Original Text
In Wenden County there lived a man named Jing Xing, who had gained considerable renown even in his youth. Jing Xing and a certain Scholar Chen were neighbors, their studies separated only by a low wall. One evening, as Chen was passing by a desolate ruin, he heard a woman weeping among the pine and cypress groves. Drawing near, he saw a sash hanging from a branch, and a young woman about to hang herself. Chen asked why she sought to end her life. The woman wiped her tears and replied, "My mother has gone far away, entrusting me to my cousin. But he proved to have the heart of a wolf, and no longer provides for me. Alone and forlorn, I would rather die!" With these words, she wept again. Chen untied the sash from the branch and urged her to marry. The woman fretted that she had no one to rely on. Chen then invited her to stay temporarily at his home, and she agreed. He led her back, lit a lamp, and beheld her exquisite beauty. Chen was instantly smitten and sought to embrace her. The woman cried out loudly and resisted fiercely, her screams reaching the neighboring study. Jing Xing, hearing the commotion, leaped over the wall to investigate, and Chen released the woman. As soon as she saw Jing Xing, she fixed her gaze upon him for a long moment, then fled out the door. Both Chen and Jing gave chase, but she vanished without a trace.
Jing Xing returned home, closed the door, and was about to sleep when he saw the woman emerge gracefully from the room. Startled, he asked why she had come to his house, and she replied, "That man Chen is shallow in virtue and fortune, not worthy of entrusting one's life to." Overjoyed, Jing Xing asked her name, and she said, "My ancestors lived in Qi, so my surname is Qi, and my childhood name is A Xia." Jing Xing teased her with frivolous words, but she only smiled without refusing, so he bedded her. Usually, friends came and went in Jing Xing's study, so A Xia had to keep the door tightly shut and hide inside. After a few days, A Xia said, "I must leave for a while. Your place is crowded with eyes and ears, and I feel stifled hiding here. From now on, it's better for me to come at night." Jing Xing asked, "Where is your home?" A Xia replied, "It's not far from here." So she left at dawn. At night, she returned, and their love was deeply harmonious. After another few days, A Xia said to Jing Xing, "Though our feelings are joyful, this is ultimately a private pledge, only for secret meetings. My father serves as an official in the western frontier, and tomorrow I must go with my mother to join him. I will find a chance to tell my parents of our affair, and then we can marry openly and grow old together." Jing Xing asked, "How long before you return?" A Xia promised to meet him in ten days. After she left, Jing Xing thought that the study was no place for a long stay, and if he brought A Xia home, he feared his wife's jealousy; after much deliberation, he decided to divorce his wife. With his mind made up, he began to treat his wife harshly with abusive words. Unable to bear his insults, she wept bitterly and wished to die. Jing Xing said, "If you die, I fear I'll be implicated; it's better you return to your parents' home early." He kept urging her to leave quickly. Weeping, she said, "I have been with you for ten years, never committing the slightest misdeed; why are you so heartless?" Jing Xing had no patience for her pleas and only pressed her more urgently to go. Helpless and wronged, she left his house. Once she was gone, Jing Xing had the walls whitewashed and the rooms swept clean, craning his neck and standing on tiptoe waiting for A Xia's arrival, but she vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, with no news at all. After his wife was divorced and returned to her family, she repeatedly begged Jing Xing's close friends to intercede for reconciliation, but Jing Xing ignored her, so she remarried a man named Xiahou. Xiahou's residence adjoined Jing Xing's, and the two families had a long-standing feud over a land boundary dispute. When Jing Xing heard that his former wife had married into the Xiahou family, he was even more furious. Yet he still hoped A Xia would return soon to comfort him. After another year passed, there was still no trace of A Xia.
One day, it happened to be the birthday of the Sea God, and the temple was crowded with men and women from all around, among whom was Jingxing. From a distance, he spotted a woman who greatly resembled A Xia. Pushing his way closer, he saw that the woman had already disappeared deep into the throng; Jingxing followed her closely, watching as she threaded through the crowd and left the temple gate; but by the time he reached the outer gate, the woman had already drifted away like a breeze. No matter how he tried to pursue her, he could not catch up, and so he returned home filled with bitter regret. Another half year passed, and as Jingxing was walking along the road, he saw a young woman approaching, dressed in red robes, followed by a servant riding a black donkey. Jingxing looked closely and thought the woman in red resembled A Xia. He asked the servant following behind, "Who is this lady?" The servant replied, "She is the second wife of Master Zheng of South Village." Jingxing inquired further, "How long has it been since the marriage?" The servant said, "Only about half a month." Jingxing thought to himself, perhaps he had made a mistake. Just then, the woman in red heard their conversation and turned her head to look, her gaze meeting Jingxing's, and he saw that it was indeed A Xia. Seeing that she had married another, his anger flared up, and he cried out, "Lady Xia, why have you forgotten the vows we once made?" The servant, hearing someone rebuke his mistress, raised his fist to strike. A Xia quickly stopped him, lifting the veil from her face and said to Jingxing, "You faithless man, how dare you still show your face to me?" Jingxing replied, "It is you who have betrayed me; how have I ever wronged you?" A Xia said, "Your betrayal of your former wife is far greater than your betrayal of me! If you could treat your first wife with such coldness, how could you be kind to anyone else? In the past, I always believed that your ancestors had accumulated deep hidden virtues, and that you would have a place on the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations, so I gave myself to you. But now, because you unjustly cast aside your wife, the underworld has already stripped you of your rank and emolument; the sixth-place winner in this year's examinations, Wang Chang, is the one who has taken your name. I am now married to Master Zheng, so please think of me no more." Jingxing listened with his head bowed, utterly speechless. When he looked up again at A Xia, she had already ridden away on her donkey like a flying shadow, and Jingxing stood there, his heart filled only with boundless sorrow and regret.
In this provincial examination, Jingxing indeed failed to make the list, while the one who ranked sixth was precisely a man named Wang Chang. Axia's husband, Zheng Sheng, also passed with honors. From then on, Jingxing earned a notorious reputation among people as an ungrateful and heartless man, remaining a bachelor until the age of forty, his family fortunes declining day by day, often relying on meals from relatives and friends. Once, Jingxing happened to visit Zheng's home; Zheng entertained him and invited him to stay. Axia peered from behind a screen at the guest, and seeing Jingxing in such a downcast state, a flicker of pity stirred in her heart. She asked her husband Zheng, "Is that guest in the hall not Jing Qingyun?" Zheng replied that it was indeed him and asked when she had come to know him. Axia said, "Before I married you, I once took refuge in his home and was deeply grateful for his care. Though his conduct is base and unkind, the virtue of his ancestors is not yet exhausted, and since he is also an old friend of yours, you should consider his plight and offer him some assistance." Zheng thought her words reasonable, so he made a new set of clothes for Jingxing, replacing his tattered garments, and kept him as a guest for several days. One night, as Jingxing was about to retire, a maidservant brought him over twenty taels of silver as a gift. He heard Axia outside the window say, "This is all my private savings, a small token to repay your past kindness. With this money, you can find a good wife. Fortunately, your ancestors' deep virtue still protects their descendants. Do not commit any more heinous acts, lest you shorten your remaining years." Jingxing was deeply grateful. Returning home, he used over ten taels to buy a maidservant from a gentry family, but the new wife was both ugly and shrewish. Later, Jingxing had a son, who grew up to pass the imperial examinations and become a jinshi. Zheng Sheng later rose to the position of a secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. After Zheng died, Axia escorted his funeral procession, but when they returned home and opened the sedan chair, it was empty, and only then did people realize she was not human.
Alas! Those who have lost all conscience, abandoning the old in pursuit of the new, only to find their schemes end in utter ruin, with the egg broken and the bird flown—Heaven's retribution upon them is indeed most grievous!
Commentary
As a fox spirit, A Xia made marital choices among three men in succession. With Scholar Chen, she gave up from the very beginning; with Jing Xing, she chose to live with him for a time before abandoning him as well; finally, she selected Scholar Zheng and grew old together with him in harmony. Her relationship with Jing Xing is the focal point of this narrative and the key plot through which the author expresses his own ideals. A Xia's decisions regarding marriage were entirely based on utilitarian considerations, using shallow virtue and meager fortune, or deep virtue and abundant fortune, to determine whether to entrust herself for life. This sounds quite lofty, yet it seems essentially no different from the gold-digging women of modern marriage!
Axia is a controversial figure. By modern standards, her relationship with Jingxing positions her as a third party intruding upon a marriage; it was she who was the chief culprit in causing Jingxing to divorce his wife! Her moral condemnation of Jingxing is somewhat absurd. Conversely, although Jingxing wronged his wife, he harbored no guilt toward Axia and was even a devoted lover. According to the customs of Pu Songling's era, which permitted polygamy, Axia placed herself in the role of a concubine. Even if she had actively approached Jingxing, had he not divorced his wife, her actions would have been beyond reproach. Thus, her moral critique of Jingxing's act of divorcing his wife was not without justification.
In this passage, Pu Songling criticizes Jing Xing's actions not because he fell in love with A Xia, nor because he cohabited with her, but because he divorced his wife as a result! This violated the marriage rules of feudal society. In modern jest, it can be said that while outside banners may flutter freely, the home flag must never fall! This rule of the game can also explain all the extramarital romances of the wild scholars in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.