I Dug Up a Fox Spirit - Chapter 4

Sweeping was Qi Yu’s best chore.

The broom went in front, his tail swished behind, and soon the whole yard was spotless.

But when I asked him to sweep the chicken coop, he hugged his tail and shook his head furiously. “It’ll dirty my beautiful fur!”

“Can’t you just lick it clean?”

“I’m a fox! Not a cat!”

“So you don’t bathe or lick your fur? Then you’re not sleeping in the bed tonight.”

Qi Yu’s face fell.

The villagers all envied me for picking up such a handsome, hardworking husband.

He did seem a little slow in the head, though.

He was forever plowing Auntie Zhou’s field while he was at it, or chopping Uncle Wang’s firewood at the village entrance. Worst of all, he kept herding everyone else’s chickens, ducks, and geese into our yard.

Every day, I had to carry a bamboo basket from house to house, sorting out their owners. “This barred hen belongs to Uncle Zhang… That white goose is Sister-in-law Li’s…”

When the aggrieved owners came knocking, Qi Yu was loud and confident despite being completely in the wrong. “Call that chicken. If it answers, it’s yours.”

“If it doesn’t, what makes you think you can claim it?”

I grabbed his muzzle. “That’s enough. Stop talking.”

“Mmph…”

Ignoring his wounded look, I returned all the extra poultry.

Once everyone was gone, Qi Yu sidled up to me and muttered, “They followed me home of their own free will… Besides, you might have given away our chickens too. Look at the ones left. Every last one looks miserable.”

“And the ducks? We don’t keep ducks.”

Qi Yu had nothing to say.

I explained to the villagers that he wasn’t my husband.

Auntie Zhou stared. “If he’s not your husband, why does he work for you? How much do you pay him?”

“One egg.”

“He really is a fool!”

She slapped her thigh. “You’ve found yourself a bargain! I wondered how someone that handsome had ended up with you. So he’s got a problem up here.”

She pointed at her head.

When Qi Yu heard, he tugged my sleeve and whispered, “If I became your husband… could I have another egg?”

I paused. “You want to be my husband?”

His eyes shone. “When Auntie Zhou’s husband comes home from the fields, she wipes his face and rubs his shoulders. Husbands get two eggs! And a bed! And they can ask their wives for money to buy snacks…”

Oh.

I understood. He wanted me waiting on him.

“How do you know?”

“I saw it.”

“Then go look at Master Shen’s house by the village entrance.”

I took my time. “The husband there has to kneel to wash his wife’s feet. And kneel while she whips him. He’s not even allowed to cry…”

Qi Yu shuddered.

“Still want to be a husband?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he asked softly, “Does… he get two eggs too?”

“If I get two eggs, you can beat me.”

I had no words.

I seriously began to suspect our ancestor had caught him in a trap baited with eggs.

Since Dad died, there’d been nobody to arrange a marriage for me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want one. A husband would mean another pair of hands.

But…

Qi Yu was a fox.

Could a person marry a fox?

Still, he did work hard. And he didn’t eat much.