"Hm?"
That was much as Tang Changsheng had thought. He nodded slightly. The Manor must have stood empty, allowing the foxes to claim it and make their home there.
Then Zhang Bancheng had moved in, turning the place upside down with repairs and cleaning. Startled out of their hiding places, the foxes had come to take revenge.
Fortunately, the two foxes were kindhearted. They had done no more than cause a little trouble. Otherwise, someone in Zhang Bancheng's household might have died long ago. How could it have been limited to a few strange incidents?
Zhang Bancheng's estate was enormous, covering at least several acres. There was no way he could fill every room.
Tang Changsheng smiled. "Find out where the foxes used to live, set the place up for them, and invite them back. You can all be neighbors.
"Landowner Zhang has a great household and a vast estate. You can't possibly occupy the whole Manor, can you?"
Anyone else might have flown into a rage at those words. Laozi paid you all this money to deal with a few damned foxes, and you want me to give them rooms?
Hell, you want me to live with monsters? What if they get a wild idea one night and eat Laozi?
Even if foxes don't eat people, living alongside monsters would still set my teeth on edge!
But Zhang Bancheng was different. He nodded repeatedly. "Harmony brings prosperity, harmony brings prosperity... Yes, that works!"
He was about to send servants to do as Tang Changsheng had suggested. Tang Changsheng chuckled inwardly.
He had already spotted an inconspicuous patch of black cloud drifting slowly across the water outside the Flower Hall...
The two little foxes had plainly returned and were eavesdropping outside.
Tang Changsheng had said some of those things specifically