Old Madam Xiao found it a little amusing.
"You..."
Grandmother Zhao rubbed her neck and gave a light cough.
"To be serious..."
"I hadn't planned to give the stone carving away..."
Some of what she'd said earlier had just been a joke.
She knew the stone carving wouldn't be a popular gift.
It was big and clumsy.
"But you know I'm moving."
Since things had already come to this, she might as well think it through.
"...But I don't dislike it enough to smash it and be rid of it."
"Though you can't say you're very fond of that stone carving..."
Grandmother Zhao smiled wryly.
As soon as Old Madam Xiao said that, Grandmother Zhao let out a sudden, dawning "Oh."
"You're willing to keep it?"
"It's been at my house for years, too."
Grandmother Zhao felt a little relieved.
"Mm..."
After a brief pause, Grandmother Zhao smiled.
"My grandson went to all that trouble to carry it back..."
Had she just said that out loud?
It really was a beautiful fox.
"What gift should I get him to make up for it?"
Thinking about it now, she had rather jumped the gun.
"Didn't you say you were attached to it?"
She hadn't even noticed...
"You know Xiao Xiao has a fox for a pet..."
She'd said it was a secret, and they'd thought it was a surprise. Instead, it had been a shock...
"There's also a courtyard..."
A fox stone carving... It really did look quite like Xiao Xiao's pet.
It fit everyone's imagination of a fox after reading those vivid, gorgeous descriptions.
"Your stone carving looks quite a bit like Xiao Xiao's pet, A Si."
"I don't mind."
Old Madam Xiao waved a hand.
Old Madam Xiao smiled.
"...I thought of you."
Xiao