Original Text
Scholar Huang was originally the son of a wealthy family, possessing great talent and learning, and had always harbored lofty ambitions. Outside the village stood a temple where a monk resided, who had long been on close terms with Huang. Later, the monk traveled far and wide, returning only after more than ten years. Upon seeing Huang, he sighed and said, "I thought you would have risen to prominence long ago, yet you remain a commoner! It seems your fortune is too meager. Allow me to bribe the underworld official in charge of blessings and rank on your behalf. Can you raise ten thousand coins?" Huang replied, "I cannot." The monk said, "Then do your utmost to prepare five thousand coins, and I will borrow the rest for you. Have it ready within three days." Huang agreed and, by pawning and borrowing, managed to scrape together the full sum.
On the third day, the monk indeed brought five thousand cash and handed them to Scholar Huang. The Huang family originally had a well for drawing water, very deep, whose water never ran dry; some said this well connected to the rivers and seas. The monk instructed Huang to bind the money securely and place it at the well's edge, warning: "When you reckon I have returned to the temple, push the money into the well. After the time it takes to eat half a meal, one coin will float up, and you must kneel and bow in thanks." Having said this, he departed. Huang did not understand what sorcery this was, and also thought it uncertain whether it would prove effective; throwing ten thousand cash into the well seemed too wasteful, so he hid away nine thousand and cast only one thousand into the well. In a short while, great bubbles rose from the well, and with a loud pop as the bubbles burst, one coin floated up, as large as a cartwheel. Huang was greatly astonished. After bowing, he took out another four thousand cash and cast them in. When they fell, they made a clashing sound, blocked by the large coin, and could not sink. As night fell, the monk arrived and reproached him, saying: "Why did you not throw them all in?" Huang replied: "I have already thrown them all in." The monk said: "The messenger of the underworld only received one thousand cash; how can you lie?" Huang confessed the truth to the monk. The monk sighed and said: "A miser can never achieve great things. Your fate is only to become a tribute scholar; otherwise, you could have attained the rank of Presented Scholar." Huang was filled with regret and begged the monk to perform the ritual again, but the monk firmly refused and then left. Huang saw that the coins thrown into the well were still floating; he used a rope to fish them out, and only then did the large coin sink. That year, Huang passed the examination as a secondary tribute scholar, exactly as the monk had said.
The Chronicler of Strange Tales remarks: Could it be that even the underworld has a system of purchasing official degrees? To obtain a Presented Scholar for ten thousand coins is indeed too cheap. Yet to grant only a Secondary Tribute Student for a thousand coins is excessively dear. However, if a Tribute Student fails to pass the Presented Scholar examination, he is not worth a single coin!
Commentary
As the saying goes, "If you cannot bear to part with the child, you cannot catch the wolf." Everything requires a certain price or cost; if one is unwilling to pay the cost, it is naturally difficult to reap the expected results. Because Scholar Huang was reluctant to spend money, the monk's prearranged plan of bribery was greatly compromised, resulting only in "being granted a second-class tribute student status." The tale satirizes those who are stingy and petty, unable to achieve great success. However, the author chooses an example from the imperial examination system, and spins a story of a monk using sorcery to bribe the officials presiding over the underworld, asking, "Could it be that even the underworld has opened a system of purchasing degrees?" The implied satire and innuendo are unmistakable.