Liu Dongjiu from Laiwu County, Shandong Province, is the governor of Fenzhou. One day, sitting alone in the state government office, I heard laughter slowly approaching from outside the courtyard. Then, four women walked into the room. One is in her forties, one is in her thirties, one is in her forties, and there is also a young girl still wearing a loose bun. Several people stood at the table, looking at each other and laughing. Liu originally knew that there were many fox spirits in the government office, but he didn’t answer them. After a while, the girl with a loose bun took out a red scarf and playfully threw it at Liu’s face. Liu pulled it off and threw it on the windowsill, but still ignored her. The four women laughed for a while and left.
One day, the woman in her forties came to Liu again and said, “My sister-in-law and you have fate. I hope you don’t dislike our little girl.” Liu casually agreed, and the woman left. After a while, an elderly woman and a maid helped the girl with her loose bun and asked her to sit beside Liu, saying, “A pair of beautiful companions, tonight’s bridal candles. You serve Liu Lang well, I’m leaving.” Liu carefully looked at the girl, who was so radiant that no one could compare to her, so he shared his pleasure with her. Liu asked about her background, and the girl said, “I am not a human, but in fact, I am a human. I was the daughter of a former governor and was enchanted by a fox. After I died, I was buried in the courtyard. The fox fairies used spells to revive me, so I drifted around like a fox fairy again.” Liu then touched the girl’s buttocks. The girl noticed and smiled, “Do you think foxes all have tails?” After speaking, she turned around and asked, “Please touch if they have tails?” From then on, the girl stayed here. The young girl is accompanied by that little maid in her daily life, sitting and sleeping. Liu’s family treats her as a little lady. When the maidservants greeted her, they gave her generous rewards.
One day, it was Liu’s birthday. There are many guests, and the banquet requires more than thirty tables, requiring a lot of chefs. I sent the document to the chefs early to ask them to arrive on time, but only one or two came. Liu is very angry. After hearing this, Mrs. Fox said, “Don’t worry. Since the chefs are not enough, why don’t we send back the one or two that came? Although I don’t have much ability, it’s not difficult to arrange more than thirty tables of banquets.” Liu was very happy and let the fish and scallions and ginger seasonings be moved into the inner house. The people at home could only hear the constant sound of chopping vegetables and meat. Place a table inside the door, and the person serving the dishes puts the tray on top. In the blink of an eye, the dishes are already filled to the brim. After leaving, they came back and it was full again. More than ten people served the dishes in a continuous stream, and they couldn’t stop taking them. Finally, the person serving the dishes came to get the soup cake, only to hear from the door: “The host didn’t give any instructions in advance to make the soup cake, it needs to be done in a breath, how can it be done?” Then he said, “There’s nothing we can do, go borrow some.” After a while, he called out to get the soup cake. At first glance, over thirty bowls of soup cakes, steaming hot, were placed on the table. After the guest left, Mrs. Fox said to Liu, “You can take out some money to repay the soup cakes of a certain family.” When Liu asked someone to deliver the money, the family happened to have just lost a lot of soup cakes and was puzzled there. The person who delivered the money went and the mystery was finally solved.
One evening, Liu was drinking when he suddenly remembered a slightly bitter wine from Shandong. Mrs. Fox said, ‘Please let me take it.’. So he went out. After a while, he returned and said, “There’s a jar of wine outside the door, enough to last for several days.” Liu went out to take a look and saw that it was indeed his hometown’s famous liquor, “Weng Tou Chun.
A few days later, Liu’s wife sent two servants to Fenzhou. On the way, one of the servants said, “I heard that the master’s fox lady rewarded her subordinates very generously. This time, she got the reward money and could buy a fur coat.” Mrs. Fox already knew about it in the state yamen and said to Liu, “The family is coming soon. I hate the rude servant. We must deal with him.” The next day, the nonsense servant had just entered the city and suddenly felt a headache. When he arrived at the state yamen, he held his head and shouted loudly. Everyone was thinking of giving him medicine. Liu Xiao said, “No need to treat him, he will naturally get better when the time comes.” The whole family suspected that he had offended the little lady here. The servant thought to himself, ‘I just arrived here and haven’t unpacked yet. Where did the sin come from?’? He felt there was nothing to ask for forgiveness, so he knelt outside the curtain and begged on his knees. Only then did the servant understand and kowtow, begging for mercy, as he said through the curtain, ‘You call me Madam, that’s all. Why do you add the word’ fox ‘?’. In the curtain, he said again, ‘How could you be so rude since you only wanted a fur coat?’ After a while, he said, ‘You’re already recovered!’ The madam finished speaking, and the servant’s headache immediately improved. Just as he was about to say thank you, a small bag suddenly popped out of the curtain and said, “This is a lamb skin coat, you can take it.” The servant untied it and found five taels of silver inside. Liu asked for news about the family, and the servant said that there was nothing going on at home, except that one night a jar of good wine was lost. Upon checking the time, it was the night when Lady Fox went out to fetch the wine. Everyone was afraid of the wife’s divine power and called her a “saint fairy”. Liu painted a small portrait of her.
At that time, Zhang Dao, an official, paid a visit to the school envoy and heard about Lady Fox’s strange story. He went to visit Lady Fox under the pretext of being from the same hometown as Liu, hoping to meet her. Mrs. Fox refused to meet. Liu showed him the portrait, but Zhang Dao forcefully took it away. After returning home, Zhang hung the portrait of Madam Fox beside him and prayed in the morning and evening, “With Madam’s beautiful appearance, who wouldn’t be good to go to? Why do you entrust yourself to an old man with a beard? I am no worse than Liu Dongjiu, why don’t you visit me once?” Madam Fox suddenly said to Liu at the prefectural government office, “Mr. Zhang is unreasonable, I will punish him a little.” One day, Zhang Daoyi was praying when someone hit his forehead with a copper ruler, causing a buzzing sound and a splitting headache. He was very scared and sent back the portrait of Madam Fox. When Liu asked Zhang’s servant about this matter, Zhang’s servant didn’t dare to tell the truth and answered a few nonsense questions. Liu smiled and said, “Doesn’t your master’s forehead hurt?” The servant saw that he couldn’t deceive him, so he told the truth.
Shortly after, Liu’s son-in-law and his son visited and requested to see his new mother-in-law, but Mrs. Hu firmly refused. His desire to meet was even more urgent. Liu said, “My son-in-law is not an outsider, why do you refuse like this?” Mrs. Fox said, “When my son-in-law meets, he must give him some gifts. His expectations for me are too high, and I cannot meet his requirements even after careful consideration, so I do not want to meet him.” His son still insisted on meeting, and Mrs. Fox allowed him to meet in ten days. On the agreed date, he was born in front of Mrs. Fox’s door and bowed to her through the curtain. Because through the door curtain, Mrs. Fox’s appearance was vaguely visible, and she dared not stare closely. When she left, she always turned around to look. At this moment, Mrs. Fox heard Mrs. Fox say, ‘My son-in-law has turned back!’ With that, she burst out laughing, which was as terrifying as a night owl’s. Upon hearing this, her legs were weak and restless, as if she had lost her soul. After coming out from Mrs. Fox and sitting for a while, I finally calmed down a bit. So he said, “Just now when I heard laughter, it was like hearing a bolt from the blue, and I felt like my body no longer belonged to me.” After a while, a maid came and was ordered by Madam Fox to give him twenty taels of silver as a gift. Madam Fox accepted and said to the maid, “The Holy Immortal is usually with my father-in-law. Don’t you know that I am always wasteful and not used to using small money?” Madam Fox heard this and said, “I have long known his problem. My family is out of money. A while ago, I went to Bianliang with someone else, and the city has been occupied by the River God, with a vast ocean. The treasury is also submerged in the water, and we each got a small amount of silver when we entered the water. How can I satisfy this insatiable desire? And even if I can generously give him money, I’m afraid he won’t have much luck and can’t afford it
Mrs. Fox knows everything in advance. When faced with doubts and difficulties, after discussing with her, there is nothing that cannot be solved. One day, as she was sitting with Liu, she suddenly looked up in shock and said, “A great disaster is coming. What should we do?” Liu asked her family in surprise if they were safe, and Mrs. Fox said, “Everyone else is fine, only Second Young Master is worrying. This place will soon become a battlefield, so you should request to go on a business trip to a distant place to avoid this disaster.” Liu listened to her and requested to be sent to Yunnan and Guizhou to escort silver and pay. The journey from Fenzhou to Yungui is very long, and people who have heard of it have come to express sympathy and comfort, except for Mrs. Fox congratulating Liu. Soon after, General Jiang of Datong rebelled and Fenzhou fell, becoming a lair for rebel soldiers. Liu’s second son came from Shandong and coincidentally encountered war and was killed by rebel soldiers.
When the city of Fenzhou was breached, all the officials were killed, except for Liu Dongjiu who was spared because he was far away from Yungui. After the rebellion was suppressed, Liu Cai returned from Yungui. Then, due to an important case that was not handled properly, Liu was demoted, and his family was so poor that they couldn’t afford to eat a meal. The government also extorted him in many ways, so Liu was extremely worried. Madam Fox said, “Don’t worry, there are three thousand taels of silver under the bed that you can take out and use.” Liu Daxi asked her, “Where did you steal this from?” Madam Fox replied, “There is no master in the world, and it is inexhaustible. Where is there any need to steal it?” Liu found an opportunity to leave Fenzhou and return to his hometown in Shandong, and Madam Fox also went back with him. After a few years, Madam Fox suddenly left and wrapped several things in paper, including a small banner hanging on the door of the funeral home, which was about two inches long. People thought it was an ominous sign, and soon Liu Dongjiu died.
