The little fox spoils her blind husband - Chapter 1

During the early spring, everything remained dormant beneath the ice and snow. Li Ting carried a small bundle on his back as he ducked under a tree heavy with icicles. When he looked up, he finally spotted the large banyan tree at the entrance of the village ahead. Carved into a stone beneath the tree were the words: East Xu Village.

“I have finally arrived,” Li Ting said with a yawn. He shifted the bundle from his back to his hand. He stepped out of the woods and onto a narrow path. In the distance, the sound of flowing water reached his ears. He did not think much of it and continued toward the village. However, before he had walked even a hundred paces, he noticed a small river at the bottom of the slope. The water rushed downstream while carrying shards of broken ice.

The man stared at the river for a long time. A sudden gust of cold wind broke his train of thought just as he began to marvel at how early spring had arrived this year. As he turned to enter the village, a loud splash echoed from behind him.

The noise caught Li Ting’s attention. He initially thought someone was throwing stones into the river out of boredom. He glanced back casually, but his expression shifted instantly. He dropped his bundle and slid down the uneven dirt slope toward the riverbank. That was not a rock; someone had fallen into the frozen river.

In a season where the ice had not fully melted, falling in meant a severe illness at best, assuming the person could even be fished out in time.

To his horror, before he reached the bank, he saw several older children led by a young man. Instead of helping, they used long branches to violently shove the struggling person back under the water. They were clearly trying to kill him.

Li Ting let out a thunderous shout, “Stop!”

The group had not expected anyone to be passing by so early in the morning, let alone someone trying to play the hero. Two of the children lunged forward and attempted to grab Li Ting’s legs to hold him back. However, Li Ting’s figure blurred with a sudden flash of speed, leaving them clutching at thin air.

“Hey, you outsider!” The leader was clearly a local hoodlum. Seeing Li Ting pull the person out of the river, he angrily hurled a rock into the water. The resulting splash of icy water hit Li Ting square in the face. “Mind your own business. I am warning you for your own good: do not save this brat. He is a jinx. He will curse you to death just like everyone else.”

“He cursed his father and mother to death. He even cursed the unborn baby in his own sister-in-law’s belly. He is a walking disaster.”

“A jinx! My mother said a jinx deserves to die. It saves the rest of us from his bad luck.”

Li Ting wiped the river water from his face. His expression darkened as he stepped out of the river. The water was not deep, hardly reaching his knees, but the small youth in his arms was short and had been unable to climb back out after being pushed. Between drowning and freezing, it would have only been a matter of time.

The jeering children clearly did not fear Li Ting. Seeing him check the boy’s breathing after pulling him ashore, they grew bold again. They picked up stones from the riverbank to throw at them.

Li Ting saw the rescued boy flutter his eyes open just as a stone struck his own shoulder. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. He took off his outer robe, which was mostly dry, and draped it over the boy. Then he lunged forward, hoisted the child who had thrown the stone into the air, and tossed him into the river. Before the others could even gasp, Li Ting fished the child back out and dropped him onto the ground with a look of utter disgust.

“You,” the children stammered.

“Does anyone else want a turn?” Li Ting’s face was expressionless, but his eyes were like shards of ice. “I do not mind playing with you. How old are you children, and you are already trying to commit murder? Are you not afraid of being hauled off to the magistrate?”

“Nobody cares if he dies,” the hoodlum spat on the ground and glared. “He is a star of misfortune. Anyone who crosses paths with him meets a bad end.”

Through the chaotic curses and insults, Li Ting finally pieced together the story of the shivering youth behind him. The boy’s name was Xu Yanqiu. He would be sixteen when spring fully arrived. He had lost his mother as a child, and his elderly father had passed away from illness at the end of the previous year. Just a few days ago, his cousin had kicked him out of the house because the cousin’s wife had suffered a mysterious miscarriage.

The villagers decided something was wrong with him. They believed Xu Yanqiu was born with a curse. They assumed that was why his parents were dead and an innocent fetus was lost.

Li Ting looked down at young Xu Yanqiu. He saw a pair of bright eyes that were glazed, vacant, and filled with a hollow terror. Every time a curse was hurled his way, the boy winced and tried to shrink into a smaller ball. Behind him was the freezing river. If Li Ting had not reached out to steady him, he would have fallen back into the water.

“Do not bother looking at him. He even cursed his own eyes. He is a born cripple. No one wants him despite his pretty face. Whoever takes him in is asking for disaster,” the hoodlum shouted.

Seeing Li Ting remain silent, the leader assumed his words had worked. He looked Li Ting up and down and was about to suggest the newcomer join his gang when Li Ting suddenly scooped up a handful of dirt mixed with ice and slammed it into his face.

Li Ting bent down to grab another handful. Seeing their leader sputtering and spitting out dirt, the others panicked. Fearing they would be next, they scrambled up the slope and fled toward the village in a frenzy.

Li Ting exhaled a long breath, dropped the frozen dirt, and clapped his hands clean. He then knelt before the young boy. Seeing the vacancy in his gaze, he realized the boy truly was blind. “Is your name Xu Yanqiu?”

“Thank you for saving me.” The little blind boy had not realized Li Ting was still there. He instinctively tried to wrap the robe tighter around himself, but then he remembered it was not his. He hurriedly pulled it off. His fingers were trembling and white from the cold as he held the garment back out to Li Ting. “Your clothes. I must return them to you.”

Li Ting heard the boy’s teeth chattering so hard he could barely speak. The boy tried to crawl away, but he clearly had nowhere to go. Based on what the villagers said, he was homeless. Li Ting could not bear the thought of him freezing to death. He pressed a hand onto the boy’s shoulder and was instantly startled.

In the rush to save him, he had not realized how thin the youth was. Though he was sixteen years old, there was almost no meat on his shoulders. Now that things had calmed down, Li Ting finally saw his face clearly. It was a thin, delicate face, pale either from the cold or his natural complexion. His features were exquisite. If those eyes could see, he would undoubtedly be a peerless beauty. He truly did have a pretty face.

Even though Xu Yanqiu could not see, he could feel the man staring at him. He tried to shrink back. In this freezing weather, he wore only a single thin layer of clothing. Thinking of his deceased father and the fact that no one would take him in, he suddenly felt that dying in the river might have been better. As the others said, someone like him was a blight on the world. He believed he was a curse to himself and everyone else.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” Li Ting stood up and glanced back at where his bundle lay. He turned back to the little blind boy, who shook his head. Li Ting knelt again. Just as he was about to speak, a gust of wind caught his damp clothes and he let out a sudden sneeze.

A mass of fluffy white tails suddenly burst out from behind him. Counting them, there were exactly nine.

Li Ting, the little fox, rubbed his nose and cleared his throat. “Then follow me from now on. I will look after you.”

Xu Yanqiu was both dazed and moved. Desperate to catch any lifeline, the little blind boy nodded. He was completely unaware that a fox spirit had just whisked him away.

“I will not do it. I cannot save him.”

Li Ting grabbed the physician, who was trying to leave. “I will pay double.”

The physician hesitated but was still afraid of the jinx. After some wavering, he shook his head. “I really cannot.”

“Is it that you cannot save him, or you will not?” Li Ting let go and watched the physician reach the courtyard gate. He spoke deeply, “You claim to practice medicine to help the world, yet you would watch a salvageable life die before your eyes?”

The physician gritted his teeth and pushed the door to leave, but he stopped dead in his tracks when Li Ting offered to triple the price.

Li Ting breathed a sigh of relief and led the physician back to the bedside. Fearing the man would change his mind again, he placed the triple payment directly into his hand. Having taken the money, the physician could no longer retreat. He began to take a pulse and write a prescription for Xu Yanqiu, who had fainted from the cold and was running a high fever.

The ordeal lasted deep into the night. Once the medicine was brewed and the little blind boy had finally swallowed it to break the fever, Li Ting tucked him in. He made sure the boy was neither too cold nor too hot before seeing the physician out.

The physician looked at the courtyard, then at the handsome young man before him who looked to be in his early twenties. He could not help but ask, “I have been meaning to ask you something. You look familiar. Are you a relative of Li Dongtang?”

“He was my father.”

“I see. Old Master Li Dongtang was the teacher of our village school. Everyone respected him.” The physician glanced at the small room where a lamp still burned. “For the sake of Old Master Li, I will give you a piece of advice. Once that blind boy recovers, let him leave on his own. You should not get involved with him.”

“I do not believe in that nonsense.” Li Ting arched an eyebrow and politely saw off the physician, who clearly wanted to say more. He quietly closed the door and returned to the room.

The youth on the bed had broken out in a sweat earlier and now had no strength left. Even the rise and fall of his chest was faint as he slept.

Li Ting washed up. Knowing no one else was in the courtyard, he sat on the edge of the bed and let his nine fluffy fox tails sway lazily. Fearing Xu Yanqiu might still be cold, he instinctively draped his tails over the boy’s body.

Li Ting was originally a fox who had cultivated a human form in the mountains near the capital. Because his father, Li Dongtang, had once taught here, Li Ting chose East Xu Village as his first stop in the human world to accustom himself to society. He had not expected to run into such drama the moment he arrived.

Li Ting sighed. He looked down at Xu Yanqiu, whose face was now a healthy, warm red as he slept, and he could not help but smile. Doing good deeds really does make one feel pleasant. His father was right.

This good mood lasted until the next morning. The moment Li Ting stepped outside, he saw the children who had pushed the boy into the river peering over his wall. They were trying to throw pebbles at his door. Li Ting had no intention of tolerating these pranks. His slender fingers flicked several small round stones into the air. With a casual wave, he knocked the nuisances down. A chorus of wails broke out followed by the sound of frantic footsteps as they fled in terror.

“Nature is inherently evil at the start,” Li Ting hummed. He turned back into the room and saw Xu Yanqiu staring blankly with his eyes open.

“Are you awake?” Li Ting leaned in to take a closer look, but the little blind boy reached out a hand and touched his cheek.

The moment their skin met, both of them froze.