Chapter Seven

"Where is your mind?"

Zhi Hao started at the sharp words from his tutor, but he was too slow to avoid the slap to the back of his head. It wasn't painful, but it was powerful enough to make his head jerk.

"Master Gao," he said, fighting to keep his tone respectful. "I am right here."

"Your ass is here." The man pointed to emphasize his crude words. "Your eyes are in the garden. I want to know where your mind is."

"On the meaning of—"

"Do not lie to me." The man's tone indicated that he would tolerate no more evasion.

Zhi Hao grimaced and looked down. He'd been terribly distracted today, and there was no hiding it. So he relented with as much grace as he could master.

"Please tell me about the Song daughter next door."

Master Hao's face softened. "Ah. You have heard her singing, haven't you?"

"Um—"

"She's quite talented, but that is not the Song daughter. That is the cousin, come to stay for a while with them."

Zhi Hao nodded, wondering just how much he should reveal of what had happened last night. Nothing, of course. But he wanted to know more about Ling Xin.

"What do you know of the Song daughter?" he pressed. "Not the cousin."

"Why?"

"Her family is powerful, yes? Her father—"

"He's an earl who advises the emperor on matters of finance. He has two sons, both smart, and yet neither passed the exam. And do you know why?"

Zhi Hao shook his head.

"Because they became distracted! Because they met women and thought of flower petals and creamy skin when they should…be….studying!" His last words were punctuated with stabs on the scrolls in front of Zhi Hao.

"Yes, master," Zhi Hao intoned. But though his head was bowed, his mind was racing. If the two sons of an earl could not pass the exam, what chance did he have? "Didn't their father pay the bribes?"

"Bribes? Don't be ridiculous! Imagine an earl attempting to cheat the exam. Everyone involved would be beheaded." He glared straight at Zhi Hao. "No man can pass the exam by bribery."

"Yes, Master Gao."

"Many have tried, to their shame. And punishment!"

"Yes, Master Gao."

"Do not think of trying to bribe anyone!"

Zhi Hao stifled his snort. He had no coin to bribe anyone. His only hope was to impress with his intelligence and knowledge of imperial policy, Confucian doctrine, and…and…

Damnation, he was tired. After last night's experience, he had been too filled with desire to sleep. The girl had been everything he wanted in a woman. Beautiful, refined, and with a sense of daring that made his cock twitch even now.

"Where is your mind?" Master Gao bellowed again, and Zhi Hao jolted, not at the sound but at the fact that his mind had wandered again. Why couldn't he focus?

He gripped his ink brush and let the words out despite Master Gao's irritation. "The Song daughter will have a large dowry, will she not?"

Master Gao grunted as he took a seat across from Zhi Hao. "So you are thinking of your future after you fail the exam. Already you have given up—"

"No!" Zhi Hao exclaimed. "After I pass the exam, my future will be assured. I will have status and an appointment."

"Depending on how high your score, yes. But appointments can take more than a year to come." Master Gao shook his head. "China's bureaucracy is as large as China itself."

It was an exaggeration, obviously, but not a large one.

"Still, my future will be assured," Zhi Hao repeated. "And once I pass, I will be an excellent choice as a bridegroom."

"And you think to marry the Song girl?" Laughter tore through Master Gao hard enough that he grabbed his belly. "You, with no family claim to greatness and only a eunuch uncle who begged me to help you. The earl will have a thousand suitors better than you."

"Not if I pass the exam!"

Master Gao grunted rather than agreed. Then he stared hard at his student, his brow furrowing as he let his hand bang down hard on the desk. "Perhaps you should apply yourself to passing the exam before you start thinking of girls."

Zhi Hao knew his teacher was right. He could not allow himself to be distracted. And yet his gaze kept returning to the garden and his mind kept thinking—

Master Gao's curse blistered the air. "Zhi Hao, what has happened? You were not this way before. You were diligent and attentive. Suddenly you cannot put two words down without making a mess of it."

Zhi Hao looked at the smeared characters on his paper. Master Gao was right.

"Did something happen?" the man asked. "Last night, what changed?"

"Nothing," Zhi Hao said. "I am merely thinking of—"

"Flower petals and creamy skin."

Well, yes.

"And the Song girl."

Zhi Hao swallowed. He had to give the master something or the man would never leave this topic. "I had a dream last night," he finally said. "It was of her and me. Of us married and—"

"A dream," the master said, leaning forward with a sharp movement. "What kind of dream?"

Zhi Hao shot his teacher a glare. He knew what kind of dream. Every boy past the age of eleven knew.

"I see," the man said, his words slowing as he clearly thought deeply about something. "Have you ever seen this dream woman before?"

"What? No."

"And how do you know it was the Song girl? Have you ever met her?"

"You know I have not," he lied again. Then he frowned. "She said—"

Again a curse blistered the air. "Think, boy!" the Master said with another heavy thunk of his fist on the desk. "Think logically about this dream."

"It was just a dream," Zhi Hao lied.

"You are not a man who stares out the window because of a dream."

No, he wasn't. He was a man who had experienced something incredible last night.

"And in this dream," the master pressed. "Did you release your seed?"

Zhi Hao refused to answer, but the heat in his cheeks likely told the tale.

But the master would not let him evade the question. "Answer me! Did you expend your chi? Your life force releases with your cum. So says the Yellow Emperor. Did you—"

"Yes!" Zhi Hao bit out. "Yes, I did." And it had been wonderful.

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 it up." 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?"

Master Gao grabbed the wine bottle again and waved it directly at Zhi Hao. "You tell her to leave! Banish the supernatural. You study as if your life depends on passing the exam. Because it does!"

Zhi Hao let his chin drop as he gazed at the text in front of him. "I will apply myself," he said firmly.

"Good."

"But if she is a fox woman, then I cannot simply send her away. She will return again and again."

Master Gao shook his head. "Arrogance! You cannot best a spirit. Her weakness is that she cannot take you unwillingly. Now that you know, you can defend yourself. But only if you send her away."

"But what about what she has already taken? How do I get my chi back?"

"The same way she took it from you. She must release into your hands, you must absorb the power she gives out." The master shook his head. "Do not think you can do this. Demons are clever. She will not give up more than she takes."

"I must make her come? That will give me her chi?"

Master Gao grunted his assent, but a moment later, he waved the whole discussion away.

"Do not try it, Zhi Hao. Your future is in passing the exam. So what say you? Do you study? Do you take the destiny that fortune is offering you?"

That answer was obvious. "Yes, Master Gao!"

"And when the fox returns, what will you do?"

"I will not give her what she wants."

The man poured himself the last drops of the rice wine. "Excellent."

He now knew what he had to do. He would take from her instead. She would release her chi into him.

Zhi Hao did not say those words out loud. His master would loudly berate him for his arrogance, but he knew he could do it. He knew he could touch her and bring out her life force, right into his hand. And then he would use her power to pass the exam.

But first he had to study. And then after dinner, he would make plans for when the fox returned.