Liu Fanghua lived in Baoding, Hebei Province, and was the richest man in this village. His generosity often attracted hundreds of visitors to his house. He was always ready to help others and never spared an expense. Relatives and friends often failed to pay back the money borrowed from him. Only one visitor from…
There was in Huaiyang County a scholar surnamed Ye. His given name I do not know. Although he was the most outstanding literary talent in the county, his luck always proved fickle and he failed the imperial civil service examination repeatedly.
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.
When Master Yu was young, he was a chivalrous character and was fond of martial arts. He was so strong that he could hold up a huge tea kettle full of water with one hand and twirl it around.
Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio features numerous tales of scholars and imperial examinations. Though plots vary, they consistently orbit the core theme of “scholars’ fraught destinies under the examination system,” refracting the psychological and existential crises of ancient literati beneath its crushing weight.