Original Text
During the Shunzhi reign period, in the regions of Teng County and Yi County, seven out of every ten people were bandits, and the local authorities dared not arrest them. Later, these bandits accepted amnesty, and the county government specifically referred to them as "bandit households." Whenever a dispute arose between a bandit household and an honest citizen, the authorities would show favoritism toward the bandit household, fearing they might rebel again. Consequently, anyone filing a lawsuit would falsely claim to be from a bandit household, while their adversaries would vehemently argue otherwise. Whenever both sides submitted their petitions, the rights and wrongs of the case were set aside, and the first order of business was to endlessly debate who was truly a bandit household, requiring the relevant departments to verify the official records. It so happened that the government office was plagued by fox spirits; the county magistrate's daughter was bewitched by one. A sorcerer was summoned to perform exorcism rites, and with talismans and spells, he captured the fox spirit and sealed it in a bottle, preparing to burn it. The fox spirit inside the bottle cried out loudly, "I am from a bandit household!" All who heard this could not help but laugh secretly.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: In the present day, there are those who openly seize others' wealth with torches and weapons, yet the authorities do not judge them as robbers but as adulterers; there are those who leap over walls to commit lewd acts, yet they themselves often refuse to admit to adultery and instead claim to be thieves. This is yet another transformation of the world's ways. If today there were foxes in the government offices, they too would surely cry out loudly, "I am a thief!"—of this there is no doubt.
In Zhangqiu, the corvée labor for transporting official grain and the surtax for collecting silver were often several times heavier for commoners than for wealthy gentry and large households. Consequently, small landowners with fields vied to place their property under the names of influential families. While this practice did not affect the state's tax revenue, it harmed the local magistrate's income. Magistrate Zhong submitted a petition to the higher authorities to abolish this abuse, and received imperial approval. Initially, those who had placed their land under the names of powerful families were allowed to confess. Subsequently, some unscrupulous individuals used this as a means of extortion and blackmail, falsely claiming that land sold decades earlier had merely been nominally registered under their names, and they sued the original buyers. Magistrate Zhong favored these scoundrels, causing many honest and timid people to lose their land. A certain Scholar Li was sued by a certain Jia and brought to court for a confrontation. Jia addressed Li as "xiucai," but Li vehemently denied it, insisting he was not a xiucai. The courtroom erupted in uproar. The magistrate asked those present, and everyone said Li was indeed a xiucai. Magistrate Zhong asked, "Why do you refuse to admit you are a xiucai?" Li replied, "I will set aside this title of xiucai for now; after the land dispute is settled, I may become a xiucai again." Alas! The name of a thief, everyone vies to claim; the name of a xiucai, everyone vies to reject—how strange the world has become! Someone submitted an anonymous complaint: "The plaintiff, Yuan Rang, appeals to the court regarding a violation of the law and encroachment on property: Because I am old and unable to perform corvée service, I temporarily placed fifty mu of fertile land near the city wall under the name of the detestable scholar Yan Yuan in the first year of Duke Yin of Lu's reign in the Spring and Autumn period. Now that the state's laws are strict, I should confess according to the statute. Unexpectedly, this villain Yan Yuan has long occupied my land and refuses to return it. When I went to reason with him, he was led by his master and seventy-two evil disciples, who beat me with clubs, crippling my arms and legs, then locked me in a narrow alley, giving me only a basket of rice and a gourd of drink each day. Imprisoned and starved, I nearly died. The village of Huxiang can testify. I request that Yan Yuan's scholarly title be stripped and he be severely investigated, so that my blood-earned property may be returned to its rightful owner. Thus I submit this complaint." This bizarre document can be said to have continued the tradition of the complaint filed by the robber Zhi against Bo Yi and Shu Qi.
Commentary
In a civil society, all are equal before the law. Prior to this, due to differing identities, it was difficult to achieve equality before the law, though sometimes it was glossed over with grand explanations. What the tale "The Thief Household" recounts is merely a local judicial practice in Pu Songling's time, where identity confirmation followed unspoken rules.
It is human nature to seek advantage and avoid harm. The tale in "The Thief Households" discusses amusing anecdotes from the judicial practice in the Teng and Yi regions during the Shunzhi reign, concerning the evasion of identity in legal matters, while the "Historian of the Strange remarks" section addresses the tricks of evading the severity of criminal sentencing prevalent in Pu Songling's own time in that locality.