Fellow Daoist! That scoundrel has written a new book again.

The opening paragraphs seem to merely introduce the larger story background, but the author then shifts the tone, and the atmosphere of the book suddenly becomes light and relaxed.

Seven years later, the small temple was much quieter, but people still came to worship. It seemed that the Fox Fairy Temple had become integrated into the village and a custom.

Ah Sheng is seven years old this year. She is a child that the opera singer's grandmother picked up.

The old woman had no daughters or sons, and originally thought she could find any little child in the village to inherit her mantle, so that at least they could speak in front of the temple every year and understand the taboos and intricacies involved.

On her way back to the village one day, she heard a baby crying. She parted the weeds and saw that it was indeed a baby.

I don't know what the old woman was thinking, but she directly designated this little child as the one who would speak in front of the Fox Fairy Temple. Perhaps it's because she raised the child herself, so she's closer to him than to a stranger.

The baby was named Ah Sheng, the "Sheng" in peanut.

Seven years have passed in the blink of an eye. The old woman has grown older, and her stage presence in front of the Fox Fairy Temple is not as strong as before. Ah Sheng has grown up and can run around everywhere like a wild child.

Ah Sheng was lucky; every time he went into the mountains, he would find wild fruits and the like, and he never returned empty-handed.

That day, she went into the mountains as usual, praying that she would encounter a lame wild rabbit. Although Ah Sheng liked rabbits very much, Grandma had been unwell recently and needed to eat meat to nourish herself.

Ah Sheng made up his mind that he would never again show kindness and release an injured animal!

Wang Dahe was somewhat speechless after reading this part.

How could someone be so lucky as to let them escape every time out of kindness?

Even if you ask someone to take it to town to sell, you can still make money. No wonder Ah Sheng is the protagonist.

My level of understanding is inferior to hers...

Perhaps his prayers worked, because Ah Sheng actually encountered a fox.

She hesitated.

After all, having followed the old woman around, she had heard many stories, such as foxes having spirituality, being descendants of fox spirits, and that harming a fox would bring bad luck.

Even though the fox in front of him was lying there on its deathbed, Ah Sheng didn't dare to approach rashly.

After hesitating for a long time, Ah Sheng finally mustered up his courage and wrapped the fox up. Since he didn't intend to eat it, he would do his best to save its life and at least put it in a place with a water source.

As Wang Dahe watched this scene, he began to wonder, could this fox be a fox spirit?

That would make the plot a bit cliché.

What follows is simply the fox spirit repaying a debt of gratitude. When Ah Sheng encounters difficulties, the fox spirit appears to help him, allowing Ah Sheng to turn misfortune into good fortune.

Readers who have been poisoned by the "speechless style" will involuntarily make associations when they read this.

Wang Dahe continued reading.

This fox really is the legendary fox spirit, but something's not quite right!

Ah Sheng saw the fox spirit at the temple during a yearly ceremony. It had a tail hanging down its back, and it was lazily lying on the altar, its eyes filled with a strong sense of malice as it stared at the group of villagers who were making offerings.

With a quick glance, she met the eyes of the astonished Ah Sheng.

The fox spirit smiled and said, "Don't tell anyone, or they'll die, and you'll die too, shh..."

Ah Sheng opened his eyes wide, suddenly covered his mouth, and quickly shook his head.

The old woman was worshipping in front of her, and the long tail was swaying back and forth, as if it wanted to touch her.

Wang Dahe frowned; this plot twist was truly unexpected…

Could it be that Ah Sheng saved an evil god, or is this fox spirit not the same as that fox spirit?

The atmosphere suddenly turned eerie in the following episodes. Ah Sheng dared not tell anyone about it, fearing that the fox spirit would be angry and take someone's life, so he could only keep it to himself.

But the fox spirit seemed quite interested in her.

He always appears on the roadside, on rooftops, and in ponds. Wherever he appears, accidents always happen—Aunt Ge sprained her ankle on the roadside, Erhu fell off the roof while playing and was unconscious for two days, and Ahai almost drowned while fishing in the water.

What follows is Ah-Sheng's daily routine of battling wits with the fox spirit while simultaneously being terrified, and failing every time.

That wasn't all. Ah Sheng wanted to ask the old woman about the fox spirit's deeds, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw the fox spirit sitting on the old woman's bed.

His pupils held a cold malice, seemingly laughing or mocking, his white tail swaying slowly as he spoke his second sentence to Ah Sheng—

"She's going to die."

Wang Dahe felt a chill run down his spine. He even wondered if the fox demon had guessed that Ah Sheng was coming to see his grandmother, and was waiting for him here...

Ah Sheng was, after all, a child under ten years old. The fear of losing her loved ones drove her to throw herself at the fox spirit, seemingly wanting to cry out and fight him to the death.

To her surprise, the fox spirit simply used its tail to stop her.

Ah Sheng snuggled into the warm fox fur, but felt no warmth at all; she only felt cold all over.

Until the fox spirit stepped forward and wiped away her tears.

He gave Ah Sheng a gentle hug.

What is this writing? Wang Dahe was a little stunned. It felt like a childhood sweetheart romance. If you don't look at the two people's positions and entanglements, and just look at this scene, the fox spirit doesn't seem so bad.

Isn't this a mistake!

If someone constantly threatens him, harms those around him, and tries to take away his closest loved ones, he will rush forward and fight like Ah Sheng.

Unless... there's more to the story of the fox spirit.

Wang Dahe began to analyze the plot. From the moment the fox spirit appeared until now, although he seemed to be full of malice and his appearances were somewhat sinister, he didn't actually seem to have done anything bad.

As for those who were injured... could it be a prophecy?

The fox spirit wanted to remind Ah Sheng!

With this explanation, the plot made much more sense, and Wang Dahe quickly read on.

Ah Sheng knew he couldn't harm the fox spirit, so he could only curl up on his grandmother's bed. After a long time, his grandmother finally returned home, and during their conversation, the fox spirit's past was gradually revealed—

It turns out that before the fox spirit stopped responding, there was an earthquake and flash flood in the village; that was the last time the fox spirit appeared.

The white fox split into eight tails, which reached into the crack in the earth and swept the villagers out just before the crack closed with a roar.

Its pure white tail was stained with blood. The white fox jumped into the mud and rubble swept by the flash flood and rescued those who couldn't escape. After everyone was rescued, it looked at the cracks in the earth and suddenly its body grew larger. The earth slowly closed up and became whole again.

It hissed, as if unwilling.

Then he leaped into the jungle and never responded again.

Ah Sheng asked, "Eight tails?"

The old woman nodded and said, "Legend has it that a fox cultivated nine tails to become an immortal. We all speculate that perhaps the fox spirit was compassionate and became a true immortal."

Ah Sheng suddenly asked, "If the original fox spirit leaves, will the fox spirit temple be taken over by other foxes?"

Upon hearing this question, the old woman thought for a while and said, "If one's conduct is not upright but one receives offerings, perhaps it will bring repercussions upon oneself."

Yes!

"That must be it," Ah Sheng's eyes lit up. "If we stop offering incense to the fox spirit, maybe we can turn him back into an ordinary fox."

What Ah Sheng didn't know was that on the roof of her house, the fox spirit had curled up into a ball, her body trembling constantly.

It's hard to tell whether it's grief or mockery.