Original Text
In Luocun there lived a man named Chen Dai, who from childhood was both foolish and ugly. He married a woman who was very beautiful, but she felt her husband was beneath her and was deeply discontented, though she remained chaste and kept peace with her mother-in-law. One night, as she lay sleeping alone, she suddenly heard the wind blow open the door, and in walked a scholar who removed his clothes and cap, drew near her bed, and lay down beside her. Terrified, she resisted with all her might, but her flesh and bones went limp, and she had no choice but to submit to his advances before he departed. From then on, he came every night without fail. After a month, her face grew haggard, and her mother-in-law, alarmed, pressed her for the reason. At first ashamed, she finally confessed the truth. The mother-in-law cried out in horror, "This is the work of a demon!" They tried every charm and curse to stop him, but nothing availed. So they had Chen Dai hide in the room, clutching a wooden club, and wait in the dark. At midnight, the scholar came again, placing his cap on the table and hanging his robe on a rack. Just as he was about to climb into bed, he suddenly exclaimed, "Alas, there is the smell of a living person!" and hastily threw on his clothes. Chen Dai leaped up from the darkness and struck him on the ribs with a loud thud. When he looked around, the scholar had vanished. Lighting a torch, they found a piece of muddy clothing fallen to the floor, and the muddy cap still lying on the table.
Commentary
If Chen Dai had not been "ugly and foolish from youth," and his wife had not been "quite beautiful, feeling that her husband was inferior to others, and thus depressed and unfulfilled," then the Mud Scholar would have been merely an ordinary anomaly, and the truth or falsehood of the tale would not warrant deep scrutiny. But with the couple's marriage so unfortunate, the authenticity of the Mud Scholar story becomes quite thought-provoking. The tale's conclusion deliberately notes that "a piece of mud-stained clothing fell to the ground, and the mud headpiece on the desk still remained," which is nothing more than further evidence of the Mud Scholar's actual existence.
The appearance of the Mud Scholar added turbulence to the unhappy marriage of Chen Dai and a certain woman. After the Mud Scholar was eliminated, did the painful marriage of Chen Dai and this woman become blissful, or did it merely continue on without further upheaval? The author leaves the reader with ample room for imagination.