Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 6

by Pu Songling

  Hearing this, Wei felt intolerably ashamed and appalled. He was silent briefly, then came up with a plan to address the situation. He stood suddenly and hung up a lamp, then called for Weiniang to join him in a drink, secretly placing poison in her cup. As soon as Weiniang swallowed some of the wine, she crumpled in pain, groaning hoarsely. By the time a crowd gathered to see what was going on, she was already dead.

  _________

  Liu Yuxi: Liu (772-842), a poet and activist, is perhaps best known for his essay, “Treatise on Heaven” (天伦), concerning the relationship between humanity and the divine.

  Calling for the proprietress of the brothel, Wei turned the corpse over to her, then offered her a heavy bribe to keep things quiet. But Weiniang had been on intimate terms with men from a number of powerful families, and when they heard about what had happened to her, they became indignant, offering their own bribes to the proprietress to make a formal complaint about Wei to another local official.

  Wei was so frightened by this that he began indiscriminately bribing everyone involved, but in the end his impetuous response led to him being removed from his position as magistrate.

  He returned home, now thirty-eight years old, filled with regrets for his former indiscretions. And despite having five or six wives and concubines, none of them had given birth to a son. Hence he wanted to make his uncle’s grandson his heir; his uncle entered into the agreement but felt uneasy about doing so since he worried that the boy would pick up Wei’s bad habits if he was adopted as his heir, and thus he requested that Wei delay the adoption until after his death. This infuriated Wei so much that he wanted to make Luo Huiqing his heir, though all the other members of the Wei family opposed the move and stopped him.

  A few years later, Wei suddenly fell ill and continually beat his chest as he cried, “I took advantage of maidservants and slept with prostitutes, I was such a bad man!”

  Hearing this, his uncle sighed and exclaimed, “He’s about to die!” Hence he sent his grandson from his second son to Wei’s home to stay with him. A month later, Wei died.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “Young master Wei’s practice of preying on maidservants and directing his intimacies to prostitutes was unquestionably corrupt. Moreover, forcing one’s own child to call another man his father is also shameful. Thus the spirits made a fool of him, luring him into committing incest. Yet instead of slicing open his own heart or cutting off his own head in remorse, he merely broke out in sweat and poisoned his own daughter, proving himself a villain and a beast! However, when cultured men like young master Wei produce children who find their way into the world of prostitution, those offspring do seem to excel all of their brothel peers.”

  450. Shi Qingzu

  Xing Yunfei was from Shuntian. He loved stones, so if he saw a pretty stone, he wouldn’t hesitate to pay any amount to obtain it. It happened that while he was at the river fishing, his net snagged on something, so he jumped in and pulled it open, discovering a stone that was a chi long, exquisitely polished on all sides, with beautiful raised bumps across its facets. Overjoyed, Xing gathered up his rare specimen.

  After he got home, he carved a violet sandalwood stand for it, then displayed them together on a tabletop. Whenever it happened to rain, clouds would issue from holes in the stone, and from across the room they looked like fluffy balls of clean cotton.

  There was a certain man of wealth and prominence who came to call at Xing’s home and asked to have a look at the marvelous stone. After he’d seen it, he grabbed it and handed it over to a burly servant, then, whipping their horses, they sped away. Xing was helpless to do anything but stamp his feet in regret and anger.

  When the servant who was carrying the stone came to the bank of the river, he stopped to rest his shoulder against the bridge there, but the stone suddenly slipped from his hands and fell into the water below. The wealthy man was so furious that he whipped the servant. Then he took some gold and hired a good swimmer who dove maybe a hundred times into the depths to search for it, but finally was unable to locate it. Hence the man posted public notice of a reward in gold for the stone, then left.

  _________

  Shuntian: Old name for Peiking/Beijing.

  Chi: A length equal to 1/3 meter.

  People began looking in the river every day for the stone, but without any success. Later, Xing came to the place where the stone had fallen in, and as he looked over the rippling currents, lamenting, the river waters turned crystal clear, revealing precisely where the stone had settled. Xing was jubilant, so he took off his clothing and entered the water, where he proceeded to embrace the stone and bring it up to the surface.

  He carried it home, but didn’t dare display it openly again, so he wiped it clean and placed it in his bedroom.

  One day, an old man knocked at Xing’s gate and asked to have a look at the stone. Xing made up an excuse to discourage the visitor, explaining that the stone had already been missing for a long time. With a laugh, the old man replied, “It’s in your guest house, isn’t it?”

  Xing consequently invited him into the guest house to see for himself, since he knew the stone certainly wasn’t there. When they entered, however, it was indeed there, openly displayed on a table. Xing was so startled that he couldn’t speak.

  The old man began stroking the stone, remarking, “This stone belongs to my family and has been missing for a very long time, but here it is. Now that I’ve seen it, I hope you’ll allow me to take it back home.” Xing felt extremely awkward, but argued that he was now the owner of the stone. The old man smiled while asking, “As to the stone being yours, what verification do you have?” Xing was unable to answer him.

  “I can prove the stone is mine,” said the old man. “It has ninety-two holes, and in one there are five characters that spell out, ‘this sublime stone is for heaven’s use.’” Xing examined the stone carefully, found the hole in which the specified passage was indeed inscribed in tiny characters, as delicate as grains of rice, and squinted his eyes to identify them with certainty: then he verified that there were ninety-two holes in the stone, just as the old man had told him. Even so, Xing still didn’t agree to turn it over to his visitor, but kept his hands on it.

  The old man laughed as he exclaimed, “So you think you can simply say who owns this stone!” Then he bowed to Xing, with hands folded respectfully, and left. Xing accompanied the old man through his gates; when he returned, he discovered that the stone was missing.

  Xing quickly chased after the old man, who with his halting steps hadn’t yet gone far. Running up to him, Xing pulled on the old man’s sleeve and complained about the missing stone. “My, that’s strange!” declared the old man. “How could I possible hide a stone that size in my sleeve?” Xing realized that the old man must really be an immortal, so he pulled him in the direction of his home, grovelling and begging him to come back with him. “Does this stone belong to your family or to mine?” the old man demanded.

  “Certainly, it belongs to yours,” Xing answered him, “but I beg you to part with it, so it can stay with me.”

  “Now that you’ve asked,” the old man told him, “it can stay where it is.” As they entered Xing’s home, they found the stone back where it had been originally. “In this world,” said the old man, “treasures should reside with the people who cherish them most. This stone was able to select its owner, so I’m happy for it. However, it was in a hurry to reveal itself, and came out too early to prevent devils of all sorts from trying to obtain it. True, I was just about to carry it off, for I was going to hold onto it for three years, and then after that I was going to give it to you. But if you keep it now, doing so will reduce your lifespan by three years. Do you still want to keep it?”

  “Yes, I do,” replied Xing.

  The old man took two fingers and pinched one of the holes shut, the stone proving as pliable as clay, then rubbed it with his hand, sealing it. After he’d closed three holes in this fashion, he explained, “The nu
mber of holes in the stone record the length of your lifespan.” Then the old man took his leave so he could go. Xing entreated him to stay, but the old man was adamant about going; Xing also asked him his name, but he simply walked away without replying.

  A year later, while Xing happened to be away from home, a thief broke into his house, though nothing of value was stolen except for the stone. When Xing returned home and discovered his loss, he felt so dejected that he wanted to die. He scrutinized the scene of the crime and offered a reward for information about the stone, but there was absolutely no sign of it anywhere.

  A few years went by and Xing happened to enter Baoguo Temple, where he found someone trying to sell the stone, and reasoning that it was already his, he wanted to take it away with him. The seller, however, refused to let him, so they carried the stone before an official to settle the matter.

  The official asked, “What proof can you offer that the stone is yours?”

  The man trying to sell the stone was able to say how many holes it had in it. But when Xing asked him what else he knew about it, the man’s answer was evasively vague. Xing proceeded to describe the five characters to be found in one of the stone’s holes and noted the finger marks where three of them had been squeezed shut, demonstrating with his fingers how it had been done.

  The official wanted to have the man beaten who’d been trying to sell the stone, but when the man said that he’d purchased the stone himself for twenty taels in the marketplace, he was allowed to leave. Xing then took the stone home, where he wrapped it up in brocade and hid it away in a case, and whenever he wished to admire it, he’d first light some expensive incense before taking the stone out to look at it.

  There was a certain government minister who offered to pay a hundred taels for the stone. “I wouldn’t give it up even for ten thousand taels,” Xing told him. This made the minister angry, so he secretly arranged to stir up trouble for Xing. Accordingly, Xing was falsely imprisoned and forced to raise money by selling his personal property.

  _________

  Baoguo Temple: Located in Zhejiang province, the Buddhist temple was given this name (literally, “dedicate the self to serving one’s country”) in 880 C.E.

  The government minister suggested to Xing’s son that the stone might be exchanged for his father’s freedom. When he informed his father of this, Xing insisted that he’d rather be dead and buried than give up the stone. Xing’s wife, however, secretly met with her son and planned to take the stone as an offering to the minister’s home.

  Upon being released from his imprisonment, Xing realized what had happened and responded by scolding his wife and striking his son, but he also attempted repeated times to hang himself, only to be rescued by various family members—he simply couldn’t die.

  One night, he dreamt that a man appeared and said to him, “I’m Shi Qingxu.” He told Xing not to feel sad: “Due to unusual circumstances, I’ve been away from you for a year. Next year, at dawn on August 20th, you can visit Haidaimen, where you can purchase me with two strings of cash.” Overjoyed by the dream, Xing carefully noted down the date.

  After his stone was taken to the minister’s home, it stopped emitting the strange clouds, and as time passed, the minister no longer considered it a precious item. The following year, the government minister was removed from his position for malfeasance and subsequently died. At the specified time, Xing appeared at Haidaimen, where family members of the minister had privately brought the stone to sell it, so Xing offered them two strings of cash and subsequently returned home with it.

  When Xing reached the age of eighty-nine, he started making arrangements for his funeral; then he instructed his son to be sure to bury the stone with him. Following his death, the son abided by his father’s instructions and placed the stone in his tomb. Six months later, a thief broke into the tomb and stole the stone. His son found out about what had happened, but had no way of discovering the identity of the thief.

  _________

  Shi Qingxu: Literally, his name means “a refined/polished stone” (石清虚).

  Haidaimen: Another name for Beijing’s Chongwenmen (崇文门), a gate 135 feet tall, in what was once Beijing’s city wall; the name is a corruption of Hadamen, the gate’s popular name, derived from its proximity to the palace of Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) Mongolian prince, Hada (Haas 3).

  Two or three months passed, and then when the son was out walking with a servant one day, he suddenly saw two men run towards them and fall to their knees, sweating in panic, kowtowing as they pleaded, “Master Xing, have mercy on us! We’re the men who took the stone, but we only sold it for four taels of silver.” The men were subsequently restrained and taken before an official, where they confessed their guilt during interrogation. When the official asked about the stone, the men reported that they’d sold it to a man named Gong.

  The official then retrieved the stone from Gong, but became so attached to it that he wanted to keep it for himself, so he ordered that it be conveyed to his storehouse. As one of his clerks picked up the stone, it slipped from his hands and fell to the ground, breaking into several dozen pieces. Everyone who observed this turned pale.

  The official subsequently sentenced the two thieves to death. Xing’s son picked up the pieces of the shattered stone and dutifully buried them in his father’s tomb.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “A very elegant thing will prove troublesome for its owner. But to sacrifice his own life for it shows the owner’s truly addictive behavior! Yet the stone chose to break itself in order to stay with him, so who can say for certain whether or not the stone had feelings for him, too? There’s an old saying that ‘A wise man is willing to die for someone who truly understands him.’ No doubt about it! If a stone can adhere to that, then surely a human being can, too!”

  451. Zeng Youyu

  Old man Zeng belonged to a prominent family in Kunyang. At the time of his death, prior to his burial, teardrops began flowing freely from his eyes, and his six sons had no idea what could be causing them. His second eldest son, Zeng Ti, whose courtesy name was Youyu, was a well-known scholar and took the tears to be an inauspicious sign, so he warned his brothers to be vigilant and not to do anything that might distress their late father; but the brothers thought he was just being pedantic and laughed at him.

  Back when Zeng Cheng, the eldest son of old Zeng and his first wife, was seven or eight, he and his mother had been kidnapped by bandits. Afterwards old Zeng took another wife, who gave birth to three sons: Zeng Xiao, Zeng Zhong, and Zeng Xin. A concubine gave birth to another three sons: Zeng Ti, Zeng Ren, and Zeng Yi.

  Xiao despised Youyu as his inferior and looked down on him, as did Xiao’s brothers, Zhong and Xin. Once when the others happened to be entertaining guests for drinks, Youyu and his brothers happened by and were treated rudely by Xiao and his brothers. This made Ren and Yi furious, so they expressed to Youyu their plans for dealing with these fraternal enemies. Youyu spoke to them wisely, explaining that they shouldn’t carry out their plans; and since Ren and Yi were younger than Youyu, they did as their older brother suggested.

  _________

  Kunyang: A prefecture in Pu’s time; now Jinning county, Yunnan province.

  Zeng Xiao . . . Zeng Yi: All of the brothers have idealistic names, drawn from Confucian ethics—Xiao (filial piety), Zhong (loyalty), Xin (trustworthiness), Ti (love/respect for elder brothers), Ren (benevolence), and Yi (righteousness).

  Zeng Xiao had a daughter who married into the Zhou family, but subsequently fell ill and died. Xiao tried to coerce Youyu into beating the daughter’s mother-inlaw for neglecting her, but Youyu refused. This made Xiao so angry that he ordered his brothers Zhong and Xin along with other hooligans in their family to join with him as they went and seized Zhou’s wife, whipped her countless times, then vandalized and destroyed property till nothing was left intact.

  Zhou reported all of this to the local magistrate. The outraged official had Xiao and his accomplic
es arrested and thrown into prison, then prepared to pronounce sentence on them. Youyu was afraid for them, so he went and prostrated himself before the magistrate to plead for them. Thanks to the conduct of Youyu, whose reputation was known to the magistrate, all of the brothers were released without suffering for their actions.

  Youyu then went to see the Zhou family in order to apologize to them, and since they also held Youyu in high regard, they dropped their suit against his brothers.

  When Zeng Xiao returned home, he didn’t show any appreciation to Youyu. Not long afterwards, when Youyu’s mother, concubine Zhang, died, Xiao and his brothers didn’t observe any mourning obsequies, but simply went on entertaining and drinking as usual. Ren and Yi became even more incensed than they’d been previously. Youyu advised them, “They’re being impertinent, but it’s not doing us any harm.”

  As Youyu and his brothers prepared to bury their mother, the others blocked the entrance to their father’s tomb, refusing to allow her to be buried with him. Youyu consequently buried his mother in the passageway leading to the tomb.

  Soon afterwards, when Xiao’s wife died, Youyu called his brothers Ren and Yi to hasten to prepare for her funeral. “They didn’t respect the period of mourning for our mother,” cried the other two, “so how can they expect any sympathy from us!” Again he tried to advise them, but they remained boisterous in their dissent and walked away.

  Youyu then went by himself to join in the mourning, drawing near to weep in sincere sadness. When they began to hear Ren and Yi outside playing drums and making music, Xiao got mad and gathered his brothers together to beat them up. Youyu grabbed a stick and went out ahead of them. As he approached, Ren realized his intentions and made his escape.