Original Text
Gao Fan of Linjiang was a clever youth with a handsome appearance, and at fourteen he entered the county school. Wealthy families vied to betroth their daughters to him, but Gao Fan was extremely selective in his choices, repeatedly defying his father's wishes. His father, Gao Zhonghong, was sixty years old and had only this one son, so he doted on him excessively and could not bear to go against his wishes in the slightest. Initially, in the eastern village there was an old man named Fan, who taught children to read at the market; he brought his family to rent a house from Gao Fan's family. Fan had a daughter, named Jiangcheng, who was the same age as Gao Fan, both around eight or nine years old at the time, innocent and without guile, playing together every day. Later, Fan's family moved away, and four or five years passed without any contact. One day, Gao Fan saw a young woman in a narrow alley, exceptionally beautiful, followed by a little maid of only six or seven years. Gao Fan dared not look at her directly, only stealing glances from the corner of his eye. The woman stopped and looked at Gao Fan, as if she wanted to say something. Gao Fan looked closely and realized it was Jiangcheng, and was suddenly overjoyed. Neither spoke, but they stood gazing at each other for a long while before parting, each feeling a deep mutual affection. Gao Fan deliberately dropped a red handkerchief on the ground and walked away. The little maid picked it up and happily handed it to Jiangcheng. Jiangcheng tucked the red handkerchief into her sleeve and replaced it with her own scented handkerchief, pretending to say to the maid, "Scholar Gao is no ordinary man; we cannot keep what he has lost. Hurry and return it to him." The maid indeed chased after him and gave the scented handkerchief to Gao Fan, who was overjoyed to receive Jiangcheng's token. Returning home, he saw his mother and begged her to propose marriage to the Fan family. His mother said, "The Fan family has not even half a room to their name; they wander about homeless. How could they be worthy of marrying into our family?" Gao Fan replied, "It is my own wish, and I will not regret it." His mother was undecided and consulted Gao Zhonghong, who firmly refused.
Upon hearing this, Gao Fan grew deeply despondent and could not swallow even a single grain of rice. His mother, seeing his distress, said to Gao Zhonghong, "Though the Fan family is poor, they are not vulgar merchants or rogues. I wish to visit their home and see if the girl is suitable; if she is, there would be no harm in forming a marriage alliance." Gao Zhonghong replied, "Very well." Using the pretext of burning incense at the Temple of the Dark Emperor, the mother went to the Fan household. Upon seeing Jiang Cheng, with her bright eyes and fine teeth, she was struck by her delicate beauty and felt great joy and affection. She then presented silver and silk as generous gifts to the Fan family and frankly stated her intentions. Fan's mother first modestly declined, citing their poverty as unworthy, but eventually agreed to the match. Upon returning home and recounting the matter, Gao Fan's gloom lifted and he became overjoyed. A year later, an auspicious day was chosen for the wedding, and Jiang Cheng was brought into the household. The couple was blissfully happy together. However, Jiang Cheng was quick-tempered and prone to sudden changes of mood, incessantly nagging and scolding her husband. Gao Fan, deeply in love with her, endured it all. When his parents heard of this, they were displeased and secretly reproached their son. These words reached Jiang Cheng's ears, and she flew into a rage, cursing even more fiercely. When Gao Fan offered a slight retort, she grew angrier still, drove him out of the room, and bolted the door. Shivering outside in the cold, Gao Fan dared not knock, but spent the night huddled under the eaves, hugging his knees. From then on, Jiang Cheng treated her husband as an enemy. At first, after he knelt in supplication, a reconciliation could be reached, but gradually even kneeling and begging proved futile, and the husband's suffering deepened. When his parents mildly reproached their daughter-in-law, she answered back in an indescribably insolent manner. Enraged, they forced Gao Fan to divorce her. The Fan family, ashamed and fearful, begged a close friend to plead with Gao Zhonghong, but he refused.
After more than a year had passed, Gao Fan encountered his father-in-law while out and about, and the old man invited him back to his home, repeatedly apologizing. He then had his daughter dress up and come out to meet him, and when husband and wife saw each other, they could not help but feel sorrow and grief. Fan's father bought wine to entertain his son-in-law, urging him to drink with great warmth. As evening fell, the Fan family insisted on keeping Gao Fan for the night, preparing a separate bedchamber for the young couple to reunite. The next morning, Gao Fan took his leave and returned home, not daring to tell his parents the truth, so he made up a story to cover it up. From then on, every three to five days he would go to his father-in-law's house to spend the night, and his parents knew nothing of it. One day, Fan's father came to seek an audience with Gao Zhonghong, who at first refused to see him but eventually relented out of courtesy. Fan's father knelt on both knees and pleaded for his daughter, but Gao Zhonghong would not agree, shifting the blame to his son. Fan's father said, "My son-in-law stayed at my house last night; I heard no word of his unwillingness." Gao Zhonghong asked in surprise, "When did he lodge with you?" Fan's father told him the whole story from beginning to end. Gao Zhonghong, blushing with shame, said, "I truly did not know. If he loves your daughter, why should I be the one to oppose her?" After Fan's father left, Gao Zhonghong called his son in and gave him a thorough scolding. Gao Fan merely hung his head, not daring to breathe a word. While they were speaking, Fan's father had already sent his daughter over. Gao Zhonghong said, "I cannot bear the burden of my children's faults; it would be better for us to set up separate households. I beg you to oversee the division of our property." Fan's father tried to dissuade him, but he would not listen. So he had the young couple move into another residence and sent a maidservant to attend to them. After a month or so, peace reigned between the two households, and Gao Zhonghong and his wife secretly felt relieved. But before long, Jiang Cheng gradually grew unruly, and Gao Fan's face often bore the marks of her fingernails. His parents knew well what was happening but endured it without inquiry. One day, Gao Fan could bear the beating no longer and fled to his parents' home, flustered like a bird chased by a hawk. As his parents were asking in alarm, Jiang Cheng came rushing in with a wooden club, and right before her father-in-law, she seized Gao Fan and beat him. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law wept and shouted for her to stop, but she did not even glance at them, striking him dozens of times before leaving in a huff. Gao Zhonghong drove his son out, saying, "I only divided the household to avoid this turmoil. You were content with it; why do you flee now?" Gao Fan was cast out, wandering aimlessly with nowhere to go. His mother, fearing her son would be tortured to death, had him live alone and provided him with food. She also summoned Fan's father to instruct his daughter. Fan's father went to his daughter's room and tried every means to reason with her, but Jiang Cheng would not listen; instead, she hurled abusive words at her father. Fan's father, enraged, shook his sleeves and left, swearing never to acknowledge her as his daughter. Soon after, Fan's father fell ill from anger and died along with his wife. Jiang Cheng hated them and did not return to mourn, but every day she shouted insults across the wall, deliberately letting her in-laws hear. Gao Zhonghong pretended not to notice at all.
Since Gao Fan had been living alone, it felt like escaping a fiery pit, yet he still found himself desolate and lonely. Secretly, he bribed the matchmaker Li to summon prostitutes for companionship, their visits occurring only at night. As time passed, Jiang Cheng caught wind of this and went to Gao Fan's residence to curse him out. Gao Fan vehemently denied it, swearing by the sun and sky, until Jiang Cheng finally left. From then on, Jiang Cheng watched Gao Fan daily, waiting to catch him in the act. One day, Matchmaker Li emerged from Gao Fan's place and happened to run into Jiang Cheng, who hastily called out to her. Matchmaker Li's face instantly changed color. Jiang Cheng grew even more suspicious and said to her, "Confess all your deeds, and perhaps I'll spare you; if you dare hide anything, I'll pluck out every hair on your head!" Trembling, Matchmaker Li replied, "In the past half-month, only the courtesan Li Yunniang has come twice. Just now, the young master said he saw the wife of the Tao family at Yusi Mountain and admired her small feet, so he instructed me to summon her. Though she is not chaste, she may not be willing to become a prostitute, so whether it succeeds is uncertain." Because she had told the truth, Jiang Cheng temporarily forgave her. As Matchmaker Li tried to leave, Jiang Cheng forcibly stopped her. After nightfall, Jiang Cheng ordered Matchmaker Li, "Go first and blow out his candle, then say the Tao family wife has arrived." Matchmaker Li did as she was told. Jiang Cheng immediately entered Gao Fan's room. Overjoyed, Gao Fan took her arm, sat her down beside him, and poured out his longing and yearning, while Jiang Cheng remained silent. In the darkness, Gao Fan touched her foot and said, "Since I saw your immortal countenance on the mountain, the one thing I've never forgotten is this foot." Jiang Cheng still said nothing. Gao Fan continued, "My long-cherished wish is finally fulfilled tonight; how can we meet without even recognizing each other?" He then lifted a lamp to look closely—and saw it was Jiang Cheng. Gao Fan was terrified, his face turning pale; the candle dropped to the floor, and he knelt stiffly, trembling as if a blade were at his throat. Jiang Cheng grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back to her own home, where she pricked both his thighs with needles and made him sleep on the lower bed, cursing him every morning upon waking. From then on, Gao Fan feared her as if facing tigers and wolves; even when Jiang Cheng occasionally showed favor, in the bedchamber, Gao Fan was so frightened he could not act like a man. Jiang Cheng slapped him, cursed him, and drove him from the bed, growing ever more disgusted with him, treating him as less than human. Gao Fan, trapped daily in the women's quarters, felt like a prisoner in a jail, constantly watching the jailer's every expression.
Jiangcheng had two elder sisters, both married to scholars. The eldest sister was gentle and kind-hearted, not given to much talk, and often at odds with Jiangcheng. The second sister married into the Ge family; she was cunning, eloquent, and fond of preening and admiring herself. Though not as beautiful as Jiangcheng, she was equally fierce and jealous. When the two sisters met, they spoke of nothing but boasting about their prowess in taming their husbands, and thus they were the closest of friends. Whenever Gao Fan visited relatives or friends, Jiangcheng would become angry and reproachful; only when he went to the Ge household did she refrain from stopping him, even knowing of it. One day, Gao Fan was drinking at the Ge residence. In his cups, Ge Sheng taunted him, saying, "Why are you so terrified of your wife?" Gao Fan replied with a smile, "In this world, many things seem incomprehensible upon reflection. My fear stems from her beauty; yet there are those whose wives are less lovely than mine, and whose fear surpasses my own—is that not even more baffling?" Ge Sheng, deeply ashamed, had no retort. A maid overheard this and reported it to the second sister. She flew into a rage, seized a club, and rushed out. Seeing her fury, Gao Fan fled without time to put on his shoes. The second sister struck him on the lower back with the club; three blows sent him sprawling three times, unable to rise. One blow accidentally hit his head, and blood gushed forth. Having finished, she left, and Gao Fan staggered home. Jiangcheng, startled, questioned him. At first, he dared not speak, fearing to offend his second sister-in-law, but under her persistent interrogation, he recounted the whole beating. Jiangcheng bandaged his head and said angrily, "Another woman's husband—why should she trouble to beat him!" She changed into a short-sleeved garment, tucked a wooden pestle into her bosom, and, taking her maid, went straight to the Ge house. There, the second sister greeted her with smiles and pleasantries. Without a word, Jiangcheng raised the pestle and struck, felling her to the ground. She tore open her sister's trousers and beat her mercilessly, until her teeth were knocked out, her lips split, and she lost control of her bladder and bowels. Returning home, the second sister, humiliated and enraged, sent her husband to complain to Gao Fan. Gao Fan came out and tried to soothe him with kind words. Ge Sheng said privately, "I had no choice but to come. That shrew is cruel and unjust; it's fortunate that someone else has taught her a lesson. What enmity is there between us?" Jiangcheng overheard this, rushed out, and pointed at Ge Sheng, cursing, "Vile creature! Your wife suffers and is humiliated, yet you secretly collude with an outsider! Should such a man not be beaten to death?" She shouted for a club. Ge Sheng, in great distress, fled through the door. From then on, Gao Fan had no place left to associate with anyone.
His fellow student Wang Ziya came to visit Gao Fan, and Gao Fan pressed him to stay for wine. During the drinking, the two men began to jest about matters of the boudoir, their jokes growing lewd and indecent. It happened that Jiang Cheng was spying on the guest from a hiding place, and she overheard everything; secretly she put croton oil into a bowl of soup and had a maidservant bring it in. Before long, Wang Ziya was seized with violent vomiting and diarrhea, suffering miserably until he was left gasping for breath. Jiang Cheng then sent the maidservant to ask him, "Do you still dare to be insolent?" Only then did Wang Ziya understand the cause of his affliction; he groaned and begged for mercy, and mung bean soup had already been prepared and set aside for the occasion. When Wang Ziya drank it, his vomiting and diarrhea ceased. From then on, his fellow students warned one another, and none dared to go to Gao Fan's house to drink wine.
Wang Ziya had a tavern where many red plum blossoms were in bloom, so he hosted a banquet for his fellow friends. Gao Tuo, using the excuse of attending a literary gathering, reported this to Jiang Cheng and then went to the feast. By evening, as the wine flowed freely and spirits ran high, Wang Ziya said, "It so happens that a celebrated courtesan from Nanchang is lodging here; we can summon her to join us in drinking." The company was overjoyed. Only Gao Tuo rose from his seat to take his leave. The others grabbed him and said, "Though your wife at home has sharp ears and eyes, she cannot hear or see what happens here." So they all swore to keep silent about the matter, and only then did Gao Tuo sit down again. Presently, the courtesan arrived, aged seventeen or eighteen, with jade pendants tinkling as she moved and her cloud-like hair piled high. When asked her name, she replied, "My surname is Xie, and my given name is Fanglan." Her speech was exceedingly refined and elegant, and the entire company was enraptured. Yet Fanglan focused her attention on Gao Tuo, casting him frequent amorous glances. When the others noticed this, they deliberately pulled the two together to sit side by side. Fanglan secretly took Gao Tuo's hand and traced the character "su" (to stay overnight) on his palm with her finger. At that moment, Gao Tuo wished to leave but could not bear to, and wished to stay but dared not; his mind was in a turmoil beyond words. The two leaned head to head, whispering intimately, and their drunken demeanor grew increasingly unrestrained, so much so that Gao Tuo forgot all about the tigress at home. Before long, the first watch of the night had passed, and the tavern's patrons grew fewer, leaving only a handsome young man at a distant table, drinking alone by candlelight, with a young servant boy attending him with a towel. The company whispered among themselves about the young man's elegance. Soon, the young man finished his drink and walked out. The servant boy returned and said to Gao Tuo, "My master is waiting outside and has something to say to you." The company was bewildered, but only Gao Tuo's face turned ashen; without even a word of farewell, he hurriedly departed. That young man was none other than Jiang Cheng, and the servant boy was the maid from their household. Gao Tuo followed Jiang Cheng home, where he knelt and endured a beating with a whip.
From this point forward, Jiangcheng confined him even more strictly, cutting off all contact with friends and relatives for festive celebrations or mourning rites. When the provincial examiner came to the county school to test the scholars, Gao Fan was stripped of his academic rank due to a misinterpretation of the examination content. One day, Gao Fan spoke with a maidservant, and Jiangcheng, suspecting an illicit affair, placed a wine jar on the maidservant's head and struck her. After beating her, she bound both Gao Fan and the maidservant, then used an embroidered pair of scissors to cut a piece of flesh from each of their bellies, exchanging the two pieces and pressing them onto each other's wounds. Once untied, she ordered them to bandage themselves. Over a month later, the transplanted flesh had actually healed in place. Jiangcheng also often went barefoot, trampling cakes into the dust, and then commanded Gao Fan to pick them up and eat them. Incidents of this sort were numerous.
Gao's mother, consumed by longing for her son, occasionally visited his home. Upon seeing him gaunt as a skeleton, she would return home weeping bitterly, almost losing the will to live. One night, she dreamed of an old man who told her: "Do not worry or fret; this is retribution from a past life. Jiangcheng was originally a long-lived mouse raised by the monk Jingye, and your son, in his former life, was a scholar who happened to visit Jingye's temple and accidentally killed the mouse. Now, in this life, it has turned into a bitter consequence, beyond human power to reverse. If you rise early each day and sincerely recite the Guanyin mantra one hundred times, it will surely take effect." Gao's mother awoke and recounted the dream to her husband; both were astonished. Following the instruction, the couple devoutly chanted the sutra for over two months, yet Jiangcheng remained as unruly as before, growing even more wild and unrestrained. Upon hearing the sound of gongs and drums outside, she would rush out without finishing her toilette, her hair disheveled, and gawk foolishly. Though a thousand people pointed and stared at her, she remained perfectly at ease, as if nothing were amiss. Her father- and mother-in-law were deeply ashamed but could not stop her.
Suddenly, an old monk appeared outside the gate, preaching the Buddhist doctrine of karma and retribution, and the crowd of onlookers gathered as thick as a wall. The monk blew on a leather drum, producing a sound like the bellowing of an ox. Jiangcheng heard the noise and rushed out, but seeing the crowd so dense that there was no space, she ordered her maid to bring a wooden stool, and standing high upon it, she watched. All eyes were fixed upon her, yet she seemed utterly oblivious. After a while, the old monk finished his sermon and called for a bowl of clear water. Holding the bowl, he addressed Jiangcheng, saying, "Be not angry, be not angry! The past life is not false, nor is this life true. Hark! Let the mouse shrink its head away, lest the cat come seeking prey." Having spoken, he drew a mouthful of water and sprayed it onto Jiangcheng's face. Instantly, the powder and rouge from her brows and cheeks dripped down, soaking her collar and sleeves. The crowd was greatly startled, expecting her to fly into a violent rage, but Jiangcheng said not a word. She wiped her face and returned home alone. The old monk also departed. Once in her chamber, Jiangcheng sat in a daze, lost and bewildered. She ate nothing all day, then swept the bed and lay down. In the middle of the night, she suddenly woke Gao Fan, who thought she needed to relieve herself and brought the chamber pot. Jiangcheng pushed it aside, secretly took his arm, and pulled him into her own bed. Gao Fan, obeying his wife's command, trembled with fear as if receiving an imperial decree. Jiangcheng sighed with emotion and said, "To have reduced my husband to such a state—how can I still call myself a person?" Then she stroked his body with her hands, and whenever she touched the scars left by the rod and knife, she sobbed softly, pinching herself as if wishing she could die on the spot. Seeing her like this, Gao Fan could not bear it and comforted her repeatedly. Jiangcheng said, "I think that old monk must be an incarnation of a Bodhisattva. With that single spray of clear water, it was as if my heart and lungs were replaced. Now, recalling my past deeds, they seem like events from another life. Was I not human then? To have a husband yet not share joy, to have parents-in-law yet not serve them—what kind of heart was that? Tomorrow, let us move back home and live again with your parents, so that I may attend to their needs and pay my respects." Thus, Jiangcheng chattered on through the night, as if pouring out the sorrows of a decade-long separation between husband and wife.
At the break of dawn, Jiangcheng rose from bed, folded the garments and put away the utensils; the maid carried the trunk while she herself clutched the bedding, urging Gao Fan to knock at his parents' chamber door. His mother came out, startled, and inquired, whereupon Gao Fan recounted Jiangcheng's intentions. The mother still hesitated, but Jiangcheng and the maid had already entered, and the mother followed them in. Jiangcheng prostrated herself on the ground, weeping bitterly, begging only that her mother-in-law spare her life. The mother perceived the sincerity in Jiangcheng's heart and, weeping as well, said, "How is it that my child has suddenly become like this?" Gao Fan then related in detail how Jiangcheng had listened to the monk's sermon, and only then did the mother realize that her earlier dream had come true. Overjoyed, she summoned the servants to sweep and prepare the old dwelling for her son and daughter-in-law.
From this point forward, Jiangcheng in every matter and every instance honored and obeyed her parents-in-law's expressions and wishes, surpassing even a filial son. When she encountered outsiders, she was as shy as a new bride. If someone jested about her past conduct, she would blush deeply with shame. Moreover, she was diligent and frugal, skilled at accumulating family wealth; within three years, though her parents-in-law no longer concerned themselves with household affairs, the family's property had grown to exceed ten thousand in riches. Gao Fan also passed the provincial examination that same year. Jiangcheng often said to Gao Fan, "In those days, when I first saw Fanglan, I still remember her to this day." Gao Fan, content that he no longer suffered his wife's abuse, was fully satisfied and dared not entertain any other thoughts, merely responding to Jiangcheng's words with polite assent. It happened that Gao Fan went to the capital for the imperial examinations and did not return for several months. When he entered the house, he saw Fanglan playing chess with Jiangcheng. Gao Fan asked in surprise what had happened, and it turned out that Jiangcheng had redeemed Fanglan from bondage for several hundred taels of silver. This matter was most thoroughly recounted by Wang Ziya of Zhejiang.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Among all the sins committed in human life, each and every one brings its own retribution, yet only the retribution that falls between husband and wife is like a malignant sore growing upon the bone, its poison causing especially grievous suffering. I have often observed that in this world, virtuous wives account for merely one in ten, while shrewish ones make up nine in ten, from which one can see how few there are who cultivate good deeds in the mortal realm. The Bodhisattva Guanyin possesses boundless divine power—why does she not sprinkle the pure water from her vase across the entire universe?
Commentary
When husband and wife turn against each other and mistreat one another, cultural, social, physiological, and psychological factors all come into play, making the causes exceedingly complex—so much so that even modern society finds them difficult to fully comprehend. Choosing to part ways and end it all at once represents an advancement in contemporary views on marriage, offering relief to the victim. If separation is impossible, both parties remain mired in suffering, a truth that holds across ancient and modern times. Pu Songling describes this agony as "like a gangrene clinging to the bone, its poison all the more cruel," a vivid and penetrating portrayal. Yet when he declares that "among the world's virtuous wives, one in ten; among shrewish wives, nine in ten," he may be exaggerating—whether due to a male-biased perspective, a flawed standard of judgment, or a statistical error, it is overly pessimistic, conflating discordant marriages with shrewishness.
The story's depiction of Jiangcheng's abuse of Gaofan is not without exaggeration and excess, with certain plot points closely resembling the treatment of Di Xichen by Tong Jijie and Xue Sujie in the early Qing vernacular novel "The Marriage That Awakens the World." However, there are also moments of deep human feeling and subtle detail. For instance, in the portrayal of Gaofan and Jiangcheng's first love, Gaofan's passive endurance of Jiangcheng due to love, their secret meetings after her formal return to her family, the helplessness of Gaofan's parents in the face of the young couple's mutual enmity, the teasing and mutual comfort between sisters and brothers-in-law, and the jesting among friends. In these aspects, "Jiangcheng" presents a more intricate plot, richer social content, and more vivid characterizations than "Ma Jiefu," which deals with the same theme. "Ma Jiefu" merely reveals the phenomenon of the shrewish wife, whereas "Jiangcheng" further explores the process and causes. The story ultimately explains the grievances between Gaofan and Jiangcheng through karmic retribution, using the power of Buddhist law to quell Jiangcheng's abuse of Gaofan, leading her to reform and become a virtuous wife. Though absurd and unfounded, this aligns with the lack of scientific explanation for marital abuse in society at the time and is consistent with Pu Songling's habitual thinking in terms of cause and effect.