The man leaned back in his chair and regarded Zhi Hao. “And now you are tired, irritable, and unable to focus.” The master shook his head. “Do you not see what has happened?”
Zhi Hao frowned. “Nothing has happened. I had a dream—”
“You were visited by a fox spirit, you idiot. A fox sent to distract you from passing the imperial exam. A fox spirit sent to drain you of your power. A fox spirit who will destroy you.” Each sentence took on greater power as he spoke, and yet the message did not penetrate Zhi Hao’s brain.
All he could say was, “A what?”
“Do you not have fairy tales in the south? Do you know nothing of the spirits—”
“Spirits?” Zhi Hao gaped. “Fairy tales? Master Gao, are you ill?”
The man grunted as he stood up and paced away. “You think the old tales are falsehoods.”
“Superstition.”
“Idiot tales for idiot women.”
Zhi Hao set aside his brush and faced his master squarely. “Yes.”
“You are wrong.” The master crossed to a nearby table and poured himself a healthy measure of rice wine. “Did I not teach you that a ruler uses logic, but the people—”
“Are swayed by emotions. Yes.”
Master Gao nodded. “By fantasies and tales.”
Zhi Hao frowned as he tried to recall the exact text. He couldn’t. That sounded close enough.
His master leaned back against the wall, regarding him with steady eyes. “So many people believe…because sometimes, the tales are real.”
Zhi Hao gaped at the man. He could not believe what he was hearing. But before he could frame a response, the man held up his hand.
“In this, I will teach you the truth, but you will not repeat it to anyone. You will not say it on the exam. And if you ever become magistrate of a back woods, miserable county, you will know that out there, the spirits are real.”
“But not in Peking?”
“Not that we admit out loud.” Master Gao’s eyes grew distant. “But the fox spirit is real. And she visits many young men of promise.” He leaned forward, his eyes bright. “She takes their minds and their chi away.” He abruptly thumped the side of Zhi Hao’s head. “You are tired. You are distracted. You have been visited by that evil spirit.” He slammed back the last of his wine. “The fox demons only come for those with a bright future. That is what they steal when they take your chi.” He shook his head. “I never would have thought you were special. You come from the provinces. You have artists for parents. You are not one to lead our country.”
“And yet you took our money anyway.”
“Of course I did. You have to learn, don’t you? I have to eat, don’t I?”
“But you think I have no chance.”
Master Gao made a non-committal response. A sound that showed indifference and surprise together.
“The fox spirit has visited you.” He snorted. “That means you have a future to steal, assuming you have not already given itup.” Then his gaze fixed hard on Zhi Hao. “If she comes to you again, you must resist! When she appears, tell her to be gone. And for heaven’s sake, keep your seed to yourself!”
Zhi Hao had no response to this. Of course, he had heard of the mischievous fox spirit. His master had mentioned her when Zhi Hao had first come to live with him. But he’d forgotten about her. It was all superstition. According to myth, the fox spirit was a shapeshifting sprite who fooled evil men and teased tiny children. Sometimes she stole chi from the powerful to survive. Sometimes she lured unwary men to their doom. The tales were everywhere. But there was no truth in them…was there?
What was more probable? That a sheltered aristocratic woman had come to him last night, stroking him to orgasm? Or that a spirit had tempted him away from his path?
When he thought logically, he had to believe the fox spirit was more likely. And that set him back on his heels.
“You think she will come again?”
“She will continue to take your chi until you die. That is how she survives.”
“And how do I best her?”