Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 4

by Pu Songling

  By the subsequent spring there was widespread famine, but Xia’s family didn’t go hungry. Hence he believed the witch’s prediction was coming true, so he followed the old man’s advice and borrowed some money from him—a small amount of capital, on which he always made just a small profit; there were people who advised him to conduct bigger business, but Xia wouldn’t do it.

  When he turned fifty-seven, he happened to be repairing his wall, and as he was digging in the ground, he found an iron cauldron; when he finally uncovered it, it was enveloped in some kind of gaseous fog that was as white as cotton, which frightened him so much he didn’t dare look inside the cauldron. In moments, the gas dissipated, and he discovered an urn in it that was filled with silver. It took Xia and his wife to carry the urn, and when they weighed it in the scales, the silver in it proved to be worth 1,325 taels. They privately discussed the fact that the witch’s prophecy had proven a bit inaccurate.

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  Mu: An area approximately equal to 1/6 acre.

  Meanwhile, the neighbor’s wife had entered the Xia house and spied the silver, so she hurried home and told her husband. Feeling envious, he secretly informed the county magistrate. The magistrate was exceedingly greedy, so he had Xia arrested, and demanded the silver from him.

  When Xia’s wife covertly suggested that they give the magistrate half of it, Xia disagreed: “To keep what doesn’t belong to us would be to court disaster.” Thus he offered it all to the magistrate.

  Once the magistrate had received the silver, he speculated that Xia might have more hidden somewhere, so he sent for the urn, and once he determined that the silver did indeed fill it up, he finally released Xia. Shortly afterward, the magistrate was promoted to vice prefect in Nanchang. A year later, by the time Xia arrived in Nanchang on business, the former county magistrate had died.

  The magistrate’s wife, who was preparing to leave Nanchang, was selling some large and heavy goods; there were some deep baskets of tung oil, and when Xia noted how cheaply they were priced, he bought them to take home. After arriving at home, he noticed that some oil was seeping out of one of the baskets, so he poured it into another container, and discovered that there were two ingots of silver at the bottom of the basket; he checked the others and found ingots in them, too.

  When he’d collected all the taels, they came to the same amount that he’d dug up in the cauldron a year earlier. Thus Xia Shang suddenly became rich, and increased his support to the needy, never stinting in his generosity. His wife tried to persuade him to hold onto his wealth, to bequeath it to their descendants, but he replied, “I’m doing this precisely to leave them something.”

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  Nanchang: This prefecture in Pu’s time in now part of Nanchang county, Jiangxi province.

  Once his now utterly destitute neighbor arrived and wanted to beg a bit of something from him, he found himself too ashamed to ask, since he’d informed the magistrate about the silver. Xia heard he was there, and accordingly told him, “Back then, since my time had not yet arrived, the spirits were moving you to counteract my gain, so why then should I blame you?” Accordingly, he liberally helped the man out. His neighbor was moved to tears by his kindness. Xia afterwards lived to be eighty, with his descendants inheriting his fortune and remaining affluent for several generations without decline.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “For ignoring the common people, excessively extravagant waste certainly brings punishment down on the nobility! When they’re alive, they recklessly squander nature’s produce, but when they die and can no longer enjoy even the pleasure of rice in their mouths, then they’ll regret it! It’s a blessing that Xia Dongling’s words enlightened his offspring—like a bird that utters a doleful cry when the time to die arrives—so their family could live in poverty for many years, then recover its prosperity; otherwise, even if a father’s wicked deeds accumulate wealth for his sons, and his sons do the same thing for his grandsons, all they’ll be passing from one to another is a beggar’s existence, over and over again. What things might the old witch have imparted, since she was privy to heaven’s secrets? Alas! How strange!”

  325. Yao An

  Yao An, from Lintao, was an extremely good-looking fellow. The Gong family, in Yao’s village, had a daughter named Lü’e, who was gorgeous and well-versed in literature, but hadn’t yet selected someone suitable to marry. Her mother told other people, “I’d certainly like to betroth her to someone from a respectable family, with a handsome bearing, like that Yao.”

  When Yao An heard this, he tricked his wife into peering down a well, then pushed her in so she drowned, and subsequently married Lü’e.

  The couple enjoyed a very loving relationship. However, since Lü’e was so beautiful, Yao was always jealous of her: he locked her up at home where he could keep an eye on her, and stopped her from going anywhere by herself; when Lü’e wanted to go visit her parents, he raised his arms over her, as though covering her with a pair of wings while they stepped outside, and once she climbed into a sedan chair, he marked it with a paper strip and followed it, then after staying just a single night, he grabbed her and they returned home.

  Lü’e could tell that Yao didn’t trust her, so she angrily exclaimed, “If I’d arranged some kind of lover’s rendezvous, you couldn’t stop me with these pathetic tactics!” This is why he took to locking her in her room when he went out anywhere.

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  Lintao: A county in Gansu province.

  Lü’e became even more fed up with him, so she placed some keys outside her door, in order to arouse his suspicions. When Yao saw them he was furious and demanded to know where the keys had come from. “Who knows!” she angrily retorted. Yao became more and more suspicious, and began spying on her to keep track of her activities.

  One day, upon returning home, he eavesdropped outside her room for a long time, then unlocked and opened her door, careful not to make a sound, quietly shutting the door before entering. He saw a man in a marten fur cap lying on Lü’e’s bed, so he grew outraged, picked up a sword, and struck off the man’s head. Drawing closer for a better look, he discovered it was Lü’e, who’d been taking a nap and felt cold, so she’d covered her face with the marten fur. Horrified, Yao stamped his feet in frustration, regretting his impetuous action.

  Old Gong, Lü’e’s father, took the matter to a government official. The official arrested Yao, stripped him of his position, and then had him tortured. Yao was bankrupted by having to spread around a lot of money in bribes in order to save himself from execution. From that point forward, his mind seemed befuddled, as if he’d lost his spirit.

  He happened to be sitting by himself all alone when he suddenly saw Lü’e with a bearded man making love in his bed, and filled with hatred, he snatched up a sword to go after them, only to find that they’d vanished; when he sat back down, he saw them doing it again. Enraged, he struck at the bed with the sword, splitting open the mat and its coverings.

  Angrily grasping the sword, he approached the bed and waited there until Lü’e’s face appeared again, staring at him and laughing. He frantically hacked at her, immediately lopping off her head; yet by the time he sat down again, Lü’e was back in place, laughing at him like before.

  That night when he extinguished his candle, he heard the sounds of the couple engaged in sexual activities beyond description. Day after day it went on this way until Yao could bear it no longer, and as a result, he sold all his land and possessions, in order to move somewhere else to live.

  That very night, a thief climbed over his wall, stole all his proceeds, and made his escape. Yao was so poor henceforth that he didn’t own even the smallest place to stay, and so he died full of hatred and anger. His fellow villagers buried him with grass.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “How cruel, to fall in love with someone new and then kill his wife! People believe that it was the new wife�
�s ghost tormenting him, but they simply don’t realize that it was his first wife’s ghost that had seized his spirit. Alas! After doing something like that, there’s no escaping the fate that awaits!”

  326. Cai Weiweng

  At the end of the Ming dynasty, war broke out with an irresistible suddenness. Master Liu Zhisheng, from Yuling, had assembled an enormous army that was preparing to cross to the south side of the Yangzi River. Suddenly a fat man strolled up to the compound gate, his clothing openly displaying his belly, and requested to see the soldiers’ commander. Master Liu delayed his plans long enough to speak with him, and found himself greatly pleased with the fellow.

  Liu asked the man his name, and he said he was called Cai Weiweng. Liu invited Cai to join him in his army tent, and made a gift of a halberd to him. “I have my own weapons,” Cai told him, “so I don’t need you to give me a halberd.”

  “What weapons do you mean?” asked Liu.

  Cai then pushed open his clothing, exposing the navel of his belly, which was large enough to hold an entire chicken; as he drew in a mighty breath, the skin inside his navel suddenly began whistling, and with a sound like a cork popping, out came the handle of a sword; he grasped the handle and drew out the blade, which was as white as frost.

  “You keep it there?” Liu asked, utterly astonished.

  With a laugh, Cai pointed to his belly and replied, “This is my weapons arsenal, so I don’t need any place else.”

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  Yuling: Ancient name for modern Zouping county, Shandong province.

  Liu told him to take out a bow and arrow, and when Cai inhaled like before, out came an ornately engraved bow; as he held his breath, an arrow flew out and fell to the ground, all without Cai seeming the least bit exhausted. Shortly afterwards, he reinserted the sword into his navel, along with the bow and arrow, until none of it could be seen any longer. Figuring Cai must be some god, Liu invited him to share his tent for the night, treating him with every possible courtesy.

  Although the soldiers in the camp were under strict orders regarding their behavior, there were pockets of disobedience due to the sheer number of men, so some of them went out to engage in looting. Cai told Liu, “A soldier is valued when he’s disciplined and follows regulations; now, since so many thousands have been gathered here into one crowd that you can’t cow them into behaving, another way must be employed to put a stop to such actions.”

  Liu was cheered by this, and consequently Cai took charge of maintaining order among the soldiers, so if there was any plundering of women or property, he bravely condemned the action before the men. The army showed some respect for this tactic, but eventually it, too, failed to stop their rowdy activity entirely.

  Cai frequently rode a horse when he went out roaming among the troops, and whenever he ran into overbearing officers or arrogant soldiers, their heads would fall to the ground, though no one knew why. Hence the men began to harbor dark suspicions about him. When he came forward, issuing strict orders, the common soldiers found him scary and intimidating; they also felt increasingly chagrined by him.

  All of the troops began complaining to Liu, saying things like, “Cai Weiweng practices wizardry. In ancient times, the famous generals were esteemed for their wisdom, not their sorcery. A sword immortal like this will destroy us all in the end. Now even officers and men who haven’t done anything wrong are often at a loss about what to make of his orders, so the men feel afraid; he’s staying with you, general, but you’re also in danger. It would be best to do something about him.”

  Liu agreed with their words, deciding to wait until Cai was asleep, and then have him executed. Accordingly, he sent some men to keep watch on him, who witnessed Cai proceeding to rub his belly and lie down, till his breathing turned to thunderous snores.

  The men observing him were greatly relieved, and as the soldiers surrounding the tent moved back from it, two men brandishing swords entered it and cut off Cai’s head; but no sooner had they wielded their swords this way than Cai’s head was already reattached to his body, and he was breathing as restfully as before, to their great horror.

  Then they hacked at his belly; it split open bloodlessly, and inside it there was a cluster of halberds gathered together, standing upright, with their tips sticking out of him. The men were terrified, but didn’t dare draw any closer; while they poked at him from a distance with a long spear, an iron crossbow popped out and shot several men. The frightened soldiers scattered and informed Liu. Liu hurried over to see Cai, but by then he had already disappeared.

  327. Cui Meng

  Cui Meng, whose courtesy name was Wumeng, was the son of a powerful family in Jianchang. He was by nature brawny, and when he was a boy, attending a private school, all the other boys were rather intimidated by him since he was always raising his fists, ready to beat someone, forcing his tutor repeatedly to warn him against doing this, though Cui didn’t change his ways; both his nickname and his courtesy name were assigned to him by that tutor.

  By the time he was sixteen or seventeen, his martial arts ability was unsurpassed, and while holding a long pole, he could vault up onto the roof of a tall building. He gave timely assistance to those who couldn’t defend themselves, so the grateful villagers put themselves in his hands, filling his household with people explaining their grievances to him.

  Cui challenged the strong and advocated for the weak, never worried about avoiding others’ reproaches or grudges; anyone who tried to oppose him was answered with a combination of stones and sticks until they were driven away with a variety of contusions. Whenever his wrath was stirred, no one dared try to reason with him. However, because he was a filial son, the arrival of his mother would put an end to his rage. His mother would express her disapproval of his actions upon arriving, with Cui acknowledging her comments as he heard her reprimands, but as soon as she was out the door, he always forgot about them.

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  Jianchang: A prefecture in Ming/Qing times, now Nancheng county, Jiangxi province.

  Both his nickname and his courtesy name: Cui was apparently given both the nickname Meng (猛 “violent”) and Wumeng (猛 “don’t be violent”) in an attempt to acknowledge, and to curb, his combative nature.

  His neighbor was a shrewish woman, who was tyrannically abusive to her husband’s mother all the time. When the mother-in-law was on the brink of starving to death, her son secretly gave her something to eat; once the wife found out about it, she swore a multitude of curses at him, and the sound could be heard in courtyards all around. This infuriated Cui, who leapt over the wall, chopping off her nose, lips, and tongue, so she died immediately afterwards.

  Cui’s mother, horrified when she heard about it, called for the neighbor’s son in order to offer her condolences, and gave him one of their maidservants to be his wife, which effectively settled the matter. But Cui’s mother was so angry about it that she began weeping and wouldn’t eat. This frightened Cui, who knelt and begged her to beat him, telling her he was sorry. His mother continued sobbing, and wouldn’t turn around to look at him. Cui’s attentive wife also knelt beside him.

  The mother proceeded to beat her son, then pricked his arm with needles to form the character “ten” in red lines that would remain indelible. Cui accepted all of his punishment. Consequently, his mother then agreed to eat.

  Cui’s mother enjoyed cooking for itinerant holy men, whom she would encourage to eat their fill. It happened that a Daoist priest came to the family’s gate just as Cui was passing by it. The Daoist looked at him and said, “Because you have a very brutal aspect about you, I’m afraid it will be difficult for you to avoid a bad end. Your family has been performing good deeds for quite some time now, so it shouldn’t have to be that way.”

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  The character “ten”: That is, a cross (十); its significance to the mother isn’t clear here, although it’s tempting to see an implicit “count to ten” ad
visory in this tattoo.

  Since Cui had just received his mother’s admonitions, he listened to the Daoist, then respectfully observed, “I know it; but if I see some injustice, it pains me so much that I can’t help but stop it. Yet if I try to do all I can to change my ways, can I maybe escape that fate?”

  “Don’t ask whether you can escape it or not,” the Daoist smiled, “but ask yourself whether you can change or not. You should take pains to restrain yourself; in case you ever commit some kind of capital crime, I’ll tell you about some magic that can ward off your fatal disaster.”

  His whole life, Cui had never believed in ghosts and magic, so he just laughed, without saying anything else. “I know you don’t believe in magic,” declared the Daoist. “But my charms are different than those of witches and sorcerers, so they’ll be morally virtuous for you to perform; even if they’re not effective, they’ll have no harmful effects.”

  Cui implored him to tell him what to do, and the Daoist advised him, “There happens to be a young man passing outside your gate, and if you were to become his boon companion, then even if you were to commit a capital offense, he’d be able to save your life.” Then he called for Cui to go outside with him, where he was able to point out the boy.

  The boy’s name turned out to be Zhao Sengge. Zhao was from Nanchang, and due to the famine there, his family had been forced to move to Jianchang. Cui thus made friends with Zhao, inviting the boy and his family to come and live with him, supplying them liberally with everything they needed. When Zhao turned twelve, Cui took him to his family’s main hall, where Zhao paid his respects to Cui’s mother, and she then performed a ceremony to make them sworn brothers. Once a year passed, it was time to perform the spring plantings, so Zhao and his family returned home. Thus they lost contact with each other.