A scholar named Li Boyan, from Xishui, Shandong, was a straightforward, upright and brave man. Suddenly he collapsed with some kind of acute illness.
In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Daoist Priest, a ragged Daoist priest befriends Scholar Han — a nobleman fond of hosting banquets — and his neighbor Xu.
Scholar Han, descendant of a well-known aristocratic family, was very fond of guests. A man named Xu in the same village often went to his place to drink.
“Lin Siniang”(Fourth Lady Lin) is one of the most poignant chapters in Strange Tales from Liaozhai), rich in the sorrow of the rise and fall of dynasties. It tells the story of a female ghost’s interaction with a governor, and through her singing, laments the downfall of a lost dynasty.
Chen Baoyue, a native of Fujian Province, was the chief executive of Qinzhou dao (Trans. Note: Dao in ancient China was an administrative division under the province).