CHAPTER 77

Chai and She capture an outlaw at Changshan; Ji Gong reveals nine plum blossoms

WHEN the frightened manager said, “I will give you five cash,” and then did so, no one could imagine what was going on.

“Dog seller,” said the monk, “let the dog loose. I hear him whining. I will give you the five cash.”

“The moment I let him loose he will run off,” said the dog seller. “He will simply run back to my house.”

“Never mind,” said the monk. “If he runs off, that’s my affair.” The man let the dog go and the dog ran back home of its own accord. The monk handed the coins to the dog seller, who took the money and left.

“Teacher,” the manager said, “don’t tell anybody about this business of mine. We will keep it to ourselves and not mention it. I will pay for some dishes for you.”

“Go ahead,” said the monk. The manager then ordered quite a number of dishes and set them before the monk, who ate and drank.

Then the monk said, “If I do not take you into court, we will not have answered to the wronged soul of the dead man.” The manager’s eyes became fixed straightforward in a stare. He walked out through the restaurant after the monk, down the street and into the prefect’s yamen.

The prefect stood up and greeted the monk with extreme politeness, saying, “The light of Buddha approaches me. I hope you will forgive my sins. Please be seated. What should be done with this person that you have brought here?”

“Would your honor first have someone take charge of this man,” requested the monk. “We can question him a little later.” The prefect immediately ordered one of his men to take the restaurant manager into custody.

“Old Chai and old She,” said the monk to the two headmen, “you were very happy about bringing Cloud Dragon Hua here, and very happy that you will be getting 1,200 ounces of silver at Linan. Very happy.”

“Isn’t the teacher happy?” headmen Chai and She asked.

“Outlaw! What is your name?” the monk asked.

“My name is Cloud Dragon Hua,” replied the outlaw.

The monk laughed loudly. “What right have you to the name Cloud Dragon Hua?” As he spoke, he pulled off the outlaw’s shirt. “Come and look! This is his nickname.”

When the headmen Chai and She looked, they saw on the outlaw’s back nine scars the size of large coins. When the monk pointed them out, the outlaw spoke. “That’s it. Monk, you know who I am. I am not named Cloud Dragon Hua.”

“Then what are you called?” demanded the prefect.

“My name is Son,” answered the outlaw, “and I am called Evil Tiger. My nickname is Nine Plum Blossoms. I am a Four Rivers man and I live in the Jade Emperor temple on Evil Tiger Mountain. A number of Four Rivers men of the Greenwood operate there. Outside the south gate we robbed the pawnshop and set fire to it. Altogether there were thirty people. Outside the east gate there were two, myself and Gold River Ma. Because you locked up the Tangled Hair Ghost and beat him, his Green-wood brothers came together to rescue him. There were seventy-three men in all. We did several things, including the killing of the guard soldier when we went out of the gate. The Tangled Hair Ghost’s legs had been broken by the order of the magistrate. He told us the Changshan prefect and Ma Jahu were his enemies. Tonight a large number of Green-wood men will come together to kill the entire Ma family. I was to assassinate the prefect. Unexpectedly I was captured. Cloud Dragon Hua was never at the Jade Emperor’s temple and is not among our number, but I know him and thought I would do him a favor by pretending to be him. I didn’t expect the monk to recognize me. This is my true story.”

The prefect ordered that the outlaw be kept in chains and returned to his jail cell. The prefect’s underlings carried out his orders.

Chai and She were furious, but the monk said, “You two men must not get excited. Sooner or later I will surely give you two the outlaw you are looking for.”

The prefect then asked again, “Holy monk, that man you brought in just now, what kind of affair is that?”

The monk put out his hand and showed the palm. “Look, Your Honor,” he said. The prefect immediately understood and ordered the man brought forward.

The manager of the wine shop was named Dong Shiyuan. The original proprietor of the shop was named Kong the Fourth. He was a sworn brother of Dong. Since he was an orphan, Kong turned in times of difficulty to Dong as a friend. Kong had a wife named Zhou Shi and two young children, a boy and a girl. Dong helped out Kong in the wine shop.

Eventually Kong the Fourth became ill. When his sickness grew worse, he called Dong to his home and said, “As sworn brothers we are like hand and foot. Now I will not be in this world much longer. When I am dead, my wife and children must depend upon you for their living. They have no one to rely upon, no one to trust. I will give you my wine shop to manage. After I am dead I know that you won’t let my family starve and will help my children to grow up and burn incense at my grave. Thus I can willingly close my eyes in death and go beneath the Yellow Springs.”

“Elder brother,” said Dong, “just try to get better and not to worry. Of course I will take care of your wife and children.”

Kong the Fourth did die, and Dong took care of the funeral. Afterward he became manager of the wine shop. He often gave money to Zhou Shi.

Zhou Shi’s daughter was named Xiaolan, after a fabulous bird with a beautiful song. She was seventeen years old, lovely in face and figure, and still not promised in marriage. Dong was a lustful person who had a desire for the girl from the time that Kong the Fourth had died, and in the shop he constantly thought about her. One day Zhou Shi took her son on a visit to his grandmother. She left her daughter, Xiaolan, to watch the house. Dong went to the house to bring several things that might be useful to the widow and her family. When Xiaolan started to take the things from him, he suddenly took hold of her arm. She broke away and ran out into the rear courtyard, where there was a well that had its opening level with the pavement. Preferring to die rather than have him touch her again, Xiaolan jumped into the well and drowned. Dong quickly left the house and went back to the wine shop.

When Zhou Shi came home, she did not see her daughter, and looked everywhere for her without finding her. On the third day after her disappearance, Xiaolan’s body rose to the surface of the water in the well and was discovered. Zhou Shi thought that the girl had accidentally fallen into the well. She sent a note asking Dong to buy a coffin and help with the funeral. Dong said nothing about what really had happened, thinking that no one living knew and that ghosts could not talk.

How could Dong have expected that the monk would ask him for five cash, then show him his hand, on the palm of which he had written: Kong Xiaolan died to preserve her honor. Dong had quickly given five cash and food to the monk, thinking that the monk would overlook his crime. Instead, the monk had used his arts to bring him to the prefect’s yamen.

As soon as the prefect saw the writing on the palm of the monk’s hand, he understood and immediately struck the desk with his hand as he called out, “You impudent low creature! How could you dare to drive Xiaolan to suicide with your advances? Now, quickly tell the truth. If not, you will be severely punished.”

Now Dong Shiyuan realized that he was in the courtroom and thought to himself, “This is strange. No one knew what I did.” He said, “Your Honor above me, this small person’s name is Dong Shiyuan. I am a merchant, but I do not know anyone who is called Xiaolan.”

“The fellow is disrespectful,” said the monk. “So you are still unwilling to admit the truth. The ghost of that dead person appeared before me and accused you.”

The prefect then had Dong beaten, and he admitted his guilt. The prefect then questioned him further. Dong Shiyuan was in pain and said, “I will tell all.”

“Do so,” commanded the prefect.

Dong Shiyuan then told how he had promised the dying man that he would care for his family, how he had visited the family’s home, and how the girl had resisted him and then thrown herself in the well to her death.

“Have him kept in irons and locked up,” ordered the prefect. “Later we will have him confront the corpse, and we will then decide upon his punishment. At present we have other things to do. Let us have something to drink and discuss our plans.”

As the servants prepared refreshments, the prefect said, “Holy monk, what are we going to do about all these outlaws who are about to exterminate the entire household of Ma Ran? What do you foresee?”

“Probably that is not so important as our having some refreshments,” said the monk.

“You two must be very happy,” he said to the two headmen, who were clearly becoming more and more angry and disgusted.

“What is there to be happy about?” Headman Chai asked. “This business has nothing to do with Cloud Dragon Hua.”

“You must not get excited, you two,” said the monk. “Later I will get two other men to catch Cloud Dragon Hua and give him to you so that you can get the reward.”