Original Text
Qi Anqi of Ji'nan was by nature frivolous and fond of visiting prostitutes. His wife Lin, beautiful and virtuous, gently admonished him, but he would not listen. Just then, northern troops invaded the county, and Lin was captured. At dusk, as the army halted for the night, a soldier sought to rape her. Lin feigned consent. When the soldier fastened his saber to the bedpost, she swiftly drew the blade and cut her own throat, falling dead. The soldier carried her corpse and cast it into the wilderness. The next day, the army decamped and departed. Word spread that Lin had died, and Qi Anqi, grief-stricken, went to seek her body. Finding it, he saw she still breathed faintly. He carried her home, where her eyes gradually moved, her brows slightly knitted, and faint moans escaped her. Qi Anqi supported her neck and fed her drops of food and water through a bamboo tube, which she slowly swallowed. He caressed her and said, "If you should survive, and I prove unfaithful to you, may I meet a wretched end!" After half a year, Lin's wound healed as before, but her head, pulled by the scar on her neck, seemed ever turned as if looking left. Qi Anqi did not find her ugly; his love for her burned even more ardently than before. His wanton visits to brothels ceased entirely from that day. Lin, feeling her own disfigurement, busied herself arranging a concubine for her husband, but Qi Anqi steadfastly refused.
After several years of marriage, Lin-shi failed to bear a child, so she urged her husband to take a maidservant as a concubine. Qi Anqi said, "I have sworn to remain faithful and devoted; do the ghosts and spirits not hear this? Even if the incense of posterity is extinguished, that is my fate. If Heaven does not intend to cut off my line, how could you remain barren until old age?" Thus Lin-shi feigned illness, making Qi Anqi sleep alone, and sent the maidservant Haitang with bedding to sleep beneath his bed. After some days, she secretly asked Haitang about the nights, and Haitang said nothing had happened. Lin-shi did not believe her. That night, she ordered Haitang not to go, and secretly went herself to sleep in Haitang's place. Soon, hearing snoring from the bed, Lin-shi quietly climbed onto Qi Anqi's bed and caressed him. Qi Anqi woke and asked who it was; Lin-shi whispered in his ear, "I am Haitang." Qi Anqi refused, saying, "I have an oath and dare not break it. If it were as before, would I need you to come to my bed and force yourself on me?" Lin-shi then got down and left. Qi Anqi still slept alone. Lin-shi then sent Haitang to go to Qi Anqi in her own guise. Qi Anqi thought that his wife had never come unbidden before, and grew suspicious. So he felt Haitang's neck, found no scar, knew it was the maidservant, and scolded her out. Haitang left in shame. At dawn, Qi Anqi told Lin-shi what had happened and demanded that Haitang be married off quickly. Lin-shi smiled and said to Qi Anqi, "Do not be too stubborn. If a son is born, it would be a great fortune." Qi Anqi said, "If I break my oath, the ghosts and spirits will punish me; can I still hope to have descendants then?"
The next day, Lin Shi smiled and said to Qi Anqi, "A farmer understands that after sowing seeds, whether sprouts rise or ears form cannot be foretold, but the custom of planting must not be violated. The time for evening plowing has arrived." Qi Anqi smiled, understanding her meaning. That night, Lin Shi extinguished the lamp and had Haitang lie in her own bedclothes. When Qi Anqi entered the room and approached the bed, he jestingly said, "The farmer has come. Deeply ashamed that my plowing tools are not sharp, I fear I may fail this fine field." Haitang remained silent. As they proceeded, Haitang whispered, "My private parts are somewhat swollen; the violent tossing is too much to bear." Thus Qi Anqi treated her tenderly, with gentle warmth. When the act was done, Haitang feigned a need to urinate and replaced herself with Lin Shi. From then on, whenever her monthly cycle passed, they used this method, yet Qi Anqi remained unaware of the ruse.
Soon after, Haitang showed signs of pregnancy. Lin often told her to sit quietly and rest, not allowing her to wait upon them or do any work. One day, Lin deliberately said to Qi Anqi, "I urged you to take the maid as a concubine, but you refused. If one day she impersonates me and you mistakenly believe it, and after union she becomes pregnant, what will you do?" Qi Anqi replied, "Keep the child, but sell the mother." Upon hearing this, Lin said no more. Soon after, Haitang gave birth to a boy. Lin secretly hired a wet nurse and had the child raised in her mother's home. After four or five years, Haitang bore another son and a daughter. The eldest son, named Changsheng, was already seven years old and studied at his maternal grandmother's house. Lin would pretend to visit her parents every half month, going to see them. As Haitang grew older, Qi Anqi often urged Lin to send her away quickly, and Lin agreed. Haitang missed her children day and night, so Lin fulfilled her wish, secretly dressing her hair in a married woman's coiffure and sending her to her mother's home. She said to Qi Anqi, "You daily say I do not marry off Haitang; my mother's household has a foster son, and she is now betrothed to him."
Several more years passed, and the children had all grown up. As Qi Anqi's birthday approached, Lin Shi prepared a feast the day before, ready to entertain guests and relatives. At this time, Qi Anqi sighed and said, "How swiftly the years pass; suddenly half a lifetime has gone by. Fortunately, everyone is healthy, and our household does not suffer from cold or hunger. What is lacking is that we have no son to dandle on our knees." Lin Shi replied, "You are particularly stubborn and would not listen to my words—whom can you blame? Yet if you desire a son, two would not be difficult, let alone one." Qi Anqi said joyfully, "Since you say it is not difficult, then tomorrow I shall have two sons." Lin Shi said, "Easy! Easy!" The next morning, Lin Shi ordered the carriage prepared, drove to her mother's home, dressed the children neatly, and then returned with them in the carriage. Upon entering the gate, she had the children stand in a row, and together they called out "Father" and kowtowed to wish him a long life. After the bows, they rose and looked at each other, laughing and giggling. Qi Anqi was startled and puzzled, not knowing what was happening. Lin Shi said, "Did you not want two sons? I have added a daughter for you as well." Then she recounted the whole story from beginning to end. Qi Anqi said happily, "Why did you not tell me earlier?" Lin Shi said, "If I had told you earlier, I feared you would not want their mother. Now that the children are grown, can you still drive her away?" Qi Anqi was deeply moved and could not help shedding tears. So he brought Haitang back, and they grew old together. In ancient times there were many virtuous women, but one like Lin Shi could truly be called a sage!
Commentary
Qi Anqi originally engaged in philandering, but under the influence of his chaste and virtuous wife Lin, he thoroughly reformed his ways. Faced with Lin's infertility, he remained steadfast in his vow never to take another wife. Later, Lin employed a covert strategy, using a surrogate to bear children, and thus the family came to have two sons and a daughter.
The novel goes to great lengths to depict Lin's virtue: when Qi Anqi 'delighted in consorting with courtesans,' she merely 'gently admonished him'; upon discovering her own infertility, she spared no effort in finding women for Qi Anqi, even resorting to the scheme of borrowing another's womb to bear a child—truly a paragon of absolute, self-conscious adherence to feudal moral codes. Thus Pu Songling praised her, saying: 'In ancient times there were virtuous women, but one like Lin may be called a saint!' Dan Minglun commented: 'As I read to the end, I suddenly knew not why I too felt an overwhelming joy and gratitude that made my tears flow uncontrollably.'
Many readers have expressed doubts about the plot in which Qi Anqi remains utterly unaware of the surrogate pregnancy, with some even suggesting that "the author goes to great lengths to depict Qi as being deceived by Lin, yet I secretly suspect that Lin is the one deceived by Qi." In truth, a tale is but a tale, and one should not take it too seriously; if Qi Anqi had seen through everything with crystal clarity, would the story still hold any charm?