[Qing Dynasty Culture] Ji Xiaolan and Ghost Stories
Ji Xiaolan was a great scholar of the Qing Dynasty, and there are countless stories about him. Ji Xiaolan was well-traveled, had a humorous personality, and his extensive learning is already well-known by many people. The note-taking novel he wrote, "Yuewei Caotang Notes," enjoyed a prestigious reputation at the time. The book records many ghost stories, but most of them have themes of enlightenment and寄托objects to express aspirations, making them quite worth reading:
In "Luan Yang's Summer Retreat Records," there is such an anecdote: An old scholar returned home late one night after drinking wine and unexpectedly met an old friend who had just passed away. Because they were originally very familiar with each other, he wasn't too afraid and started chatting idly. The deceased person said that when people sleep at night, their minds become calm, and at this time, every word of the books they have read emits light, it's just that ordinary people cannot see it. Scholars like Confucius and Qu Yuan emit a brilliance from the words in their chests that soars to the heavens, rivaling the stars and moon; those slightly inferior have a brilliance several zhang high, even less have a few chi high, and the lowest still have the brightness of a lampwick. The old scholar, upon hearing this, became curious and asked this person, "I've been studying for decades now, I wonder how high my brilliance is?" The deceased person smiled and said, "Once I happened to pass by your house at midnight and saw you sound asleep. In your chest was a large volume of lecture notes, five or six hundred essays written in ink, seventy or eighty chapters of classics, and thirty or forty strategies, but for some reason, every word turned into black smoke, enveloping the roof. In the thick clouds and dense fog, I really didn't see any brilliance!"
In the south of Cangzhou city, there was a ruffian named Lü Si. This man committed all sorts of crimes—robbery, rape, nothing was beyond him. One day, he brought a few hooligans to stroll by the river. Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sky, and in a moment, everything became pitch black as if it was about to rain. At this time, Lü Si saw a woman hurriedly running into a dilapidated temple to take shelter from the rain. Thus, evil thoughts arose in his mind. They secretly sneaked into the temple, suddenly pouncing on the woman. Some held her mouth while others began to tear off her clothes. When they finally stripped her naked, a flash of lightning illuminated the scene. In the remaining light, Lü Si was greatly shocked: it turned out that the woman was his own wife! His wife cried and wailed, "You want to defile another man's wife, but your wife has been defiled by someone else. It's truly the retribution of heaven!"
Lü Si quickly searched for his wife's clothes, only to find that they had been blown away by the wind. Helplessly, he had to carry his naked wife back home under the cover of darkness. Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the village, the sky suddenly cleared up, and everything was brightly lit! Seeing the state of the couple, the whole village burst into laughter. People surrounded them asking what had happened. Speechless, Lü Si left his wife and ran to the riverbank to drown himself.
The study of Liu Shiyu, a filial scholar from Cangzhou, was occupied by a fox spirit. Whenever Liu went to study, the fox would talk to him. If he ignored it, the fox would throw small stones at him. Magistrate Dong Siren heard about this and volunteered to drive away the ghost. Dong Siren was a good official who cared for the people and was not greedy for wealth. After arriving at the study, he lectured the fox spirit on a lot of principles regarding benevolence and morality. Initially, the fox spirit did not agree, but later slowly said, "Magistrate, please stop. Since you are a good official, I haven't played tricks on you, but you should understand, so do I, that your care for the people is because you want a good reputation; and your non-greediness is because you fear exposure! So I won't listen to you."
Magistrate Dong left feeling embarrassed. At this moment, Liu Shiyu's ugly and simply dressed female servant couldn't bear it anymore and scolded the fox spirit. The fox spirit spoke meekly, "Even though you are not beautiful, you respect the elderly, are loyal to your master, and work hard. Since you have spoken, I will leave!" With that, it transformed into a streak of white light and ascended into the air.
It was told that there was a private tutor who, on a bright summer night, led his students to cool off and study near the Confucian temple. This teacher was reciting the Book of Songs, his voice loud and clear like bells and drums. After finishing, he made the students read, and after reading, he continued teaching. While teaching, he suddenly looked up and saw someone vaguely under the ancient cypress tree at the entrance of the Confucian temple. He realized it must be a deity or ghost. Thinking that there shouldn't be any malevolent spirits before the Confucian temple, he boldly asked its name. It replied, "I am Yan Hui." The teacher was overjoyed and asked why it had come to meet him? Yan Hui answered, "It's because of Master's teaching!" The teacher was even happier and said, "Thank you for the Sage's appreciation." Yan Hui said, "Master has misunderstood! My teacher inside told me to go out and see who it was outside. You are teaching things incorrectly, like a drunkard talking nonsense. Moreover, you've been making noise for so long, quickly drive them away!"
In Shucheng, there was a merchant surnamed Li who traveled between nearby counties selling dates. Later, he secretly abducted the wife of an innkeeper and brought her home. When he got home, he found that his own wife had already run away with someone else. Surprisingly, he felt relieved and said, "Fortunately, I brought a wife back, otherwise wouldn't I have become a bachelor!" Later, upon inquiry, the date he had fled with turned out to be the same day his wife had run away.
After some time, this young woman grew tired of the ordinary life with the merchant and secretly eloped with a handsome young man. Just as the merchant was lost in confusion, the innkeeper traced him to Shucheng and wanted to accuse him of abducting a person. By then, the young woman was already gone, and Li refused to admit anything due to lack of evidence. As they argued, an elder came forward to mediate, telling them that a certain Buddha statue was extremely effective, and they could ask the divine to judge who was right or wrong. After hearing this, both went before the Buddha statue to confront each other. Upon reaching the statue, a piece of paper suddenly floated down from the sky, inscribed with the words, "Clearly copied step by step." The innkeeper, upon seeing this, silently walked away. At the boundary between two counties, people who knew about this explained, "The divine knows, actually, the young woman initially was also tempted by the innkeeper to elope with him."
There was an old lady surnamed Man who was Ji Xiaolan's younger brother's wet nurse, and she recounted a story. She had a daughter named Liji who married a family from a nearby village. One day, Old Lady Man fell ill, and Liji, hearing the news, couldn't wait for her husband to return together, so she rushed over alone. It was nighttime, the moon was faint, and as she walked, she saw someone chasing her behind. Thinking this person surely had ill intentions, and realizing she was walking through an uninhabited wilderness, she thoughtfully squatted beside an ancient tomb, tying her shawl around her neck, letting her hair down, sticking out her tongue, and glaring with wide eyes. When the person approached, she beckoned him over with her hand. As he drew near, he immediately collapsed in fright. Seizing the opportunity, Liji ran all the way back to her mother's house. Her family, upon seeing her appearance, were greatly startled, but later, understanding the situation, couldn't help but laugh and scold her.