Fox in the Forest
"Hmm? Who's making noise outside?"
The young prince looked up in confusion and asked someone to go to the door to find out what was going on.
The camera followed the servant who went out to check, and through the slightly open gate of the palace, saw a person almost collapsed at the door.
The man looked really bad, thin and dark, as if he was seriously ill.
But even so, when he saw the door slightly open, he still burst out his last bit of strength and struggled to shout:
“Help, help…!”
"My Lord, help me! Lord Fox, spare my life!"
After shouting a few words with all his strength, he fell straight to the ground.
The servant was shocked, passers-by were shocked, and the audience in the live broadcast room were also shocked.
ah?
What happened?
The narrator calmly spoke:
"Unfortunately, just when the only provocateur had completely surrendered, something strange happened."
"—— Suddenly someone showed up and put a huge blame on him."
"Of course, considering the impression he left on everyone before, that person might have sincerely believed so."
"But, he really didn't do anything."
Audience: ? ?
[Who is this person? Why does he come up and throw dirty water on the little fox? ! ]
[I can't stand it. The little fox sleeps during the day and hunts for food at night. We all saw it! Apart from the childish revenge against the little prince, it didn't do anything bad! ]
[Although, this person's expression doesn't seem fake, he really looks terrible...]
[No matter! The little fox finally transformed from a fox demon into a fox fairy, but now he is accused of killing an entire village. He died unjustly.]
[That's right, Your Majesty finally figured out not to target the fox, don't be afraid of it again! ]
Seeing the man fainted at the door and hearing his ambiguous words, the servant was nervous and hurriedly reported to his master to ask for countermeasures.
The young prince felt something was strange.
"You mean, he fainted after he shouted these two sentences?"
"My Lord, that is indeed the case."
"Are you really dizzy?"
"Probably. The man's chin hit the steps directly. It sounds painful."
The young prince pondered for a moment and said, "You, bring him in and ask the doctor to check him out."
While waiting for the doctor's examination results, there was another noise at the door. It seemed that an official happened to hear the news and hurried over.
Tsk.
Annoying.
The young prince waved his hand impatiently and let him in.
As soon as he came in, from a distance, the official anxiously asked, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, are you okay?"
"The king is fine."
The young prince rolled his eyes secretly, but did not chase him away. Instead, he pointed to a seat and asked him to sit down. Just as he was about to say something to him, the originally quiet side hall became restless.
Soon, the doctor rushed over with a serious expression: "Your Majesty, this person is suspected of having an epidemic!!"
Epidemic, a contagious disease.
This is a big deal.
Suddenly, everyone gasped.
"Damn it, this guy dared to enter the palace when he was dirty?? Could it be that he wanted to murder the prince?"
The steward of the palace was shocked and angry, and immediately decided to have someone throw the villager out, and then discard and burn everything that had touched it, for fear that the young prince would be infected.
The official was also trembling with fear: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you didn't come into contact with that untouchable just now, did you? Please find a doctor to see!"
The servant who had just opened the door to welcome people suddenly felt dizzy and began to wonder if he had been infected with the disease.
Little Prince: ...
He knew a little about the epidemic and was not as panicked as others.
After all, they were far away from each other, and he had never been close to that person or anyone who had come into contact with that person. Logically, nothing would happen to him.
On the contrary——
If that person really had the disease and walked all the way from the city gate to the prince's mansion, I don't know how many people he met on the way. I'm afraid that this might cause a plague...
"What's your basis for saying he was suffering from the plague?"
With his brows slightly lowered, the young prince ignored the concerns of others and instead asked the doctor in the hall seriously.
The doctor didn't dare to get close to others now, and could only reply from a distance: "Your Highness, the various signs of that person..."
A series of professional terms, in short, the symptoms are very similar to an epidemic they already knew.
"But..." After hesitating for a moment, the doctor still insisted on not hiding anything, even though he felt it was ridiculous. "That person claimed that all the villagers had similar symptoms, but he insisted that what they had was not a plague, but a curse."
curse?
What curse?
The young prince frowned and said, "Go and ask clearly."
"It's definitely not a plague! Absolutely not!"
When asked again, the man refuted fiercely, but then he became visibly depressed: "Only people in the village can become like us... In the past few days, some people have come to the city, but they did not cause the city people to get sick... Hmm."
His throat rose and fell, as if he was enduring something. After a long while, he spoke intermittently: "So, I just came to beg the fox fairy to withdraw the punishment and let the villagers go..."
A month ago, people in their village began to feel unwell.
One person tells ten people, ten people tell a hundred people.
Or you may experience headache and nausea, fatigue and drowsiness, or shortness of breath and cough.
Originally they thought someone had contracted the disease, and based on their previous experience, they quickly took care of those who were unwell and did not allow them to go out and contact the outside world, in an attempt to block the spread of the disease.
But it didn't work.
No matter how they prevented it, this mysterious disease still spread throughout the village, and no one was spared, young or old, male or female.
Among them, the Chen couple, the vendors with the most serious symptoms in the village, fell into a coma early on and their lives and deaths were in danger.
The villagers were in despair.
They didn't know what had happened, who they had offended, and why they had to face death in this painful slow-cooking process.
Just then, someone stepped forward to offer advice.
He said that just half a month ago, he got up in the middle of the night and saw with his own eyes some villagers quietly leaving the village and heading towards the dilapidated temple.
Although their village had never witnessed the appearance of foxes, the news was spreading among the nearby villages, so they all believed in it and would walk around that place on weekdays.
Everything has been peaceful all along.
But after some villagers went to the dilapidated temple, the strange disease began to spread gradually.
The villagers didn’t know who that man was or what he had done, but they must have offended the fox that night, which led to the fox’s revenge on the entire village.
What other explanation is there for such a strange disease except the power of demons and ghosts?
The villagers were all convinced and hurried to the far suburbs to kowtow to the fox and ask for forgiveness.
But after a few days, the symptoms not only did not improve, but became worse.
Many people have given up hope and started preparing for their funeral in advance, quietly waiting for death.
He had originally intended to pick out a burial object for himself when he entered the city this time, but he heard from a merchant that the royal palace had recently been making a big fuss to invite immortals, so he held onto a faint hope and asked for help at the door.
Little Prince: ...
Is this true? ?
Although he had already vaguely admitted that the fox was somewhat extraordinary, this matter involved the lives and deaths of dozens of households in the entire village, which was still slightly beyond his acceptance.
Besides, the foxes were clearly in the city during this period, so how could they have the leisure to punish the villagers in the suburbs?
But everyone was slightly convinced by this statement, and even started discussing:
“Is that so?”
"Sure enough, that person is not an overly good-tempered person..."
"What on earth had they done to irritate it like this?"
"Take this as a warning, take this as a warning, we should also stay away from that place."
After all, people naturally assumed that the place where the fox first appeared was its cave.
In their beliefs, no matter whether it is demons, ghosts, gods or monsters, their caves and nests always have many rare treasures. If mortals can get them, at the very least they can prolong their lives. If they have the opportunity, they can even join this path.
Such a precious land would definitely be taken good care of even if the fox had already entered the city.
Since the fox has now cast such a cruel curse on that group of people, I'm afraid someone must have stolen its treasure that night.
After realizing this, everyone immediately pleaded with the young prince:
"Your Majesty, since you are planning to invite the gods, why not say a few words to me then?"
"If any family displeases that master, that family will be punished. It is really too harsh to affect the entire village."
"Yes, if that person coveted any treasure, we would definitely help that gentleman get it back."
"Yes, yes, we can also come forward to solve this matter, so that Master Fox won't have to worry too much!"
Perhaps they really cared about the villagers by begging for mercy regardless of their status, but more likely, it was because they subconsciously chose to stand on the side of their fellow villagers when faced with the mysteries that were beyond the knowledge of humans.
After all, all those previous cases of fox spirits appearing had their roots, and the dead and injured all had their own stains. At least morally, they deserved the retribution they received.
But now, if the entire village was implicated for no reason, it would be a bit terrifying.
Today it is those villagers, could it be them tomorrow? ?
After hearing these words, the young prince remained inexplicably silent.
Seeing this, everyone looked at each other and quickly changed their words.
Of course, if the fox insisted on doing so, they would not be able to stop it. They could only quickly count the people in the village and tell them to prepare early.
At the same time, those villagers must be prohibited from entering the city.
After all, this looked like a curse like a plague, and even if there was a slight possibility, it could not be allowed to affect the city and harm more people.
Your Majesty, do you think this will work?
But the young prince remained silent.
After a long while, he spoke in a daze, "First...please come over first."
So, that night, the prince's mansion invited the immortal again.
This time the scene was much bigger than the previous ones, and the mages shouting inside were doubly passionate and serious, with beads of sweat oozing from their foreheads.
After all, hundreds of lives are at stake this time.
After dancing in sweat, everyone fell silent and looked expectantly towards the courtyard filled with offerings. They waited for a long time, with only the cold wind blowing the fallen leaves.
call--
call--
The fox still didn't come.
With such a big event, you should come and take a look, even if it’s just for fun.
Some people speculated: Could it be that Lord Fox already knew their intentions, so he deliberately did not show up?
Thinking about it this way, there seems to be a reason why the prince’s palace failed to summon the immortals several times before.
Lord Fox must have anticipated early on that the young prince would invite it because of that group of villagers, so he had no intention of responding to the other party's invitation from the beginning.
hiss……
What should we do then?
Are those villagers really just going to wait for death?
Although they were not people they knew, seeing an entire village about to be tortured to death by invisible pain still made everyone feel a little chilly, as if they were in the same boat.
The fox's reputation, which had previously been high because of its role as a fox fairy in delivering children, quietly dropped at this moment, and awe and fear in people's hearts once again prevailed.
After all, looking at it this way, this is really a fickle demon...
If you love someone, you want him to live; if you hate someone, you want him to die.
He can make clouds and rain with a flip of his hand, doing whatever he wants.
But the young prince didn't think so.
After wandering for a long time, he finally decided to go to the remote village in person to take a look.
The officials were shocked:
“No way! Absolutely not!!”
"Your Majesty, you are of noble status, how can you go to a place like that!"
"Think twice, Your Majesty! What if that gentleman gets angry at you..."
The young prince was as stubborn as ever: "Don't try to persuade me, I have made up my mind."
The man who came to the palace for help was taken care of for a few days, and the people who took care of him did not show any signs of being infected.
By asking the people who registered at the city gate, we learned that there were people who entered the city from that village half a month ago, but no one was infected.
The doctor also analyzed that an epidemic with similar symptoms would definitely infect people within three days, but now everyone around is fine and there is no sign of infection.
So, at least it’s not a real epidemic.
"call--"
The young prince breathed a sigh of relief.
That's good.
But even after eliminating one answer, he still didn't believe that this was the fox's curse.
First of all, it is impossible for that fox to do this;
Secondly, there was no need for the fox to go to this extent.
Wasn't his previous attitude bad enough?
Just think of the man's pregnancy as the fox's revenge. In the end, it just involved him in the incident as a joke and there was no other substantial punishment.
Moreover, in the previous cases where foxes appeared and caused injuries or even deaths to people, those people were not innocent or kind-hearted and they completely deserved it.
The young prince closed his eyes, the conclusion in his mind made him a little dazed.
——Even if the fox is a monster, it is definitely not the kind of evil monster that hurts people at will and implicates innocent people.
——It is a good demon with inner sense of measure and ability to judge good from evil.
Therefore, there is definitely something else behind this matter.
The night before leaving, the little prince couldn't sleep.
After closing his eyes for half an hour without feeling tired, he couldn't help it and got up, opened the window, and planned to get some fresh air and relax.
It was such an unexpected thing.
The moment he raised the window, he saw a red shadow.
——The fox that had been impossible to invite before suddenly appeared at this moment.
The little fox, glowing faintly in the moonlight, sat on the eaves outside the window with its eyes downcast. It seemed much gentler and more tolerant than the impression it made.
He looked at it and it looked at him.
One tall and one short, they stared at each other for a long time, neither of them was disturbed.
"You didn't do that, did you?"
After looking for a long time, the young prince suddenly spoke softly.
Little Fox: ...
It didn't answer, but just tilted its head, looking quite innocent and well-behaved.
Uh-huh?
Fox doesn’t know.
"call--"
This reaction made the young prince feel relieved. He knocked on the window sill and resumed his usual arrogant tone:
"Humph, I knew it wasn't you."
"Don't worry, since it wasn't you who did it, no matter if you are a demon, a fairy, or just an ordinary fox, I will not let you suffer injustice."
"As for the curse, I will definitely find out the reason."
He talked for a long time, then looked up and found that the fox was still staring at him seriously.
...Why are you staring at him?
Isn't it all said?
When the cognition is different, what you feel is also different.
After acknowledging that the fox before him was indeed extraordinary, the little prince interpreted every one of its movements with many different meanings in his mind.
For example, now——
The fox suddenly curled its eyes and smiled at the little prince.
The young prince probed: "What? Are you satisfied now?"
The fox stopped laughing and began to lick his paw seriously.
The young prince was confused: "What do you mean? Are you trying to lend a helping hand?"
The fox turned around, with its big tail slightly raised behind it.
The little prince guessed: "Where do you want me to look? The tail? What does it mean?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the fox turned around and disappeared into the night.
He was left with a lot of questions, and he kept recalling the various details of the fox's actions, trying to guess what they meant.
Narration Probe:
"Originally, he wanted to take revenge on this guy because he was finally alone, but he became weird and weird for no reason."
"He was a little wary and didn't attack as planned."
"What he didn't know was that because of something unexpected, he was once again blamed, and his image suddenly became extremely complicated."
"Unlike the other people who habitually believed that he was the one who did it, this person still didn't believe it and even wanted to explain and prove it for him."
"In a sense, he is now in the TA camp."
The audience was surprised.
[Wow, you have some ideas, little prince.]
[Wow! You didn't doubt it! But this is consistent with the little prince's previous personality. He would not easily believe other people's unfounded speculations. He didn't believe the good things about foxes before, so he naturally wouldn't believe the bad things either.]
[It's so funny. The little fox just failed to provoke and then left in embarrassment, right? I don't know what the little prince was thinking. 】
[Guess what Fox actually thinks: Scary (laughing provocatively)! Licking his paws (a little embarrassed). Turning around and leaving (leaving in a hurry).]
[The prince's direction of Dihua feels different from that of others... But he is the only one who trusts the little fox and doesn't do anything bad. I am touched. ]
paw?
Tail?
What exactly does it want to say?
The young prince stared at the fox's departing back, frowning in a daze, but finally closed the window and lay down on the bed to rest.
A dreamless night.
The next day, it was time to set off as planned.
Originally, the young prince did not plan to bring too many people, mainly just the doctor.
But several officials insisted on following him to ensure his safety, and with the addition of their attendants, the team gradually expanded.
Little Prince: ...
Tsk.
If there is a problem, everyone will die.
But he still said, "Let's go."
The group set out in a mighty procession from the city gate.
The usually sensitive lens did not follow immediately, but stayed near the city gate for a long time, then slowly zoomed in and focused on a gap in a corner of the wall.
The audience was alert.
[Hey, this shooting technique seems a little familiar. ]
[Will a little fox come out later? ? ]
[It's daytime now! Shouldn't the little fox go to sleep? ]
Boo.
The next second, a sneaky furry head popped out from the gap.
stare--
Just like when it followed Wu Shusheng in the dilapidated temple, the little fox stared at the flying dust left by the group of people. It didn't know what it was thinking, but it actually followed them.
No one knows why it follows.
[Is it a thousand-mile chase? Didn’t the little prince embarrass it last night? 】
[Or is it just like before, he is just hungry? After all, there must be a lot of food in the carriage! ]
[It's possible that he was just joining in the fun. After all, many times things happened because the little fox loved to join in the fun. ]
[Is there a possibility that the little fox is homesick? Wants to go back to his hometown? ? ]
But, the fox didn't speak, and no one knew the correct answer.
Soon, the camera moved back to the little prince and his entourage.
They were traveling in a horse-drawn carriage at a slower speed, and by the time they arrived near the village, it was almost dark.
The situation in the village is not optimistic.
Several doctors went into the village to check on the situation and came out a few minutes later, all with troubled expressions on their faces.
At first glance, it really seemed like a curse. Almost every family had someone lying in bed, looking very weak.
But if you look again, the specific symptoms of different people are not exactly the same.
For some people it shows all on their faces, for some people it shows all in their lungs, and for some people it shows all in their brains.
They specially took time out to visit the Chen family, whose situation was the worst. There were almost no survivors in that family, all of them had fainted. Only a few servants were still awake, and they fed the family rice porridge tremblingly.
The Chen family is one of the best grain merchants in the village. If they all die, I wonder who will inherit all the property and grain.
Tsk tsk, I guess this village is ruined.
The doctors came out shaking their heads.
"My Lord, why don't we just..."
Seeing this, the people accompanying him hurriedly advised the young prince again.
After all, there are only a group of civilians in this village, so just let them fend for themselves.
We had better leave early to avoid the fox's anger.
This village is not far from the dilapidated temple. What if...
But at this moment, their prince became stubborn again:
"No, stay a few more days."
"I will find out what this curse is."
Helplessly, the group could only find a place far away from the village to set up camp while there was still some light in the sky, preparing to spend the night outside.
late at night.
The young prince couldn't fall asleep and sat in the carriage, lost in thought.
He kept thinking, what on earth caused these villagers to suffer from such a strange disease, and what made them stubbornly believe that it was a punishment from the fox, and how to solve this problem?
Also, last night, the fox suddenly showed up. What did those actions mean?
“Boo… boo…”
Just then, there seemed to be some sound outside the car.
The young prince lifted the curtain in surprise and saw a red shadow flash by in the forest.
It paused in the woods and looked back. Its eyes, shining brightly in the night, seemed to be guiding people.
"quick!"
He yelled without thinking.
“Follow it!”
"Follow the fox!"
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