The Fox Spirit I Raised at Home - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My father was a hunter, and so am I. I grew up in the mountains and wilderness, and there isn’t a thing I don’t know when it comes to training dogs, setting traps, and hunting.

My parents died when I was young, leaving me all alone. I raised myself, and in the process, I grew into the sort of person who fears neither heaven nor earth.

All by myself, I’ve been guarding a few large tiled houses, ten mu of fertile land, and two mountains.

Of course, plenty of people had their eyes on my property. But I was born with immense strength, and after I yanked up a century-old weeping willow right in front of everyone in one go, no one in the village dared scheme against me again.

No one had those kinds of ideas anymore, either. Even though I had quite a bit to my name, everyone said I was fierce. No one ever came to ask for my hand, and just like that, I dragged on into my twenties.

Maybe one day I’ll just die soundlessly in the mountains…

Whatever. A day lived is a day lived.

That night, a violent wind suddenly rose, with flashes of lightning and booming thunder. A streak of light fell from the sky and plunged straight into the deep mountains.

Once everything finally went still, I yawned and went right back to sleep.

I slept until the sky was just starting to brighten, then headed into the mountains with my two hunting dogs.

I was a little curious, after all. Not much, but a little.

After trudging over mountains and through streams, I finally reached the site of the incident. Lying in the deep crater was a… person?

With handsome features, pale tender skin, and luxurious robes that clearly cost a fortune, he didn’t look like any ordinary mortal.

Merciful Bodhisattva, don’t toy with me. I did pray for marriage luck, but surely that doesn’t mean a man can just fall out of the sky?

I suspected I was dreaming, but after slapping myself twice, that little beauty was still lying there in the pit.

This… this really wouldn’t be proper…

I walked over, felt his legs, then pressed on his chest. Good. Nothing broken.

Thank you for nature’s generous gift.

The man remained asleep the whole time. Truly strange. He was clean all over, with no eye gunk and not even a fart.

I fed him water from time to time, and even his breath carried a fragrance.

He didn’t sweat, but the weather was hot, so I still stripped him down to just his underpants and gave him a thorough wipe-down.

Men really are different from women. His shoulders were so broad, and yet his waist was that slim.

I gave it a quick pinch on impulse. Wow… that narrow waist was all muscle, solid under my hand.

His skin was excellent too. “Soft and delicate” didn’t begin to cover it. He was so fair he practically glowed.

The lines of his body were taut and smooth all over, except his chest muscles were especially full. Even lying down, they still rose high.

When the sunlight fell on him, his snow-white chest took on a warm glow, and the tips there were actually pink.

I stared without blinking for the longest time, utterly unable to look away.

For some reason, he suddenly shivered in his sleep.

Afraid he might catch a chill, I hurriedly finished wiping him down and changed him into clean clothes.

That sleep of his lasted a full two months. His breathing stayed long and steady, and he showed no signs of decline.

Even someone as slow to notice as me realized something was wrong.

This was definitely not a man gifted to me by the Bodhisattva.

I only donate a few copper coins of incense money a year. How could I possibly be so favored?

They say there are immortals beyond the heavens who can live forever without food or drink. Could this man be… an immortal?

Sigh… joy for nothing.

I went on with my usual routine: farming, hunting, tanning hides, and taking them to market to sell.

On my way back, someone called out to me. I turned and saw that it was Shen Gu.

The only xiucai in the village, he was two years younger than me and strikingly handsome, the sort of fine young gentleman praised by every village for miles around.

“Sister Meng, I’ve been calling you forever. I finally caught up.”

He ran up panting, sweat at his temples, a faint flush across his face, his eyes shining when he looked at me.

“This is for you.”

It was a wooden hairpin, delicately carved and smoothly polished. It looked like it had been made by hand.

I didn’t understand why, but I accepted it anyway, then dug half a roast chicken out of my basket and handed it to him in return.

“Thanks. I tore this chicken apart to eat it, so don’t mind it.”

Holding the oil-paper-wrapped bundle, his face turned even redder under the sun. “I-I don’t mind…”

“Eat more and put some meat on those bones.” I gave his shoulder a light pat, and he still staggered back two steps.

Shen Gu was a decent person. Quick-witted, good at his studies, and unlike other scholars, he didn’t look down on people.

Ever since I saved his life a few years back, he’d treated me, his savior, incredibly well.

It’s just that his mother… she was always looking at me warily.

Strange. I saved her son, yet every time she saw me, she acted like I was the one who’d wronged her.

No good deed goes unpunished.

When I got home, I set down my basket and thoroughly washed my wrists and face.

It still wasn’t enough to drive off the heat, and just as I was about to strip and rinse off, a voice suddenly sounded behind me.

“May I ask… was it you who saved me, miss?”

Oh? So the Sleeping Beauty in my house was awake.

He said his name was Chi Jiuling, and that he came from Qingqiu.

He had barely spoken two sentences before his body swayed unsteadily. The immortal air and frail grace described in books didn’t come close to this.

He was clearly tall and broad-shouldered, but when he staggered like that, he somehow seemed frail and pitiful instead.

He braced himself against the doorframe to keep from falling, fingers digging into the wood. Faint blue veins stood out along the back of his pale, slender hand.

I hurried over to support him and helped him onto a stool.

After resting for a while, those peach-blossom eyes of his, with their slightly upturned corners, looked over at me again. “Thank you.”

His voice was so weak it made my heart ache.

Even so, he asked question after question-where this was, how long he had been asleep, why there was no spiritual energy here, and whether any unfamiliar faces had appeared nearby.

I answered honestly. As for this spiritual energy business, I truly had no idea.

He sat there in a daze for a long while, looking utterly dispirited. At last, he asked awkwardly, “My clothes…”

His clothes were decorated with gold and jade all over. Pretty, sure, but if he slept in them and got bedsores, that would be a problem.

So I had changed him into my clothes. They were a bit short on him, but they were soft and comfortable.

I brought his old clothes over. He took them, then asked in a trembling voice, “You changed me?”

I blinked. “Who else would it have been?”

He wore the look of someone silently enduring a terrible violation.

He’d been unconscious at the time-like I had the spare thought for that. Besides, my house is far from the village. Was I supposed to ask someone to come over every day just to help clean him up?

So fussy.

Maybe because I looked too justified in what I’d done, he said nothing more. Instead, with his long, slender fingers, he removed a jade pendant. “Thank you for saving my life, miss. My injuries haven’t healed yet, so I’m afraid I’ll have to impose on you for some time.”

At least he had manners. I’d had my eye on that pendant for a while anyway.

For the next two days, he sat cross-legged on the bed, doing who knew what.

In the end, though, he would always droop with frustration. Judging by the look of it, whatever he was trying had failed.

Probably some sort of immortal, but a feeble one.

Right. Tonight I’d stew a chicken.

I made a huge pot of chicken soup. The moment I set it on the table, that immortal who seemed above mortal food actually looked over-and his stomach gave a loud growl.

Flushing, he covered his stomach and turned away to continue meditating.

I ignored him and happily gnawed on a drumstick. The chicken was rich and tender, and every bite filled my mouth with savory juices.

The soup was thick too, richly golden, and one mouthful was delicious clear to the bones.

I was eating with great relish when I saw him feeling along the edge of the table and quietly sitting down across from me.

His eyes were full of longing for the food. “May I…”

I handed him a bowl and chopsticks, and he ate without even lifting his head.

Sure, my cooking was exceptional, but the way he ate made him look like he hadn’t tasted meat in eight lifetimes. It was almost tragic.

And after eating, naturally one has to relieve oneself. Before long, he was pacing outside the latrine.

He circled it again and again before finally pinching his nose and going in.

A quarter of an hour later, he emerged looking as if his soul had been dragged out of him. Completely absent-minded, he kept muttering, “No… this can’t go on…”

For a moment, I thought I saw drooping ears on his head-fluffy and crimson red.

But when I rubbed my eyes and looked again, they were gone.

For some reason, Chi Jiuling grew more irritable by the day. He even ventured into the mountains despite the danger, saying he wanted to find something.

I went with him five times in all, searching back and forth, and we found nothing.

His health got worse too. Even with ginseng chicken soup every day, he became more and more listless.

That night, I had a strange dream. I dreamed that Chi Jiuling had turned into a great fox. In a low voice, he begged me to help him, or else he would die soon.

Something involving life and death-I agreed without even thinking.

A smile appeared on his fox face, and then he began licking me all over, and then… he licked the most private part of me…

The dream shifted. I was climbing a mountain, over and over again. Huffing and struggling, I finally neared the summit, when suddenly a gust of wind blew over and sent me rolling all the way back down.

That sense of emptiness and loss lingered even after I woke.

Lately I must have run into something unclean. Every night I slept especially deeply, and every night there was a great fox licking me.

In my dreams, I kept climbing that mountain over and over. The maddening part was that I just couldn’t make it to the top. I was always that tiny bit short.

I’m the kind of person who always wants to come out ahead. How could there be something I couldn’t do?!

I drove my legs hard and gave one final push-at last, I made it.

Mm… could climbing a mountain really feel that good…?

Half asleep and half awake, I seemed to see… Chi Jiuling with his head buried beneath my skirt, drinking from that intimate place…

Was he actually…? Startled, I tried to sit up, but with one sweep of his big tail, I sank back into deep sleep.

By the time daylight fully filled the room, I sat up blankly.

What happened in the dream faded away completely. I couldn’t remember any of it. Last night had seemed… strangely wonderful. Though for some reason, my lower back was terribly sore.

I patted my aching waist and back, then flung off the blanket in one motion. In the sunlight, several red hairs suddenly floated up from the bedsheet.

I picked one up and looked closely.

Fox fur…