Ghost Story of Liaozhai

A certain son of Jiaping, seventeen or eighteen years old, with a handsome appearance, went to the county town to take the college examination, hoping to be admitted as a scholar.Occasionally passing by the brothel, I saw a beautiful woman in the door, fifteen or sixteen years old, and couldn't help but stare at her intently.The woman smiled at him and asked, "Where does the young master live?" The young master told the truth.The woman asked again, "Is there anyone else at home?" The young master said, "No." The woman said, "I'll go find you tonight, don't tell anyone."

After the young master went back, he turned away the servants. At dusk, the woman came and said, "My name is Wen Ji. I admire young master's flair, so I came to meet you behind my mother's back. If you don't mind, I'm willing to follow you around." The young master was overjoyed.Since then, the woman will come every two or three days.

That night, the woman came in the rain, took off her wet clothes at the entrance, and hung them on the wooden frame; she also took off her leather boots, asked the young man to help remove the mud, went to bed by herself, and covered her body with a quilt to keep warm .The young master inspected the leather boots, and saw that they were very expensive, covered with mud and worn out, even if they were cleaned, most of them would not be usable again, which is a pity.

The woman said with a smile: "As long as I can meet the young master, what's the point of breaking a pair of boots? I'm infatuated with you, how can you repay me?" , Do your best." While talking, he walked to the bed, gently hugged the woman, and stretched out his hand to untie her underwear.

The rain outside the window was pattering, and the woman's poems were flourishing. She chanted: "The cold wind and rain are all over the river city." I asked the young master to answer the next sentence, but the young master declined and said no. Study hard, the son agreed.

The two had frequent exchanges, and everyone in the servants knew about it.The son's brother-in-law's surname is Song, and he is also a child of the family. Hearing about this, he wanted to meet Wen Ji, so he asked the son to intercede on his behalf, but the woman did not allow it.After hiding in the room, Song waited for the woman to arrive, and watched from the window, insane.With a loud cry, he pushed open the door and entered.Seeing a stranger for the first time, the woman got up and left, climbed over the wall and came out.

Song couldn't forget her, so he went to visit the brothel and asked to see the woman by name.The old bustard said: "There used to be a Wen Ji here, but she has been dead for a long time." Song retreated in astonishment, and mentioned this to the young master after returning, and the young master knew that the woman was a ghost.

It was night, the girl arrived as promised, the son questioned the origin, the woman said: "I am indeed a ghost. But the son likes beautiful women, and I also like beautiful men, each takes what he wants, what is the difference between a human and a ghost?" The son deeply thought Of course.After the exam was over, the son set off to return home, and the woman followed all the way, never leaving.

When he came home, the son placed her in the study, and the family could not see her.The son lingers in the study every day and rarely goes home, so the parents secretly suspect.Later, the woman went home to visit her relatives, and the son told his parents the truth.When the parents heard that the woman was a ghost, they were quite surprised. They advised their son to cut off contact with her, but the son would not listen.His parents couldn't bear to see him addicted, so they invited the Taoist priest to catch ghosts, but they tried all the methods and it didn't work at all.

This day, the son had something to ask the servant to write a copybook and put it on the table.There are many mistakes in the copybook: the word "jiao" is written as "shu", the word "jiang" is written as "jiang", and the word "hateful" is written as "kelang".The woman shook her head again and again, picked up a pen and wrote on the copybook: "What's the matter of 'Korang'? 'Flowers grow in the river'. If you have a son-in-law like this, you might as well be a prostitute!" He found the son and said to him: "I thought you were from an aristocratic family. You are a talented person, so you commit yourself to it. Who would have thought that you are ostentatious! Judging people by their appearance, humiliating yourself, and just making jokes!" After finishing speaking, he disappeared.

The son scolded her, he was very ashamed, but he couldn't understand the woman's poems, and he didn't know what they meant, so he showed the copybook to the servants, and this matter was passed on to ten and ten, and everyone made it a joke after dinner.