Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 4

by Pu Songling

  From this point forward, Changhu led the servants cultivating the fields, and if he was late in rising on a particular morning, a severe scolding was sure to follow; where clothes or food and drink were concerned, his mother always gave the best of them to his elder brother. Changhu, however, never ventured to say anything against his brother, but secretly he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  After he’d completed his farm labors, Slender Willow took out some money so he could pay to study how to become a merchant. Changhu spent the money on prostitutes and gambling, then began to realize he was in big trouble, so he tried to deceive his mother by complaining that robbers had taken his money. Slender Willow could tell he was lying, and consequently gave him a caning that left him more dead than alive.

  Changfu got down on his knees to beg mercy for his brother, and even offered to have his stepmother inflict the blows on his body, at which point Slender Willow’s anger began to abate. From then on, whenever Changhu went out, his mother always sent someone to keep an eye on him. Changhu restrained himself somewhat, but didn’t really do anything to change his ways.

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

  One day, he asked his mother if he could accompany some merchants who were traveling together to Luoyang; what he truly intended was to make up an excuse about taking a long journey so he could go out and indulge himself in whatever bad things he wanted to do, but he was fearful, and worried that Slender Willow wouldn’t agree to his request.

  When his mother heard him out, she seemed to have no misgivings, so she took out thirty taels and wrapped them up for him; when she was finished, she also took out an ingot of gold and handed it to him, explaining, “This came from your grandfather, who was an official, and I want you to keep it in reserve, not using it when you leave, but holding it back so you’re prepared in case of an emergency. Since you’re just beginning to study the merchant trade on this long trip, I wouldn’t think of burdening you with heavy expectations regarding profits, so it’ll be enough if you can just avoid losing all of the thirty taels.”

  As he was about to embark on his journey, Slender Willow urged these sentiments again. Changhu promised he would do as she asked, and then departed, gleeful in his expectations for fun.

  When he arrived in Luoyang, he politely separated from his traveling companions, and lodged himself in the establishment of a notorious prostitute named Li. In just over ten days, he managed to waste all thirty taels. He went to take the gold ingot from his bag, figuring that with it, he didn’t have to worry about running out of funds; but then he picked it up and hacked at it with a knife, discovering that the gold was fake. He turned pale in astonishment.

  Once the madam at Li’s establishment saw that the gold was phony, her comments toward Changhu turned cold. Changhu felt quite insecure, and with his money bag empty there was no place for him to go, but he still hoped that Li would recall their time together fondly, and hence wouldn’t cut off their relationship.

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  Luoyang: A city in western Henan province.

  Almost immediately, two men entered with a rope and suddenly tied it around his neck. Scared, Changhu didn’t know what to do. He dolefully asked them why they were doing this, and learned that Li had already snatched the phony gold and had brought a charge regarding it against Changhu at the local court.

  When he was brought before the official there, he couldn’t think of anything to say in his defense, so he was placed in wooden handcuffs and flogged almost to death. He was put in prison, and since his travel expenses had been exhausted, he was treated quite cruelly there, for he had to beg food from other prisoners just to stay alive.

  Originally, when Changhu left on his trip, Slender Willow told Changfu, “Please help me remember that in twenty days, I need to send you to Luoyang. I have some business that’s preoccupying me right now, and I’m afraid I might forget.” Changfu didn’t know what she was talking about, but she seemed really sad, like she wanted to cry, so he didn’t dare question her further, and left.

  When twenty days had elapsed, he asked her about it. Sighing, she explained, “Today, your younger brother is suffering for his decisions, just as you did in the past when you abandoned your studies. If I hadn’t endured the bad opinion of others regarding my treatment of you, how could you have achieved your present success? People said I was merciless, but there were tears on my pillow and my kitchen baskets that no one knew about!” This caused her tears again to fall.

  Changfu stood attentively, listening respectfully, not venturing to probe any further with questions. When she finished crying, she told him, “Your brother was continuing his deceitful behavior, which is why I gave him a false ingot of gold to frustrate his intentions, and by now he’s already trussed up in prison. The provincial governor has shown you favor, hence you should go beg to see whether you can gain Changhu’s release from his dire circumstances, so he can live, mortified and penitent.” Changfu immediately left.

  By the time he arrived in Luoyang, Changhu had already been imprisoned for three days. As Changfu approached the prison, he spotted his brother in the distance, his face suddenly as pale as a ghost’s, as the elder brother burst into tears, unable to look Changfu in the face. Changfu also began weeping.

  At that time, since Changfu was in such good favor with the provincial governor, everyone far and near knew of him by reputation. When the county magistrate learned that Changhu was his brother, he quickly dismissed the charges against him.

  Once Changhu arrived home, he was still afraid of his mother’s anger, so he crawled before her on his knees. “Was this what you wanted?” she asked, as she turned to look at him. Changhu collapsed in tears, but didn’t dare make a sound, and when Changfu also knelt down with him, Slender Willow finally ceased her scolding and had them stand up.

  After this, Changhu was thoroughly penitent, and he diligently managed all of the family’s business affairs; and if he occasionally happened to seem a bit sluggish, his mother didn’t complain or ask about it.

  A few months went by, and Slender Willow hadn’t said anything about the merchant business to Changhu, yet he wanted to pursue the profession, but couldn’t bring himself to broach the subject with her, so he asked Changfu to intercede. When their mother heard the proposal, she was pleased, and mortgaged some possessions to get funds for him, and it turned out that in half a year, his profits doubled that amount.

  That same year, Changfu passed the imperial civil service examination at the provincial level, and then three years later, he was named a jinshi; Changhu meanwhile continued building up his profits until he achieved a massive fortune.

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  Jinshi: A scholar who has passed the civil service examination at the highest level.

  In town there was a traveler from Luoyang who caught a glimpse of Slender Willow, and though she was in her forties, she looked like she was only about thirty, though her attire was simple, just what might be found in any ordinary household.

  The collector of these strange tales remarks, “When The Talisman Against Black-Heartedness came out, it suggested that whenever a man remarries a new wife, the late wife’s sons will surely suffer maltreatment—and today, as much as in ancient times, that is truly cause for lamentation! While someone might well wish to avoid this shameful situation, the result might be to indulge a child in the opposite direction, until one finally just sits passively, watching while sons and daughters do whatever they want to do, without questioning it—is that any different from the cruelest treatment they might have experienced before?

  “If a woman beats her own child, even every day, people won’t call it bullying; but if there’s even a little punishment from another mother, criticism of it is sure to follow soon. Slender Willow certainly didn’t just endure the actions of a former wife’s son, but she also punished her own son; a
nd since she wanted to bring out the best qualities in both of them, how was she supposed to explain her methods for doing so to everyone else?

  “Thus since she didn’t care about innuendoes and rumors, in the end she helped her sons achieve their potentials, one becoming wealthy, and the other admired, their names firmly established for generations. This would be an admirable accomplishment not only for a woman, but for a man as well!”

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  The Talisman Against Black-heartedness: A Tang dynasty (618-907) book on proper conduct (Zhu 2:1021n45).

  295. The Painted Horse

  The family of scholar Cui, from Linqing, repeatedly found itself in financial straits. They couldn’t even pay to repair the wall around their property. Every morning when Cui woke up, he always saw a black horse with white markings stretched out in the dewy grass; but its tail hairs wouldn’t lie down smoothly, as though some had been set on fire and burned off. He would chase it away, and during the night it would return, though from where, he never knew.

  Cui had a good friend, who was an official in Shanxi, and wished he could go visit him, but was prevented because he couldn’t possibly walk that far. So he caught the horse, put a bridle on it, and rode it away, exhorting his family members, “If anyone comes looking for the horse, tell them I’ve taken it to Shanxi.”

  Once they’d made their way to the road, the horse began galloping along swiftly, covering a hundred li in the time it takes to draw a breath. That night, it didn’t seem very hungry as Cui fed it hay and peas, so he wondered whether it might be sick.

  The next day, Cui held tight to the reins so the horse couldn’t gallop, but then it pawed and whinnied till its mouth frothed around the bridle, as strong and spirited as it had been the day before. Again he loosened the reins, and by noon they’d already reached Shanxi.

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  Linqing: Name of a county in Pu’s time, now a city in Shandong province.

  Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.

  He happened to enter the business district, where everyone who observed the horse couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. When the local sovereign heard about the horse, he was ready to offer a considerable price to buy it. Cui was afraid that the person who’d lost the horse would come looking for it, so he didn’t dare sell it.

  After he’d been living there for six months, the horse still hadn’t been claimed, so he received eight hundred taels for it at the sovereign’s home, then he went to the marketplace and purchased a healthy mule so he could return home.

  Once the sovereign had concluded this bit of business, he dispatched one of his field officers on a mission that involved riding the horse to Linqing. There, the horse got away from the officer, so the man chased it into the home of a neighbor living to the east of Cui, but when the officer went inside, he didn’t see it.

  Then he interrogated the homeowner about it. The man, named Zeng, hadn’t seen the horse either. But as they entered a particular room, the officer saw a painting of a horse by Zi’ang hanging on the wall—its hair the same color as the vanished horse, its tail marked by what must have been a stick of incense that burned the image there, and he began to realize that the horse had been a spirit dwelling in the painting.

  When the field officer was taken to task by the sovereign for losing the horse, he filed a suit against Zeng. By this time, Cui had taken the money he’d received for the horse and had turned it into a tremendous profit, and wanted to use it to help Zeng, so he paid the field officer, who dropped the matter and left. Zeng was very appreciative of Cui’s help, but he never realized that it had been Cui who’d sold the horse.

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  Zi’ang: The courtesy name of famed Yuan dynasty painter, Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), a descendant of Song dynasty royalty (Mayers 16).

  296. Swindles

  There was a certain imperial censor’s servant who happened to be standing in the marketplace, when a fellow dressed in the splendid clothing of a gentleman approached him to strike up a conversation. When the gentleman eventually asked the servant his master’s surname, and his family background, the servant answered his inquiry.

  “My name is Wang,” the gentleman remarked, “the private messenger of the princess.”

  As their conversation gradually became cordial and agreeable, Wang asked the servant, “The life of an official must be really trying, since the lives of the rich and influential are linked to noble relatives, so who does your master rely upon when he’s hard pressed?”

  “No one,” replied the servant.

  “That’s like saying he’s stingy about spending a little money on prevention, and hence neglects to avoid disaster,” declared Wang.

  “Then who should he rely on?” the servant asked.

  Wang explained, “The princess is kind to people, and protects her acquaintances. There’s an associate central official who’s benefited from my directing him to her. If your master wouldn’t hesitate to offer her a gift of a thousand taels, I could see the princess and ensure that it’s no problem for him to consult her.”

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  An associate central official: Wang’s description is intentionally vague.

  The servant was very pleased, and asked Wang where he lived. Wang pointed to a gate and remarked, “Don’t you know we live in the same lane?” The servant then rushed off and told everything he’d heard about Wang, so the happy censor had a grand banquet spread out, then sent the servant to go back out and invite Wang. Wang gladly returned with him.

  During the banquet, Wang spoke about the princess’s daily life and a wide range of trivial matters, then commented, “If it wasn’t for the fact that we live in the same lane, you could’ve offered me even a hundred taels and I wouldn’t have agreed to do this favor for you.” The censor became even more fawning and respectful.

  As his guest was preparing to leave, they concluded the agreement, and Wang declared, “While you prepare things, I’ll seize the proper moment to deliver word of you to the princess, which won’t take longer than several days and nights, and then I’ll return to report on the progress.”

  After a few days had passed, he arrived, riding a handsome thoroughbred steed, and reported to the censor, “You need to prepare yourself as quickly as possible. The princess is very busy, for people visit her from dawn to dusk without a break. There’s finally a break now, so we should hurry up and head out, or we’ll miss the opportunity and there’ll be no time for you to meet with her.”

  The censor then took out the agreed-upon amount in high-grade gold, and left with Wang. They followed a winding route for more than ten li, then finally arrived at the princess’s mansion, dismounted from their horses, and waited respectfully. Wang went on in ahead, holding the gift as he entered.

  After a long time, he came back out and proclaimed, “The princess has summoned the imperial censor.” As they approached, there were several men there to communicate greetings. The censor bowed reverentially, and entered, where he saw a beauty seated in a highceilinged hall, her features those of a goddess, her raiment and personal adornment luminously bright; all of her serving women wore embroidered brocade, and were spread out in a long line.

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  Li: A distance of 1/3 mile.

  The censor prostrated himself before her with all ceremony, and without waiting, the princess ordered that the censor be given a seat in the hall, where he was served tea in a gold bowl. The princess briefly expressed her warm regards for the censor, who bowed in respect and withdrew. While still inside the hall, the princess gave the censor a pair of satin-lined boots, and a marten fur hat.

  After he’d returned home, the censor felt grateful to Wang and took his calling card in hand to pay him a visit so he might express his gratitude, but he found the front gate entirely unmanned. He figured that Wang must be occupied serving the princess, and hadn’t yet returned from there. On three separat
e days he made three visits, and each time he wasn’t able to see him.

  He sent servants to check at all the princess’s doors, but they found the entrance to the great hall bolted shut. When they made inquiries of neighbors, they were told, “There’s never been a princess living here. Before, there were several people who rented the house and were living there, but they’ve been gone now for three days.”

  When they returned with the news, the censor and his servants concluded that it was their bad luck to have been duped.

  There was a certain army vice-general who was carrying some money as he entered the capital, hoping to use it to help secure a promotion to the position of general, but he was worried that he wouldn’t have the proper connections to do so. One day, a man on horseback, wearing a fur coat, came to call upon him, and he introduced himself by saying, “My brother-in-law is a personal servant of the emperor.”

  When they’d finished their tea, the man whispered confidentially, “At the present, there happens to be a place that’s short on generals, so if you’re not stingy about offering a large amount of money, I can advise my brother-in-law to praise you in front of the emperor, and you’ll be able to secure a position that no one can take away from you.”

  The vice-general was uncertain whether he was just exaggerating. The man exhorted him, “You needn’t feel indecisive about this. I’d only ask for a small portion of my brother-in-law’s share, so I don’t need to peek at your money at all. We’ll agree on a certain amount, and write it down as a formal contract. After you’re summoned by the emperor, then we’ll ask for our money; if it doesn’t work out, you can keep your gold and no one can wrest it away from you.” The vice-general was elated to hear this, and promised to do as advised.