Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 4

by Pu Songling

  Feng smiled and said, “You have a unique talent for this bedroom game.”

  “I taught myself this skill,” the girl replied, “so with a pair of strings, I can make intricate designs with them that people can’t even imagine.”

  As the evening grew late, Feng seemed to lose interest in the game, hence he tried to convince the girl to go to bed, but she told him, “Those of us from the underworld don’t need to rest, so you should go to sleep. I have a bit of skill at massage, so if you’d like to experience the extent of my talent, I’ll help you to some pleasant dreams.” Feng asked her for a demonstration.

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  The string game: Zhu (2:906n14) explains this as a game where two players, with threads or strings stretched between their fingers, create an endless succession of patterns by taking turns mingling threads/strings. The game is designed to pass time and to provide conversational opportunities, rather than to build toward a specific goal/culmination.

  The Mei girl then put one palm on top of her other hand, crossing the fingers of the one between those of the other, and pressed on him softly, from his head to his feet and all over; as she applied her hands, Feng’s bones began to feel as relaxed as if he was quite intoxicated. Soon she made fists of her hands and began to pound lightly, like cotton balls striking his body, and Feng found himself indescribably comfortable: as her kneading came down to his waist, his face and eyes went slack; once it arrived at his thighs, he passed into a deep sleep.

  When he woke up, the sun was already shining, sometime between 9:00-11:00 a.m., and Feng’s joints were still comfortably relaxed, feeling much better than they’d been the previous day, before the massage. Feeling even more admiration for the Mei girl, he circled the house, calling for her, but there was no response.

  At dusk, she finally appeared. Feng exclaimed, “Where do you live, since I was calling for you everywhere?”

  “Ghosts don’t have a home, just the underworld,” she replied.

  “Aren’t there any spaces in the underworld that can hold your body?” asked Feng.

  She explained, “Ghosts don’t see the dirt around them, just as fish don’t see the water around them.”

  Feng took the girl’s wrist in his hand, and said, “If only I could bring you back to life, I’d gladly bankrupt myself.”

  The girl laughed and replied, “You don’t need to do that.” They played games until midnight, when Feng tried to coerce her into having sex with him. “You mustn’t meddle with me,” she told him. “There’s a Zhejiang prostitute named Aiqing, who’s just moved in as your neighbor to the north, a woman of quite distinguished bearing. Tomorrow night, I’ll invite her over, and she can fulfill your desire instead of me, so how’s that?” Feng agreed to give it a try.

  The next night, a young woman his age, about thirty or so, arrived, her looks shifting seductively. The three of them sat together and gambled over games of chess. When the games were finally over, the Mei girl stood up and said, “This party’s just reaching its peak, but now I must go.” Feng wanted to try to pull her back, but by then she’d already floated away and disappeared.

  The other two happily went to bed. He asked about her family background, but she was vague, and in the end didn’t reveal much, although she told him, “If you want to love me, point to the north wall and call out ‘gourd jug,’ and I’ll appear. If you call three times but I don’t come, you’ll know I’m too busy, and won’t be able to answer your summons.” As soon as the sky grew light, she entered a crevice in the north wall and vanished.

  The next day, the Mei girl arrived. Feng asked her where Aiqing was. The girl replied, “Master Gao invited her over, kept urging her to drink more wine, and that’s why she couldn’t get away to come here.” Thereupon she snuffed the candle so they could chat quietly together.

  The girl often seemed on the verge of saying something, but when she would open her lips, she’d just turn away and stop; Feng insistently asked her what was wrong, but in the end she was unwilling to say anything, and simply sobbed instead. Feng tried his best to persuade her to play some games, and she didn’t leave until quite late that night.

  From then on, both of the women frequently came to visit Feng, so the sound of laughter could be heard there all night long, and hence everyone in town came to hear and know about it.

  There was a certain district jailer, also from Zhejiang, who came from a very influential family, and who divorced his first wife because she had an affair with a servant. He had proceeded to marry a second woman named Gu, whom he loved very deeply. A month later she died, leaving him profoundly sad.

  When he heard that Feng was living with ghostly spirits, he wanted to ask him how the underworld had allowed it, so he mounted his horse and went to see Feng. At first, Feng was unwilling to say anything, but the jailer kept insistently demanding that he do so, and just wouldn’t stop. Feng set out a banquet, and as they sat down, he promised the jailer that he’d summon the ghostly prostitute.

  Towards nightfall, he knocked at the north wall, called out for her, and before he’d signaled a third time, Aiqing entered. When she raised her head and saw Feng’s guest, her expression changed, like she wanted to run away. Feng moved in front of her, to block her way.

  The jailer then looked closely at her and became very angry, flinging aside a large bowl unexpectedly, shattering it. Feng was quite startled, and didn’t understand why the jailer had reacted so violently, so he was just about to ask him about it.

  At that moment, the room went dark and an old woman appeared, loudly scolding the jailer, “You insatiable thief! You ruined my money-making daughter! I demand you repay the thirty strings of cash!” She took a stick and hit the jailer on the skull.

  The jailer held his head and cried in torment, “This Gu woman was my wife. I was still young when she died, and I was terribly grieved; I didn’t expect that her ghost would be unfaithful to me. What’s your problem, granny?”

  The old woman angrily answered, “In your Zhejiang birthplace, where you were a thieving scoundrel, you were able to buy yourself a piddling official position, and act high-and-mighty! But how could you hold a government office that dealt with right and wrong? Someone with three hundred strings of cash could buy you! The gods are already angry at you, and your time of death is already approaching. Your father and mother are lamenting it in the underworld, and they sent their beloved daughter-in-law to the brothel to repay your debts—now do you get it?” When she finishing speaking, she struck him again.

  The jailer spun around, wailing. Then in surprise he spun back around and saw that the Mei girl had come into the room, her eyes open wide and her tongue sticking out, her color changing strangely, as she approached and slashed at him with a long, flat hairpin. Extremely shocked, Feng used his body to shield his guest. The angry girl didn’t stop her threatening movements.

  Feng tried to persuade her, “Even if this jailer has committed a crime, if he dies in my home, I’ll be blamed. Please don’t hurt him, or I’ll be implicated.”

  The girl then pulled the old woman away, saying, “Let him live for now, while I attend to Master Feng.” The district jailer, terrified, fled like a rat. When he arrived at his office, he was afflicted by a cerebral hemorrhage, and died at midnight.

  The next night, the Mei girl let loose a laugh and exclaimed, “Hurray! The evil influence is gone!”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Feng.

  The girl explained, “In the past, this was the treacherous jailer who falsely accused me of colluding with the thief. I’d withheld my resentment for a long time already, often wanting to request you to help exonerate me of the charge. I felt I hadn’t performed any moral deeds that deserved your kindness, and that’s why I was always just about to say something, but then I’d stop. When I heard the stir in your room, I stealthily eavesdropped, recognizing that he was my old enemy.”

  In surprise, Feng said, “So this was the official who falsely accused you?�
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  “It was this district jailer undoubtedly,” explained the Mei girl; “this man has been in power for eighteen years, and I died unjustly because of him sixteen years ago.”

  “Who was the old woman?” he asked.

  She replied, “An old prostitute.” Then he asked about Aiqing, and she explained, “She’s been laid up with an illness.” Bursting into laughter, she continued, “Before, I said there was some hope that we’d be able to get together, and now that’s truly not far off. You can fulfill your wish if you’re willing to spend everything you have to keep us together—is this still your intention?”

  Feng replied, “I still feel that way today.”

  “Then truly I tell you this: The day I died,” the Mei girl explained, “I was immediately reincarnated into the family of provincial graduate Zhan in Yan’an. However, since I hadn’t revenged myself on my enemy, I delayed my reincarnation. Then I asked if you might take some new silk and make a ghost bag, in order to carry me with you until you could approach the Zhan family to propose marriage, figuring that you’d surely be able to come to an agreement with them.”

  Feng considered the great difference between the family’s power and his own, and was afraid that he might be unsuccessful. The Mei girl reassured him, “Don’t worry about going.” Feng said he would follow her instructions. She advised him, “On the way, be careful not to call out to me; wait until night for the wedding ceremony, then take the bag, hold it up next to the bride’s head, and quickly cry out, ‘Don’t forget! Don’t forget!’” Feng promised to do so. Then he opened the bag, and the Mei girl jumped into it.

  He carried the bag with him till he arrived in Yan’an, and there he made inquiries and discovered that there was a provincial graduate named Zhan there, and he had a daughter whom he loved exceedingly; however, an illness had driven her crazy, so she often stuck her tongue out of her mouth, like a dog panting all the time. She was sixteen years old, and no one had made the usual marital inquiries about her.

  Her parents were worried and depressed by her condition. When Feng arrived at their gate, and presented his visiting card, he was given complete access to the powerful family. He left then, and returned with a marriage broker. Zhan was overjoyed, inviting Feng to marry into their family and take their surname. The daughter’s mad behavior had ceased, but she didn’t realize that a ceremony was taking place, so Zhan sent two maidservants to drag her off with Feng and help her return home.

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  Provincial graduate: A xiaolian is a graduate of the imperial civil service examinations at the provincial level (Hucker 237).

  Yan’an: Located in Shaanxi province.

  The usual marital inquiries: That is, the wenming, when a prospective suitor asks the prospective bride’s family for her name and the equivalent of a horoscope.

  After the maidservants left them alone, the daughter loosened the front of her gown, exposing her breasts, and responded to Feng with a stupid laugh. Feng then turned the ghost bag upside down, and called out as he’d been instructed. The Zhan daughter settled her eyes on him, scrutinizing him dubiously.

  Feng smiled and said, “Don’t you remember me from your previous life?” He lifted up the bag and showed it to her. The girl came to her senses then, quickly closed the front of her gown, and engaged him in pillow talk.

  The next morning, Feng went to see his wife’s parents. Zhan tried to console him, saying, “This foolish girl is ignorant, and you’ve already taken her into your family, but if you have a mind to do so, I have no lack of wise maidservants in my household, and I wouldn’t be relucant to part with any of them as presents to you.” Feng strongly insisted that his wife wasn’t a fool. Zhan was very skeptical.

  Before long, the daughter appeared, her bearing utterly distinguished, to the astonishment of her father. She covered her mouth as she grinned at him. While Zhan delicately asked her how she was, the girl kept advancing and retreating, as though ashamed to speak; Feng briefly described to him what had happened. Zhan was overjoyed, and became even more exceedingly fond of the girl than he had been previously.

  He sent his son, Dacheng, to become a fellow student with his son-in-law, and made sacrifices to ensure that they were fully equipped for their studies. A year passed, with Dacheng gradually becoming bored and distant, and consequently he and Feng were no longer on good terms; the servants also covered for Dacheng’s negative behavior. Zhan was puzzled by the gradual rumors he heard, responding as though he blamed Feng.

  His daughter sensed this, and told Feng, “You can’t live with the in-laws here anymore; if we stay any longer, we won’t be able to stop the deteriorating relations. At the moment, there hasn’t been too great a disruption, so we should leave quickly.” Feng felt she was right, so he told Zhan.

  Zhan wanted to try to detain her, but she wouldn’t allow it. Her father and her elder brother grew furious, refusing to give her a horse and carriage. Hence she took out some money from her dowry and leased a horse so they could return home.

  Afterwards, Zhan had tried to persuade her to come and visit them, but the daughter had firmly declined, refusing to do so. Subsequently, Feng became a successful candidate in the civil service examination at the provincial level, and they shared together in celebrating their happiness.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “If a minor official becomes increasingly more greedy, is he acting reasonably? For three hundred in cash he’ll treacherously make false accusations, and lose all vestiges of conscience. That’s why he’s deprived of his beloved wife, who’s sent into a brothel, and in the end he’ll receive a violent death. Sigh! How dreadful!”

  In the twenty-third year of Kangxi’s reign, there was a district jailer in Beiqiu who was an exceedingly greedy swindler, and whom the people all despised. On the spur of the moment, his wife was cunningly seduced by someone to run away from the jailer.

  The jailer hung up a poster about the missing wife that read, “Because a certain official was incautious about his activities, his wife has disappeared. Lost along with her is a seven chi length of red damask silk, and wrapped up in it is an entire bar of fine-grained gold, as its edges will indicate, and not just some fragment of one.”

  Such is the penalty for being dishonest.

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  Twenty-third year of Kangxi’s reign: Or 1684/5, since Qing emperor Kangxi ruled 1662-1723.

  Beiqiu: Located in modern Shandong province.

  Chi: Equal to 1/3 meter.

  263. Xiucai Guo

  In Dongyue, there was a certain scholar named Guo, who at dusk was returning home from a friend’s house when he got lost in the mountains, and had to try to find his way back through the thick undergrowth. After awhile, he heard voices from the mountain top, so he hurried towards them.

  There he saw more than ten men sitting around, drinking. When they spotted Guo coming towards them, they boisterously cried, “Sitting here together, all we’ve been lacking is a guest—and such a distinguished one, such a distinguished one!”

  As Guo sat down with them, he could see that half of the men speaking together were dressed as Confucian scholars, and so he asked directions from them. One fellow smiled and replied, “What a stuffy pedant you are! Are you going to abandon the moonlight and fail to enjoy it, just in order to ask for directions?”

  At that moment, a large wine vessel unexpectedly appeared. As Guo drank a cup of the wine, its fragrance filled his nostrils, and he quickly emptied it. Then one of the men held up a jug and tipped it to pour for him. Guo realized that it was good wine, so he speedily raised ten cups of it to his parched lips. All the others loudly encouraged him, “What a hero! We’re truly friends!”

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  Xiucai: The designation for a scholar who has passed the imperial civil service examination at the county level.

  Dongyue: A prefecture, located in modern Guangdong province.

  Guo began behavin
g unrestrainedly, cracking jokes, and was also able to imitate bird calls with remarkable accuracy. When he left his seat, standing up to go urinate, he furtively made the call of a swallow.

  “How can it be midnight already?” the others said suspiciously.

  Then he imitated a cuckoo, and the others became even more suspicious. When Guo sat down again, he began smiling, but didn’t say anything. As numerous conversations began taking place, Guo turned his head away from the others and in the voice of a parrot, said, “Xiucai Guo’s drunk, so you’d better accompany him home!” The others were startled by this, but as they sat there listening quietly, they didn’t hear it again.

  In a little while, he made the sound once more. Afterward, they realized that it was Guo making the sounds, and they all began to roar with laughter. They tried whistling with their lips to follow Guo’s example, but none of them could do it.

  One of the men said, “It’s a pity the Green Lady couldn’t come.”

  Then another fellow commented, “We’ll gather for the Mid-Autumn Festival here, so surely Master Guo will come back then.” Guo respectfully promised to do so.

  One of the men stood up and declared, “Our guest has a unique talent; we do, too, so how about we demonstrate our trick with the feet and shoulders?” Thereupon they all stood up together.

  First one fellow straightened his back so he stood tall and erect; then the next one swiftly climbed up onto his shoulders, and also stood up straight; by the time they’d accumulated four men, they seemed so tall that no one else could possibly climb on; yet they continued clambering over shoulders and stepping on arms, taking the shape of a towering ladder: in moments, all of the men had climbed up, stretching up so far that it seemed they were connected to the sky itself. Then as Guo was marveling at this, the line of men suddenly collapsed, and on the ground, they changed into a long, narrow pathway.