The Confucian Sword Immortal and the Night Fox Tail

The Confucian Sword Immortal and the Night Fox Tail Plot:

The reclusive Confucian Sword Immortal Su Shiyu lives as a scholar in a study. Late at night, while reading *Spring and Autumn*, he feels something fluffy brush his robe—looking down, he sees a snippet of fiery fox tail peeking from under his maid Xiaotang’s skirt! Xiaotang is tiptoeing to add oil to his lamp, her ear tips still sticky with the osmanthus honey he gave her yesterday, completely unaware her tail is exposed. When Su Shiyu’s fingertip touches the soft fur, Xiaotang freezes, almost dropping the lamp—she’s a hundred-year-old fox demon who took human form three years ago to repay Su Shiyu for saving her mother. She thought she’d hidden well, but tonight she slipped up because of her love for osmanthus honey. Before she can panic and reveal her true form, Su Shiyu smiles and tucks the tail back into her skirt: “Xiaotang, was the osmanthus honey I gave you yesterday sweet?” It turns out he’d known her identity all along—last year, when she was sunning her tail under the peach tree and he caught her, he lied and said “peach branches fell” to cover for her; last month, when she burnt the porridge, he said “I love burnt porridge” to save her from embarrassment. All those “accidents” at night were his little “steps” for her, waiting for her to dare show him her tail, to dare say: “I’m not your maid—I’m the little fox who wants to stay with you forever.”