“Yes, Master—”
“They all failed the exam!” the master bellowed.
Zhi Hao looked up, startled. “Failed?”
“Yes. And do you know why? They were brilliant, capable boys, and all from better families than you.”
“Why then?” he whispered.
“Women.”
“What?”
The man straightened to his full height and then spit sideways into the shrubbery. “Women,” he repeated with disgust. “A horny boy cannot study. And he certainly cannot think.”
Zhi Hao thought of the woman dancing along the stone wall and felt his body heat. Well hell. He needed to get her out of his thoughts now.
“I do not know if they were truly girls. I have a feeling they were fox spirits, intent on stealing chi. The girls all disappeared afterwards. Not a one stayed after they failed the exam. They had to be Fox Spirits. It’s the only answer.”
“What?”
The man whipped a dismissive hand in Zhi Hao’s direction. “I am drunk,” he growled. “But the vixens are real, and they will steal your mind from you. They will eat your power, and then you will fail at everything in life. Do you know why?”
He didn’t know anything about what Master Gao was saying. Fox Spirits? Vixens? He’d heard of these things, of course. The country was filled with myths of such creatures. But he’d never met a man of education who believed in them.
“Why?”
“Because you will have given away all your power to a demon!”
Master Gao stared at Zhi Hao, as if measuring his determination…and his worth. Zhi Hao had no choice but to stare back, completely baffled by the man’s raving. In the end, his new master grumbled as he turned away.
“Do nothing—think nothing—about women,” he said. Then he paused and pointed to a door just inside the house. “Your bedroom’s there. Don’t wake me in the morning.”
*
Ling Xin leapeddown from the wall, smiling as she went.
Fox spirits! Vixens! Master Gao was funny when he was drunk. And the look on his new student’s face when the man realized his teacher believed in such nonsense? It was hilarious. Ko Zhi Hao’s jaw had dropped in shock. He didn’t know that when sober, Master Gao was a formidable teacher. But drunk? Well, he was prone to all sorts of ramblings.
Ling Xin hummed softly to herself, letting her thoughts wander. The new student was a handsome man. He had a sense of humor too, which was always attractive. She wondered what else he was like. Would he be one to moan and groan in his studies or find an excuse to dally with the tea maids down the road.
Over the years, Ling Xin had spied on all Master Gao’s students, even her own brothers. Of course she had. There was no other entertainment for the eldest daughter of an earl (bo jue). If she had to spend her days learning poetry and practicing the Confucian virtues, at least she could have some fun in the evenings. As long as she stayed inside the walls, she was safe.
Or so she told herself. In truth, if her mother ever found out she regularly walked on top of the garden walls, she would be locked in chains in her own bedroom.
“Ling Xin! Where are you?” Her cousin Li Fei, who had recently come to live with them, called out for her.
“Right here,” she responded. “Why are you up so late?”
“I’ve come to see you, of course. Were you walking the walls again?”
“Yes.” She had no fear of admitting her favorite pastime to Li Fei. The two of them had spent a summer two years ago doing exactly that. Except Li Fei had been bold enough to escape into the city a few times. As the older cousin, Li Fei was daring in a way Ling Xin wished she could be. She’d never risk leaving her family home by herself. But her cousin had been raised in the north. She had skills and a daring soul.
Li Fei had wandered around Peking six times that summer. And when she’d returned home, she and Ling Xin had whispered together of what she’d seen and done while out and about.
Except her cousin was no longer so bold. Tonight—and every night since arriving this spring—Li Fei had been more restrained. As if something heavy bore her down.
“Master Gao has a new student,” Ling Xin said hoping to spark a gleam of interest in her cousin.
