by Pu Songling
Once it was discovered that the grain stores had been depleted, Shao reacted to the appalling news by beginning to think that perhaps the family should be split up after all. She was angrily indignant, but couldn’t see what to do about it and finally agreed to the split. Fortunately, Jiang’s virtuous daughter made sure to cook something for her mother-in-law each morning and evening, treating her with the same respect in all matters as she had previously.
Following the division of the family, Qiu Fu became even more dissolute, indulging on an even larger scale in brothels and gambling. Over a span of several months, he had to borrow against the family’s land and house to pay his entertainment debts, though without his mother or wife knowing about it. When Fu’s credit was exhausted after that, leaving him with nothing left to borrow on, he wrote a voucher so he could borrow money with his wife as collateral, without any consideration for her feelings.
There was a man from their county named Zhao Yanluo, a notorious criminal who’d managed to escape from prison, who always acted with impunity and clearly wasn’t worried that Qiu Fu might default on the loan, so he loaned Fu all the money he requested. Fu held on to the money for several days, but still ended up empty-handed. He hesitated uncertainly, thinking there might be some way to avoid complying with the voucher’s terms. Zhao looked at him angrily, demanding his payment. Fu was so scared that he tricked his wife, then turned her over to the criminal.
Wei Ming was overjoyed to hear this and rushed off to inform the woman’s father, Jiang Qizhan, figuring in this way to destroy the Qiu family once and for all. Jiang furiously filed a lawsuit against Qiu Fu. Terrified of the consequences, Fu fled.
Once Jiang’s daughter arrived at Zhao’s home and it dawned on her that she’d been sold, she began wailing like she wanted to die. Zhao initially tried to calm her down, but she wouldn’t listen to him; subsequently, he tried intimidating her into accepting her situation, but that only increased her complaints; infuriated, he proceeded to beat her, but in the end she still refused to surrender to him.
When she suddenly pulled out her hairpin and stabbed herself in the neck with it, he rushed to stop her, but it had already penetrated her esophagus and blood was flowing out. Zhao quickly applied a bundle of silk to the wound, trying to remain calm, still hoping to change her mind.
The next day, a warrant was issued for Zhao’s arrest, but he refused to show any emotion in court. When officials examined the serious wound on the neck of Jiang’s daughter, they ordered Zhao to be whipped, but the court bailiffs just looked at each other and didn’t dare raise a hand to punish him. The officials had long heard of Zhao’s cruelties, and the evidence before them confirmed the accuracy of such reports, so they became outraged and ordered their own private servants to come out and beat Zhao to death. Jiang Qizhan himself then came and carried his daughter home.
It wasn’t until Jiang filed a lawsuit to have the case examined that Shao learned of her son Fu’s malfeasance, after which she gave a cry of frustration and fainted while her condition began deteriorating. Qiu Lu, who was fifteen at the time, became very worried and didn’t know what to do.
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Zhao Yanluo: A scary guy indeed, since his first name, Yanluo, translates as “Hell King.”
Years earlier, Qiu Zhong and his first wife had had a daughter named Daniang, a girl of a fiery, unbridled temperament who married a man living in a distant prefecture and who always fussed at her parents when she returned home for a visit if the gifts they gave her in celebration weren’t to her liking. Often she’d leave in a huff, which made Qiu Zhong feel irritated and spiteful towards her; then, because she lived so far away, years would pass without the family exchanging any messages with her.
When Shao became critically ill, Wei Ming decided to contact Daniang about coming for a visit, hoping she would renew her old contentions with the family. It happened that there was a certain local trader who happened to be heading to Daniang’s village, so Wei asked him to deliver the message to Daniang, to draw her into returning by suggesting that the loss of the family’s properties was at stake.
Several days later, Daniang consequently arrived with her youngest son. When they entered the Qiu family’s gates, they observed the dismal sight of Qiu Lu waiting on his ailing mother and felt sorrowfully sympathetic. When they asked about Qiu Fu, Lu filled them in on what he’d done. Upon hearing this, Daniang seemed choked with anger as she cried, “The family lacks an adult authority figure, so some cunning deceiver is working to ruin it this way! But no thief’s going to snatch my family’s land and possessions and then run off!”
Accordingly, she went straight into the kitchen, lit a cooking fire and prepared some congee, then fed it to her stepmother, afterwards calling for Lu and her son to come and eat together. After doing so, she angrily left the house to deliver a written complaint to the local officials, filing a suit against all of the gamblers who’d taken money from Qiu Fu.
The individual gamblers were scared of the consequences of such a suit, so they put together their money and offered it as a bribe to Daniang. She accepted their money, then proceeded with the lawsuit in spite of it. The county magistrate ordered the arrest of the leader of the gamblers, as well as that of the second most powerful man in the group, and had each of them beaten, but they revealed nothing concerning the Qiu family land and property Fu had lost, so he had to let them go.
Since the incensed Daniang wouldn’t let it rest there, she took her son and went to see the prefectural governor. It turned out that the man absolutely loathed gamblers. Daniang explained the wretched condition of the fatherless Qiu sons to the governor, who felt quite vehemently that the county magistrate had been wickedly misled.
Thus he ordered the county magistrate to track down the deed to the Qiu family land and to give it back to them; he also ordered the punishment of Qiu Fu as a warning for his unworthy behavior. After the mother and son left, the county magistrate acted under the orders from the prefectural governor, ordered the gamblers beaten, and as a result, the land was soon returned to the Qiu family.
While all this was happening, Daniang had already been a widow for quite some time—so she decided to send her son home, urging him to learn how to make a living from his older brother, because she wouldn’t be coming back with him. Thus Daniang stayed in her stepmother’s home, to care for her and to oversee Lu’s education, to guarantee that both were accomplished. Shao took great comfort from this, and while she began gradually recovering from her illness, Daniang took care of all the household business.
In their village, Daniang became known for her forceful personality, and if, on a rare occasion, someone happened to insult or threaten anyone in her family, she always grabbed up a knife and called at that person’s home to discuss the matter candidly—thus no one dared to mess with her family. In the year that she’d been living there, the Qiu family’s wealth increased daily. She purchased the best medicines for Shao, prepared delicious delicacies for the family, and also gave special gifts to Fu’s wife.
Then when she noticed that Qiu Lu had gradually grown up, she contacted a number of matchmakers to be on the lookout for marriage opportunities for Lu. Wei Ming started telling people, “The Qiu family’s possessions are all Daniang’s now, and I worry that since that’s the case, the brothers are never going to be able to get them back.” Everyone took his words seriously, and thus no families were willing to discuss marriage of their daughters to Qiu Lu.
There was a gentleman named Fan Ziwen, whose family was well-known for the top-notch beauty of their gardens. Among the gardens’ fabulous flowers there was a pathway that led directly to the Fan family quarters. On one occasion, a man who was unfamiliar with the way mistakenly entered the family quarters, where the family was holding a private banquet, so Fan angrily nabbed the man as a robber and beat him almost to death.
When Lu returned home from the school where he was studying in order to take part in the Qingming Festival, Wei
Ming took him out for a stroll that led them to Fan’s gardens. Wei had known the gardener there for a long time, so he told them just to go on in, and take the circuit of paths around the pavilions.
Presently they came to a babbling brook and a painted bridge with bright red railings, then they passed through a lacquered gate; when they looked off in the distance, they spotted a door—with multi-colored flowers surrounding it like a brocade tapesty—that ultimately led to Fan Ziwen’s study.
Wei then tricked Lu by saying, “Please, you go on ahead, I just need to pee first.” Lu believed him, so he crossed over the bridge and walked in through the doorway till he came to a courtyard, where he heard the sound of a young woman’s laughter. Then as he stopped walking, a maidservant came out, spied him there watching, and quickly turned back around to return inside.
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Qingming Festival: Following the beginning of spring, families visit the graves of ancestors during this festival to clear away dust and weeds, and to make offerings.
Lu began to realize he was somewhere he shouldn’t be, so he anxiously hurried to retrace his steps. Moments later, Fan appeared, yelling for his servants to chase Lu down and tie him up. Absolutely mortified, Lu raced out and flung himself into the brook.
Fan’s anger turned to laughter as he directed his servants to drag Lu out of the shallow water. When he noticed that the clothing Lu was wearing was of a refined style, he offered to let him change into some dry clothing, then took him into one of the pavilions, where he asked him about his name and family background. They were soon exchanging amiable conversation, practically like they were kinfolk.
Just then, Fan rushed back inside; when he came out again, he smiled and took Lu by the hand, then they crossed back over the bridge, eventually coming to the place where Lu had been standing earlier. Lu didn’t understand what was going on, so he hung back, uncertain about going any further. Fan firmly dragged him with him into the courtyard, where Lu glimpsed a beauty hiding in a flowering hedge, spying on them.
After they sat down, a group of maidservants brought them some wine. Lu politely declined, explaining, “I didn’t realize that I was trespassing into your private quarters, but if you’ll pardon me for my unintended offense, that’s all I dare hope for. My only desire is to be allowed to leave so I can return home early, and so you can enjoy your privacy once again.” Fan, however, wouldn’t hear of it.
In moments, the room was a frenzy of activity as dishes of meats and delicacies were served. After they’d eaten, Lu stood up to go, saying that he was full and couldn’t possibly handle any more wine. Fu pressed him back down into his seat, smiling as he declared, “I’ve composed a musical piece that I’ve started to give a title to, and if you can complete the title for me, I’ll let you go.” Lu accepted the challenge, and humbly asked for his host’s indulgence.
Fan told him, “The first part of the title is ‘Nothing Like it Anywhere.’” Lu thought silently for a long time, then replied, “It’s mere silver to your gold: ‘So Only It Can Do.”
Laughing loudly, Fan cried, “He really is Shi Chong!” Lu had no idea what he was talking about. It turned out that Fan had a daughter named Huiniang, who was lovely and educated, and who’d been hoping to find a good husband.
The previous night, she’d had a dream in which a wise man appeared to her and said, “Shi Chong is going to be your husband.”
“Where will I find him?” she asked.
“Tomorrow, he’ll fall into the water,” he replied.
When she woke up in the morning, she told her parents about it and they both thought it rather strange. Lu happened to fit the dream’s description, which is why Fan had invited him into their home after sending his wife and daughter to situate themselves so they could observe him.
Upon hearing Lu’s response to the song title, he was overjoyed and explained, “The first part of the song title was actually my daughter’s suggestion, and though she kept thinking about it, she just couldn’t come up with the rest—but now that you’ve succeeded, I want this predestined union to take place. I’d like Huiniang to be your wife; there’s no shortage of space for you in my home and you don’t need to trouble yourself about having to pay any of the wedding costs.”
Lu felt uneasy about it all, declining humbly on the excuse that with his mother being ill, he couldn’t possibly think about marrying and moving in with the Fan family. Fan agreed that Lu should return home to think things over, then sent his stableman to pack up Qiu Lu’s wet clothing and to see him off on one of their horses.
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‘Nothing Like It Anywhere’ . . . ‘So Only It Can Do’: This elaborate word game begins with the term for a small, four-stringed pipa-like instrument (hunbusi), which literally refers to its uniqueness; Lu replies wittily with a phrase that can both refer to the instrument, and to the fact that he “has no alternative” (mei naihe) but to play Fan’s game if he wants to go home.
After Lu returned home and told his mother what had happened, she was startled, sensing something ominous about it all. Then she began to realize that the wicked Wei Ming was behind it; and while she realized how initially inauspicious events had previously proven auspicious in the end, she also recognized that Wei intended no good towards the Qiu family, so she warned Lu to stay far away from him.
Several days later, Fan sent someone to express his regards to Shao, and although they sought her approval for the marriage, she didn’t dare agree to it. Daniang, however, did give her consent and asked a pair of matchmakers to present gifts to Huiniang’s family to celebrate the betrothal. Before long, Lu married her and moved into the Fan family home.
A year later, Lu scored very highly in the imperial civil service examination. Nonetheless, Huiniang’s younger brother, who was now grown up, had very little respect for Qiu Lu; this made Lu angry, so he took his wife and moved home with his mother. Shao by this time was able to walk around again with the aid of a cane. Repeatedly over the past couple of years, the family had relied upon Daniang to manage their affairs and as a result their household was in great shape. After Lu returned with his new bride, all of their servants joined them, adding significantly to the family’s public prestige.
Wei Ming observed all this and became even more maliciously jealous of the Qiu family, resenting their success, so he convinced some deserters from the Manchu military to bring false accusations against Qiu Lu regarding money they’d supposedly entrusted him to keep for them. National legislation at the time was very harsh concerning such crimes, so Lu was sentenced to exile that would take him north beyond the Great Wall.
Master Fan spent a great deal of money while seeking help from all levels of government, with the result that Huiniang was able to avoid being forced into exile with Lu; then all of the assets of Qiu Lu were confiscated by officials. Fortunately, Daniang had kept written documentation that the brothers had divided the family’s assets between them, so she quickly took it to the authorities, revealing that all of the recent farmland acquisitions had been registered in the name of Qiu Fu, so Shao and Daniang were able to live there peacefully, without further incident.
Lu believed that he would never be allowed to return, so he wrote a letter of divorce for Huiniang and turned it over to her parents, allowing her to return to their household, then went off into exile all by himself. After he’d been traveling for several days, he was north of the capital when he came to an eatery.
There was a beggar outside the door, staring at him, who looked just like his brother, Qiu Fu; when he came closer to ask the man his name, he realized it really was Fu. Lu proceeded to tell him what had been happening to their family as the brothers commiserated with each other. Lu reached into his robe and gave Fu a few taels, urging him to go home. Weeping as he took the money in hand, Fu then went on his way.
When Lu arrived at Guanwai, he ended up working as an aide-de-camp for a general. Since he was gentle and frail-looking, he was put
in charge of the camp accounts, and sent to live with the general’s other servants. When the servants asked him about his family background, he told them the whole story.
Utterly shocked, one of them abruptly cried out, “You’re my son!”
It happened that after Qiu Zhong had originally been carried off by bandits and forced to tend their horses, the bandits eventually were forced to surrender, so they sold Zhong to the military forces and in time his master came to be stationed at Guanwai. Facing Lu while relating this, Qiu Zhong recognized that this truly was his son and sobbed as he hugged his head, grieving over their mutual hardships. Afterwards he exclaimed in frustration, “What cowards—they run away from their commanders, and then they dare to frame my son!” He tearfully proceeded to inform the general.
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Guanwai: Literally “outside the fortress,” the fortress in question being located in Shanhaiguan, or Shanhai Pass, a portion of the Great Wall near Qinhuangdao, Hebei province.
The general delivered orders for Lu to be reclassified as a government secretary; then wrote a letter to the prince and handed it to Zhong to deliver to the capital. Zhong dutifully drove there and delivered the general’s appeal for the Qiu family’s injustices to be redressed. The prince was pleasant and obliging, agreeing that the wrong needed to be corrected, so he ordered the local officials near the Qiu home to see that everything confiscated from the Qius was returned to them.
When Zhong returned to camp with the news, he and Lu were both jubilant. Lu then asked his father for details regarding the family he’d started in the years after he was taken from their home, now that he was a free to return. He learned that since Zhong had entered the army, he’d been married twice, though without producing any children, and that at the time, he was living alone as a widower. Lu then gathered together his things in preparation to take up his new position.