"Caw—"
"Doubles! Doubles! Mixed doubles, caw—"
The crow shed its multicolored black feathers and fell from the wall, landing bare-bottomed with its eyes spinning as it staggered two circles in front of the pavilion, tripping over its own feet before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Caw—"
The crow moaned, completely ignoring Master Fuli beside it, and kicked its feet in reflex.
"Don't sleep too deeply tonight, I'll notify the gang's brothers to come with you home, we'll seize your water meter and confiscate all illicit gains as tuition!"
Ansheng jumped down from the wall, his expression serious, raising his hand to point a finger-sword at the crow's head, notifying it not to sleep too soundly tonight because they'd need its cooperation in the raid.
"Caw..."
The crow shakily raised its wings, barely managing to pull its thumb and index into an OK sign.
"Lucky you know your place, dare to steal Lin Ying's family's treasures again and I'll fold your drumstick into threes."
Ansheng snorted coldly, showing no mercy to the notorious habitual offender crow.
It had been stealing for months, once sneaking in and out of Lin Ying's home using unknown means to snatch some trivial items, and preparing for a shocking heist once it got familiar.
But it was precisely this big plan that led to the crow's downfall.
Lin Ying's family had firearms, and recently the overseas Lin clan was relocating, with some responsible for cargo transport temporarily staying at the estate.
If the security hadn't reported to police, the Lin family might have slaughtered it into soup to nourish the lady.
"Come! High-five, Lin Ying!"
After scolding the clueless fat chicken, Ansheng turned to Lin Ying, lifting his paw high with a joyful expression on his face: "Celebrating our mischief, plucked the fat chicken's feathers clean!"
"Stealing chickens, that's a hunting skill passed down through millennia in the Fox Race with etiquette!"
"Yahaha, silly fat chicken...actually jumped into the fox's den itself to get beaten."
Lin Ying's fox ears twitched on her head, and she squatted to lift her palm, pressing firmly against Master Fuli's paw with a shared smile.
The big and small foxes let out childlike clear and bright laughter.
In the end.
Lin Ying couldn't resist Jin Wanlin's temptation and injected herself, teaming up with Master Fuli to besiege the crow that flew into the fox's den.
"Oh right, Master Fuli, I just pulled out two bird eggs from the crow, how about hot spring eggs later?"
Lin Ying lifted Master Fuli, placing him atop her head with light steps, holding out the two eggs.
"Bird eggs?"
Ansheng stared blankly at the two bird eggs, turning to the crow still lying on the ground and asked, "Are they fertilized or not? If not, we'll cook hot spring eggs."
"Caw....."
The crow, exhausted, lifted its bald wing to make an OK sign, indicating it's all good, since those are ostrich eggs it picked on its own.
"Thanks, sister, I'll treat you to supper tonight..."
Ansheng thanked the crow, lying on Lin Ying's head gleefully saying:
"The bird eggs can be eaten. One more thing, Master Fuli, I'm quite famous now, having wiped out the Royal Mutual Benefit Group's executives—they were just tied up by your great-grandfather for his personal use."
"Is that so? That's great, those cloud services and Western tree leaf plantations won't keep coming with knives to block your grandpa's doorstep..." Lin Ying sighed with a gentle smile, scratching under Master Fuli's chin.
"Huh? Western tree leaves?" Ansheng was confused, raising a questioning eyebrow to Lin Ying, "Does old Lin still sell those?"
"Hmm...our ancestors were sold as labor to Golden Mountain, very persecuted! First built railroads then viewed as heretical, in many ways the selling reasons involved opium..."
"Our family doesn't deal in those, but grandpa is a major shareholder of West Coast Power; now with trends favoring AI investments, they consume lots of power, stealing electricity from America's primary physical industry of tree leaves."
"The new and old farm owners are in conflict, so grandpa plans to acquire a few more power stations, integrating into West Coast Power's grid, making both money and holding energy discourse."
"I heard grandpa saying the new and old farm owners are scrambling for electricity, with West Coast Power considering shutting down generators Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and maintaining lines Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays creating an artificial scarcity."
"Mhm...in twenty years, the fairy tale's matchstick girl will become a leaf-selling girl."
Fox Lady transformed Lin Ying being cheerful, chatting with Master Fuli about overseas Lin family's business layouts and related investments.
Casually mentioning some long-term overseas living common things.
Such as electricity, unlike Xia Country, America charges a package rate like phone data; if exceeding the package the per-unit price skyrockets.
If unused, there's a penalty fee.
America's houses mostly wooden, once cooled down heating back requires terrifying electricity.
Cooling a house every so often, what electric package wouldn't exceed limits.
"Leaf-selling girl...ridiculous." Ansheng black-lined face grumbled to Lin Ying: "But the logic fits, cause I wondered how matches could cause hallucinations."
"In those times, hallucinogenic possible, craftsmanship meant matches may contain heavy metals, chronic neurotoxins possibly leading to hallucinations..." Lin Ying stated confidently.
Continuously observing the two foxes, Jin Wanlin and Uncle Jinlong's mouths twitched.
Their conversation...really makes Satan want two fox tattoos.
Truly hellish....
More hellish is these ideas came from closed-door meetings of West Coast Power's CEO, and the board unanimously agreed.
Are the tricksters electricity-less, how's that related to elders, elders have nuclear, hydro, thermal power plants.
In Lin Ying's family bath, she personally scrubbed away Master Fuli's travel dust in the temperature-controlled pool, exhausted after a lunch feast, preparing to send Master Fuli home.
In Master Fuli's half-day outing, Ah Qing and Lin Ying's WeChat record exceeded a hundred entries.
Every two hours, Lin Ying sent video updates to Ah Qing proving the little fox alive, reassuring her.
Saved many videos on her phone, no worries about evidence falsification concerns.
A black business car drove into Tea Capital, Lin Ying holding Master Fuli, smiling down as she softly rubbed the well-fed little fox's belly.
Lin Bingyun and Lin Shu followed, carrying bags of Lingnan specialties.
Lin Ying found Ah Qing's location, leading the little fox to her spot.
"Huh? Ah Qing, why're you holding a husky?"
Arriving at Tea Capital's riverside, Ansheng spotted Ah Qing livestreaming, emitting intermittent sighs.
Ah Qing held a phone in her left and a green eco-bag in her right; holes cut on sides for the husky's head and limbs to peek through.
The husky looked weary, hearing Master Fuli's surprised inquiry only slightly tilting its head releasing a half-dead "woof."
"Xiaolan!"
Hearing the little fox's laughter, Ah Qing's face lit up with excitement, sprinting five meters to scoop the fox into her embrace.
"Umm..."
"Naughty Xiaolan! See, gone half a day, now separation anxiety cropped up!"
"Know what you did wrong!" She rubbed the fox's cheeks vigorously, treating it as a scrubbing towel, grumbled to it warmly.