Grand Secretary Mao Ji in the Ming Dynasty was born of a poor family. His father often tended cattle for others. Living in the same county was Zhang and his family, who were rich and influential. They had recently built a grave site on the southern slope of East Mountain.
Whenever folk from Zhang’s family passed the site, a scolding voice drifted from the grave: “You should leave here immediately. Don’t keep staying in a noble’s residence.” Hearing the story, Zhang did not give it much credence. Soon afterwards, however, Zhang was repeatedly warned in his dreams: “Your family’s grave site is the tomb for the Maos, so how could your folks stay here forever?” After that, several mishaps struck the Zhang family. Heeding the advice of others, Zhang moved the grave to another place.
One day, while tending a herd of cattle, Mao’s father came to the grave site. It suddenly began to rain and the man climbed down into the open grave to take shelter. Unexpectedly, the rain turned into a downpour and the flood quickly filled up the vault, drowning the cattleherd. At that time, Mao was still a child. His helpless mother then came to Zhang to ask for a place to bury her husband. Zhang was surprised to learn that the dead man’s name was Mao and was even more startled when he found out that he died right where the Zhang coffin used to sit. Zhang gave the woman permission to bury her husband in the grave and asked her to bring her child to see him.
After the funeral, the mother and son called on Zhang to express their appreciation. At first sight, Zhang liked the boy very much and asked him to stay at his house. He taught the child to read and write and treated him as one of the family. When Mao had grown up, Zhang suggested that his elder daughter marry the young man. Feeling ashamed of their humble family background, Mao’s mother did not dare accept the offer. Then, Zhang’s wife said: “Since we have already made the proposal, how could we retract it?” Eventually, Mao’s mother gave her consent to the marriage.
However, Zhang’s elder daughter had always looked down on the Maos. Her resentment showed clearly in her words and expressions. When someone incidentally mentioned the proposed marriage, she would cover her ears with her hands. She often told others: “I would rather die than marry the son of a cattleherd.”
On the wedding day, the bridegroom came to escort the bride to the wedding ceremony and the bridal sedan chair was waiting outside the front gate. But, the elder daughter refused to dress up and sat weeping in her room. All persuasion failed. Finally, the bridegroom wanted to leave, so the fanfare sounded. The dishevelled daughter was still crying. Her father asked the bridegroom not to leave and then went in to persuade his daughter to go with Mao. The girl, streams of tears rolling down her face, pretended she had not heard what her father had said. When the father raised his voice, the daughter burst into loud sobbing. So, the father did not know how to deal with the girl. At that time, a servant came in and told them:”The bridegroom is leaving.” The father hurriedly came out from his daughter’s room to tell the young man: “The bride has not finished dressing, please just wait for one more moment.” Then, he rushed back into the girl’s room. After a few such shuttles, the father was at the end of his wits. He even thought of killing himself.
Standing nearby was Zhang’s younger daughter, who believed that her sister was not acting properly. Therefore, she also tried very hard to persuade her sister to do what is right. The elder sister said angrily: “You little girl have a big mouth like others. Why don’t you go and marry that man?” The younger sister answered:”Dad did not give me to Mao. If he had done so, you would not have to bother with persuading me.” Hearing the younger daughter’s bold words, the father conferred with his wife privately and decided to ask their younger daughter to take her sister’s place as the bride that day. So, the mother turned to the younger daughter: “Your stubborn elder sister has refused to obey Mom and Dad’s order. We would like you to take her place, are you willing to do so?” The younger daughter said readily: “If Dad and Mom want me to marry anyone, I certainly will even if he were a beggar. In today’s case, who says Mao’s future is doomed?” Hearing these remarks, the two parents were overjoyed. They hastily helped their younger daughter to put on her elder sister’s bridal dress and escorted her to the sedan chair.
Once they were married, the two became an affectionate couple. Since the girl was gradually losing her hair because of a long-standing skin ulcer, it deprived Mao of a total satisfaction with his wife. However, when he later learned the story of the younger sister taking the elder sister’s place as his bride, he came to respect his wife all the more.
After a while, Mao qualified to take the provisional examination. On his way to the examination site, he would pass by Master Wang’s inn at the county seat. The innkeeper met a god in his dream the night before. The god told him: “Tomorrow a jieyuan (Trans. Note: Jieyuan was a scholar who won the first place in provincial imperial examination during the Ming and Qing dynasties), named Mao, will come to this inn, he will someday save you from misfortune.” So, the innkeeper got up very early next morning, to wait for a guest coming from the east. He was very pleased when he finally welcomed Mao into his inn. He took the best care of the special guest and declined any payment. He counted on Mao to do what the god predicted in his dream. Mao became self-conceited and worried privately that his bald wife would become a butt of jokes in high society. Therefore, he planned to divorce his wife and marry another woman after he won fame and social status. When the examination results came out, Mao found he had failed this time. Sighing all the way back home, the young man felt too ashamed to call on the innkeeper.
Three years later, Mao visited Master Wang’s inn again on his way to the provincial examination. The innkeeper treated him with the same warmth and generosity as the last time. Mao said: “Your dream did not come true last time. So, I feel embarrassed to accept your hospitality.” The innkeeper said: “You had secretly planned to change your wife, so the official from the other world deprived you of good fortune. It is not that the forecast of my dream won’t eventually be fulfilled.” Mao was surprised to hear this and asked the innkeeper how he knew it. Then, the host told him that after he had left the inn last time, the innkeeper learned the revelation in another dream. Mao was shocked. Regretful and scared, he stood there like a zombie. The innkeeper told him:”Sir, you should respect yourself and you will certainly become a jieyuan.” Soon after, Mao did top the winners’ list of the examination and his wife’s hair began to grow. The long, black hair made the woman more attractive than before.
The elder sister later married the son of a rich local family. She was very pleased at first. However, her husband was a lazy playboy, and the family’s fortune was gone very soon. They became so poor that they very nearly starved. The elder sister felt very ashamed when she learned that her sister was now the wife of a juren (Trans. Note: Juren was a scholar who had passed the imperial examination at the provincial level). The two sisters tried to avoid each other in the street. Before long, the elder sister’s husband died, leaving the family even more destitute. Soon after, Mao won the title of jinshi (Trans. Note: Jinshi was a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination). Learning this, the elder sister hated herself all the more. In a fit of pique, she said good-bye to the secular world and became a nun.
Mao visited his home village after he was appointed prime minister. The elder sister forced one of her disciples to call on the Maos in hopes that she might bring back some present. When the disciple arrived at the Mao’s resident, the wife asked her to take back several bolts of satin and gauze. There was some silver wrapped inside, but the errand girl did not know the silver was there. When she brought the present back to the elder sister, the latter was very disappointed. She said resentfully: “If they gave me some money, I could use it to buy some firewood and rice. What’s the good of having just those gaudy pieces of cloth!” So, she asked the errand girl to return them to the Maos. Looking at the returned present, Mao and his wife felt puzzled. But when they found the silver still inside, they realized why the elder sister had turned down their gift. Unwrapping the silver, they told the girl laughingly:”Your mistress does not even have the luck to spend one hundred taels of silver, how could she ever share the glory of a prime minister?” Asking the disciple to take back fifty taels of silver, they continued:”This is for your mistress to cover her daily expenditures. We do not dare to give more to a little-blessed person like her.” The disciple went back and told the elder sister the whole story. After hearing this, the elder sister did not utter a word. She sighed and kept silent. Recalling her past, it seemed that her efforts often led her to the opposite of her wishes. But who should be blamed for all this?
Later, the innkeeper was put into jail because of his involvement in a murder case. Mao used all his clout to successfully help him be acquitted of the charge.
The Chronicler of the Tales comments: “The old grave site of the Zhang family later became the new tomb of Mao’s father: this itself is very strange. Now I have heard the story about ‘A bridegroom who married the younger sister of the bride, and the jieyuan title came to the young man three years late.’ Can this ever be predicted by anyone who fancies himself very smart? Alas, no one can get answers from heaven. But why did all the predictions about Mao eventually turn out to be true?”
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