Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

One night, after they had been on the road for several days, they put up at the Liu the Second's Ten Thousand Flowers Inn, where Madame Zhang was suddenly taken ill.

“As I'm not feeling well,” she said to her son, “I'd better stay in this inn for a couple of days to get over it before going on.” Chen Guangrui accepted her suggestion. The next morning he saw a man selling a golden-coloured carp in front of the inn and brought it from him for a string of copper coins, intending to have it lightly fried for his mother. Then he noticed it blinking.

“It's said that if a fish or a snake blinks it is no ordinary creature,” he thought. He asked the fisherman where he had caught it.

“In the Hongjiang River, five miles from the prefectural capital,” the fisherman replied. Chen Guangrui had the fish taken back to the Hongjiang River to be released there, then went back to the inn to tell his mother about what had happened.

“It is good to release living things,” his mother said, “and I am very pleased.” Then Chen Guangrui said, “We have been at this inn for three days, and the time limit set for me is a tight one, so I must be on my way tomorrow morning. Are you well enough yet, mother?”

“I'm still poorly,” his mother replied, “and it's so hot to travel now that I'm afraid it might make me seriously ill. You had better take a couple of rooms for me and leave me some money; I'll stay here for the time being. You two can go on ahead to your post. Come back to fetch me in the autumn when it's cooler.” Having discussed it with his wife he rented a wing for her and gave her some money, then they took their leave of her and set off.

It was a hard journey, setting off every day at dawn and not stopping till nightfall, and before they realized it they reached the ford over the Hongjiang Estuary. They saw two boatmen, Liu Hong and Li Biao, punt their ferry to the bank for them. This was the disaster, these were the enemies, that Chen Guangrui had been fated to meet ever since before he was born. He told his servant to put the luggage on board, while he and his wife climbed sedately into the boat. Liu Hong stared at Miss Yin, and saw that her face was like a full moon, her eyes like autumn waves, her tiny mouth like a cherry, and her waist as supple as a willow; her charms would have made fishes sink and wild geese fall from the sky, and her beauty put moon and flowers to shame. Evil thoughts surged up in him, and he conspired with Li Biao to punt the boat to a misty and deserted place and wait till the middle of the night, when they killed first the servant and then Chen Guangrui. They pushed both the corpses into the river and went away.

When the young lady saw her husband killed she tried to fling herself into the water, but Liu Hong put his arms round her and said, “If you come with me, you'll be all right; but if you don't, I'll cut you in half.” Unable to think of any other way out, the young lady had to agree to stay with Liu Hong for the time being at least. The murderer took the boat across to the Southern bank and gave it to Li Biao. Then he dressed up in Chen Guangrui's clothes and, armed with the dead man's credentials, went with the young lady to take up his post in Jiangzhou.

The corpse of the murdered servant floated with the current, but Chen Guangrui's body sank straight to the bottom and did not move. A patrolling yaksha demon stationed at the Hongjiang Estuary saw him and rushed straight back to the dragon palace to report. He arrived just as the dragon king was entering the throne-hall.

“Someone has murdered a learned gentleman at the Hongjiang Estuary, and thrown the body into the bed of the river,” he reported. The dragon king had the body brought in and laid in front of him. After examining it carefully he said, “This is the benefactor who saved my life: why has he been murdered? As the saying goes, 'Always repay a kindness'. I must save his life today to repay him for the favour he did me in the past.” He wrote a memorandum and sent a yaksha with it to the city god and local god of Hongzhou asking for the scholar's soul so that he could save his life. The city god and the local god told a junior devil to give Chen Guangrui's soul to the yaksha, who took it back to the palace of crystal and reported to the dragon king.

“What is your name, scholar?” asked the dragon king. “Where are you from? What brought you here, and why were you killed?”

Chen Guangrui bowed to him and replied, “My name is Chen E and my courtesy name is Guangrui. I come from Hongnong County in Haizhou Prefecture. I was given first place in the recent examinations, and was on my way with my wife to take up my post as prefect of Jiangzhou when we boarded a ferry at the bank of this river. The boatman Liu Hong lusted after my wife, so he killed me and threw me overboard. I beg you to save me, Your Majesty.”

“So that's how things stand,” said the dragon king. “I am the golden carp you released. You saved me then, so I must help you now that you are in trouble.” He had Guangrui's body placed beside a wall and put a “Face Preserving Pearl” in its mouth to stop it from decomposing so that the soul could be returned to it in future for him to obtain his revenge. “As you are now a true soul, you shall stay in my palace for the time being as a commander,” the dragon king added. Chen Guangrui kowtowed in thanks, and the dragon king gave a banquet to welcome him.

Miss Yin's hatred for the villainous Liu Hong was such that she wished she could eat his flesh and spread his flayed hide on her bed, but as she was pregnant and the child had not yet been born she had to force herself to go with him. In the twinkling of an eye they reached Jiangzhou. The clerks and constables all turned out to welcome him, and the subordinate officials in the prefecture gave a banquet for him in the main hall of his office.

“Now that I, your student, have come here, I shall be entirely dependent on the support of all you gentlemen,” said Liu Hong.

“Your honour is a great genius,” the officials replied, “and you will naturally treat the people as your own children, thus cutting down litigation and making punishment unnecessary. We will all be able to rely on you-your excessive modesty is uncalled for.” When the banquet was over they all went away.

Time flew by. One day, when Liu Hong was far away on official business, the young lady was in a summerhouse in the official residence sighing sadly as she thought of her mother-in-law and her husband. Suddenly she felt weak and her belly started to ache. She fell to the ground unconscious, and before she knew it she gave birth to a son. She heard a voice in her ear saying, “Man-tang-qiao, you must do as I tell you. I am the Lord of the Southern Pole Star, and I have come to give you this son on the orders of the Bodhisattva Guanyin. One day he will be extraordinarily famous. When the villainous Liu comes back he will certainly want to kill this boy, so you must look after him with great care. Your husband has been rescued by the dragon king; one day you will be reunited with him and your son, and your sufferings will be at an end. Remember my words. Wake up, wake up!”

When the young lady came to she remembered every word he had spoken, but as she wrapped the baby tight in swaddling clothes, she could not think what to do. When Liu Hong came back he wanted to drown the child the moment he saw him, but the young lady said, “It's already dark: we can throw him in the river tomorrow.”

Fortunately Liu Hong had to go a long way away on urgent business the next day.

“If I wait till that villain returns my son will be killed,” thought the young lady, “so the best thing would be to abandon him in the river as soon as possible and let fate determine whether he is to live or do die. If Heaven is merciful someone will rescue the boy and bring him up, and we shall be reunited one day.” Then, worrying that she might not be able to recognize him, she bit open her finger and wrote a letter in blood giving a full account of his parentage and background. Then she bit off the little toe of the child's left foot to be an identifying mark, wrapped him up in one of her own shifts, and carried him out of the official residence when nobody was looking. Luckily the residence was not far from the river bank. When she reached it she wept for a while and was just going to throw him in when she noticed a board floating beside the bank. The young lady bowed to Heaven in her gratitude and tied the child to the board with her sash, placing the blood letter next to his chest. Then she pushed him out into the stream to go where he would and returned to the yamen in tears.