by Pu Songling
Several months passed, and when Guo began to reread his writings, he suddenly felt as though the fox was right to have corrected his work. Thereupon he changed a couple of their subjects, then spread out his pages on the table, where he could examine what would happen to them. At daybreak, when he checked the pages, he found that the fox once again had marked them.
This kept happening until a year had passed, and then the fox simply stopped marking his writings. However, at night, the fox would make enormous dots that completely filled a page. Guo knew this was pretty odd, so he took it to show Wang. Wang studied the page and replied, “Truly, the fox is your master, and this is an excellent piece of writing that you’ll be able to sell.”
The following year, Guo was admitted to the county school. He was consequently grateful to the fox, and always set out some dishes for it, preparing both food and drink. Any time he was considering about books of famous writings to purchase, he’d consult the fox for advice. From this point forward, he was ranked high in the two civil service examinations he took, and was selected as a fuche.
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Fuche: An “honorable failure,” an examination candidate “whose merit was considered inadequate for status as a Provincial Graduate,” but still “deserving of honorable mention” (Hucker 217).
At that time, Scholar Ye and Scholar Miao were regarded highly due to the elegance of their writing and the beauty of their words; every family tried to memorize certain passages of their works. Guo had his own handwritten copy, which he cherished and took home. Suddenly, the bowl of thick, dark calligrapher’s ink on his table tipped over, completely blotting out the characters drawn on the copy; then again, sometimes when he conceived of a topic to write about and afterwards felt quite pleased with it, the fox would mark it with unrestrained strokes: as a result, he gradually began to feel that he really couldn’t trust the fox. Before long, Scholar Ye’s written work was released in an official version, which proved his excellence and vindicated Guo’s selection of it as exemplary writing.
However, every time he’d produce another page of writing, the fox would make messy marks all over it. Since he considered himself a good judge of writing, finishing in the top tier of the civil service examination, and was lofty in his ambitions, he became increasingly suspicious that the fox was toying with him. When he kept rewriting the parts that had been marked up, the fox would continue to vex him with blots on his pages, and to use up all of his ink.
“This is just crazy!” Guo cried in exasperation. “Why help at first but not now?” Thus he no longer set out a feast for the fox, and he locked up his pieces of writing in a basket.
In the morning, he saw that the seal on the basket looked untouched, so he opened it and looked inside, where on one cover four strokes of calligraphy appeared, each stroke as thick as a finger; the first chapter had a five smeared on it, and so did the second, and after that there was nothing else written on them. From then on, the fox disappeared and never returned.
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Five . . . the negative omen: There were many ways to fail the civil service examination, including illegible or incorrect calligraphy: “the characters had to be written in the square style, with the brushstrokes correctly placed in the four corners. Otherwise, no matter how good the content of the paper was, it would be passed over” (Miyazaki 28). Zhu (2:692n21) explains that in the six sections of the examination, there were
Afterwards, when Guo was graded as having finished in the fourth tier of his civil service examination group, and in subsequent examinations was graded twice in the fifth tier, he began to understand the negative omen that had already been communicated to him by the fox.
The collector of these strange tales remarks, “One loses through pride, and gains by modesty, for that is the way of heaven. With only a small reputation, Guo became arrogant, imitating the style of Scholar Ye and Scholar Miao without any contributions of his own. He couldn’t stop himself until he’d experienced a great failure. This is how conceit harms a man!”
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special problems posed in the fourth (a flaw in the topic), fifth (an absurd element is introduced), and the sixth (something intentionally doesn’t make sense). Pu may be hinting that the fox’s number “five,” besides predicting Guo’s ranking, will also cause him to fail when he comes up against the absurd in the exam—the fox itself.
205. Jin Shengse
Jin Shengse lived in Jinning. He married a girl from his village surnamed Mu. She gave birth to a boy, and soon he was a year old. Suddenly Jin grew ill, and believing that he was definitely dying, he told his wife, “I’m dying, and you must remarry!” Mu heard his words and sweetly expressed her determination that she would die with him. Waving his hand at his mother, Jin told her, “I’m dying, and have to burden you with taking care of my son—and don’t let Mu remain a widow.” His mother tearfully promised she would do as he asked.
Afterwards, Jin did indeed die. Mu’s mother arrived to mourn with her, and when they’d finished crying, she explained to Jin’s mother, “Heaven resolves even the most extreme sorrow, and my son-in-law was fated to die early. My daughter’s so young and delicate, what’s she going to do now?”
From the midst of her mourning, when Jin’s mother heard the other woman’s words, she could no longer contain her resentment, and angrily exploded, “She shouldn’t remarry!” Mu’s mother felt ashamed and ceased her complaint.
About midnight, while Mu was about to go to sleep, her mother told her in private, “You can find another husband anywhere. What disaster could be worse than having to care for your son, hand-and-foot, yourself? At such a young age, you should marry as soon as possible, so isn’t it stupid to spend all of your time watching over a baby? Your mother-in-law may have asked you to care for Jin’s son, but you don’t have to pretend you enjoy it.” Jin’s mother happened to be passing by, and when she overheard what had been said, she became even more outraged.
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Jinning: The name of both a prefecture and a county in Yunnan province.
The next day, she told Mu’s mother, “When he made his dying request, Jin didn’t ask his wife to be faithful to him forever. Now you’re telling her that she shouldn’t delay remarrying, so that’s why I’m insisting that she remain loyal to my son!” Mu’s mother grew angry and left.
Jin’s mother dreamt that night that her son appeared to her, weeping as he persuaded her to give up her demands, and she marveled afterwards at the strangeness of it. She sent someone to tell Mu’s family that she agreed to let their daughter remarry after the burial of Jin. But when she consulted a horoscope, it turned out that it wasn’t an auspicious year for the burial.
In the midst of her mourning, Mu began thinking about remarrying, and couldn’t get it off her mind, so she even began dolling herself up. Having to run Jin’s household was like being forced to wear simple clothing; but once she was back in her parents’ household, she’d be able to change into something brand new and gorgeous. Jin’s mother, who knew what she was thinking, wasn’t happy about it; she figured Mu was on the verge of becoming someone else’s woman, so she tried to be forbearing about it. Hence Mu became even more wanton in her behavior.
In their village, there was a scoundrel named Dong Gui who lusted after Mu when he saw her, so he took money and delicacies to Jin’s old neighbor woman to ensure that she’d act on his behalf to promote his interest in Mu. At midnight, the old woman let him climb over her wall to rendezvous with Mu. This coming and going went on for ten days, and Mu’s notoriety spread until everyone but Jin’s mother knew about it. There was only one maidservant in Mu’s room at night, and she was a trusted confidante.
One night while the two were making love passionately, loud noices were heard from inside Jin’s coffin that sounded like firecrackers exploding. The maidservant, who was outside the curtain surrounding the bed, saw the deceased himself, w
earing a sword and standing outside the curtain, subsequently enter the sleeping area. Presently she heard Mu and Dong scream in horror.
Seconds later, Dong ran naked from the bedroom. Before long, Jin seized his wife by the hair and also emerged. Mu was howling loudly. In fright, Jin’s mother got up to investigate, discovered that Mu was naked, and walked over to her. She asked what was wrong, but Mu didn’t answer. Jin’s mother stepped outside to take a look, but it was so quiet that she didn’t hear a sound, and she lost sight of Mu.
She entered Mu’s sleeping area, where lights were burning brightly. Spotting a pair of men’s shoes, she yelled for the maidservant; the maidservant began trembling while looking all around, and then ran outside, having told Jin’s mother about the weird noises, which certainly astonished her.
Dong fled to the neighbor woman’s house, crouching down in a corner of her wall to hide. Moments later, he began hearing the sound of someone coming closer, so, still stark naked, he started to get up. Shivering violently, bitterly cold, he needed to borrow some clothing from the old neighbor woman. He noticed there was a room connected to her courtyard, with a pair of doors that were unlocked, so he decided to go in for a little while.
Groping his way in the dark, he found a bed, and as he felt a woman’s foot, he realized it was the neighbor woman’s daughter-in-law. Suddenly he was filled with lust, so he decided to take advantage of her while she was sleeping, and stealthily approached her.
The woman woke up and asked, “Is that you?”
“Of course,” he answered. The daughter-in-law hence suspected nothing, and once Dong had climbed into bed, they made love.
Earlier, the neighbor woman’s son had needed to go to a village to the north, so he advised his wife to shut the doors partway for protection, while waiting for him to return. Upon arriving home, he heard some sounds from inside the room, and finding this suspicious, listened more closely, determining that someone was having sex with his wife.
Furious, he grabbed a halberd and rushed into the room. Terrified, Dong leapt off the bed. The neighbor’s son caught up with him and killed him. He wanted to kill his wife, too; but she tearfully told him that in the dark she’d mistaken the other man for him, clearing up the matter. He still didn’t know who the man was, however.
He called for his mother to wake up, and together they came with a light so they could attempt to identify him. As they examined him, he suddenly started breathing; when they asked him where he’d come from, he confessed everything. But he’d been wounded by the blade in several places, and blood wouldn’t stop flowing from the gashes, till in a short while he was dead for real.
The old neighbor woman was panic-stricken, and told her son, “If you caught them in the act of adultery and killed just one of the two, how can you explain that to others?” The son then realized that he couldn’t stop with Dong, so he also killed his wife.
That same night, Mu’s father had been sleeping when he heard rumbling sounds outside his door; he peered out, discovering a frenzy of noise and activity at the eaves of the house, where someone had set them on fire, though the person was now hesitating, and wouldn’t leave. The old man began shouting loudly until all of his family members had gathered. Fortunately, the fire had just begun to burn, so they were still able to extinguish it.
Mu’s father ordered some men to take up bows and crossbows, to search for the person who’d set the fire. They saw a man who looked as powerful as an ape finally climb over the wall to get away. The old man’s family owned a peach garden on the other side of the wall, which was completely enclosed by a strong wall on all sides.
Several men climbed up ladders to scan the other side, and discovered some particularly deep footprints; but at the base of the wall, something that was moving slightly didn’t respond when they called out to it, so they shot at it, and it crumpled. When they opened the door in the wall and went to examine what they’d shot, they found a woman lying on the ground, with arrows through her chest and head. When they held up a light to her, they saw it was Mu, the old man’s daughter and Jin’s wife. Astonished, they told the old man. He and his wife, shocked by the horror, wanted to die, unable to understand how this could’ve happened. Mu’s eyes closed, her face turned ashen, and a breath escaped, as delicate as silk.
Someone tried to pull the arrow from her head, but couldn’t get it to come out; but when he braced his feet against the top of her head and her neck, he was able to pull it free. Mu gave a choked moan, her blood began pouring out, and with a final breath, she died. Her father was aghast that things had turned out this way.
At dawn, they revealed to Jin’s mother the truth of what had happened, kneeling before her and sorrowfully begging her forgiveness. But Jin’s mother was no longer fuming with anger, and told them to take Mu’s body with them, to manage her funeral themselves.
Jin had an uncle named Shengguang, who angrily burst through the old man’s gate, loudly reviling the family for the wrongdoing. Mu’s father felt ashamed and depressed, and offered a cash payment to persuade the man to return home. But in the end, he still didn’t know with whom his daughter had been having the affair.
Presently the neighbor woman’s son arrived at the local court with the wicked Dong’s head, explaining how he had settled things; but then the elder brother of his slain wife, who was skilled at disputing, arrived to claim that his sister was innocent. An official arrested the old neighbor woman; she confessed her part in the whole matter from beginning to end. Then they called upon Jin’s mother to testify; but she claimed to be in poor health, so they sent for Jin Shengguang to take her place, and he explained the whole story.
As a result, what had at first seemed quite complicated, implicating Mu’s father and mother, was finally resolved, and everything investigated and settled. Mu’s mother, who had instructed her daughter to remarry, was declared guilty of wantonness, and beaten; Mu’s family paid to be exempted from their guilt, which consumed most of their fortune. The old neighbor woman who had facilitated their wickedness was flogged to death. The case was then settled.
The collector of these strange tales remarks, “The Jin family’s son was some kind of supernatural spirit! Since he sincerely advised his wife to remarry, it’s obvious he was insightful! He didn’t need to murder anyone, yet was still able to resolve all the enmity, so how could anyone say he wasn’t supernaturally powerful! The old neighbor woman who assisted in the seduction of the daughter-inlaw of another family caused her own daughter-in-law to be used; Mu’s mother loved her daughter, but encouraged the men who slew her. How sad! ‘If you want to know why something will happen in the future, it’s because of what you’re doing now,’ and keeping that in mind will bring about effects faster than your next incarnation will!”
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‘If you want … doing now’: This is the essence of the Buddhist notion of karma. Negative karma incurred in one lifetime can carry over into the next, or can delay one’s passage through the purgatorial underworld, until sufficient punishment has been meted out to allow one to be reborn into the world.
206. Peng Haiqiu
A zhusheng from Laizhou, named Peng Haogu, was studying far from home. By the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he hadn’t returned home, so he was lonely. He felt that no one in the village was really qualified to converse with him except for scholar Qiu, the town’s literary celebrity, who also had a penchant for immoral conduct which led Peng to despise him. As the moon ascended into the sky, Peng’s boredom multiplied till he just couldn’t stand it, so he sent an invitation to Qiu to come over.
After the two scholars had been drinking for a bit, there came a tapping at the door. A boy servant went from Peng’s study to answer the door, where he found a scholar who had just come to visit the building’s resident. Peng left his seat, respectfully inviting his guest to enter. They bowed to each other, then took their seats while Peng began inquiring about the guest’s family and hometown.
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Zhusheng: A successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial civil service examination.
Laizhou: The name of a prefecture during the Ming and Qing dynasties, part of modern Ye county, Shandong province (Zhu 2:700n1).
Mid-Autumn Festival: Celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. This is also the birthday of the Great Yin (the moon), the day when the moon is supposedly its brightest (Palmer et al. 209).
Peng’s unknown guest said, “I’m from Guangling, and we share the same surname, though my courtesy name is Haiqiu. On the occasion of this pleasant night, I was quite bored at the inn. When I heard about your refinement, I had to see you for myself, even without the courtesy of first being introduced.”
When Peng Haogu looked at him more closely, he noticed that Haiqiu kept his scholarly gown clean and neat, while their laughter and conversation proved tasteful and erudite. Peng Haogu became very happy and declared, “So you belong to my clan. What a night it is tonight, to have such a nice guest here!”
Haogu called for more wine to be poured, entertaining Peng Haiqiu like they were old acquaintances. As he scrutinized Haiqiu’s reactions, he noted that his visitor seemed to despise scholar Qiu quite seriously, for whenever Qiu tried to speak to him respectfully, he was answered impolitely by Peng Haiqiu. Peng Haogu felt ashamed of scholar Qiu and wanted to interrupt their conversation, so he invited them to sing a folksong, urging them to have more to drink.
Then, looking up into the sky with a cough, Haogu sang the “Song of the Protector Spirit of Fufeng.” They laughed together heartily afterwards. “I can’t carry a tune,” said Haiqiu, “so I won’t be able to respond with another beautiful song. Can’t I invite some lady to sing in my place?”
“Please go ahead,” replied Haogu.