Chapter 4: Cursing the Fox

“Have you heard? There’s a haunting at Landlord Zhang’s house. More than a dozen people have died already.” A voice suddenly came from behind him.

“I’ve heard. How could I not? This incident has caused quite a stir. According to my cousin who works as a guard at the Zhang mansion, even the authorities have gotten involved. More than a dozen constables went to the Zhang mansion a few days ago, but a few died, and after that, the authorities didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“I’ve heard about this too. It’s said that word has spread from within the Zhang mansion that whoever can subdue that ghost creature will receive a thousand taels of silver.”

“Then we should hurry and give it a try. If we succeed, we won’t have to worry about the rest of our lives.”

“Heh, do you know how many people thought the same thing before? Now grass is already growing on their graves.”

…

Li Si remained silent as he listened to the conversation from the neighboring table. This world was truly dangerous. The hauntings he had never seen in his previous life’s reality now seemed to have become commonplace.

Li Si thought again, perhaps these ghosts and monsters could become his first source of soul points. But he wasn’t planning to go now. He planned to wait a few more days, until he had nursed his body back to health a bit. This current body was truly in a weakened state; just walking a few hundred steps had left him somewhat out of breath. No wonder he could see ghosts.

As Li Si pondered, he finished his bowl of tofu pudding. He placed five copper coins under the bowl and then walked out. Although Uncle Zhou had said he didn’t want his money, Li Si still felt he should pay.

Afterwards, Li Si headed towards the vegetable market, planning to buy some good vegetables to calm his nerves.

Just as he entered the market, he saw a group of people gathered together. Li Si was curious and walked over. When others saw it was him, they made way and reminded those beside them to let Li Si through.

Seeing them make way for him, Li Si smiled and cupped his hands, saying thanks. The prestige accumulated by the original owner still brought him many benefits.

As Li Si approached, he saw a beautiful young woman wearing white mourning clothes kneeling on the street, with a corpse covered by a white cloth beside her.

“There’s a severe drought in Jingning County. My father and I couldn’t survive there, so we came to Fengmen County to seek help from relatives. But who knew our relatives had already moved away from the county town? My father happened to fall seriously ill, and we spent all our savings.”

As she spoke, the woman began to sob, her crying appearance pitiful to behold.

“I’ve had a hard life. I lost my mother when I was young, and my father raised me with great difficulty. We depended on each other for survival, and now he’s gone too. I only hope some kind person can help bury my father. I would be eternally grateful and willing to be a servant or slave to my benefactor, to work as an ox or horse.”

The surrounding crowd began to discuss, but no one stepped forward. After all, those who came out so early were usually ordinary people from nearby, who had no extra resources to support another person.

However, some young men were moved. These were unmarried men who thought that if they could take this opportunity to marry a beautiful wife, it would be a very face-gaining thing. But a coffin would cost more than ten taels of silver, and what if the woman ran away? Even so, some people were eager to try.

Li Si, observing closely, noticed that while the woman claimed she and her father had been living a miserable life, depending on each other, her skin was fair and her complexion pure and beautiful. Her snow-white skin was even better than his own by several degrees. It should be known that the original owner spent his days studying the classics at home, and with his mother’s genes, his skin was three times better than that of ordinary women. For this woman’s skin to be even better than his own was clearly abnormal.

Li Si felt something was wrong, fearing it might be another ghost or monster. He secretly looked through the Eight Trigrams mirror, and what he saw gave him a shock. In the mirror, he saw a white fox wearing mourning clothes, covering its face with its paws and crying pitifully. Although it was clearly a fox, its movements were human-like.
And as the fox wiped its tears, it was actually wiping the saliva from its mouth.

Could this fox be trying to infiltrate someone’s home to eat people? Li Si drew in a sharp breath, but then remembered he had a protective charm, so he wasn’t afraid of this fox spirit. Now he should be thinking about how to resolve this situation.

“Hahahahaha…” After a while, as if he had thought of something, he suddenly bent over, clutching his stomach and laughing loudly, laughing so hard that tears were about to fall. It was as if he had encountered something extremely funny.

Seeing him like this, the bystanders were confused, not understanding why Young Master Li was laughing. So someone asked him, “Young Master Li, why are you laughing?”

“I thought of… a very… funny thing. Hahahahaha…” Li Si couldn’t stop laughing, tears and mucus flowing down his face, making it difficult for him to speak.

The bystanders became even more confused. The person who had asked before asked again, “What funny thing did Young Master Li think of?”

“Last night I had a dream. I dreamed of a fox wearing mourning clothes selling itself on the street to bury its father.” Li Si wiped away his tears and mucus, chuckling, “I’ve only heard of monkeys wearing crowns, but this is the first time I’ve seen a fox wearing human clothes. That’s why I find it funny.”

Hearing Li Si say this, the crowd looked at each other, knowing full well who Li Si was mocking.

When the woman heard Li Si say this, she suddenly burst into loud sobs, wailing, “I’m just a weak woman, with no relatives left. Now I’m being insulted like this, how can I go on living?”

The more she spoke, the harder she cried, making the surrounding people feel sympathetic towards her. Some even cast angry glances at Li Si.

Seeing the crowd’s reaction, Li Si sighed inwardly, then said, “Can you tell us which medical hall your father was treated at, and which doctor? Also, who were you and your father seeking help from? What’s their name? Where do they live?”
The beautiful woman’s wailing suddenly stopped. Her eyes revealed a panicked look, and she was at a loss for words.
Seeing this, the bystanders now knew who was telling the truth and who was lying. Immediately, a group of people took a few steps back.

“Heh.” Li Si snorted, laughing and cursing, “Look at you, your nose isn’t your nose, your eyes aren’t your eyes. You think putting on human skin makes you human? A beast is a beast, never human. A monster is born of a monster mother, a human is born of a human mother. Look at yourself, neither human nor monster, do you even know what you are? By the way, what’s your mother’s surname?”

The people around, seeing him like this, were stunned. They had never seen the usually gentle and refined Young Master Li cursing like a shrew.

At the same time, hearing Li Si curse her like this, the beautiful woman was instantly enraged. As Li Si cursed her, she began to look more and more like a fox. First, her pitch-black pupils turned into blood-red vertical slits, then her cheeks became narrow and long, her nose and mouth protruded forward, and finally, a large snow-white tail emerged from behind her mourning clothes.

“Ah!”

“Fox!”

“A fox!”

“Wah!”

…

The surrounding crowd was instantly in an uproar, scared and scattering in all directions. They had never seen such a monster before.

The large snow-white fox emerged from the mourning clothes, baring its teeth at Li Si, its face extremely ferocious, as if it was about to choose someone to devour.