An Youyu, an outstanding scholar from Shaanxi, was generous and loyal to his friends. He also loved to free captive animals. When he saw hunters capturing animals or birds, he would not hesitate to buy the game and set it free.
One day, having attended a funeral at his uncle’s home, he was terrified to realize that he had lost his direction in the Huashan Mountains on his way home at dusk. Suddenly, he saw some lights in the distance and hurried toward the lights. A second later, he blinked his eyes and saw a hunchbacked old man with a walking stick moving very quickly on a road on the mountain slope. An stopped and tried to ask for, directions. Before he spoke, however, the old man first asked who he was. An answered and also told him that he had lost his way and fortunately he had seen lights in the distance and wanted to spend the night in that village. The old man said: “That’s Eternal Peace Village. Fortunately you met me. Come and stay in my thatched hut.”
After walking with the old man for a third of a mile, Mr. An saw a little village. The old man went up to a gate made of branches of the chaste tree and knocked. An old lady came out of the house and opened the gate for them. The houses inside were low and small. The old man lit a lamp, asked Mr. An to sit down, and told the lady to bring some food. He told the old lady: “This man is my savior. If you’re tired, ask Huaguzi to serve him wine.” A moment later, a girl came in with food and wine. She stood by the old man, but cast glances at Mr. An, who found her young and as beautiful as an angel. The old man told the girl to warm up the wine for Mr. An. There was a coal stove in the room and the girl went to build up the fire. Mr. An asked the old man:”Who’s this girl?” and was told: “My family name is Zhang and I am seventy years old. The girl is my only daughter. We farmers do not have maids or servants. Since you’re no stranger to me, I asked my wife and daughter to come and serve you. Please feel at home.” An asked: “Is your son-in-law at home?” The old man told An that he did not have a son-in-law yet. An kept praising the girl for her beautiful features and suddenly he heard the girl screaming.
The old man hurried inside and found the wine had boiled over. He put out the fire and reprimanded the girl: “You’re already a grown-up and still don’t know how to watch the wine when it is being heated!” He turned around and saw a half-finished goddess made of sorghum stalk. He went on rebuking the girl, saying: “You are just like a child!” The old man then showed An what the girl had made and said:”My daughter loves to play and overheated the wine. So stop praising her. I’m ashamed of her.” An examined the toy goddess, whose head was rendered with beautiful eyes and eyebrows. She was dressed in a tight skirt. It was an exquisite toy indeed. So he said admiringly: “Though it’s a child’s toy, it shows your daughter’s cleverness.” The old man drank with Mr. An and the girl kept pouring them wine.
Every time she did this, she would smile shyly. An stared at her and a feeling of love surged up. Just then the old lady called the old man, who went inside. Finding himself alone with the girl, An said to her: “You’re so beautiful. I’m in love with you. I want to hire a match-maker to formally propose to your parents, but I’m afraid they may not agree. What shall I do?”
The girl took the wine pot and went to the stove as if she had heard nothing. She refused to answer, though An asked her several times. An moved slowly to the inside room and the girl stood up. With a cold face, she asked: “Who told you to come inside?” An knelt on the ground, begging for her love. The girl began to walk out, but An suddenly grabbed her into his arms and tried to kiss her. The girl called out in a shaky voice and the old man hurried in. An released her and was too shamed to say anything. The girl said to her father as if nothing serious had happened: “The wine spilled over again. If Mr. An had not come in time, the pot would have been ruined.” An felt assured when he heard these words and was very grateful to her. This made him love her all the more so that he even had forgotten why he was there. He pretended that he was drunk and left the table. The girl left the room and the old man had a bed made for him and went out of the room, too. An spent a sleepless night and bid goodbye to the old man the next morning.
Once at home, Mr. An asked one of his best friends to represent him and formally propose the marriage. The friend went for a whole day and when he came back in the evening, he said he could not find the place where the old couple and the girl lived. An took a horse and personally went. When he arrived at the place, he could not find any village. All he saw were sheer mountain cliffs. He inquired in the neighboring villages and no one seemed to know this Mr. Zhang. An had to return. Totally disappointed, he could not eat or sleep. Soon he developed a disease that caused headaches and bad sight. When he tried to eat some porridge, he would throw up. Delirious, he would call out for Huaguzi, but his family members could not understand what he was saying. They took good care of him, but his condition worsened.
One night, the person who was looking after him fell asleep as he was too tired. In his drowsiness, An felt someone pushing him. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Huaguzi, the young girl, standing in front of his bed. He suddenly woke up and became sober. He looked at the girl and tears came down his cheeks. The girl lowered her head and said:”You fool! How did you become this ill?” So saying, she got into the bed and sat on An’s lap, rubbing his temples. An felt a strong, cold and refreshing smell like musk assail his nostril and penetrate his bones. After she rubbed for some time, An was sweating all over. The girl said softly: “There are too many people here and it’s inconvenient for me to stay. I’ll come and see you three days from now.” She took some bread from inside her embroidered sleeve and left it on the bed before she left. Having sweated for some time, An felt hungry and ate the bread the girl had left him. It tasted so good that he ate three rolls, without caring to see what the filling was. He covered up the rest of the bread with his clothes. Then he fell asleep again and when he woke up at eight the next morning, he felt very energetic.
Three days later, An finished all the bread and felt even more energetic. He sent away the people who had been looking after him, but was still afraid that the girl would have trouble getting into his house. So he stealthily went to the courtyard and unlocked the front door. A little later, the girl came and said with a smile: “You foolish man, don’t you want to thank the doctor?” An was overjoyed and took her into his arms. After they made love, the girl said: “I came despite all the risks because I wanted to thank you for your kindness. I really cannot be your wife and you have to make other plans.”
An fell silent for a long while and then said:”I really don’t understand what you are thanking me for. I cannot think of any good thing I’ve done for you.” The girl said: “Just think hard.” An insisted that he wanted to marry her but the girl told him: “It’s certainly not a good idea to meet each other secretly at night, but we really cannot get married.” These words disappointed An. The girl spoke again:”If you really insist on marriage, please come to my home tomorrow night.” An’s spirit was lifted and he said: “Your home is far away from here. Besides, how did you come and go so quickly?” She told him:”I did not go back. The deaf old lady to the east is my aunt. For your sake, I’ve been staying at her house and I’m sure my family is worried about me now.” An and the girl slept under the same quilt and he found her fragrant all over. Even her breath was very fragrant. So he asked her:”What kind of perfume do you use so that even your bones are fragrant?” The girl said: “I was born fragrant and I never use any perfume.” The answer surprised An. In the morning, the girl rose and left. An was worried that he would not be able to find her home, but the girl promised to meet him on the way.
When evening came, An went to the Zhang’s home on horseback and found the girl waiting for him on the way. Together they went to the house An stayed at last time and both the old man and old lady were outside the house greeting him. Once in the house, they entertained him with all kinds of rare dishes, all prepared with things from the wilderness. After dinner, the old couple urged him to go to bed. The girl never looked at An, which worried him. It was not until deep in the night that the girl came. She said: “My parents were very talkative and went to bed very late. Sorry to have kept you waiting.” The two enjoyed loving making throughout the night. The girl said to An:”Tonight is our last time together.” An was surprised to hear this and asked her why. She told him: “My father wants to move to a far-away place because this village is too small, but I’ll do my best for you this night.” An did not want to let her go and as they talked, day broke. Suddenly, the old man came into the room and swore at the girl: “Shame on you girl! You’ve ruined our family reputation.” The girl was caught off guard and hurriedly ran away. The old man went after her, still swearing. An also felt ashamed and secretly went back home.
For several days, An felt uneasy and did not know what to do. He felt so dejected that he realized he could not live on like this. So he planned to jump over the wall into the old man’s courtyard and spend a night with the girl. The old man had said that he had been their savior and so he would not make a scene even if he found out what An had done. So he went into the mountains in the dark and soon lost his way. Just then, he saw a house in the valley and ran to it. The high wall suggested that the house belonged to an official. An was asking the gate keeper about Zhang when a maid came out, asking:”Who’s looking for Mr. Zhang’s house in the night?”
An said: “Mr. Zhang is a relative of mine. I’ve lost my way while I was going to his house.” The maid said: “This house belongs to Huaguzi’s aunt. Huaguzi is right here and I’ll report to her immediately” Soon after, the maid came back and invited An inside. As soon as he entered the corridor, Huaguzi came out to greet him, saying to the maid:”Mr. An has been traveling for half the night and must be very tired. Help him to go to bed.” Soon An and Huaguzi got into bed together, hand in hand. An asked his girl: “Why is it there are no other people in your aunt’s home?” She replied: “My aunt has gone out and asked me to look after her house for her. And it’s our luck that we met here.” So saying, she cuddled in An’s arms. An was mystified to smell fish and mutton. The girl took An’s neck and licked his nose. At that moment, An felt something prick at his head. Terrified, he wanted to leave immediately, but his body could not move as if he had been bound up. Soon he lost consciousness.
An’s family searched all over the place for him. Someone told the family that they had seen An the night before on a mountain path. His family went into the mountains and found him, naked and already dead at the foot of a mountain cliff. While they could not explain what had happened, they decided to carry his body home. At home, they stood around his body and cried. Just then, a girl came and cried even before she entered the room. She rubbed at his body, pressed his nose while her tears dripped down into his nostrils. All the time, the girl cried: “My God! Why did you have to do this?” She did not stop weeping and crying until her voice became hoarse. She then told An’s family: “Leave him here for seven days. Don’t bury him.”
No one knew who she was and before they asked, she stormed out without saying goodbye. They wanted to ask her to stay and followed her out of the room. Suddenly she was out of sight. People realized that she must have been some kind of spirit and so followed her instructions. At night, the girl came and cried like before. In the evening of the seventh day, An suddenly came to life again. He turned over, moaning and surprising the whole family. The girl entered and she and An cried together. An raised his hand and told people to go out. The girl took out some green grass, made a soup and fed it to An. Immediately An could speak again. He sighed: “It was you who killed me then and it’s you again who has saved my life now.” He then described what he had gone through. The girl said: “It’s the snake spirit who disguised itself as me. The light you saw when you lost your way was a snake.” An asked her: “How did you make me regain my life? Are you a fairy?” The girl said: “I wanted to tell you before but was afraid that you might be scared by the story. Do you remember five years ago, you bought a river deer from a hunter at Mount Huashan and then released it into the mountains?”
An remembered it and said: “Yes, I do.” The girl told him: “The deer was my father. That’s why he once said that you were his savior. Two days ago, you were reincarnated into the family of Wang Zhuzheng of the West Village. Father and I went to reason with the King of Hell but he would not release you. Father would rather die in your place and so he begged the king for seven days until he took your place in the nether world. That is what has allowed us to meet today. Though you are alive again, you may have an after effect of paralysis and have to drink wine with the snake’s blood to cure the disease.” An hated the snake but did not know how to catch it. The girl assured him: “It’s not difficult, but killing will prevent me from going to heaven after my death. When the sun sets, light fire to dry grass outside the snake cave and have a bow and arrows ready outside the cave. You’re sure to catch it.” After this, she bid him goodbye, saying: “It’s a great pity that I cannot live with you all our lives, but for your sake, I’ve committed sins. Please understand me. I’m already pregnant with your child. Whether it’s going to be a boy or girl, I’ll send it to you a year from now.” So saying she left, weeping.
The next day, An found that the lower part of his body had became paralyzed. He relayed to his family what the girl had said. So following the girl’s instructions, his family members went to the mountain cave and lit a fire. A huge white snake dashed out of the cave. At that moment, arrows were released and the snake was killed. The fire burned inside the cave, killing several hundred snakes of all sizes. An’s family members returned with the snake blood, which An drank along with wine. Three days later, he could move his legs and six months later, he could walk again.
Later, An went into the mountains alone and met the old lady, who handed him a baby wrapped up with a small quilt. She told him:”My daughter sends you her greetings.” Before An could ask anything, the old lady disappeared. He opened the quilt and saw it was a baby boy. He took the boy home and never married in his life.
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