Original Text
Chen Huanyue was a man from Changzhi County in Luzhou. He had a daughter who was clever and beautiful. One day, a Taoist priest, while begging, caught a glimpse of Chen's daughter and then left. From then on, he daily carried his alms bowl and loitered near the Chen family's home. It happened that a blind man came out of the Chen residence, and the Taoist priest hurried after him, walking alongside, and asked where he had come from. The blind man said, "I have just been to the Chen family to tell fortunes." The Taoist said, "I hear that the Chen family has a daughter. One of my cousins intends to seek her hand in marriage, but I do not know the young lady's age and birth date." The blind man told the Taoist the details, and then the Taoist took his leave and departed.
After a few days, Chen was embroidering in her room when she suddenly felt numbness in her feet, which gradually spread to her thighs and then to her waist and abdomen, and soon she fell to the ground in a daze. After a long while, she managed to rise groggily and intended to go to her mother to tell her of the strange occurrence. When she stepped out the door, she saw vast black waves all around, with only a thread-like path in the middle; terrified, she retreated, but saw that the rooms and dwellings were all submerged in black water. Looking again at the path, she saw no travelers, only a Taoist priest walking slowly ahead. So she followed him from afar, hoping to meet a fellow villager to whom she could recount her plight. After walking several li, she suddenly saw a village; looking closely, it was her own home. Greatly startled, she said, "After all this wandering, I am still in the village. How could I have been so confused!" She joyfully entered the house, but found her parents had not yet returned. So she went back to her own room, where the unfinished embroidered shoes still lay on the bed. Feeling utterly exhausted from her journey, she sat down to rest. Suddenly, the Taoist priest entered; Chen was terrified and tried to flee, but he seized her and pressed her onto the bed. She tried to scream, but her voice failed her. The priest swiftly took a sharp knife and cut out her heart. She felt her soul drift ethereally from her body, standing there, and looking around, she saw that her house had vanished entirely, with only a cliff hanging over her head. She saw the priest dip his finger in her heart's blood and daub it on a wooden figurine, then he formed a sword gesture with his fingers and chanted a spell, and she felt the wooden figurine merge with her own being. The priest commanded, "From now on, you shall obey my orders without fail!" and then he attached the wooden figurine to his person.
The Chen family had lost their daughter, and the entire household was filled with fear and anxiety. They searched as far as Ox-Head Ridge, where they heard from the villagers that a woman had been found beneath the ridge with her heart gouged out. Chen Huanle rushed to verify and indeed found it was his own daughter; weeping, he reported the matter to the magistrate. The magistrate arrested all the residents living beneath the ridge and subjected them to severe torture, yet still found no clue, so he temporarily detained the suspects pending further investigation. The Taoist, sitting beneath a willow tree by the roadside a few miles from the county town, suddenly said to Chen's daughter, "Now I assign you your first task: go to the county town and observe the progress of the case. Once there, you may hide in the warm pavilion. If you see the magistrate affixing his seal, be quick to take cover, and remember this well! You are to depart at the hour of the Dragon and return at the hour of the Serpent. If you are a quarter late, I will pierce your heart with one needle, causing you excruciating pain; if half an hour late, two needles; and with the third needle, your soul will be scattered and your spirit annihilated." Hearing this, Chen's daughter was terrified, her hair standing on end, and she drifted away like a wisp of smoke. In an instant, she arrived at the government office and, as instructed, hid in the warm pavilion. At that time, the residents from beneath Ox-Head Ridge were kneeling in a circle in the hall, awaiting interrogation. Just as the magistrate was about to affix the seal to an official document, Chen's daughter had no time to flee, and the official seal had already been taken out of its case. She felt her body grow heavy and weak, and the paper lattice of the warm pavilion seemed unable to bear her weight, emitting a creaking sound that startled everyone in the hall. The magistrate ordered the seal to be applied a second time, and the same sound occurred; at the third application, Chen's daughter fell to the ground, and everyone heard it clearly. The magistrate then rose and prayed, "If you are a wronged spirit, speak plainly, and I will seek justice for you." Chen's daughter, sobbing and choking, stepped forward and recounted in detail how the Taoist had murdered her and sent her on this errand. The magistrate dispatched a rider to the willow tree, and indeed the Taoist was there. Upon his arrest and interrogation, he immediately confessed. The magistrate then released all the prisoners. He asked Chen's daughter, "Your grievance has been redressed; where do you wish to return?" She replied, "I wish to follow you, Your Honor." The magistrate said, "My official residence has no place for you; you had better return to your home for now." Chen's daughter was silent for a long while, then said, "Your office is my home; I am going in." When the magistrate questioned her further, there was no sound. He returned to his private chambers, where his wife had just given birth to a daughter.
Commentary
This is likely a story adapted from folklore, recounting how a Taoist priest used sorcery and black magic to abduct women. The elements—such as the warning that one's birth date and time should never be casually revealed, the power of an official seal to break sorcery, and the notion of a grateful soul reincarnating—are steeped in rich folkloric tradition. The Taoist priest's scheme to send the woman from Changye to "spy on the county's trial proceedings" leads to her walking into a trap, a self-defeating act of overcleverness that also carries a comedic, folk-like irony.
The greatest characteristic of this tale lies in its narrative technique, which seamlessly interweaves the omniscient perspective with the limited perspective, transitioning without any discernible seam. The thread of the story's beginning and end adopts the omniscient perspective, while the middle section, describing how the woman is controlled by the Taoist priest, is narrated through the sights and feelings of the woman from Changzhi, allowing the reader to feel as if they are present and empathize deeply, thereby enhancing the story's sense of realism.