某生購新第，常患狐。一切服物，多為所毀，且時以塵土置湯餅中。一日，有友過訪，值生出，至暮不歸。生妻備饌供客，已而偕婢啜食餘餌。生素不羈，好蓄媚藥，不知何時狐以藥置粥中，婦食之，覺有腦麝氣。問婢，婢云不知。食訖，覺慾燄上熾，不可暫忍；強自按抑，燥渴愈急。籌思家中無可奔者，惟有客在，遂往叩齋。客問其誰，實告之。問何作，不答。客謝曰：「我與若夫道義交，不敢為此獸行。」婦尚流連。客叱罵曰：「某兄文章品行，被汝喪盡矣！」隔窗唾之。婦大慚，乃退。因自念：我何為若此？忽憶椀中香，得毋媚藥也？檢包中藥，果狼藉滿案，盎琖中皆是也。稔知冷水可解，因就飲之。頃刻心下清醒，愧恥無以自容。展轉既久，更漏已殘。愈恐天曉難以見人，乃解帶自經。婢覺救之，氣已漸絕。辰後，始有微息。客夜間已遁。生晡後方歸，見妻臥，問之，不語，但含清涕。婢以狀告。大驚，苦詰之。妻遣婢去，始以實告。生歎曰：「此我之淫報也，於卿何尤？幸有良友；不然，何以為人！」遂從此痛改往行，狐亦遂絕。
某生购新第，常患狐。一切服物，多为所毁，且时以尘土置汤饼中。一日，有友过访，值生出，至暮不归。生妻备馔供客，已而偕婢啜食余饵。生素不羁，好蓄媚药，不知何时狐以药置粥中，妇食之，觉有脑麝气。问婢，婢云不知。食讫，觉欲燄上炽，不可暂忍；强自按抑，燥渴愈急。筹思家中无可奔者，惟有客在，遂往叩斋。客问其谁，实告之。问何作，不答。客谢曰：「我与若夫道义交，不敢为此兽行。」妇尚流连。客叱骂曰：「某兄文章品行，被汝丧尽矣！」隔窗唾之。妇大惭，乃退。因自念：我何为若此？忽忆椀中香，得毋媚药也？检包中药，果狼藉满案，盎琖中皆是也。稔知冷水可解，因就饮之。顷刻心下清醒，愧耻无以自容。展转既久，更漏已残。愈恐天晓难以见人，乃解带自经。婢觉救之，气已渐绝。辰后，始有微息。客夜间已遁。生晡后方归，见妻卧，问之，不语，但含清涕。婢以状告。大惊，苦诘之。妻遣婢去，始以实告。生叹曰：「此我之淫报也，于卿何尤？幸有良友；不然，何以为人！」遂从此痛改往行，狐亦遂绝。
A certain scholar bought a new house, and was forever plagued by a fox. Clothes and belongings of every kind were ruined by it, and it would often drop dust and dirt into the noodle soup. One day a friend came to call while the scholar was out, and the scholar had still not come home by evening. His wife prepared a meal for the guest, and afterwards she and her maid ate up the leftovers. Now the scholar had always been a loose-living man and liked to keep aphrodisiacs about him. At some point the fox had put some of the drug in the porridge. When the wife ate it she noticed a smell of camphor and musk. She asked the maid, who said she did not know. When she had finished eating, she felt lust blaze up in her, so that she could not bear it a moment longer. She forced herself to hold it down, but the burning thirst only grew more urgent. She thought it over: there was no one in the house she could go to, only the guest. So she went and knocked at the study. The guest asked who it was, and she told him the truth. He asked what she wanted; she did not answer. The guest refused her. “Your husband and I are friends bound by honour,” he said. “I would not dare do such a beastly thing.” Still she lingered. The guest cursed her. “Everything Brother So-and-so has earned by his writing and his conduct, you have thrown away!” And he spat at her through the window. The wife, deeply ashamed, withdrew. She thought to herself: Why am I acting like this? Suddenly she remembered the fragrance in her bowl. Could it have been an aphrodisiac? She looked at the drugs in his bag: sure enough, they were strewn all over the table, and there was some in every jar and cup. She knew well that cold water would undo it, so she drank some. In a moment her mind cleared, and she was so ashamed she did not know where to put herself. She tossed and turned a long while, until the night was almost spent. Afraid now that when day came she could not face anyone, she undid her sash and hanged herself. The maid noticed and saved her, but her breath was almost gone. Only well into the morning did she begin to breathe faintly. The guest had already slipped away in the night. The scholar did not come home until late afternoon. He found his wife lying in bed and asked what was wrong. She said nothing, only wept silently. The maid told him what had happened. Greatly alarmed, he pressed his wife hard. She sent the maid away, and only then told him the truth. The scholar sighed. “This is the retribution for my own lechery. How are you to blame? Luckily I had a good friend; otherwise how could I hold up my head as a man?” From then on he thoroughly mended his ways, and the fox troubled them no more.