Chapter 1

All a fox wants is a true heart. Who happens to be inside it is none of her concern.

I was a nine-tailed fox. Our elder said that all we needed to become immortals was to find a true heart.

Unfortunately, true hearts were hard to come by.

My eldest sister went down the mountain and fell in love with a scholar. She spent a thousand taels of gold helping him make a name for himself, yet three years later, he fell for the prime minister's daughter and prepared arsenic to murder his wife so he could marry her.

My second sister went to a battlefield and sacrificed a tail to save a general.

Three years later, he brought a beauty home from the war and wanted to marry her as a co-wife.

With both my sisters defeated, Mother had no hopes left for a foolish little fox like me.

She merely told me to be careful. As long as nobody turned me into dried fox meat, she would count it a success.

I, however, was brimming with confidence. No sooner had I left the mountain than I picked Gu Chen for my husband.

After three loving years of marriage, Gu Chen also brought home a woman, declaring that she was the one he truly loved.

For her, he defied his grandmother and even asked me to surrender our betrothal token.

Far from being angry, I was overjoyed at the sight of her.

After all, I only wanted a true heart.

Who it loved had nothing to do with me.

Now I had two.

1

As a nine-tailed fox, I had grown up on our elder's bedtime stories.

They all went the same way: a fox obtained a true heart and became an immortal.

Before me, both my sisters had taken turns descending the mountain to live among humans and seek a true heart.

When my eldest sister first arrived, she heard a saying:

“A good wife helps her husband achieve greatness; in return, he gives her ten thousand taels of gold.”

She believed it.

She believed that years spent side by side would earn her a true heart.

She found an impoverished scholar and stayed with him through ten years of grueling study, giving him all her support and helping him rise, step by step.

At last, his name appeared on the list of successful examination candidates. He had made it.

But he had enjoyed his wealth and rank for barely three years before he decided my eldest sister had lost her looks, came from an undistinguished family, and could no longer advance his career.

So he ordered seven qian of arsenic, intending to murder his wife and marry the prime minister's daughter.

My second sister carefully studied the lesson of our eldest sister's failure.

Years of affection, she decided, could not compare with a debt of life itself.

She made her human form exceptionally beautiful, then sacrificed a tail to save a general on the battlefield.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, the general married her.

What my second sister had not expected was that, three years later, he would rescue another woman from the battlefield.

He said she was pitiful. He wanted to marry her.

I was tempted too.

I wheedled and begged Mother to let me go down the mountain.

She finally gave in, though she repeated her warnings over and over before I left.

I was a foolish fox, she said. I could barely understand a book, so I certainly shouldn't dream of romance. I would be lucky if I wasn't made into dried fox meat.

I disagreed.

I thought I was very clever.

2

And so, out of an entire crowd, I chose Gu Chen at first glance.

Three years after our marriage, he brought home a woman and announced that he would take her as his concubine, with all the ceremony of a bridal sedan carried by eight men.

I agreed. My mother-in-law did not.

Gu Chen argued his case with perfect conviction.

“Mother, Yaoyao is already carrying my child.”

“How can you bear to let your own grandchild grow up outside our family?”

My mother-in-law clutched her head in disbelief and scolded my husband for his outrageous lack of restraint.

The Gu family, she said, had upheld its scholarly reputation for generations. Its members had always conducted themselves properly.

Now Gu Chen had lost his head over a pretty face and sunk into lust. Where was his sense of propriety? What would people say?

My husband earnestly explained that he loved her and she loved him.

For her sake, he was willing to endure the gossip.

He even said she was the only woman he would ever love.

At that, my mother-in-law glanced at me, apparently hoping I might contribute.

As the previous “only woman he would ever love”—and a fox from the wilderness—I understood nothing of human social niceties.

I only knew that she was looking at me, so I smiled back.

Confronted with the pair of us, my mother-in-law fainted on the spot.

Gu Chen then knelt outside her room for three days and nights until she finally softened and gave the marriage her tacit consent.

I watched it all like a spectator with no part in the proceedings.

I watched Gu Chen joyfully prepare the wedding.

Watched him bring Song Yao into the household in a grand sedan borne by eight men.

Watched him lavish attention on her, sending gold, silver, jewels, brocades, and silks into her courtyard in an endless stream.

Watched him grow colder toward me by the day.

The maids and older serving women quietly resented my treatment.

They whispered that I was being terribly wronged as the lawful wife.

That Gu Chen was an ungrateful wretch. That human hearts were fickle, and silver was the only thing you could trust.

3

One evening, just as darkness was falling, I had begun to undress for bed when a maid hurried in and summoned me to the study.

The moment I arrived, Gu Chen fixed me with a stern glare.

“Lin An, I have hardly treated you badly.”

“I have kept you as my principal wife and made Song Yao a concubine. That should be more than enough to preserve your dignity.”

“I have even agreed to let Yaoyao's child be registered under your name.”

“She has yielded so much already. Why must you still harm her? Can you truly not make room for her?”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Before Gu Chen could answer, Song Yao's eyes reddened.

One hand over her belly, she leaned weakly into his arms and wept.

“Sister, I don't blame you. I know you still resent me for taking him away.”

“But my unborn child is innocent. How could you be cruel enough to drug me?”

Gu Chen looked at me in disappointment, plainly considering me guilty already.

“Lin An, you have disappointed me deeply.”

“There's no point making excuses now.”

“Bring out that hundred-year-old ginseng from your dowry. Give it to Song Yao to restore her health, as an apology.”

I stood quietly and watched them take turns.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I had forgotten something.

Then my gaze happened to fall on the scented pouch at Song Yao's waist.

I had bought that pouch for seven copper coins.

And now it was hanging neatly at her side.

I blinked and pointed.

“Husband, why is she wearing that pouch?”

Gu Chen paused. A flicker of guilt passed through his eyes.

“It's only an ordinary trinket. Yaoyao liked it, so I gave it to her.”

“You can embroider another.”

“Besides, you were in the wrong this time. Stop making a fuss and behave yourself.”

Yet I distinctly remembered how delighted he had been when I gave it to him, as though he had found a priceless treasure.

He had solemnly promised never to betray me, then given me the Gu family's heirloom jade bracelet.

He said they were the tokens of our betrothal.

Now, hearing his explanation, I lowered my eyes and nodded gently.

“Oh. That's good.”

My response soothed his anger a little.

He ordered me confined to my courtyard, forbidden to go out without permission.

4

Back in my courtyard, the young maids I had bought from slave traders were red-eyed with anger.

“My lady, ever since that vixen came into the household, she gets first pick of everything.”

“Exactly! She's using her pregnancy as an excuse to walk all over you.”

“It's so unfair. You don't know the half of it—even her monthly allowance is several times yours.”

“My lady, why don't we leave? Why stay here and suffer?”

I tilted my head, puzzled.

“Things are going perfectly well. Why would I leave?”

“My lady, aren't you angry?”

“I know you love the young master, but he has someone else now. He doesn't care about you at all.”

“He knows how frail you are, yet he still gave your medicine to Miss Song.”

That reminded me. To save myself trouble, I had indeed invented a sickly constitution.

All those medicinal ingredients were really dried mice in disguise.

I couldn't very well eat mice in front of everyone.

Sure enough, Song Yao vomited after taking the medicine.

She threw up once, then threw up again.

Gu Chen came to scold me some more and told me to give up my position as principal wife.

The maids' eyes reddened. He was ruining his lawful wife to indulge a concubine, they said.

Watching all this, however, I felt no grief whatsoever. I was almost beside myself with delight.

Gu Chen was so devoted.

For Song Yao, he would defy his mother, spend money like water, and even neglect the wife he had first married.

Surely that meant he had a true heart?

I had come down the mountain only to find one.

Who it loved had nothing to do with me.

The elder had only said I needed true love, after all.

Now, seeing the pair so tenderly devoted to each other, I couldn't help smiling. My heart filled with joy.

I really was a clever little fox.

Two true hearts, obtained so easily. I could even share one with a sister.

5

The only problem was that I had two sisters. One heart wouldn't be enough to go around.

Fortunately, the little mouse I had caught to gather information came running with a report.

“Boss, from what I've found out, that Miss Song doesn't like your Husband Number One at all.”

“She came here because she needed a father for her baby.”

“She's in love with someone else.”

My eyes lit up. I leaned closer at once.

“Where is this someone else?”

“And that someone else has someone else too.”

The mouse continued trembling as I moved nearer.

“My maternal cousin's eldest son's little nephew says the baby belongs to the marquis's second son.”

“He was right under the bed at the time. Heard every sweet word.”

“Sun Yan even promised he'd come to marry Song Yao soon.”

I nodded for it to continue.

“But my aunt's mouse heard Sun Yan secretly order his men to drug Song Yao.”

“He doesn't like Miss Song. He likes her younger half sister, Song Shulan, whose mother was a concubine.”

“To help the younger sister marry the man she loves, he arranged for Song Yao to sleep with Gu Chen and ruined her reputation.”

I counted on my fingers.

Gu Chen loved someone. Song Yao loved someone. Sun Yan loved someone. Song Shulan loved someone.

Four people. One each. Just right.

What luck. Buy one, get three free.