CH 4

…is a fox

translator: baumkuchen  editor: sora harukawa (thanks so much for editing sora!!) 

The rooms that were used daily in the old house had pretty much all been cleaned up, only leaving a few that Lu Qingjiu hadn’t touched. Those rooms hadn’t been repaired in many years, and even the roof above them had a few holes. He usually didn’t need to use them, so he thought he’d wait until he was a little more free before finding someone to repair the entire house.

Ever since Lu Qingjiu moved here, he almost always fell asleep right after getting into bed, unlike in the past when insomnia had plagued him.

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The air of the farming village was very fresh, especially in the mornings. Lu Qingjiu got up around 7 o’clock. After making himself a simple breakfast, he took the soybeans that he had started soaking in advance yesterday out of the water, and brought the big bag of soybeans to the large grinder at the front of the village.

He and Yin Xun had decided to grind a few soybeans to make some beancurd to eat today from the soybeans that had been brought over by Yin Xun yesterday.

Most of the people in Shuifu village knew about Lu Qingjiu having come back from the city,  and on the way to meet up with Yin Xin all the villagers warmly greeted Lu Qingjiu. Their attitudes were extremely friendly, looking as if they all really liked this university graduate who had come back from the big city. Lu Qingjiu replied to them one by one, since he would be staying here for a long time, having good relations with the villagers absolutely wouldn’t hurt.

By the time he reached the grinder, Yin Xun was already sitting by the side of the grinder, eating fried wintermelon seeds. When he saw Lu Qingjiu had arrived, he stood up and greeted him: “You’ve arrived?”

“En,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Why are you so early?”

“Yesterday my face was so swollen that I couldn’t sleep well,” Yin Xun said. “My face only got a little better after I got up this morning.” 

Lu Qingjiu looked at Yin Xun. Finding that the swelling on his face had indeed gone down, he was relieved. He said: “You put in the soybeans, and I’ll go grind them.”

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“Alright.” Yin Xun didn’t argue with Lu Qingjiu.

The two then started working together, and quickly ground up the soybeans.

This grinder had been in the village for many tens of years. When Lu Qingjiu was younger, he’d climbed up onto it and had been pulled down and spanked by his grandmother. He had been very naughty when he was young, wildly running around on the mountain  with a group of friends, having almost run around every corner of the village. Only now, almost all of his friends had left the village, leaving only Yin Xun who had stayed in the village his whole life. 

The soybeans had been grown in Yin Xun’s own home and were of very high quality, causing the soymilk that had been ground out to be both white and smooth, emanating a fresh scent of soybeans. Later they’d bring it home to boil it, and then add a bit of brine. Once the soymilk formed into chunks, the beancurd would then be complete.

The pot of beans had all become creamy soymilk. Yin Xun also took the soybean dregs and placed it into a seperate bag. The dregs shouldn’t be thrown away, as they could be used to feed the pigs.

The two walked back to the old house together, with Yin Xun carrying the soybean dregs in front, and Lu Qingjiu following behind with the soymilk.

“I’m going to go feed the pigs.” Yin Xun raised the bag in his hands. 

“Go ahead.” Lu Qingjiu thought for a bit, before still deciding to speak anyways. “Right, yesterday the neighbours’ kid gave the two little wild pigs names.”

Yin Xun asked: “Li Xiaoyu? What kind of names did he give the pigs?”

“The big one’s called Xiao Hua, and the small one’s called Xiao Hei,” Lu Qingjiu replied.

“Why is it called Xiao Hua?!” Yin Xun exclaimed, “Do you want to poke at my sore spot!” 

“The little kid named them on his own, it wouldn’t have been good to argue with him,” Lu Qingjiu helplessly explained.

“Oh.” After hearing that, Yin Xun didn’t say anything more on the topic, only saying with the air of a hardened veteran who had experienced the vicissitudes of life: “The big one is definitely going to taste better than the small one…”

Lu Qingjiu: “……” I’m begging you, please just shut up.

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As Yin Xun went off to feed the pigs, Lu Qingjiu placed the soymilk into a pot and turned on the stove. He started off with a strong flame to get the soymilk to boil before dialling it down  to a slow simmer. As it simmered, he added brine before using a spoon to compact it. Making beancurd was an art, if one pressed too hard, the beancurd would be too dry, but if one pressed to softly, the beancurd couldn’t be shaped. Lu Qingjiu had done this before, so he could be considered somewhat experienced. After a few minutes, the pot of soymilk  started to slowly solidify. 

As he was making the beancurd, he heard Yin Xun shout from the courtyard: “Qingjiu! Someone’s asking for you!”

“Who?” Lu Qingjiu called, “Who is it?”

“If you come out you’ll know.” Yin Xun responded.

Lu Qingjiu turned the heat down lower before going out into the courtyard. He saw Yin Xun out in the courtyard, but what caught his attention was the male standing next to him. 

“He… hello.” Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to greet him, but he was still holding a spoon, so he could only awkwardly wave the spoon in his hands.

“Hello.” When the man spoke, his voice was very soft, but one could still hear it very clearly.

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“Is there something wrong?” Being stared at like this by the man, Lu Qingjiu inexplicably tensed up. The man was extraordinarily handsome and still had the lazy air about him from a few days before. He had unique phoenix eyes and a high nose bridge. His entire being was filled with the classic beauty of an ink painting.

“I said I’d come find you,” the man said, “So here I am.” 

Lu Qingjiu: “…”

He remembered that the man was called Bai Yuehu. He also remembered the words he’d said when the two had met before in the market, but he had never expected that he’d really come find him.

“What, you forgot?” Bai Yuehu stared into Lu Qingjiu’s eyes.

“No…no, I didn’t forget,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Since… since you’ve come, do you want to eat some beancurd?” 

Bai Yuehu asked: “What is beancurd?”

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“He’s a good person.” Lu Qingjiu said.

“How’d you know?” Yin Xun gave him a look.

Lu Qingjiu immediately intoned: “Because he’s good-looking.” 

Yin Xun: “…”

Lu Qingjiu was obviously joking. In truth, he only dared to invite Bai Yuehu into his house because of the sachet Bai Yuehu had given him. The gecko tail that had been inside had proven Lu Qingjiu’s suspicions. Everything that had happened that night hadn’t been a dream. It had actually happened. If not for that man, he probably would have already become the meal of that giant gecko.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m a grown man, what could possibly happen?” Lu Qingjiu patted Yin Xun’s shoulder, comforting his good friend.

Yin Xun glanced at Lu Qingjiu, and then glanced at the man inside the house, before muttering: “What does being male matter, in this day and age males also aren’t safe, even though the one who’s in danger may not necessarily be you…” 

Lu Qingjiu was shocked: “…What do you mean?”

Yin Xun: “You heard wrong I didn’t say anything at all.”

“I can’t be bothered to talk with you, the beancurd is still in the pot. Go cut up some meat, in a while I’ll fry up some twice-cooked pork.” Lu Qingjiu dragged Yin Xun back to the kitchen.

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The meat had been bought by Yin Xun that morning. It was fresh pork belly, and when fried, it was incredibly fragrant. Lu Qingjiu finished preparing the beancurd then cut the pork belly into three-finger width chunks. After heating up the oil in the pan, he added some garlic and bean paste and started stir-frying. When the meat and the oil came into contact, they gave off the rich aroma of meat. The white fatty meat oozed with oil, turning into a entrancing golden yellow colour. The entire piece of pork belly curled up, and even without tasting it, it was clear that the taste would definitely not be bad. 

Yin Xun impatiently grabbed a piece with his chopsticks, and after chewing twice he sighed and said: “It’s so good, this meat is really too fragrant.”

“Bring that out, I’m also going to prepare a cabbage egg-drop soup.” Lu Qingjiu wiped off some sweat from his chin, and said: “Also bring out the rice and the beancurd. In a bit I’ll make some sauce for the beancurd.”

“Okay.” Yin Xun went off merrily.

By the time Lu Qingjiu finished preparing everything else, the two people outside were already obediently sitting at the table, eagerly waiting for him. Yin Xun being like this was expected, but Lu Qingjiu could also unexpectedly see anticipation plastered on Bai Yuehu’s face. 

Lu Qingjiu placed the food in his hands on the table and said: “Feel free.”

As soon as Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu heard him, they simultaneously picked up their chopsticks and rushed for the meat.

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Lu Qingjiu also picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork. After tasting it, he found that it indeed didn’t taste bad. His cooking skills were actually quite average, but who knew if it was because of the ingredients that the twice-cooked pork he made turned out extraordinarily fragrant. The fatty meat on the pork belly wasn’t at all greasy after frying, and was rather very tender and soft, smelling incredibly delicious.

Lu Qingjiu then tried some beancurd. The beancurd also turned out very successful, with a  soft yet supple texture. When he added some of the sauce he’d specially prepared, he found that it went incredibly well with the beancurd, making Lu Qingjiu feel that he alone could finish a large bowl of it. 

After finishing two bowls of rice, he was pretty much full. Yin Xun was also about done eating, but Bai Yuehu looked as if he still didn’t plan on stopping. What was even weirder was that his eating movements were incredibly elegant, as if he wasn’t eating a simple meal at home, but rather some delicate dish from an exotic country.

Yin Xun rubbed his own stomach, and said: “I’m full.”

“Me too,” Lu Qingjiu said. “Yuehu, after you’re done, please wash the dishes.”

Bai Yuehu naturally nodded his head in acknowledgement, as if he’d already completely integrated into this hodgepodge family. 

Lu Qingjiu also didn’t feel like it would be wrong to have him wash the dishes. Even though he didn’t know why he wanted to stay here, since he’d come here then he definitely needed to get used to doing these things.

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Yin Xun had eaten his fill, so he got up to leave, saying he wanted to go home to take an afternoon nap.

On the other side, Bai Yuehu gathered up the used tableware, pushed up his sleeves, then entered the kitchen. Lu Qingjiu also began to prepare to take a short rest. He moved a lounge chair out into the courtyard so he could take a nap out in the sun. The spring sun was a lot gentler than during summer. The sunlight that pierced through the clouds and shone onto him only made him feel warm all over.

Lu Qingjiu laid down on the lounge chair and was quickly about to fall asleep when he felt a drop of something fall onto his face. He was violently shocked awake, and found that at some unknown time the sun above his head had disappeared, only leaving behind a sheet of heavy, oppressive black storm clouds. Tiny rain droplets fell down from the clouds overhead, pitter-pattering down onto his face. 

It’s raining? Lu Qingjiu reached out a hand to touch the tip of his nose. Feeling a slight dampness, he got up from the chair, wanting to return to the house, but then he heard a strange noise… Peng. Peng. Peng. It sounded as if someone was repeatedly hitting a rock against something, with that something being a meat of some kind, because Lu Qingjiu could clearly the squelching noise of meat being smashed into pieces.

Lu Qingjiu started moving. He slowly rounded the corner of the wall and looked at the back courtyard shrouded in rain. A male had his back to him. In his hands was a heavy rock. The rock’s surface was splattered with bright red blood. He bent down and forcefully smashed down on the thing in front of him, over and over again. Even though Lu Qingjiu was a fair distance away, he could still clearly see what exactly he was hitting. It was a person. The person was covered in blood and pieces of pulverised flesh, their face already smashed into an unrecognisable pulp, with long hair and broken-off chunks of flesh creating a bloody mess. That person definitely couldn’t still be alive.

In the face of such a horrifying scene, Lu Qingjiu momentarily stopped breathing, before he loudly yelled: “What are you doing!?”

The person’s movements stopped. He had obviously heard Lu Qingjiu’s shout. He slowly turned his head around, letting Lu Qingjiu get a good look at his face. That ‘face’ couldn’t even be considered a human face anymore. Its surface was full of thick black hair, with its features only vaguely visible. When the man saw Lu Qingjiu, he let out an agonised scream. The black hair grew longer and longer until it completely enveloped the man covered in blood. 

Splash! Lu Qingjiu once again heard the sound of something heavy falling into water. However, he was then shaken awake by someone, allowing him to wake up in an instant. Only then did he realize that he was still reclining in the lounge chair, and Bai Yuehu, who had finished washing the dishes, was standing next to him, expressionlessly looking at him.

“I seem to have been dreaming,” Lu Qingjiu blearily said.

“Yes,” Bai Yuehu replied, “You were dreaming.”

Lu Qingjiu murmured: “I dreamt that there was a dead person in the well in the back courtyard.” 

Bai Yuehu merely looked at him, silent.

Lu Qingjiu continued: “Is there really someone in there?”

Bai Yuehu was silent for a moment, before asking another question in response: “Why did you return here?”

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Lu Qingjiu frowned slightly: “I just thought that being in the city was tiring, so I wanted to come back.” 

Bai Yuehu replied: “Just for that?”

Lu Qingjiu closed his mouth. The truth of why he returned here was something he was unwilling to disclose, because it was too absurd, so absurd that if he said it out loud, it would sound like a joke.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t answer. Bai Yuehu also didn’t ask further. He glanced up at the sky, said that it was going to rain, then turned around and returned to the house.

Lu Qingjiu looked around the courtyard and suddenly felt bone-chillingly cold. 

He got up from the lounge chair and walked over to the back courtyard, but only saw a dark well standing in the empty back courtyard. Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu nodded to himself and returned to the house.

Sure enough, just as Bai Yuehu had predicted, light rain soon started falling from the sky.

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Spring rains were as valuable as oil, especially in the eyes of farmers. As Lu Qingjiu watched the rain fall onto the dirt, he felt like he could feel a trace of zen.

But Bai Yuehu sitting next to him clearly didn’t think that way. He stretched out a hand towards Lu Qingjiu, and said: “Give me some melon too.” 

Lu Qingjiu made an ‘oh’ of acknowledgement, and handed over half of his melon.

Bai Yuehu said, “You saw the courtyard just now, what do you think?”

Lu Qingjiu said: “It’s not time yet.”

Bai Yuehu’s eyes sunk: “When will that be?” 

Lu Qingjiu: “Summer!”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Bai Yuehu: “After waiting until summer, what then?”

He was just about to say that the thing in the well would come out no matter whether it was spring or summer, when he heard Lu Qingjiu’s deep sigh: “You probably didn’t know this,  but only in the summer can we plant a few watermelons, grapes, etcetera. The courtyard is too small, we can only plant those kinds of vines.”

Bai Yuehu: “…Are you going to just ignore the problem?” 

Lu Qingjiu was baffled: “What else?”

Bai Yuehu: “…” He continued eating his melon in silence.

Lu Qingjiu propped up his chin, threw the melon rind away into the nearby trash bin and sighed: “I’m joking. I’m going to make a police report. There’s definitely something in that well.”

Bai Yuehu: “En.” 

After a short silence fell between the two, Lu Qingjiu gathered up his courage and turned his head to look at Bai Yuehu: “I still have a question…”

“I’m a fox.” Not waiting for Lu Qingjiu to finish his question, Bai Yuehu just spoke, and said in a strangely serious manner, “The kind of demon most liked by you humans!”

Lu Qingjiu: “…” He hadn’t even asked yet.

Lu Qingjiu’s expression seemed to make Bai Yuehu have some kind of misunderstanding. He stood up in one smooth movement with his back facing Lu Qingjiu as he said: “I’m really a fox.” After his words fell, a few big, fluffy tails poked out from under Bai Yuehu’s clothes. 

Those tails were covered in pure white fur, both soft and luxuriously fluffy, looking incredibly nice to touch. Lu Qingjiu’s hands felt a little itchy, but he didn’t dare reach out, and simply said: “Oh, got it.”

He didn’t know whether it was his own misconception, but he felt that when he finished speaking, Bai Yuehu subtly relaxed, as though relieved.

How come this fox so straightforwardly revealed his true nature, wasn’t he scared of shocking him? Lu Qingjiu felt both a bit desolate as well as a bit suspicious. He thought that Bai Yuehu’s behavior was rather weird, as if… he was scared that he wouldn’t believe he was a fox.

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Well, it’s not like he would have any reason to pretend to be a fox, right? Lu Qingjiu reasoned to himself. 

Maybe it was that Lu Qingjiu’s yearning to touch those white fluffy tails was far too obvious. After Bai Yuehu glanced at Lu Qingjiu, he frowned slightly, before saying: “You can touch.”

Lu Qingjiu “ah”-ed in acknowledgement but didn’t move.

“You can touch.” Bai Yuehu repeated himself once more, and even shook his fluffy tails slightly.

Once Lu Qingjiu heard those words, his hand immediately moved up to touch them. After coming into contact with those fluffy tails, he heard himself let out a soulful, contented sigh. The big tails were both incredibly fluffy and very smooth, feeling just like the softest satin… Lu Qingjiu snapped himself out of it, and after regaining his composure he reluctantly drew back his hand: “Thanks, Bai-ge.” This was the first time he had ever touched a fox’s tail, and it was possibly also the last. 

Seeing Lu Qingjiu’s face filled with happiness, Bai Yuehu nodded, and got up and returned to the house.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t move. He’d actually come across quite a few of such strange kinds of creatures that one wouldn’t be able to defend against.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

After a long time, he’d become slightly accustomed to it. If it had been an average person who’d come across Bai Yuehu, who blatantly exposed his true nature, they’d definitely be scared half to death.

However to tell the truth, when it came to beings like Bai Yuehu who had a humanoid form and were capable of conscious thought, this was the first time Lu Qingjiu had come across something like this. What he’d seen before was mostly non-sentient beings, like the tree that could repeat people’s gossip that had been near the entrance to his dorm… 

After that dream he had in his courtyard, Lu Qingjiu was convinced that there was something in the well. He took out his phone and called the police. Naturally, he didn’t say that he’d had a dream, and only told them that it seemed like there was something in his well, and that he suspected that it was someone who had accidentally fallen in.

After hearing this, the police expressed that they’d quickly send someone over and asked Lu Qingjiu to protect the site from being disturbed. The village didn’t have a police station, so the police had to drive over from town, so by the time they arrived, the sky would have already turned dark.

Lu Qingjiu then went to the kitchen and got out a bit of flour, which he then whisked up with some eggs to fry a big omelette, cooked a pot of sweet potato porridge, and cut up two cucumbers to create a simple dinner.

The three people sat by the well to eat dinner. Yin Xun was rather confused, and asked: “Why are you guys doing this? What are you guarding the well for, is there something special in it?” 

Lu Qingjiu: “There’s a ghost.”

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Yin Xun ate a mouthful of omelette, causing his voice to be a little muffled: “Even if there’s a ghost, what’s the point of calling the police? They even deal with things like this?”

Lu Qingjiu said: “If there’s a ghost there’s usually a reason for it, isn’t there? What if the ghost’s corpse is in the well.”

Yin Xun: “…” He felt as if the omelette in his mouth suddenly gained a bit of the taste of something else… He silently put down the omelette. 

Around 10pm, a police siren sounded at the entrance of the village. The police car drove down the road to the entrance of Lu Qingjiu’s old home. After stopping, two police officers stepped out of the car.

The younger police officer knocked on the door of the house and once the door opened, he  questioned, “Were you the one who called the police?”

“It was me.” Lu Qingjiu said affirmatively.

“You said that there’s a person who fell into the well in your home?” the officer asked, “Are you sure?” 

“It’s precisely because I wasn’t sure that I called the police,” Lu Qingjiu said, “I heard something big fall into the well.”

The two policemen looked at each other. The older officer said: “First bring us there so we can take a look.”

The group of people went to the back courtyard, where the younger police officer used a flashlight to light up the interior of the well. He furrowed his eyebrows and muttered: “It seems like there really is something floating inside.”

The older police officer didn’t say anything, and after a bit of careful observation, he took out a rope from his bag. On the end of the rope was a metal hook, which he threw into the well and forcefully stirred it around in the water. After a few seconds, he said, “ I got it.” 

“Can you pull it up?” asked the younger police officer.

“I’ll give it a try.” The older police officer tried pulling hard, but the thing in the water seemed to be incredibly heavy. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t pull it up from the water. He shook his head, and his expression turned serious. “I can’t, it’s really heavy.”

“It couldn’t actually be a person.” The younger police officer started to become a little frantic.

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“I’ll call the station and get them to send over a few more people and equipment so we can confirm it.” The older police officer looked over at Lu Qingjiu with a subtle look on his face, and said: “It really might be a person.” 

Meeting the police officer’s suspicious gaze, Lu Qingjiu thought to himself, even if you watch me there’s no point, I have nothing to do with this. Of course, even if he said this, the officers definitely wouldn’t believe him, after all he was the one who had reported that someone had fallen into the well.

The author has something to say:

Bai Yuehu: I really am a fox. 

Lu Qingjiu: You’ve repeated this so many times, is it because of a guilty conscience or what?

Bai Yuehu: Doesn’t matter, I’m a fox.

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The ML is finally here!! \o/

Also, can I just say I really love their attitude towards supernatural situations? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil lol Or just casually accepting it. It’s definitely better than the typical horror movie protag, who would panic and/or run towards the source to try figuring it out haha 

Anyways, time for the food porn! There’s a lot today~

Here’s their first meal, beancurd, cabbage egg drop soup, twice cooked pork and of course some rice~ 

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

And the ‘omelette’ and the sweet potato porridge. Tbh I’m not exactly sure if the ‘omelette’ is meant to be more like a pastry like the first one or more like, well an omelette like the second pic. Really depends on the amount of flour added ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

By the way, if you guys want to see the process of how they grinded up the beans to make soymilk and then beancurd check out this video here: link (even though what she’s making is tofu, the process isn’t that different from making beancurd I think?  anyways the grinding of the soybeans is mostly the same)

The lifestyle this youtuber lives is probably pretty close to how you can imagine Lu Qingjiu living lol