A Short Story Collection with Non-Human Protagonists - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Revenge and the Fox Tavern

The hour hand slid past eleven.

The lights were still on in the office of the Folklore Department at Moqiao University. Li Mingyi’s desk was cluttered with documents and antiques—news reports, fragments of Life Contracts, and green bricks from the Fox Immortal Temple.

She scanned every detail over and over, trying to find the information she had missed. Where on earth did Tang Yanqing and that monstrosity hide…

Li Mingyi rubbed her temples and picked up her teacup. She took a sip of the cold tea, only to taste a rich, lingering sweetness. It was the scent of osmanthus—someone had switched her tea!

Could someone have slipped in and touched her cup while she was out for a smoke?

Li Mingyi felt dizzy. She braced herself against the desk and stood up, reaching for the ox-bezoar pills on the bookshelf.

Thump. Thump.

Just then, footsteps echoed in the corridor.

“Who’s there!”

Li Mingyi hurried out, catching a glimpse of a white shadow flashing past the corner leading to the stairs. It was a woman, tall and slender, wearing a long white dress and a hideous Nuo mask—looking like a specter crawled out of an ancient painting.

“Evildoer, stop!”

Li Mingyi darted back into the office, grabbed a copper coin sword, and gave chase again. The white shadow spiraled down the stairs, heading straight for the first-floor lobby. Li Mingyi bit her fingertip and smeared fresh blood across the blade. Instantly, the sword tip burst with golden light, thrusting toward the white shadow.

“Take this!”

Crack—

The white shadow lunged aside, but the mask was split at the corner by the golden light.

Li Mingyi’s pupils constricted. “How is it you?”

“Good evening, Professor Li.”

Tang Yanqing curled her lips, tossing aside the remaining half of the mask. The white dress peeled away like a withered leaf, revealing the T-shirt and jeans underneath.

Li Mingyi sneered, her fingers brushing the sword to reignite the golden glow. “Fine. Delivering yourself to my door saves me quite a bit of trouble.”

“Oh? Is that so.” Tang Yanqing was clearly not intimidated by the spiritual tool. “Take a closer look. Where are we?”

Where could they be? Wasn’t this just the university’s Liberal Arts building…

Li Mingyi’s spine suddenly went cold. The doors, windows, and exits all around were sealed shut with earth. It was pitch black, like a subterranean palace. If this wasn’t the school, where was it?!

Unknowingly, she had fallen into a trap set by Tang Yanqing.

Her legs felt weak. Li Mingyi looked down to see the floor liquefying, melting into a black swamp like asphalt, slowly swallowing her legs. Her body began to sink into the depths of the earth.

“Foundation of the Mysterious Sect, Root of All Qi, Cultivating through Billion Eons, Witnessing my Divine Power…”

Li Mingyi immediately formed a hand seal and recited a mantra, trying to save herself. But then, a clear fox cry rang out from behind her, and the copper coin sword in her hand was shattered by the sheer force of the sound wave.

She turned in panic to see a white nine-tailed fox slowly descending from the sky, hovering above the quagmire. It was surrounded by snow-white light, like pouring moonlight. In its amber eyes, flames of light flickered.

“You demon fox, what evil sorcery are you plotting now!” Li Mingyi raged.

“Can you really distinguish between evil sorcery and righteous spirit? Why don’t I test you?”

Tang Yanqing sat perched on a stone slab in front of her, looking down with composure. “Was it ‘righteous’ of you to burn down the house in Sophora Alley?”

Li Mingyi did not back down: “That house was occupied by a monster for years. The baleful energy was too heavy, devouring the hearts of men. It had to be burned!”

“Then was it ‘righteous’ to use the Five Thunder Array to harm the innocent and take my life?”

Li Mingyi narrowed her eyes at the girl. “…You are that locust tree.”

She vaguely remembered those distant past lives. To slay this nine-tailed demon fox, she had persevered through many cycles of cultivation. In this life, the fox’s demonic power was already very weak. If it hadn’t been for Tang Yanqing’s interference, she would have been a hair’s breadth away from success.

“I act on behalf of Heaven. It was you who insisted on protecting that monstrosity, bringing this upon yourself,” Li Mingyi said firmly.

“On behalf of Heaven?” Tang Yanqing pointed upward. “Then look up.”

Li Mingyi looked up. Above this strange space, hundreds of stairs spiraled upward toward an unreachable end.

“There are nine levels to this nightmare. In each one, you must experience the evil karma you personally created and the crimes you personally committed.”

No, everything she did was to subdue demons and cultivate virtue—how could they be called crimes…

Tang Yanqing leaned over and buried something in the soft mud around her—seven copper coins, arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.

Thick black clouds began to gather in the hall. Lightning vibrated and roared between the clouds. Li Mingyi’s body below the neck was now entirely submerged in black mud, bound like countless vines. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t pull herself out even an inch.

“You brat, let me go!” she roared.

Tang Yanqing ignored her, simply walking over to the fox and stroking its back. The fox let out a low cry, nuzzling its head into her embrace.

“Professor, don’t be afraid on the road.”

Tang Yanqing looked back and gave the sinking Li Mingyi a calm smile.

“I’ve written you a letter of recommendation, too.”

“You demon! Tang Yanqing! Stop!!”

There was no response. A white light flashed, and both the human and the fox vanished from Li Mingyi’s sight. Only the impending thunder remained.

“Nature of Heaven and Earth, dispersal of filth. Mysterious void within the cave…”

The dark clouds drew closer. Li Mingyi closed her eyes and began to recite her mantra from the beginning. No, this couldn’t be real… She was a practitioner of the Tao; she subdued demons and warded off evil. She would never suffer such heavenly retribution!

Hula.

The first bolt of lightning struck down. The massive glare scorched her eyeballs through her eyelids. All things went silent.

The next morning, as the mist dissipated, a woman with disheveled hair and a pale face walked into the University Road Police Station. The soles of her bare feet were bloody from the gravel.

“What happened to you? Are you alright?” A young female officer ran over to support her.

“I… I want to turn myself in…” the woman murmured, her expression dazed. “It was me who started the fire… I burned that house…”

“Don’t worry, sit down first and take your time.”

The officer looked down and saw the faculty ID on the woman’s chest. Thus, the Sophora Alley arson case that the police had been investigating for a year was finally solved.

Six months later, in an inconspicuous little alley on the West Third Ring Road of Moqiao City, an inconspicuous little tavern opened. The name was Fox, and the logo was a pure white little fox. The decor was nostalgic, filled with relics from ancient history.

An urban legend of unknown origin began to spread through word of mouth in the corners of the city, during small talk and idle chatter. It was said that the Fox tavern had some secret connection with the Fox Immortal Maiden. If you bought a cocktail at Fox and stated your wish, there was a tiny, tiny probability it would come true.

…Only a tiny probability, because most people who stated their wishes would be scolded by the grumpy bartender.

A college student blinked with innocent eyes: “If I drink your wine, can I get 100 on my exam tomorrow without studying? If not, a 95 is okay!”

The bartender handed over a glass of clear, transparent plain water. “If you want a perfect GPA, why the hell are you drinking? Drink the water and get back to studying.”

A sad young man wailed, “I want to be rich! I want to sleep until I wake up naturally every day and have money fall from the sky!”

The bartender handed over a shot of 96% Spirytus Rektyfikowany vodka. “Get drunk and sleep by the door; you can have anything in your dreams.”

An anxious mother said she wanted her child to get into a top university. The bartender said she’d be better off pushing herself as an example and going to a nearby university for a Master’s degree this year. A pot-bellied middle-aged man said he wanted to return to his youth. The bartender said his tongue coating indicated internal heat—he should eat less hotpot and return to the gym instead.

A curious reporter also came to interview, thrusting a microphone into the bartender’s face. “Is it true there’s a fox immortal here?”

Clang—

The bartender slammed a B52 Bomber on the table in front of the reporter, the blue flame nearly singeing the reporter’s face. The only shot the reporter caught was the bartender’s lips curling into a “hospitable” smile: “Fox immortal? Do I look like one?”

Only very observant customers would notice that this grumpy bartender was actually Dr. Tang from the clinic across the street. Some people are explosive on the surface, but in secret, they are modern model workers holding down two jobs.

Late at night, closing time arrived. Granny Gu was doing the final sweep. Someone else walked in.

The woman took off her fox-fur shawl at the entrance, wearing a rouge-red velvet qipao. She walked toward the bar with a swaying grace, like a flowering crabapple branch in spring.

“Good evening, Ma’am.”

Tang Yanqing nodded, greeting the woman politely while her hands stayed busy. She added ice to the shaker, followed by gin, osmanthus syrup, and lemon juice. She filled the glass with ice and strained in the shaken liquid. Finally, she slowly poured in soda water and sprinkled a pinch of dried osmanthus on top.

Tang Yanqing gently pushed the martini glass filled with pale gold liquid across the bar. This was the hidden menu item exclusive to one person—August Night Rain.

The woman sat firmly on the tall barstool, her long legs crossed beneath the slit of her qipao.

“Where did you go today?” Tang Yanqing asked. She washed a glass in the sink, but her gaze was fixed on the woman. The bar’s overhead light cast warm shadows on her, making her look beautiful in a vintage, hazy way, like an old movie from the nineties.

The woman’s lips slowly touched the rim of the glass. She swallowed a small sip, a warm light flickering in her eyes. “I went to the orphanage to teach a little girl with aphasia how to speak.”

“Give me your hand,” Tang Yanqing said rather bluntly.

Liu Jin obediently raised her left hand, resting her snow-white arm on the counter. Tang Yanqing felt her pulse; nothing was abnormal. But Tang Yanqing still felt uneasy and tried to take the glass back. “Give the rest to me to drink.”

Liu Jin didn’t let go in time; the glass tilted, and the liquid spilled onto the back of her hand, trickling down her arm. Like honey flowing over snow, it made one’s heart itch.

Tang Yanqing then took the woman’s hand, brought it to her lips, and gave a gentle lick. The sourness of the lemon, the fragrance of the gin, and the sweetness of the osmanthus mixed together on her tongue.

“Don’t…” The woman shivered, her voice very low. “Granny Gu is still here…”

Right on cue, Granny Gu’s voice came from the back: “Miss, Ah Qing, I’m heading out now!”

With that, Tang Yanqing lost all reservations. She leaned down and followed the trail of the spilled cocktail from the back of Liu Jin’s hand upward, drop by drop. Her tongue and lips sipped the liquid carrying the woman’s body heat, leaving behind new moisture. The soft papillae of her tongue and the fine textures of the woman’s skin rubbed and soaked into each other.

As Dr. Tang, she certainly wouldn’t recommend such unhygienic activities while dating. But as the little fox’s lover… the little fox was a fairy, and a fairy’s hands couldn’t be dirty.

Tang Yanqing’s lips applied a bit of pressure, sucking a small patch of skin on the woman’s arm, trying to leave a kiss mark. She saw the rouge-red skirt swaying; the woman clamped her legs tight, her gaze wandering between the drink and Tang Yanqing, dazed as if tipsy.

It was as if an invisible fire had burned away all the oxygen between them. Even the silence was feverish. Tang Yanqing finally flipped up the bar counter divider and walked out, pulling the woman into her arms—

Ding-ling-ling.

The bell behind the door rang a few times. Someone else had come in.

Tang Yanqing turned toward the door and shouted, “Sorry, we’re closed.”

As the words fell, all three of them froze. The person who had entered was Lu Xiaokui.