"Xiaolan... how about your mom?"
Ah Qing jumped down from the cabin, picked up the angry little fox, and patted his back to calm him.
"Shall we go and find them, bring your parents home too?" Ah Qing suggested to the little fox.
"Uh... it's hard to explain. It's not about not being able to find my parents."
Ansheng looked at Ah Qing helplessly, not knowing how to explain the family drama.
When Fox Father and Fox Mother saw that the cub's color was off, Fox Father disappeared overnight.
Fox Mother quickly retreated when the cub was weaned, completely afraid to take her cub outside.
Ansheng was just too fair-skinned; in the forest, when sunlight hit him, he glowed. He wasn't camouflaged at all, like a beacon in the night beckoning people to catch him.
Of course.
Ansheng remembered where his old home was, roughly around Mentougou in the Imperial Capital area, full of crows, the forest eerie like a magic cave from a cultivation world.
"What's so hard to explain? We can afford it!"
Ah Qing pinched the little fox's cheek; although the tradition of the Fox Race was to become independent after leaving home and not return, it was a modern age where such old rules shouldn't be kept.
But Ah Qing meant, we can afford it!
She had ten thousand bucks in her pocket right now.
"Ah Qing has a point. It concerns Master Fuli's family safety, we are duty-bound. Do you remember your birthplace?"
"Our Security Bureau will immediately set out to protect you and your blood-related Fox Race members," Snake Woman was sending messages to the Security Bureau, raising alarms and persuading Master Fuli not to underestimate this matter.
The Fox Mother and Fox Father who could produce Master Fuli might have something in their lineage.
"Well, okay! Although it's a bit odd..." Ansheng said with a strange expression, "You can go to the Lingshan Protection Zone, which is in that area of Mentougou in the Imperial Capital and look, or check other adjacent protection zones, you might find them."
"Where?"
Snake Woman was stunned upon hearing this, full of confusion asking Master Fuli.
Mentougou in the Imperial Capital?
Isn't that almost in the core area of the Imperial Capital?
The Imperial Capital and Xia Dong are nearly two thousand kilometers apart! How did Master Fuli run from the Imperial Capital to Xia Dong?
"Isn't it obvious?"
Ansheng pursed his lips, complaining, "Among all the subspecies of Red Fox, the North China Red Fox has the shortest legs."
"....Alright."
Snake Woman turned around with difficulty, squatted down tightly pursing her lips, afraid her mouth might smile.
As Snake Woman reported the information, everyone who reviewed the report in the Security Bureau was shocked, sending the action report to the task execution site.
The Imperial Capital Security Bureau managers even had a red exclamation mark pop above their heads, immediately ordering all security bureau members to return, uniting with multiple departments for enforcement.
Regardless of other matters, search the area around Mentougou for three days and find all the Red Foxes.
......
"Imperial Master?"
On the way back, Momo shook the little fox's butt with a peculiar expression.
"Don't mess around, just born there, my ancestors were dirt poor without a house in the city, it's all begging work when they entered the city," Ansheng waved his hand.
Foxes don't have to follow criminal laws, but they also don't get compensation from scenic area renovation and development.
If ancestors had some savings, he wouldn't have needed to ride a green train south to "home" to make a living.
"Xiaolan, you're smart to remember exactly where your family lives."
Ah Qing leaned into the cockpit, watching the little fox piloting the helicopter, complimenting him with a smile.
"If we'd known we'd pass the Imperial Capital during the National Holiday, we should've visited Fuli's old home," Tang You said regretfully.
"What's the point? It's an ecological protection zone, my home might even have had its hillside den collapse."
Ansheng piloted the helicopter landing, casually mentioning some things he saw at home when young.
When discussing childhood, Fox Mother was a topic hard to avoid.
Fox Mother... had a bad habit of playing "fox stacking" games.
Typically, when multiple foxes were observing secretly, they'd instinctively stack like Arhats to reduce surface area and avoid exposing themselves to creatures.
Fox Mother, weighing over twenty pounds, shamelessly always habitually pressed Ansheng when at the den entrance.
Though not a childhood trauma, the twenty-plus pounds of maternal love made Ansheng feel a bit breathless each time.
Luckily he learned to gasp, otherwise, Fox Mother's paw prints would be on his head.
Returning to the Qinling Ecological Base, watching Snake Woman escort the Evil Cultivator to the Security Bureau, Ah Qing also lost the mood for live streaming due to the little fox's situation.
Xiaolan's parents were in dire situations.
Ah Qing appeared even more anxious than Ansheng, although she didn't express it verbally.
Once she left the forest and had phone signal, she opened a shopping site, asked Ansheng's opinion, and bought two large canine soft beds.
Ansheng wasn't too bothered.
Though he hadn't returned home, he found information online about the area before.
Local Red Foxes are considered one of the country's protected species.
Local Red Foxes are part of the ecological chain; without them, the local chain isn't complete.
Fox Mother and Fox Father eat based on national terms, why worry about safety?
Red Foxes there are top meat-eaters in the local ecological chain, coupled with their cautious nature, Mentougou's Red Foxes live comfortably.
Were it not for Ansheng's laziness, he'd eat based on national terms there too.
On the hillside, food like eggs and sausages gets refreshed weekly in fixed areas.
In Ah Qing's anxious wait.
The next morning at dawn, Wang Qiqi made a video call to Ah Qing.
In the field class, Ah Qing answered without speaking first; Wang Qiqi began discussing the Security Bureau's actions.
"Uh... how to say this? I think we might have found Master Fuli's father."
"But, we need Master Fuli's identification," Wang Qiqi said with a peculiar expression.
"Ohoh... I'll request leave and return; is Xiaolan's dad okay?"
Ah Qing, hearing this, didn't care about the clashing tomato plants in the greenhouse, told the teacher she needed a restroom break, and rode a tricycle back to the dorm.
"High body fat might be a problem?"
"High body fat?" Ah Qing was stunned to hear such a prognosis from Wang Qiqi.
"Mm...."
Wang Qiqi rotated the phone camera towards the computer screen, "We suspect it might be Master Fuli's father because of this."
On the computer screen, there was a replay of a streaming session from the Ecological Park in Lingshan.
A male Red Fox sneakily dashed out, laying on the ground raising its hind legs, grinning mischievously.
After begging for food, it grabbed a custard pie and darted back to the forest.
"It's... considered a local internet celebrity fox."
Ah Qing: "......"