Original Text
Hong Daye was a native of the capital. His wife, née Zhu, was comely in both appearance and demeanor, and the couple loved each other deeply. Later, Hong took a concubine named Baodai, whose looks were far inferior to Zhu's, yet Hong doted on her. Zhu felt deeply aggrieved, and the couple became estranged and hostile. Though Hong dared not openly sleep in Baodai's chamber, he favored her even more and grew distant from Zhu. Eventually, they moved house and became neighbors with a cloth merchant surnamed Di. Di's wife, Hengniang, first came to visit Zhu at the Hong residence. Hengniang was about thirty years old, of middling beauty, but her speech was light and pleasant. Zhu took a liking to her. The next day, Zhu went to the Di household to return the visit, and there she saw Di's concubine, a woman in her twenties with quite attractive features. For nearly half a year, the Hong and Di families lived as neighbors, yet never a word of quarrel was heard from the Di household; Di was singularly devoted to Hengniang, while the concubine seemed but a mere ornament. One day, Zhu met Hengniang and said, "I used to think that a husband favored a concubine simply because she was a concubine, so I often wished to exchange my status as wife for that of a concubine. Now I realize it is not so. What method do you employ, madam? If you can teach me, I would gladly become your disciple." Hengniang laughed and said, "Hehe! It is you who have estranged yourself from your husband—how can you blame him? Nagging and complaining before him all day is like driving sparrows into the forest; it only pushes him further away! When he returns, indulge him even more, and even if he comes to you of his own accord, do not receive him. After a month, I will give you further counsel."
Madam Zhu followed Hengniang's instructions precisely, going so far as to adorn Baodai with cosmetics and fine attire, allowing her to share the marital bed with her husband. Whenever Hong Daye dined, he was invariably accompanied by Baodai. On the rare occasions when Hong Daye approached Madam Zhu with amorous intent, she rebuffed him all the more resolutely, earning widespread praise for her virtuous conduct. After a month had passed, Madam Zhu again visited Hengniang, who beamed with delight and declared, "The effect has already taken hold! Upon returning home, remove all your adornments, cast aside your fine garments, forgo rouge and powder, and deliberately appear disheveled and unkempt, donning worn-out shoes and mingling among the servants in their labors. After another month, you may come to me once more." Madam Zhu complied with these directives, donning patched and tattered clothes, deliberately cultivating an unkempt appearance, and concerning herself with nothing beyond spinning and weaving. Hong Daye, moved by pity for her, suggested that Baodai share some of her burdens, but Madam Zhu adamantly refused, each time driving Baodai away with harsh rebukes.
After a month had passed in this manner, Zhu Shi went again to see Heng Niang. Heng Niang said, "Truly this child is teachable! The day after tomorrow is the Shangsi Festival, and I wish to take you along on an outing to the gardens and green fields. You should cast off all your worn garments, and your robes, trousers, stockings, and shoes must be entirely new. Come to me in the morning." Zhu Shi replied, "Very well." On the day of the Shangsi Festival, Zhu Shi carefully adorned herself before the mirror, following all of Heng Niang's instructions. When she had finished her toilette, she went to see Heng Niang. Heng Niang looked at her and said joyfully, "It is acceptable!" Then she combed her hair into a phoenix-shaped chignon, which made her appear even more radiant. Zhu Shi's robe and sleeves were not quite in fashion, so Heng Niang unstitched the seams and resewed them; she also found her shoes rather clumsy in style, so she took from her chest a pair of unfinished shoes, and the two worked on them together. When they were completed, she had Zhu Shi put them on. At parting, Heng Niang invited her to drink wine and instructed her, saying, "As soon as you return home and see your husband, go early to your room and bolt the door to sleep. If he comes to knock, do not open it. If he knocks three times, you may open it once and let him in. If he seeks to kiss you or caress you, do not yield easily. After half a month, come again to see me." Zhu Shi returned home, dressed in her splendid finery, and went to see Hong Daye. Hong Daye stared at her from head to toe, and his laughter and talk were different from before. Zhu Shi spoke a few words about the spring outing, then rested her cheek on her hand, feigning weariness. Before dusk had fallen, she rose and went to her own chamber, bolted the door, and lay down to sleep. Before long, Hong Daye indeed came to knock at the door, but Zhu Shi resolutely lay still and would not rise, so Hong Daye had to depart. The next evening, it was the same. On the third day, Hong Daye reproached her for not opening the door. Zhu Shi said, "I have grown accustomed to sleeping alone and cannot bear the disturbance of others." As the sun declined westward, Hong Daye came to her chamber and stayed by her side. Thus the couple extinguished the lamp and went to bed, as if it were their wedding night, clinging to each other like glue and lacquer, in great joy. Hong Daye then made an appointment with Zhu Shi to come again the next day, but she would not agree, and instead arranged for him to come once every three days.
After more than half a month, Zhu again went to see Hengniang. Hengniang closed the door and said to Zhu, "From now on, you can have your husband all to yourself. However, although you are very beautiful, you lack charm. With your looks, once you become charming, even Xi Shi would not dare to monopolize favor, let alone those inferior to Xi Shi!" Then she had Zhu try to cast flirtatious glances. Hengniang watched and said, "No! The fault lies in the outer corners of your eyes." She had Zhu try to smile, and Hengniang said again, "No! The fault lies in your left cheek." After that, she demonstrated how to send amorous glances and showed the manner of smiling with a slight reveal of white teeth, making Zhu imitate each one. After doing it dozens of times, Zhu finally began to grasp it somewhat. Hengniang said, "Go home! Practice it in front of the mirror until you are proficient; there are no other methods. As for matters in the bedchamber, adapt to circumstances and cater to his preferences—these can only be understood but not conveyed in words." Zhu returned home and did everything according to Hengniang's instructions. Hong Daye was overjoyed; his body and spirit were completely captivated by her, and he feared only being rejected by Zhu. As evening approached, the two flirted with each other, never leaving the boudoir for half a step. This continued daily, and Hong Daye reached a point where he could not be driven away. From then on, Zhu treated Baodai even more kindly, inviting her to dine with them whenever they ate in the room, but the more Hong Daye looked at Baodai, the uglier she seemed, and he would drive her away before the meal was finished. Sometimes Zhu tricked Hong Daye into Baodai's chamber and locked the door from outside, but Hong Daye would not touch Baodai all night. Thus Baodai grew resentful of Hong Daye and often spoke bitter and slanderous words. Hong Daye detested her even more and gradually began to beat her with a whip. Baodai, filled with indignation, ceased to groom herself from then on, wearing tattered clothes and dragging broken shoes, her hair tangled like weeds, leaving nothing to please her husband.
One day, Hengniang came to Lady Zhu and said, "How do you find my methods?" Lady Zhu replied, "The methods are indeed excellent, but I can only follow them without truly understanding the principles behind them. Why did you first let him indulge freely?" Hengniang answered, "Have you not heard that it is human nature to delight in the new and tire of the old, to value what is hard to obtain and slight what is easily gained? The reason a husband dotes on his concubine is not necessarily that she is beautiful, but because she is newly acquired and he rejoices in the difficulty of possessing her. By deliberately letting him have his fill, even the rarest delicacies will eventually cloy, let alone ordinary fare!" "And why did you first have me remove my makeup, then later adorn myself lavishly?" Hengniang replied, "By deliberately hiding your charms, you make yourself unnoticed, as if long parted; then suddenly appearing in splendid attire, you seem like a new arrival. This is like a poor family suddenly obtaining a sumptuous feast, which makes their coarse meals seem tasteless. Moreover, if you do not grant him your favors lightly, then she is the old one while I am the new, she is easily obtained while I am hard to win—this is what you call the method of turning a wife into a concubine." Upon hearing this, Lady Zhu was overjoyed, and the two became close friends within the women's quarters.
After several years had passed, Hengniang suddenly said to Zhu: "Our affections are as close as one person's, so it is only natural that I should not conceal my origins from you. I have long wished to speak of this, but feared you might harbor suspicions; now that I am about to depart, I will tell you the truth: I am a fox spirit. In my youth, I suffered persecution at the hands of my stepmother and was sold into the capital. My husband treated me with great kindness, so I could not bear to part with him abruptly; lingering in fond attachment, I have remained until this day. Tomorrow, my aged father is to achieve transcendence through corpse liberation, and I must return home to visit him; I shall not come back again." Zhu grasped her hand, weeping uncontrollably. The next morning, she went to the Di household to inquire, only to find the entire family in a state of panic and alarm—for Hengniang had vanished without a trace.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Those who purchase pearls do not value the pearls themselves but the box that contains them. The relationship between the new and the old, the easy and the difficult, has for thousands of years remained an enigma that cannot be unraveled; thus, the art of transforming hatred into affection has found its way to flourish in the human world. In ancient times, those cunning and flattering ministers who served their sovereigns all employed the method of keeping him from seeing others and from reading books. From this, it can be seen that to secure one's position and gather all favor upon oneself, there has always been a secret formula.
Commentary
In old China there was a common saying, "A wife is not as beloved as a concubine, and a concubine is not as beloved as a stolen love," meaning that a man's passion for women varies in intensity—he loves his wife less than his concubine, and his concubine less than a woman outside the home. "Heng Niang" uses a tale to depict this phenomenon, explains it through the psychology of aesthetics, and from the wife's perspective proposes a solution.
From the perspective of a modern woman, one might find Hengniang and Zhu Shi's cunning and seductive tactics to win their husband's affection utterly despicable. Yet within the polygamous family structure of olden times, Hengniang and Zhu Shi faced a near-impossible dilemma: either relinquish the right to love and be loved, or play by the rules of the polygamous game. Since in those days, rivalry between wife and concubines was a normal form of domestic warfare, the methods of Pan Jinlian in The Plum in the Golden Vase, Wang Xifeng in Dream of the Red Chamber, or indeed those of Hengniang and Zhu Shi, all possessed a certain rationality. If their tactics are deemed base, it is rather the baseness of the era itself.
Life requires skill, and family life is no exception. Yet such skills have a limit: they are small tricks based on emotion and love, not stratagems governed by calculations of gain and loss. Above all, they should be mutual, interactive, involving shared care and respect. Because the tricks of Lady Zhu and Heng Niang were, in a male-centered society, one-sided efforts by women to flatter and ingratiate themselves with men, they are rightly looked down upon by people in modern times.
Zhu's success involved a certain element of chance. For women in the same situation as Zhu, had they lacked her youth and beauty, as well as her husband's latent affection, even if they had employed Hengniang's tactics with the utmost skill, they might not have been able to replicate Zhu's fortune. Pu Songling initially presented the general conflict in the relationship between wife and concubine, yet the method of resolution was unique, which is precisely the artistic characteristic of fictional creation.