by Pu Songling
“If I don’t think about you,” replied Zhang, “then why would I have come? I’ve been staying with someone, but we’re not even the same kind of beings; meanwhile, I can’t forget about you and your kindness.”
“Who do you think I am?” Fang asked him. When Zhang examined her closely, he was surprised to discover that it wasn’t Fang at all, but Shunhua instead.
As she took his hand and inquired about his son, Zhang turned and discovered that he’d been looking at a section of wall filled with bamboo tubes for ventilating the house in the summer heat. He felt so ashamed that he couldn’t speak. The girl exclaimed, “Your feelings are so transparent! Though I should stop seeing you, I think I can forgive you because you didn’t forget the kidness of your first wife.”
Two or three days went by, and then suddenly she told Zhang, “I figure it’s pointless to try to keep someone who misses his former lover. Every day you blame me for not seeing you off, so now it happens that I want to go to the capital, and I’ll take a shortcut so you can join me.” Then she turned toward the bed, pulled out one of the bamboo ventilation tubes which they proceeded to straddle together, and then as she ordered Zhang to close both eyes, he felt them rise up not far off the ground, while the sound of the wind whistled past.
In moments, she began looking for a place to land. “From now on, we’ll be apart,” she told him. Just as he was about to say something to her, Shunhua disappeared. Saddened, he stood there for a few moments, then he heard a dog barking in the village, and he could vaguely see some houses among the trees, looking just like the landscape of his home village, so he followed the road towards his house.
As he passed inside the property’s wall, he knocked at his door, which looked just as it had before. Fang, startled, got up, finding it difficult to believe that her husband had returned home; through the door, she asked him questions to verify it was truly Zhang, then, with a gasp, she came out, carrying a lantern. She was unable to hold back her tears upon seeing him.
Zhang still suspected that Shunhua was playing some kind of magical trick on him, till he saw a boy lying in bed, just like the previous night, and hence he laughed and said, “Did you carry the bamboo ventilation here, too?”
Fang didn’t understand what he was talking about, so her face flushed as she replied, “While I was apart from you for a whole year, I lay on my pillow, staining it with tears, uncertain where you were. Now that I can see you again, I don’t know why you’re not either happy or sad—what’s wrong with your heart!”
Zhang realized that she was the real Fang, then took her arm and broke into sobs, telling her everything he’d experienced. She asked whether the lawsuit had been settled, and he related what Shunhua had said. They were both relieved, and when they heard the sound of footsteps outside the gate, they asked who was there, but no one replied.
It happened that there was an evil fellow named Jia in the village, who for a long time had been spying on Fang because she was so attractive, and that night as he was returning home from the village, upon spotting a man climbing over Zhang’s wall, he noted that it must be someone hurrying to some kind of clandestine rendezvous, and then entered the family’s gate.
Jia didn’t know much about Zhang, so he hid himself to listen in on them. When Fang approached him, he asked her, “Who was that in the house?”
“Nobody,” she said, evasively.
Jia suddenly declared, “I’ve been eavesdropping here quite a while, waiting, and I’ll report your other beloved.” Fang had no alternative but to tell him the truth of the matter. “Zhang Hongjian’s law case wasn’t resolved,” Jia replied, “so even though he’s returned home, he’ll still be placed in bonds and taken to the local authorities.”
Fang was deeply worried, so Jia tried to take advantage of the situation and blackmail her into making love with him. Zhang flew into a fiery rage, straightaway drew his sword, and sliced into Jia’s skull. He was still screaming as he lay mortally wounded; Zhang continued to slash him several several times until he died. “Now that the matter has come to this, your guilt is greater than ever,” Fang said. “You must escape quickly, and I’ll say that Jia brought it on himself.”
“If I have to die, I’ll die,” replied Zhang, “for how can I willingly transfer my guilt to my wife and son! You mustn’t worry, but take care of my only son and make him study—then I’ll die without regrets.”
At daybreak, he went to the county office to surrender himself to the authorities. Zhao didn’t punish him severely, because the case had been taken up by an imperial court. Thus he arranged for Zhang to be transferred from the prefectural headquarters under guard to the capital, along the way enduring considerable pains at the guards’ hands.
On the road, an old woman was leading a horse by the reins, and mounted on it was a young woman who turned out to be Shunhua. Zhang called out to the old woman that he wanted to speak with her, tearfully falling to the ground.
The girl took the bridle back, lifted her veil with her hands, and exclaimed in surprise, “Sir, what’s brought you to this?” Zhang briefly described what had happened. “According to past actions,” she answered him, “if you were me, you’d have turned away and ignored me; yet I can’t bear to see you like this. My house isn’t far away, and I invite your guards to accompany me there, where I can help them to a little something for their traveling expenses.”
They followed her for two or three li, till they spotted a mountain village full of tall towers. The girl dismounted and went inside one of them, telling the old women to open the house and invite their guests to come in. Soon they were offered lush wine and meats, as if they’d been prepared in advance for them.
Then the old woman was sent out to say, “There happen to be no men in this household, so master Zhang invites the two gentlemen accompanying him to drink more wine, since the details of the remaining trip depend upon them. We’ve sent a servant to make arrangements for providing the gentlemen with several dozen taels to cover his expenses and to thank the two guards, but he hasn’t returned just yet.”
The two guards were secretly overjoyed, so they drank without inhibition, not saying another word about leaving. By the time daybreak was approaching, they were completely drunk. Shunhua came out and pointed at Zhang’s manacles, which opened right away; then she pulled Zhang up on a horse with her and they sped away like a fleeting dragon.
Moments later, she quickly dismounted and told him, “You must stay here. I have an appointment in Qinghai with my younger sister, and since I’m an hour late because of you, I’ve already kept her waiting a long time.”
“When will we next meet?” Zhang asked. The girl gave no reply, and when he asked her again, she pulled him off the horse and left.
Later that morning, he asked someone where he was and learned he was in Taiyuan. When he came to the prefectural seat, he rented a house where he could tutor students. Then he adopted the pseudonym Gong Ziqian for himself. After he’d been living there for ten years, he made certain inquiries and discovered that all attempts to arrest him had been completely abandoned, then hesitantly decided to return again to the east.
Upon approaching his village gate, he still couldn’t help being afraid to go in, so he waited that night until dark and then entered. As he approached his own gate, he noticed that the wall around the property was now so tall and secure that he couldn’t climb over it, thus all he could do was knock at the gate. After a long time, his wife finally came out and asked who was there. Zhang kept his voice down as he responded.
Happily hurrying to the gate, Fang let him in, then scolded him, declaring, “Money’s tight in the capital, and you should have been forced to return early, so why are you finally coming back now at midnight?” As they entered the house, Fang filled him in on all the facts of his case, and hence he realized that the two guards had fled the region altogether and never returned.
In the course of the conversation, a young woman repeatedly came and left the room, and when Zhang i
nquired who she was, Fang explained, “That’s our son’s wife.”
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Taiyuan: The capital of Shanxi province.
“Then where’s our son?” asked Zhang.
“He went to the prefectural headquarters to take the provincial level civil service examination,” she replied, “but he’s not back yet.”
Zhang’s tears fell as he said, “I’ve been wandering about for so many years that our son has already become a success, having proven to be a surprisingly adept literary talent, and yet you might easily have been wiped out!” Before he’d even finished speaking, their son’s wife had already warmed some wine and prepared them a meal that was spread out and filled an entire table. Zhang was relieved and contented beyond anything he’d hoped for.
He’d been staying there for several days, keeping a low profile in his room, afraid that someone might find out he was there. One night, Fang was in bed when she suddenly heard someone calling out loudly while pounding sharply at their gate. Thoroughly shaken, she got up. Thus she was able to hear a man’s voice crying, “Is there a rear entrance?”
Even more scared, using the door frame and window for a ladder, she helped Zhang climb over the wall and get away in the darkness; after that, she went to the front door and asked what the knocking was about, learning that men had come to report their son’s examination success. Fang was immediately overjoyed, then deeply sorry that Zhang had already made his escape so she couldn’t just chase after him and bring him back.
Zhang that night made his way through dense grass and thickets of bushes, and soon he could no longer see any paths; by dawn, he was so tired that he was nearly ready to give up. Originally, he thought that he’d probably want to head westward, so he asked directions of another traveler, who’d left the capital via the thoroughfare that wasn’t far away.
Then he entered a village, where he hoped to sell some clothing for food. He spotted a tall gate, where there was a notice listing successful examinees posted on a wall; when he approached to take a look at it, he discovered the estate’s occupant, named Xu, was a newly successful examination candidate.
In a little while, an old man came out, so Zhang bowed respectfully in greeting, describing what he hoped to be able to obtain. The old man noticed Zhang’s elegant demeanor, and realized the man wasn’t just trying to trick him into feeding him, so he guided him in and treated him to refreshment. Consequently, the old man asked him how he’d come to be there, and Zhang tried to cover up the reason by responding, “I’ve had a school set up outside the capital, and I was returning home when I ran into bandits.”
The old man asked him to stay to tutor his younger son. Zhang inquired about the old man’s family background, and learned that he was a former capital official who’d retired to the country; the new official was his son.
A month later, Xu, the new official, together with one of his fellow successful examination candidates, returned home, and Xu introduced his fellow as an eighteen-yearold named Zhang. As Zhang took in the young man’s birthplace and family name, he secretly began to suspect that this was in fact his own son; but in this village there were many people by the same surname, so he remained silent about the matter.
Later that night, when Xu unpacked his case and took out a list of successful examinees, Zhang asked to look at it and found that the younger Zhang was truly his son. Unconsciously, he began to weep.
The young man, surprised by this, asked him what was wrong, and thus he identified himself: “I’m Zhang Hongjian, and you’re my son.” Then he described everything he’d been through. The younger Zhang hugged his father with heaving sobs. Xu and his uncle did their best to comfort them, and soon their sorrow turned to joy. Xu gave them gifts and a letter announcing that the father and son were free to return home together.
At the time of the announcement of her son’s success in the imperial examination, Fang grieved over the fact that Zhang was erroneously on the run; suddenly, as her son returned home from his success, her sorrow became even more painful. Moments later, when both father and son entered the house, Fang was as astonished as though heaven had just ordained the event and wanted to know how it was possible, her grief turning quickly to happiness.
Upon seeing the success of Zhang’s son, Jia’s father didn’t dare to pursue revenge against them. As Zhang treated him kindly and explained what had happened that year, Jia’s father felt ashamed and remained thereafter on friendly terms with him.
367. The Imperial Physician
Sun Pingshi’s father died during Wanli’s reign, and his mother, who was nineteen at the time, took a vow of chastity upon her husband’s death. By the time Sun had achieved the status of jinshi, his mother, too, had died. He often told people, “I’m determined to secure an imperial decree that honors my mother for her fidelity, for only in that way can I show sufficient appreciation for the integrity she maintained through years of hardship.”
All of a sudden, he experienced a violent attack of severe illness. Because Sun was familiar with one of the imperial physicians, he dispatched servants to enlist his aid; by the time the physician was just outside his gate, Sun’s sickness had become even more critical. Sun forced his eyes open, and exclaimed, “I won’t be able to become famous and bring glory to my family, so how will I be able to greet my aged mother in the underworld with dignity!” Then he died, but his eyes remained open.
Not long after that, the imperial physician arrived and heard the sound of weeping, then walked in on a scene of mourning. He observed Sun’s appearance, and found it very strange. When Sun’s servants told the imperial physician what he’d said, he replied, “If he wants the emperor to honor his mother formally, there’s no problem. Now that the empress is on the verge of going into labor at any time, if we can keep Sun alive for ten more days, he can still achieve his wish for his mother.”
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Wanli: This Ming dynasty emperor ruled from 1573-1620.
Jinshi: A successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial civil service examination.
He immediately ordered the servants to pick some mugwort, then applied moxibustion near eighteen different spots on Sun’s corpse. Just as the burning herbs were about to go out, a groan came from the bed; the physician quickly gave him something to drink so he could take some medicine, for Sun, amazingly, was once again alive.
“You must always remember,” the physician advised Sun, “that you mustn’t eat bear or tiger meat.” Sun promised to keep this in mind; however, since bear and tiger meat are hardly common, he didn’t really think about it much.
After three days, he was completely cured, so he traveled with the physician as he returned to court, to join with the royal ministers there in offering their congratulations to the emperor.
When six or seven days had passed, the empress gave birth to a prince, and the court ministers were summoned to a banquet celebration. Accordingly, rare treats were brought out and distributed to the civil and military officials, delicately sliced as thin as threads, sweet and refreshing beyond compare. Sun enjoyed sampling everything, even though he didn’t know what he was eating.
The next day, he made inquiries among all his fellow officials, until he was told, “It was bear meat.” He turned pale in shock; at once he fell ill, and upon returning home, he died.
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Mugwort: The leaves are “rolled into cones” for use in Chinese moxibustion (Bremness 151).
Moxibustion . . . eighteen spots: The burning of the aromatic herb is applied to eighteen spots, perhaps in supplication to the eighteen places of torment in the underworld (Mayers 375).
368. The Flying Ox
In our town, there was a certain fellow who bought a very strong ox, and that night he dreamt that the ox grew a pair of wings and flew away, which he considered to be an inauspicious sign, so he began to suspect that he might lose it. Thus he dragged it back to the marketplace and sold it
for less than he’d paid for it. He then took a piece of cloth, wrapped the money up in it, and tied it around his arm.
When he was about halfway home, he noticed a hawk devouring the remains of a rabbit, and as he approached, it became extremely docile. He took the cloth and used it to bind the falcon’s legs, then reattached it to his arm. The falcon repeatedly flapped its wings and tried to pull away, and since the man’s grasp on it was rather lax, it finally yanked the cloth loose and flew off with it.
Even though this may have been fated to happen, if he hadn’t been suspicious of the dream, and hadn’t greedily tried to pick up something to compensate for what he’d lost, how could an ox, which moves about on its feet, have managed to fly away?
369. Wang Zi’an
Wang Zi’an, a literary scholar from Dongchang, had been living in the vicinity outside the civil service examination hall. After having finished the examination, he’d been waiting anxiously, ardently hoping for news of success. Just about the time they were preparing to release the list of successful examinees, he’d started drinking to calm himself and became quite drunk, so he returned to his room and went to bed.
Suddenly a man came in and declared, “A messenger has arrived.”
Wang jumped up quickly and cried, “You’ve been awarded 10,000 in cash!”
His servants attributed the outburst to his being drunk, so they pretended to believe him, putting his mind at ease by saying, “But now you can go back to sleep, since it’s already been awarded to that fellow.” Wang then went back to bed.
Presently, someone entered the room, announcing, “You’ve been declared a jinshi!”
“But I didn’t travel to the capital,” Wang said to himself, “so how could I have been awarded such a rank?”
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Dongchang: A prefecture in Pu’s day, now part of Shandong province’s Liaocheng county.