Censored by Confucius (9 page)

One midautumn evening Hua and the young woman were gazing at the full moon when they were interrupted by someone calling Hua's name. In the darkness Hua could see that the voice belonged to someone standing just beyond the wall. He hurried over and recognized the man to be the scabby monk. The monk took him by the arm and said, "The ghost's life is drawing to a close. I have come here especially to exorcise her from your household." It became apparent from the young man's expression that he was not very pleased with this news and so the monk continued. "I know that the ghost has
slandered me. For this I am even less inclined to forgive her." He wrote out another two charms for Hua and said, "Quick! Go and capture her!"

The young man turned to go, but then hesitated and finally stopped. So his parents, who had come out to s
ee what was happening, carried the charms to his wife's residence instead. Hua's wife was ecstatic. Holding the charms, s
he walked towards the woman, who shook and shivered in fright. They then bound the woman's hands and carried her outside.

The woman wept and pleaded with Hua. "I knew that my life was nearly over and I know that I should have left before, but I was so deeply in love with you that I kept delaying my departure. Now this calamity has befallen me. I have loved you dearly all these years and soon we will be parted forever. I beg you to put me in the shade of the wall, away from the moonlight, so that I might be reprieved of my death sentence. Have pity on me, will you?"

The young man did not have the heart to see her die in such misery, so he carried her to the shaded side of the wall and untied her hands. The woman promptly leaped into the air and was transformed into a streak of black smoke that sped through the sky. The Daoist monk immediately let out a shrill cry and gave chase through the air to the southeast.

Nobody knows what became of them.

Ghosts Who Play with Firecrackers May Burn Themselves

In Shaoxing there was a mansion that remained, on its owner's instructions, locked fast. It happened one day that a traveler came by seeking lodgings for the night.

The owner of the mansion informed him, "You are quite welcome to rent the eastern mansion, but you do so at your own peril."

Our traveler inquired as to the meaning of this cryptic welcome and was told, "The building was previously used for storage, and my two servants were quartered there. Late one evening we were disturbed in our nighttime preparations by a frightful howling from the mansion. We rushed over and found the servants pale and shaking, speechless with fear. It was quite some time before they regained their composure.

"They later told me, 'Just before we had blown the candle out in preparation for sleep, a creature in the form of a huge stone monument came to our bedside, opened the bed curtain, and made as if to join us. Frightened beyond belief, we ran from the building screaming. This is the truth for we saw this creature with our own eyes.' Naturally, after this strange event no one has dared live in that building."

After hearing the owner reach the end of his tale our traveler simply laughed and said, "I'll give it a try."

His host tried in vain to dissuade him from such a reckless course, but in the end he was compelled to sweep out the dust, put down some mats, and prepare the building for residence.

On entering his temporary home the traveler, armed with his sword, went directly to the top floor. There he lit a candle and waited.

Finally, in the deep of the night, his patience was rewarded by a rustling sound emanating from the northern end of the room. He gazed in that direction and in the gloom made out the form of the ghost. It looked just as the landlord had described.

The ghost jumped onto a chair and began examining some books
that had been left on the table. Soon wearying of this pastime, the ghost proceeded to empty the contents of our traveler's luggage onto the table and inspect them one by one.

Among the various items of personal use were several batches of Huizhou firecrackers. These the demon scrutinized attentively in the light of a lamp, which by curious coincidence happened to spit a spark onto the wick of the firecrackers.

This, of course, caused a thunderous explosion, which left the ghost momentarily rolling around the floor blubbering before taking its chance to disappear.

Our traveler was greatly puzzled by these antics. Suspecting that the demon would return, he maintained his vigil until dawn. There were no more visitations, however; not a trace of the demon was seen.

In amazement the traveler narrated the night's events to his landlord, who was equally perplexed. The following night our traveler returned to the upper floor of the mansion and passed the night without incident or evidence of supernatural presence.

From that day on, the building was free from strange events and accompanying ghosts.

Kaxiong

Yang Kaxiong was orphaned at an early age when his father died unexpectedly during garrison duty. The boy's distant uncle, a Mr. Zhou, was a vice-commander of the military stationed in Hezhou. Taking pity on the orphan, Zhou decided to raise Kaxiong as his own child.

Zhou had a daughter who was approximately the same age as Kaxiong, and seeing that Kaxiong was young, intelligent, and handsome, she took a liking to him.

The Zhou family were very strict on matters of social decorum and consequently the young couple's contact was limited to formal family dining.

Another relative, a young man by the name of Wu, was also supported by the Zhous, and he slept outside in the study.

One autumn night when Kaxiong felt insufferably hot he took a stroll under the moonlight to enjoy the cool night air. In the distance he saw the young Miss Zhou strolling towards him. By the end of the night the couple had become extremely intimate.

The next day he chanced upon her in the midst of her morning toilet but they simply exchanged smiles. From hereon in she visited him every night.

On one of these occasions Wu was disturbed by the sound of laughter coming from Kaxiong's quarters and he grew suspicious. Peeking inside, he saw Miss Zhou and Kaxiong engaged in sexual intercourse and this made him extremely jealous.

He resolved to pass this information on to Mr. Zhou. On hearing about his daughter's conduct, Mr. Zhou immediately went to the inner quarters and scolded his wife for her laxity.

In her defense Mrs. Zhou said, "How could this be? Our daughter shares my bed every night."

Zhou was still unconvinced so he found an excuse to cane Kaxiong and drove him out of the house.

Having nobody else but the Zhous to rely on, Kaxiong took refuge in an ancient temple in Lanzhou. It wasn't long before Miss Zhou appeared at the temple carrying her luxurious luggage.

Kaxiong was overjoyed and asked how she had managed to find him.

"I came with my uncle Wu." Then she explained to Kaxiong that Mr. Zhou's younger brother, Wu, had just been promoted to the post of military commander in Lanzhou.

Kaxiong had no reason to doubt her words and proceeded to set up house with her for a few weeks. They lived in grand style and were blissfully happy.

One day not long after this Miss Zhou's uncle bumped into Kaxiong on the street and greeted him cheerfully. "So you're here as well, nephew!" Kaxiong amiably replied in the affirmative. The two men rode back to Kaxiong's residence, where they were greeted by Zhou's daughter.

The uncle was puzzled by her presence, so Kaxiong explained what had happened. The uncle thought to himself, "My brother made no mention of his daughter's absence to me. Perhaps he was too ashamed to mention it?"

He stayed with the young couple for several days and then, using the opportunity provided by military business, paid a visit to his brother in Hezhou.

Zhou, informed about his brother's encounter with his daughter, was incredulous. "This is impossible! My daughter is this very moment in her chamber quite safe and sound. In fact she'll be joining us for dinner in a short while. Perhaps your Miss Zhou is a fox fairy who is impersonating my daughter."

Zhou's wife said, "This fox fairy will blacken the family name by pretending to be our daughter and carrying on in this way. Why don't we present our real daughter to Kaxiong for marriage and see what happens then?"

The two brothers thought this a superb idea and immediately began the betrothal arrangements.

On the eve of the wedding Kaxiong returned to his room and was stunned to see his bride-to-be already there.

The woman smiled and said, "Why are you so flustered?" She then related the following story.

"I am a fox and I have come to repay a debt of gratitude for a kindness your father once bestowed upon me.

"When your father the general was alive he often went hunting and one day I was shot by his arrow. Instead of killing me he pulled the arrow out and set me free. Since that day I have been seeking a way to repay his kindness and today I have succeeded.

"When I discovered that you were having difficulty realizing your love for Miss Zhou, I decided to become your matchmaker and help you achieve your desire. Of course, if you and Miss Zhou had not already been destined for each other, I would have been unable to help.

"Now that my matchmaking is done, I will leave."

And with this she disappeared.

Freak Wind

The Dajing military camp was based in Liangzhou at Mount Song, in the middle of a gravelly desert. The site was that of an old battlefield, and one day General Ta Siha led his troops farther into the desert on routine surveillance.

As far as his eyes could see the landscape was barren, spotted here and there with low scrub and disturbed only by wisps of yellow dust.

Suddenly a huge mountain reared up from the ground, eventually blocking out the sun. As it rose before them, the terrified soldiers and their startled horses could hear a tremendous crackling and thunderous roars.

General Ta was just as frightened as his men, particularly when he noticed that the mountain was advancing towards them.

It approached so quickly that there was no hope of escape. So the men leaped off their horses, formed a tight circle, closed their eyes, and waited for the worst.

Seconds later they were enveloped in pitch darkness. The men and their horses were knocked to the ground and tossed around mercilessly by this dark force for quite some time. But eventually all was calm once again.

The entire troop of thirty-six men emerged covered in blood with little pebbles embedded in their skin, some half an inch deep. When they turned to look at the departing mountain, it was already dozens of miles in the distance.

That evening they returned to the Dajing base camp and reported this phenomenon to the chief of staff, Ma Chenghu.

Ma laughed at General Ta, saying, "That wasn't a mountain! It was just a freak windstorm. You'd all be dead now if it had really been a mountain.

"This sort of windstorm occurs quite regularly out there during the
winter months. You've all survived the storm, but it's obvious your faces are badly pockmarked by the flying stones.

"The scars will probably be permanent, so I suggest you make sure the troop's personnel records are updated to incorporate these changes to your men's appearances."

The Old Woman Who Was Transformed into a Wolf

In Aizhou County, Guangdong Province, there was a peasant by the name of Sun, whose mother had lived well into her seventies. One day, completely out of the blue, she started to grow hair on her arms. The hair spread to her back and then to her stomach and hands. Eventually she was entirely covered with inch-long hair. It was then that her body began to shrivel and a tail began to grow from her buttocks. Soon after the tail had formed she collapsed to the ground and before everyone's eyes was transformed into a white-haired wolf.

The wolf dashed out of the house and was gone. There was nothing the startled Sun family could do but wait to see if she would return. As it turned out, the wolf returned regularly, once every three or four weeks. She would check on her sons and grandchildren and would usually have a meal and a drink before leaving again.

The neighbors were disgusted by this unnatural creature and threatened to kill her, or at least drive her away from the village. Her son and his wife were terrified that something would indeed befall their mother if she continued to visit, so they resolved to warn her against returning. They prepared a banquet with delicacies such as pig trotters, and when the wolf next returned, her son explained that the feast was in her honor.

"Mother, after this feast is over you must never come home again. We know that you think of us while you're out in the woods, and we know that you would never do anyone any harm, but the neighbors are fearful. They are planning to kill you and have their weapons ready at this very moment. We would never be able to live with ourselves if you were killed paying us a visit. So please, stay away and keep yourself safe."

On hearing their advice the wolf howled mournfully, but then, after one last look at her loved ones, she ran off into the forest and was never seen again.