NingXi, the Fox Fairy

Suzhen emptied the jar and reached instinctively for another. Gong Yezi glanced at her and said nothing, but raised his eyebrows.

"You're a good drinker, Madame Xu," he said at last. "I would not have thought so to look at you."

As Suzhen only smiled and said nothing, he continued. "When I drink, my mind goes back to my past. I sing, because I remember another voice singing to me." His eyes had a faraway look. "They all tell me I'm crazy, and perhaps I am. I don't mind. When one reaches this age, one must be a little crazy to have lived so long." Chuckling, he sat up in his chair. "Do you know who you remind me of, Madame Xu. When I first saw you I thought you were her."

"Her?" Suzhen turned to look at him.

"NingXi," he said dreamily. A smile flickered over his lips. "She was like you, but smaller; very graceful. Over the years my memory has blurred her face, but I remember her eyes were sweet, so sweet and bright, and she had the tiniest feet. A mischievous little thing, too, with a temper if you annoyed her. She bit me once when I kept teasing her; I have the marks still, very faint, but there if you look close enough. "

As he automatically reached to push back his sleeve Suzhen seized the chance to gently take the jar of wine from him. She studied the faint, silvery markings on his wrinkled skin. "Who was she to you?" she asked curiously.

He sighed. "Ah, my little fox. I was a young man then. You won't know to look at me now but I was a strapping young man then, with ladies turning to look after me on the street!"

Suzhen tried hard not to laugh. Gong Yezi's eyes suddenly twinkled and he gave a roar of laughter. "Look at poor Madame Xu, wondering how crazy this vain old antique is!"

"I was so in love with her," he chuckled. "She was capricious, but charming, and I had never seen anyone like her. I was determined to marry her but at the last moment, she disappeared."

He suddenly sat up and looked intently at her. "Now, Madame Xu, I swear to you, I saw her running down the road, and as she ran, she changed into a fox--a little red fox with the tiniest feet!"

There was a brief silence. Suzhen said nothing but her heart gave a sudden jump.

He shook his finger in her face. "A fox fairy, they said. I had fallen for the wiles of a fox fairy, they said, and had luckily escaped! A fox fairy, Madame Xu..."

Suzhen started slightly and looked at him keenly, wondering uneasily if perhaps he was testing her. He was not paying attention to her, his eyes lost somewhere in the ceiling. "My Ningxi was a fox fairy. People don't believe me now when I say so, but I know it in my heart. Did she really love me? Or was she just playing with me, as fox fairies are infamous for playing with men? Ah, I shall never know--but it does not matter. I think of her, often, especially when I am drunk on good wine...We were happy, together.."

Carefully, ever so carefully, Suzhen put down her wine jar. "Were you not angry when you found out what she was?" she asked lightly.

"Angry? No. Of course not. Why should I be angry?" he said thickly, sinking back in his chair and taking another drink.

"Susu!"

She jumped up hastily, almost knocking over the wine. "Xuxian?"

Xuxian gave an exasperated sigh when he saw the number of jars on the floor. "Gong Yezi. What did you promise me? How about your digestion?"

Gong Yezi made a feeble kick in his direction. "You old hen, Xuxian, you're as bad as Granny Hong. Let a man enjoy some fine wine for once."

As Xuxian came up the steps he hastily buried his face in his jar, sensing it was about to be taken away from him. "Go away."

"Come, Susu, let's help him inside to rest." Xuxian wrested the wine from him gently but firmly, and together with Suzhen they hoisted him up, struggling feebly and complaining in a high, quavering voice.

"You'd better not have stolen my wine," he mumbled. "After I sleep I'm going to find the rest of it. Physician Xu, you must let your wife come over to drink with me more often. Good wine requires good friends to drink it with. She's a better drinker than you." He poked Xuxian in the chest and chuckled to himself, falling asleep halfway.

As they stepped out of the yard, Xuxian slipped his arm around Suzhen's shoulders. "Well, looks like you've won Gong Yezi's heart, though I am not sure if I approve of how," he teased her. "Judging from the state he was in, he must have told you about his fox fairy."

He laughed. "It's his favourite story. He tells it every time he's drunk. Heaven knows how much of it is true, though. But it makes him happy."

Suzhen's face fell slightly, but she responded by changing the topic rapidly as she often did. "Xuxian--of late, have you ever sensed that someone is watching us? Because I have. Multiple times."

He stopped short and looked earnestly at her. "Susu, if you see anything suspicious, you must tell me immediately. In case--"

"In case of what?" she pressed, as he did not finish his sentence.

"In case it might be Song Gongzi," Xuxian said reluctantly. "I thought I saw him near the village today. Knowing him, he might have come down here expressly to look for you. I am worried for you."

Suzhen's fingers smoothed his furrowed brows. "You forget, I know qinggong. If I cannot take care of myself, I should be a disgrace to my master," she said lightly. "And look at his figure--what could someone so spindly do? Stamp on my toes?"

She laughed. Hesitantly, Xuxian laughed as well.