Original Text
There was a scholar surnamed Shang, a native of Mount Tai. He usually lived alone in a simple study. One autumn night, under a clear Milky Way and a bright moon, Shang paced among the flowers and trees, lost in wild thoughts. Suddenly, a woman vaulted over the wall and said with a smile, "Why is the scholar so lost in thought?" Shang drew near to look and saw she was as beautiful as a celestial maiden; startled and delighted, he embraced her and entered the study, where they shared intimate affection for a while. The woman introduced herself, saying, "My surname is Hu, and I am called Third Sister." When Shang asked where she lived, she only smiled and did not answer. Shang pressed no further, merely hoping to be with her forever. From then on, the woman came every night to meet him.
One night, Third Sister and Scholar Shang sat knee to knee by lamplight. Shang, enamored of Third Sister, could not help staring fixedly at her. She smiled and asked, "Why do you glare at me so fiercely?" Shang replied, "I see you as a crimson peony or a jade peach blossom—even gazing all night would not suffice." Third Sister said, "Ugly as I am, I still receive such favor. If you saw my Fourth Sister, I wonder how mad you would become." Shang's heart stirred even more, and he longed to behold her at once, so he knelt and begged for a meeting. The next night, Third Sister indeed brought Fourth Sister. She appeared about fifteen or sixteen, her face as delicate and moist as a dew-laden lotus or a mist-kissed apricot blossom; her smile revealed boundless charm and beauty. Shang was overjoyed and quickly urged them to sit. Third Sister chatted and laughed with Shang, while Fourth Sister only hung her head, fiddling with her embroidered sash. After a while, Third Sister rose to leave, and Fourth Sister prepared to follow. Shang grasped Fourth Sister tightly, preventing her departure, and said to Third Sister, "Please speak for me!" Third Sister laughed and said, "The mad young gentleman is frantic! Sister, stay a while longer." Fourth Sister said nothing, and Third Sister departed first. Shang and Fourth Sister enjoyed the utmost bliss. Then, pillowing their heads on each other's arms, they poured out their hearts without concealment. Fourth Sister confessed she was a fox, but Shang, infatuated with her beauty, was not alarmed. Fourth Sister added, "My sister is cruel; she has already killed three men. Those bewitched by her invariably die. I am fortunate to be so cherished by you and cannot bear to see you perish; you should break with her early." Shang, frightened, begged for a plan. Fourth Sister said, "Though I am a fox, I have attained the arts of an immortal. I can paste a talisman on the bedroom door to keep her out." She then wrote a talisman. At dawn, Third Sister arrived but, seeing the talisman, dared not enter. She said, "This girl is ungrateful, doting on her new lover and forgetting the matchmaker. You two are fated, and I will not oppose you, but why go to such lengths?" So saying, she left.
After a few days, Fourth Sister had business elsewhere and promised to return the following night. On that day, Scholar Shang happened to step outside for a look. At the foot of the mountain there was originally a grove of oak trees, and from the dense thicket emerged a young woman of considerable charm. She approached Shang and said, "Why must you, scholar, be so smugly infatuated with the Hu sisters? They cannot even give you a single copper coin." With that, she produced a string of a thousand cash and handed it to Shang, saying, "Take this for now, buy some fine wine, and I will soon bring some snacks and dishes to enjoy ourselves together." Shang took the money home and did as the woman had instructed. Before long, the young woman indeed arrived, setting upon a small table a roast chicken and a salted pork knuckle, then carefully dicing the meat with a knife. They drank and jested, utterly merry and harmonious. Later, they extinguished the lamp and took to the bed, indulging in the utmost intimacy and wanton pleasure. They did not rise until broad daylight, and just as the woman sat on the bedside to put on her shoes, they suddenly heard voices. Listening closely, they realized the voices had already entered within the bed curtains—it was the Hu sisters. The young woman fled in panic at the first sight of them, leaving behind a shoe she had not had time to put on. The Hu sisters shouted after her retreating figure, "Vixen! How dare you share a bed with a man!" They gave chase and did not return for some time. Fourth Sister then reproached Shang, saying, "You are truly worthless, coupling with that vixen. I can no longer be near you." With that, she turned to leave in a fury. Shang, terrified, fell to his knees and earnestly begged her not to be angry. Third Sister also interceded on his behalf, and only then did Fourth Sister's anger gradually subside. Thereafter, their intimacy resumed as before.
One day, a man from Shaanxi arrived at the Shang family gate riding a donkey, and said, "I have been searching everywhere for this demon, not just for a day or two, and now I have finally found it." Shang Sheng's father, seeing the stranger's strange speech, inquired about the matter. The man replied, "I have been traveling day and night through mountains and rivers, roaming the four corners, spending eight or nine months out of twelve away from home, only to have a demon bewitch and kill my younger brother. Upon returning home, I was filled with grief and fury, and swore to find and slay this demon. I have journeyed several thousand li, yet found no trace, until now, when the demon is in your house. If it is not destroyed, someone else will be killed just like my brother." At that time, Shang Sheng was intimately involved with the woman, and his parents had already sensed something; hearing these words, they were greatly frightened and immediately invited the guest inside, begging him to perform his magic. The guest took out two bottles, placed them on the ground, drew talismans and chanted spells, and after a long while, four masses of black mist flew into the bottles. The guest said joyfully, "The whole family is here." He then sealed the bottle mouths tightly with pig bladders. Shang Sheng's father was also delighted and insisted on keeping the guest for a meal. Shang Sheng felt deeply distressed, approached the bottle to peek, and heard Fourth Sister inside the bottle say, "You sit idly by and do not rescue me—how can you be so heartless?" Shang Sheng's heart grew even more pained, and he hurriedly tried to unseal the bottle, but the knot was too tight to undo. Fourth Sister said again, "There is no need to untie it; just knock down the command flag on the altar and pierce the pig bladder with a needle, and I can come out." Shang Sheng did as she said, and indeed saw a wisp of white air emerge from the hole, soaring into the sky. When the guest came out and saw the command flag fallen to the ground, he exclaimed in alarm, "It has escaped! This must be the young master's doing." He bent down to shake the bottle, listened, and said, "Fortunately, only one has escaped. This creature is not fated to die, so it can be spared." He then took the bottles and took his leave.
One day thereafter, Scholar Shang was overseeing his hired laborers reaping wheat in the fields when he spied Fourth Sister sitting beneath a tree at a distance. He approached, took her hand, and inquired after her well-being. Fourth Sister said, "Ten autumns have passed since our parting, and now I have attained immortality through cultivation. Yet, because my longing for you has not been entirely severed, I have come to see you once more." Scholar Shang wished to take her hand and return home together, but Fourth Sister replied, "I am no longer what I once was; I cannot again be tainted by worldly affections. We shall meet again hereafter." With these words, she vanished. Another score of years passed, and Scholar Shang, sitting alone in his chamber, saw Fourth Sister enter from outside. Overjoyed, he drew near to converse with her. Fourth Sister said, "I am now enrolled among the immortals and should not descend to the mortal realm again. Yet, grateful for your devotion, I have come especially to inform you of the day of your death. You may make early preparations for your final affairs, and you need not grieve or fret, for I shall guide you to become a ghost immortal, and you shall suffer no hardship." With that, she bade farewell and departed. On the very day she had foretold, Scholar Shang indeed passed away.
Scholar Shang was a close friend and relative of my friend Li Wenyu, and he once witnessed this event with his own eyes.
Commentary
The story of "Hu Sijie" is composed of two parts: the first half describes Hu Sijie driving away the Third Sister and the lascivious fox in order to monopolize Scholar Shang, while the second half tells how Scholar Shang, Hu Sijie's lover, out of compassion releases Hu Sijie after she is trapped in an altar set up by a man from Shaanxi; Hu Sijie, grateful for her escape, never forgets their old bond even after attaining immortality.
"The Tale of Fourth Sister Hu" leaves a relatively shallow impression, for its plot is rather superficial and the writing somewhat casual.
In terms of fox spirits being punished for seducing humans, "Hu Si Jie" is quite similar to "Dong Sheng." In "Dong Sheng," Wang Jiusi, having already severed his affections, causes the punished fox spirit to die; in "Hu Si Jie," Scholar Shang, because he harbors feelings for Hu Si Jie, enables her to escape punishment. Although the processes of capturing the fox in these two tales are fantastical, they are richly varied, unique, and delicately portrayed. "Dong Sheng" uses incense, while "Hu Si Jie" involves setting up an altar and performing rituals, demonstrating Pu Songling's familiarity with folk exorcism arts and the diversity of his narrative methods.