The old lady with a fox face was very pleased; the younger foxes, after taking their lumps from the world, still managed to come back alive.
This step, once you’ve made it through, things might get a bit easier after.
She reached out and gently patted the red fox’s head, her tone full of kindness.
"Come, tell grandma—what happened to you this time."
The red fox earnestly recounted what it had been through, and then, unable to hold back its curiosity, asked,
"Grandma, why did Su Yue want to save me?"
"Why do you think everything in this world must have a reason?" The old lady with a fox face knocked the red fox’s head with her knuckles.
"Isn’t that how it is?"
"No, sometimes you do things without a reason. And sometimes, you don’t need to ask for a reason. All you need to do is remember the thing itself."
"I don’t get it." The red fox used to think it had learned a lot, that it had grown up and matured, but its confusion just kept growing, and there were more and more things it couldn’t figure out.
"Hard to explain. You only get it after you’ve experienced it for yourself. Otherwise, no matter how nicely someone else puts it, you won’t understand. To put it simply, that’s called social lessons."
"Now, tell me carefully—what did the little zombie you saw look like? What were the patterns on her clothes? Draw them out for me."
The red fox stretched out a paw and drew some simple lines on the ground.
The old lady with a fox face looked at the patterns, then asked more detailed questions for quite a while.
Once she was done, the old lady left; the red fox slumped down on the ground, listless.
The pain from its leg kept it awake.
Though even now, it wasn’t clear-headed and couldn’t do much of anything.
When its grandma left, she took away its phone, as well as the solar panel, the three hidden chargers, and both backup phones.
Days without the internet or a phone felt even worse than having a broken leg.
This time the old lady was determined. The red fox knew, if it dared to play with the phone again, grandma would definitely smash it without a second thought.
On the other side, the old lady with a fox face made her way into the mountain cave, all the way to the end, and pressed gently on the rock wall. The stone gradually became transparent, then disappeared.
She went inside and took out a small box from a chest, stroking it gently, letting out a long sigh.
"It can only be someone from Fuyu Mountain then. I didn’t expect, after all these years...
I thought Fuyu Mountain had missed the whole revival boom these past decades and had already faded away completely.
Didn’t expect that, quietly, they’d dare to let a little zombie dressed in robes like that out."
She had recognized the robe, plus the very unusual little zombie, and that black-haired zombie guard.
Even if she couldn’t guess what was up with the foreigner named Su Yue, she could be certain the other party must be from Fuyu Mountain.
They didn’t say a word, just saved the red fox. Now that she knew, she couldn’t just play dumb.
For demons, it was even more important to value favors and worldly etiquette.
She wrote a letter, sealed it, and, taking that little box, headed down the mountain.
Stepping into the small town, her fox face gradually morphed, becoming the gentle and kind-faced old lady, peaceful in demeanor.
She hitched a ride on a senior tricycle and made her way to the post office, right to an office inside. Seeing her, the middle-aged man inside looked a bit startled, then quickly got up.
"Why, you came in person, ma’am? Please, have a seat."
"I’ve got something here, and a letter. I need to send them out, something important, and I’m worried regular delivery might lose it. I can only trouble you."
The old lady set the small box and the letter down on the desk.
"How much is the postage?"
"No, no... it’s fine—"
"That won’t do. Rules are rules. If I were asking a personal favor, I’d have to owe you, but if I’m sending something through the Scorching Sun Department’s channel, whatever it costs, just say so."
"Uh... you know the rules, right?"
"Just one letter and a small trinket. It’s not dangerous—just an old token from a friend, addressed to Fuyu Temple at Fuyu Mountain."
The old lady opened the box—inside was only a golden phoenix head hairpin.
The middle-aged man took out an instrument, scanned it, and saw that it was indeed nothing more than a pure gold ornament.
No unusual reaction. Even if it wasn’t just plain gold, at most it would count as a valuable item allowed for delivery.
As for the letter, he just scanned it with his device. Once he confirmed it was just ordinary stationery, he took out a box with walls five centimeters thick, put both items inside, and sealed it up right in front of her.
Then he asked the old lady to leave a mark on the lock, and that was that.
No matter how the lock was opened, the mark would disappear.
"This is a small item, minimum risk—I’ll just charge the base price."
"That’s fair." The old lady took out her phone, scanned the code, and paid three thousand yuan.
After mailing the package, the old lady didn’t rush off, but stayed to chat a bit longer.
"The chicken you sent lately has been really good, and the internet’s even better than before."
"Ah, you give me too much credit for that. It’s just that the villagers around here keep those little free-range chickens. They can sell them at their own doorstep and at a better price, too—means a little more income. That’s a good thing.
Not that many folks in this town can afford to eat these chickens every day, though.
As for the internet, got nothing to do with me—it’s simply because the villagers have more money now, built some new houses, and called in the fiber guys. Then the telecom folks put up a couple more towers."
"That’s nice," the old lady laughed too.