Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 5

by Pu Songling

  398. Xi Fangping

  Xi Fangping was from Dongan. His father, whose first name was Lian, had a reputation as an honest man, bluntly forthright by nature. Because of this, a rich man in their village, named Yang, resented him, though Yang eventually died before Xi Lian; a few years later, the honest Xi Lian became critically ill and told people, “That Yang has bribed underworld agents to beat me.” Presently his body began turning red and swollen while he howled and screamed till he subsequently died.

  Xi Fangping felt so miserable and mournful that he didn’t eat, declaring, “My father was a plain-speaking man, and now that I see how he’s been beset by powerful demons, I’ve got to go to the underworld so I can seek redress for this injustice.” From this point on, he said nothing more, at times sitting and at others standing, till it seemed that he’d gone mad—though the truth was that his spirit had already left his body.

  Xi at first experienced the sensation that he’d left his home, though he didn’t know where to go, so whenever he spotted a pedestrian in the road he asked the way to the county court center. Soon, he arrived there and discovered that his father had already been put into prison. As he arrived at the prison’s gates, he saw his father in the distance, lying beneath the eaves of an outdoor cell, completely helpless.

  When Xi Lian raised his eyes and looked up at his son, he began weeping pitifully, telling him, “The prison officials have all been given bribes, so day and night they’ve been whipping me, and now they’ve completely broken both of my legs!”

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  Dongan: Located in Yishui county, Shandong province.

  Furious, Xi Fangpin began loudly cursing at the prison officials: “If my father has committed some crime, it should be judged according to the law—so what right do you have to judge his case!” Then he walked away, took out some writing materials, and composed a formal complaint.

  Just then, the county court opened for its morning deliberations, so Xi Fangpin appeared to submit his grievance. Yang was frightened by this challenge, so he offered bribes inside and outside the courtroom to ensure that individuals would vouch for his character before he was confronted with the matter. The county magistrate took Xi’s complaint and replied that there were no grounds for it, refusing to address the matter.

  Xi angrily recognized that he would get no hearing for his grievance there, so he set out in the dark and walked for over a hundred li, till he came to the prefectural headquarters and privately reported the actions of the other official to the prefectural governor. It wasn’t until two weeks later that his grievance was addressed. The governor had Xi beaten, relentlessly criticizing him before sending Xi and his case back to the county magistrate.

  When Xi arrived there, he was subjected to torture and shackled, unable to find anyplace to press his case further. The county magistrate feared that he might present yet another complaint, so he sent servants of the court to accompany him home. As soon as they reached Xi’s gates, they said goodbye and left.

  Xi Fangpin decided not to go inside, but instead fled to the underworld to report the cruel injustice of the prefectural governor and country magistrate. The Hell King called for the arrest of the officials so he could examine them. The two officials secretly sent trusted agents to lobby on their behalf with Xi, offering him a thousand taels to drop the matter. Xi refused to listen to them.

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  Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.

  Several days passed, and at the inn where he was staying, the innkeeper reported to him, “You’ve been too inflexible, for the court officials offered to make peace, yet you persisted in rejecting them and now I’ve heard that they’ve presented gifts to the Hell King along with their letters, so I’m afraid that the business is already settled.” Xi treated this as nothing more than a rumor and gave it no credence.

  Presently, a man in black appeared, summoning Xi Fangpin to a court appearance. As he entered the great hall, he noticed the Hell King’s irate expression, and without allowing Xi a word in his defense, the Hell King ordered him to be given twenty lashes with a whip.

  In a sharp voice, Xi cried, “What crime have I committed?” The Hell King acted indifferent, as if he hadn’t heard him speak. While Xi was being flogged, he shouted, “I’m only being whipped because I haven’t offered money to anyone!” This made the Hell King even angrier, so he ordered Xi to be placed on a bed of fire.

  Two demons then seized Xi and he saw that east of the hall’s steps there was an iron bed, glowing red hot from the fire blazing beneath it. The demons stripped Xi of his clothing, grabbed him and set him on the bed, then repeatedly pressed him down onto the burning iron. The pain was excruciating as his flesh burned black, his suffering so great that he wanted to die.

  Once this had continued long enough, one of the demons remarked, “That’ll do.” Then they lifted him up, told him to put on his clothes, and fortunately, even though his legs were severely damaged, he could still walk.

  He returned to the great hall again, where the Hell King asked him, “Do you dare persist in your complaint?”

  “Until this great injustice has been redressed, I cannot let it rest,” replied Xi Fangping, “for if I didn’t reassert my case, I’d be deceiving you, great king. Certainly, I stand by my complaint!”

  “What does your petition say?” asked the king.

  “What has been done to me is my petition,” said Xi.

  The Hell King then turned irate again and ordered that he be sawn in half. The two demons dragged him away to a wooden column that stood eight or nine chi tall, against which two wooden boards were leaning, and as he lifted his eyes to glance at them, he noticed that they were streaked with blood.

  Just as he was about to be bound to the boards, a great shout suddenly echoed from the judgment hall, calling his name, so the two demons returned him there. Again the Hell King asked, “Do you still dare pursue your complaint?”

  “Of course I do!” replied Xi.

  The Hell King then ordered him to be seized and quickly returned to the punishment previously assigned. After taking him back, the demons tied the two boards to each side of him, then bound him to the wooden column. As they started sawing down through his head, Xi felt the top of his skull gradually being cut open, unable to stop the pain, and though he tried to twist away while enduring the torment, he didn’t cry out. Noticing this, the demons declared, “This guy is really brave!”

  The blade kept sawing back and forth until they finally cut down to his chest. At that point, one of the demons remarked, “This man is so filial and innocent, let’s saw a bit to one side, so we won’t damage his heart.” Then Xi felt the edge of the saw twist painfully before continuing downward, increasing his suffering even further. In moments, his body was split into halves.

  As the demons untied him from the column, the two halves of his body fell to the ground. The demons shouted in the direction of the judgment hall that they’d done as they were instructed. From the hall came an answering call, ordering them to put the two halves back together and bring Xi back there. The two demons proceeded to push the two halves together as ordered, then dragged him along with them on their way. Xi could feel where the saw’s path had been stitched together and the pain was so great that he seemed on the verge of splitting apart, so after only half a step, he fell to the ground.

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  Chi: A length equal to 1/3 meter.

  One of the demons took a silk belt from around his waist and gave it to Xi, saying, “I offer this to you as a reward for your filial loyalty to your father.” Xi accepted the belt and wrapped it around his waist, instantly healing his body, so he was able to proceed without the least pain.

  Then he entered the judgment hall and prostrated himself. The Hell King once again asked if he would pursue his complaint; but Xi was afraid of suffering further cruelty, so he replied, “I won’t pursue it any further.” The Hell King consequently ordered t
hat he be accompanied as he returned to the land of the living.

  The demons led Xi out the north gate, pointed to show him the road that would take him home, then turned and left the way they’d come. Xi concluded that since the underworld was an even more untrustworthy place than the mortal world, he wouldn’t take the road he’d been shown if there was any chance he might be able to reach the Jade Emperor, to whom his petition could be delivered. If he could present his case to the Erlang god at Guankou, the Jade Emperor’s worthy relative, with his penetrating intelligence and fair-mindedness, upon being told, he would undoubtedly intervene for him.

  Once he felt confident that the two demons were gone, he turned toward the south. Though he ran quickly, the two demons managed to chase and catch up with him, remarking, “The king figured you wouldn’t return home, and sure enough, here you are.” They seized him and returned to see the Hell King.

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  Jade Emperor . . . Erlang god: The yudi, or Jade Emperor, is the chief deity in Daoism. The Erlang god appears as his nephew in the classical works fengshen yanyi (The Creation of the Gods) and xi you ji (The Journey to the West), and became known as the god of Guankou (located in Sichuan province) due to his association with the historical figure, Li Bing (c. 3rd century B.C.E.), who developed an irrigation system that solved flooding associated with the Min River in Sichuan.

  Guessing that the king would really be mad at him this time, Xi assumed that his utter destruction was assured; but the king no longer seemed so stern, explaining to Xi, “You’re a sincerely devoted, filial son. Concerning the injustice suffered by your father, I’ve taken care to address it. He’s already been reborn into a family of wealth and rank, so there’s no further need for you to pursue your complaint. Now I’ll have you taken home and compensated with a thousand taels, property, and long life, so will that settle the matter to your satisfaction?” Then he made his personal mark in the official register with an enormous stamp, and allowed Xi to inspect it. Xi thanked him and left the great hall.

  The demons were both waiting outside, and as the trio headed out together along the road, they chided Xi, “You crafty trickster! Again and again you shake things up, making us run around after you till we’re exhausted! If you cause any more trouble, we’ll grab you and quickly stuff you into a huge mill, where we’ll grind you to bits!”

  Xi opened his eyes wide and scolded right back, “You reckless demons! I can withstand your saw blade, but not the blame you’re placing on me. Why don’t you go back and see the Hell King—ask him if he ordered me to go home alone, to save me from having you two accompany me.” Then he hurried along his way.

  Scared by his comments, the two demons tried to placate him with friendly words. Xi accordingly reduced his pace drastically, often meandering for several paces, then stopping to dally by the side of the road. The demons kept their frustration to themselves, not daring to say a thing.

  They’d been walking for half a day when they came to a village where a gate was half open, so the demons directed Xi to take a seat just inside it; he proceeded instead to sit right on the doorsill. The two demons then took advantage of Xi’s being off-guard to shove him inside the gate. Initially startled, once he started looking around himself, he realized that he’d just been reborn as an infant. Outraged, he started caterwauling, refusing the breasts that were offered him, and thus in three days, he died.

  His spirit started to float away, but he didn’t forget his intention to head for Guankou, and with this goal in mind he zipped along for several dozen li, till he suddenly spotted honor guards holding banners and halberds across the road ahead. He figured he’d bypass the road to avoid them but unavoidably ran right into their procession, so they grabbed him, tied him up, and then took him over to a carriage.

  As he looked up, Xi saw a young man inside the carriage, of noble and singularly striking appearance. The young man asked Xi, “Who are you?” Feeling frustrated over the injustices he’d experienced since they seemed unlikely to receive any outlet, Xi guessed that the young man must surely be some highly influential official who exercised jurisdiction over punishments, someone who might be able to prosecute the guilty parties, so he related all that he’d suffered.

  The young man ordered his men to untie Xi, then told Xi to follow his carriage. Presently they came to a government headquarters, where ten officials were standing on the left side of the road, ready to receive their visitor, and from inside the carriage, the young man asked each of them some questions. When he was finished, he pointed to Xi and told one of the officials, “This man from the mortal world wants to confer with you, so settle his business promptly.”

  Xi asked some of the official’s attendants about him and suddenly realized that the young man in the carriage was the Ninth Prince, one of the Jade Emperor’s sons, and that the official to whom he’d spoken was the Erlang god. When Xi took a better look at Erlang, he noticed his trim body and voluminous beard, quite different than his description in mortal commentaries.

  After the Ninth Prince departed, Xi followed Erlang to a government office, where his father, and Yang, and the Hell King’s demon servants, were all waiting. Soon, a jail wagon conveying prisoners arrived, including the Hell King, the prefectural governor, and the county magistrate. In the trial hall, Xi’s case was heard, and every charge he made was proven correct and sustained. The three officials shook in terror, like cowering mice.

  Erlang picked up a brush as he prepared to pass judgment; moments later, he wrote down his verdict, then ordered the defendants to look over his findings. The document declared, “Concerning the investigation of the Hell King: He received his position as sovereign of the underworld due to the generous benevolence of the Jade Emperor. Instead of leading by example as an honest, worthy official, he’s been corrupted by bribes and denounced as a judge. Moreover, he decorates his horses with gaudy trappings and has his halberd draped in black cloth, which his followers flaunt to assert his position; he exploits and oppresses everyone, disgracing both the people and their officials. His extortions corrupt other public servants till even women and children are left possessionless, nothing but skin and bones. The whale swallows the fish, then the fish devours the shrimp—thus the lowliest individuals, those who are born with nothing, have suffered the most and are the most to be pitied. Take him in custody to the West River, and there wash his intestines; then take him to the eastern mountains, place him on a burning bed and afterwards force him to experience the same punishment he applied to Xi before.

  “The county magistrate, and the prefectural governor, as officials of the common people and their families, act as the herders of the Jade Emperor’s cattle and sheep. They should be content to carry out their various duties, and even if they must expend all their energy in the task, they mustn’t hesitate to do so; even if they’re coerced by high officials, if their willpower is sufficient, they can resist and hold their heads high. But in all things, these officials have acted as birds of prey, not thinking about the people they’ve made poor by their actions; like cunning monkeys, they’ve risen through treachery, not disdaining to use tactics that even demons wouldn’t employ. In accepting bribes and perverting the law, they possess human faces but bestial hearts! They should have their skin scraped off and for a short time after such punishment be sent to the underworld to join the dead; then their skins should be replaced with animal hides, to be reborn as beasts.

  “As for the Hell King’s servants: being demons, they’re not human. The only thing they should have been worrying about is perfecting themselves in hopes of being reborn as human beings; what are they doing making waves in the mortals’ sea of woes when there’s already evidence of their evil deeds everywhere? They’re arrogant and domineering, their damned faces like frost in June; they rush about, causing destruction and roaring like tigers, running wild everywhere they go. They indulge in abuse of power in the underworld, and everyone is scared of falling under their control; they carry ou
t the tyranny of wicked officials, together committing slaughter and spreading terror. Thus they should be taken to the execution ground, where their limbs will be chopped off; then they should be thrown into a boiling cauldron, so the flesh that boils off their bones can be dredged up afterwards.

  “As for the man named Yang: he’s wealthy but heartless, cunning but deceitful. He spread bribes around, filling the Hell King’s hall with them; the stink of money there is overwhelming, so many people were wronged and driven to their deaths. This is what allowed him to influence the demon servants so effectively that it seemed he might even be able to influence the gods. Let the records show that what the Yang family owns will be given to Xi, to repay his filial piety. The guilty parties are to be sent by escort to the eastern mountains, where their sentences will be carried out.”

  Then the Erlang god announced to Xi Lian, “In recognition of your son’s filial devotion to you, and of your benevolent, timid nature, I grant you an additional thirty-six years of life.” Accordingly, he sent two men to accompany Xi Lian and Xi Fangping as they returned to their home village.

  Xi then made a copy of the Erlang god’s verdict so he and his father could read over it carefully on the way back. After they arrived at their home, Xi Fangping revived first; he directed his servants to open his father’s coffin and look inside, and though Xi Lian’s stiffened corpse was still cold, they waited all day long till finally the old man began to grow warmer and finally returned to life. When Xi Fangping went to look for the copy he’d made of the verdict, however, it was nowhere to be found.

  From then on, his family’s financial situation became stronger by the day, and in three years they owned fertile land all over the countryside; in contrast, the Yang family went into decline, their buildings and real estate in the end becoming Xi’s possessions. There were other villagers who’d also considered buying some of the Yang properties, but at night, in their dreams, immortals appeared and warned them, “These are meant for Xi’s family and not for you to have!” At first, they put no credence in the dreams; after buying some of the land, they proceeded to cultivate it, but by the end of the year, they couldn’t get anything to grow there, so they sold it for almost nothing to Xi.