Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 6

by Pu Songling

  “Master Guo then directed him to display the diploma, and upon checking it over carefully, he declared, “This is also a trifling matter—I can replace you with someone else and retract the document.’ The student prostrated himself in obeisance and then left.

  “Once he was on the road, returning home, he couldn’t figure out why the official had said those things to him, so he went back, but Master Guo had already left. In the everyday world, it’s really an original, never-heardof event, that someone taking up a new appointment would be scrutinized by a senior official before even arriving there. Master Guo was a great man, and that’s how he was able to make this matter turn out happily for us.”

  479. Han Fang

  Late in the Ming dynasty, a few counties north of Jinan, a terrible plague broke out, afflicting most households. There was a peasant from Qidong named Han Fang, who was a filial son by nature. When his parents both fell ill, he covered them with plain silk coverlets, then wept and prayed for them at the Temple of the Stone Official.

  His tears continued to fall as he took the road home. On the way, he met a man who was clothed in immaculately clean robes and cap, who asked him, “Why are you so sad?” Hence Han told him all about his situation.

  The man replied, “The Stone Official god isn’t here just now, so how can your supplications help you? But I happen to know a little magic, so perhaps I can give it a try.” Han was overjoyed and asked the man about his name and background. “I’d rather not say,” explained the man, “and besides, what does it matter if I don’t tell you my hometown?”

  _________

  Ming dynasty: This dynasty ruled China from 1368-1644. Jinan: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now the capital of Shandong province.

  Qidong: A county in Shandong province.

  Temple of the Stone Official: Zhu notes legends associated with large stones changing into men in the Zhangqiu and Changshan county records in Shandong province (3:1624n4).

  Han then earnestly invited the man to come with him to his house. “I don’t need to go with you,” the man said. “However, when you get home, take a piece of yellow paper and lay it on your bed, then in a stern voice, exclaim, “I’m going to the capital tomorrow, to report this to the Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain!’ Then your parents’ sickness will end.”

  Worried that this might not prove effective, Han adamantly begged the man to go with him. His companion informed him, “The truth is, I’m not a human being. The inspector in the underworld considered me an honest man, so he appointed me as a local deity for some of the northern counties. I was moved by your filial piety, so I’ve instructed you in this bit of magic. At the moment, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain is examining the ghosts of those who’ve been wronged and have died unfairly, to determine whether they can be of service to the city gods or other local deities.

  “Today, the ones who’ve brought trouble to your village are the ghosts of people who were killed by the northern soldiers; they were eager to enter the underworld capital, and they’ve been seeking hell money bribes from the ill to pay for their expenses. If you recite what I’ve told you regarding the Great Emperor of the East Mountain, they’re certain to be afraid of the consequences and hence your parents will be spared.”

  Han felt so awestruck that he respectfully prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed his thanks. By the time he stood up, the other man had already vanished. He exclaimed in wonder and then returned home. Han obeyed the man’s instructions, and his parents both recovered. He spread word of the technique to the neighboring village, and it invariably worked there, too.

  _________

  Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain: A deity associated with Mt. Tai, in Shandong province.

  Northern soldiers: The Manchu soldiers who helped to bring the Ming dynasty to an end, committing widespread atrocities across northern China.

  Hell money: Faux bank notes burned for the dead, for their use in the underworld.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “The individuals who are seducing people’s ghosts into coming to the capital of the underworld claim that they’re not trying to do anything of the sort, which is no different than those scholars who claim they don’t care to be famous, but try desperately hard to win fame! Most worldly affairs are similar to this.

  “In the 33rd and 34th years of Kangxi’s reign, local administrators forced people to contribute their grain to the government while lying that the people were simply providing the grain out of their love for the government. In addition, in each county within the various administrative divisions there were certain officials who extorted taxes from the people. At the time, there were seven cities in the northern prefectures experiencing drought, and in those unfortunate years it was difficult to get people to contribute.

  “A court historian named Tang came to a favorable place to cross the river, and there he saw a group of more than ten men who’d been captured and tied up. Accordingly, he asked them, ‘Why has this been done to you?’

  “‘An official arrested us,’ they informed him, ‘to make us contribute “leshu.”’ These peasants didn’t understand the meaning of the term ‘leshu’, so they thought it was some kind of substance that they were expected to contribute—one can’t tell whether to sigh or to laugh about it!”

  _________

  33rd and 34th years of Kangxi’s reign: This Qing emperor ruled from 1661-1722.

  “Leshu”: The characters le shu (乐输) could literally mean “happily transport,” but here they convey a euphemistic insistence that the peasants offer bribes in lieu of paying the taxes levied against their grain.

  480. Renzhen

  Yu Xiaosi was from Dongchang. He accumulated a fortune as a businessman. His wife, Xia, had gone to visit her parents, and upon returning, she spotted an old woman standing outside her family’s gates along with a young woman, weeping, utterly bereft. Xia asked them what was wrong, so the old woman wiped away her tears and informed her.

  Xia discovered that the woman’s husband, Wang Xinzhai, was the son of an official. Her family had fallen upon hard times and was unable to afford clothing or food, so they’d entrusted someone to borrow money for them from a wealthy man named Huang, and the transaction was carried out. But while their broker was in transit, he was held up by bandits and lost the money, though he fortunately wasn’t killed.

  Word of this got back to Wang’s family, and Huang demanded reimbursement, figuring the capital and interest to be no less than thirty taels, but Wang genuinely had nothing he could offer as repayment. Huang had noticed that Wang’s daughter, Renzhen, was a beauty, so he thought about making her his concubine. He sent a representative with a message: if Wang would agree to Renzhen becoming his concubine, Huang would cancel the debt—and he’d even offer an additional twenty taels to seal the agreement.

  _________

  Dongchang: A county in Shandong province.

  Wang discussed the offer with his wife. She tearfully replied, “Even if we’re poor, we’re still the noble descendants of an official. Huang has made his money as a humble tradesman, so how dare he offer to make our daughter his concubine! Besides, we’ve already arranged for a husband for Renzhen, so how can you even consider making such a decision!”

  Earlier, Wang had been good friends with the son of xiaolian Fu, whose wife gave birth to a son named A-Mao, and when he was still an infant, the friends had discussed a marriage between their families. After this, xiaolian Fu’s son was appointed to a position in Fujian, but died there a year later. His wife and son couldn’t afford to return home, so all news of them was cut off. It was because of their agreement that Renzhen was fifteen and still unmarried.

  When his wife reminded him of this, Wang said nothing, but tried to think of a solution to their problem. “We have no alternative,” commented his wife, “so I’ll go to consult my two brothers.” Wang’s wife was from the Fan family, and since her grandfather had been appointed to a position in the capital, his two gr
andsons had been left a great deal of property and real estate.

  The next day, Fan took her daughter with her and informed her brothers of the situation. Despite their sister’s tears, the brothers were unwilling to say anything or to intervene in the matter. Fan wailed pitifully and returned home. The moment she arrived, Xia asked her what they’d said, which Fan related as she continued weeping.

  Xia commiserated with her; when she saw for herself Renzhen’s grace and loveliness, she felt an even greater sympathy for them. Thus she invited them to come home with her, where she hospitably offered them food and drink, then comforted them by saying, “Please don’t be sad—I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” Fan thanked her profusely, while Renzhen tearfully prostrated herself on the ground and Xia’s pity for them grew all the greater.

  _________

  Xiaolian: A successful candidate in the imperial civil service examinations at the provincial level; equivalent to a juren.

  She collected her thoughts, then declared, “Even though I have a bit saved up, thirty taels is too much for me to provide right now. I can pawn some things and then give you that money, too.” Fan and Renzhen formally offered her their thanks. Xia told them she’d have the money for them in three days. After they left, she thought of various ways to carry out her scheme, but realized that she didn’t dare let her husband know what she was up to.

  Three days later, she still hadn’t accumulated enough money, so she sent someone to borrow what she needed from her mother. By then, Fan and Renzhen had already arrived, so Xia described the situation to them. Accordingly, they arranged to return the next day. Late that afternoon, Xia took all the money she’d collected, wrapped it up and placed it beside her bed.

  After dark, a robber made his way through a hole in their wall and entered carrying a torch. Xia felt something was wrong, then saw a ferocious-looking man brandishing a short knife. Terrified, she didn’t dare cry out, so she pretended to be asleep. The robber went towards a storage chest and was about to try to force its lock open. Turning around, however, he noticed that there was something wrapped up beside Xia’s bed, leaned down and scooped it up, then came near the bedroom lamp to untie the bundle and examine its contents; he stuck the money he found in a bag at his waist, didn’t bother trying any further to pry open the chest, and ran off.

  Xia then sprang up and cried for help, but there was only a young maidservant in the house, so she went to the wall to yell, but by the time the neighbors had gathered to respond, the robber was already gone. Inside, beside her lamp, Xia began sobbing. She saw that the maidservant was sleeping soundly, so she proceeded to hang herself from the frame of a window.

  At daybreak, when the girl woke up, she screamed for someone to come and save her mistress, whose limbs were icy cold. When Yu heard this, he came running, and upon demanding what had happened from the maidservant, he broke into piteous weeping before heading off to plan her funeral. In the aftermath of all this, Xia’s body didn’t begin to stiffen, nor did it decay. Seven days passed, then they placed her body in a coffin.

  After the family buried her, Renzhen secretly slipped out and wept at her gravesite. A violent storm suddenly struck, with thunderbolts exploding over the grave that struck Renzhen dead. When Yu heard what had happened, he ran to investigate and found Xia’s coffin open, his wife moaning hoarsely from inside it, so he took her in his arms and lifted her out. When he spotted Renzhen’s corpse, he didn’t know whose it was. Xia looked closely at the body and recognized it as Renzhen. Both of them were astonished.

  Before long, Fan arrived, and when she saw Renzhen’s lifeless form, she tearfully cried, “I had a strong suspicion that she was here and now I find it’s true! Once she heard that you’d hanged yourself, she couldn’t stop her sobbing day or night. Tonight when she told me that she wanted to go weep at your gravesite, there was nothing I could say to dissuade her.” Xia was moved by Renzhen’s sense of duty to her and asked her husband to have Renzhen buried in her coffin. Fan humbly expressed her gratitude for this kindness.

  Yu Xiaosi carried his wife home, while Fan also returned home and gave the bad news to her husband, Wang Xinzhai. They heard that north of their village, a man had been struck dead in the road by lightning, and characters were burned into his body that spelled out the words, “This is the thief who stole Xia’s money.” When Yu and Fan presently heard the sound of crying coming from their neighbor’s wife, they realized that the thunderbolt had struck her husband, Ma Da.

  The villagers reported this to their local official, who had the wife arrested and interrogated; she revealed that when Xia offered to provide the money for Fan to save Renzhen from being made a concubine, Fan had been moved to tears, and the no-account gambler Ma Da had overheard her and contrived to steal the money from her. The official ordered the woman’s home to be searched for the stolen money, where twenty taels were turned up: then they searched Ma’s body and found four more.

  The official’s verdict was that Ma’s wife should be sold, with the proceeds paid to finish compensating Yu for what had been stolen. Xia was pleased by this judgment, and had all of the money turned over to Fan, so she could repay her creditor.

  On the third day after Renzhen was buried, there was a mighty thunder, lightning and wind storm, with lightning once again striking the grave—and Renzhen, too, was restored to life. Rather than returning to her own home, she went and knocked at the door of Xia’s home, at which point she realized that she’d been buried and had apparently returned from the dead.

  Xia, startled by the knocking, got up and asked through the doorway who was there. “Ma’am,” the young woman cried, “you’re alive! It’s me, Renzhen.” Xia, in astonishment, figured she must be a ghost and called for the old woman who was their neighbor to find out who was there, which is how she learned that Renzhen had indeed returned to life, so she joyously ushered her into her home. Renzhen exclaimed, “I want to care for you, as your servant, rather than return home again.”

  “Do you mean that you want to repay what I lost by working as my maidservant?” asked Xia. “After you were buried, the debt was repaid, so there’s no need to think like that.” Renzhen was moved to tears as she expressed her wish to treat Xia as her mother. But Xia said she wouldn’t permit it.

  “I can do manual labor,” insisted Renzhen, “I won’t just sit around and eat.”

  The next day, Xia told Fan that Renzhen was alive, and Fan was so overjoyed that she ran right over. She supported her daughter’s desire to stay and serve Xia. After Fan left, Xia forced Renzhen to accompany her as she took her home to her parents. Renzhen tearfully cried that all she could think about was Xia.

  Wang Xinzhai consequently brought Renzhen back to the Yu family’s gates, entrusted her to Xia, and then left. Xia was surprised to see Renzhen, asked why she’d returned, and upon witnessing the degree of her devotion, became content with her desire to stay. When Renzhen saw Yu Xiaosi approaching, she immediately prostrated herself in humility before him, calling him her father. Yu had no sons or daughters, so when he saw how devoted and sympathetic Renzhen was, he felt a growing affection for her.

  Renzhen took care of weaving and sewing, working diligently at every task. It happened that when Xia fell critically ill, Renzhen waited on her day and night. Whenever she saw that Xia wouldn’t eat, she also refused to eat; her face was streaked with tears all the time and she told others, “If anything happens to mother, I swear I won’t live without her!”

  Xia began to recover and the worried look on Renzhen’s face changed to a happy one. As Xia monitored Renzhen’s attitude, she declared, “I’m forty and have no son, but if I could just have a daughter like Renzhen, that would be enough.” Xia was infertile; yet a little over a year later, she suddenly gave birth to a son, and people said it was a reward for her good works.

  Renzhen lived with them for two years, continuing to mature. Yu Xiaosi and Wang Xinzhai discussed their sense that they couldn’t honor the original marriage agreemen
t with the Fu family. Wang commented, “Since she’s living in your household, she should marry as you direct her.” Renzhen was seventeen by then, peerlessly kind and beautiful.

  Once word of her availability for marriage got out, inquiries about her abounded, and crowds of matchmakers stood outside the gates, while Yu and Xia made their selection among the affluent suitors. Huang, too, sent a matchmaker to their home. Yu vigorously rejected his offer, thinking Huang wealthy but heartless. Consequently, he selected the son of the Feng family. Feng’s father was a well-known literary scholar, while Feng himself was very intelligent and a gifted writer.

  Yu wanted to go tell Wang about his decision, but Wang, a traveling merchant, was away on business and hadn’t returned home, so Yu went ahead and agreed to the match by himself.

  Once Huang was turned down by Yu, he enlisted a shopkeeper to find out Wang’s whereabouts, then invited Wang to dine with him, and even offered to assist his business by investing in it, till gradually he was able to bring up the subject he really wished to discuss. Accordingly, he informed Wang that his son was quite bright and proposed to send a matchmaker to arrange young Huang’s marriage with Renzhen. Wang was charmed by Huang’s kindness and looked up to him because of his financial success, so he agreed to the marriage between their families.

  After returning home, Wang went to pay a visit to Yu, where he learned that he’d already signed a marriage agreement the previous day for Renzhen to marry into the Feng family. He wasn’t pleased when he heard Wang’s news and called for Renzhen to come out, explaining the circumstances to her.

  She angrily cried, “Huang was the creditor, my enemy! I’d rather die than have anything to do with his family!” Wang had no alternative but to ask someone to inform Huang that an agreement had already been made with the Feng family.

  “The girl’s surname is Wang, not Yu,” the outraged Huang replied. “I proposed first, and Yu signed an agreement after that, so how can you propose to violate our contract!” He filed a complaint with the county magistrate, and the magistrate reasoned that since Huang had made the earlier offer, Renzhen should be sent to the Huang family.