Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 4

by Pu Songling

  His wife, who’d had her own suspicions during the meal, declared, “I was going to blame you, and hadn’t yet said anything about the method of cooking since it came out looking so ugly, but then I didn’t know what to call the dish, so I just chopped it up with small chunks of meat.”

  The scholar then told her what had happened, and they had a big laugh over it. Though the scholar is now quite well off, whenever he and his wife are intimate together, they still joke about the incident.

  251. The City on the Mountain

  The mountain mirage on Huanshan was one of the famous sites in Zichuan. For many years, however, there had been no signs of it. Master Sun Yunian was upstairs at home, enjoying a drink with a colleague, when suddenly he spotted a lone pagoda towering above the mountaintop, so tall it seemed to pierce the sky. The men looked at each other in shocked surprise, thinking that there had not previously been a Buddhist temple around.

  Before long, several dozen palatial buildings appeared, with blue-green tiles covering the rooftop ridges, and they began to realize that it was the mountain city mirage. Soon afterwards, as they watched, tall partitions that stretched continuously for six or seven li sprang up, to form the city’s walls. Inside them, countless multi-tiered buildings, halls, and city subdivisions, all clearly came into view.

  All of a sudden, a strong wind began to blow, kicking dust up into the air over a vast distance, till the walls of the city were blocked from sight. Afterwards, as the wind calmed and the sky cleared, almost everything disappeared; only the tall pagoda was still standing, forming a direct connection to the sky. The first floor had five units, with window casements all wide open; on one level there were five light sources illuminating the sky outside the building.

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  The mountain mirage on Huanshan: Zhu identifies this as one of eight noted sights in Zichuan country, Shandong province, that included the Wanshan Stone Bridge (2:848n2).

  Master Sun Yunian: This Zichuan citizen was also known as Sun Yanling (Zhu 2:848n4).

  Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.

  Then the levels began multiplying: the taller the pagoda became, the more the lights receded, till by the time it reached eight levels, they were tiny; as its height increased, they became only dimly discernible, and the men could no longer calculate how many levels there were. Meanwhile, upstairs they kept running around, either leaning against the railing or standing to observe the phenomenon from different positions.

  As time passed, the pagoda gradually began to get smaller, till they could see its top; next it returned to its normal size; by degrees, it shrank to the height of a tall house; swiftly, then, it went from being the size of a fist to that of a bean, till finally they couldn’t see it at all any longer.

  At that point, they heard the sound of individuals out for a morning walk, and through the mists they saw people on the mountain opening their shops, though there was nothing else there—and that, they say, is the reason it’s been called “the ghost city” since then.

  252. Jiangcheng

  Gao Fan, from Linjiang, was intelligent as a youth, and possessed an elegant appearance. At the age of fourteen, he passed the county level of the imperial civil service examination. Wealthy families began contending to offer him their daughters for marriage; but Gao was so picky about making his selection that he repeatedly rejected his father’s recommendations. His father, Gao Zhonghong, was sixty, and had only this one son, so he pampered him lavishly and couldn’t bear to oppose his wishes.

  In the village to the east, there was an old man by the name of Fan, who tutored children in a shop where he’d also brought his family to live, having rented the rooms from the Gaos. Old Fan had a daughter named Jiangcheng, who was Gao Fan’s age, and when the two had been eight or nine years old, they’d played together innocently every day. After this, old Fan had moved away with his family, and for four or five years, there was no communication between the families.

  One day, Gao Fan happened to be passing a narrow alleyway when he spotted a delicate, enchanting young woman, who seemed almost too beautiful to be part of this world. She was followed by a little servant girl, who was only seven or eight years old. He didn’t dare just turn and stare at her, so he cast sidelong glances instead. The girl stopped and looked back at him, as though wanting to say something.

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  Linjiang: A prefecture, located in Qingjiang county, Jiangxi province.

  When he looked at her carefully, he realized it was Jiangcheng. He felt a sudden surge of excited joy. Each of them stood, speechless, staring mutually as though transfixed, and after a short period went on their way, feeling a mutually powerful attachment. Accordingly, Gao Fan dropped his red kerchief on the ground before he left.

  The little maidservant picked it up, and happily delivered it to her lady. Jiangcheng stuck it into her sleeve, exchanging it with her own kerchief, which she gave to the girl servant with the words, “Xiucai Gao is no stranger to us, and since we mustn’t keep his kerchief, you can run after him and return it.” Consequently, the little maidservant chased after Gao, handing the kerchief over to him. Gao accepted it gleefully.

  When he got home, he met with his mother, pleading for her to arrange a marriage for him with Jiangcheng. “Her family doesn’t even possess a permanent home,” his mother replied, “and they’ve had to move all over the place, so how can she be considered a worthy match?”

  Gao Fan told her, “I want her, and I’ll never regret marrying her.” His mother couldn’t settle the matter herself, so she discussed it with her husband; Gao Zhonghong refused to allow it.

  When Gao Fan heard this, he felt so distressed that he couldn’t swallow even a single grain. His mother became very worried, and told Gao Zhonghong, “The Fan family may be poor, but they’re not unscrupulous businessmen or rogues. I’d like to go see the family, and if their daughter can make a good spouse, there’s no harm in allowing the marriage.”

  “Very well,” agreed her husband.

  The mother used the pretext of going to burn incense at the Temple of the Black Emperor, to pay the Fans a visit. Once she saw Jiangcheng’s brilliant eyes and perfect teeth, she found the girl surprisingly beautiful, and developed an immediate fondness for her. Then after offering the family generous gifts of gold and silk, she explained her true intentions. Fan’s wife expressed a modest refusal initially, and afterwards accepted the marriage proposal. When Gao Fan’s mother returned home to relate what had transpired, her son finally began to smile and laugh again.

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  Xiucai: A scholar who has passed the imperial civil service examination at the county level.

  A year went by, till on an auspicious day, the Gaos accepted Jiangcheng into their home, and the newlyweds were very happy together. Yet Jiangcheng proved to be irascible, and once angered, she’d ignore Gao Fan, like they weren’t even acquainted; he was also subjected to her derisive complaining and constant nagging at him. But because he loved her, Gao endured it all patiently.

  When his mother and father found out, they weren’t happy about it, and privately blamed Gao Fan for allowing it to go on. When Jiangcheng heard about this, she became even more hateful, verbally abusing him more than ever. Gao tried to return a little of Jiangcheng’s vitriolic language back at her, but she became outraged and chased him out the door while beating on him, then locked it behind him. He was forced to wait outside, his teeth chattering. He didn’t dare knock for her to open the door, so he just sat there under the eaves, hugging his knees. Henceforth, she regarded him as her enemy.

  Initially, if he went down on his knees before her, her anger would dissipate; but in time his kneeling was no longer effective, and his suffering became even greater. When Gao’s parents made a modest complaint about their daughter-in-law’s behavior, she contradicted them in indescribably inappropriate fashion. Her in-laws grew quite angry and vehemently ordered her to return home to her o
wn parents. Old Fan, Jiangcheng’s father, overwhelmed by embarrassment and fear, entrusted a good friend to plead with Gao Fan’s father to relent; Gao Zhonghong, however, refused to give in.

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  The Temple of the Black Emperor: A Daoist deity associated with the northern sky (Zhu 2:855n10).

  A year went by, and then the younger Gao happened to run into his father-in-law; old Fan invited Gao to come home with him, urgently apologizing all the while. Fan had his daughter put on her make-up and come out to see Gao, and when the couple looked at each other, they couldn’t help but feel bad about what had happened. Fan then bought wine for his son-in-law, and very sincerely urged him to drink up. When night fell, Fan persuaded Gao to stay the night, saw to it that a bed was swept clean for him, and then sent the couple off to sleep together.

  When the dawn arrived, the younger Gao took his leave and returned to home, where he didn’t dare tell his parents what had happened, so he glossed over the recent events. Thereafter, every three days or so, he stayed overnight at Fan’s home, without his parents knowing anything about it.

  One day, Fan paid a visit to Gao’s father. At first, Gao Zhonghong refused to see him, but then felt compelled by courtesy to do so. Fan crawled on his knees in submission and begged forgiveness for his daughter. Gao refused to take responsibility regarding Jiangcheng and deferred the entire matter to his son. Fan replied, “When your son slept at my home last night, I didn’t hear him say anything disagreeable about it.”

  Startled, Gao Zhonghong asked him, “When did he sleep there?” Fan filled him in on everything. Gao blushed, and apologized, “I had no idea. If he loves her, why should I stand alone to oppose them?”

  Once Fan had left, Gao Zhonghong called for his son and scolded him. Gao Fan hung his head, hardly even breathing. By the time the tirade was concluded, Fan had already returned to the Gao home with Jiangcheng. “I can’t be held responsible for what happens between my son and his wife,” Gao declared, “and it would be better for them to set up their own home, so I’d hope I can trouble you to serve as witness while we divide the family furnishings.”

  Fan tried to convince him not to do so, but Gao Zhonghong refused to listen to him. Thus he assigned the couple a separate apartment on the family estate, sending a maidservant to serve them. Over a month went by and they were still living together quite peacefully, which led Gao Fan’s parents secretly to feel relieved.

  Before long, however, Jiangcheng gradually turned reckless, and fingernail slashes began appearing on Gao Fan’s face; his father and mother knew very well what was going on, but decided to hold back, refusing to bring up the matter.

  One day, Gao couldn’t bear her beatings any longer, so he fled to his father’s rooms, as panicked as a bird chased by a hawk. While Gao Fan’s parents were asking him why he was behaving this way, Jiangcheng entered in pursuit, violently swinging a club, spotted Gao Fan standing next to Gao Zhonghong, then grabbed him and thrashed him. Despite her in-laws’ weeping and pleading, she ignored them completely, instead pounding her husband several dozen times before rushing off in anger.

  Gao Zhonghong consequently told his son, “It was precisely to avoid such a ruckus that I divided things up with you. If being beaten like this makes you happy, then why are you running away?” Expelled from his father’s apartments, then, Gao Fan paced up and down, since there was no place for him to go.

  His mother feared that he might actually die from Jiangcheng’s cruel oppression, so she arranged for Gao Fan to live in a separate room by himself, and had his meals brought to him. Then she called for Fan to come and instruct his daughter how to behave.

  When Fan entered Jiangcheng’s room, he came right out and tried to lecture her on a variety of subjects, but she simply refused to listen to him, and even retorted with vicious, bitter backtalk. Fan then pulled himself together and departed, angrily declaring that she was no longer his daughter.

  Shortly afterward, Fan’s ire caused him to contract a fatal illness, and his wife died soon after him. Jiangcheng was so furious that she didn’t even return home to mourn them, but instead stood outside her in-laws’ wall each day, yelling abuse at them. Gao Zhonghong pretended not to notice it.

  Gao Fan then began living by himself, feeling that he’d just escaped from boiling water and blazing fire—but he also became quite lonely. He secretly took some money and gave it to an old lady named Li, to make arrangements for a prostitute to come stay with him in his study, with all of this taking place at night.

  After this had been going on for some time, Jiangcheng heard rumors regarding the prostitute, so she went directly to Gao’s study and abusively railed at him. Gao Fan strongly asserted his innocence, swearing by heaven, till Jiangcheng gave up and went back to her room. From then on, she maintained a constant vigil over Gao.

  Old lady Li was coming out of Gao’s study on one occasion and ran into Jiangcheng, who immediately called out to her; when Li’s expression changed radically upon hearing her, Jiangcheng became even more suspicious and she told the old woman, “If you confess what you’ve been up to, maybe I’ll forgive you; but if you keep it secret, I’ll tear your hair out!”

  The old lady trembled as she declared, “I’ve been coming here for the past two weeks, and his only guest has been a prostitute named Li Yunniang, who’s only visited here a couple times. The young master just sent me to Jade Basket Mountain to see the wife of the Tao family, whom he loves for her tiny feet, to convince her to come visit him. Although she’s been unfaithful to her husband before, she can’t just be treated like a prostitute, and hence there’s no guarantee that she’ll come.”

  Jiangcheng took her words at face value, and spared the woman from her anger. The old lady really wanted to go, but Jiangcheng forcibly restrained her. Since daylight had turned to dusk, Jiangcheng commanded her, “First go extinguish his candle, informing him that the Tao woman has arrived.” Old lady Li did exactly as she’d been told.

  Jiangcheng then hastily entered Gao Fan’s room. He was so gleefully excited that he grabbed her arms and pulled her down beside him, as though he was starving for affection. Jiangcheng remained absolutely silent. In the dark, he began groping for her feet, declaring, “Since I witnessed your fairy-like feet on the mountain, I’ve been unable to think of anything but loving you.” Jiangcheng still said nothing.

  “Day and night I’ve been wishing for this,” said Gao Fan, “and now that my desires have been fulfilled, how could I fail to know it’s you?” Thus he hurriedly lit a candle, only to discover that it was Jiangcheng there with him. So terrified was he that he turned pale and the candle fell to the ground while he knelt abjectly, trembling in fear, as though a soldier was holding a blade to his neck. Jiangcheng grabbed him by the ear and forced him back to her room, where she took a needle and pricked his thighs all over, then made him sleep on the floor next to the bed, and whenever she woke up, she yelled more abuse at him.

  Hence Gao Fan came to fear her as he would a tiger or wolf; even when she happened to relent, and allowed him to sleep with her, he felt so scared of her that he couldn’t perform sexually. Jiangcheng slapped his cheek and screamed at him, refusing even to refer to him as a man. Thus Scholar Gao spent his days in Jiangcheng’s bedroom like a prisoner forced to toady to the sadistic official presiding over his incarceration.

  Jiangcheng had two elder sisters, both of whom were married to zhushengs. The elder sister was calm and friendly, but spoke haltingly, and never got along well with Jiangcheng. Her second sister, married to a man named Ge, was cunning and glib, had a high opinion of herself, and flirted shamelessly, and though she wasn’t as attractive as Jiangcheng, she was just as overbearing and jealous. When Jiangcheng and her second sister got together, they didn’t really converse—instead, each concentrated on asserting that she was the more powerful in the bedroom. Thus the two were a perfect fit.

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  Zhushengs: Successful candidates
in the lowest level of the imperial civil service examination.

  If Gao Fan went out to see his friends and relatives, Jiangcheng inevitably would get angry; only if he visited Ge would she let him go without interference. One day, he was enjoying some drinks at Ge’s place. As they became drunk, Ge mockingly demanded, “Why are you so scared of your wife?”

  “In all the world,” Gao replied with a chuckle, “there are a great many things I just don’t understand: I’m scared, alright, scared of my wife’s beauty; but then there are wives whose beauty can’t match hers, and yet their husbands are plenty afraid of them, so isn’t that even more puzzling?”

  Ge felt shamed by his remark, and couldn’t come up with a reply. A maidservant overheard their comments, and informed the second sister. Ge’s wife became angry, and rushed out with a rod in her hand.

  When Gao Fan saw the extent of her fury, he put on his sandals, desperately wanting to get away. She raised the rod and smacked him across the back; three more blows fell, and Gao was unable to get up. Then she mistakenly struck his skull, causing his blood to flow freely. Jiangcheng’s second sister left then, so Gao Fan staggered home.

  His wife was shocked and asked him what had happened. At first, he didn’t dare say that Ge’s wife was responsible; but after Jiangcheng’s repeated inquiries, he finally gave her the details. Jiangcheng took some silk and bound up his head wound, angrily exclaiming, “What’s the idea of her beating someone else’s husband!” Then putting on some short-sleeved clothing, Jiangcheng hid a wooden mallet in the garment, and took a maidservant along with her as she departed.

  When she got to Ge’s house, her sister smiled and greeted her chattily. Jiangcheng said not a word, but simply whipped out the mallet and began hitting her till she fell down; then she ripped off the sister’s pants and assailed her brutally. She smashed out some of her sister’s teeth, beating her lips black and blue, which caused her to lose control of her bladder and wet herself.