Original Text
A certain wine seller named Yi from Jinling, whenever his wine was brewed, would mix in a potent narcotic while diluting it with water, so that even the heaviest drinkers would become utterly stupefied after a few cups. Thus, his wine gained the reputation of being like the famed brew of Zhongshan, and he amassed great wealth. One day, rising early, he saw a fox lying drunk by the wine vat. He bound its four legs with a rope and was about to fetch a knife when the fox awoke and pleaded, "Do not kill me; whatever you desire, I shall grant." Yi released it, and the fox turned around and transformed into a man. At that time, in the same lane, there was a family named Sun, whose eldest daughter-in-law was possessed by a fox spirit. Yi asked the fox about it, and it replied, "That is I." Yi had secretly admired the beauty of Sun's second daughter-in-law and begged the fox to take him there. The fox hesitated, but Yi insisted. The fox invited Yi to accompany it to a cave, where it produced a brown garment, saying, "This belonged to my deceased elder brother; wear it, and you may go." Yi donned the garment and returned home, but his family could not see him. Only when he changed into his own clothes did they perceive him. Overjoyed, Yi went with the fox to the Sun residence. There, they saw a massive talisman pasted on the wall, its script coiling like a dragon. The fox, terrified, said, "The monk is too fierce; I dare not go!" and fled. Yi crept closer and saw a real dragon coiled on the wall, its head raised as if to soar away. Greatly alarmed, he too fled. It turned out that the Sun family had summoned an itinerant monk to exorcise the spirits. The monk had given them the talisman to hang up first, but he had not yet arrived. The next day, the monk came and set up an altar to perform his rites. The neighbors gathered to watch, and Yi mingled among the crowd. Suddenly, his face changed drastically, and he rushed out as if seized by something. At the doorway, he collapsed and turned into a fox, still clad in human clothes. The monk was about to kill it, but Yi's wife kowtowed and begged for mercy. The monk allowed her to take it away. She fed it daily, and after a few months, it died.
Commentary
If it can be said that the scholar in the sixth volume's tale "The Scholar of Hejian" who consorted with a fox spirit strayed from the path but eventually found his way back, then the wine seller of Jinling in this tale, known as So-and-So the Second, was a kindred spirit with the fox, colluding in villainy. When his misdeeds were exposed and he was bound, he "fell to the ground and transformed into a fox, his four limbs still clad in human garments," which was a just punishment, for he was, after all, a beast wearing the clothes of a man.