Original Text
Zhang Jiyu, a native of Yuncheng County in Shandong, was lying down one night but had not yet fallen asleep when he suddenly saw the entire room filled with light. Startled, he looked up and saw a ghost holding a brush, standing as if it were the star god of literary fortune, the Kuixing. He quickly rose and bowed, kowtowing in reverence, and the light soon vanished. From then on, Zhang Jiyu became arrogant, believing this to be an auspicious sign that he would come first in the imperial examinations. Yet in the end, he fell into poverty and despair, achieving nothing; his family fortunes declined, and his close relatives died one after another, leaving him alone. Why did that Kuixing god bring him not fortune but calamity instead?
Commentary
This is likely a folk anecdote and note regarding the legend of the Kuixing (the God of Literature). It is said that seeing the Kuixing portends extraordinary fortune in scholarly pursuits and official rank. The tale recounts a scholar who, upon glimpsing the Kuixing, becomes filled with arrogant confidence in his imminent rise to glory, only to find the outcome diametrically opposed to his expectations. Though this piece is brief and simple, it reveals the almost pathological psychology of intellectuals during the era of the imperial examinations. In the "Commentary by the Historian of the Strange" from the tale "Wang Zi'an" in Volume Nine of this book, it is said: "When a scholar enters the examination hall, awaiting the results, even the grass and trees startle him, and his dreams turn to phantoms. At times he conceives a thought of success, and in an instant, towers and pavilions are built; at other times he conceives a thought of failure, and in a flash, his bones and flesh decay." This may serve as a footnote to the present tale.