Original Text
Nan Sanfu was a scion of a noble family in Jinyang. He owned a villa over ten li from his residence, and he would often ride there every day. One day, encountering rain, he passed through a small village and saw a farmer's house with a spacious courtyard, so he entered to take shelter. The nearby villagers, fearing Nan Sanfu's influence, quickly had the host come out to invite him inside, moving with restraint and showing respectful demeanor. As Nan Sanfu entered the room, he found it to be a cramped chamber. After he sat down, the host took up a broom and diligently swept the area, then brewed honey water to serve as tea. When Nan Sanfu bade him sit, he only then dared to take a seat. Upon asking his name, the host replied, "My surname is Dou, given name Tingzhang." Soon, wine and stewed chicken were brought forth, and the hospitality was most attentive. A girl with a hairpin in her hair served the dishes, occasionally standing by the door, revealing half her figure—she seemed about fifteen or sixteen, dignified and beautiful beyond compare. Nan Sanfu's heart was stirred at the sight. After the rain ceased and he returned home, he still yearned ardently for Dou Tingzhang's daughter. The next day, Nan Sanfu went with grain and cloth to express his thanks, thereby deepening their acquaintance. Thereafter, he frequently visited the Dou household, sometimes bringing wine and dishes to spend time with the family. The Dou girl gradually grew familiar with him and no longer avoided him, serving him in his presence. When Nan Sanfu gazed at her, she would lower her head and smile softly. Nan Sanfu became increasingly infatuated with her, and within three days, he would surely visit. One day, when Dou Tingzhang happened to be away, Nan Sanfu sat for a long while, and the Dou girl came out to attend to him. He seized her arm and approached her with playful intent. The girl, ashamed and flustered, sternly refused, saying, "Though I am poor, I must marry according to propriety. How can you rely on your high birth to be arrogant and insult me?" At that time, Nan Sanfu's wife had already died, so he clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "If I can win your affection, I vow never to marry another." The Dou girl demanded he swear an oath, and Nan Sanfu, pointing to the sun and sky, swore to never break his promise, whereupon she yielded to him.
From that time onward, whenever Nan Sanfu saw that Dou Tingzhang was away from home, he would come to indulge in amorous dalliance with Dou's daughter. The girl urged him, saying, "Secret trysts between a man and a woman cannot last forever. My family lives under your protection every day; if you would consent to form a proper marriage bond with me, my parents would surely take pride in it and would not refuse. You must make haste to arrange it!" Nan Sanfu agreed readily, but upon reflection, he thought, how could a peasant girl be a fit match for him? So he temporized, finding excuses to delay the matter. Just then, a matchmaker came to propose a marriage with a girl from a wealthy and influential family. At first, Nan Sanfu hesitated, but upon learning that the girl was both beautiful and rich, he made up his mind. Dou's daughter, now pregnant, grew more urgent in her pleas for marriage, whereupon Nan Sanfu ceased visiting her altogether. Before long, she gave birth to a son. Dou Tingzhang beat her in a rage, and she confessed the truth, saying, "Nan Sanfu promised to marry me." Only then did Dou Tingzhang release her and send someone to inquire of Nan Sanfu, but Nan Sanfu immediately denied everything. So Dou Tingzhang abandoned the infant and beat his daughter even more savagely. The girl secretly begged a neighbor woman to inform Nan Sanfu of her suffering, but he still paid no heed. One night, she fled her home, found that the abandoned child was still alive, and taking it in her arms, went to Nan Sanfu's gate. Knocking, she told the gatekeeper, "If I can but have one word from your master, I may yet live. Even if he cares nothing for me, does he not care for his own child?" The gatekeeper relayed this to Nan Sanfu, who ordered that she not be admitted. The girl leaned against the gate, weeping bitterly, until the fifth watch, when her cries ceased. At dawn, when they looked, she was sitting there, holding the infant in her arms, already dead and stiff.
Dou Tingzhang, burning with resentment, brought the case to the authorities, and the officials, high and low, all deemed Nan Sanfu guilty of moral transgression, intending to punish him. Nan Sanfu, terrified, bribed them with a thousand taels of silver and thus escaped punishment. That wealthy family dreamed of Dou's daughter, her hair disheveled, holding a child, who said to them, "You must not betroth your daughter to that heartless man. If you do, I will surely kill her!" But the wealthy family, coveting Nan Sanfu's riches, eventually gave their daughter to him in marriage. After the wedding, the bride brought a lavish dowry and was fair and comely, yet she was ever prone to sorrow, showing no joy throughout the day, and often wept even in the marriage bed. When asked the reason, she would not speak. A few days later, the bride's father arrived, and upon entering the gate, he burst into tears. Nan Sanfu, without time to inquire the cause, helped him inside. When the father saw his daughter, he cried out in alarm, "Just now in the rear garden, I saw my daughter hanging dead from a peach tree—who is this in the room?" At these words, the bride's face changed suddenly, and she fell dead to the ground. Upon inspection, it was Dou's daughter. They rushed to the rear garden and found the bride indeed had hanged herself. Nan Sanfu, in great terror, went to inform Dou Tingzhang. Dou opened his daughter's grave and found the coffin empty. His former grievance unassuaged, Dou was now doubly grieved and enraged, and he again brought the case to the authorities. The officials, deeming the matter too fantastical to convict, were swayed when Nan Sanfu bribed them with rich gifts and begged Dou to drop the suit, so the case was dismissed. Yet from that time, Nan Sanfu's fortunes gradually declined, and because the strange tale spread far and wide, for several years no one dared to give him their daughter in marriage.
Nan Sanfu, having no other choice, became engaged to the daughter of a Jinshi named Cao, who lived over a hundred li away. Before the wedding could take place, a false rumor spread among the people that the imperial court was about to select maidens from good families to fill the imperial harem, so all families with daughters hastily sent them to their future husbands' homes. One day, an old woman led a sedan chair to Nan's house, claiming she had come on behalf of the Cao family to deliver their daughter. She helped the Cao girl into the house and said to Nan Sanfu, "The matter of selecting consorts is urgent, and there is no time to follow proper rites. I have brought the young lady here for now." Nan asked, "Why are there no relatives from her family?" The old woman replied, "There are still some modest dowry gifts to come, and the guests and bearers are following behind." With that, she hurried away. Nan Sanfu found the Cao girl quite elegant and charming, so he began to jest and flirt with her. The girl lowered her head and toyed with her sash, her manner strikingly reminiscent of Dou the girl. A sense of dread arose in Nan's heart, but he dared not speak of it. When the girl went to bed, she pulled the covers over her head and lay down, which Nan took to be the usual shyness of a bride and thought nothing of it. As night fell, no one from the Cao family arrived, and Nan grew suspicious. He lifted the covers to question the girl, only to find her dead, her body cold as ice. Greatly alarmed and unable to fathom the cause, he hastily sent word to Cao the Jinshi, who declared he had never sent his daughter at all, and the matter became a widespread marvel. At that time, a daughter of a Juren named Yao had recently been buried, but the very next night, grave robbers had broken open the coffin, destroying it, and the corpse had vanished. Hearing of this strange affair, Yao Juren went to Nan's house to investigate and confirmed that the dead girl was indeed his own daughter. When the covers were lifted, her body was completely naked. In a fury, Yao filed a lawsuit with the authorities. The magistrate, already disgusted by Nan's notorious misconduct, sentenced him for the crime of desecrating a grave and exposing a corpse, and he was condemned to death.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Even when a union occurs without parental consent and the matchmaker's word, yet culminates in marriage, it is still deemed improper—how much more so when vows are made in earnest but later cast aside? When the Dou girl was beaten in her own home, Nan Sanfu turned a deaf ear; when she wept before his gate, he still turned a deaf ear—how cruel was this! And the retribution that Nan Sanfu suffered for this was even more grievous than that which befell Li Yi in the tale of Huo Xiaoyu.
Commentary
This is a tale of a faithless male protagonist who, after first seducing and then abandoning his lover, ultimately meets his just retribution.
When ordinary readers peruse Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, they often assume that Pu Songling held rather liberal views on relations between men and women, condoning or tolerating premarital intimacy, yet this is not the case. Upon careful examination of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, one discovers that premarital intimacy is actually confined solely to ghosts, foxes, flowers, and spirits. In tales of human courtship and marriage, Pu Songling did not regard premarital intimacy as conforming to moral standards. In the "Historian of the Strange's Commentary" of this tale, he states: "To seduce a woman first and then marry her in the end is not virtuous conduct." This serves as clear proof. Apart from his condemnation of premarital intimacy in Dou Shi, all human love and marriage stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio that involve premarital intimacy possess special circumstances. For instance, Fan Shiyi in Feng Sanniang was a person who had already died, Liancheng in Liancheng was a ghost who repaid a debt, and Abao in Abao was entwined with her lover only in dreams. These specific limitations all reflect Pu Songling's moral stance on matters of human courtship and marriage.
The phenomenon of ingratitude caused by disparity in social status and rank is second only to that resulting from the fading of beauty and the waning of favor. This tale, together with "The Filial and Martial Scholar," can be said to achieve the same effect through different means in exposing ingratitude in society, covering the main aspects of this social issue. Moreover, in the subsequent "Commentary by the Historian of the Strange," both stories invoke the character of Li Shilang from the Tang dynasty romance "The Story of Huo Xiaoyu" for comparison. This not only reflects the profound influence of "The Story of Huo Xiaoyu" in the history of Chinese culture but also reveals how deeply Pu Songling was influenced by that romance when crafting these two narratives.