Original Text
Xing De, a native of Zezhou, was a bold outlaw of the greenwood. He possessed immense strength, could draw a powerful bow, and was skilled in shooting arrows in rapid succession, a feat hailed as unparalleled in his time. Yet throughout his life, he remained downcast and destitute, unskilled in managing trade, and whenever he ventured into commerce, he invariably lost his entire capital. In those days, wealthy merchants from both the southern and northern capitals were eager to travel with Xing De, relying on his presence to feel secure on the road. One year, as early winter approached, two or three merchants offered to lend him some funds and invited him to join them in a trading venture. Xing De also contributed all his own savings, combining them with the borrowed money to purchase a large stock of goods. He had a friend skilled in divination, and before setting out, Xing De sought him out to forecast his fortune. After casting the lots, the friend said, 'This hexagram is one of regret, foretelling hardship. In this venture, not only will you fail to profit, but you will also lose your capital.' Hearing this, Xing De grew disheartened and considered abandoning the journey, but his merchant companions pressed and compelled him to go. Upon reaching the capital, the prediction proved true, and Xing De suffered a loss. Around the middle of the twelfth month, he rode out of the city gate on his horse, his spirits even heavier as he pondered having no capital for the coming year.
At that time, the morning mist was thick and hazy, so he decided to take a brief rest at a roadside tavern and find some wine to drink. Inside the tavern, there was also an old man with graying hair and beard, along with two young men, who were drinking beneath the northern window. A servant boy with disheveled yellow hair stood nearby in attendance. Xing De sat in the southern seat, directly facing the old man. When the servant boy poured wine for the old man and the young men, he carelessly overturned the cups and dishes, soiling the old man's garments. One of the young men, seeing this, flew into a rage and immediately seized the servant boy by the ear, forcing him to take a kerchief and wipe the stains from the old man's clothes. Xing De also noticed that the offending servant boy wore iron arrow rings on his fingers, each ring half an inch thick and weighing about two ounces. After the meal, the old man ordered the young man to take silver from a leather pouch and pile it on the table, weighing it on a scale while counting on his fingers, spending about the time it takes to drink a few cups of wine before wrapping and sealing all the silver. Then, the young man led a lame black mule from the stable, helped the old man mount it, and the servant boy, riding a scrawny horse, followed the old man out of the tavern. The two young men fastened their arrows at their waists, led their horses, and galloped away together. Xing De, spying so much silver, stared with eyes aslant and fixed, a burning greed kindling within him. So he set down his cup and hastily gave chase. Seeing the old man and the servant boy moving slowly ahead, he left the main road and cut across a side path, charging before the old man, drawing his bowstring taut and glaring fiercely. The old man bent down, removed his left boot, and said with a faint smile, "Do you not recognize Old Glutton?" Xing De paid him no heed but drew his bow with all his might and shot. The old man reclined on his saddle, stretched out his left foot, and with two toes spread wide like pincers, caught the arrow that Xing De had shot, laughing as he said, "Is that all the skill you have? Does it even require your old father to take a hand?" At these words, Xing De's fury blazed, and he unleashed his signature technique—the chain of arrows—the first arrow barely loosed before the second followed on its heels. The old man caught one arrow with his hand, seemingly unprepared for such a rapid volley, but the second arrow flew straight into his mouth, and with a sudden lurch, he tumbled from his horse, lying stiff on the ground with the arrow clenched between his teeth. The servant boy also dismounted. Xing De rejoiced secretly, thinking the old man had been struck dead by the arrow, and slowly approached him. Suddenly, the prostrate old man sprang up, spat out the arrow, and clapped his hands, saying, "At our first meeting, why play such a rough joke?" Xing De was greatly startled, and his mount, terrified, bolted away at a gallop. Only then did Xing De realize that the old man was no ordinary person, and he dared not return to plunder again.
Xing De rode his horse another thirty or forty li, just as he caught up with a local official's steward who was heading to the capital with a large amount of valuables. Xing De intercepted and seized them, estimating the haul to be about a thousand taels of silver, and his heart began to feel at ease. As he hurried on his way, he suddenly heard the sound of hooves in the distance. Turning back, he saw it was the servant who had been following Old Glutton, riding that same lame mule at a gallop, who shouted at him: "Halt, fellow! You should share some of your plunder with us." Xing De said, "Do you know me, 'Xing the Man of Linked Arrows'?" The servant replied, "I have already witnessed your skill." Xing De, seeing that the servant was unremarkable in appearance and carried no bow, thought he could easily dispatch him. So he drew his bow and shot three arrows in rapid succession, like a flock of flying eagles. The servant, unhurried, caught one arrow in each hand and held a third in his mouth, then laughed, saying, "With such meager skill, you are truly a disgrace! Your father today left in haste and had no time to find a bow; these arrows of yours are useless, so I return them to you!" He then took an iron ring from his finger, threaded the arrows through it, and hurled them with force. Xing De heard a whizzing sound by his ear; hurriedly he tried to parry with his bow, but the bowstring struck the iron ring with a clang, snapping the string and splitting the bow. Xing De, stunned by the servant's extraordinary skill, had no time to dodge before an arrow pierced his ear, and he involuntarily tumbled from his horse. The servant also dismounted and began to search for his money. Xing De, lying on the ground, struck at the servant with his bow. The servant seized the bow, broke it in two, then into four pieces, and cast them aside. Then, gripping Xing De's arms with one hand and pinning his legs with a foot, Xing De felt his arms bound as if by ropes and his legs weighted down as if by a heavy press, unable to move an inch. Xing De wore a double-layered leather belt, three fingers wide; the servant, with a single gentle squeeze of his hand, caused the belt to crumble like ashes wherever he touched. The servant took the valuables from Xing De's person, then leaped onto the horse, raised his hand in a salute, said, "I have offended you," and drifted away.
After Xing De returned to his hometown, he finally became a man of upright character who abided by the law and followed propriety, often recounting this past incident to others without any concealment. His experience was quite similar to the story of Liu Dongshan.
Commentary
This is a story about a bandit who reformed himself, washed his hands of evil, and became a "virtuous man." Xing De changed his ways not because of moral awakening or the results of teaching, but because he was humiliated by someone more skilled than himself, realizing that his techniques of "drawing a strong bow and shooting arrows in rapid succession" met a stronger opponent, and that he could no longer look down on everything with his own minor talents.
Although the story directly portrays Old Glutton as effortlessly countering Xing De's rapid-fire arrows as if playing a game, showcasing his extraordinary martial prowess, it relies even more on the superb skills of a servant with "disheveled yellow hair" to set off his master's greatness—if even the servant is so formidable, Old Glutton's abilities become all the more unfathomable. Xing De unleashed his chain arrows twice, first targeting Old Glutton and then the servant, with the descriptions varying greatly in technique. The servant's counterattack can be described as "turning the enemy's own tactics against him," using an iron arrow ring along with Xing De's own arrows. Thus, what is called the chain arrows is actually depicted three times, each distinct, demonstrating astonishing descriptive power.
The novel explicitly states at its conclusion, "This is somewhat akin to the story of Liu Dongshan." The tale of Liu Dongshan first appeared in Song Youqing's "Jiu Yue Ji," and later Ling Mengchu adapted it into a vernacular story in his "First Collection of Striking the Table in Astonishment," titled "Liu Dongshan Boasts His Skills at Shuncheng Gate; The Eighteen Elder Brother Leaves Mysterious Traces at a Village Tavern." Zhang Chao, a contemporary of Pu Songling, also adapted it, including "The Tale of the Qinhuai Strongman" in the fifth volume of "Yu Chu New Records." Lu Zhan'en, a commentator on "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," believed that Pu Songling's reference to Liu Dongshan's story was "found in Song Youqing's 'Jiu Yue Ji.'" If we consider Wang Yuyang's entry in "Chibei Occasional Talks: Strange Tales III," titled "Scholar Song's Mathematical Skills," which mentions, "Song had a 'Jiu Yue Ji,' containing tales like 'Liu Dongshan' and 'Du Shiniang' from the unofficial histories," then it is highly probable that the chapter "The Glutton" drew upon the "Jiu Yue Ji."