8

ZHANG LUAN RESCUES BU JI IN WILDERNESS WOODS;

ZHANG LUAN ENJOYS TWIN MOONS IN A SPIRIT’S SHRINE.

POEM:

Diamond Chan1 has the strongest magic;

Twin orbs up above cause a hue and cry.

A mighty arm from the heavens shoots forth

And plucks from danger one condemned to die.

The prefect sentenced Bu Ji to be branded and exiled to the Mizhou prison camp in Shandong. He ordered him to receive twenty strokes on the back and summoned the tattooist to brand him with two lines on the face. He then signed a warrant and appointed two escorts, Dong Chao and Xue Ba. They took custody of Bu Ji, collected the warrant, and brought the prisoner out to the front of the yamen.

Once outside, Bu Ji stopped short and turned to face the yamen. “I, Bu Ji, am the victim of a terrible wrong!” he shouted. “That woman leaped into the well of her own free will—I never forced her to do it. What’s more, she’s none other than the goddess of this place, and she made me go down the well and obtain that precious object to give to you. After you received it, you ought to have cleared me of all charges, but instead you have unjustly branded me and exiled me to Mizhou. If I ever manage to get back alive, I’ll beat the drums of injustice before the palace walls and denounce you for secretly withholding a treasure for your own use. I’ll definitely settle accounts with you!”

Hearing these ugly threats, Dong Chao anxiously pushed Bu Ji on his way. “If you start saying things like that around here, you’ll get us into terrible trouble!” said Xue Ba. They hastily left the yamen and walked as far as an inn, where they went in and sat down.

“Bring us two dippers of wine!” ordered Dong Chao. He turned to Bu Ji. “Although Xue and I have been officially ordered to escort you to Mizhou in Shandong, it’s a long journey and you’ll have to pay your own expenses. We’re not bringing any money for you, just accompanying you there. Do you have any relatives or friends from whom you can raise some money for use along the way? We’re not asking for any of your money for ourselves.”

“I did have a little money, officers, but when I was charged, somebody took it along with my cart. Who can I possibly turn to for more? I’m all alone, without any relatives, and there’s no way I can raise any money.”

“We’ve escorted many hardened criminals, and we’ve never yet come across anyone with that sort of attitude!” snapped Xue Ba. “You say you have no travel money? Why, even Li the Heavenly Prince2 would have to leave a weapon behind! Even green ginger can be squeezed of a little juice! You’re our property—you don’t think we’re going to let you go lightly, do you?” After this outburst, he paid for the wine, and the two men escorted Bu Ji through the West Gate and out of Zhengzhou city.

As they walked along, they heard a shout from behind them: “Officer Dong!” Dong Chao told Xue Ba to go on escorting Bu Ji while he turned back. “I’m in the prefect’s confidence,” said the newcomer to Dong Chao. “Just now, after that wretch was sentenced to exile, he put on a disgraceful display in front of the yamen, and I’m under orders from His Honor to tell you and your colleague to find some means of finishing him off in a remote spot along the way. You’ll be richly rewarded on your return.”

Dong Chao agreed and hurried after Xue Ba to convey the message. “Let’s finish him off in those woods up ahead,” he said. The two men escorted Bu Ji to some lonely woods, where Dong said, “I was up so early this morning, I think I’ll take a nap in these woods.”

“We haven’t gone ten miles from the yamen,” said Xue Ba. “Why do you need to rest?”

“I got up too early this morning, and I do need a rest. My only worry is that if you were to escape, Bu Ji, we couldn’t just go to the herbalist’s shop and get a replacement. Let’s tie you up first. Then I’ll be able to go off to sleep with an easy mind.”

“If you want to tie me up, go ahead. I’m certainly not going to run away.”

Dong Chao took a long rope and tied Bu Ji to the branch of a tree, then slung the end of the rope over a large branch on another tree and hoisted him upside down. Then, gripping his cudgel, he said, “Bu Ji, we’re under orders from the prefect to kill you—this has nothing to do with us. This time next year will be the first anniversary of your death!”

“Oh, no!” cried Bu Ji. “I’m a dead man!” Then he suddenly remembered something: that immortal who gave me the precious object told me that in an emergency I should call out the name of Priestess Pia. “Priestess Pia, help!” he cried.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when he heard someone shouting from outside the woods: “Escort officers, stop what you’re doing! I’ve been listening to you for some time now.” Startled, Dong and Xue rushed out of the wood and found a priest who was six feet tall and had a face like purple jade and eyes like strange stars.

With his fiery scarlet gown,

He’s as brave as Zi Lu.3

With his iron-frame Daoist cap,

He looks just like Zhuan Zhu.4

Lions’ bones serve as hairpins on his head;

Dragons’ tendons form the sash at his waist.

His eyes are red from feasts of tiger flesh,

His fingers black from stabbing unicorns.

The priest came charging into the wood with his fists cocked, ready for a fight. “The prefect told you to escort him into exile. What do you mean by hanging him upside down and preparing to take his life?”

The two escorts trembled with fear. “Master, we’re under orders from the prefect. He told us to do it.”

“Utter nonsense! Officials nowadays are perfectly just. Why would he want you to kill an innocent man? As a priest, I ought not to meddle in other people’s affairs, but just now I heard someone in the wood calling out, ‘Priestess Pia,’ and I wondered why. Let that man down. I want to ask him about it.”

Dong Chao had no choice but to release Bu Ji.

“Master, let me tell you,” Bu Ji began. “I had sold the load of honey locust pods I took to the Eastern Capital and was making my way back again when I came upon a woman beside the road. She complained that she couldn’t walk because her feet were too sore and promised me three taels if I would carry her in my cart. When we came to an empty mansion inside the East Gate of Zhengzhou, she leaped down from the cart and ran inside. I didn’t see her come out again, and when I went in to look for her, she jumped down a well. The local people claimed that I had driven her to it, and they seized me and took me to court, where the prefect ordered me to go down the well myself and recover the body. When I got down there, I found there was no water, only a path, which I followed until I came to a palace. There I met a female immortal, who gave me a precious object. I was to give it to the prefect so that he would clear me of the charge against me. As I was about to go up the well again, she told me that if ever I found myself in danger, I should call out the name of Priestess Pia.”

“I see,” said the priest. Turning to the two escorts, he said, “This Bu Ji was not destined to die—he met up with me. Please come out of the woods, and let’s all go to a village inn where we’ll have a few drinks. I’ll also help you with a little travel money, to see that he gets to his destination.”

“Thank you, Master,” they said. The four men left the woods and after walking a few hundred yards came to an inn. They went in and sat down.

“Master Zhang, how much wine would you like?” asked the innkeeper.

“Give us four dippers,” said the priest. “And bring us a chicken as well.”

“It’s a long way to the village, and there’s nowhere else I can get a chicken.”

“But if we have nothing to eat with the wine, how are we going to drink it?”

The innkeeper brought the wine, and each of them drank a cup.

“I meant to invite you for a drink,” said the priest, “but there’s nothing to go with it.” Looking about him, he spotted a water pitcher over by the wall that he saw was full of pure water. He took a gourd from his sleeve, removed the stopper, and shook out a white pill that he dropped into the pitcher. He then returned to his seat on the bench and called to the innkeeper: “We can’t just drink weak wine. I put something to eat in your pitcher just now. Take it away and cook it for us.”

“I didn’t see anything when you people came in.”

“Take a look now.”

The innkeeper looked in the pitcher and saw the water moving. Plunging both hands in, he brought out a three-foot-long carp. “Amazing!” he exclaimed. He had to fillet the fish, put it in a pot, and boil it until it was tender, then add salt, soy sauce, pepper, and vinegar and put it on a plate and serve it to his guests.

As they drank, Dong Chao said, “Let me thank you, sir, for your generosity.”

“This fish is wonderful,” said Xue Ba. “If only we could get another!”

“But this isn’t true hospitality,” said the priest. “I like to eat and drink, and I’ve had the rare good fortune to meet you two gentlemen. Since all men are brothers within the four seas, so long as you don’t reject me, let’s go to my monastery and really drink our fill there. You can set off again in the morning. Would you like to do that?”

With his young man’s temperament, Xue Ba responded promptly, “It’s so kind of you to invite us! It’s getting late, and we’ll go to your monastery and sleep there the night. But we oughtn’t to be giving you all this trouble!”

Dong Chao was the older and wiser of the two escorts, and he called Xue Ba aside so that they could not be overheard. “This priest is a strange character. Why go to his monastery with him?”

“Brother Dong!” exclaimed Xue Ba. “Have you lived all those years without learning anything? This innkeeper knows him! If something goes wrong, we would just have to ask the innkeeper to find him.”

“You’re right,” said Dong Chao.

The priest paid for the wine, and the four men left the inn, chatting idly as they walked along. After they had gone some distance, the priest pointed up ahead and said, “There it is.” Dong Chao looked; it was a fine thatched cottage, small, of circular construction, with no houses in front or behind, and the two escorts began to feel a trifle uneasy. The priest opened the door and invited them to come in and sit down. “Don’t worry. There’s plenty of room to sleep. Get a good night’s sleep and then set off in the morning.” He carried out a table from the inner room, then went back and prepared some meat and fish dishes, which he brought out and placed on the table. “Just now in that inn I didn’t treat you gentlemen with the proper hospitality, but now you’ll have to drink up until you’re really drunk.”

The two escorts looked at each other and whispered, “This priest invited us to drink in the inn, and now we’ve come to his cottage and he’s prepared a whole lot more food and drink. If we don’t accept his invitation, we’ll go hungry, but if we do, I wonder what he has in mind.”

“It’s a big responsibility we’ve been given, escorting this convict,” said Xue Ba. “We were only a little way out of Zhengzhou when we ran into this extraordinary priest. Should anything go wrong, we both have families at home, and we’ll be in serious trouble.”

“Let’s drink what he offers us, then see what happens,” said Dong Chao.

The priest brought out the wine, and after downing ten or more cups each of them had drunk his fill. “Thank you for all the food and drink, sir,” said the escorts, “but we just can’t take any more. We’ll go to bed, if we may, and then set off in the morning.”

“Serving weak wine to one’s guests isn’t true hospitality. There’s no need for any thanks. Please just sit there a moment longer.” He got up and went inside again. Before long he was back with two ingots of silver, each weighing fifty ounces. “There is one for each of you. I hope you won’t think it too little.”

Xue Ba said nothing, but Dong Chao replied, “You were so kind as to offer us wine and food, but now you’re offering us money, which is something we definitely cannot accept.”

“Just take it for now, as a token of my regard.” Unable to resist his urging, they each accepted an ingot.

“There’s one thing I’d like to ask of you. I don’t know if you’d agree.”

The two escorts thought to themselves, we’ve drunk his wine and accepted his money; how can we not agree? “We’d gladly agree to ten things, let alone one. Please tell us what it is.”

“You have each received fifty taels as support for your families. Now spare a thought for Bu Ji, who has been wrongly condemned. He’s not someone I knew before; I’m acting solely out of sympathy for him. He maintains that he is an innocent man who was falsely charged and convicted. I hope that you’ll find it in your hearts to do me a favor and let him stay here with me. My name is Zhang Luan, and if the prefect should ask, just reply that he was rescued by Zhang Luan. Well, gentlemen, what do you say?”

Dong Chao didn’t dare say anything, but Xue Ba cried out, “Master, you simply don’t understand! ‘All the land belongs to the ruler, and all the people are the ruler’s subjects.’5 You may belong to a religious order, but you live within the boundaries of Zhengzhou, and so you, too, come under the prefect’s jurisdiction. This man was sentenced by the prefect, and no one would dare to take him in. You think that because we’ve received money from you, you can put pressure on us, but the money is still here, untouched. Please take it back!”

“There’s no need to get upset,” said the priest. “If you’re willing to let him stay with me, by all means do so, but if you’re not willing, well, you’ve already accepted the money. Here, have another cup of wine.”

“We’ve drunk your wine and eaten your food, and you’ve also given us money,” said Dong Chao. “Why are you pressing us to drink more?”

“I’m not just offering you wine. I also have a little trick that I’d like to show you. Tonight I’m going to let everyone enjoy the moonlight, from the prefect down to the common man. He took a piece of paper from his breast pocket, and with a pair of scissors cut out the shape of a full moon. He then sprinkled some wine on it and cried, “Up you go!” The paper moon drifted up into the sky.

“Marvelous!” cried the three men in admiration, as two moons appeared in the sky above them.

“Let’s drink a toast,” said the priest. All four of them drank.

In Zhengzhou the two moons in the sky caused a sensation. From the prefect down to the common people, all the inhabitants both inside and outside the city walls saw the two moons in the sky. The more knowledgeable ones said, “There’s only one moon; how can there be two? One of them has to be a demons’ moon!”

Let us put aside the sensation that the moon caused and tell how when the priest and his guests had drunk a toast to the moon and were about to part, the priest said, “Gentlemen, do me a favor, will you? Give Bu Ji to me!”

“Unlike you, we have families at home. If the prefect ever got wind of it, we’d have a very hard time explaining what happened.”

“The prefect ordered you to arrange his death, and there’s a perfectly simple solution. I’m going to give you a piece of evidence that you can show him.” He tied the sleeves of his gown together and slung the knot to his rear, then laid hold of Bu Ji with both hands, trussed him from behind with a rope, and secured him to the cottage.

“Master!” exclaimed Xue Ba. “This morning you wanted to rescue him. Why are you tying him up?”

“To give you something of his to take back and show the prefect.”

“I wonder what that would be,” said Dong Chao.

“Since the prefect wanted him killed, I’m going to cut out his heart for you to take back and give to the prefect. That will show him what capable fellows you are.”

“But you can’t do that!” said Dong Chao. “He’s a convicted criminal. If the prefect wants to have him killed, that’s his business. If we take his heart back, people in the know will say that it was you who killed him, but those not in the know will say that we murdered him for his money. It would be a false charge, but it would be too much for us to face.”

The priest laughed. “So you’re frightened of facing a charge, are you? I was only making fun of you just now.” Releasing Bu Ji, he arranged their sleeping quarters for them. “If you go back to the city, say that Zhang Luan wanted to rescue Bu Ji. Don’t forget, now!” The three men said good night and slept in the outer room, while the priest went into the inner room.

Dong Chao and Xue Ba slept until dawn, when they opened their eyes and received a great shock. There was no Bu Ji beside them, nor any cottage, nor any priest. Instead they found themselves lying on a heap of paper money offerings inside the shrine of a mountain spirit. They looked at each other and began to moan, “Oh, no! We’ve made fools of ourselves and let our convict get away. Now what are we going to do?”

“We mustn’t panic,” said Dong Chao. “We’ll go and see the prefect.” They went straight back to Zhengzhou, where the prefect was just mounting his tribunal for the noon session. They went forward and knelt down before him.

“You two were escorting Bu Ji to Shandong. Why are you back so soon?” asked the prefect.

“Your Honor, we were escorting Bu Ji yesterday when about ten miles outside town we came upon a priest who invited us to his monastery. He wanted to take Bu Ji away from us, but we refused. However, that priest was a magician; he cut out a paper moon and blew it up into the sky, where two moons appeared together.”

“How very strange!” said the prefect. “Last night the whole city was in an uproar over the two moons in the sky. Well, what happened next?”

“The priest told us to sleep that night in his cottage, but when we got up early this morning and looked about us, we found we were lying on a pile of paper money inside the shrine of a mountain spirit. We have no idea where the priest and Bu Ji went, but the priest did say, ‘My name is Zhang Luan.’ ”

“Since we have the demon’s name, it shouldn’t be too difficult to catch him,” said the prefect. He called in his detective inspector, but before he had finished giving him orders, a priest appeared in court, a priest with an iron-frame cap and straw sandals, wearing a crimson robe with a black border.

The priest came right up to the prefect and shouted at him, “Prefect! Zhang Luan stands here before you!” He gave no bow of any kind.

The prefect flew into a rage. “You’re a demon! How dare you be so rude!”

“You’re the head of the prefecture. How could you condemn an innocent man? Bu Ji committed no crime, yet you branded him and exiled him to Shandong. You also told the escorts to murder him along the way. And on top of that, you took away his priceless treasure. What do you mean by it?”

“Don’t talk such nonsense! What priceless treasure did he have?”

“The golden tripod in your treasury. I’m now going to call it forth. Golden tripod, why don’t you come out?” The prefect and all those in the audience were struck dumb as the golden tripod came flying down from the sky and into the chamber.

“Amazing!” exclaimed the prefect. “Amazing!” The words were scarcely out of his mouth when Bu Ji came leaping out of the tripod, a sword in his right hand. With his left hand he seized hold of the prefect and right there in the chamber cut him in two with a single sweep of the sword.

When the people in the chamber saw the prefect dead, they were stupefied. Then from all parts of the chamber there arose a chorus of voices: “We can’t ignore the prefect’s murder!” They rushed forward to seize Zhang Luan and Bu Ji, but the two men, seeing the crowd coming for them, ducked behind the mounting stand—and then vanished altogether, taking the golden tripod with them. The crowd of pursuers looked at one other. “We’ve never seen such an extraordinary thing in all our lives!” they exclaimed. The subprefect was asked to take charge. The officials of the six departments bought a coffin and laid the prefect’s body in it, then sent out constables to search for Zhang Luan and Bu Ji. At the same time they consulted together about drawing up a memorial for the emperor.

Certain consequences followed from this incident: The whole of Hebei province6 was thrown into uproar, and the Eastern Capital descended into chaos. The court mobilized troops and sent them forth, but they failed to arrest the men concerned. The end result was that an honest and upright official came to the country and brought peace to the people.

For the time being with their heresy and witchcraft

They deceive the dragons and tigers among men.

What happened when the officials sent their memorial to court? Turn to the next chapter to find out.