Original Text
Scholar Jin, styled Wangsun, was a native of Suzhou. He set up a teaching post in the Huai region, lodging in the garden of a local gentry. The garden had few buildings but was overgrown with flowers and trees. Every night after the servants had all retired, he was left alone, restless and deeply forlorn. One night, near the third watch, he suddenly heard someone tapping at the door with a finger. Jin asked who it was, and the reply came, "To borrow a light," the voice sounding like that of a young page from the academy. Jin opened the door and invited the visitor in, only to find a beautiful maiden of sixteen or seventeen, followed by a maidservant. Suspecting she was a spirit, he questioned her closely. The maiden said, "I came because you, sir, are a refined and elegant scholar, lonely and pitiable in your solitude, so I did not fear to show my face and share this fine night with you. I fear that if I told you the reason for my coming, not only would I dare not come, but you, sir, would not dare to receive me." Jin then thought she might be a runaway from a neighboring household, and fearing a lapse in propriety, he respectfully declined her advances. The maiden cast a sidelong glance, and Jin felt his very soul bewitched; suddenly he lost all self-control. The maidservant, knowing the affair was ripe, said to the maiden, "Xia Gu, I will go first." The maiden nodded, then scolded, "Go then, but why speak of clouds and mists?" After the maidservant left, the maiden smiled and said, "There was no one in the room just now, so I brought her along. I never expected that ignorant girl would let you know my pet name." Jin said, "You are so cautious, I fear there is hidden calamity." Xia Gu replied, "In time you will know; I promise I will not corrupt your virtue—do not worry." They went to bed, and when Xia Gu undressed, Jin saw a bracelet on her arm, made of gold and set with two bright pearls; when the lamp was extinguished, the bracelet's light illuminated the room. Jin was even more astonished, unable to guess her origin. After their union, the maidservant tapped at the window. Xia Gu rose, used the bracelet to light her way, and disappeared into the thicket. From then on, Xia Gu came every night without fail. When she left, Jin once followed her from afar, but Xia Gu seemed to sense it and immediately covered the bracelet's glow; the woods were dense and pitch-black, so Jin had to turn back.
One day, Scholar Jin traveled to Hebei, when suddenly the cord of his bamboo hat broke, and the wind threatened to blow it away; he pressed it down with his hand while on horseback. Upon reaching the river, he boarded a small boat, and a gust of wind swept the hat into the water, where it drifted away with the current. Scholar Jin felt greatly displeased. After crossing the river, he saw the wind tossing the hat about in the sky, circling gradually downward. Scholar Jin caught it with his hand and found that the broken cord had already been mended. He was profoundly astonished. Returning home, he recounted the matter in detail to Xia Gu, who said nothing but only smiled faintly. Scholar Jin suspected it was Xia Gu’s doing and said, “If you are truly a celestial being, you should plainly tell me, to dispel the vexation and doubt in my heart.” Xia Gu replied, “In your lonely and dreary hours, having such a devoted one as me to relieve your tedium, I consider it no wrong. Even if I could perform such a feat, it is because I love you. Why do you press me so relentlessly? Do you wish to sever our bond?” Scholar Jin dared not question her further.
Prior to this, Scholar Jin had a niece who, after her marriage, was bewitched by the Five Penetrating Spirits. Jin had long been troubled by this matter but had never spoken of it to anyone. Because his intimacy with Xia Gu had deepened over time, he held back nothing from her. Xia Gu said, "Such creatures, my father can expel. But how dare I reveal my lover's private affairs to my father?" Jin earnestly begged her to devise a plan. Xia Gu pondered for a moment, then said, "These beings are indeed easy to expel, but I must go myself. The Five Penetrating Spirits are all slaves of my household, yet if a finger were to touch their flesh, that disgrace could not be washed clean even with the waters of the Western River." Jin continued to plead desperately. Xia Gu said, "Allow me to think of a way." The next evening, Xia Gu told Jin, "I have already sent a maidservant southward on your behalf. She is frail, and I fear she may not be able to eliminate it at once." The following night, just as they had lain down to sleep, the maidservant knocked at the door. Jin hastily let her in. Xia Gu asked, "How did it go?" The maidservant replied, "I could not seize it, but I have castrated it." Xia Gu smiled and asked for the details. The maidservant said, "At first, I thought it was your residence, but when I arrived, I realized my mistake. By the time I reached your niece's home, it was already lamplight hour. I entered and saw a young lady sitting by the lamp, leaning against the table as if asleep. I gathered her soul and hid it in an earthen jar. Shortly after, the creature came. As soon as it entered the room, it hastily retreated, saying, 'How can there be a stranger in the house?' It looked around carefully, found nothing amiss, and then came back in. I pretended to be unconscious. It lifted the covers and crawled in, then exclaimed in surprise, 'How is there the smell of weapons?' I had not wished to defile my fingers with that filthy thing, but fearing that delay might bring trouble, I quickly seized the vile object and cut it off. The creature was greatly startled, howled, and fled. Then I opened the jar, the young lady awoke, and I returned." Jin happily thanked the maidservant, and Xia Gu departed with her.
For the next half month, Xiagu never came again, and Jinsheng had already given up hope. By the end of the year, Jinsheng disbanded his school and prepared to return home, when Xiagu suddenly arrived. Jinsheng joyfully stepped forward to greet her, saying, "You abandoned me for so long; I must have offended you in some way, but fortunately our bond is not entirely severed." Xiagu said, "We were together for a year, yet parted without a word—that remains a regret. Hearing that you are about to leave, I stole away to bid you farewell." Jinsheng asked Xiagu to return with him. Xiagu sighed and said, "It is a long story! Today we must part, and out of our deep affection, I cannot bear to deceive you: I am actually the daughter of the Golden Dragon King, and because of a destined bond with you, I came to share joy with you. I should not have sent my maid to the south of the river, causing rumors to spread through the rivers and lakes that I had castrated the Five Tongues for your sake. When my father heard of this, he considered it a great shame and was furious enough to order my death. Fortunately, my maid stepped forward and claimed it was her doing, which somewhat appeased my father's anger, though he beat her several hundred times. Since then, every half step I take, a governess follows behind. Today I slipped out only briefly; I cannot fully pour out my heart, and what can be done?" With these words, she prepared to leave, and Jinsheng held her back, weeping. Xiagu said, "Do not be like this; in thirty years we shall meet again." Jinsheng said, "I am already thirty years old; in another thirty years, I will be a white-haired old man—how could I have the face to see you again?" Xiagu replied, "Not so; in the Dragon Palace, there are no white-haired old men. Moreover, whether one lives long or dies young does not depend on appearance; if you only wish to keep your youthful looks, that is quite easy." Having said this, she wrote a prescription on the cover of a book and departed. When Jinsheng returned to his hometown, his niece recounted the strange affair, saying, "That night, I felt as if I were dreaming, and someone seized me and stuffed me into an earthen jar. When I awoke, I saw blood staining the bedclothes, and from then on, the monster vanished completely." Jinsheng said, "That was because I had prayed to the River God earlier, and he took care of it." Thus everyone's doubts were dispelled.
Later, Jin Sheng lived to over sixty years of age, yet his appearance remained that of a man in his thirties. One day, while crossing a river, he saw from afar a lotus leaf drifting downstream, as large as a mat, upon which sat a beautiful woman. As it drew near, he recognized her as Xia Gu. Jin Sheng leaped toward her, and as he did, both he and the lotus leaf shrank, gradually becoming no larger than a copper coin, and then vanished entirely.
This matter, along with the story of Zhao Hong recounted above, both occurred during the final years of the Ming dynasty; it is unknown which event preceded the other. If it took place after Wansheng used force to expel the Five Penetrations, then only half of the Five Penetrations deity remained in the Wu region, which is why it was no longer capable of causing harm.
Commentary
This story, along with the previous one, is an elaboration of the legend of the Five Tongs from the south. The protagonist, "lodging in a gentleman's garden within the city, where the buildings were few and the flowers and trees grew in tangled profusion. As the night deepened, the servants had all dispersed, leaving him alone with his shadow, his thoughts melancholy and his spirits forlorn," bears a strong resemblance to Pu Songling's own experiences as a teacher. Yet both tales are rather crude in themselves, with a heavy air of using the subject as a pretext to vent grievances and make veiled accusations. As a gifted scholar from the north, Pu Songling, in his dealings with half-educated southern literati, could not help but harbor regional prejudices and indulge in casual mockery. The final line of the story, "If this had occurred after Wansheng had displayed his martial prowess, then the Wu region would have been left with only half a Tong, and it would have been insufficient to cause harm," is a clear example of this.