Li Chongxing, the least favored princess of Emperor Xianzong of the Li Tang dynasty, had two prospective consorts chosen for her from the very beginning. Both died sudden deaths, one after the other.
When she was sixteen, news arrived at the palace that her third prospective consort had died as well.
Rumors ran wild. Her mother couldn't take it anymore and wept as she prepared to petition the Emperor to let her daughter leave the world and become a Daoist nun.
On a spring afternoon in the Forbidden City, the young girl ran to a secluded spot in the palace, covered her face, and began to cry.
Then she noticed a young man in crimson and black robes sitting in the nearby locust tree. His beauty was as dazzling as a flower, his face as lovely as jade, and his eyes were as foxlike as his brows.
"Why are you crying?" he asked, looking down at her.
"If you marry them, you'll die."
The young man wore a high crown and loose sash, a style unlike anything from recent times. He looked as if he had stepped out of an ancient painting.
He narrowed his foxlike eyes, lifted his face to the sky, and added with a laugh,
"If you marry me, you'll die, too."
Seeing ghosts in broad daylight and spouting nonsense. How inauspicious! Later, Li Chongxing gritted her teeth and really did become a Daoist nun.
A few years passed, and one night she climbed over the wall and slipped out of the temple.
Rumors spread through Chang'an. They all said Princess Li Chongxing had been bewitched by a fox!
Bewitched by a fox? What kind of thing was that to say?
Which one had bewitched the other?
Wu Boyu had lived too long. He had been a man, then a ghost, and now he was a male fox spirit.
The mortal world was murky, and after a thousand years steeped in its mire, his heart had become the murkiest of all.
This was a fox under punishment, unable to retreat from the world and cultivate, and unable to undergo tribulation and ascend to heaven.
Neither man nor ghost, neither demon nor immortal.
Unable to live, unable to die.
Imprisoned in the mortal world, bound to remain among humankind.
This time, Wu Boyu thought, if he still couldn't save her, he might as well kill her.
How do you punish a male fox spirit?
For a thousand years, he had been forced, again and again, to fall in love with the same person.
Reader's Guide:
One-on-one, happy ending. A young princess of the Tang dynasty who becomes a Daoist nun x a male fox spirit trapped in a cycle of reincarnation.
A capable, resilient, somewhat aloof and somewhat temperamental heroine with an inquisitive streak and magical abilities.
A fox kept at home, pretending to be sane while desperately trying to save the day, and a clever hero.
Everyone knows foxes are dogs.
Theme: Always be brave
