Original Text
In Teng County there lived a man named Zhao Wang, who together with his wife was a devout Buddhist, abstaining from meat and fish, and was regarded by the villagers as a virtuous man. The Zhao family was quite wealthy. Zhao Wang had a daughter named Xiao'er, who was exceptionally intelligent and beautiful, and he cherished her dearly. When Xiao'er was six years old, Zhao Wang had her study alongside her elder brother Changchun under a tutor; after five years of schooling, she had thoroughly mastered the Five Classics. Among her fellow students was a young man surnamed Ding, styled Zimo, three years her senior, gifted in literary talent and dashing in manner, and he fell deeply in love with Xiao'er. Ding privately confided his wish to his mother, who sent a matchmaker to propose marriage to the Zhao family. However, Zhao Wang was determined to betroth Xiao'er to a wealthy household, so he refused the offer. Not long after, Zhao Wang was seduced by the White Lotus Sect and joined their secret activities. During the Tianqi reign, when the sect leader Xu Hongru raised a rebellion against the court, the entire Zhao family followed him and became rebels. Because Xiao'er was well-versed in the classics and possessed keen insight, she mastered at a glance all the magical arts, such as cutting paper into soldiers and scattering beans into horses. At that time, Xu Hongru had six female disciples, but Xiao'er was the most outstanding, thus learning all of Xu Hongru's most formidable skills. Zhao Wang, on account of Xiao'er's abilities, was highly esteemed by Xu Hongru and entrusted with important responsibilities.
At this time, Ding Sheng was already eighteen years old and studying at the county school, yet he steadfastly refused to discuss marriage, for his heart could not forget Xiao Er. Finally, one day, he secretly fled his home and went to join the ranks of Xu Hongru. When Xiao Er saw Ding Sheng, she was overjoyed and treated him with far greater courtesy than ordinary protocol dictated. Because Xiao Er was Xu Hongru's favored disciple, she managed military affairs, toiling day and night without rest, so that even her parents seldom saw her. Every evening, Ding Sheng would meet with Xiao Er, and each time they dismissed the attending servants and soldiers, often conversing until the dead of night. On one occasion, Ding Sheng asked Xiao Er, "Do you know my true intention in coming here?" Xiao Er replied, "I do not." Ding Sheng said, "I came not to attach myself to the White Lotus Sect in hopes of achieving merit and glory; I came here solely for your sake. The White Lotus Sect is ultimately a heretical path and will never succeed—it will only bring about its own destruction. You are a clever person; have you not considered this? If you can flee this place with me, my sincere devotion will never betray you." Xiao Er was dazed and lost, as if something had slipped from her grasp. After pondering for a moment, she seemed to awaken from a dream and said, "To steal away secretly from my parents is truly unfilial; permit me to bid them farewell face to face." So they went to Zhao Wang and his wife, explaining the advantages and dangers to them. Zhao Wang remained unrepentant, saying, "Our master is a divine being; how could he be mistaken?" Xiao Er knew further persuasion was futile, so she bound her maiden hair into a married woman's coiffure, cut out two paper kites, and mounted one with Ding Sheng. The paper kites spread their wings with a rustling sound, like a pair of lovebirds flying side by side into the distance. By dawn, they had arrived within Laiwu County. Xiao Er pinched the kites' necks, and they immediately folded their wings, landing together on the ground. She put away the paper kites and brought out two paper donkeys. The two rode the donkeys into the shadow of the mountains, pretending to be refugees fleeing war, and rented a house to settle down.
Because they had left in such haste with only minimal luggage, their daily necessities were insufficient. Ding was particularly worried. He went to borrow some grain from the neighbors, but no one was willing to lend him even a single kernel. Xiao Er, however, showed not a trace of concern on her face; she simply pawned her gold hairpins and earrings to meet their urgent needs. Then the couple closed the door and sat quietly, either guessing lantern riddles or recalling books they had read in the past, competing to see who was superior. The loser would be punished by having the winner tap their wrist with two fingers joined together. Their neighbor to the west, named Weng, was a chivalrous outlaw. One day, Weng returned from a raid. Xiao Er said, "The Book of Changes says well that relying on a neighbor can bring wealth; why should we worry? Let us temporarily borrow a thousand taels of silver from him; would he refuse to lend it to me?" Ding thought this was an extremely difficult matter. Xiao Er said, "I will make him willingly send the money over." So Xiao Er cut a piece of paper into the shape of a judge, buried it in the ground, and covered it with a chicken coop. Then she pulled Ding to sit on the bed, heated a pot of old wine, and opened the Rites of Zhou to play a drinking game: they would randomly name a volume, page, and person from the book, and both would look it up together. If the person mentioned encountered a character with the radicals for food, water, or wine, that person had to drink; if it was related to wine, the penalty was doubled. Soon, Xiao Er happened to land on the "Wine Officer" section of the Heavenly Offices in the Rites of Zhou, so Ding took a large cup, filled it to the brim, and urged Xiao Er to drink quickly. Xiao Er then prayed, "If we can borrow the silver, you should immediately turn to a character with the 'drink' radical." When it was Ding's turn, he casually flipped the pages and landed on the "Turtle Officer" section of the Heavenly Offices. Xiao Er laughed joyfully and said, "The matter is already settled!" She then filled the cup with wine and made Ding drink it. Ding refused to accept this, but Xiao Er said, "Turtles are water creatures; you should drink wine like a turtle drinks water." As they were laughing and playing the drinking game, they suddenly heard a sharp sound from the chicken coop on the ground. Xiao Er stood up and said, "It has come." They opened the chicken coop and saw a cloth bag full of silver placed there, with silver coins spilling out. Ding was both startled and overjoyed.
Later, the wet nurse from the Weng household came carrying their child to visit, and whispered to them: "That day, when the master had just returned home, he sat by lamplight. Suddenly, the floor of the room split open into a great chasm, so deep its bottom could not be seen, and a judge emerged from within, saying: 'I am a clerk of the underworld. The Great Emperor of Mount Tai is summoning the yin officials to compile a register of bandit crimes, and requires a thousand silver lamps, each weighing ten taels. If you donate a hundred such lamps, your sins may be wiped clean.' The master, terrified out of his wits, hastily burned incense and prayed, offering a thousand taels of silver. Only after receiving the silver did the judge slowly return to the underworld, and the crack in the ground gradually closed." Upon hearing this tale, the young couple deliberately clicked their tongues in feigned wonder, pretending to be astonished. From then on, they gradually purchased fields, oxen, and horses, gathered servants and maids, and built their own mansion.
In the village, a group of idle and mischievous young ruffians, seeing the wealth of Ding Sheng and his wife Xiao'er, gathered some villains and climbed over the wall to rob them. Ding and Xiao'er had just been startled from their sleep when they saw the surroundings brightly lit by torches, the room filled with bandits. Two men rushed forward and seized Ding, while another reached out to touch Xiao'er's chest. Xiao'er, bare-chested, leaped up, folded her fingers, and shouted sternly at the bandits, "Stop! Stop!" Instantly, all thirteen bandits were frozen in place, their tongues sticking out as they stood dazed like wooden puppets. Only then did Xiao'er put on her clothes and trousers, descend from the bed, and summon the household servants to bind the bandits one by one, forcing them to confess the specific reasons for their robbery. Then, Xiao'er rebuked them, saying, "We came from afar to settle in this remote valley, living peacefully and seeking a livelihood, hoping for your support. Little did I expect such unrighteousness and inhumanity! Hardship and distress are common in life; if you were short of money, you could have spoken plainly. Am I the sort of miser who hoards wealth and refuses to part with a single coin? According to your wolf-like, lawless conduct, you deserve to be killed outright, but I still cannot bear it. For now, I will let you go. If you dare to offend again, I will show no mercy." The bandits kowtowed in gratitude and fled in panic.
Not long after, Xu Hongru was defeated and captured by government troops. Xiao Er's parents, brothers, and entire family were all executed. Ding Sheng used a large sum of money to ransom Xiao Er's elder brother Zhao Changchun's young son, who was only three years old. Ding Sheng and Xiao Er treated the child as their own, changing his surname to Ding and naming him Cheng Tiao. Gradually, the villagers came to know that Ding's household was related to the White Lotus Sect. At that time, a plague of locusts struck, devastating vast fields of crops. Xiao Er cut out several hundred paper kites shaped like eagles and placed them in her fields; the locusts, terrified, kept far away, not daring to enter her land, so her family suffered no loss from the calamity. The villagers, burning with envy, jointly reported them to the authorities, accusing them of being remnants of Xu Hongru's sect. The county magistrate, coveting Ding's wealth as a fat prize, arrested Ding Sheng. Ding Sheng bribed the magistrate heavily and thus escaped death. Xiao Er said, "Our wealth came by improper means, so some loss is only fitting. But the human heart here is treacherous, a nest of vipers and scorpions; we cannot stay long." So they sold off their property at a low price and moved away, settling west of Yidu County.
Xiao Er was clever by nature and skilled at accumulating wealth, surpassing men in business acumen and strategic planning. She once established a glassware factory, personally instructing and training every worker she hired. The chess pieces and lamps produced by the factory were novel and unique in design, leaving other factories far behind, so her products always sold quickly at high prices. After a few years, the Ding family's wealth surged dramatically, making them the richest in the region. Xiao Er managed her servants and laborers with great strictness; among her hundreds of subordinates, not a single one was idle or superfluous. In her leisure time, she often drank tea and played chess with her husband Ding Sheng, or read books and studied history for entertainment. Every five days, she would inspect all financial transactions, grain and money accounts, and the work performance of maids and servants. Xiao Er personally worked the abacus while Ding Sheng read out the accounts and figures. Diligent workers received varying rewards, while the lazy were punished with whipping or kneeling. On inspection days, she would grant a night off from work, and the couple would set out wine and dishes, summoning the maids and servants to sing popular folk songs for amusement. Xiao Er's perception was so keen that it seemed as if divine spirits aided her from heaven; no one dared to deceive her. The rewards she gave to her subordinates always exceeded their labor and contributions, so everything proceeded smoothly. In the village of over two hundred households, whenever there were poor families, Xiao Er would provide them with some capital to make a living on their own, and from then on, there were no more idlers or loafers in the village. One year, a severe drought struck, and Xiao Er had the villagers set up an altar in the fields. She rode a sedan chair out into the wilderness at night, imitating the gait of the ancient sage Yu while performing incantations at the altar, and sweet rain poured down, irrigating the farmland within a radius of five miles. From then on, people revered her as a divine being. Xiao Er never wore a veil to cover her face when going out, so all the men, women, and children in the village had seen her. Some young men would gather and whisper among themselves about her beauty, but when they encountered her face to face, they behaved with utmost propriety, not daring to look her directly in the eye. Every autumn, Xiao Er would spend money to hire village children who could not work in the fields to gather bitter herbs and thistles. She continued this practice for twenty years, until the herbs filled all the rooms in the upper floors of her house. People secretly laughed at her for being foolish. Not long after, a great famine struck Shandong, with grain so scarce that cannibalism occurred. Only then did Xiao Er bring out the stored wild herbs, mixing them with grain to relieve the starving. The people of several nearby villages survived solely because of her, and none were forced to abandon their homes and flee.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: The deeds of Xiao'er were truly endowed by the power of Heaven, beyond what mortal strength could achieve. Yet, had she not been awakened by a single word from Ding Sheng, she would likely have perished alongside her comrades. From this, it is evident that many in this world, possessing extraordinary talents, stray onto the wrong path and meet untimely ends. How can we know that among the six who studied under Xu Hongru, there were no others of exceptional ability? It is only regrettable that they never encountered a Ding Sheng!
Commentary
The tale, set against the backdrop of the late Ming Xu Hongru incident, recounts the legendary experiences and extraordinary talents of a woman named Xiao Er. After breaking away from Xu Hongru's faction, Xiao Er and her husband roamed the world to establish their own enterprise, making this story far richer in social events and worldly affairs than typical tales of love and marriage.
Before the young couple Xiao'er and her husband moved to "the western border of Yidu," the tale primarily depicts how Xiao'er extricated herself from the control of Xu Hongru's sect and escaped the jealous persecution of malicious neighbors in Laiwu, highlighting her miraculous sorcery of "paper and bean soldiers and horses." Among these episodes, the wondrous romance of the couple riding a paper kite, and the striking contrast when, amidst the scarcity of firewood and provisions in Laiwu, they lightly gambled over wine cups while falsely claiming to be underworld officials to extort money from their bandit neighbors, is both eerie and stirring. After relocating to Yidu, the narrative shifts to a realistic and mundane tone, emphasizing Xiao'er's exceptional qualities as a formidable woman. She possessed extraordinary household management and commercial skills, with far-sighted vision and a generous heart, not only enriching her family but also benefiting the entire community. Pu Songling praised her as "one endowed with extraordinary talent." Interestingly, at this point, Xiao'er was neither a mere housewife nor a simple female landowner; she engaged in diverse enterprises, notably "once opening a glass factory, where she would personally instruct the workers." In this sense, Xiao'er is likely the first female industrialist in classical literature, and the significance of her portrayal transcends personal legend and character traits.