Original Text
In Wenden County, there were two young men, Huo and Yan, who had been close friends since childhood and often jested with each other. Both were quick-witted and sharp-tongued, always striving to outdo one another in their banter, fearing their skills were not sharp enough. Huo's neighbor was an old woman who had once served as a midwife for Yan's wife. One day, she happened to chat with Huo's wife and mentioned that Yan's wife had two warts on her private parts. Huo's wife then told her husband. Huo, seizing the opportunity, devised a scheme with his companions to play a trick on Yan. As Yan approached, Huo deliberately whispered to his friends, saying, "Yan's wife is most intimate with me." The others did not believe him. Huo then began to fabricate a story, speaking with great detail and emphasis, adding, "If you doubt me, I can offer proof: she has a pair of warts on either side of her private parts." Yan, standing outside the window, overheard every word Huo said and, without entering, turned and left. Upon returning home, Yan brutally beat his wife. When she protested her innocence, he tortured her even more savagely. Unable to bear such abuse, Yan's wife hanged herself. Only then did Huo regret his actions deeply, but he dared not confess the truth to Yan to clear the woman's name.
After Yan's wife died, her restless spirit wept throughout the night, disturbing the peace of the entire household. Before long, Yan himself died suddenly, and the ghost's weeping ceased. Huo's wife then dreamed of a woman with disheveled hair, shrieking loudly, "I died a miserable death—how dare you and your husband remain so joyful!" Upon waking, Huo's wife fell ill and could not rise from her bed, dying a few days later. Soon after, Huo himself dreamed of a woman pointing at him and cursing vehemently, striking his mouth with her palm. Startled awake, he felt a dull ache in his lips; touching them, he found they were swollen high. Within three days, two warts grew beside his mouth, and from that day forward, they could never be cured. Huo dared no longer laugh or speak loudly, for if he opened his mouth too hastily, the pain was unbearable.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: To become a vengeful spirit after death reveals the depth of her grievance. To transfer the affliction of the victim's private parts onto the lips of the tormentor is indeed miraculous and borders on mockery!
In the county there was a man named Wang who was particularly close with a fellow student from the same school. Once, when this friend's wife was returning to her parents' home, Wang knew that the donkey she rode was easily startled, so he hid in advance among the grass by the roadside. When the woman approached on the donkey, Wang suddenly leaped out; the donkey took fright, and the woman fell to the ground. At that time, only a young servant accompanied her, unable to help her mount the donkey again. Wang then solicitously assisted her back onto the donkey, half-supporting and half-embracing her, though the woman did not recognize who he was. From then on, Wang boasted triumphantly, claiming that while the servant chased after the donkey, he had dallied with the woman in the grass, and he described in great detail the undergarments, trousers, and shoes she wore. When the woman's husband heard this, he left in deep shame. Shortly after, Wang saw through a crack in his window his friend, holding a knife in one hand and dragging his wife with the other, charging over in fury. Wang was greatly terrified and hastily fled over the wall. His friend pursued him closely, chasing him for two or three li before giving up and returning. Because Wang had run with all his might, his lungs expanded, and he thus contracted asthma, which plagued him for many years without being cured.
Commentary
A jest is a kind of well-intentioned teasing, which should have its limits and measure, as the saying goes, "A good jest does not inflict harm." However, the tragedy triggered by a lewd story in this tale has actually crossed the boundary of jesting. In the main text, Scholar Huo fabricated falsehoods out of nothing, spreading slander and defamation; in the appendix, Wang deliberately devised sexual harassment and framed the innocent with malicious accusations. Both arose from the dark and perverse psychology of men, which was no longer mere jesting but had already violated the penal code, and their punishment was well-deserved. Yet, the obscene jokes among men caused innocent women to suffer, reflecting the gloom of a patriarchal society. Moreover, the foul diseases that befell Scholar Huo and Wang were both results of karmic retribution, which is also a figment of Pu Songling's imagination.