by Pu Songling
All the while that the princess was sitting down, the maidservant, bending down on the ground before her, supported the princess’s foot on her back; when Yunluo shifted and put her left foot on the floor, there was another maidservant crouched on the floor to accept her right foot. Two little servant girls stood on either side of the princess to serve her; whenever it happened that An was lost in thought about his next move, princess Yunluo bent her elbows and rested them on the girls’ shoulders.
When An made a particularly unfortunate move on the chessboard, the servant girls giggled and declared, “The noble son-in-law’s lost a piece.” Next, they leaned forward and said to the princess, “You’re tired, so maybe you should take a rest.” The princess then bent down and whispered something to the maidservant. She left briefly and then returned, placing a thousand taels on An’s bed, and told him, “Since the princess has noticed that your house is rather narrow and low-lying, she asks you to accept this little token so you can arrange for renovations, and when they’re completed, she’ll be able to live together with you here.”
Another maidservant replied, “It would be unlucky indeed to do so this month, hence you shouldn’t undertake any construction just now; next month will be an auspicious time for it.” The princess consequently stood up; but An blocked her way so she couldn’t leave, shutting the door to prevent her.
The first maidservant then took out something that looked like some kind of leather bag, set it on the ground, and struck it; frothy clouds boiled out of it, surrounding them in moments till An couldn’t see a thing, and by the time he was able to look around for the others, they’d already vanished.
When his mother learned about what had happened, she took it to be the work of a demon. But An could think about nothing but the dreamy princess, unable to get her off his mind. He wasted no time in hurrying to have the renovations completed; he set a date for it to be finished and firmly held his workers to it as they built new corridors and rooms.
Before all this began, Yuan Dayong, a scholar from Luanzhou who was living as a neighbor down the lane from An, sent his visiting card to An’s gate; An had always had few acquaintances, so he sent back the excuse that he’d gone out, then watched for an opportunity when Yuan was away from home and reciprocally paid Yuan a visit, timing it intentionally in order to avoid him.
After a month had elapsed, An happened to run into Yuan, who was about twenty years old, outside his gate. His robe and sash, made from silk, were set off by black shoes—all in all, he looked extremely refined. In a brief exchange of conversation, the young man seemed to be both warm and circumspect. This pleased An, who bowed in courtesy to the young man and invited him inside. He asked Yuan if he’d like to play some chess, and they both proceeded to win and lose some games. Afterwards, he set out wine so the young man would be reluctant to leave, and thus they talked and laughed quite merrily.
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Luanzhou: Part of modern Luan county, in Hebei province.
The next day, Yuan invited An to come to his home, where a variety of delicacies were displayed, so An was treated to rich and exotic dishes. There was a boy servant, about twelve or thirteen years old, who beat time with a pair of clappers and sang for them without other musical accompaniment, then performed a series of leaps, capering for them.
Since An was quite drunk and unable to move on his own, Yuan told him that his boy servant would carry him on his back. But An feared that the boy was too slender and delicate to be able to carry him. Yuan, however, insisted on it. The boy servant seemed possessed of ample strength, for he subsequently hoisted An on his back and carried him home. An found this very strange.
The next day, An feted Yuan and they continued reciprocating in this fashion, such that from this point forward their friendship become even closer, and they got together about every three days. Yuan was always rather taciturn, but generous in his gifts to An. In the marketplace, there happened to be a man who was saddled with a debt and forced to sell his daughter, so Yuan gave him enough money to settle the debt, with no strings attached. Subsequently, An’s esteem for Yuan increased.
Several days passed, then Yuan paid An a visit, and as he took his leave, gave him a present of over ten pairs of ivory chopsticks, prayer beads made of red sandalwood, and five hundred silver taels to use for whatever he found he needed. An refused the taels, but accepted the chopsticks and beads, declaring that he was accepting them like they were a betrothal present.
After a month went by, a Leting official was returning home with a bag full of money. Robbers broke into the room where he was staying that night, grabbed the official, then burned him with red-hot irons before proceeding to take everything they could find, emptying the place completely. Some of the official’s servants knew Yuan, so he was contacted to arrange for a warrant to be issued for the robbers’ pursuit and arrest.
The neighbor living in the courtyard next door, named Tu, hadn’t been on good terms with An’s family for quite some time, and since he’d noticed all of the expansive building being done on An’s property, he privately circulated his suspicions. It happened that one of the least senior servants in An’s household had stolen his ivory chopsticks, to sell them to Tu, and even though Tu realized that they’d been given to An by Yuan, he reported An to the county magistrate.
The magistrate ordered soldiers to encircle An’s house, but it happened that An and his servants were out at the time, so they seized An’s mother instead. His mother, who was old and feeble, was so terrified by this that she was unable to eat or drink anything for two or three days. The magistrate then arranged to have her released.
Once An heard that his mother was dying, he hurriedly returned home, but her health had already declined so much by then that he’d only been back at home one night before she died. But no sooner had An finished preparing for her burial than he and his servants were arrested and taken away.
When the magistrate saw that An was a gentle and polite young man, he began to suspect that the scholar had been falsely accused, so he was hesitant to intimidate him further. An told him the truth about his association with Yuan. “Then how did you become rich so suddenly?” asked the magistrate.
“My mother had been saving up money for when I got married,” An explained, “so she took out some of it and built our marital house.” The magistrate believed him and prepared a document that would call for him to be sent under guard to the prefectural authorities. An’s neighbors, who knew that he had nothing to do with the robbery, collected a large sum of money for bribing his guards, but the guards intended to kill An once they were out on the road with him.
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Leting: A county located in Hebei province.
At a point where their route had taken them deep into the mountains, the guards pulled him over to the edge of a cliff, clearly intending to push him off of it. Just as they were going to force him over the edge, a tiger suddenly emerged from some bushes, mauled the two guards to death, then picked up An with its mouth and trotted off. It took him to a place where there was a many-storied pavilion, and once the tiger had carried him inside, it set An down.
An watched as Yunluo came out, leaning upon her maidservant, and mournfully greeted him, “I was hoping to keep you here, but your mother hasn’t been buried yet. You can take the document from the magistrate to the prefectural authorities, and I’ll make sure that you’re safe along the way.”
Then she took the belt An was wearing, adding over ten buttons to it, and informed him, “When you confront a stern-looking official, untie these buttons from your belt, and you’ll be free from punishment.” An deferred to her like she was his teacher, then went to the prefectural headquarters to report himself. The prefectural chief was pleased with An’s sincerity and honesty, so he studied the document and learned how An had been wronged, then canceled the arrest order on An and sent him home.
As he was on the way there, he ran into Yuan, who climbed dow
n from his horse as An grasped his hands, preparing to tell him about his situation. Yuan’s actions made it clear that he was angry, for he refused to say a single word. “Given that you’re a refined person, why are you behaving like this?” asked An.
“The men I killed were unjust, and what I took from them they didn’t deserve,” Yuan replied. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t even pick up money that’d been lost by the side of a road. You taught me that people can genuinely behave admirably, so why should people like your neighbor remain living in the world!” When he finished speaking, he flew into his saddle and galloped away.
An returned home, completed his mother’s funeral ceremonies, and then shut his gate, refusing to see any visitors. All of a sudden one day, robbers broke into his neighbor’s home, slaughtering over a dozen members of the father and son’s families, leaving only one maidservant alive. The intruders packed up everything, money and household goods, then made boy servants carry the plunder for them.
As they got ready to leave, they held up a lantern and told the maidservant, “Remember us, for we and we alone have killed this family; it’s no one else’s business.” Without having to open or close a door, they flew up past the rooftops and over the wall, then were gone.
The next day, the maidservant reported things to the local official. He suspected that An knew something about the robberies, so he had him arrested and taken to the county magistrate. The magistrate’s speech and expression became very severe in anticipation. As An was led into the magistrate’s hall, he began untying the buttons from his belt while explaining himself. The magistrate found himself unable to ask An anything further and accordingly set him free.
After An returned home, he decided to keep an even lower profile, studying but not going out, with only a lame old woman to prepare his meals. Once he finished the mourning period for his mother, he took to sweeping the stairs and courtyard each day, while waiting for news of Yunluo.
One day, a rare fragrance suddenly flooded the courtyard. As he climbed the steps to a pavilion to look for its source, everything inside and outside the building became brand new. He quietly drew aside a painted curtain, discovered the princess all dressed up and seated, then quickly bowed in obeisance to her.
Yunluo took his hand and raised him up, saying, “You didn’t believe it when you were told that your new construction would cause misfortune, and then you had to bury your mother, but finally, after three years, we can be together: your eagerness delayed everything, but that’s just the way of the world.”
An was about to take out some money to provide them a meal. “There’s no need for that,” she told him. Her maidservant reached into a case and brought out some delicacies and hot soup, as though they were fresh from the cooking pot, as well as some fragrant, perfectly clear wine that she poured for them moments later; then, since the day was getting on towards dusk, the maidservants departed one by one, leaving the couple together.
Yunluo’s limbs grew lethargic, with her feet and legs becoming so relaxed that they needed other support. An took the opportunity to start hugging and caressing her. “Let go of me for a moment,” she told him. “Now then: there are two ways to proceed, so you’ll have to choose one of them.” When An put his arm around her neck and asked what she meant, she explained, “If we play chess, and have some more to drink, we can be together for thirty years; if we go to bed first and enjoy ourselves, we can only be together for six years. Which do you choose?”
An replied, “Six years, and then after that we can discuss the matter again.” Yunluo fell silent, then they proceeded happily to consummate their marriage.
“I knew all along that you were unavoidably going to choose that option,” she told him afterwards, “and that this would be the result.” Accordingly, she sent the household’s maidservants together into the south courtyard, where they could prepare meals and also carry out spinning and weaving, helping to provide the couple with a livelihood. In the north courtyard, when the cooking fires weren’t burning, the couple would play chess and drink together. Their doors were often closed, and even when An would open them, other people weren’t allowed to enter.
In the south courtyard, Yunluo was well aware of whether the servants managed affairs variously with diligence or with negligence, thus she knew when to send An to chastize them, and invariably they would respond by bowing their heads in submission.
The princess didn’t say much, or laugh aloud, but just lowered her head and smiled a bit. Whenever she sat next to someone, she liked to lean her head against the person’s shoulder. An would sit her on his knees, like he was holding an infant. “You’re so light, you can dance on my palm,” he told her.
“That’s nothing!” she replied. “Yet what a maidservant readily does, I’d be chastised for doing. Flying Swallow, originally the maidservant of my ninth sister, was demoted to the mortal world because she was being lascivious with men and losing her chastity, so she’s grounded now.”
The pavilion walls were entirely covered with tapestries, so it was never cold inside during winter, and never hot during summer. Nevertheless, Yunluo wore nothing more than lightweight clothing in frigid winter; An had someone make her some bright-colored clothing, then instructed her to put it on. Immediately afterward, she’d take it off and exclaim, “It’s from the unclean mortal world, and feels like a physical burden!”
One day, as he was caressing her on his knees, she suddenly felt twice as heavy as normal, which seemed very strange to him. The princess laughed, pointing to her stomach, and said, “That’s because there’s a baby inside.”
Several days passed, and the princess was unable to eat, commenting with a frown, “This recent malady is like morning sickness, but I can’t stop thinking about the taste of cooked food.” An had similar problems, but finally managed to keep down some delicacies. Thereupon, the princess was also able to eat and drink the same as other people.
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Flying Swallow: Han emperor Chengdi (33-7 B.C.E.) fell in love with concubine Zhao (who picked up the name, Feiyan [“Flying Swallow”]), while serving as a dancing girl in the home of the emperor’s sister. Chengdi proceeded to depose his wife, the empress Xu, “and had his two sons by other women murdered to safeguard Zhao’s position” (Paludan 42).
One day, Yunluo remarked to him, “My constitution is too frail for me to be able to give birth to a baby. My maidservant, however, is extremely healthy, so we could have her take my place.” Then the princess took off her clothes and undergarments, gave them to the maidservant, and shut her into the next room.
In just a little while, An heard the sound of an infant crying. When he opened the door and looked in, he saw it was a boy. Overjoyed, the princess cried to him, “This child’s face has an auspicious look to it, so he shall be our treasure!” For this reason, they named him Daqi. He was held back from An’s embrace in order to be handed over to a wet nurse and raised exclusively in the south courtyard. Once Daqi was born, Yunluo’s waist became as slender as it had originally been and she didn’t have anything to eat afterwards.
Suddenly, she took her leave of An, explaining that she had to return home temporarily to visit her parents. He asked her when she would return, and she responded, “In three days.” Departing on a path of drumheads that had been laid out before her, Yunluo then disappeared from sight.
The three days passed, but she didn’t come; as her absence stretched to more than a year and there was absolutely no news of her, An began to give up all hope of her returning. He shut his doors, spent the day studying hard, then retired to sleep on a straw mat. He finally concluded that he just couldn’t bring himself to marry someone else; hence he slept alone every night in the northern courtyard, indulging himself in her fragrance, which still permeated the room.
One night, he was tossing and turning in bed when suddenly he saw a light shining through the window, then his door opened and a bevy of maidservants, all hugging Yunluo, came in. Overjoyed, An leapt to h
is feet and asked her why she’d broken her word to him.
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Daqi: Literally, a “treasure,” or “someone possessing outstanding talent.”
“But I didn’t miss the appointed time,” she explained, “for in the heavenly realm it’s only been two and half days.” An was so proud of his behavior in her absence that he bragged about it, telling her that he had passed the examination to become a juren, thinking that Yunluo would surely be pleased to hear this. Yet she sorrowfully told him, “Alas, this was a useless accomplishment! It has nothing to do with glory and dishonor, and simply shortens your allotted life span. We part for a mere three days and you just immerse yourself in the filthy mundane world.” From that point forward, An no longer worked to advance himself.
Several months passed and then Yunluo wanted to visit her parents. An was afraid that her love for him had turned cold. “The sooner I leave,” she told him, “the sooner I’ll return, so don’t worry about me taking a long trip. Besides, it’s the nature of human life that it ends in separation, for it’s your common destiny, and while moral integrity leads to a long life, undisciplined behavior leads to a short one.”
After she departed, it was a little more than a month before she returned. Henceforth, she made this trip about every year and a half, and frequently it would be several months before she’d return, but An thought this nothing strange.
Then Yunluo gave birth to a son. At his birth, she cried, “You cruel, evil thing!” She gave orders for the child to be abandoned. But An, unable to bear the idea, stopped it from happening, and the child was named Keqi.
When he was only a year old, Yunluo anxiously tried to select a future wife for him. Matchmakers quickly came to see her, asking for Keqi’s birthdate information, but all of them ended up saying that he was unsuitable for their clients. “I just want this cruel son to be penned up in a dark prison,” said Yunluo, “but I’ve been unable to find one for him, and he’s fated to have the power to disrupt people’s lives for six or seven years.”