Original Text
Ren Jianzhi was a native of Yutai, who made his living by trading in felt and fur garments. Once, taking all his capital, he traveled to Shaanxi. On the way, he met a man who introduced himself as Shen Zhuting, from Suqian. The two hit it off well and swore brotherhood, traveling and lodging together. When they reached Shaanxi, Ren fell ill and could not get up from his bed. Shen Zhuting took good care of him. After more than ten days, Ren's condition became critical. He said to Shen, "My family has no fixed assets; the food and clothing for eight mouths depend entirely on my hard work and business earnings abroad. Today, unfortunately, I am to die in a strange land. You are my sworn brother, and two thousand li from home, who else is there to call kin? I have over two hundred taels of silver on me. Take half to prepare my coffin, and use the remainder for your travel expenses. Send the other half to my wife and children, so they can hire a cart to bring my coffin home. If you are willing to bring my remains back to our hometown, do not begrudge the cost of the journey." Having said this, Ren wrote a letter of testament on his pillow and handed it to Shen. That night, Ren died. Shen spent five or six taels of silver to buy a cheap coffin, encoffined him, and when the innkeeper urged him to move the coffin away, Shen made an excuse about finding a temple to place it, and then absconded, never to return.
It was only after more than a year that the Ren family received definite news. Ren Jianzhi's son, named Ren Xiu, was seventeen at the time and still studying; upon hearing of his father's death, he abandoned his books and resolved to journey to Shaanxi to retrieve his father's coffin. His mother, deeming him too young, was reluctant to let him go, but he wept so bitterly that he seemed near death, and she finally consented. She sold off household goods to prepare traveling funds and sent an old servant to accompany him; half a year passed before they returned. After the funeral, the family was left utterly destitute. Fortunately, Ren Xiu was clever, and after completing the mourning period, he passed the county examination and became a licentiate. Yet, alas, the youth was of a dissolute nature and fond of gambling; though his mother sternly disciplined him, he would not reform. Once, when the provincial examiner came to conduct the annual examination, he was ranked only fourth class; his mother wept in anger and could not eat. Ashamed and fearful, he swore to study diligently. He shut himself up for over a year and finally achieved an excellent ranking, earning the state's stipend of clothing and food. His mother urged him to take on a few students to teach, but people, remembering his past behavior, did not trust him and mocked him instead, so he could not establish himself as a tutor.
Ren Xiu had a maternal uncle, surnamed Zhang, who was a merchant in the capital. He urged Ren Xiu to accompany him to the capital, offering to take him along without charging for the journey. Ren Xiu was delighted and boarded a boat with his uncle. When they reached the Linqing area, the boat moored at the western gate of the city. It happened that many salt boats were also anchored there, their masts and sails standing thick as a forest. After retiring for the night, the noise of water and voices kept him from sleeping. In the dead of night, he suddenly heard the sound of dice being thrown on a neighboring boat, a crisp and clear clatter that stirred his heart, and Ren Xiu's hands itched with desire. Listening to ensure his fellow travelers were all asleep, he felt the thousand coins in his bag and was eager to cross over and play. He quietly rose, untied the bundle, and took out the money, but then hesitated, recalling his mother's admonitions, and wrapped the money back up to lie down. Yet his heart remained unsettled, and he could not sleep; he rose again, untied the bundle once more, and repeated this several times. At last, unable to resist, he took the money and boarded the neighboring boat. There he saw two men engaged in a game of dice, with high stakes. He placed his money on the table and asked to join the game. The two men welcomed him, and they began to throw the dice together. In a short while, Ren Xiu won heavily. One of the two men lost all his money and pawned a large silver ingot to the boat owner for small change to continue gambling. Later, he staked over ten strings of cash, as if making a final desperate throw. As the game grew intense, another man arrived, watched for a while, and then pawned a hundred taels of silver to the owner to join the game. Ren Xiu's uncle awoke in the middle of the night and, finding Ren Xiu absent from the boat, heard the dice and knew he must be gambling. He went to the neighboring boat, intending to stop him. But seeing the pile of coins beside Ren Xiu's leg as high as a mountain, he said nothing, carried several thousand coins back to their boat, and roused the other passengers to help him transport the winnings. After several trips, there were still over ten thousand coins left. Soon, the three men on the neighboring boat had all lost, and there was no more money on that vessel. They wanted to gamble with silver, but Ren Xiu had lost interest, claiming he would only play for cash, not silver. His uncle repeatedly urged him to stop and return to sleep. The three men, frantic from their losses, and the boat owner, greedy for the gamblers' tips, hoped to continue the game, so the owner voluntarily borrowed much money from other boats. With money in hand, the three men gambled more eagerly, but soon all their funds became Ren Xiu's. By then, dawn had broken, and the Linqing dock was releasing the early boats. Ren Xiu, his uncle, and the other passengers together carried the winnings to their own boat, while the three men dispersed. The boat owner then saw that the two hundred and more taels of silver pawned by the three men had all turned to ashes of paper money. He was greatly alarmed and went to Ren Xiu's boat to inform him, hoping for compensation. But when he asked Ren Xiu's name and birthplace, he realized that this was the son of Ren Jianzhi, and he shrank his neck, blushing with shame, and slunk away. Ren Xiu asked the boatmen and learned that the owner was none other than Shen Zhuting.
When Ren Xiu arrived in Shaanxi, he often heard the name Shen Zhuting mentioned; by this point, the ghost had already exacted its revenge, so he no longer pursued the former grievances. Ren Xiu then used this money to form a partnership with Zhang to trade in the north, and by year's end, they had made several times their investment. Thereupon, Ren Xiu purchased a student's rank through a donation. From then on, he grew even more adept at commerce, and within ten years, his wealth dominated the region.
Commentary
Gambling is by no means a virtuous pursuit, and Pu Songling's stance is unequivocally clear, stating: "One only sees gamblers become beggars, never acquaintances turn into wealthy men," and "Gambling is the root of thievery, and those who open gambling dens are the lairs of thieves." In "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," several stories also condemn the act of gambling. Yet in this tale, a few ghosts orchestrate a gambling scheme, allowing Ren Jianzhi's son, Ren Xiu, who had once dabbled in gambling, to win back his father's lost assets by chance through a game of chance, thereby punishing Shen Zhuting, a man who betrayed friendship and embezzled his friend's property.
The story is heavily imbued with the color of karmic retribution: several ghosts exchange paper money for real coins, losing the genuine currency to Ren Xiu, who is destined to inherit the estate, while leaving the counterfeit money for Shen Zhuting, who has unjustly profited—the plot is simple yet absurd. The novel's most brilliant passage depicts Ren Xiu, who is "frivolous and skilled at gambling," reforming his bad habits under his mother's strict discipline; but on his journey away from home to the capital, as if by ghostly design, he cannot resist temptation and joins a gambling game. The psychological portrayal of Ren Xiu's relapse into gambling is exquisitely nuanced: "Hearing the clear, crisp sound of dice from a neighboring boat, it entered his ears and stirred his heart, and before he knew it, his old itch returned. Secretly listening, he found all the other guests had fallen into deep slumber; with a thousand coins prepared in his own pouch, he thought of crossing over to the boat for a game. He stealthily rose, untied his pouch, grasped the coins, hesitated, then recalling his mother's admonition, he tied it up again and set it aside. Having lain down, his heart pounded with agitation, unable to sleep; he rose again, untied it again, and did so three times. Then his urge surged forth, and he could no longer bear it; taking the coins, he went straight over." One can imagine that without keen observation and a firm grasp of life, it would be difficult to write such vivid prose.