An Du Lu was a wealthy merchant who lived in the most flourishing part of Plum Blossom City. Handsome and hardworking, he sold various bolts of silk during the day and enjoyed his nights watching the moonlight, drinking wine.

Despite his riches, An Du Lu wasn’t a haughty man at all. He was kind and considerate and never tried to take advantage of others. Many merchants laughed at him because he could be richer or even become the lord of the city, but An Du Lu wasn’t bothered by it.

One day, while tallying up the money he had collected from a customer, the merchant heard a pitiful cry of a wounded animal outside his shop. He looked up and saw two large men carrying a cage with a white fox in it. Watching them carefully, he noticed that the leg of the fox was hurt.

An Du Lu went outside his shop to stop the men.

“Young masters,” he said, “What are you going to do with this animal?”

“We’re on our way to sell it at the marketplace,” explained one of the men. “This fox was found near the edge of Ben Jie Ming forest. We’ve never seen a white fox before, so we decided to catch it and sell it.”

“It’s got beautiful fur,” praised An Du Lu. “Please sell it to me.”

The men agreed and after a quick exchange, An Du Lu walked indoors with the fox. His helper looked at him quizzically. He knew that his employer didn’t keep pets, not even birds; in fact, the man kept many trees in his courtyard just so birds could fly freely there and sing instead of perching in a cage.

“Master,” said the assistant, “Why did you buy this fox?”

“I felt bad for it,” said An Du Lu, setting the fox down on a table and binding its leg. “If it was sold at the marketplace, it would surely be skinned and turned into a shawl or ornament. Just look at its beautiful fur!”

Both helper and merchant stroked the creature’s fur with admiration. Indeed it was beautiful – it was the colour of mutton fat jade.

Days passed after An Du Lu brought the fox back to his mansion to look after it. He fed it well and washed and bound its leg while its wounds healed. As soon as the fox could walk again, the merchant brought it back to the forest and released it into the wild.

Again, his helper was puzzled. He asked, “Master, why did you set the fox free? Isn’t it beautiful enough to have as a pet?”

“It is,” said An Du Lu, “But a white fox is an intelligent and sacred animal which can only live with its kind. If this fox wanted to live with humans, it would have done so a long time ago. If I kept it with me, it’d be very lonely indeed.”

The helper nodded. Even after the many days spent with them, the fox had bolted into the forest without even looking back.

Things were very pleasant for An Du Lu and his business for a while after that. One night a few months in, however, while the merchant was in his garden enjoying some wine, he heard some noise from above. Puzzled, he looked up – and there on the trees were several shadows of armed men!

It couldn’t be said that gentle, kind folk like An Du Lu didn’t also have people who despised them. No matter what good or bad a person did, they would always have enemies. As a merchant, An Du Lu had a lot of business rivals who were jealous of his wealth. Even when he helped them out, they still held a grudge against him as they believed his business was pulling their potential patrons away from theirs, causing their misfortune in the first place.

An Du Lu’s servants went pale. “Help!” they shouted. “There are attackers in the garden! Guards!”

They ran helter-skelter to summon the hired guards. Amidst the chaos, an arrow shot out at the hapless merchant – but before it could plunge into his heart and end his life, a flash of white flew upwards to stop it in mid-trajectory!

An Du Lu stared at the figure in surprise. It was a little white fox!

The white fox turned to face him, arrow in its mouth. It seemed to want to say something, but couldn’t form any words. After bowing its head once, it dropped the arrow in his hand and fled away into the bushes, leaving behind a rustling of leaves. As the small animal disappeared into the night, the mansion guards poured into garden to fight off the attackers. Seeing that they wouldn’t win, the attackers backed off and managed to escape as well.

As for the white fox, after that night An Du Lu never saw it again. No matter how many times he called to the bushes or left food out for it, it never appeared. Feeling slightly wistful, An Du Lu sighed.

“Master, why do you sigh so?” asked one of the servants while fetching the plate in.

“I truly wanted to be friends with it,” said An Du Lu, smiling. “It seemed smart enough to understand conversation.”

The servant laughed. Their master was sentimental like that, but this was part of his charm. He never stopped putting out food for the fox, in case it ever returned.

A number of years later, a handsome scholar-official appeared at the doorstep of the merchant’s shop. He was a tall man who had slender, bright eyes and a complexion that was as exquisite as white mutton fat jade. When he smiled, his teeth were like rows of pearls. He wore mostly white, and, wrapped in expensive white fox fur, looked like an immortal from the clouds.

An Du Lu had never seen anyone as clever and handsome as this scholar-official. He bowed low, but the man brought him back up to stand straight.

“My name is Bu Lai En,” said the scholar-official, smiling. “I’ve newly moved to this city and I noticed this shop sells very good silk. If you don’t mind, young master, I’d like to make some orders with your shop immediately.”

Bu Lai En became a loyal customer very quickly and An Du Lu found him visiting every few days. Sometimes he bought silk – other times he simply dropped by unannounced with pastries and delicacies. The merchant couldn’t really make head or tails of it, but as Bu Lai En was very agreeable and generous, the two eventually became very good friends. They were like peas in a pod and were almost inseparable after a few weeks of knowing one other.

One day, An Du Lu invited his newfound friend to have wine with him that evening in his garden. As the two enjoyed the moonlight and refreshments, they suddenly heard a strange noise from above.

They looked up – and to the merchant’s shock, there were masked attackers up in the trees just like there had been a few years ago! Those masked ruffians fired a few arrows at the two men.

“Look out!” An Du Lu shouted, trying to push his friend away to safety while shielding him with his own body. However, before the merchant could stop him, Bu Lai En jumped up towards the trees at top speed, catching all the arrows. With a graceful flick of his wrist, they darted back towards the attackers, wounding their legs! It was like a spectacular martial arts show. Bu Lai En floated down as gracefully as he had jumped up.

The masked men tumbled down from the boughs and were apprehended by the mansion’s guards. As they were taken away to be brought to justice before the city’s magistrate, An Du Lu rushed to his friend’s side.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, feeling very concerned. At this, Bu Lai En turned to face him with a smile, one of the arrows still in his hand. He seemed to want to say something—

And this time, he could.

“Do you remember me?” asked Bu Lai En, his smile bright and serene like the moon in the sky. He bowed his head once and placed the arrow into An Du Lu’s hand, kneading it fondly. “I’ve always wanted to thank you in person. I’m the white fox you rescued years ago.”

“The little white fox I had bought and released?” the merchant echoed, surprised. Come to think of it, Bu Lai En did have facial features which looked as beautiful as a fox fairy’s. It wasn’t too surprising that he was one.

Bu Lai En nodded. “I am indeed that fox. I had come back to watch you from afar when I overheard some of your business rivals plotting to kill you. When I returned that night to stop them, I wasn’t able to halt the attacks fully and they escaped. My lack of power was one of my regrets.”

“Then you came back tonight…”

“I knew that those men hadn’t given up,” explained Bu Lai En. He stroked his friend’s hand tenderly in his fair, warm one, unable to let go. “But there was no way I could fully stop them with what measly power I had. I had to cultivate hard in order to strengthen myself. Eventually, after a few years, I managed to take on a human form. I wanted to be your equal, so I took the examination to become a scholar-official.

“After so many years, I’m finally here without regrets,” said Bu Lai En, softly. “I will always watch over you, An Du Lu. Even when I was cultivating like mad to improve my spiritual abilities, I was still keeping an eye out for you. Do you believe me?”

An Du Lu nodded, flushing red up to his ears. Before long, the pair were both wearing red on the same day, made from bolts of silk from the merchant’s shop.

And just like that, everyone lived happily ever after.

THE END

LinXueLian

No folk tale short story compilation can do without foxes! Foxes are a must!