Original Text
Scholar Han had been living in his country villa for half a year, returning home only at year's end. One night, just as his wife had lain down, she heard the sound of footsteps. Opening her eyes, she saw the coal fire in the stove burning fiercely with bright flames. There stood an old woman, about eighty or ninety years of age, her face deeply wrinkled, her back bent, and her sparse hair countable on her head. The old woman said to Han's wife, "Would you like to eat some soup cakes?" Han's wife was terrified and dared not reply. So the old woman used fire tongs to stir the coals, set a pot on the stove, and poured in water. Soon the water was heard boiling vigorously. The old woman lifted the hem of her robe, opened a pouch at her waist, took out several dozen soup cakes, and threw them into the pot, each one making a distinct sound as it fell. The old woman muttered to herself, "Let me find a pair of chopsticks," and then walked out of the room. Taking advantage of the old woman's absence, Han's wife quickly rose, picked up the pot, and poured the soup cakes behind the bamboo bed mat, then covered herself with the quilt and lay down again. Shortly after, the old woman returned and demanded to know where the pot of soup cakes had gone. Han's wife screamed in terror, waking the entire household, and only then did the old woman depart. The family lifted the bamboo mat, and when they shone a lamp upon it, they saw several dozen cockroaches piled up there.
Commentary
The tale recounts the terrifying nocturnal experience of Scholar Han's wife.
She saw an uninvited old woman, taking over the household as if she owned it, boiling noodles in the kitchen. The plot was not complex, and the description was extremely concise; for instance, the old woman's appearance was described as "eighty or ninety years old, with chicken-skin and a hunchback, her sparse hair countable strand by strand." There was little dialogue, all of it the old woman's soliloquy, yet it was forceful and brooked no argument. The old woman's movements in boiling the noodles were fierce, abrupt, and efficient. Later, a conflict arose with Han's wife. The story only revealed its strangeness at the end, extraordinary and unusual—the noodles turned out to be "dozens of ground beetles piled up within," leaving a lingering sense of dread.
Among the classical Chinese supernatural tales in literary language, there is a notable category where the author's intent lies not in the plot or characters, but in the sheer delight of whimsy—a playful curiosity that often carries a darkly humorous flavor. This tradition begins with the Tang dynasty chuanqi tale "Yuan Wuyou" from the "Xuan Guai Lu" (Records of Mysteries and Monsters), and the present story is its direct descendant.