After a Beautiful Fox Took a Liking to Me

Past and present lives, more sweetness than angst, happy ending.

A spirited, carefree spirit mage x a devoted, secretly flirtatious old fox

Lian Ruo was a high goddess in the Heavenly Palace, commanding a million heavenly generals. But after being set up, she fell into the mortal world and entered the cycle of reincarnation. She was reborn as a famous courtesan dancer in the capital, and fell hopelessly in love with the zither player by her side. She plunged the Great Zhou into a century of turmoil, but never won his love, and died of grief.

In her second life, she was born with extraordinary talent as a spirit mage and named He Huan. With guidance from the Underworld, she learned that once she repaid the debt of gratitude from her previous life, she could join the ranks of the immortals.

She had no memories of her previous life, and repaying the debt would be a hassle, but the allure of becoming an immortal was simply too great.

So after saying goodbye to her sect, He Huan set off down the mountain to repay her debts. But as soon as she got there, a beautiful fox spirit showed up, claiming she owed her a debt of gratitude.

The fox spirit kept a cool expression and insisted on repaying her debt. He Huan couldn't get rid of her.

Worried about the power of a thousand-year-old fox, He Huan was more or less forced to let her stay. But on the first day, the fox gave her a hairpin; on the second, a magical artifact; and on the third, she was lying in He Huan's bed, gazing at her mournfully and demanding that she take responsibility...

Her grand quest to repay her debts wasn't even finished, and already a fox had latched onto her.

He Huan decided to take advantage of the fox's power and repay her debts first, thinking that once she became an immortal, a mere fox spirit wouldn't be able to do anything to her.

On the day she ascended, the abandoned fox said nothing, as if she had accepted her fate.

But once she was back in the Heavenly Palace, He Huan wanted nothing more than to find the beautiful fox she'd left behind, wherever she was, in Heaven or on Earth.

.

Bai Qingrong was a powerful fox spirit who had spent a thousand years cultivating in the snowy mountains, waiting to ascend. But because she had yet to overcome her love tribulation, the heavenly lightning never came.

So she had to go to the mortal world to find someone fated to help her overcome it. Disguised as an injured little fox, she was rescued by a young girl. From then on, she took human form and stayed by the girl's side. One played the zither while the other danced, and both became famous in the capital.

As the girl grew up, she confessed her love just as Bai Qingrong had planned. After spending a night together, Bai Qingrong left decisively, citing the insurmountable divide between humans and demons.

Believing she had severed her feelings, she returned to the snowy mountains to continue cultivating and wait for the heavenly lightning.

Ten years later, she sensed that the girl's life was in danger and rushed down from the mountains. As she held the girl's corpse in her arms, she finally understood what a love tribulation really meant.

The heavenly lightning finally arrived, but she gave up becoming an immortal and stayed in the mortal world, doing everything she could to find the girl's reincarnation.

Then she approached her, protected her, and even latched onto her.

Only this time, she was the one who got abandoned.

In a nutshell: You torment me, I torment you, and we all live happily ever after. (Not really.)

You ignored me in my past life, but in this one, I'm out of your league. (Also not really.)

1. They take turns pursuing each other. The story is told mainly from He Huan's perspective and focuses on her second life.

2. This idea came to me in high school. I couldn't bear to abandon it, and I didn't want to leave it unfinished, so I picked up my shovel and started digging again.

Theme: Stay cheerful and optimistic, and keep striving forward.