Original Text
Miss Willow Slender was a daughter of a scholarly family in Zhongdu. Some people, because her waist was very slender and her figure charmingly delicate, jokingly called her Willow Slender. From a young age, she was clever, literate, and fond of reading physiognomy books. Yet she was taciturn by nature, never speaking of others' faults; however, whenever a suitor came to propose marriage, she would insist on secretly peeping at him herself. She had seen many such men, but none pleased her, and by the time she was nineteen, her parents grew angry and said, "Is there no one under heaven worthy of you? Are you prepared to become an old maid?" Willow Slender replied, "I truly wished to decide for myself and not trust to fate, but after so long without finding a suitable match, this too is my destiny. From now on, I will submit to my parents' decision."
At that time, there was a scholar surnamed Gao, also from a distinguished family, who heard of Xiliu's reputation and sent betrothal gifts to seek her hand in marriage. After they were wed, the couple lived in great harmony and affection. Gao had a son from his deceased first wife, named Changfu, who was then five years old, and Xiliu raised him with utmost care and tenderness. Whenever Xiliu visited her natal home, Changfu would wail and insist on accompanying her, and even scolding could not stop him. After more than a year, Xiliu gave birth to a son, whom she named Changhu. When Gao asked the meaning of the name Changhu, Xiliu replied, "It holds no special significance; I only hope he will remain by our side forever." Xiliu was not skilled in needlework, nor did she take pains to learn it, but regarding the locations of fields and the amounts of taxes and rents, she would consult the account books and inquire meticulously, fearing lest any detail escape her knowledge. As time passed, she said to Gao, "Please leave the household affairs to me from now on, and let me manage them; I wonder if I am capable of running this home well?" Gao followed her advice, and within half a year, not a single matter in the household was neglected, leading Gao to regard Xiliu as highly capable.
One day, Scholar Gao went to a neighboring village for a drinking party, and it happened that tax collectors came knocking and cursing at his door. Xi Liu sent a servant to appease them with kind words, but they refused to leave, so she hastily dispatched a page boy to summon Gao back. After the tax collectors departed, Gao laughed and said, "Xi Liu, now you see that even a clever woman is no match for a foolish man, is she?" Upon hearing this, Xi Liu lowered her head and wept. Startled, Gao quickly took her hand and tried to comfort her, but she remained dejected. Gao could not bear to let household affairs burden Xi Liu and wished to take charge himself, yet she would not allow it. Xi Liu continued to rise early and retire late, diligently managing the household. She often prepared the next year's taxes in advance, so that throughout the year no tax collector ever appeared at their door again. Using the same method to plan for food and clothing expenses, their means grew even more ample. Gao was overjoyed and once jested with Xi Liu, saying, "Xi Liu, how delicate you are! Delicate brows, delicate waist, delicate steps on the waves, and what pleases me most is your even more delicate mind." Xi Liu replied, "Gao Lang, how lofty you are! Lofty in character, lofty in ambition, lofty in letters, and may your years be even loftier." A villager offered for sale an excellent coffin, and Xi Liu spared no expense to buy it; when funds fell short, she borrowed from relatives and neighbors. Gao thought it was not an urgent necessity and repeatedly tried to dissuade her, but she would not listen. The coffin remained stored for over a year, and when a wealthy family suffered a death, they offered double the original price to purchase it. Seeing a profit, Gao discussed it with Xi Liu, but she refused to sell. When asked why, she would not say; pressed further, her eyes brimmed with tears as if she were about to weep. Gao found this strange but could not bear to go against her wishes, so he did not sell it.
Another year passed, and Gao Sheng reached the age of twenty-five. Xiliu would not allow him to travel far, and if he returned home even slightly late, servants would go out one after another to search for him. Thus, his friends all mocked him. One day, Gao Sheng went to a friend's house to drink wine, felt unwell, and started for home. On the way, he fell from his horse and died. At the time, it was the height of summer, but fortunately, clothing, bedding, and a coffin had all been prepared long in advance. The neighbors then came to admire Xiliu's foresight.
When Changfu reached the age of ten, he began to study composition. After his father's death, he grew both spoiled and lazy, refusing to attend to his books, often running off to play with the herd boys. Scolding him brought no change, and later even beating him failed to curb his stubborn disobedience. Xiliu, at her wit's end, summoned him and said, "Since you are unwilling to study, how can I force you? But a poor household cannot support idle hands. You may exchange your clothes and go work alongside the servants; otherwise, if the whip falls upon you, do not regret it!" So she dressed Changfu in tattered garments and set him to tending pigs, and upon his return, he was made to take a coarse bowl and eat the same gruel as the servants. After a few days, finding this life bitter, Changfu knelt weeping in the courtyard, pleading to return to his studies. Xiliu turned her face to the wall and would not listen. Helpless, Changfu could only take up his swineherd's switch and depart in tears. As autumn waned, he had neither clothes on his back nor shoes on his feet; the cold rain beat upon him, and he huddled with his head drawn in like a beggar. The neighbors, seeing his plight, pitied him deeply, and those who had taken stepmothers pointed at Xiliu, warning others to take heed, spreading much gossip. Xiliu heard some of this but remained unmoved. Unable to endure the hardship, Changfu abandoned his pigs and fled, and Xiliu let him go without pursuing the matter.
After several months, Changfu, having nowhere to beg for food, returned haggardly on his own. He dared not go home directly but begged an old neighbor woman to plead with Xiliu on his behalf. Xiliu said, "If he can endure a hundred strokes of the rod, he may come to see me; otherwise, let him leave at once." Upon hearing this, Changfu immediately ran home and, weeping bitterly, declared he was willing to receive the beating. Xiliu asked, "Do you now know regret?" Changfu replied, "I regret it." Xiliu said, "Since you regret it, there is no need for the beating. You must stay contentedly at home tending the pigs; if you err again, I will not be lenient!" Changfu wept loudly and said, "I would rather endure a hundred strokes; please let me return to my studies." Xiliu refused, but the old neighbor woman pleaded persistently, and at last she relented. Xiliu had Changfu bathed, changed his clothes, and allowed him to study alongside his younger brother Changhu with the tutor. From then on, Changfu studied diligently, utterly transformed from his former self, and within three years he passed the imperial examinations and became a xiucai. Imperial Censor Yang, upon seeing his essays, greatly admired them and granted him a monthly stipend to support his studies. Changhu was dull-witted; after several years of study, he could not even write his own name, so Xiliu ordered him to abandon his books and take up farming. Yet he idled about, fearing hard labor, and Xiliu angrily said, "Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants each have their proper calling. Since you can neither study nor farm, how can you avoid starving to death in a roadside ditch?" She immediately gave him a beating. From then on, she made him lead the servants in tilling the fields; if he rose even a moment late, Xiliu would scold him harshly, while in clothing and food, the mother gave the best to the elder brother. Changhu dared not complain openly, but in his heart he nursed a silent resentment. When the farm work was done, the mother gave Changhu money to learn trade. But Changhu took to whoring and gambling, spending every coin as soon as it came into his hands, and he would lie, claiming he had been robbed by bandits or blaming his bad luck, to deceive his mother. When Xiliu discovered this, she nearly beat him to death. Changfu knelt straight and pleaded earnestly, offering to take the beating in his brother's stead, and only then did Xiliu's anger subside. From then on, whenever Changhu left the house, Xiliu sent someone to watch him. Changhu's behavior somewhat restrained itself, but this was not what his heart truly desired.
One day, Chang Hu begged his mother for permission to travel to Luoyang with some merchants, secretly hoping to roam far and indulge in unrestrained pleasures, though his heart trembled with fear that she might refuse. Xi Liu, suspecting nothing, immediately gave him thirty taels of loose silver, prepared his luggage, and finally handed him a whole ingot, saying, "This was left by your grandfather when he served as an official; do not spend it, but keep it at the bottom of your trunk for emergencies. Besides, since this is your first venture into trade, I dare not hope for great profit—merely that these thirty taels are not lost." Before his departure, she exhorted him repeatedly. Chang Hu promised obediently and set off, his heart full of satisfaction and pride. Upon reaching Luoyang, he did not associate with the fellow merchants but lodged instead with the famed courtesan Li Ji. After a dozen nights, the loose silver gradually dwindled. Believing he still had the large ingot in his luggage, he felt no immediate worry about running out of money, but when he fetched and chiseled it open, he found it was counterfeit. Chang Hu was struck with terror. Seeing this, the madam of the Li household taunted him with cold words. Deeply uneasy, yet with empty pockets and nowhere to go, he still hoped Li Ji would remember their past intimacy and not drive him away at once. Soon, two men burst in with ropes and bound him instantly. Startled and terrified, not knowing the cause, he humbly inquired the reason—it turned out that Li Ji had stolen the false ingot and reported him to the authorities. At the yamen, Chang Hu could not defend himself and was nearly beaten to death. Later thrown into prison, with no silver to bribe the jailers, he suffered cruel abuse and had to beg for scraps from fellow inmates, barely clinging to life.
At the time when Changhu was about to set out, Xiliu said to Changfu, "Remember that after twenty days, you must send him to Luoyang. I have many matters to attend to and fear I might forget." Changfu asked his mother why she said this, and Xiliu's face darkened with sorrow; Changfu dared not question further and withdrew. After twenty days, Changfu went to ask his mother, and Xiliu sighed and said, "Your younger brother is now so frivolous and dissolute, just as you were when you played truant. If I had not borne the ill name, how could you have come to this? People all say I am cruel-hearted, but I weep every night until my pillow is soaked, and they know nothing of it!" As she spoke, tears fell. Changfu stood respectfully and listened, not daring to press further. When Xiliu had finished weeping, she said, "Your brother's roving heart is not yet dead, so I gave him counterfeit silver to bring him to ruin; I imagine he is now imprisoned. Magistrate Yang treats you well; go and beg him to save your brother from death, so that he may feel shame and repent." Changfu set out at once, and upon reaching Luoyang, found that his brother had been in custody for three days. He immediately went to the prison to visit him, and Changhu, with breath faint and face like a ghost, wept so bitterly at the sight of his brother that he could not lift his head, and Changfu wept as well. At that time, Changfu was favored by Magistrate Yang, so his name was known far and wide. When the county magistrate learned that he was Changhu's elder brother, he quickly released Changhu. Upon returning home, Changhu feared his mother's anger and knelt before her. She glanced at him and said, "Have you now achieved your desire?" Changhu wept and dared not speak, and Changfu also knelt down; only then did she scold them and bid them rise. From then on, Changhu thoroughly reformed, attending diligently to all household affairs, and even if he occasionally grew lazy, Xiliu no longer rebuked or questioned him. After several months, she still did not speak of trade with him; he wished to ask her permission to resume business but dared not, so he told his elder brother. When Xiliu heard this, she was delighted and did her utmost to borrow money for him, and within half a year, he doubled his profit.
In that year, Changfu passed the provincial examination, and three years later, he succeeded in the metropolitan examination and became a jinshi; Changhu, through trade, amassed tens of thousands in silver. A man from the county who traveled to Luoyang reported seeing the old lady of the Changfu household, who, though forty years of age, appeared as youthful as a woman in her thirties, yet her attire was plain and simple, just like that of an ordinary person.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Once the book "The Black-Hearted Talisman," which exclusively records the wicked deeds of stepmothers, was published, the tale of the stepmother using reed catkins to stuff the winter coat for her predecessor's son became widely known. The detestable nature of stepmothers is the same in ancient and modern times, truly heartbreaking! Some stepmothers, to avoid slander from others, often go to the opposite extreme, even sitting idly by while their stepchildren run wild without discipline. How are such people any different from those stepmothers who abuse their stepchildren? Beating one's own child daily is not considered cruel, but beating a child from a previous marriage invites reproach. That Slender Willow was not merely harsh toward her predecessor's son, yet if her own son had not been virtuous, how could her good intentions have been understood by the world? But she feared no suspicion, shunned no calumny, and ultimately enabled both sons—one to become an official, the other to amass wealth—to stand out in the world. This is not only remarkable among women but also a standout among men!
Commentary
The phenomenon of the stepmother is a significant social issue across all eras and cultures, and it was a theme that Pu Songling deeply cared about and explored in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." Perhaps because writing about a wicked stepmother, though easy, often falls into cliché, the story "Li Shi" in Volume Five was crafted as a fable, with Pu Songling summarizing it as "those who remarry are merely inviting a wolf into their home." This tale, however, directly addresses stepmother life, portraying the virtuous Xi Liu, who, through her patient education, raises both her own and her stepchildren to maturity, with one achieving wealth and the other honor. What is striking is that the story's focus is not on how a stepmother treats her predecessor's children in daily life or balances fairness in warmth and comfort between her own and her stepchildren, but rather on how a mother conducts child education, using life's hardships and trials to inspire her children to correct their mistakes and properly choose their life paths. At the same time, she teaches according to their aptitudes—one child suited for study is guided toward the path of imperial examinations and officialdom, while the other, suited for commerce, is encouraged to pursue wealth and prosperity. Whether it is Xi Liu's seasoned patience in educating her children or her belief that "the four classes of people each have their proper occupation," allowing her child to take the path of business without shame, this reflects the educational philosophy and the merchant family background of Pu Songling himself.
Although Xiliu possessed the extraordinary gift of physiognomy, this tale contains neither ghosts nor foxes, neither immortals nor buddhas, but rather truthfully reflects rural family life and the experience of education. From the author's praise of Xiliu as "delicate brows, slender waist, graceful steps, and, most delightfully, an even finer mind," portraying her as the embodiment of truth, goodness, and beauty, to the depiction of her completing the entire process of managing the household, assisting her husband, and educating her children, Xiliu embodies Pu Songling's aesthetic ideal of womanhood. And his description of Xiliu's "finer mind" is detailed and nuanced, with long-laid foreshadowing that evokes admiration.