Chapter 3: Where There Is Good Fortune, There Is Also Misfortune

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Seeing the white fox greet him, Chen Fengshui’s face froze; he immediately turned and fled without a moment’s delay.

In fact, the first person An Sheng encountered upon arriving in Zhangxizhen was not Yu Xueqing, but Chen Fengshui.

After leaving the mountains, An Sheng chose to take a green-skinned train south to Zhangxizhen to scavenge meals.

Because this place had Taoist culture, fox spirit legends, and a pun involving “Fuli Master.”

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

However, when An Sheng transferred to a tricycle and arrived in Zhangxizhen, he happened to meet Chen Fengshui, who immediately spotted An Sheng lying atop a fruit basket inside the vehicle.

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

There were no breeding farms near Zhangxizhen—only a few tea hills, some farmland, ponds, and fish hatcheries.

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

After all, the legend of Fuli Master had elevated foxes to the status of deities here; as the saying goes, it’s easy to invite a god but hard to send him away.

Ordinary families would never dare keep a fox as a pet at home.

Letting an unknown wild animal enter the village—who knew if it carried viruses or might damage villagers’ property?

So Chen Fengshui promptly reported it, saying a wild animal had intruded into the village and asking the comrades to come take a look.

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

The Forestry Bureau arrested An Sheng, and during subsequent routine inspections, they were astonished to discover that An Sheng was not a captive-bred Arctic fox, but a genuine North Chinese subspecies of albino red fox.

The North Chinese red fox was found only in the Beijing-Hebei region; it had no distribution elsewhere in Xia.

Once the inspection results came out, the Forestry Bureau was stunned and immediately called the Public Security Bureau, suggesting possible smuggling or poaching activities.

The Public Security Bureau also reviewed surveillance footage to track An Sheng’s movements.

Later, the Public Security Bureau’s officers were stunned too.

That albino red fox had traveled alone on a green-skinned train at night to the Xia Dong region.

After a meeting and discussion, they unanimously decided to return the albino red fox to the North Xia region, letting the local zoo handle it themselves.

Their Xia Dong district also had Xia Dong subspecies red foxes.

Moreover, funding was extremely limited—they couldn’t afford to care for another region’s fox cub.

For Chen Fengshui, An Sheng’s arrival was merely a minor side incident outside his daily duties.

Until a week later, when Old Chen saw An Sheng riding Da Fei across the coast into Jianghe, cutting through wind and waves back to Zhangxizhen—then Old Chen fell silent.

That night, Old Chen brought braised lion’s head, Maotai, and roasted chicken to apologize.

Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly explain why he was imprisoning a National Class Two protected animal.

He couldn’t tell the security officers, “That fox became a spirit, didn’t he?”

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

“Ah—the country has truly improved; green mountains and clear waters are thriving, foxes have become spirits, know they’re protected, and come to the village to extort us—it’s just insane.”

“What the hell did I just see? I saw a fox sitting on a stool fixing a lock!”

“I didn’t even dare drink that bottle of Maotai.”

After leaving Yu Xueqing’s home, Chen Fengshui glanced back and couldn’t help shaking his head.

He wanted to complain about being bullied by a fox in the village, but didn’t know where to begin—no one would believe such a bizarre story.

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

You’re telling me a North Xia fox traveled thousands of miles just to bully you?

You must’ve been drinking industrial alcohol mixed with fake liquor to dream that!

Got extorted by a fox—and you can’t even dare to talk about it.

Old Chen felt deeply wronged—he’d roamed mountains and fields for fifty years, encountered every kind of wild animal.

But never in his life had he seen one as wild as An Sheng.

He’d even had to give up a twelve-year-aged bottle of Maotai.

After all, foxes hold grudges; if he didn’t handle this right, Old Chen feared the fox would assassinate him.

National Class Two!

Times have changed, technology has advanced, protection laws once nonexistent are now fully established.

In short, Old Chen was timid, oppressed, wanted revenge—but feared prison.

“Old Chen, why do you run faster the more I call? I was just going to borrow a bottle of W40 lubricant.”

Seeing Chen Fengshui run far away, An Sheng scratched his fox-shaped triangular ear and sighed.

Of the entire town, only Yu Xueqing knew he understood human speech—and Old Chen knew he had become a spirit.

But earlier, he’d scared Old Chen so badly that now the man always avoided him.

When An Sheng returned to Zhangxizhen again, he hadn’t done much—just tugged at Old Chen’s pant leg, stiffened his body on the ground, stuck out his long tongue, and looked like he was about to drop dead.

Then he followed Old Chen home, hoping to scavenge a meal.

Old Chen knew he was National Class Two and knew he’d become a spirit—where else could he go for a proper feast?

Unfortunately, Old Chen lacked loyalty; after one meal, there was no second.

That forced An Sheng to catch mountain chickens in the village, which led him into a confrontation with the local bully, Wang She.

“If I don’t have W40, pencil dust will do.”

An Sheng let out a long sigh, turned around, and sprinted to leap onto the top of the courtyard wall.

Foxes are called spirits of the forest; some particularly agile ones can even build nests on trees eight or nine meters high.

A mere two-meter wall posed no challenge to An Sheng.

He walked along the wall to the neighbor’s yard and looked across the courtyard.

The courtyard held scattered farming tools, several motorcycles caked in yellow mud, and a long, thin Labrador. It lay motionless on the ground, radiating a gloomy aura.

A fat Labrador was common, but one emaciated into a stick-like shape was rare.

“Wang—”

An Sheng crouched on the wall and suddenly barked, greeting the skinny Labrador.

“Wang.”

The Labrador named Laifu, lying in the cool shade of the greenhouse, lifted its head slightly, looked at the white fox greeting it, sighed heavily, and gave a weak reply.

Laifu slumped back to the ground, its stainless steel bowl of dog food untouched.

“Don’t be sad—it’s just two balls gone. Old ones leave, new ones come!”

An Sheng leaped across the alley between the two houses, landed in the neighbor’s courtyard, and with a look of pity, reached out to pat Laifu’s head—so thin the back of its skull showed clearly.

Laifu didn’t lack food or drink; his grandmother even often fed him snacks.

His emaciation stemmed entirely from two weeks ago.

Laifu’s courtyard wall wasn’t very high—just symbolic—so he often climbed over to hunt outside and grew fat and healthy.

But walking by the river often means getting your feet wet.

Two weeks ago, Laifu went out to forage, just after An Sheng arrived at Yu Xueqing’s home.

An Sheng witnessed it firsthand: Laifu sprinted and jumped to get home, but whether from overeating or a slip, his upper body made it inside—yet his two testicles got stuck in the door crack.

An eighty-pound Labrador, suspended by just those two balls, hung from the door.

An Sheng’s eyelids twitched; Laifu’s piercing screams echoed across the entire town.

At the time, the whole family rushed out, and Yu Xueqing ran over to help.

But unfortunately, the two balls couldn’t bear the eighty-pound weight—they shattered on the spot.

After leaving the pet hospital, Laifu seemed to realize he’d lost his breeding rights and remained gloomy ever since.

“Ah, Brother Laifu, don’t be sad—eat something. I just came to borrow some lubricant.”

After barking twice, An Sheng turned and went into Laifu’s house to find something to lubricate with.

He hadn’t finished fixing the lock or blocking the dog hole after two hours—he was slightly worried Yu Xueqing might return to check on him.

If he’d known Old Chen would pass by, An Sheng should’ve sat by the door watching videos and called him for help.

“Ying.”

An Sheng sighed—fate was against him!

(End of Chapter)