Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 4

by Pu Songling

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  Zhangqiu: Located east of Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, the city is bordered on the north by the Yellow River. Xiucai: A scholar who successfully passes the imperial civil service examination at the county level.

  Li replied, “Xiucai is a high title, and I’d like to set it aside until I wrap up this tax argument.”

  Alas! These men were eager to be identified as outlaws, but shunned the title of xiucai; what a strange reversal! Someone sent me an anonymous report that read, “The plaintiff Yuan Rang was accused of breaking the law by devouring people’s possessions, so he resigned his position on the pretext that he was retiring, and he had some fifty mu or so of fertile farmland nearby which he hid—this was during the first year described in the Spring and Autumn Annals—under the name of the villanous xiucai Yan Yuan. Though these days such decrees are very strict, he felt after some time that it was safe to report his claim to Yan’s office. But the xiucai wouldn’t agree to give Yan’s fields back, claiming they were his. So Yuan Rang went to the office personally but was seized by dozens of men and beaten with sticks until his legs were broken; then they locked him in a dirty alley, where he was given a single paddle of rice and a ladle of water each day, until the starving prisoner was almost dead. At Huxiang, they registered property deeds and administered heavy punishment to those who’d violated them, returning land possession to the hard-working owners who’d paid for them.” This is worth following, as Confucius said of the examples of Bo Yi and Shu Qi.

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  Yuan Rang: A Spring and Autumn period (777-476 B.C.E.) figure from Shandong province (Zhu 2:1088n20).

  Mu: A measure equal to 1/6 acre.

  The Spring and Autumn Annals: This narrative of significant historical confrontations, negociations, and cogent political advice, traditionally ascribed to Confucius as its editor, depicts events in the state of Lu, part of modern Shandong province, during the Spring and Autumn period, beginning its chronicle with 722 B.C.E.

  Huxiang: An unidentified place name.

  Confucius . . . Bo Yi and Shu Qi: According to Analects 18.8, “The Master observed, ‘Bo Yi and Shu Qi were two men who were unwilling to compromise their purposes or bring disgrace on their own persons” (216). See Zhu (2:1088n29).

  319. A Certain Yi

  A certain Yi lived in the western part of the city, and made his living as a cat burglar. His wife, feeling quite deeply that this was wrong, feared for him, urging him again and again to stop; Yi finally swore all of a sudden that he would change his ways.

  By the time that they’d lived there two or three years, they’d become so poverty-stricken that Yi couldn’t provide for them, so he thought about returning to his former profession for just one more job, then stopping afterwards, lying that he was going to take up trading, and thus he went to consult a fortune-teller to ask what direction it would be fortuitous for him to pursue.

  “The southeast is auspicious,” replied the fortuneteller, “beneficial for persons of low degree, but not for gentlemen.” This seemed to be a good omen for what he had in mind, and he was secretly delighted.

  Thus Yi headed off to the south, till he arrived in Suzhou, and from there he continued to Songjiang, so by the time that his wanderings brought him to the gates of the city, he’d already been gone several months. He happened to enter a temple, where he saw a huge heap of pebbles at the corner of one wall, conscious that this was rather strange, and after picking up one of the pebbles, he tossed it aside.

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  Suzhou: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now a county in modern Jiangsu province.

  Songjiang: Modern Shanghai.

  There was a path behind the shrine that led to a place where he could lie down. The daylight was already turning to dusk, and a group of a dozen people or so who had gathered in the temple began conversing. Suddenly one man noticed the pebbles and expressed surprise at how many were there, so they all began searching, till they found Yi behind the shrine.

  “Did you throw aside one of the pebbles?” they asked him. Yi reported that he’d done so. They asked him where he lived, and his full name, so Yi made something up. Then they gave him a weapon, and he followed them as they all left.

  Arriving at an enormous mansion, they brought out a rope ladder, and then hurried to scale the wall. Because Yi was a stranger, they made him wait outside the wall, charged with the task of collecting and transferring the bags they were carrying.

  In a short while, they threw one of their bundles over the wall; then, soon afterwards, a small carrying case was lowered over the wall on a rope. Yi lifted it and concluded that there was something special in the case, so he broke into it, checked the weight of each item inside, and put the heaviest ones into another bag which he slung over his shoulder, then fled swiftly, taking the road home as soon as he picked the bag up.

  Later on, he built a tower, bought some excellent farmland, and contributed to the government in exchange for a public post for his son. In the city, he hung up a plaque at his gate that read, “Philanthropist.” After the robbery was discovered, the burglars were all arrested; only Yi, who’d given the others a phony name and address, escaped investigation and interrogation.

  In time, the case grew cold—until Yi himself, while drunk, described everything that had happened.

  In Caozhou, there was a mighty bandit who’d just finished raking in a load of money, and then returned home calmly, to enjoy a peaceful sleep. Two or three small-time bandits then interrupted his tranquility by rushing in, grabbing him, and demanding the money. The mighty bandit wouldn’t give it to them; hence they burned and beat him until he surrendered his takings, then the bandits ran off.

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  Caozhou: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now the area around the city of Heze, Shandong province.

  The mighty bandit turned towards them and yelled, “I didn’t know it would be this painful when I was burned!”

  He was filled with such deep hatred for the bandits that he became a constable himself, arresting bandits in the city till they were almost all eradicated. When he finally arrested the bandits who’d hurt him, he performed the same procedure of burning and beating on them.

  320. The Huo Daughter

  Zhu Daxing was from Zhangde. His family was wealthy, but he was so extremely stingy that he invited no guests, and allowed no meat to be cooked in his kitchen, unless his family was marrying off a daughter or son. Nevertheless, he frivolously engaged in womanizing, seeking opportunities for sex and never hesitating on account of their expense. Every night, he climbed over his family’s wall and went into the village, where he’d try to find some loose woman and sleep with her.

  One night, he ran into a young woman who was out walking alone, and figured she might be trying to run away from somewhere, so he grabbed her violently and forced her to go home with him. By candlelight, he discovered her to be a matchless beauty. “My surname’s Huo,” she told him. Admiring her exquisite beauty, he tried to find out more about her. The unhappy young woman replied, “After you’ve already brought me here, why bother investigating me now? If you’re afraid I’ll be a burden, it’d be better for me to leave now.”

  Zhu didn’t dare inquire about anything else, but asked her to stay and sleep with him. Thinking that Huo couldn’t stand to eat coarse food or pork flesh, he offered her a special soup made from edible bird’s nest, chicken hearts, and fish belly, which she proceeded to eat. Zhu felt helpless to resist, and did everything he could to serve her.

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  Zhangde: Former prefecture now known as the city of Anyang, in northern Henan province.

  When she fell ill, she demanded that he must bring her a bowl of ginseng soup each day. At first, he was unwilling to do so. But Huo groaned like she was near death, so there was no alternative, and he brought it to her till the illness was gone. Such solicitous behavior b
y Zhu became the norm.

  Hou’s clothing was as beautiful as brocade, but after several days, she was disgusted with wearing the same things. In this way, a month went by, and since the cost of replacing them seemed incalculable to Zhu, he simply avoided the issue. Huo sobbed and didn’t eat, then begged to leave. Zhu dreaded losing her, so he resigned himself to complying and brought her what she wished.

  Whenever she grew bored, every fortnight or so, he’d invite a troupe of actors to give a performance. When it was time for the performance, Zhu would set up benches and curtains outside the playing area, and bring in some children to be part of the audience; if Huo didn’t look happy, he’d have to endure her rebukes, and Zhu couldn’t always tell for sure how she would react.

  When she’d been living there for two years, Zhu’s family fortunes gradually began to decline. He turned to Huo with tactful words and prevailed upon her to reduce her demands a bit; she promised to do so, and he was able to cut all the burdensome expenses related to her by half. Quite a while elapsed, till he no longer gave her any of the previous concessions, and Huo ate her simple fare peacefully with Zhu; little by little, she got used to doing without things. Zhu was secretly quite pleased.

  Suddenly one night, she opened the back door and ran away. Zhu called after her, thinking she’d gotten lost, and began asking all over about her, then realized he’d come to the home of the influential He family, in the neighboring village.

  The He family was a prominent one, and hospitably always welcomed guests in a hall that remained lighted all night long. When a beauty suddenly appeared, since it was the middle of the night, she withdrew to He’s room. He inquired about her, and she explained that she was a concubine who’d run away from the Zhu family. Zhu had always seemed an unpleasant fellow to He, who found the woman quite charming; he was quite pleased to have access to the beautiful Huo.

  Lingering for a few days with her, He becoming increasingly obsessed with Huo, and hence also with trying to indulge her lavish desires, including everything Zhu had provided her. Zhu heard the news about Huo’s whereabouts, and demanded that He turn her over to him, but He could see no reason to do so.

  Zhu then took up the matter with an official. The official considered Huo’s surname and background unfamiliar, and so he paid no attention to him. Zhu sold off some real estate and used the proceeds to bribe the official, who then agreed to have He arrested and questioned.

  Huo told He, “I was in Zhu’s home, and he didn’t choose to make things permanent through proper ceremony, so why should I be afraid him?” Happy to hear this, He was on the verge of taking Zhu to court over the matter.

  Following an invitation from He, a scholar named Gu warned him, “By taking in a runaway, you’re already implicated in breaking the law; furthermore, since this woman has entered your gate, her expense per day has been excessive, costing your family a thousand taels, so how long can you continue like this?”

  Comprehending precisely what Gu meant by this, He ceased his intention of going to court, and Zhu took Huo home. A day or two passed, and then she ran away again.

  There was an impoverished scholar named Huang, who wasn’t married. Huo ceased her flight and entered his door, explaining to him how she’d come to be there. Huang could see that a gorgeous woman had suddenly been thrust into his life, and he was so startled that he didn’t know what to do. Huang, a law-abiding man, backed timidly away from her. But the young woman didn’t leave.

  She seemed genuinely lovely and gentle, soft and pliant. Huang, aroused by her, asked her to stay, but then thought it over, and wasn’t sure that she could be satisfied living such a modest life.

  Huo got up early the next morning, personally performing the manual labor required for the household’s chores, as though she was long accustomed to such tiresome work. Huang responded with cultured dignity and offered her his warm, gentle heart, worried that they’d met at an improperly late hour, that someone might find this out, and that their happiness might not last for long.

  Zhu, meanwhile, had become increasingly more impoverished after suing He, and anxious about the likelihood of not being able to satisfy Huo with the remainders of his fortune even if he got her back, he finally stopped pursuing the matter.

  Huo stayed with Huang for several years, and he loved her very dearly. One day, she suddenly wished to return to her home for a visit, and wanted Huang to accompany her in a carriage there. “You claimed before that you had no family,” Huang replied, “so why did you say that?”

  Huo explained, “I was concealing the truth back then. I’m from Zhenjiang. I followed a wanderer, drifting through the countryside, destitute, and that’s eventually how I came to be here. My family is quite wealthy, so if we went to visit them, we surely wouldn’t lose by making the trip.” Huang did as she requested, renting a carriage, and then they departed.

  When they arrived at Yangzhou, there was a boat moored at the edge of the river. When Huo happened to peer into its window, she saw a huge merchant, who, surprised by her beauty, ordered his boat to turn around and follow her, though Huang didn’t know about it.

  “Your family’s extremely poor,” she told him suddenly, “but now that there’s a way to cure your poverty, will you be able to carry it out?” Huang asked her what she was talking about, and she replied, “I’ve been together with you for several years, but I’ve never been able to bear you a son or a daughter, nor have I been able to take care of a certain matter. Even though I may be ugly now, I’m not too old, and there’s someone who would agree to send a thousand taels to take me from you, so if you were to sell me off, you’d have enough to afford a proper wife, some farmland, and a house. How about it?” Huang blanched, not understanding why she was saying all this.

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  Zhenjiang: Located in Jiangsu province.

  Yangzhou: A city in modern Jiangsu.

  Huo smiled and said, “You don’t need to worry—since the world’s full of beauties, who’d pay a thousand taels to buy me? It’s just a joke, so we’ll see what happens. It’s certainly your decision, whether to sell me or not.” Huang was unwilling to go along with it. Huo then went and had words with the wife of the boat’s pilot, and when the woman looked over at Huang, he silently consented.

  The woman left and returned not long afterwards, commenting, “There’s a merchant’s son inside, who’s ready to offer eight hundred taels.” Huang shook his head to indicate he was unable to accept the offer. After a bit, the wife left and returned not long afterwards, commenting, “The merchant’s son is ready to offer a thousand taels if you agree to send the lady over to his boat after you take the money.” Huang smiled a little.

  “Tell him to wait for a while, since I have something to say to my husband,” Huo said to the woman.

  Huo told Huang, “Now do you understand that I’m serving you every day with a body that’s worth a thousand taels?”

  “But what would we say to get you out of the situation later?” asked Huang.

  “What you need to do is just go in there to conclude the deal,” explained Huo, “and then it’s up to me to decide what’s next.” Huang just couldn’t bring himself to do it. But Huo kept urging him, until Huang had no choice but to speak with the merchant.

  Right away, the merchant paid Huang, and then Huang made a promise: “Since I’m taking this as a consequence of my poverty, I want to acknowledge it as such, to hasten our parting. If my wife finds herself unable to follow you, then I’ll return all of this to you.”

  By the time he took the money and left the boat, Huo was already following the pilot’s wife around the side, climbing aboard the merchant’s vessel, and as Huang looked at her, he turned away, too pained by his love for her to be able to say goodbye. He felt like his spirit was leaving his body, and was so choked with sobs that he couldn’t speak.

  Just then, the mooring rope on the merchant’s boat was untied, the vessel departing as swiftly as a soaring arrow. Huang made a great c
ry, wanting to chase after it. The pilot wasn’t monitoring this, so he turned the boat towards the south. In a flash, Huang reached the edge of the river, carrying the money with him along the shore.

  The pilot quickly directed the unmoored boat on its course. Huang stared after it, feeling cut off and stifled, then just sat down, without any place he could consider home, watching the waters of the river surging along, like a volley of ten thousand arrows. Then he covered his eyes and wept for awhile, till suddenly he heard a delicate voice cry out, “Master Huang.”

  Astounded, he turned to look, and there was Huo, already standing before him. Overjoyed, he slung the money over his back and followed after her, asking, “How did you get back here so quickly?”

  “If I’d delayed for long,” she replied with a laugh, “you’d have suspected the worst.” Huang then began to realize that Huo was truly someone extraordinary, and insistently asked her to explain it all.

  Huo laughed, and replied, “My whole life, I’ve bankrupted the stingy and driven the arrogant crazy. If I’d explained the scheme to you, would you have gone along with it? No, you’d have resisted selling me, and then where could you have gotten a thousand taels? Now your money bag’s full, and I’ve been returned to you, so you’ve been quite fortunate—what else is there to ask about?” Subsequently they hired some servants to carry their bags, collected everything together, and left.

  They came to a floodgate, and past it was a house facing the south, so they followed the path leading up to it. Presently they encountered an elderly couple, along with their son and his wife, who all rushed out to welcome them, crying, “Master Huang has arrived!”

  Huang went inside with the couple, who were clearly Huo’s parents. Two young men, who bowed respectfully and then sat down to chat with Huang, proved to be Huo’s elder brother, Dalang, and younger brother, Sanlang. There weren’t many different food items set up for their feasting, but four jade platters were almost completely full. Chicken, crab, goose, and fish had all been cut into delicate, individual slices.