to the neighbor's house and looked into the courtyard opposite.

In the courtyard, there were some scattered farm tools, several motorcycles stained with yellow mud, and a strip-shaped Labrador. It lay on the ground, motionless, radiating a gloomy atmosphere.

Gas-cylinder-shaped Labradors are common, but a Labrador as thin as a dry stick is rare.

"Woof—"

An Sheng lay on the wall, suddenly let out a dog bark, and greeted the skinny Labrador.

"Woof."

The Labrador named Laifu, lying in the shade of the greenhouse, slightly raised its head, looked at the white fox greeting it, and let out a long, depressed sigh, barely responding.

Laifu lay back on the ground, half-dead; the dog food in the stainless steel bowl beside it hadn't been touched.

"Don't be sad, isn't it just losing two dog eggs? Out with the old, in with the new!"

An Sheng leaped over the alley between the two houses, landed in the neighbor's yard, and with a face full of pity, reached out and patted Laifu's head, which was so thin you could see the bone behind its brain.

Laifu didn't lack food or drink; Laifu's grandmother even often fed it snacks.

The reason it had become as thin as lightning all stemmed from two weeks ago.

The wall of Laifu's house wasn't actually very high, just enough to be a gesture, which led it to often climb over the wall to hunt for extra food, making it plump and strong.

However, those who often walk by the river are bound to get their shoes wet.

Two weeks ago, Laifu went out to forage, shortly after An Sheng arrived at Yu Xueqing's house.

An Sheng witnessed with his own eyes Laifu taking a running jump to get home, but whether it was because it was too full or its foot slipped, the Labrador's upper body got into the house, but its two meat bells got stuck directly in the door crack.

The Labrador, weighing at least eighty jin, was suspended on the gate, supported only by its two bells.

An Sheng's eyelids twitched as he watched; Laifu's shrill screams echoed throughout the town.

At that time, the whole family of the house owner ran out, and Yu Xueqing also ran over to help.

But it was a great pity that the two bells couldn't bear the weight of eighty jin and shattered on the spot.

After Laifu came out of the pet hospital, it seemed to know it had lost its mating rights and had been depressed ever since.

"Sigh, Brother Fu, don't be sad. Eat something; I'm just here to borrow some lubricant."

After An Sheng barked twice, he turned around and went to Laifu's house to find something that could lubricate.

Fixing the door lock, blocking the dog hole, watching the house—two hours had passed and he still hadn't finished; An Sheng was slightly worried about Yu Xueqing coming back to check on him.

If he'd known Old Chen would pass by, An Sheng should have sat at the door scrolling through videos and caught Old Chen to help.

"Ying."

An Sheng sighed; time and fate, heaven does not wait for me!

(End of chapter)