Original Text
In Jiaping there was a young gentleman of exceptional grace and refined bearing. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, he went to the prefectural seat to take the entrance examination for the prefectural school. By chance, he passed by the door of a certain prostitute surnamed Xu, where he saw a beautiful girl of sixteen or seventeen inside. He fixed his gaze upon her, and the girl smiled and nodded at him. The gentleman approached and spoke with her. The girl asked, "Where do you lodge?" He told her in detail. She then inquired, "Is there anyone else in your room?" He replied, "No." She said, "I will visit you tonight; do not let anyone know." The gentleman returned to his inn, and when evening came, he dismissed his servant. The girl indeed arrived, introducing herself, "My pet name is Wenji." She added, "I admire your romantic elegance, so I have come secretly, without my madam's knowledge. My wish is to serve you for life." The gentleman was overjoyed. From then on, Wenji came every two or three nights. One evening, she arrived in the rain. Upon entering, she removed her wet clothes and hung them on a rack; then she took off her little boots and asked the gentleman to wipe off the mud for her, while she herself climbed onto the bed and drew the covers over her. The gentleman looked at her boots, which were made of new, multicolored brocade, nearly soaked through with mud, and he felt regret at their ruin. Wenji said, "I dare not ask you to do such a menial task as cleaning my shoes; I only wish you to know the depth of my devotion." Listening to the ceaseless rain outside the window, she spontaneously recited, "The bleak wind and cold rain fill the river town." She asked the gentleman to complete the verse, but he declined, pleading ignorance of poetry. Wenji said, "A gentleman like you—how can you not understand poetry? You have quite dampened my poetic inspiration!" She then urged him to study diligently, and he promised to do so.
The two of them came and went frequently, so the servants all came to know of it. The young master's brother-in-law, whose surname was Song, was also a scion of a great and noble house. When he heard of this, he secretly begged the young master to let him see Wen Ji. The young master mentioned it to Wen Ji, but she firmly refused. Song then hid himself in a servant's room, and when Wen Ji arrived, he pressed his face to the window to peep at her, and was so utterly entranced that he nearly went mad. He hastily pushed open the door, but Wen Ji rose and leaped over the wall, fleeing. Song was consumed with ardent longing for Wen Ji, so he prepared gifts and went to see Old Madam Xu, asking specifically for Wen Ji. Old Madam Xu said, "There is indeed such a person as Wen Ji, but she has been dead for a long time." Song left in astonishment and returned to tell the young master, who then realized that Wen Ji was a ghost. That night, the young master told Wen Ji what Song had said, and Wen Ji replied, "I am indeed a ghost. But what you seek is a beautiful woman, and I seek a handsome man; each of us can have our desires fulfilled—why must we draw such a clear line between human and ghost?" The young master thought her words were reasonable.
After the young master finished his examinations and returned home, Wen Ji followed him back. No one else could see her; only the young master could. Once home, he settled Wen Ji in his study. He slept alone in the study and did not return to his own chambers, which aroused the suspicion of his parents. When Wen Ji went back to her family home for a visit, the young master secretly told his mother. His mother was greatly alarmed and warned him to sever relations with Wen Ji, but he would not listen. His parents worried deeply for him and tried every means to drive Wen Ji away, but to no avail. One day, the young master wrote a note for a servant and left it on the table, but it contained many errors: he wrote "bean" instead of "pepper," "river" instead of "ginger," and "hateful" as "hate-wave." When Wen Ji saw it, she wrote on the back: "What thing is 'hate-wave'? 'Flower-bean gives birth to river.' Better to be a courtesan than to have such a husband!" Then she said to the young master, "I initially thought you were from a scholarly family and a man of letters, so I overcame my shyness and came to you willingly. Little did I know you are but a hollow shell! If I choose a man by his appearance alone, am I not to be ridiculed by all the world?" With these words, she vanished. Though the young master was both ashamed and angry, he still did not understand what Wen Ji had written. He folded the note and showed it to the servants. All who heard of this incident took it as a source of mockery.
The Chronicler of Strange Tales remarks: Wen Ji was truly a lovable person! How could one demand that a graceful and elegant young gentleman possess substance within his breast? As for Wen Ji regretting that she would have been better off as a courtesan, even the gentleman's wife and concubines would weep with shame. Though a thousand schemes were used to drive her away, she would not leave, yet upon seeing that single note, her resolve to depart was firm—thus it is evident that the four characters 'hua shu sheng jiang' (blossoms and beans growing by the river), like Du Fu's line 'Zi Zhang's skull,' possess the power to expel ghosts and ward off evil!
It is recorded in the "Records of the Ear" that there was a man selling tea by the roadside, whose signboard read: "Bestowing 'Gong' to form a bond of fate," having mistakenly written the character for "tea" as "gong," which is indeed a matter for laughter.
There was a scion of an aristocratic family who, after falling into poverty, wrote on his door: "Selling ancient lewd vessels." — having mistakenly written the character for "kiln" as "lewd." He also wrote: "Those who desire Xuanlewd or Dinglewd vessels, large and small are available; come inside to inspect the goods and negotiate the price." Such cases of gentlemen from noble families writing mistaken characters are numerous, and it is not limited to just one instance of "flower millet growing on the river"!
Commentary
A handsome and elegant young gentleman of Jiaping, blessed with striking features, won the favor of the beautiful and passionate Wen Ji, who visited him every night in secret, never failing to keep their tryst despite torrential rains, the perils of the road, or the opposition of her parents; yet when the gentleman wrote a letter riddled with errors, the courtesan departed like a drifting cloud, sighing as she left, "With a husband such as this, it were better to be a harlot."
To suffer such humiliation over writing mistaken characters, though it may be a jest, yet for those students receiving education, its cautionary effect is exceedingly great. This tale draws near at hand for metaphor, delving deep while emerging shallow, expressing grave principles in a humorous and simple manner, enabling one to grasp its profound educational content amid a smile. In this sense, it may be said that among classical Chinese tales in the literary language, "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" is the most educationally meaningful collection of such tales, and likewise, in literary history, the most successful collection imbued with an educational spirit.