Original Text
Elder Zeng was from a hereditary official family in Kunyang. When he first died, before being encoffined, a tear-like fluid flowed from both his eye sockets. Elder Zeng had six sons, none of whom understood the meaning of this. His second son, Zeng Ti, styled Youyu, was a renowned scholar of the region, who deemed this phenomenon inauspicious and warned his brothers to be cautious and not bring suffering upon their ancestor, but most of them laughed at him for being pedantic. It turned out that Elder Zeng's first wife had borne his eldest son, Zeng Cheng, who was taken by bandits along with his mother when he was seven or eight years old. Elder Zeng then took a second wife, who bore him three sons: Zeng Xiao, Zeng Zhong, and Zeng Xin. His concubine bore him three sons: Zeng Ti, Zeng Ren, and Zeng Yi. Zeng Xiao considered Zeng Ti and his two brothers lowborn and treated them with contempt, forming a clique with Zeng Zhong and Zeng Xin. Even when they were drinking with guests, if Zeng Ti and the others passed by the hall, they would display arrogant and rude behavior. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi were furious and consulted with Zeng Ti about retaliating against Zeng Xiao and his brothers. Youyu used countless words to soothe and dissuade them, disagreeing with their plan, and since Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi were the youngest, they desisted upon hearing their elder brother's words. Zeng Xiao had a daughter who married into the Zhou family in the city and died of illness. Zeng Xiao then gathered Zeng Ti and the other brothers to go beat the girl's mother-in-law, but Zeng Ti refused. Zeng Xiao, enraged, had Zeng Zhong and Zeng Xin assemble a gang of ruffians from the clan, who went to the Zhou household, seized Zhou's wife, beat her severely, scattered grain, smashed utensils, and shattered every pot and jar. The Zhou family reported the matter to the authorities. The magistrate was furious, arrested Zeng Xiao and the others, and threw them into prison, intending to report to his superiors for punishment. Youyu was terrified and went to surrender himself to the magistrate. Youyu's conduct had always been respected by the magistrate, so the Zeng brothers suffered no hardship in prison. Youyu then went to the Zhou family to apologize with a birch rod on his back, and the Zhou family also held Youyu in high regard, so the lawsuit was dropped.
Zeng Xiao returned home, never feeling grateful to Youyu. Before long, Youyu's mother, Lady Zhang, died of illness, but Zeng Xiao and his brothers refused to wear mourning garments, drinking and making merry as usual. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi grew even more indignant. Youyu said, "Their lack of propriety—what harm does it do to us?" When the time came for burial, Zeng Xiao and the others blocked the tomb entrance, preventing Lady Zhang from being interred together with their father. Youyu then buried his mother in a side passage. Not long after, Zeng Xiao's wife died, and Youyu summoned Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi to attend the funeral. The two replied, "When our mother died, they did not come to mourn; why should we go for his wife?" Youyu tried to persuade them further, but they scattered in a hubbub. Youyu went alone to offer condolences, weeping with great sorrow. Over the wall, he heard Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi playing music, which enraged Zeng Xiao, who gathered his brothers to attack them. Youyu took up a staff and followed at the front. As they entered the house, Zeng Ren sensed the danger and fled first; Zeng Yi was about to climb the wall when Youyu struck him down from behind. Zeng Xiao and the others rained fists and sticks upon him without cease, but Youyu threw himself forward to block them. Zeng Xiao, furious, reproached Youyu. Youyu said, "The reason I punished Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi was for their lack of propriety, yet their crime does not warrant death. I do not shield my younger brothers in wrongdoing, nor do I aid my elder brother in violence. If your anger remains unassuaged, I am willing to take their place." Zeng Xiao then turned his staff on Youyu, and Zeng Zhong and Zeng Xin joined in beating their elder brother, their shouts and blows shaking the neighborhood. The crowd gathered to mediate, and only then did Zeng Xiao and his brothers disperse. Youyu immediately leaned on his staff and went to apologize to his elder brother Zeng Xiao. Zeng Xiao drove him away, refusing to let him join the mourning ranks. Meanwhile, Zeng Yi's injuries were severe, and he could not eat. Zeng Ren wrote a plaint on his behalf and lodged a complaint with the authorities, accusing Zeng Xiao and the others of failing to observe mourning for their stepmother. The magistrate issued a writ summoning Zeng Xiao, Zeng Zhong, and Zeng Xin to court, and ordered Youyu to present the statement. Because his face was bruised, Youyu could not go to the yamen, so he wrote a deposition explaining the situation, begging the magistrate to settle the matter, and the case was dismissed. Zeng Yi's wounds soon healed. From then on, the enmity between the two sides deepened. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi, both young and weak, were often beaten by Zeng Xiao and the others, and they complained to Youyu, saying, "Every man has brothers—only we have none!" Youyu replied, "Those words should be mine to speak; how can you two say them?" He earnestly admonished them, but they would not listen. Youyu then locked his own door, took his wife, and moved to a place fifty li away, hoping to hear no more of these vexing affairs.
While Youyu was at home, though he did not assist his own younger brothers, Zeng Xiao and the others at least had some restraint; after he left, whenever Zeng Xiao and his brothers were displeased, they would go to the gates of Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi's home to shout insults, even directly cursing the mother of Youyu and his brothers. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi, considering themselves unable to contend with them, merely shut their doors and plotted to assassinate them, carrying knives whenever they went out. One day, the eldest brother Zeng Cheng, who had been captured by bandits years ago, suddenly returned with his wife. Because the family had been divided for a long time, the brothers gathered to discuss for three days, yet found no place to settle Zeng Cheng. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi secretly rejoiced and invited Zeng Cheng and his wife to stay with them, supporting them together. They informed Youyu, who was delighted, and returning home, he joined Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi in providing fields and a house for Zeng Cheng. Zeng Xiao and his brothers, angered that Youyu's faction showed kindness to Zeng Cheng, came to their door to humiliate them. But Zeng Cheng, having long lived among bandits and grown accustomed to a fierce and bold demeanor, flew into a rage and said, "I return home, and not a single person is willing to give me a room; fortunately, the third brother, mindful of fraternal bonds, lets me stay, and yet you come to rebuke him—do you wish to drive me away?" With that, he hurled a stone at Zeng Xiao, striking him to the ground. Zeng Ren and Zeng Yi seized clubs and rushed out, capturing Zeng Zhong and Zeng Xin and beating them countless times. Zeng Cheng then brought the case to the county magistrate, who sent someone to consult Youyu. Youyu went to the yamen, bowed his head in silence, and only wept. When the magistrate asked him what should be done, he said, "I only seek a just judgment." The magistrate then ruled that Zeng Xiao and the others must each yield some of their land to Zeng Cheng, so that the seven brothers' holdings were equal. From then on, Zeng Ren, Zeng Yi, and Zeng Cheng grew even more affectionate toward one another. When they spoke of burying their mother, they all shed tears. Zeng Cheng said angrily, "Such lack of filial piety is no different from beasts!" He then resolved to open the grave and reinter Madam Zhang with proper rites. Zeng Ren ran to tell Youyu, who hurried back to dissuade him. Zeng Cheng would not listen, set a date to open the tomb, and held a sacrifice at the gravesite. Drawing his sword, he struck a tree and declared to all the brothers, "If anyone dares not join me in mourning, let this tree be his fate!" All the brothers assented. Thus, the entire family wept at the grave and buried Madam Zhang according to ritual. From then on, the brothers lived in peace. But Zeng Cheng was fierce by nature, often beating his brothers, especially Zeng Xiao. He alone respected Youyu; even in the height of his rage, if Youyu came, a single word could calm him. Whenever Zeng Xiao did anything, Zeng Cheng treated him unfairly, so Zeng Xiao came to Youyu's house every day, secretly cursing Zeng Cheng. Youyu advised him kindly, but Zeng Xiao never heeded his words. Unable to bear Zeng Xiao's harassment, Youyu moved again to Sanbo, which was even farther away, and their visits gradually dwindled.
After another two years had passed, the Zeng brothers all feared Zeng Cheng, and over time this became a habit. At this time, Zeng Xiao was forty-six years old and had fathered five sons: the eldest, Jiye, and the third, Jide, were born of his principal wife; the second, Jigong, and the fourth, Jiji, were born of a concubine; and there was also one born of a maidservant, named Jizu. All five sons grew to adulthood, imitating their father's former conduct, each forming their own faction, daily contending with one another, and even Zeng Xiao could not restrain them. Only Jizu had no full brothers, and being the youngest, all his elder brothers could scold and insult him. Jizu's father-in-law's family lived near Sanbo, and once when he went to visit his in-laws, he took a detour to call on his uncle Youyu. As soon as he entered the gate, he saw his two elder cousins and one younger cousin at his uncle's house, chanting verses and reading aloud in great harmony and joy. Jizu was much delighted and stayed at Youyu's home for a long time without mentioning his return. Youyu urged him to go back, but he earnestly begged to be allowed to lodge there. Youyu said, "Your parents do not know you are here; how could I begrudge you food and drink?" Jizu then returned home. A few months later, Jizu and his wife went to celebrate his mother-in-law's birthday. He told his father, "This time, once I leave, I will not return." His father asked him why, and Jizu revealed his desire to live with his uncle Youyu. Zeng Xiao worried that he and Youyu had old grievances, fearing Jizu would find it hard to stay long at Youyu's. Jizu said, "Father worries too much. Second Uncle is a sage." So he departed, taking his wife with him to Sanbo. Youyu prepared a room for them to live in, treating him like his own son, and had him study alongside his eldest son, Jishan. Jizu was the most intelligent; after living at Sanbo for over a year, he passed the prefectural examination and became a scholar of Yunnan Prefecture. He and Jishan studied behind closed doors with great diligence, and Jizu was the most assiduous in his studies, so Youyu cherished him greatly.
After Jizu moved to Sanbo to live, the brothers left at home became even more unable to treat each other kindly. One day, after a slight disagreement in words, Jiye reviled his stepmother. Jigong, enraged, killed Jiye. The authorities arrested Jigong and subjected him to severe torture; within a few days, Jigong died in prison. Jiye's wife, Fengshi, still wept and cursed daily. Jigong's wife, Liushi, upon hearing this, grew furious and said, "Your husband is dead, but whose husband still lives?" With these words, she seized a knife, rushed in, killed Fengshi, and then threw herself into a well and died. Fengshi's father, Feng Daye, grieving bitterly over his daughter's tragic death, led the Feng clan's sons and grandsons, concealing weapons in their garments, to the Zeng household to seize Zeng Xiao's concubine. They dragged her onto the road, stripped her, and beat her to humiliate her. Zeng Cheng, enraged, roared, "My house is filled with the dead like scattered hemp—why must the Fengs come to stir up trouble!" With a great shout, he charged out. The Zeng sons and grandsons followed behind him, and the Fengs were all frightened into flight. Zeng Cheng first seized Feng Dali, cutting off both his ears; when his son came to rescue him, Zeng Jiji struck with an iron staff, breaking both his legs. Every member of the Feng clan was wounded, and they scattered in chaos. Only Feng Dali's son still lay by the roadside; Zeng Cheng carried him under his arm, delivered him to Feng Village, and then returned. Afterward, Zeng Cheng ordered Jiji to surrender to the authorities, and the Fengs' complaint also arrived. Thus, all the Zengs were taken into prison. Only Zeng Zhong alone escaped; he came to Sanbo and lingered outside Youyu's gate. It happened that Youyu, accompanied by his son and a nephew, was returning from the provincial examination. Seeing Zeng Zhong, he exclaimed in surprise, "How is it that my younger brother has come?" Zeng Zhong could not speak before tears flowed; he straightened himself and knelt by the roadside. Youyu took his hand and led him inside, asked for the details, and was greatly alarmed, saying, "What is to be done! The family's discord—I long knew a great calamity would come. Otherwise, why would I have fled here? But I have been away from home for so long that I have no dealings with the county magistrate; even if I were to crawl on my knees to beg for mercy, it would only bring shame upon myself. Yet, if the wounds of the Feng father and son are not fatal, and if among the three of us one is fortunate enough to pass the examination, perhaps this disaster may be slightly alleviated." Youyu then kept Zeng Zhong to stay, eating with him by day and sleeping with him by night. Zeng Zhong was both moved and ashamed. After living at Youyu's for over ten days, he saw that Youyu and his nephew were as close as father and son, and that the cousins treated each other like brothers in harmony; he could not help but weep bitterly and say, "Today I realize that in the past I was truly not a man." Youyu was delighted at his sudden awakening, and the brothers faced each other with aching hearts. Soon, the heralds of good news arrived, reporting that Youyu and his son had both passed the examinations, and Jizu had also attained the secondary rank; the whole household rejoiced. The next day, Youyu did not attend the celebratory Deer Cry Banquet for the successful candidates but instead went first to sweep the ancestral graves. In the late Ming dynasty, the imperial examinations were held in the highest regard; when the Fengs learned that three members of the Zeng family had all succeeded in the examinations, their arrogance subsided. Youyu then enlisted relatives and friends to give money and grain to the Fengs, and also paid for their medical treatment, thus settling the lawsuit.
The entire family wept with gratitude toward Youyu, imploring him to return home. Youyu then burned incense and swore an oath with his brothers, commanding each to reflect on himself and reform his ways, after which he moved back. Jizu wished to follow Youyu, unwilling to return to his own home. Zengxiao then said to Youyu, "I lack virtue and do not deserve a son who brings glory to our ancestors. You, brother, are skilled in teaching; let him be your son for now. When he makes some progress in the future, you may return him to me." Youyu agreed. After another three years, Jizu indeed passed the provincial examination. Youyu bade him move back to his own home, and Jizu and his wife departed in floods of tears. Within a few days, Jizu's three-year-old son fled back to Youyu's house, hiding in the chamber of his uncle Jishan, refusing to return; when caught and sent back, he would escape again. Zengxiao then had Jizu move out and live next door to Youyu. Jizu opened a gate in the wall connecting to his uncle's house, and the two families interacted like one household. By this time, Zeng Cheng was growing old, and all family affairs were decided by Youyu. From then on, the Zeng family lived in harmony, worthy of being called a model of filial piety and brotherly love.
The Chronicler of Strange Tales remarks: Only beasts in the world know only their mother and not their father—how is it that learned and cultured families often commit this same error! The moral conduct of a family seeps into the marrow of its descendants, influencing them to the very bone. The ancients said: If the father is a robber, his son will surely commit theft—this is the result of transmitted vices. Though Zeng Xiao was unkind, his retribution was severe enough; yet in the end, he himself recognized his lack of virtue and entrusted his son to his younger brother Youyu—one cannot blame him for having a son of deep foresight, who dwelled in safety yet thought of danger. To speak of the cycle of cause and effect may seem somewhat pedantic.
Commentary
Zeng You was a figure who mended the heavens within a feudal extended family, and also the author's ideal exemplar of familial ethics and morality.
During the existence of the great feudal family, on one hand, social moral codes emphasized benevolence, filial piety, and brotherly harmony, as if branches of the same tree; on the other hand, in daily life, between the first wife's chambers and the concubine's quarters, between the legitimate sons and the concubine-born sons, endless strife arose over family property, inheritance, and even trivial household matters, each glaring at the other like fighting cocks, as if one wished to devour the other. The goodness of morality and propriety could never overcome the evil of material interests in real life, and the disintegration of the great family was always a matter of time. Zeng Youyu, in all matters strictly adhering to feudal morality, enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens, could only patch up a fraction of the cracks in the feudal family's sky, but could not fundamentally cure its chronic ailment. In truth, his limited mending and his centripetal force relied entirely on the fact that during the late Ming dynasty, success in the imperial examinations was held in the highest esteem, and Zeng Youyu and his father both passed the provincial examination in the same year, becoming juren; otherwise, he would still have been unable to escape the fate of taking his wife and children to lodge elsewhere.