The Fox Spirit’s Secret

Confronted by my somewhat piercing gaze, Guo Hao instantly recoiled, his eyes darting away. He stammered hesitantly for a prolonged moment before his psychological defenses finally crumbled.

“Well, about this matter, I really didn’t have any clues at first… But Fourth Brother just said something that made me understand a little… I didn’t quite dare to believe it, but looking at it now, that little… little creature in my shop… maybe, well, maybe it’s *it*…”

Under the dual threat of his own smelly socks—a veritable biological weapon—and my psychological pressure, Guo Hao cautiously began to explain. He weighed his words carefully, starting with a hesitant stammer, but gradually spoke more smoothly as he continued.

****

It turned out that while the three of us were famished in the dorm room last night, eagerly awaiting his return with water and instant noodles, Guo Hao had a detour. After filling the thermos and setting it outside the water room door, he was on his way to the mini-mart when he suddenly felt a brisk wind along the path.

He then noticed several figures, moving with incredible speed, flitting across the treetops and through the low bushes. He could faintly hear rustling sounds, as if they were secretly plotting something.

As previously mentioned, Guo Hao’s ancestor was the great hero Guo Jing. The Guo family’s ancestral teaching was to uphold justice and serve the nation and its people. Consequently, Guo Hao could not stand such underhanded, secretive dealings.

Driven by both curiosity and a sense of chivalry, he disregarded the three starving refugees in the dorm room who desperately needed his care. He decisively changed course on his way to the school mini-mart, employing his Qinggong to secretly follow the dark figures, unsure of their intentions.

To his surprise, these individuals merely circled around several wooded areas and thickets within Tianwu University’s campus. They weren’t gathering in some secret location to discuss nefarious plans; instead, they seemed to be searching for something they had lost.

Aside from the rarely-opened back mountain, Tianwu University only had a few places with trees. Among these was the loquat grove, which Yang Laoer often described as a place where “spring’s beauty could not be contained.”

In other words, anyone passing through there at night would often hear faint, suppressed moans, sparking all sorts of vivid imaginations.

Upon hearing Guo Hao mention the loquat grove, Yang Laoer, who had initially worn the stern expression of an interrogator, immediately adopted a lewd smirk. “Damn it, Oldest Brother, why didn’t you go check out the excitement? You might have stumbled upon a few couples getting frisky!” he exclaimed, seemingly lost in his own vivid fantasies.

After circling the same few spots repeatedly, the normally upright Guo Hao began to feel a little awkward. Moreover, seeing that the figures were merely searching and didn’t appear to be committing any heinous acts, he decided to turn back.

He finally remembered his three starving brothers in the distant dorm room and intended to buy the instant noodles before the mini-mart closed. However, just as he retracted his internal energy and descended from a treetop to the ground, he suddenly felt a faint rustling in a nearby bush, as if some living creature was hidden within.

****

“At the time, I thought it was one of the stray cats from below the girls’ dorm, somehow ending up here, so I intended to take it back,” Guo Hao explained with a wry smile.

****

It was common knowledge that several groups of stray cats roamed beneath the girls’ dorms in both the east and west districts of Tianwu University. Every day, men and women came and went, feeding them. Some even specifically bought ham sausages to give them.

Guo Hao, a soft-hearted and kind-natured person, was a staunch supporter of this practice. Back when I was a boy, Linghu Ruoxu and I often did the same. Even Yang Laoer participated, though his motives were, shall we say, less pure.

Despite clear regulations posted at the school gate prohibiting pets, even the most skilled gatekeepers couldn’t stop these feline lords from coming and going, leaving them no choice but to let them be.

****

After hearing Guo Hao’s account, the other three nodded in profound agreement, their gazes fixed intently on him as they awaited the rest of his story.

“But I never expected… When I pushed aside the bush and used my phone’s flashlight to look inside, I saw a small, pure white fox cowering and trembling there. It looked so pitiful that I reached out my hand. It seemed to sense I held no hostility, so it didn’t dodge and allowed me to pet it.”

Guo Hao recounted, his voice tinged with memory. “Then I felt it wasn’t right to just leave it there, so I picked it up. It didn’t struggle at all, just let me carry it in my arms… After that, I bought the instant noodles and returned to the dorm. While you two were seeing Fourth Brother off, I fed it a packet of milk, then arranged a shoe box with some clothes inside and placed it by my bedside. I planned to quietly release it near the back mountain today… But who would have thought… it… actually was… And then, you all know what happened.”

His words were utterly sincere, and his eyes no longer held any trace of guilt; instead, they had grown somewhat defiant.

Yang Laoer and Linghu Ruoxu evidently found his story to align perfectly with reality, fitting every detail. They immediately believed him and slowly released their hold.

“But Oldest Brother, that’s really disloyal of you! You didn’t even tell us brothers about this animal rescue mission beforehand…” Yang Laoer grumbled, still a little displeased.

“The dorm has a clear rule against keeping pets… I was afraid something might go wrong, causing a commotion and implicating you all, so I didn’t say anything… But who knew… who knew that it, it actually was…” Guo Hao’s smile was even more bitter than a bitter gourd.

“It was actually a fox spirit…” Linghu Ruoxu, always one for startling pronouncements, summarized for Guo Hao.

A silence fell over the four of them. After a while, Yang Laoer suddenly burst into boisterous laughter. Then, with a teasing expression, he spoke to Guo Hao, “Oldest Brother…”

“What is it…?” Seeing Yang Laoer’s mischievous look, Guo Hao knew he wouldn’t say anything good, so he frowned and asked.

“Didn’t they say that after the founding of this dynasty, animals weren’t allowed to become spirits? So, what’s the deal with your fox, Oldest Brother?” Yang Laoer chuckled mischievously.

“Damn it, didn’t Emperor Xuanzong’s decree also forbid private… [BEEP! BEEP!]… so what’s the deal with Fourth Brother then?” Having been teased, interrogated, and forced to confess all morning, Guo Hao finally reached his limit.

“Good grief, I’m getting shot while lying down! Who did I offend?” I protested immediately, still sitting silently opposite Guo Hao, lost in my own thoughts.