"Xuanzhongji" once mentioned: " A fox is fifty years old and can change into a woman. A hundred years old is a beautiful woman. He is a witch and can know things thousands of miles away. He is good at bewitching people and can confuse people and make them crazy. A thousand years old is connected with the sky and is a celestial fox. " This is an earlier description of the fox demon , and it appears in an auspicious and positive image.
But as time goes by, the auspicious status of fox demons and fox fairies has declined sharply, and instead they have become synonymous with lustful beasts. But is this really the case? The following story is related to the fox demon.
During the period of the Song Dynasty, there was a young man named Xu Xian in Qingquan Village. He was a woodcutter. His parents died young, and his grandfather worked hard to raise him up. When Xu Xian was young, he loved listening to his grandfather telling stories. His grandfather worked as a porter in his early years and visited many places. He was well-informed and heard many interesting anecdotes.
Among them, the most common ones are stories about fox demons. But when it comes to fox demons, everything involved is bad. For example, the fox demon absorbs the essence of men and causes death; the fox demon turns into a beautiful man or woman, seduces married people, and destroys their families. In short, these fox monsters are all bad things. Grandpa always taught Xu Xian that when he sees a beautiful woman, he must be careful to avoid being deceived by the fox monster.
Xu Xian didn't care about this. After all, there are no such coincidences in this world. Not long after this, he actually met a fox demon, and he fell hopelessly in love with her.
It was a lightly raining morning, and Xu Xian went into the mountain to chop wood as usual. He was busy working until noon. He was a little tired, so he leaned under a big tree and fell asleep. I don't know how long it took, but he woke up in a daze and found that it was completely dark, white mist had risen around him, and the visibility had become very low.
Xu Xian shook off the water drops on his body and quickly looked for a way down the mountain. But because the fog was so heavy, Xu Xian walked for a long time before realizing that he was lost. At this moment, he noticed that there seemed to be a bright light not far ahead. He thought there was someone there, so he asked for a bright place and walked. When he got closer, he discovered that it was a dilapidated mountain temple. There was a small fire in the temple, but it was almost extinguished. Apparently someone had just stayed here. Xu Xian didn't think much, got some dry firewood, added it to the fire, and prepared to stay here for the night.
Just when Xu Xian was dozing off, a "whooshing" sound like the wind suddenly came from his ears. The sound was a bit muffled, and it sounded like there was an echo, which was very strange. Xu Xian stood up and found the backyard of Shanshen Temple with his voice trained.
The backyard was dilapidated, surrounded by weeds, and there was a dry well in the middle. The sound came from the dry well. The desolate environment made the sound particularly terrifying, like a call from an evil spirit in the underworld. Xu Xian bravely stepped forward and took a look. I saw layers of water waves appearing in the dry well, which was obviously water. On the surface of the water, there was a layer of white things floating like fur, and the sound seemed to be coming from it.
Xu Xian found a bucket, tied it with a rope, threw it into the well, fished out the white skin, and looked at it under the moonlight. It turned out to be an extremely complete fox skin. Although the fox fur was soaked in water, it did not feel wet to the touch. Instead, it was very dry, and there was not a single hair on the entire body. It looked like a top-quality product. If it were taken to the town, it would definitely sell for a good price.
Just when he was happy, there was a sound of footsteps outside the temple. He looked up and saw a figure appearing outside the window. In the wilderness, people appeared in the middle of the night. Xu Xian couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He quickly packed up his things and climbed up to the rafters to hide.
Soon, the man tiptoed into the temple. Due to the poor light, Xu Xian couldn't see his face clearly. However, in order to scare it away, Xu Xian deliberately took out a few small stones that he had prepared a long time ago and smashed them onto the dilapidated mountain god statue, making a crackling sound.
The man was obviously very frightened. He shouted that the mountain god had appeared, and knelt in front of the statue and kowtowed. At this moment, a ray of bright moonlight shone through the window and happened to fall on the man. When he saw his appearance clearly, Xu Xian was stunned.
That was a girl, she looked to be in her early twenties, with fair and smooth skin and long hair like a waterfall. She was as beautiful as Chang'e came to earth, and her temperament was refined, making people unable to take their eyes away at a glance. At this moment, the girl also saw Xu Xian hiding on the beam and saw the stone in his hand. She realized that she had been deceived and became a little angry. She yelled: "Come down quickly. Why did you lie to me?" When Xu Xian asked her why she was here, Bai Ying's eyes suddenly changed when she looked at him. Then he pointed at the baggage behind him and said, "Did you take my fox skin?" Xu Xian was confused, but nodded anyway. When Bai Ying saw this, he said that the fox skin was very important to him and hoped that Xu Xian could return it to him. Xu Xian was suspicious and naturally would not agree.
Bai Ying seemed a little anxious, but Xu Xian refused to let go. She said that as long as he could give her the fox skin, she would do anything. Xu Xian looked at her with interest after hearing this, and then joked: "I am so old and I don't have a wife. As long as you are willing to be my wife, I will give you the fox skin."
I thought it was just a joke, but who would have thought that Bai Ying agreed without hesitation, which made Xu Xian a little overwhelmed. At this moment, the sky was getting bright and the surrounding white fog had receded. Xu Xian stopped lingering and got up and went down the mountain. Bai Ying followed silently after getting up.
After returning home, the neighbors saw Xu Xian bringing a beautiful woman home. They were all curious and came to watch. Xu Xian, who had been a bachelor for more than 20 years, had a bright face and deliberately called Bai Ying his unmarried daughter-in-law. In this way, Bai Ying lived in Xu Xian's home, and she fulfilled her promise and married Xu Xian soon. And she was kind, diligent, and kept her house in order, which made Xu Xian extremely happy.
Not only that, two years after their marriage, Bai Ying gave birth to a fat boy named Ah Chen. I thought my days would go on peacefully, until that night, Bai Ying suddenly found Xu Xian and asked him for the fox skin. Over the years, the fox skin has been hidden in the cabinet by Xu Xian. At first, he was afraid that Bai Ying would leave after getting the fox skin. Now that they have a child, they should not be separated so easily, so he gave the fox skin to her.
After Bai Ying took the fox skin, he suddenly started crying and said: "Ms. sir, my father called me over. I don't know when I will come back after leaving. If you want to find me, take your child and go into the mountains to look for me." A piece of bamboo forest, I'm right there!"
After saying that, Bai Ying put the fox skin on her body, and in just a blink of an eye, the fox skin grew on Bai Ying's body. She changed dramatically, and finally turned into a snow-white fox, jumped off the boat and left.
Xu Xian was shocked. Only then did he realize that Bai Ying, who had been with him day and night for more than two years, was actually a fox demon. Thinking of the fox demon story his grandfather once told him, he was frightened for a while, but when he saw his son Ah Chen, Bai Ying's smile appeared in his heart again. Thinking about it carefully, Bai Ying might be different from other fox demons, otherwise he would have died a hundred times in the past two years.
After today's struggle, he can also confirm that he has fallen in love with Bai Ying, and for the sake of his son Ah Chen, he will get his wife back no matter what.
Early the next morning, he carried his son up the mountain. Xu Xian, who grew up in the mountains, had never heard of a bamboo forest in the mountains, but he did not give up.After wandering in the mountains and forests for three full days, just when he and his son Ah Chen could hardly hold on any longer, the father and son walked to a stream, and on the other side of the stream, there was indeed a bamboo forest.
Xu Xian was so excited that he immediately rushed over with his son in his arms. But as soon as he reached the bamboo forest, an old man with a white beard stopped him. The old man looked at the two of them, and then said that he was Bai Ying's father. Bai Ying was her youngest daughter and the daughter she loved the most. Although she didn't want to admit it, she had the fruit of love with Xu Xian after all. He could take Bai Ying away, but before that, he needed to take a test, which was to choose the real Bai Ying from among his seven daughters.
The old man clapped his hands gently, and seven beautiful figures walked out of the bamboo forest. Xu Xian looked up, but was dumbfounded. The seven people looked exactly the same, even the clothes, words and deeds were the same. How could this be a choice. The old man on the side said that he had three chances in total. If he chose wrongly, he would have to leave with his children and never come back.
Xu Xian thought for a moment and finally turned his attention to his one-year-old son beside him. Everyone talks about the bond between mother and son, maybe Ah Chen can choose his real mother. To do this, he placed his son in front of seven people and asked him to choose. Ah Chen quickly crawled in front of the second girl, but unfortunately, he made the wrong choice.
Ah Chen did not stop and quickly climbed to the seventh girl. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong one again. Xu Xian's heart skipped a beat. There was only one last chance left. He didn't dare to take any chances and hurriedly picked up his son. At his critical moment, Xu Xian had an idea.
He gently slapped his son's butt, making him cry. At the same time, Xu Xian looked up at the seven people in front of him. At this moment, he saw the fourth girl shed a drop of crystal tears. Without thinking, he immediately rushed to her and held her in his arms. The expression of the white-haired old man beside him changed slightly. He obviously did not expect that Xu Xian made the right choice.
It turned out that he knew in his heart that as a mother, Bai Ying must love her son, and she would naturally feel uncomfortable when she saw her son being beaten. In the end, Xu Xian took Bai Ying away, and the two stayed together for a lifetime and lived a stable and peaceful life.
