During the reign of Ming Emperor Wanli, Zhang Huadong of Zouping County, Shandong Province, was a court official. He had accepted an order from the emperor to offer sacrifices on sacred Mount Hengshan, which was situated in southern Hunan Province. On his way south, he was crossing Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.
Liu, a juren, remembered things from his former lives (Note: Juren is the title conferred on those successful candidates at the provincial level in the imperial examination) and confided in my deceased cousin, Pu Wenfen, as they both became juren in the same year.