Original Text
Feng Yugui was a Confucian scholar from Liaocheng in Shandong, extremely poor and without any means of livelihood. During the Wanli era, a great famine occurred, and Feng Yugui fled south alone. When he returned, he fell ill upon reaching Yizhou. Struggling on for several more li, he arrived at a desolate graveyard south of the city, where exhaustion overcame him, and he could go no further. He lay down against a tomb. Suddenly, as if in a dream, he found himself in a village. An old man came out from a door and invited him inside. Inside, there were two rooms, quite humble. In one room was a young woman of sixteen or seventeen, graceful and refined in appearance, gentle and virtuous. The old man bade the woman boil cypress twig tea, which she served to the guest in earthenware vessels. He then asked Feng Yugui his birthplace and age, and after learning these, said, "My name is Li Hongdu, a native of Pingyang. I drifted here and have lived for thirty-two years. Please remember my household, and if my descendants come to seek me out, trouble yourself to guide them. This old man will not forget your kindness. She is my adopted daughter, called Weiniang, not ill-favored, and can be given to you as a wife. When my third son arrives, I will have him preside over your wedding." Feng Yugui was overjoyed and bowed to the old man, saying, "I am twenty-two this year and have not yet married. To receive your daughter as my wife is indeed excellent, but how can I find your family to inform them?" The old man said, "Just stay in the village for a month or so, and someone will come naturally. Only do not grow impatient." Feng Yugui, fearing the old man might not keep his word, pressed him, saying, "To speak plainly to you, I am very poor, with only bare walls at home. I fear that in the future, things may not go as you wish, and if your daughter abandons me midway, it would be truly unbearable. Even without this marriage bond, I would not break my promise. Why not speak frankly?" The old man laughed and said, "You want this old man to swear an oath? I have long known you are poor. This betrothal is not entirely for your sake; Weiniang is orphaned and without support, and we have relied on each other for a long time. I cannot bear to see her drift away with me, so I give her to you. Why must you doubt?" With these words, the old man took Feng Yugui by the arm and escorted him out, clasped his hands in farewell, and closed the door to return inside.
Feng Yugui woke up to find himself lying beside a grave, with the sun already nearing noon; he slowly rose to his feet and hesitantly entered the village. The villagers were astonished at the sight of him, saying they had thought him dead by the roadside a day earlier. Feng Yugui suddenly realized that the old man was a corpse from the grave, but he concealed this and only begged the villagers to let him lodge with them. However, the villagers, fearing he might die again, dared not take him in. There was a scholar in the village who shared the same surname as Feng Yugui; upon hearing of his arrival, he came to inquire about his family background, and it turned out that this scholar was a distant uncle of Feng Yugui. Delighted, he took Feng Yugui home, treated his illness, and within a few days, Feng Yugui recovered. He then recounted his experiences to his uncle, who was also astonished and sat at home waiting to see what might transpire.
Not long after, a guest indeed arrived in the village, seeking the site of his father's grave. He claimed to be a jinshi from Pingyang, named Li Shuxiang. It turned out that Li Shuxiang's father, Li Hongdu, had been traveling with a fellow villager, a certain Jia, on business and died in Yizhou. Jia buried him in a mass grave of the destitute. After returning home, Jia also died. At that time, Li Hongdu's three sons were still young. The eldest, Li Bozhong, became a jinshi and served as magistrate of Huainan County. He sent people several times to search for his father's grave, but no one knew its location. The second son, Zhongdao, passed the provincial examination. Shuxiang, the youngest, also succeeded in the examinations. So he personally set out to find his father's remains, arriving in Yizhou and making inquiries everywhere. On this day, Shuxiang came to the village, but none of the villagers knew anything. Feng Yugui then led him to the graveyard and pointed out his father's tomb. Shuxiang could not believe it, so Feng Yugui recounted his own experience, and Shuxiang was greatly astonished. They examined the site closely and found two graves connected together. Someone said that three years earlier, an official had buried his concubine there. Fearing he might dig up the wrong grave, Shuxiang hesitated, but Feng Yugui pointed to the spot where he himself had lain. Shuxiang ordered a coffin brought and placed beside it, then began to dig. When the grave was opened, it revealed a female corpse. Her clothes and ornaments were faded and decayed, but her face was still as if alive. Shuxiang realized he had dug the wrong grave and was horrified, not knowing what to do. But the woman suddenly sat up, looked around, and said, "Is that Third Brother who has come?" Shuxiang was greatly startled. Drawing near to question her, he learned that she was Weiniang. He then took off his own coat to cover her and had her carried to the inn. He hastily opened the adjacent grave, hoping his father might also revive. When the tomb was opened, his father's skin was still intact, but it felt stiff and dry to the touch. Shuxiang wept without ceasing in his grief. He placed his father in the coffin and invited monks and Taoists to chant sutras for seven days to release the soul from suffering. Weiniang also wore mourning garments like a true daughter. One day, Weiniang suddenly said to Shuxiang, "In the past, Father had two ingots of gold. He once gave me one as a dowry. Because I was orphaned and frail, with nowhere to keep it, I merely tied a silk thread around its waist and did not take it away. Has my elder brother found it?" Shuxiang knew nothing of this, so he sent Feng Yugui back to the grave to search, and indeed he found it, just as Weiniang had said. Shuxiang then gave the ingot with the silk thread back to Weiniang. In his leisure, Shuxiang inquired about Weiniang's background.
It turned out that Wei Niang's father, Xue Yin Hou, had no sons and only this one daughter, whom he cherished deeply. One day, Wei Niang was returning from her maternal uncle's home in Jinling, accompanied by an old maidservant, and they sought to hire a boat. The boatman was a matchmaker from Jinling. It happened that an official, having completed his term of office, was heading to the capital and had commissioned this matchmaker to select a beautiful concubine for him. The matchmaker had visited several families but found none suitable, and was planning to sail to Yangzhou to continue his search when he suddenly encountered Wei Niang. Conceiving a wicked scheme in his heart, he hastily beckoned them aboard. The old maidservant, who had long known the matchmaker, boarded the boat with Wei Niang. Midway, the matchmaker poisoned their food, rendering both Wei Niang and the maidservant unconscious. He then pushed the maidservant into the river, took Wei Niang back to Jinling, and sold her at a high price to the official. Upon entering the official's household, his principal wife, learning of the concubine purchase, became enraged. Wei Niang, still dazed, failed to pay her respects, and the wife beat her and locked her away. After they crossed the river and traveled north for three days, Wei Niang finally regained her senses. The maidservant recounted the events, and Wei Niang wept bitterly. One night, while lodging in Yizhou, she hanged herself, and the official buried her in a desolate graveyard. In her tomb, Wei Niang was tormented by ghosts, but Li Hong Du constantly protected her, and she came to regard him as her father. Li Hong Du said, "Your fate is not yet sealed; I should find you a husband." Previously, when Feng Yu Gui came to visit, Li Hong Du returned and told Wei Niang, "This scholar's character and affection are worthy of a lifelong commitment. When your third brother arrives, he will preside over your marriage." One day, he said, "You may return to your tomb and wait; your third brother will come soon." That very day was when Shu Xiang excavated the tomb.
During the mourning period, Weiniang recounted this past story in detail to Shuxiang. Shuxiang sighed for a long time, then recognized Weiniang as his younger sister, allowing her to take his surname Li. He also prepared a modest dowry and married her to Feng Yugui, saying, "The traveling funds I carry are limited, and I cannot provide a lavish dowry for my sister. I intend to take you both back home, so that our mother may find joy in this. What do you think?" Weiniang was also delighted. Thus, Weiniang and her husband followed Shuxiang, loading the coffin onto a cart and setting off together. Upon returning home, the mother inquired about Weiniang's circumstances and cherished her even more than her own daughter, allowing her and her husband to reside in a separate courtyard. During the mourning period for Li Hongdu, Weiniang's grief was more profound than that of his own descendants. The mother grew even fonder of her and would not let them return to Liaocheng, instructing her sons to purchase a residence for them. It happened that a man named Feng was selling a house, asking for six hundred taels of silver. Unable to gather the full sum in haste, they temporarily accepted the deed and set a date for payment. On the appointed day, Feng arrived early, and coincidentally, Weiniang also came from her courtyard to pay respects to her mother. Suddenly catching sight of Feng, who bore a striking resemblance to the boatman matchmaker from years past, Feng was equally startled upon seeing Weiniang. Weiniang quickly passed by him. Her two elder brothers, also present due to their mother's slight ailment, entered the mother's chamber. Weiniang asked, "Who is that man pacing in front of the hall?" Zhongdao replied, "I nearly forgot—he is the one selling the house the other day." With that, he rose to leave. Weiniang stopped him, shared her suspicions, and asked Zhongdao to interrogate the man. Zhongdao agreed and went out, but Feng had already departed, leaving only Mr. Xue, a tutor from the southern lane, seated there. Zhongdao asked, "Why are you here?" Mr. Xue said, "Last night, Feng invited me to come to your esteemed residence this morning to help draft the documents and act as guarantor. On the way here, I met him, and he said he had forgotten something and would return home briefly before coming back, asking me to wait here for him." Shortly after, Feng Yugui and Shuxiang arrived, and they all began conversing. Because of Feng's matter, Weiniang quietly slipped behind a screen to observe the guest. Upon closer inspection, she realized that Mr. Xue was her father. She rushed out, embraced her father, and wept loudly. Mr. Xue, startled, also shed tears and said, "How did my daughter come to be here?" Only then did everyone learn that Mr. Xue was Xue Yinhu. Although Zhongdao often encountered him on the streets, he had not known his name before. Now, all were overjoyed, recounting the earlier events to Xue Yinhu and holding a feast to celebrate. That evening, Xue Yinhu stayed overnight at the Li residence, recounting his own experiences. Since Weiniang's disappearance, his wife had died of grief, leaving him alone and adrift, so he wandered about teaching to make a living, eventually ending up here. Feng Yugui and Xue Yinhu agreed that once the house was purchased, they would bring him to live with them. The next day, Xue Yinhu went to the Feng residence to inquire, only to find that Feng and his entire family had fled. It then became clear that the man who had killed the old servant woman and sold Weiniang was none other than this Feng. When Feng first arrived in Pingyang, he had grown wealthy through trade, but over the years, his gambling losses had gradually depleted his fortune, forcing him to sell the house. The money from selling Weiniang had also nearly been spent.
After Weiniang obtained the residence, she bore no great enmity toward Feng, but merely chose an auspicious day to move in, without pursuing the matter of where Feng had fled. Mother Li continuously sent gifts to Weiniang, and all her daily expenses were supplied by the Li family. Feng Yugui settled in Pingyang, but he had to return to Liaocheng for the examinations, which made his travels arduous; fortunately, in that very session, Feng Yugui passed and became a provincial graduate. After Weiniang attained wealth and status, she often thought of the old maidservant who had died for her sake and wished to repay her son. The maidservant's husband's family name was Yin, and her son, named Fu, was fond of gambling, so impoverished that he had not a single patch of ground to stand on. One day, while gambling, Yin Fu quarreled over a wager and killed a man, then fled back to Pingyang, seeking refuge with Weiniang from afar. Feng Yugui took him into his household. When asked the name of the man Yin Fu had killed, it turned out to be none other than the boatman Feng. Feng Yugui gasped in shock and sighed for a long time, then told Yin Fu the truth, and only then did Yin Fu realize that Feng was the very murderer of his mother. He rejoiced all the more and became a servant in Feng Yugui's house. Xue Yin Hou also moved in to live with his son-in-law, and Feng Yugui purchased a wife for him, who bore him a son and a daughter.
Commentary
This story tells of a female ghost named Xue Weiniang, who was robbed and murdered, then resurrected and reunited with her father. The tale features numerous characters and a complex plot, with the author employing multiple techniques such as flashbacks, interjections, and supplementary narratives to weave this legendary story in a winding and intricate manner. The characters are divided into five groups: one group is the scholar Feng Yugui, who becomes Xue Weiniang's husband; another is Li Hongdu, who takes Xue Weiniang in as his adopted daughter; a third group consists of Li Hongdu's three sons, who excavate Xue Weiniang's grave and bring her back to life; a fourth group is Xue Weiniang's father, Xue Yinhou, who stays in Pingyang and later reunites with his daughter; and the final group is the murderer, a man named Feng, who is recognized by Xue Weiniang but escapes, only to be unintentionally killed by the son of his victim. The commentator of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Dan Minglun, highly praised the narrative technique of this story, saying: "The threads are extremely numerous, and if the writing lacks order, it would be like trying to untangle tangled silk. Like bird tracks and spider silk, seemingly broken yet continuous, the painstaking effort and careful planning are truly remarkable." However, since Xue Weiniang's activities in this story are limited, lacking both initiative and the necessary intense emotions, her character is not very vividly portrayed.