"You two look exactly alike."
Ah Qing squatted in front of the air conditioning vent, her eyes full of joy as she observed the little fox and Fox Mother, exclaiming with a long sigh and a face full of playful affection.
Some beautiful things simply appearing before your eyes can be enough to bring a healing feeling to your heart.
Undoubtedly, both the little fox and Fox Mother are textbook examples of beautiful foxes, without the skinny foxes' sharp-eared trends. To sum them up: very round and smooth, just seeing them makes you feel happy.
"Xiaolan, can I touch your... Hmm?" Ah Qing enthusiastically opened her mouth, wanting to ask the little fox if she could pet Fox Mother, but once she spoke, she felt a subtle sense of awkwardness.
Asking if you can touch someone's mother, it seems a bit impolite no matter how you look at it.
Ah Qing thought about it, changed her approach, and said, "Let's hold off on touching the big fox for now, I don't even know your mom's name yet, Xiaolan."
"Didn't have one before, but now according to Tian Xuanzi and the others, my mom's name is Great-Grandma, and my dad's name is Great-Grandpa..."
Ansheng spoke with a face full of joy, "So, Ah Qing, you can just call me Grandfather from now on..."
"Pfft!"
Ah Qing rolled her eyes, grabbed the little fox's cheek and began to knead it, and spat at him.
"Since you're the fox's mom, I'll just call you Fox Mother from now on."
Ah Qing rubbed the little fox who was comfortably leaning against her, then turned to Fox Mother to discuss the naming matter.
"Hmm..." Fox Mother was startled, a confused look appeared as she browsed the crayon drawings floating in her mind, and she looked at Ah Qing with a bit of suspicion.
In the crayon drawings, Ah Qing and the fox are sticking together, looking very close.
Next, Fox Mother pokes her head from the grass, glances at Ansheng and Ah Qing, then Ansheng and Ah Qing reach out and invite her to join them.
Ah Qing says she welcomes Fox Mother and affectionately calls her Fox Mother.
Fox Mother was shocked, shook her head vigorously, as if trying to shake the images out.
"Ah Qing! Come quickly, look what I found at the door!"
Ah Qing was communicating with Fox Mother, discussing future terms of address, when Momo, a little late, ran inside from the doorway, full of excitement and boasting.
"Hmm?"
Momo ran beside Ah Qing, extending her fist that she'd been holding tightly. Ah Qing was puzzled and stared at Momo's clenched fist with a face full of doubt.
"You're not hiding something to scare me, are you?" Ah Qing looked at Momo with a hint of caution.
Momo's mysterious actions also prompted both Ansheng and Fox Mother to look at her hand with suspicion.
"Look!"
Momo slowly opened her palm, revealing a tiny, round little mouse about the size of a thumb.
The little mouse was very small, brownish-yellow, probably because the weather was too cold, it was shivering all over.
"Squeak!?"
The shivering little mouse, seeing daylight, subconsciously glanced out and saw two foxes staring at it with confusion, and in a flash, its breath froze and went limp in Momo's palm.
"It's a little house mouse, haven't seen one in a while." Seeing the little mouse in Momo's palm, Ah Qing smiled and greeted the trembling mouse.
Before coming to study in the north, Ah Qing always thought mice had thick little legs, and some were extremely oversized, like capybaras, even weighing forty pounds.
A real Maine Coon passes by and would take a few swipes.
It wasn't until Ah Qing saw juvenile little house mice that her stereotype of mice was refreshed.
Little house mice don't even slap themselves!
"These little creatures are cute, unlike the brown house mice back home that make people think we live in Lingnan, otherwise people might think we're at Yellow Wind Ridge..."
"Those huge rats practically bounce and say, 'Help me in my practice, little one.'" Momo commented with a face full of emotion, then curiously looked at the little fox and Ah Qing asking, "Is it... a reunion?"
"Hmm... that part is over, but the Fox Father part seems a bit tricky."
Ah Qing shifted her position, leaning shoulder to shoulder with Momo, pointed to Fox Father on the beach chair, and whispered to Momo about what happened.
"Uh..."
Momo glanced at Fox Father. Even though it's a fox face, it's clear to see a stern and vigilant look in its eyes, with none of the little fox's liveliness.
"He's... obviously got a serious personality." Momo commented as she looked at Ah Qing.
"Hmm-hmm~ Hmm..."
Fox Mother followed their gaze and also glanced at Fox Father on the chair, spoke lightheartedly, with a hint of dismissiveness, and nudged her mouth forward.
"Hmm? Where are you taking me again?"
Ansheng curiously looked at Fox Mother. Fox Mother turned toward another compartment of the annex.
This room, obviously adapted for fox suitability, with furniture lowered a notch, and without obstacles for fox parkour, tiles were covered with dual-sided carpets.
A layer of short velvet for foxes to tread on and a non-slip side exposed on the tiles.
"Hmm!"
Fox Mother hopped onto the sofa, lifted her paw to tap the TV remote, turning on the TV that was already set to "Wildlife World."
Fox Mother nudged, pushing the pure meat snacks on the sofa towards Ansheng.
It seemed to be saying:
Forget your stingy father, he was born with a sour face.
Come on, our family is affluent now, no need to worry about little fox snacks, you're back, don't be polite.
Fox Mother is remarkably intelligent, far beyond ordinary foxes, with extraordinary memory.
She may not be a Spirit Beast, but she's certainly reached the standard of a Spiritualized fox.
"Well... thanks."
Ansheng wasn't polite, sat right down on the sofa, and started enjoying the snacks.
Ansheng entered the entertainment room, where attendants, per protocol, brought cut fruit plates and a glass of water.
However, Ansheng additionally ordered a cup of cola.
Fox Mother's snacks are pretty good, a type of thinly sliced beef jerky with higher oil content, air-dried and lightly sprayed with saline solution, becoming crunchy beef slices.
Ansheng thought it was quite tasty.
"Ah Qing, would you like to try some crisps?" Ansheng asked as he saw Ah Qing entering the room.
"Xiaolan, come over here, I have something to discuss with you."
Ah Qing waved at the little fox, signaling him to come to the corner of the annex, with a private matter to discuss.
"Hmm? What's the matter?"
Ansheng curiously jumped off the sofa and followed Ah Qing to the annex's corner, asking her.
"Earlier, Taoist Tian Xuanzi took us to tour Fox Father and Fox Mother's home, uh... felt very luxurious. This annex is their nap room, and the garden outside with three rows of houses across belongs to them."
Ah Qing was a bit puzzled, "It seems taking Fox Father and Fox Mother home isn't as simple as adding a pair of chopsticks, we might need to take out a small loan."
"I just wanted to ask your opinion..."
In the past half hour, Ah Qing quickly calculated an account, given Fox Father and Fox Mother's living standards, and added some compensation for fostering loss to the wealthy merchant surnamed Sun.
If not a few million, this account can't be settled.
Ah Qing, a student who hasn't graduated yet, obviously can't fill such a huge gap.
"You're really planning to take them, huh!" Ansheng looked at Ah Qing in surprise, "Then... I also want underfloor heating, we don't have underfloor heating and a 130-inch TV at home."
"Um... I'll try my best, probably within two years I can barely manage." Ah Qing thought and replied.
"What effort!" Ansheng rolled his eyes, patted Ah Qing's forehead, and said:
"I'll handle this. Your effort will just lead us to work illegal jobs."
"Don't go striving to become the 'ambitious youth' of the village and get kicked out of the family register by Old Chen."
"Uh... I would never lie."
"I'm afraid you'll be deceived!"