15

With His Merciless Heart, Squire Wei Plots to Seize Another Man’s Property

With His Clever Plan, Scholar Chen Wins Back His House

As the poem goes,

You buzz about, drinking from the Fountain of Greed;

You fear not the law or divine justice.

Why give alms and show repentance

When the best way is to yield to others?

The above quatrain makes the point that greed is something even a hundred thousand of the Buddha’s guardian warriors cannot subdue, something that defies the rigorous laws of the land. There is a line in the Liezi that says, “The eyes see not people but only gold.”1 Once desire raises its head, all one’s energy and vitality will be directed toward satisfying this obsession, whatever the odds.

Here begins our story: There lived in Hangzhou Prefecture an immensely rich scholar named Jia Shi. He was quick and clever by nature, and, with his heroic aspirations, he cultivated the friendship of men of honor. Whenever he learned that a friend was too poor to get married, he paid for the wedding expenses and just as readily went to the aid of those unable to pay off their debts. Whenever he saw injustices being done, he made it his business to challenge the perpetrators. When he ran up against bullies who threw their weight around, he devised ingenious plans for bringing them down. Instances of such gratifying experiences for him are too numerous to list here. I shall confine myself to one in which he helped a friend regain lost property.

In Qiantang, there was a Mr. Li who, although a student of Confucian classics, had never been enrolled in a government school. He lived in grinding poverty, but he was a most devoted son to his parents and was friends with Scholar Jia, who often helped him out financially. One day, Scholar Jia invited young Mr. Li for wine. Mr. Li looked dejected when he came. Scholar Jia wondered what could have been wrong and, after a few cups, unable to hold back his questions any longer, asked, “Brother Li, is there something bothering you and killing the joy of drinking? Why don’t you tell me about it? I may be able to do something. You never know.”

With a sigh, Li said, “There is indeed something preying on my mind. I can’t very well confide in other people, but since you asked, I’ll level with you. I have a small house to the left of Zhaoqing Monastery by West Lake. It’s worth about three hundred taels of silver. I owed Monk Huikong fifty taels of silver. Three years of interest brought the total to one hundred taels. That monk has such a voracious appetite for money (MC: All monks are like this. Huikong is not alone.) that he is always on my back, pressing for repayment. In desperation, I offered him the house for four hundred taels of silver minus the one hundred taels I owed him. Knowing I had no other option, he rejected my offer of the house and demanded repayment of the debt in silver only. Against my will, I let him buy the house on the cheap. With witnesses present, he gave me thirty taels of silver. Hardly had I signed the house over to him than he moved in. My mother and I had to rent a house in the city. And now, because I owe years of rent, my landlord wants to evict us. My mother is worried sick. That’s what upsets me.”

Scholar Jia said, “So, that’s what it is. Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? May I ask how much rent you owe your landlord?”

“I owe him three years’ rent at four taels per year.”

“Nothing to it! Enjoy the evening! I’ll take care of this tomorrow morning.”

They took leave of each other only after they had finished drinking.

Scholar Jia rose bright and early the next morning, went to his vault, took a scale, weighed out 142 taels of silver (MC: Who else would be willing to do this?), and, with a servant in tow, headed straight for Mr. Li’s house.

Having just gotten out of bed, Li hurriedly combed his hair and washed and asked his mother to make tea. But without enough firewood, she simply could not get a fire going, not even after she worked at it for a good long while. Although no tea was served, Scholar Jia acknowledged their kindness and told his servant to ask Li to come out for one quick word with him.

Once in the reception room, Li said, “To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

Scholar Jia took a small box from the servant, retrieved two packets of silver from it, and said to Li, “One of the packets contains 12 taels of silver. Use it to pay your landlord. The other packet has 130 taels. Offer it to Reverend Huikong and redeem your house with it. Your landlord’s harassments will stop, your mother will be spared the worry, and you’ll have a permanent home. Such are my wishes.”

“What kind of talk is this, my brother? I have only myself to blame for my poverty and my inability to support my mother. Your frequent gifts of money have already exceeded my expectations. And now that I’ve lost my house, here you go again, offering me such a hefty sum to redeem it. But even if I do move back into the house, I won’t enjoy peace of mind. In acknowledgment of your friendship, I’ll venture to accept twelve taels to pay for rent. I firmly decline the rest.” (MC: He should take all or nothing. The amount makes no difference.)

Scholar Jia said, “You’ve got it all wrong, my brother! Our friendship is based on loyalty. Why give any importance to monetary matters? Take the money and redeem your house. Don’t turn me down!” With that, he placed the packets of silver on the table and exited the house.

Li quickly ran after him, crying, “Brother Jia! Come back! Let me thank you properly!” Ignoring his pleas, Scholar Jia continued on his way.

Mr. Li thought, “Such a loyal friend is hard to come by in this world. He’ll only be offended if I don’t accept the money. Oh well, let me use it to redeem my house. If I ever make something of myself, I’ll repay him richly.” He put the silver away, consulted his mother, and went to redeem his house.

Upon arrival at his old house to the left of Zhaoqing Monastery, he entered the gate and asked, “Is Reverend Huikong in?”

Assuming that a donor was at the entrance, the monk rushed to the gate with alacrity, but on seeing Mr. Li, his deference vanished. Grudgingly, he greeted Li and offered him a seat but did not bother to serve tea.

After Li stated the purpose of his visit, Monk Huikong’s face darkened slightly.

“At the time of sale, no mention was made of future redemption,” said the monk. “If there’s to be a redemption, even though the original price was only 130 taels of silver, we’ve added many rooms, and the cost of the construction materials adds to the value of the house. If you, sir, pay the full amount, you can surely take the house back.” Knowing all too well that Li could not come up with so much silver, Huikong was deliberately trying to put him on the spot. When did the monk ever add any rooms?

Just as the saying puts it, “A poor man is short on wits.” Mr. Li took the monk at his word. He thought, “I can’t go to Brother Jia for more money to make up the amount. I didn’t want his money in the first place, and now I’ve got an excuse. I’ll just say that the monk asked for an exorbitant price and refuses to let me redeem it. I’ll have peace of mind after I return the silver to Brother Jia.” (MC: This man will make a good friend. That’s why Scholar Jia is so generous with him.)

So he took leave of the monk, went to Scholar Jia’s house, and told him in detail about what the monk had said. Scholar Jia was incensed.

“That bald man be cursed!” said Jia. “A Buddhist monk is supposed to have no worldly desires, but this one is so treacherous and grasping! A redemption shouldn’t cost more than the original sale price. How can he raise the price for no good reason! The money may not come to much, but it’s definitely not the right thing to do. Now that he’s crossed my path, I’ll find a way to deal with him. There’s little chance he’ll be able to stop me from redeeming the house!” He kept Li for a meal before letting him go.

With two page boys in tow, Scholar Jia went straight to the house to the left of Zhaoqing Monastery. Seeing Huikong’s gate open, he walked in. Upon his inquiry, a young acolyte told him, “His Reverence has just finished drinking with a guest this morning and is now taking a nap upstairs.” Thereupon, Scholar Jia told the page boy to stay downstairs while he himself went noiselessly up the stairs.

Hearing snores, he raised his eyes and saw Huikong sound asleep without his hat and his robe. The room upstairs had windows on all sides, but most of the windows were closed. Scholar Jia went to a closed rear window and peeked through a chink in the window frame. There, across from the monk’s house, sat a young woman doing needlework in a room that, to all appearances, belonged to a wealthy family. Scholar Jia hung his head and reflected for a moment or two. Then he said to himself, “I’ve got an idea!” He walked up to Huikong’s side, put on the monk’s hat and robe, stealthily opened the rear window, and began to make passes at the woman in every way he knew how, until the woman was so irritated that she left her seat and went downstairs in anger. Scholar Jia then took off the hat and robe, put them where he had found them, quietly went downstairs, and returned home.

Before long, Huikong was wakened by loud banging downstairs. About ten big men had forced their way into the house. “You lousy bald ass!” they cursed. “You’ve got a nerve! You were insolent enough by never doing anything about the window that directly faces the inner quarters of our house. We’ve never complained, have we? But that only emboldened you and made you go so far as to make passes at the lady of our house! If we take you to the yamen, you’ll be beaten to death. But we’ll stop short of that and just drive you out of here!”

Huikong was paralyzed with fear. In a trice, the men stormed up the stairs, smashed all the furniture they saw to smithereens, and tore Huikong’s clothes to shreds. Huikong said in his defense, “This humble monk has never even dreamed of taking a peek at your honorable house.”

But the men ignored his protests and showered him with blows while cursing, “You filthy baldy! Get out of here! If not, we’ll beat you up every time we see you. Don’t even think about setting foot in here!” And so they threw him out the door. Knowing full well that the men’s master was Squire Hao, Huikong dared not say another word of explanation but dashed off like a puff of smoke and disappeared into the monastery.

Scholar Jia chuckled to himself when he learned about this, for he knew that his plan had worked. Two days later, he went to see Mr. Li and told him about this development, to the latter’s great mirth. Equipped with 130 taels of silver, Scholar Jia went with Mr. Li to see Huikong and demanded redemption of the house.

Huikong had treated Mr. Li with scorn because Li was undistinguished in speech and appearance. But confronted now with Scholar Jia, with his looks of a rich man and a servant in tow, and at a moment when he had just suffered humiliation from the Hao family, Huikong said to himself, “If I hold on to this house, I won’t be left in peace. With that window facing the Haos’ inner quarters, they’ll be constantly on my back. I’d better let him redeem the house and be spared trouble.” So he gave his consent right away, took Li’s 130 taels—the original sales price—returned the deed to him, and put the house at Li’s disposal.

Huikong, who was always eager to gain undue advantage, ended up the loser. This is a case of greed getting its due. Later, Scholar Jia passed the civil service examinations and rose to be secretary of the Grand Secretariat. Mr. Li also passed the examinations and received an appointment as a government official. The two men’s friendship lasted until the end of their days. Truly,

Good luck favors those with big hearts;

Misfortune dogs those with evil plots.

Monk Huikong’s foul deeds caught up with him;

Scholar Jia Shi’s virtues paid off in the end.

The above is not our story proper. I shall now tell a story that takes place in the capital, Jinling [present-day Nanjing], where drastic ups and downs in life are nothing out of the ordinary. The city of Jinling is also called “Stone City” because it was built at the foot of a stone mountain. The city has a water gate through which flows the Qinhuai River, and the towers and structures that stretch for ten li on both banks of the river add glamour to the city.2 The Qinhuai River was dug in the days of the First Emperor of Qin [r. 246–209 BCE], hence the character qin. The Qinhuai River flows into the Yangzi River. Everything borne on the currents of the bigger river, the Yangzi, flows into the smaller one with the tides that occur twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. On the Qinhuai River float painted boats in which courtesans sing and play sheng pipes. The air resonates with the merry sounds of young men and women. The river is flanked by willow trees, and towers on both banks vie with one another for greater glory. Poets often lean on flower trellises and bamboo fences to improvise poems together. Fair faces sometimes appear behind elaborately carved windows and their beaded curtains. With its many wineshops and teahouses, the city is indeed a prosperous and bustling place and a home for the rich and famous.

Storyteller! Why all this boring stuff about the sights and sounds along the banks of the Qinhuai River?

Well, gentle reader, I was about to tell you a story about a Scholar Chen Heng, who lived at the mouth of the Qinhuai River at a time not too far removed from ours. He was a rich man, and yet his wife, Ma-shi, a woman with many wifely virtues, managed the household with industry and frugality. Scholar Chen had two homes, one large and one small, located on opposite sides of the river’s mouth. Scholar Chen loved entertaining and had a weakness for women. Day in and day out, he went with his friends to visit the courtesans’ quarters or indulge in drinking on pleasure boats. His hangers-on never took so much as a step from his side, and his banquet tables were never short of courtesans. Singers often came up with new tunes, healers of itches tried all manner of remedies, florists delivered the freshest flowers, and chefs presented their fanciest dishes. As the saying goes, “Profit is what moves the world.” Because Scholar Chen was the number one spendthrift, everyone played up to him with designs on his money. The poor and the stingy were the losers in this game. And so, in Nanjing in those days, Scholar Chen was a household name. With his poetic talent, his attentiveness, and his way with women, every courtesan in the city liked him. What a life of joy and delight! Indeed, Scholar Chen spent every day as if it were a festival.

Time sped by. After seven or eight years of such a dissipated way of life, Scholar Chen’s family fortune was almost all gone. However desperately his wife, Ma-shi, tried to talk sense into him, he remained his old self, spending left and right. But he parted with his money less freely than before, and he still had enough to meet his expenses. When things got desperate another six months later, Ma-shi, to her credit, adopted a philosophical approach and said to herself, “Let me wait until he has squandered the last penny. He’ll have to stop then.” And so she gave up her attempts to admonish him. (MC: Very wise. If she hadn’t known the right thing to do and put up a fight, she would have caused terrible scenes without accomplishing anything.)

Having spoiled himself all these years, Scholar Chen was certainly not ready to mend his ways, but he was penniless. At his friends’ urging, he drew up a loan contract with Squire Wei from Huizhou, owner of a pawnshop on Sanshan Street, and borrowed three hundred taels of silver from him. A rapaciously greedy man, Squire Wei readily lent Scholar Chen money, at 30 percent interest, only because the scholar was a celebrity and therefore would surely not be able to get away with defaulting on the loan. Richer by three hundred taels of silver, Scholar Chen resumed his dissipated way of life, but enough of him for the moment.

Now, Squire Wei was an insatiably greedy man. When he first started out in Nanjing, his pawnshop was very small, but he employed an infinite number of tricks to maximize his profits. For example, he regularly passed off inferior-quality silver to his customers as silver of the highest grade. Using a tiny scale, he gave short weight and short measure. When customers came to redeem their pawned items, he changed to large scales and demanded full weight and silver of the highest grade, or he would refuse to return the items to them. In the case of pawned articles of jewelry, if they were of high-quality gold, he had duplicates made surreptitiously and replaced fine pearls with inferior ones and high-grade gems with lowly stones. In short, he had more tricks up his sleeve than I can enumerate here.

As for Scholar Chen’s three-hundred-tael loan, Squire Wei never sent anyone to remind him about payment because he planned on taking possession of Chen’s other house. When the three-year loan period finally expired and the principal plus the interest came to twice the original sum, Squire Wei sent a man to the Chen residence to press for payment. (MC: This is how calculating creditors can be.) By this time, Scholar Chen had been reduced to dire poverty and could not do otherwise than put his desires on hold and apply himself to his studies at home. Not knowing what to do when Wei’s man came, he instructed his servant to say that he was not at home and would pay the squire back upon his return. This happened quite a few times. As they say, “Just as sure as you don’t want trouble, you can’t hide from your creditor.” It was no surprise that Squire Wei stopped believing these repeated promises and sent messengers every day to demand payment. As Scholar Chen still dared not show his face, Squire Wei’s men, acting on their master’s orders, kept watch at his gate and even bawled out strings of vile invectives at him. Scholar Chen swallowed the insults.

Even the gods fear the wealthy;

Even ghosts bully the poor.

Had he known he was to take such insults,

He would not have wallowed in all those pleasures.

Eventually, Scholar Chen gave up his losing battle against Squire Wei. He went to the middlemen who had witnessed the signing of the contract and said, “I owe six hundred taels of silver in total—principal plus interest—but I honestly have no way of scraping together that much money on such short notice. The other house of mine, the one across the river, is worth about a thousand taels of silver. I’d like to offer it to Squire Wei. He needs to pay me only four hundred taels. Please help me make this deal. I’ll be ever so grateful.”

Believing that Scholar Chen was indeed strapped for cash, the middlemen agreed and went to report to Squire Wei.

Squire Wei said, “I’ve looked at that house of his. How can it be worth a thousand taels? Shame on him for asking so much! Even six hundred taels is too much. How could you gentlemen be speaking on his behalf ?”

One of the men said, “Sir, that house should be worth more than six hundred taels of silver. You can take advantage of his plight—just throw him a hundred taels and be done with it. That will be quite a good bargain for you. If someone else buys it, you’ll no longer be able to land such a good deal.”

On hearing these words, Squire Wei said, his face aflame, “It was you gentlemen who palmed this nice client off on me in the first place. I’m the creditor, am I not? But where’s my principal? And the interest? And, to make it worse, I’ve become the one who’s supposed to pay up. I’m not waiting for a house to move into. Why should I buy that rundown house? (MC: This is how devious creditors can be in their arguments.) If it sells for only six hundred taels, I’ll take the loss. If not, he must cough up three hundred taels to pay back the loan.” Having said that, he told his servants to go with the middlemen and relay his message.

After the men went to see Scholar Chen and gave him the message, the latter was stunned into silence. His eyes widening, his jaws agape, he wanted to say something, but he knew he was in the wrong and had no money. Being in no position to argue with the men, he saw nothing for it but to say with an ingratiating smile, “If the house is worth less than 1,000 taels, how about 800 taels? I did spend 1,200 or 1,300 taels when I had it built, but I won’t go into that. Please do me another favor and pass my message along to him.”

One of the men said, “That will be a tough job! When we proposed that he pay you a hundred taels, his face fell, and he said, ‘I’m not waiting for a house to move into. If he wants me to pay him something out of my pocket, forget it! Let him cough up the three hundred taels for the loan!’ That was the tone he took. Your idea of eight hundred taels for the house will be quite impossible, even if you wait for an eternity!”

Scholar Chen spoke up again. “Surely, such important money matters can’t be settled on the first attempt. Squire Wei is just trying to make things difficult because the price I quoted the first time around was too high. Now that I’ve knocked off two hundred, maybe he’ll relent.”

Yielding to his insistence, the middlemen again went to see Squire Wei. Without a word, Squire Wei pulled a long face and went inside. (MC: This is how disrespectful creditors can afford to be.) Soon, four or five servants came out and addressed the middlemen in these words: “Master ordered us to go to Mr. Chen and demand payment of the debt. He can forget about paying off the debt with his house!”

Very much out of countenance, the middlemen joined the servants and went to see Scholar Chen again. While the middlemen remained silent, the servants said in chorus, “Our master ordered us to sit here until payment is made.”

A shamefaced Scholar Chen kept his resentment to himself and said to the middlemen, “Please talk nicely to the Wei family’s servants and make them go back. I’ll think about what to do next.”

After a great deal of coaxing, the middlemen succeeded in making the servants return to their master’s house, and they themselves also went their separate ways.

Choking with all his pent-up fury, Scholar Chen went to the interior part of the house and vented his spleen by banging the tables and chairs while heaving sigh after sigh. Taking in the situation at a glance, Ma-shi said purposely, “Why aren’t you drinking, singing, and making merry in the pleasure quarters? Isn’t the night still young? Why are you looking so miserable, heaving one sigh after another? There does seem to be less romance in the air here.” (MC: Now is the time for admonitions. A wise woman.)

“How can you make fun of your husband like this? I’m suffering such indignity exactly because I ignored your advice and spent recklessly. I wanted to sell him the house across the river and asked for two hundred taels of silver, which is what’s left after my debt is paid. But he adamantly refused and is still pressing me to repay the debt in cash. Then he sent several servants here to sit until payment is made. Luckily, the middlemen talked them into leaving, but they’ll surely come back tomorrow morning. Am I to understand that house of mine is worth only six hundred taels of silver? I’m at my wit’s end.”

Ma-shi said, “When you were spending money like water, you thought there was no limit to the family savings. Thousands of taels at a time were thrown away. Little did you know that one day, a paltry two hundred taels would be so hard to come by! Since he refused to pay cash, just give the house to him. Why feel so dejected? If it had been three years ago, you would have given away multiple houses. What’s the big deal when it’s just one?”

Having thus got the rough side of his wife’s tongue, Scholar Chen sank into silence. Later that night, he gloomily ate a perfunctory supper, washed his feet and hands, and went to sleep.

As a couplet puts it,

For those in joy, the night slips by all too quickly;

For those in loneliness, the hours drag on, and dawn never comes.

With so much weighing on his mind, Scholar Chen tossed and turned in his bed, waiting for a dawn that just would not come. It was not until the fifth watch when roosters began to crow that he felt sleep coming upon him, but a servant came in quite a few times and announced, “Squire Wei’s men have been here for quite a while.”

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Scholar Chen scrambled out of bed and went to ask the middlemen to come in. In their presence, he drew up a document specifying that his other house was to be sold to Squire Wei for six hundred taels of silver. When he handed the document to the middlemen, they gladly took it, unlike the day before, and went to report to Squire Wei. However furious he was, Scholar Chen had at least freed himself from harassment and felt obliged to come to terms with the arrangement. As for Squire Wei, he had not really given up on the house as he claimed, nor had he actually meant to take nothing but cash. He had just been taking advantage of the scholar’s plight to press for repayment, all the while confident that the house would eventually be his. And sure enough, Scholar Chen had indeed buckled under pressure and signed the house over to him. Now that his wish had been fulfilled, Squire Wei had no more to say.

Let us come back to Scholar Chen. He deeply regretted having ceded the house to Squire Wei. He wore a scowl all day long, neglected his meals, and spent his nights sleepless, often saying between clenched teeth, “Should I ever come up in the world, I’ll most certainly take revenge!”

Seeing him carrying on like this, Ma-shi said, “So you put the blame on others rather than yourself ! Any other person with money would naturally put it to good use by every conceivable means. Who would squander borrowed money the way you did? What serious occupation were you engaged in that justifies selling such a nice house for a song? You don’t mean to say that someone begged you to do it?”

“Now that things have come to this, do you suppose I have no regrets? But regrets are too late for what has already happened.”

“You do have a way with words! But I’m afraid you might not mean what you say. ‘Regret’ is a weighty word. As the proverb goes, ‘A prodigal son who reforms is like a ghost returning to life.’ Maybe you’re sulking at home with your head sunk between your shoulders only because you’re short of money for the moment, and as soon as you lay your hands on a couple hundred taels, you’ll be a philandering spendthrift again.”

With a sigh, Scholar Chen said, “Wife! You don’t understand me. I’m no block of wood. How can I not know anything? I did indeed neglect the management of the household. I followed bad advice, and I wallowed in pleasure and squandered the family fortune. But now, after experiencing all these troubles and insults, I’d be a heartless man if I remained a philanderer!”

His wife said, “From what you say, I suppose you still have some pride in you. I thought that you weren’t going to stop what you were doing until everything was lost. And now that everything is indeed lost, it’s no surprise that you should have no more illusions. Now let me ask you this: If you come into some money, what are you going to do with it?”

“If so, I’ll first and foremost buy back that house and put that dog from Huizhou to shame, so that I can feel avenged. And then I’ll open a shop or buy some land, and take things as they come, until I make a name for myself as a scholar. That would be my wish, and a thousand taels of silver should do it. But where is that kind of money to come from? As the idiom goes, I’ll have to conjure up a cluster of plums to quench my thirst and draw a cake to allay my hunger.” With that, he slapped the table and heaved a sigh.

Ma-shi said with the hint of a smile, “If what you just said is to be believed, what’s so difficult about coming up with a thousand taels?”

Detecting something odd about that remark, Scholar Chen promptly asked, “Where am I supposed to find the money? Am I to get a loan or join a mutual-aid group with friends? Otherwise, where’s the money supposed to come from?”

With another smile, Ma-shi said, “If you try to get a loan through an official channel, you’ll only run into another Squire Wei. (MC: She knows the ways of the world.) As for those mutual-aid groups, well, relationships change with shifts in status, as they say. The way things are with you, which friend of yours would be willing to cough up money and form a mutual-aid group with you? You’d be better off looking homeward. You may have a chance here, for all you know.”

“Looking homeward? Who can it be? Maybe you can do something for me? If you could help me out and point me in the right direction, I’ll be ever so grateful!”

“Haven’t you got all those friends who enjoyed life with you and shared your interests? Why don’t any of them come to see you? And now you’re reduced to asking your wife for help. I’m but a lowly woman with nothing to offer. I just want to have one word with you.”

“Please go ahead. I’m all yours.”

“Are you truly determined to turn over a new leaf ?”

“Need you even ask? If I, Chen Heng, set foot in the pleasure quarters again, may bad luck hound me for the rest of my life! And may I die a violent death!”

“In that case, I’ll buy back the house for you.” Having said that, Ma-shi took a key, led her husband to a dark corner in an inner room, and, pointing to a leather box, said to him, “Take the contents of that box to redeem the house and return whatever’s left over to me.”

Imagine Scholar Chen’s joy at this blessing from heaven! Still incredulous, he opened the box and saw about a thousand taels of snow-white silver. As tears ran down his cheeks (MC: These tears bespeak his remorse.), Ma-shi asked, “What makes you so sad, pray?”

“I’m so worthless! I frittered away the family fortune while you, my good wife, denied yourself everything and saved enough for me to make a comeback! What kind of man am I? I’m so ashamed of myself !”

Ma-shi said, “If you can turn your life around, it will be a blessing for this family. Go and buy back the house tomorrow. There’s no time to lose.”

That day, Scholar Chen’s joy knew no bounds.

The next day, he sent a messenger to ask the middlemen to approach Squire Wei. When they relayed the message, saying that Scholar Chen would like to buy back the house for six hundred taels of silver, Squire Wei, who had landed such a good deal, flatly rejected the offer, saying, “When the house was transferred to me, it was quite rundown. I added new rooms, had the house all fixed up in lavish style, and planted neat rows of bushes and flowers around it. And now he wants to have it back for six hundred taels. He’s getting the best of the deal! Well, if I have to sell it, give me one thousand taels of silver, not a penny less!”

When the message was duly passed on to Scholar Chen, he said, “In that case, I’ll have to take a look first. If he has indeed renovated the place, I’ll have an estimate done and pay more.” So he went to the house with the middlemen and asked, “Is the squire at home?”

A maidservant replied, “Master has just left for the pawnshop. The ladies of the house are inside, so please don’t enter if there’s nothing important.”

The men said, “We’ll just look around outside. There’s no harm.”

Thereupon, the maidservant let the men in. They took a walk on the grounds and saw that the house remained in a state of disrepair except for a few places where the floor had been patched, a couple of leaks plugged, and three or four broken bars in a railing replaced. Those were the only recognizable renovations. No additions had been made.

Having inspected the grounds, Scholar Chen said to the middlemen, “How can he raise the price when no additions have been made to the house? When I offered him the house and asked for only two hundred taels of silver in return, he took advantage of my dire situation and tried every means he could think of to seize my property. And now, he’s again turning the tables on me. There’s no justice! I was too vulnerable last time, but this time, I’m not going to let him walk all over me. Here’s my six hundred taels of silver. Please deliver the money to him for me and tell him to vacate the premises. Even at this price, he still comes out ahead with the three hundred taels of interest.”

The middlemen would not have been bold enough to approach Squire Wei with this message, but, awed by the sight of the silver that Scholar Chen had just produced, they picked up the flattering tone that had served them so well in the past and said, “You’re absolutely right, sir! We’ll surely tell him that!”

When the middlemen presented Squire Wei with the silver, the squire refused to take it, saying that it was not enough. However, the middlemen won the argument, so he resignedly took the money but did not specify when he was going to vacate the premises. Since he had taken the money, the middlemen thought that the case had basically been settled. They took a receipt, gave it to Scholar Chen, and went their separate ways.

After a few days, Scholar Chen sent a message urging Squire Wei to vacate the premises, but Squire Wei said, “I’ll move out only after I recover the full amount of money I spent on renovations. Otherwise, it’s out of the question.”

After getting the same answer several times in a row, Scholar Chen seethed with rage and thought, “What a stubborn brute I’m up against! If I take him to the authorities, he’ll surely lose the case, but the ruling on the disposal of the property may not be entirely to my satisfaction. Let me take my time and think of a way to deal with him. He’ll have to leave. I haven’t yet avenged myself over the humiliation I suffered from him, and there he goes again browbeating me. He’ll be sorry for this!”

It was a bright moonlit night in the middle of the tenth lunar month. By the merest chance, Scholar Chen decided to take a stroll along the Qinhuai River. He walked leisurely for quite a while, and then, something happened. As the proverb puts it, “No coincidence, no story.” Lo and behold, a dark object floated down from upstream. Scholar Chen looked closely and was shocked to see that it was a dead human body. It must have been washed there from the middle reaches of the Yangzi River, and it was nearing his house. His mind preoccupied with Squire Wei, he said to himself, “I know what to do now!” He summoned a servant named Chen Lu, who was his right-hand man and a man with a strong sense of loyalty. Scholar Chen often consulted him.

“I suffered such indignities from that Wei dog,” said Scholar Chen to Chen Lu. “I haven’t been able to vent my spleen, and yet, here he goes again, refusing to vacate the premises. I’ve been thinking of a way to fix him.”

Chen Lu said, “You’re right, master. You’ve enjoyed wealth and distinction. You’re not a little man. Why take such abuse from him? We can stomach no more of this and often want to fight him to the death to avenge you, sir.”

“I’ve got a plan. You must do thus and so as I say. I’ll have a handsome reward for you.”

Beside himself with joy, Chen Lu said, “Good plan! Good plan!” He acknowledged the order and left to put it into action.

The next day, Chen Lu put on a loose-fitting robe and, with Third Master Lu, a good friend of Scholar Chen’s serving as a go-between, went across the lake to offer his services to Squire Wei. Impressed by his good looks and articulateness, the squire accepted him and assigned him a room. Chen Lu was given access to all the rooms, and a diligent and capable servant he proved himself to be.

One day, more than a month later, Squire Wei rose bright and early and went to look for Chen Lu to tell him to buy firewood. He found Chen Lu’s door open. He went in, but Chen Lu was not there. After looking for him everywhere without success, he assigned several servants to the search, but they all returned after a while, saying he was nowhere in sight. Not having spent much money on him, Squire Wei did not think much of the matter.

When Squire Wei was about to approach the go-between and ask him about Chen Lu’s whereabouts, several servants from the Chen household came and said to him, “A servant named Chen Lu escaped from our household a month ago. We heard that Third Master Lu took him here to enter your service. Tell him to come out this instant and follow us back. Don’t hide him! Our master has filed a complaint against you at the yamen!”

Squire Wei said, “There was indeed a man who came a month ago to enter my service. I didn’t know he was from your household. He suddenly ran away the other night, for whatever reason. So you won’t find him here.”

“How could he have escaped again? You must have hidden him and made up that story to fool us. We won’t believe it until we’ve searched the place.”

With exaggerated nonchalance, Squire Wu said, “Go ahead! If you don’t find him, don’t be surprised if I box your ears!”

The servants trooped into the house and searched everywhere except the rat holes. Squire Wei was about to explode when the servants shouted, “Look here!”

Not knowing what was happening, Squire Wei drew near for a look. It turned out that they had dug in a spot where the soil was loose and found a dead man’s leg. Squire Wei stood transfixed in shock. The servants clamored, “Squire Wei must have murdered the man and buried one of his legs here. Let’s get our master here and talk with him about reporting this to the yamen.”

One of the servants quickly went and brought Scholar Chen onto the scene. In a thunderous rage, Scholar Chen yelled, “Heaven forbids the taking of human lives! How could you have murdered a servant of mine? Let’s report this to the yamen. What are we waiting for?” Having said that, he told his servants to carry the leg to the yamen.

As they were about to exit the house, Squire Wei blocked their way and said, trembling with fear, “Oh my lord and master! I truly and honestly did not kill him!”

Scholar Chen said, “Nonsense! Where did this human leg come from? You can do your explaining at the yamen!”

As a matter of fact, rich people dread the government, and this was a case of homicide, too. Squire Wei said imploringly, “Can’t we talk about this? You can do whatever you want with me, sir, but please don’t take me to the authorities. I don’t want any trouble with the law!” (MC: At such moments, they can no longer afford to be calculating, devious in their arguments, and disrespectful.)

Scholar Chen said, “You seized my property without paying anything, and while you occupied it, you demanded payment from me. What a brute you are! And then you took in a servant of mine and murdered him. This is a chance for me to avenge myself through the yamen! I’m not going to let you off.”

Squire Wei pleaded, “My lord and master! It’s all been my fault. You can have the house back.”

“Why did you lie and claim to have made additions to the grounds? Give me back the three hundred taels of interest you took from me for repairs to the house. Then write me a confession. Then we’ll keep our mouths shut about the whole thing and cremate the leg so that no evidence will ever be found. Otherwise, with so many people witnessing the excavation of the leg in your house in these times of peace and order, you won’t be let off easy once word gets out.”

In spite of the injustice done to him, Squire Wei only wanted to be free of legal trouble. In resignation, he wrote the confession and handed it to Scholar Chen. Then the scholar forced him to return the three hundred taels of interest and insisted that he vacate the premises. Left with no alternative, Squire Wei moved into his pawnshop on Sanshan Street before the night was out, and the leg was hidden away. Only then did Scholar Chen feel vindicated.

You may well ask, where did that leg come from? Well, when Scholar Chen happened to see a dead body floating toward him as he was taking a walk that moonlit night on the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, he told Chen Lu the servant to cut one leg off the corpse. The next day, Chen Lu surreptitiously took the leg with him when he went to offer his services to Squire Wei and, when unobserved, buried it in a quiet spot. After he returned to Scholar Chen’s house, a group of Chen’s servants, ostensibly looking for Chen Lu, dug up the leg, and threatened to press charges against Squire Wei at the yamen. Squire Wei panicked and, at a loss as to what to do, vacated the premises and returned the three hundred taels of interest. It was Scholar Chen’s wonderful plan that made all this possible.

Scholar Chen recovered the house and, by managing what remained of his family fortune wisely, surprisingly became a rich man again. Later, he passed the provincial examinations but never attained an official post. Chen Lu went away but returned to the Chen household after a long absence. (MC: A long absence is necessary.) Squire Wei occasionally encountered Scholar Chen and guessed, correctly, that he had been tricked. But he had already returned the deed to the house, and, not having kept any evidence in his haste on that day, he could not press charges and demand that justice be done. What’s more, knowing nothing about where the leg had come from, he would have had too much explaining to do, and he did have something on his conscience, after all. So he was obliged to let the matter drop. This is the story of Scholar Chen’s clever plan to win back his house, as witnessed by the following poem:

Spendthrifts bring ruin to their families,

Neither are loan sharks worthy of praise.

Disasters that seem to come out of the blue

Are in fact borne out of one’s own evil doings.