Just as the fox was about to speak, Ji Yuan raised his right index finger before his lips.
"Shh... come with me."
After saying that, Ji Yuan glanced at the thoughtful Old Monk Foyin and led the excited fox toward the other end of the alley with him.
They did not stop until the two men and the fox had passed the grass shed behind a household at the end of the alley. Ji Yuan and Old Monk Foyin tacitly found a bundle of dry straw and sat down.
The fox, still holding the hanging cord of the wine jar in his mouth, darted onto a pile of straw as well. After setting down the jar, he repeatedly bowed to Ji Yuan.
"It really is you! It really is you, Mister! It's me—I'm Hulai! Thanks to you, Mister, we're no longer what we once were. So many fox elders praise our talent! Oh, right, Mister, did you come to see us? How is Big Black Dog? We fled in such a hurry that night, and I don't know whether anything happened to him!"
"Yes, yes, yes. This person Ji remembers you."
Ji Yuan thought for a moment and recalled the Big Black Dog that had later drunk with the foxes. It was because of that occasion that the dog seemed to have directly caught an addiction to wine. Before Ji Yuan left, he had even given it a cup of wine and left it with words of encouragement.
"That Big Black Dog was fine. He was only smoked half to death that night."
The fox immediately laughed, seemingly able to picture Big Black Dog being smoked senseless. Seeing Ji Yuan look at the wine jar beside him, the fox hastily explained.
"This wine wasn't stolen. That wine shop has attended