Original Text
Cui Meng, styled Wumeng, was the son of an official family in Jianchang. He was of a fierce and unyielding nature; when young and studying at school, if any other child slighted him in the least, he would repay it with fists and kicks. The master repeatedly punished him, but he never reformed. His given name and style were both bestowed by his teacher. By the time he was sixteen or seventeen, he was highly skilled in martial arts and could climb to rooftops using a long pole; he delighted in righting wrongs and defending the oppressed, so the villagers greatly admired him, and those who came to pour out their grievances often filled his courtyard and rooms. Cui Meng supported the weak and curbed the strong, avoiding neither enmity nor resentment; if anyone opposed him in the slightest, he would attack them with clubs and stones, leaving them with broken limbs. When he was in a towering rage, no one dared to dissuade him. Yet he was especially filial to his mother; whenever she appeared, she could always bring him to reason. His mother often scolded him harshly, and Cui Meng would obediently heed her words, but as soon as he left the house, he forgot them. Next door to Cui Meng lived a shrewish woman who daily abused her mother-in-law. The old woman was nearly starving to death, and her son secretly brought her a little food; when the shrew learned of it, she heaped a thousand insults upon him, and her curses echoed through the neighborhood. Cui Meng heard this and flew into a rage; he leaped over the wall, cut off the shrew's nose, ears, lips, and tongue, and she died instantly. When Cui Meng's mother heard of this, she was greatly alarmed; she summoned the neighbor's son and did her utmost to console and pacify him, even betrothing a young maidservant to him, and so the matter was settled. The mother wept bitterly and refused to eat; Cui Meng, terrified, knelt and begged her to beat him, declaring his repentance, but she still wept and paid him no heed. Cui Meng's wife, Zhou, knelt together with her husband. Only then did Cui's mother take a rod and beat him, and then pricked a cross-shaped pattern on his arm with a needle, staining it with vermilion so it would never fade. Cui Meng accepted all this punishment willingly. Only then did his mother take food.
Cui Meng's mother was fond of giving alms to Buddhist monks and Taoist priests, often providing them with ample and fine meals. It happened that a Taoist priest came to their home, and Cui Meng passed by him. The priest looked at Cui Meng and said, "Young master, you carry a great deal of fierce and violent energy; I fear you will not come to a good end. A family that accumulates good deeds should not have such a thing." Cui Meng had just been admonished by his mother, so upon hearing the priest's words, he respectfully replied, "I myself am aware of this, but whenever I encounter an injustice, I cannot help but flare up in anger. If I strive to reform, perhaps I can avoid calamity?" The priest smiled and said, "For now, do not ask whether you can avoid disaster; first ask yourself whether you can truly change. Yet you should exert yourself to restrain your temper. Should you ever commit a capital offense, I will tell you how to escape it." Cui Meng had never believed in sorcery, so he chuckled and said nothing. The priest said, "I knew you would not believe me. But what I speak of is different from sorcery; if you follow my advice, it will also be an act of accumulating virtue, and even if it proves ineffective, it will do no harm." Cui Meng asked how to proceed, and the priest said, "Just now there was a young man outside the gate; you should form a deep friendship with him, for even if you commit a capital crime, he can save your life." Having said this, he called Cui Meng out and pointed to the youth he should befriend; it was the son of a certain Zhao, named Senge. Zhao was a native of Nanchang, who had moved to Jianchang due to a famine. From then on, Cui Meng frequently associated with the Zhao family, inviting Zhao to his home as a tutor and treating him generously. Senge was then twelve years old; Cui Meng had him come to pay respects to his mother and swore brotherhood with him. The following spring, Zhao took his family back to his hometown, and all news of them ceased.
Since Cui Meng killed the neighbor's shrewish wife, his mother's admonitions became even stricter, and whenever someone came to their home to complain of injustice, she often refused to let them in. One day, Cui Meng's maternal uncle died, and he followed his mother to offer condolences. On the road, they encountered several men binding a fellow, cursing him to hurry along and beating him incessantly. Onlookers clogged the road, and the Cui family's carriage could not pass. Cui Meng asked what had happened, and those who recognized him vied to come forward and recount the whole story. It turned out that a certain eldest son of a prominent local gentry, known as Jia, was a tyrant in the countryside. He had taken a fancy to Li Shen's wife, who had some charm, and wished to seize her, but lacked a pretext. Therefore, Jia instructed his servants to lure Li Shen into gambling, lending him money at high interest with his wife as collateral, and when he lost it all, they lent him more. After one night of gambling, Li Shen owed several thousand coins. Within half a year, principal and interest amounted to three hundred thousand coins. Unable to repay, Jia sent many men to snatch Li Shen's wife away. Li Shen went to Jia's gate to weep and plead. Jia, enraged, had Li Shen hung from a tree, beaten with sticks and cut with knives, forcing him to sign a "no regrets" pledge. Hearing this, Cui Meng's anger surged like a mountain, and he spurred his horse forward to resort to violence. Cui's mother opened the carriage curtain and shouted, "Alas! Are you going to cause trouble again!" Only then did Cui Meng desist. After returning from the condolence visit, Cui Meng neither spoke nor ate, but sat alone, staring blankly as if angry at someone. His wife asked him, but he did not answer. That night, he lay down fully clothed, unable to sleep, tossing and turning until dawn, and the next night it was the same. Suddenly, he opened the door and went out, then returned after a while to lie down again. This happened three or four times; his wife dared not ask, only holding her breath to listen to his movements. Later, he went out for a longer time, and upon returning, he closed the door and fell asleep.
On that very night, someone found a certain man dead in his bed, his belly cut open and his entrails spilling out, while Li Shen's wife lay naked and dead beneath the bed. The authorities suspected Li Shen and arrested him. Under severe torture, his ankle bones were exposed, yet he refused to confess. After more than a year, unable to bear the torment, Li Shen falsely confessed and was sentenced to death. At this time, Cui Meng's mother had passed away; after her burial, Cui Meng said to his wife, "The one who killed that man was actually me. Only because my mother was still alive did I dare not reveal it. Now that the great matter is concluded, how can I let another suffer for my crime? I shall go to the authorities and confess!" His wife, startled, tried to hold him back, but he tore his robe and left, proceeding to the yamen to surrender. The magistrate was astonished, placed him in chains, and sent him to prison, releasing Li Shen. Li Shen refused to leave, insisting that he himself had killed the man. The magistrate, unable to determine the true culprit, imprisoned both men together. Li Shen's relatives reproached him for courting death, but Li Shen said, "What the young master did was what I wished to do but could not. He did it for me; how could I bear to see him die in my place? Let it be as if the young master never confessed." He stubbornly claimed the murder as his own, vying with Cui Meng to take the punishment. Over time, the truth became known to the officials, who forced Li Shen to leave prison and let Cui Meng face the sentence, with execution imminent. Just then, the Imperial Inspector Zhao, a ministry official, arrived on a circuit. While reviewing the case files, he saw Cui Meng's name, dismissed his attendants, and summoned Cui Meng. When Cui Meng entered and looked up, he saw that Inspector Zhao was none other than Monk Ge. Overcome with mixed sorrow and joy, he recounted the case truthfully. Inspector Zhao hesitated for a long while, then ordered Cui Meng back to prison, instructing the jailers to treat him well. Soon, because Cui Meng had surrendered himself, his sentence was commuted from death to exile in Yunnan; Li Shen, to care for Cui Meng, followed him. Within a year, they received a pardon and returned home—all thanks to Inspector Zhao's efforts.
After returning home, Li Shen constantly followed him, managing his affairs. Cui Meng offered him money, but he refused. He was deeply interested in martial arts such as leaping over roofs and wielding spears. Cui Meng treated him well, spending money to find him a wife and purchase land. From then on, Cui Meng thoroughly reformed his former reckless behavior; whenever he touched the tattoo on his arm, he could not help but weep. Therefore, when disputes arose among the villagers, Li Shen would pretend to act on orders to mediate, without informing Cui Meng. There was a certain graduate Wang, who was extremely wealthy, and rogues from all around frequently came and went from his house. Many prosperous families in the county were robbed, and if anyone offended him, he would send bandits to kill that person on the road. His son was also cruel and lecherous. Graduate Wang had a widowed aunt, with whom both father and son committed adultery. Wang's wife, Lady Chou, often advised him to stop his evil deeds, so Wang strangled her to death. Lady Chou's brother brought a lawsuit, but Wang bribed the officials, who instead judged the brother guilty of false accusation. With no one to turn to for justice, the brother sought help from Cui Meng, but Li Shen refused them and sent them away. A few days later, a guest arrived, and as there happened to be no servant nearby, Cui Meng asked Li Shen to serve tea. Without a word, Li Shen left and said to others, "I am merely a friend to Cui Meng; I accompanied him into exile for ten thousand li, and my care for him was not inconsiderate. Yet he gives me no reward and treats me like a servant—this I cannot bear!" So he left Cui's house in anger. Someone reported Li Shen's words to Cui Meng, who was astonished at his sudden change of attitude but paid it no heed. Li Shen then suddenly filed a lawsuit, claiming Cui Meng had not paid him wages for three years. Cui Meng found this very strange and confronted Li Shen in court, where Li Shen argued with him angrily. The magistrate deemed Li Shen in the wrong, rebuked him, and expelled him from the court. A few days later, Li Shen entered Graduate Wang's house in the dead of night, killing Wang, his son, the aunt, and the wife, and posted a note on the wall with his own name. By the time the authorities came to arrest him, Li Shen had vanished without a trace. Graduate Wang's family suspected Cui Meng had instigated the murders, but the officials did not believe it. Only then did Cui Meng realize that Li Shen's lawsuit against him was to avoid implicating him after the killings. The authorities issued a wanted notice to neighboring counties, urgently pursuing Li Shen. At that time, Li Zicheng's rebellion happened to be underway, and the pursuit of Li Shen was eventually abandoned.
After the fall of the Ming dynasty, Li Shen returned to his hometown with his family and continued his close friendship with Cui Meng. At that time, bandits were gathering; Wang Jiansheng had a nephew named Wang Deren, who assembled the ruffians once gathered by Wang Jiansheng, occupied a mountain as bandits, and frequently raided nearby villages, burning and looting. One night, they came in full force, under the pretext of revenge, to the homes of Cui and Li. Cui Meng happened to be away on business. Li Shen only realized the bandits had broken in after they had already entered; he leaped over the wall and hid in a dark place. Unable to find Cui Meng or Li Shen, the bandits kidnapped Cui Meng's wife, plundered their belongings, and left. When Li Shen returned home, only one servant remained. Furious, Li Shen chopped a rope into dozens of pieces, giving the short ones to the servant and keeping the long ones for himself. He instructed the servant to climb over the bandits' lair to the mountainside, light the rope pieces, hang them scattered on the thorns, then immediately return without looking back. The servant agreed and left. Li Shen noticed that all the bandits wore red waistbands and red silk on their hats, so he dressed similarly. An old mare had just given birth to a foal, which the bandits had abandoned outside the gate. Li Shen tied the foal to a post, mounted the old mare, and placed a wooden stick in its mouth to keep it silent, then galloped straight to the bandits' den. The bandits were gathered in a large village; Li Shen tied the horse outside the village, leaped over the wall, and entered. He saw the bandits in chaos, their weapons still unsheathed. Li Shen secretly inquired and learned that Cui Meng's wife was in Wang Deren's quarters. Soon, an order was given for everyone to rest, and the bandits responded with shouts. Suddenly, someone ran to report that there was a fire on East Mountain. The bandits all looked eastward; the fire began with just one or two sparks, then multiplied like stars in the sky. Li Shen gasped and shouted loudly that East Mountain was under attack. Wang Deren was greatly alarmed, grabbed his weapons, and led the bandits out. Taking the opportunity, Li Shen slipped past Wang Deren and entered the room. Inside, two bandits were guarding the bed. Li Shen deceived them, saying, "General Wang forgot his saber." The two bandits scrambled to find it, and Li Shen struck one from behind, cutting him down. The other turned around and was also killed by Li Shen. Quickly, Li Shen carried Cui Meng's wife on his back and leaped over the wall. He untied the horse at the village entrance, handed the reins to Cui's wife, and said, "Madam, you do not know the way home; just loosen the reins and let the horse run." The mare, missing her foal, galloped swiftly homeward, with Li Shen following behind. After passing through a mountain pass, Li Shen lit the rope pieces he had brought, hung them up, and then returned home.
The next day, Cui Meng returned home and, upon learning of this matter, considered it a profound disgrace. He flew into a violent rage and wished to go alone to raze the bandits' lair. Li Shen dissuaded him. He gathered the villagers to deliberate together, but the crowd, being timid, dared not respond. Only after repeatedly explaining the advantages and disadvantages did twenty or so men dare to go, yet they lacked weapons. Just then, two spies were captured in the home of a kinsman of Wang Deren. Cui Meng wanted to kill them, but Li Shen said not to, ordering the twenty men to hold white wooden clubs and stand in formation. In front of these men, they cut off the ears of the two spies and released them. The crowd complained, saying, "With such a small force, we were originally afraid the bandits would learn our secrets, but now we have revealed the truth to them. If the bandits come out in full force, our entire village will be lost!" Li Shen said, "I precisely wish for them to come." Then he killed the family that had harbored the spies. Li Shen dispatched four men, each to borrow bows, arrows, and firelocks, and also went to the county seat to borrow two cannons. After nightfall, he led the stalwart men to the mountain pass, placed the cannons on the main road, and had two men hide with tinder, instructing them to light the cannons only upon seeing the bandits. Li Shen then led others to the eastern mouth of the valley, felled large trees, and placed them on the cliff. Then, together with Cui Meng, each led a dozen men and lay in ambush on both sides of the valley. After the first watch passed, they heard the distant neighing of horses, and a great host of bandits indeed arrived, one after another in an unbroken line. When they had all entered the valley, the felled trees were pushed down, cutting off the bandits' retreat. Then the cannons roared, and shouts of battle shook the valley. The bandits hastily withdrew, their men and horses trampling each other. Reaching the eastern mouth of the valley, they could not get out, crowded together without space. Firelocks and arrows from both sides attacked simultaneously, like a violent storm, and bandits with shattered heads and broken legs lay strewn across the ravine. The remaining twenty or so bandits knelt and begged for mercy, so Li Shen had them bound and sent back. They took advantage of their victory to storm the bandits' lair. The bandits guarding the lair fled upon hearing the news, and Li Shen and his men seized the weapons and supplies from the lair before returning. Cui Meng was overjoyed and asked Li Shen about the principle behind the arrangement of the fire-cord formation. Li Shen said, "Lighting a fire in the east would have made them fear pursuit from the west; the short fire-cord was meant to let the fire quickly die out, lest the enemy scout the mountain and find no one there; placing a long fire-cord at the valley mouth, because the mouth was narrow, one man could guard it, and even if the bandits pursued, seeing the fire would surely frighten them—these were all desperate measures devised on the spur of the moment." Later, when interrogating the captured bandits, they indeed said that upon reaching the valley mouth and seeing the fire, they had retreated. Subsequently, these twenty-odd captured bandits had their noses and ears cut off and were released. From then on, the fame of Li Shen and Cui Meng spread greatly, and refugees from near and far came to rely on them, forming a local militia of over three hundred men. Bandits and robbers from all quarters dared not invade, bringing peace to the region.
The Chronicler of the Strange says: A swift ox is sure to wreck the cart, yet it will also achieve great things—this is the very description of Cui Meng! His spirit was so fervent and vehement that few could compare with him. Yet he wished for a world without injustice, which is surely more idealistic than those who claim to understand the ways of the world. Li Shen was originally a commoner, yet in the end he attained a fine reputation. He climbed into the enemy's lair, exterminated the beasts within the inner chambers; he cut off the roads and launched a pincer attack, sweeping away the demons in the narrow valleys. Had he been able to take up a five-banner standard and serve the state, who could say he might not have faced south and claimed kingship!
Commentary
This chapter actually depicts two characters: the first half focuses on Cui Meng, portraying his uprightness, valor, and eagerness to right wrongs; the latter half centers on Li Shen, illustrating his strategic planning and resourcefulness.
The chapter "Cui Meng" bears a strong resemblance to Sima Qian's "Biographies of Wandering Knights" in the "Records of the Grand Historian." Compared to "Biographies of Wandering Knights," "Cui Meng," being a fictional tale, features a more intricate plot, more nuanced character portrayals, and is highly dramatic. For instance, when Cui Meng witnesses Li Shen being cruelly oppressed by the son of a wealthy magnate, a certain Jia, he wishes to intervene but is restrained by his mother's earnest admonitions, leading to intense inner conflict. After a fierce mental struggle, he finally draws his sword and rises up. The novel vividly reflects the harsh reality of rural China during the Ming-Qing transition, where despotic landlords tyrannized villages and committed every conceivable evil, through the misdeeds of the magnate's son Jia and the scholar Wang. This serves both as the historical backdrop for the peasant uprisings that surged during the Ming-Qing period and as the social context for many chivalric works in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." The latter part, describing how Li Shen assists Cui Meng in eliminating a band of local bandits, appears to be influenced in technique by works like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
In comparison, the character of Cui Meng in the tale is vividly portrayed, lively and true to life, while the image of Li Shen appears somewhat inferior, with a disjointed progression between his earlier and later actions. If Li Shen had possessed the meticulousness and resolute determination he later displayed, his earlier gambling and his act of weeping at the gate would hardly have occurred. If he had so easily been lured by the son of a powerful gentry, a certain Jia, into gambling, borrowing money at exorbitant interest, and being made to sign a deed pledging his wife as collateral, then his later conduct, as deep in strategy as a military commander and commanding with calm authority, would seem utterly incomprehensible.