Minister Yin, who now heads the Board of Civil Office, came originally from a poor family in Licheng County, Shandong Province. In his youth, he was noted for his daring.
Now, there was in the county town an estate belonging to a government official’s family. It occupied several hectares of land and included a large number of buildings, so close together that their eaves almost touched. It had been abandoned by its owners for some time because strange things often occurred there. Uninhabited, the place became overgrown with grass and wormwood. Even in daytime, no one dared to enter the estate.
One day, Yin was having a drink with a few scholars when someone proposed jokingly, “If anyone dares to stay for one night in that mansion, we’ll throw a feast for him.” Yin rose to his feet and said, “What’s so difficult about that?” He grabbed a mat and left. His friends saw him to the mansion’s gate and teased him, “We’ll wait here for a while. If you see anything, just yell.” Yin replied, “If there is a ghost or a fox-fairy in there, I’ll be sure to capture it as evidence.”
So saying, he entered the estate grounds. Inside, tall grass covered the paths and wormwood and mugwort were everywhere. It was during the first half of the lunar month, and a near-half moon made the place dimly visible. Feeling his way along, Yin passed through several courtyards and finally arrived at the innermost building. He climbed up to the moon balcony. Seeing that it was smoothly paved, he liked it and halted his steps. By now, only a thread of moonlight silhouetted the hilltop against the western sky. He sat there for quite a while and when he saw nothing unusual anywhere around, he laughed to himself, thinking how ridiculous the rumors were. He lay down on the balcony floor, resting his head on a stone slab, and watched the Cowherd and the Weaving Girl in the sky (Note: These are two stars positioned on either side of the Milky Way, so named in a Chinese legend. )
At about the end of the first watch, just as Yin was becoming drowsy and about to fall asleep, he heard footsteps coming up stairs. He pretended to be asleep, but kept his eyelids slightly open to see what would happen next.
A maid dressed in a green skirt appeared, carrying a lotus-shaped lantern. When she suddenly caught sight of Yin, she startled and backed up a few steps, saying to the person behind her, “There’s a stranger here.” The one downstairs asked, “Who is it?” and she answered, ”I don’t recognise him.” Moments later, an old man climbed the stairs and came up close to have a good look. “It’s Minister Yin. He’s fast asleep. We can go ahead and do what we came to do. Minister Yin is an easy-going, forthright man. Maybe he will be lenient with us.” So they came in and opened up all the adjacent doors.
Before long, many more people were filing in and out of the building which was now lit up as bright as day. Yin moved his body slightly and sneezed. Hearing this, the old man knew Yin was awake and came and knelt down, saying, “I have a daughter who’s getting married tonight. I didn’t mean to disturb you. Please do not punish us.” Yin rose and helped the old man to his feet. He said, “I didn’t realise this was to be a wedding night. I’m sorry I don’t have any gift to present.” To which the old man replied, “We’re fortunate enough to have you here, for your presence will overpower and eliminate the devils and demons. I would feel even more honored if you would join in the ceremony. “Yin willingly complied. On entering the hall, he saw that it was magnificently furnished. A woman in her forties came out to greet the guests. The old man said, “This is my wife.” Yin returned the greetings with a bow, folding his hands together before him.
Just then, loud blasts of music played on the sheng were heard, and someone ran in shouting, “The bridegroom’s here!” The old man hurried out to welcome him, while Yin stood waiting. Minutes later, led by a parade of lantern-bearers, the bridegroom walked in. He was about seventeen or eighteen, handsome and elegant. The old man told the bridegroom to first pay his respects to the honored guest. The young man looked at Yin, who returned the greetings in a manner befitting a quasi-host. This was followed by the father-in-law and the son-in-law’s bowing to each other. When all was done, they sat down at the table. Then, servant girls, prettily dressed, busied themselves serving wine and meat and other dishes, steaming hot, in jade bowls and golden plates. It was a dazzling feast!
After several rounds of wine, the old man sent the servant girl off to fetch the bride. The maid went in, but after a long time, the bride still hadn’t appeared. The old man then went himself to fetch her. A little later, the girl emerged, surrounded by several maids, some young, some older. Her jewelry tinkled as she walked, and she emitted a fragrance that perfumed the air. The old man urged his daughter to pay her respects to her elders and then let her sit down next to her mother. Yin took a brief look at her. She was wearing a green jade headdress with the design of a phoenix and jade earrings that dangled from her ears. She was incomparably beautiful. The servants now came in with big golden cups to serve wine, so big that each could hold several times as much wine as ordinary cups. Yin thought this golden cup would serve well to prove that he had indeed spent the night in the mansion, so he stealthily thrust the emptied cup into his folded sleeve. Feigning drunkenness, he leaned on the table and pretended to have fallen asleep. Everybody was saying, “Look, the man’s drunk.” Shortly afterwards, Yin heard the bridegroom taking his leave. The music on the sheng sounded again and the guests filed downstairs and left. When the servants were counting the wine cups, they found that there was one golden cup missing. There were whispers that perhaps the sleeping guest had it, but the old man stopped them, for fear that Yin might hear them.
After a long time, when the whole house had quieted down, scholar Yin rose from his seat. There was no more light, only the fragrance of powder, perfume and wine permeated the room. Seeing that it was dawning in the east, he strode out of the house with ease and calm. He felt his sleeve and found that the golden cup was still there. When he reached the gate, he found his scholar friends already waiting. They suspected that Yin must have left the house during the night and only returned early in the morning. Then Yin produced the golden cup for all to see. Astonished, they asked for an explanation, so he told them about what had happened the night before. Knowing that no poor scholar could own such an article, they believed him.
Some time later, Yin won the title of jinshi in the highest imperial examinations and was appointed magistrate of Feiqiu. One day, a man from a high official’s family named Zhu gave a dinner for him. The host told the servant to go and fetch some big wine cups. But after quite a while, the servant still hadn’t come back. A servant boy whispered something to the host, who, by the look on his face, was angered. Moments later, however, the servant came back with a golden cup and presented it to the guest. Yin examined the cup and saw that the shape and the carved design were in no way different from the golden cup used by the fox-fairy. Intrigued, he asked the host where these cups came from. The host said, ”There were eight of these golden cups. When my father was an official in the capital, he had them made by an excellent craftsman. They are family heirlooms which we have kept for many years. Honored by your presence, I told the servant to open the trunk and bring them here, but he found only seven. I wonder if it hasn’t been stolen by one of the servants, but then the trunk has been locked for ten years and it is still covered by dust, just as it was before. I can’t understand it.” Yin laughed and said, “The golden cup must have taken wing and flown away. But you ought not to be short one of your heirlooms. Now, I have a golden cup that is very much like yours. l shall present it to you as a gift.”
The banquet over, Yin went back to his residence, found the golden cup and ordered someone to take it to that family on horseback. The host took a good look at the cup and was quite amazed. He went to the magistrate’s residence and asked where Yin had gotten it. Thereupon, Yin told him the whole story. So now they knew that a fox-fairy was capable of obtaining something from thousands of Ii away, but dared not keep it forever.
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