Chapter 8

Poem:     To succor the distressed, to save and nurture twin infants,     Without cause resentment arises, they seek to oppress.     Having incurred guilt, there is no escape from the net of law;     The benevolent official, mindful of former favors, recalls past affection. Now, the prefect, together with Hanwen, was discussing the symptoms in detail in the flower hall, when a serving maid hurried out and reported: "Congratulations, my lord! After swallowing the pill, Her Ladyship had a great bout of pain and then promptly gave birth to two young masters. Each of the two boys was holding one pill in his left hand at birth." When the prefect heard this, he was so delighted that his brows relaxed and his eyes smiled. He immediately bowed to Hanwen with clasped hands and said, "With one dose, sir, your divine efficacy is unmatched by any physician in the realm." Hanwen also felt it was too much and modestly declined, saying, "This is entirely due to Your Excellency's great good fortune and Her Ladyship's joyful occasion. What merit does this humble man have?" The prefect ordered a banquet to entertain Hanwen, and throughout the feast he was effusive in his praise—needless to recount in detail. When the feast was over, Hanwen rose to take his leave and express his thanks. The prefect presented him with four bolts of colored silk and a thousand taels of silver as a token of gratitude. Hanwen declined, saying, "For such a trifling effort on my part, how dare I presume to accept such lavish favor from Your Excellency?" The prefect laughed and said, "This is merely a small token; you need not be so overly modest." Hanwen kowtowed his thanks and left the prefectural mansion. The prefect ordered two of his servants to carry the silk and silver, along with eight musicians, and Hanwen was seated in a sedan chair, escorted all the way with great pomp and glory. Upon arriving home, he sent the escorts back to the yamen, and the entire household rejoiced—but that is no more than to be expected. By this time, all the physicians within the city, upon hearing of this, were each filled with rage. They agreed to gather early the next morning at the Temple of the Three Emperors to devise a plot to ruin Hanwen. When dawn came the next day, all the doctors assembled at the Temple of the Three Emperors, exchanged greetings, and took their seats. Among them, a young physician spoke up: "Honorable elder brothers, that wretched brat Hanwen is nothing but a convicted criminal banished to our Suzhou prefecture, yet he dares to boast wildly in the prefectural yamen, trampling on the prestige of us locals, and for nothing he has reaped a great fortune. I simply cannot stomach it. In my humble opinion, let us all jointly draft a petition and submit it to our superiors, accusing him of spreading delusions and misleading the public, so that he may have more charges added to his guilt. First, it will vent our anger; second, it will display our own ability. What do you all think?" Among them, an older man named Liu Feng spoke up, saying: "No! No! At present, Hanwen is not what he was before; the prefect now holds him in high regard. If you submit a joint petition to our superiors, the prefect will surely step forward to defend him. Moreover, in yamen affairs, if one has wealth and influence, even devils can be made to nod. I fear that if we lose to him, it would only make matters worse. In my humble opinion, tomorrow is the Patriarch's birthday. Let us assign him to be the head celebrant, and have him arrange antique curios and precious objects to honor the holy birthday. I imagine that as a wanderer in a strange place, he has no such curios. When the time comes, if he has none, we will all humiliate him and publicly expel him from the city, forbidding him to keep his shop here. Since this is a public matter, we need not fear the prefect shielding him. What do you think?" All present said in unison, "Brother Liu's plan is excellent; we shall proceed immediately." Thereupon, all the physicians rose together and went to Hanwen's shop. Hanwen welcomed them inside, and after they were all seated, he asked, "May I ask what instruction brings all you elder brothers to my humble shop today?" Liu Feng spoke up: "Brother Xu, tomorrow is the holy birthday of the Patriarch of the Three Emperors. For years we have had a fixed rotation among our pharmaceutical fraternity, each taking turns to provide offerings of antique curios, fine wines, and delicacies. Tomorrow your turn falls, and so we have all come to your shop to inform you." Hanwen was flustered and said, "Elder brothers, please be understanding. Your younger brother resides here as a sojourner, unfamiliar with both people and places. Rare treasures are hard to come by, and I cannot follow in your wake. Let me prepare several taels of silver for incense offerings and ask you elder brothers to arrange matters on my behalf—I would be most grateful." All present said in unison, "Brother Xu, what are you saying? Each takes his turn, and each handles his own. This year it is your turn—who dares to act for you? If you do not wish to eat the rice of a physician, you need not handle the celebration; but if you intend to practice medicine and sell drugs, do not think you can avoid it." Having said this, they all left in anger, while Hanwen could only see them off with a smiling face. Returning to his room, he heaved long sighs and short groans. Lady Bai, seeing this, hastily asked the reason. Hanwen then explained in full how the doctors had come to his shop and demanded that he take the lead and set out antique objects. Lady Bai laughed and said, "This is easy, my husband. Why should you worry? In my father's day, he held the office of Governor-General—why should we lack rare and precious treasures? Just promise them tomorrow morning." Hearing this, Hanwen turned his worry to joy, ate his supper, and went to sleep in peace. Presently, Lady Bai called Xiaoqing and instructed her: "Xiaoqing, your master needs to celebrate the Patriarch's birthday tomorrow morning but is distressed by the lack of precious objects to display. In former days I traveled to the capital and heard that the Prince of Liang's mansion abounds in treasures. You must go to the Prince of Liang's mansion in the capital, select several rare and unusual treasures, and steal them back under cover of night, so that your master may use them for display in the temple tomorrow morning." Xiaoqing acknowledged the command, and immediately mounted a demonic cloud, arrived at the capital, broke into the princely mansion, and stole four precious objects. Which four? A coral tree, a jade boy statuette, a carved eaglewood qilin, and a pair of agate peacocks. She turned her cloud about, returned, and handed them over to Lady Bai. Lady Bai looked at them with great delight, then placed the four curios into a chest, and each retired to rest—but no more of that. Early the next morning, Hanwen arose and urgently asked Lady Bai, "My worthy wife, where are the precious objects?" Lady Bai took the key, opened the chest, and brought out the four curios. Hanwen examined each one, praising them without cease. He said, "My worthy wife, your husband did not know you had such rare and wondrous treasures in your chest. Now I need not fear their bullying." He then ordered Tao Ren to go and prepare the fruit offerings for the shrine. The physicians again came to his shop repeatedly to hurry him. Before long, Tao Ren had prepared all the offerings, and had men carry them first to the temple. Then Hanwen, together with Tao Ren, carried the four curios and arrived at the temple. All the assembled physicians met him and asked, "Brother Xu, what precious objects do you have to offer the Patriarch?" Hanwen smiled and said, "Elder brothers, your younger brother has only brought what he can to fulfill his duty; I beg your indulgence." With that, he took out the four curios and placed them on the table, while Tao Ren arranged the wine and sacrificial offerings. When all present saw them, they stuck out their tongues in astonishment and thought to themselves: We intended to get the better of him, but unexpectedly this wretched brat has such rare and wondrous curios—far surpassing our offerings from previous years by tenfold. Very well. At this point, the assembly, feeling ashamed, each withdrew one by one and returned home. Hanwen, seeing this, chuckled inwardly but pretended not to notice. He burned the gold and silk paper, packed up the vessels with Tao Ren, and went home. He told Lady Bai and Xiaoqing all about it, and the two laughed with delight—but that is no more than to be expected. Thus it is said:     Though you may wield your crafty hand like a cloud in the sky,     Yet disaster and calamity will come again to your door. Now, over in the capital, the Prince of Liang happened to suffer from an eye ailment and wished to take out the jade boy statuette to soothe his eyes. He ordered his consort to go to the treasure storehouse to fetch it. The consort obeyed and went to the storehouse, searching here and there—but indeed the jade boy was nowhere to be found. She then made a thorough inventory of each piece and discovered that the coral tree, the eaglewood qilin, and the agate peacocks were also missing. In all, four objects had been lost. Greatly alarmed, she could only return and report to the Prince of Liang. The prince flew into a rage and said, "Who dares to steal treasures from my storehouse?" He immediately issued a warrant to the prefectural office, ordering the arrest of the thief. He also issued a general warrant and dispatched his household retainers to various provinces to apprehend the actual culprit and hand him over to the local authorities for punishment according to law. The retainers acknowledged the order and dared not delay. Each took his warrant and immediately set off for his assigned province. Among them, the one dispatched to Jiangnan took the road straight to Jiangnan, making his rounds in search—but of that, no more for now. Now to resume our story. Since the time when Hanwen had displayed the treasures at the temple and frightened away the physicians, his affection for Bai Shi had grown even deeper; they were inseparable in all their comings and goings. One night, as the husband and wife sat drinking wine and chatting idly, Bai Shi smiled and said to Hanwen, “Your humble wife has been blessed with your favor and devotion, and of late my body has felt quite different — as if I might be carrying a son.” Hanwen was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, “How wonderful that my wife is with child. I only pray that a son be born, to continue the Xu family line.” After these words, they finished their evening meal, and the couple retired to their chamber to rest — but no more of this for now. Time passed swiftly. One day, it happened to be Hanwen’s birthday, and at home a feast was inevitably prepared in celebration; even Wu Yuanwai came to call. Because Bai Shi was pregnant, Hanwen was delighted in his heart, and he kept the Yuanwai to stay. He arranged the four precious artifacts in the main hall, opened the great gate, and drank wine with the Yuanwai while admiring them. All passersby who saw them could not help but gaze with admiration and envy. One passed the word to two, two passed it to three, and soon it was spread abroad that the Xu household possessed fine treasures. But Hanwen was fated for ill luck once again. That very day, it chanced that servants of Prince Liang arrived in Suzhou, patrolling the streets and lanes. They heard people everywhere talking of the fine treasures in the Xu household of Wujia Lane. One of the servants, catching this in his ear, called out, “Brothers, do you hear? All these mouths are praising some fine treasures of the Xu household in Wujia Lane. Let us go to that place and have a look — who knows but they might be items missing from His Highness’s treasury.” The other servants said, “Well said.” So they all went straight to Wujia Lane and peered in at Hanwen’s gate. Sure enough, they recognized the four precious artifacts as exactly those lost from the treasury. They rushed in together and set upon him at once. The Yuanwai was terrified at the sight, not knowing what was happening, and fled back home as fast as he could. The servants gave Hanwen no chance to explain, but clamped an iron collar about his neck, seized the treasures, and dragged him out. They cursed him, saying, “These are His Highness’s treasures, and you, you wretched slave, dared to steal them, causing us to run all over the countryside. That donkey head of yours won’t stay on your shoulders much longer.” Hanwen was so frightened that his soul fled and his courage scattered; in the sudden confusion he could not even defend himself. The servants hauled him to the yamen of Suzhou Prefecture and beat the drum. When the prefect inside heard it, he immediately gave orders to open court. With the attendants crying out on both sides, Magistrate Chen ascended the bench and took his seat. The servants knelt and reported: “Your Honor, we are servants from the household of Prince Liang in the capital. Last month four treasures — a coral tree, a jade boy, a qilin of eaglewood, and a peacock of agate — were lost from His Highness’s treasury. We were dispatched with His Highness’s written mandate to search everywhere. Today, in Wujia Lane, we recognized the treasures and have arrested the thief. We beg Your Honor to punish him according to law.” With that, they presented Prince Liang’s official document. Magistrate Chen read the document and flew into a rage, ordering the treasure thief brought in. The servants acknowledged the order and brought Hanwen into the courtyard, where he knelt. Magistrate Chen raised his eyes and looked — and saw that it was none other than the physician Xu Hanwen. He was startled and thought to himself: This man is an upright person — how could he do such a thing? There must be some reason. Let me question him carefully. So he pretended not to recognize him and shouted, “Fellow, what is your name and surname, and where do you live? When did you steal Prince Liang’s four treasures? Who were your accomplices? Confess truthfully here in this court, and you will be spared torture.” Hanwen pleaded: “Illustrious judge, this humble man is named Xu Hanwen, and I live in Wujia Lane. I married a wife named Bai, and have a maidservant named Xiaoqing. I practice medicine and keep to my proper place, never taking so much as a hair’s breadth beyond my due. Because it was the anniversary of our patron saint, the physicians take turns each year, and all must display curios and treasures. This year it fell to me. I had no precious objects to show, but fortunately my wife Bai brought out four treasures that had belonged to her father. Later, because there were matters at home today, I arranged them in the main hall. Suddenly these men rushed in, seized me, and dragged me out, saying something about Prince Liang’s treasures, and falsely accusing me of theft. I knew nothing of this. I beg Your Honor to judge clearly.” The magistrate said, “Was your wife married to you here in this place?” Hanwen said, “No. She is a native of Qiantang County in Hangzhou Prefecture. I married her in Hangzhou, and later, because I had come here on business, she came looking for me and through a go-between we were wed here.” The magistrate thought to himself: This woman’s movements are suspicious. Every night when I observe the heavenly signs, I see a stream of demonic aura shining over this region — perhaps it corresponds to this woman. So he called the servants forward and instructed them: “You may take these four treasures back first and deliver them to His Highness. There are extenuating circumstances in this case. I shall arrest this man’s wife Bai Shi and, after examining her and determining the crime, send another report to His Highness.” He then took out twenty taels of fine silver and gave it to the servants for travel expenses. The servants knelt, kowtowed their thanks, took the four treasures, and returned first to the capital. Magistrate Chen ordered Hanwen to be temporarily imprisoned, then issued a vermilion warrant and dispatched eight armed guards to arrest Bai Shi. But this going will lead to: the road of Xiaoxiang separating them, both places toiling in vain. If you wish to know what follows, read the next chapter.