Original Text
A scholar from Yishui was studying in the mountains. At night, two beautiful women arrived, smiling but silent, each brushing the bed with her long sleeves before sitting down together; their garments were soft and made no sound. After a while, one rose and spread a piece of white silk on the table, inscribed with three or four lines of cursive script, though the scholar did not examine them closely. The other placed a silver ingot on the table, weighing about three or four taels, and the scholar tucked it into his sleeve. The women then took back the silk, linked hands, and departed with a laugh, saying as they left, "How unbearably vulgar!" When the scholar felt for the silver in his sleeve, it was gone. With such lovely ladies present, offering refined gifts, the scholar ignored them but snatched at silver—this is the behavior of a beggar, insufferable indeed! The fox spirits were charming beings, their elegant demeanor vividly imaginable.
A friend spoke of this matter, and I recalled some unbearable things to append here: facing a guest who is both poor and vulgar; a rough fellow forcing refined speech; putting on airs of wealth; a scholar posing as a man of taste; watching others fawn and flatter; ceaselessly spinning lies without shame; stubbornly yielding seats in a gathering; forcing others to listen to half-baked poetry; a rich man complaining of poverty; a drunkard pestering endlessly; a Han Chinese affecting Manchu tones; a person with body odor pressing close to speak; a market ruffian cracking malicious jokes; letting children grab food at a feast; putting on a false front of authority; a shallow scholar who succeeded by luck critiquing poetry and prose; boasting of wealthy relatives at every turn.
Commentary
The tale is akin to the folk custom of a child's first birthday test of interests, spanning just over a hundred characters, from "two beauties enter, smiling without speaking" to "the beauty takes a handkerchief, takes his hand, and exits with a laugh," written with a light and ethereal grace, their elegance vividly portrayed, while the scholar's insufferable vulgarity leaps off the page.
Although the story centers on a scholar, following the style of Tang dynasty anecdotes, it also reveals the folk customs of the time. For instance, "speaking in Manchu tones" refers to mixing Manchu words into one's speech, which was likely quite fashionable then, much like the fake foreign devil in The True Story of Ah Q who spoke pidgin English, provoking similar disdain.