Chapter Sixty-Five: The Trouble Brought by the Fox

Chapter Sixty-five: The Trouble Brought by the Fox

It was miserable enough that all his heartfelt words could only be spoken to the fox. That damned fox had disappeared for an entire day, without a trace.

In the middle of the night, winter rain suddenly began to fall. It wasn’t really rain—it was more like shards of ice dropping from the sky, chilling to the bone.

Still, the fox had not returned, and Tie Xinyuan was starting to worry. When he walked into the courtyard, he saw the ground was slick with moisture, and the firewood shed was coated with half-melted frost.

He squatted by the hole at the bottom of the courtyard gate, waiting for the fox. He couldn’t understand why the fox, usually so afraid of the cold and so lazy, would choose to wander off on a night like this.

He had just checked the fox’s den—it was icy cold, and even the food the fox had hidden behind its nest was gone.

Tie Xinyuan scratched his head, puzzled. Had the creature run away from home?

“Has the fox still not returned?” Wang Rouhua stood in the doorway with an oil lamp, asking.

Tie Xinyuan shook his head. “No!”

The wind made the lamp flame flicker wildly. Wang Rouhua quickly covered the lamp with its glass shade, which made the light in the courtyard dim and dreamy.

First, a wet, bushy tail poked through the hole, followed by the fox itself. It seemed to be dragging something, struggling to back into the yard.

Something appeared to be stuck on the other side of the hole. Tie Xinyuan hurried to open the gate, and there outside he found an old, battered bamboo basket.

Inside the basket, several furry little things wriggled about.

Tie Xinyuan was overjoyed and called back to his mother, “Mother, the fox had puppies!”

Wang Rouhua replied with some irritation, “Our fox is a male. How could it have puppies? Don’t talk nonsense.”

Seeing Tie Xinyuan help carry the basket, the fox finally let go, wagging its great tail and staring urgently at the basket, even pawing at Tie Xinyuan’s clothes.

Tie Xinyuan quickly took the basket inside, the fox following closely behind. If these weren’t the fox’s own offspring, what else could they be?

“These look like dogs, don’t they?” Tie Xinyuan asked his mother, uncertain.

Wang Rouhua gently nudged the pups in the basket and confirmed, “They’re puppies, of course.”

Tie Xinyuan looked at the fox, which was now carrying the puppies one by one into its den, and asked again, “Can a fox give birth to puppies?”

Wang Rouhua glanced at the scorched part of the bamboo basket. “There was a fire in Wheat Lane today. The whole alley was burned down. With the cold and nowhere to go, these puppies were probably abandoned. Since the fox could drag them here, the mother dog must be gone. Their eyes aren’t even open yet—they won’t survive.”

“If we feed them cow’s milk, they’ll live,” Tie Xinyuan said quickly, not wanting to accept his mother’s verdict.

“If it were spring or summer, cow’s milk would be easy enough to find. But now it’s already winter. Where are you going to get cow’s milk? Even the palace doesn’t supply it in winter.”

“There must be milk goats?”

“Silly boy, in winter there’s no fresh grass for the goats. If a milk goat eats only hay, it won’t produce milk. And if it does, the goat will waste away and die by spring. What farmer would be willing to make that sacrifice?”

“Then we could find a wet nurse… Ouch!”

Tie Xinyuan grimaced, rubbing his head where his mother had struck him.

“Don’t go making a mess of things like that!”

“We could pay her… Ow, why hit me again?”

“If word got out that you were feeding puppies with human milk, do you think the magistrate wouldn’t have you hauled away for punishment tomorrow?”

Tie Xinyuan looked at the puppies, who were blindly burrowing under the fox’s belly in search of milk, and said, “Then we’ll have to find a lactating mother dog. Just look at them, searching for milk on a male fox—it’s pitiful.”

“You can try making some millet porridge and feeding them the creamy top layer. But finding a mother dog with milk won’t be easy, and even if you do, she might not be willing to nurse these pups. She might not even have enough for her own. But, this is between you and your fox friend—it’s none of my concern. You’ve nothing else to do lately, so you might as well find something to keep busy with.”

Having said her piece, Wang Rouhua left Tie Xinyuan’s room with a yawn, heading off to sleep. She didn’t need to worry about such things with such a clever and mischievous son.

In the freezing night, Tie Xinyuan wanted to harden his heart and go to bed, but he couldn’t stand the pitiful look the fox kept giving him. Gritting his teeth, he stoked the fire, fetched a pan, and started cooking millet porridge. The thought of having to carefully extract the cream for the puppies made him want to die.

He’d have preferred the fox to bring home a mother dog as a mate than to drag in six helpless puppies and trouble him so.

Bleary-eyed with exhaustion, he finally finished the millet porridge, scraped off the creamy top layer, and poured it into the fox’s food bowl. Then, in despair, he realized the puppies couldn’t eat on their own.

He found a clean writing brush and, full of frustration, cradled a puppy and fed it, brushful by brushful. He decided that at first light, he would take these puppies to Basket Lane and let the girls there look after them. If this went on, he feared he’d never live to a ripe old age.

At dawn, Wang Rouhua stretched as she came out of her room, first glancing at the puppies sleeping soundly under the fox’s belly, then at her son, dead to the world. She laughed heartily, washed up, and left the house.

“Toot, toot, toot…”

Today, the little princess was blowing her whistle with great enthusiasm, her cheeks flushed red with effort. Who knew how long she’d been at it before Tie Xinyuan, wrapped in a small quilt, finally came out and looked at her helplessly.

“Ha, lazybones, you’re only just up? I’ve already finished my lessons with the professor.”

“My tutor got his head smashed by a falling roof tile, so classes are off for a while. But I have good news for you—the gift you’re preparing for your father’s birthday is already being made. I guarantee he’ll love it.”

The young girl clapped her hands with delight. “Wonderful! The golden armor—Father will love it, and Mother won’t scold me for spending money. And guess what? Mother tried to check my dowry chest today, but I managed to distract her.”

Tie Xinyuan frowned. “I thought you handled your own affairs.”

The little princess giggled. “If Mother asks again, I’ll just say I lost it. No matter what, I won’t give you away.”

“If you do that, your maids and nurses will be the ones to suffer.”

“They won’t—I’ll protect Little Pearl and the others. Hello, fox, how are you?”

Feeling something tugging at his quilt, Tie Xinyuan looked down to see the fox pulling at him again. Clearly, the puppies in the den were hungry.

“Hey, silly fox, why are you ignoring me?” The little princess leaned dangerously over the parapet, and Tie Xinyuan worried she’d fall, but a maid was gripping her tightly from behind, which reassured him.

“Our fox brought home six puppies last night. I spent the whole night cooking millet and feeding them cream… I’m exhausted…”

“Puppies?” The princess’s eyes went wide with excitement. She stretched out her chubby little hands eagerly. “Your house is so much fun! We never have such luck at my place. Quick, bring them out for me to see!”

Tie Xinyuan’s eyes suddenly lit up. He looked up at the princess. “Does your household have cow’s milk? The puppies are too small to eat anything else.”

The princess opened her mouth in delight, her small tongue even trembling with excitement. “Of course! We have plenty. Father’s share is always given to me—I have so much, I can’t finish it.”

Tie Xinyuan silently cursed her extravagance, then hurried inside, gathered all six puppies into a basket, and when the fox jumped in too, he had no choice but to drag the lot of them out.

A silk ribbon was already dangling down. Tie Xinyuan tied it securely, and the princess and her maids hauled up the fox and the puppies.

He heard a great commotion above—a joyous uproar. No doubt the princesses and maids on the city wall were beside themselves with happiness.

“Can I have one?” The little princess looked at him with such longing that refusal was impossible.

“Are you sure the palace allows you to keep dogs?”

The delight in her eyes faded, her hands twisting her handkerchief, tears threatening to fall. In the palace, cats were permitted, but dogs were strictly forbidden—a harsh rule of the harem.

Tie Xinyuan smiled. “It’s all right. Dogs are allowed at my house. Pick any one you like. Leave it with me, and you can come feed it every day. As long as you want, you can see them whenever you wish.”

The princess cheered up at once, shyly wiping her tears. “I’ll have Little Pearl fetch some milk. There’s honey in it, too.”

Hungry, Tie Xinyuan couldn’t help licking his lips. The princess warned him sternly, “You can’t have any—the milk is for the puppies.”

“I’m not going to drink it!” Tie Xinyuan replied grumpily. “You’d better use clean writing brushes to feed them. Using your fingers makes them tickle too much.”

“Got it.” The little princess, having achieved her goal, ignored Tie Xinyuan and busied herself with the puppies.

Tie Xinyuan yawned, wrapped himself in his quilt, and went back inside to sleep. The winter rain had stopped, but the cold still cut like knives. The princess, bundled up like a ball, had all the proper gear, but he didn’t. It was better to sleep in the stove-warmed room.

Tossing a few pieces of coal into the stove, he listened to the wind howl in the chimney. Pleased, he lay down again. How clever was Little Qiao—thanks to her, the iron stove made the room as warm as spring. Even the palace’s heated floors couldn’t be much better.

Except, the palace’s heated floors hadn’t been used in ages. It was said the emperor, trying to save money, wouldn’t spend for lamb soup at midnight, let alone allow the expense of heating the palace floors.

Maybe he should make one for the little princess, too, so she wouldn’t risk carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping. That was deadly—every winter, both in the palace and among commoners, more than a few lost their lives to it.