Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong

by Guo Xiaoting

  Now the owner of this restaurant, Qin An, originally had been one of Prime Minister Qin’s managers. His nephew, Qin La, a very powerful and feared individual, operated it. The second floor of the restaurant was not intended to serve guests, but it was purposely used as a place in which disagreements would lead to fights. The prime minister’s manager would then handle the case and large sums of money would be extorted from the victims. A number of officials were involved in this profitable scheme.

  Today, as Cloud Dragon spoke up, Qin La came from behind the counter and said, “What kind of a person is he that dares to come here to make trouble? Come, fellows, beat him up, and when you have finished, take my card and send him to the district court.”

  At this Hua’s anger rose still higher and he drew his broadsword. Qin La, thrusting his head forward as he spoke, asked, “Do you dare to kill someone? What are you doing with that sword? You will be cut to pieces if you depend upon that for power!”

  “Killing you would be no more than turning over a bedbug,” said Cloud Dragon. He raised his hand and brought down the heavy sword. Qin La’s head left his body.

  One frightened waiter screamed, “My mother! My mother!” and ran down the stairs several steps at a time, while gurgling sounds came from the back of his throat.

  Soon people were arriving at the local guardhouse and saying, “Two men came upstairs in our restaurant and killed the manager.”

  The guards shouted, “Seize them,” but when they went upstairs there was no one there. Cloud Dragon and Wang Tong had escaped by jumping out of the window. They were now standing in the midst of the crowd watching the excitement.

  The restaurant was full of men. Some were saying, “The outlaws have run away.” Others were saying, “Never mind—the outlaws will not get far. In our headquarters there are four headmen named Chai Yuanlo, She Jengying, Lei Siyuan, and Ma Anjye. These four are accustomed to catching famous outlaws. For this type of criminal, they only need three or four days to catch them.” Cloud Dragon, standing among the listeners, heard this. He understood and remembered.

  He and Wang Tong sought out a quiet place and went into a private room in a wine shop. When they had sat down, Wang Tong remarked, “My dear younger brother, you have been unbelievably unruly. Yesterday you arrived here, last night you killed someone, and today you killed another.”

  “Let me tell you, Elder Brother,” replied Cloud Dragon, “that since I am here, I want to do several things that will startle heaven and earth, but the restaurant manager was looking for someone to kill him. Just now I heard people saying that there were several unusually able detectives. I would like to make them feel very disturbed. Tonight I’m going to Prime Minister Qin’s estate to take a head from the neck of a person very much liked by the prime minister of this reign, Qin! I am going to reside in Linan City for six months. I intend to see what kind of a person will come to capture me.”

  Wang Tong asked him, “Dear brother, are you really as brave as that?”

  “Did you imagine I spoke without thinking?” responded Cloud Dragon.

  “Then,” said Wang Tong, “Your brother will go with you. We have had many cups of wine together.”

  Stirred even more by Wang Tong’s words, Cloud Dragon’s excitement was raised to a feverish state. After they had finished eating and drinking, the two went quietly to a place opposite the Qin residence. After surveying the road, they found a quiet wine shop where they remained talking intimately until evening. When it was dark enough to offer concealment, they then went to a deserted spot and changed into their close-fitting black thieves’ clothing and packed their clothing into the bags.

  At Prime Minister Qin’s residence, they pulled themselves up onto the wall. They dashed over the roofs, leaping from one to the other as if they were simply running over level ground. When they reached the inner apartments of Prime Minister Qin’s estate, they searched about until they saw a light in the north building of a rear courtyard. They thought to themselves, “These are the inner apartments of the estate, and that most probably is the room of the prime minister.”

  Looking inside, they saw two serving maids on night duty. They were about fourteen or fifteen years old. There was a candle burning on the table. The two men leaped onto the roof above. They then took out some incense containing a sleeping drug, lit it, and held it so that the smoke would go inside. In a little while the two maids had fallen into a drugged sleep.

  Cloud Dragon then entered the central section of the building. He reasoned that this must be where the prime minister actually lived, and felt certain that this was the prime minister’s wife’s bedroom. There in front of him he saw a jade bracelet and nearby a pair of cleverly carved, delicate white-jade pendants. Hanging in midair, half a lifetime’s work, they had been part of the imperial tribute from a foreign country, but the prime minister had kept them for himself. Hua asked, “Wang, do you want these?”

  “No,” said Wang Tong, “I do not want them—you take them.”

  Turning his head, Cloud Dragon saw a lady’s hatbox. Inside there were precious pendants lying on top of a coronet tipped with pearls. He gathered all these things together and took them with him. Going into the outer room, he saw a writing brush on a table.

  He picked it up and wrote two lines of verse on the wall. Then he joined Wang Tong outside and the two left as they had come.

  Early in the morning Prime Minister Qin arose. When he came into the building, he saw that the two serving maids were sleeping and found they could not be awakened. Going into the next room, he saw that the contents of the hatbox and the pendants were missing. He immediately called out for people to help his wife’s serving maids. As soon as he noticed the wall, he realized from the words that had been written upon it that this was the work of a robber.

  CHAPTER 33

  The Great Protector is called to investigate; Ji Gong catches one of three

  THE prime minister saw written on the wall the lines of verse written by the robber:

  In heaven can be seen a hero from the outer universe.

  A sword obedient to his every wish hangs at his side.

  The crafty river rat off with his rich haul

  May suddenly change into a glancing ray of light,

  A dragon dancing in the clouds or sporting in the waves of the four seas.

  The minister blessed by the emperor and helped by spirits divine

  Must be disturbed to find his little treasures gone.

  Cloud Dragon had left clues of his name throughout the verse, because the character for “change” is pronounced “hua” and Yun Long means Cloud Dragon. He had also inserted his nickname, “Robber Rat of the Universe.” In the following lines that he added below the verse, the outlaw had openly revealed his identity.

  A wound opens in your back!

  It is Hua Yun Long behind you with his dagger.

  If Prime Minister Qin would find his ghostly visitor,

  He must send the Great Protector of Linan after him.

  When Prime Minister Chin had read these words, he immediately called for someone to get the special folded paper needed to submit a memorial to the throne. Afterward he sent a message to the Great Protector’s yamen, asking the Great Protector of Linan to come to the estate. In a little while the Great Protector, Zhao Fengshan, arrived and was ushered into the library. “Since Prime Minister Qin has summoned me, what are your instructions to me?” he asked.

  “I have invited the Great Protector to my home to investigate the robbery here last night in which jewels were taken, including two fine white-jade pendants that were family heirlooms, thirteen other precious pendants, and a crownlike hat topped with pearls. The robber left behind two verses.”

  As the Great Protector learned the details about the theft, he began to feel a terrible fear and said, “I will send people everywhere to investigate, but there are great crowds of people in the city and it will be very easy to hide. With your kind permission, as soon as I return, I will send out peo
ple to quickly find and arrest the outlaw.”

  Prime Minister Qin said, “I will give the Great Protector a limit of three days to capture the robber and recover my treasured heirlooms.”

  The Great Protector could say nothing and only follow instructions. He made a copy of the words that the outlaw had written and took it away with him. Back at the yamen, he sent people to call together all his officers in Qiantang, as well as officers from the Subdued Tiger Temple region.

  When all had hurriedly assembled at the Great Protector’s yamen, Zhao Fengshan said, “Now Prime Minister Qin has lost some jade pendants and a pearl coronet. He called me and gave me three days to catch the robber. I returned here at once. The officers must immediately send out the men in their special jurisdictions to investigate, arrest the robber, and bring him back to either prefectural yamen. The person who accomplishes this will be rewarded with twelve hundred ounces of pure silver. We must be quick and clever, for we cannot tell where this outlaw has gone into hiding, and I fear that the prime minister will insist upon his three-day limit.”

  The officers returned and each sent out his men at once. How could they find and arrest this robber in three days? The Qiantang prefect, Liu Tenying, was originally from Liangpang, and he treated people very fairly. From his yamen he sent out some twenty-eight detectives to investigate and carry out the wishes of Great Protector Zhao. The Renhe yamen sent Tian Laibao and Wan Hengshan to find out what they could along the roads leading from the capital. Everyone had visions of the reward in his heart, but after three days there was not a sign of the robber.

  When the prime minister saw the Great Protector, he gave the Great Protector another three-day limit. Then the limit was extended again. One after another, the lower yamens were reporting that they had not found a shadow, not a trace. All of them were begging for the forbearance of the higher yamen. Again and again the prime minister was persuaded to extend the limit another three days, until, before they knew it, two months had passed without their catching the robber.

  Finally, when the Great Protector again went to beg the prime minister for another extension, the prime minister said: “I originally gave you three days to do this task. All sorts of people have been begging that I extend the time limit, until it has turned out to be two months! You still have not captured the robber. This is now a case of neglect of your duty to make an arrest. Tomorrow I will consider that the three days I gave you have come to an end!”

  “May the prime minister show an exceptional kindness,” pleaded the Great Protector. “Even now a messenger that I sent to ask Senior Monk Ji Gong of the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat is on his way. If he will only come here to help us in catching the robbers involved, it will be as easy as turning the palm of your hand, and will require no more strength than that needed to blow the ash off the end of a hair.”

  “The monk that you mention is none other than the one designated as my second self. He is also called Ji Dian!” the prime minister exclaimed. “I have just been thinking about him now. Where is he?”

  “Ji Gong is now at my younger brother’s home,” answered Zhao Fengshan. “He has just cured my old aunt’s eye trouble. I have already sent some people there to invite him to come to us.”

  “If I can see Ji Gong’s face, I will give you a few more days. Ask him to come to see me as quickly as possible,” said the prime minister.

  The Great Protector could only say, “Yes, yes, yes!” to this order. Back at the yamen, he ordered that Chai Yuanlo and She Jenying take traveling expenses sufficient to journey to his brother’s home and invite Ji Gong to come to Linan.

  On the day that the men arrived at Zhao Fengming’s gate, they asked a servant to go in and report their arrival. Ji Gong was in the library talking with Zhao Fengming as the servant announced, “Chai Yuanlo and She Jenying, two headmen from the yamen of the Great Protector of Linan, wish to see you.”

  Ji Gong said, “Ask them to come in.”

  The servant brought the two headmen into the library. Chai Yuanlo and She Jenying bowed to Ji Gong and afterward to Zhao Fengming. Then they stood to one side and described the events at Linan from beginning to end.

  Ji Gong listened carefully and then said, “As a monk, I must take care of this business.” Then he politely started to take his leave of the Second Yuanwai.

  Zhao Fengming protested and asked, “Why not go tomorrow, Teacher? Why must there be such haste?”

  The monk replied, “When I have a duty to perform, I cannot wait.”

  Zhao Fengming then had wine served and said goodbye to the monk.

  Ji Gong left the younger brother’s home with the two headmen and went off along the Yangguon Highway. On the way they stopped to eat and drink, sleeping in inns at night and traveling by day. When they were about thirty li from Linan, Ji Gong asked the two, “Headman Chai and Headman She, do you men wish to capture the robber who stole the jewels or not?”

  Headman Chai asked, “How could we not wish to do that?”

  “If you really want to catch the robber,” Ji Gong told them, “hasten on to Qiantang Gate. Just outside the covered way, through the wall at the inner gate, a man dressed in dark clothing will be standing. You two must catch him and hold him. This is your robber, and when you take him to the yamen, the reward of twelve hundred ounces of silver will be yours.”

  Then we will go on ahead,” the two men answered. Their hearts were filled with joy, thinking that they had such a good thing, and they hurried on their way. As soon as they reached the covered way through the wall at Qiantang Gate, naturally a man in dark-colored clothing was standing there. He was staring straight toward the east.

  At the sight, She Jenying overflowed with happiness as he said, “Elder Brother Chai, we will have accomplished the greatest success of our lives when this is over and we get the reward at the yamen. The three of us will divide it equally.” With that he pulled out his chain and locks with a great rattling and clanking, and put the man in irons.

  She Jenying then said to the man, “My friend, we may now take your case to court. You yourself must know what you have done.”

  The man was shocked, and turning his head, asked, “Why are you two putting these locks and chains on me? Who has accused me?”

  Looking at him more closely, She Jenying and Chao Yuanlo were dumbfounded when they recognized him as the manager of the charcoal business at the Qiantang Gate. As he again asked why he had been put in chains, the two headmen were unable to say anything.

  At this moment, the monk arrived and asked, “Did you catch him?”

  Headman Chai said, “You told us to arrest the man wearing dark clothing, and this is the man.”

  The man asked, “Monk, why have you arrested me?”

  “I bought your charcoal and it was no good. It was all cinders! You don’t sell good charcoal!” Ji Gong retorted.

  When Headman Chai heard this, he realized that things were not as they should be. “Teacher, this man is not the jewel thief!” he exclaimed.

  “He is not. I was just giving him a scare,” the monk explained.

  At that remark, Chai quickly unlocked the man’s chains saying, “Teacher, this is not something to play games with, to lock a man up for no reason. Fortunately he is mild tempered. Otherwise we would have had to answer for this.”

  “Well, perhaps I did deceive you,” the monk said. “You were too quick for me. The thief had not arrived yet. Come along with me. That man won’t dare to say anything.”

  The monk led the two headmen on through the wall, and before they had gone very far he said, “Headman Chai, take a look. Business is coming,” and he pointed with his finger in a way not to draw attention.

  Headman Chai was an old hand at detecting, and he looked at once where the monk was pointing with his finger. Approaching them from the opposite direction was a man glancing to right and left as he walked. He was carrying a bundle in his hand. Observing his head, Chai noticed that the man had all the marks of a person of dubious ch
aracter. Going up to him, the two men stopped him saying, “Friend, go no further. You are a lawbreaker.”

  When the man heard this, he threw back his head, dashed off, and turned into a side lane to the south with the two headmen running after him. The man was extremely fleet of foot. The two headmen went into the lane after him. The monk was also running. As the man came to a cross lane, he turned east, and again into another lane, where he went north. But when the headmen came to the cross lane, they turned west.

  When the robber came running out of the north end of the lane, the monk was waiting for him, and asked, “Where are you running to, my good robber?” Pointing at him, the monk stopped him with his hypnotic power. Then the monk called out, “I have him! Come and take him from me!”

  Some local guards from nearby came up and said, “Monk, this is a robber. Hand him over to us.”

  “Hand him over to you?” the monk questioned. “That will set your mind at rest, but not mine.”

  Just then headmen Chai and She arrived on the scene and said, “Teacher, you may let go of him now and we will lock him up.”

  The guardsmen recognized them and said, “Headman Chai, you may hand him over to us.” Headman Chai could see that they were of the local guard, but not knowing their names, asked for them.

  “I am named Kuai,” one said, “and this is guardsman Ai with me.”

  “Then you two may take the man to Prime Minister Qin’s residence and there hand him over to the prime minister.” The two guardsmen agreed, and leading the chained man, came to the gate of the residence. All of the gatekeepers recognized Ji Gong, and, after greeting him politely, went in to announce him.

  The prime minister was in the guest hall with two of Qiantang’s prefects and Great Protector Zhao, talking about city affairs. The servant entered and said, “Prime Minister, the monk Ji Gong of the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat and two headmen from the Great Protector’s yamen are bringing with them a robber. They are at the gate and beg to see you.”