Tian Qilang

Wu Chengxiu of Shengyang liked to make friends. Many of them were celebrities. One night, he dreamed someone said to him: “You have made lots of friends across the land. But you make friends without discrimination. Now there is a man with whom you can share weal and woe. Why don’t you make him your friend?” Wu asked:”Who is he?” The voice answered: “It’s Tian Qilang(Trans. Note: the Seventh Son of the Tian Family).” When he woke up, Wu was bewildered and curious about the dream.

The next morning, Wu asked everyone he met if he or she knew a man called Tian Qilang(note: the Seventh Son of the Tian Family). A friend of his said Tian was a hunter in East Village. Wu went there to pay Tian a visit. He knocked at the door with his whip and presently a man in his twenties emerged. His eyes were shiny and spirited and his waist was thin. The man wore a greasy hat and pair of black pants that were covered with white darning. He greeted Wu with a cupped-hand salute and asked him where he came from. Wu told the man his identity and said he wanted to rest in the house, using the excuse that he was not feeling well. He then asked who Tian Qilang was. The man said:”I am he.” Tian led the guest into his house. Wu looked around and saw only a dilapidated house, with the walls propped up by tree branches. When they went into a small room, Wu saw tiger and wolf skins hanging from the beams. There were no chairs or beds for one to sit on. Tian spread a tiger skin on the floor and sat down. In talking with Tian, Wu found Tian’s words were plain and simple and liked him very much. Wu offered him some silver pieces. Tian refused, but Wu insisted. Tian took the silver into an inner room to report to his mother. Presently, he came out and returned the money to Wu and remained adamant. Wu was trying hard to talk him into accepting it when Tian’s elderly mother came out. She said grimfacedly: “I have only this son and don’t want him to waste time entertaining a guest.” Wu felt ashamed and went away.

On his way home, Wu mulled over the mother’s words but could not get at their true meaning. One of his servants had happened to overhear what Tian’s mother had said to her son in the inner room. He told his master what he had heard. When Tian took the silver into the inner room and told her what it was about, the mother said: “I saw that young man just now. There are wrinkles on his face that forecast bad luck. He is doomed to suffer some great misfortune. It is said that one has to share others’ woes if one has a debt of gratitude and that one has to help others in trouble, if one has accepted others’ favors or bounty. The rich can repay others’ with money; the poor have to repay with their loyalty and obligation. If you accept the man’s money, it is not a good thing. I’m afraid you’ll repay it with your life.” Hearing this, Wu had to admire the mother’s wisdom and he therefore appreciated Tian Qilang all the more.

The next day, Wu gave a dinner for Tian but the latter refused to come on some excuse. Wu therefore paid him a visit again and drank wine with him in his house. Tian served Wu the wine and dished out dried veal, fulfilling his duty as host to the utmost. The next day, Wu again invited Tian over and planned to thank him for his generosity. Tian had to come. The two talked agreeably. Again, Wu tried to give Tian some silver and again the latter refused. Wu insisted that Tian take the money, with the excuse that he wanted Tian to buy some tiger skins for him. Tian had therefore to accept the money.

Taking stock of the tiger skins in his home, Tian felt that all the tiger skins he had were not worth the money Wu had given him. So he planned to hunt some more tigers and then give Wu both the old and new tiger skins. He searched in the mountain for tigers for three days but found nothing. His wife fell ill at this time and he had to wait on her. There was no time left for hunting.

A dozen days later, his wife died. Tian Qilang spent a little of the money Wu had given him for his wife’s funeral. Wu came to pay his respects to Tian’s wife and again gave Tian generous gifts. Once the funeral was over, Tian went back into the mountains again, with his bow and arrows, eager to repay Wu’s favor. Again, he returned empty-handed.

Hearing about Tian’s adventure in the mountains and knowing why he had gone, Wu told him not to rush and hoped earnestly that Tian would come to his house. Tian was reluctant to go because he was ashamed of owing Wu the silver. Wu made an excuse that he wanted to see the tiger skins in Tian’s home. Taking stock of the old tiger skins, Tian found that they had been eaten by worms and looked very shabby and worn. He was very much distressed. Knowing this, Wu rode to Tian’s home and tried to talk him out of his melancholy. Taking a look at the tiger skin, Wu said: “It is good. What I want is the leather. So I don’t care if there is fur on the skin.” After this, he rolled up the skin and started for home. He had planned to invite Tian to go with him. But the latter was reluctant and he had to go alone.

Tian Qilang felt that the skin was not enough to repay Wu’s money. So, he went into the mountain again. A few days’ hunt yielded a big tiger and he sent Wu a complete tiger skin. Overjoyed, Wu offered him dinner and asked him to stay at his house for a few days. Tian firmly refused. Wu locked all the doors in the courtyard so that he couldn’t leave. Other guests, seeing Tian Qilang was in rags and awkward in speech, said privately that Master Wu had made a poor friend. But Wu treated Tian Qilang much differently than he did the other guests. Wu tried to make Tian change into new clothes but he refused. When he fell asleep, Wu had his clothes changed and he had to accept the accomplished fact.

When Tian got home, his son sent back the new clothes to Wu on the order of the grandmother and insisted on getting back the old tattered clothes. Wu smiled and told him:”Go and tell your grandmother that I have torn the old clothes into pieces and used them to resole my shoes.”

From that time on, Tain Qilang sent Wu the meat of a hare or veal each day but he never came to Wu’s house for all the latter’s invitations.

One day, Wu paid a visit to Tian, who happened to be out hunting. His mother came out, leaned on the door and said:”You’d better not come to tempt my son any more. You’re not doing him any good.” Wu listened respectfully, saluted and left embarrassed.

Half a year gassed and a servant one day suddenly came to tell Wu: “Tian Qilang has beaten someone to death during a leopard hunt and has been jailed.” Wu was very much astonished. He rushed to see Tian, who was locked in shackles in the jail. Seeing Wu, Tian said nothing but: “I beg you to take care of my old mother.” Wu backed out, distressed. He bribed the local magistrate with much money for Tian’s acquittal. He also gave the relatives of the dead man one hundred taels of silver.

A month later, Tian was released. His mother said excitedly:”You now belong to Master Wu; I can no longer monopolize you as exclusively my son. I wish Master Wu a long life and one free of calamities, which is also my blessing on you.” Tian therefore planned to go to thank Wu. The mother said: “You may go as you like. Only you don’t have to thank him. One can be thanked for petty favors but not for great favors.” Tian went to Wu’s place. Wu tried to comfort him with pleasant remarks but all Tian said was “yes, yes….”People in Wu’s family were unhappy about his indifference. Wu, however, liked his honesty and treated him even better than before. Tian stayed at Wu’s house for a few days and accepted everything Wu gave him, without declining or expressing gratitude.

One day, Wu was celebrating his birthday. There were many guests and servants in the courtyard and shoes litered the places outside the bedrooms. Wu and Tian slept in a small room and three servants slept on hay, spread on the floor. Deep in the night, while the servants were fast asleep, Wu and Tian were still talking. Suddenly, Tian Qilang’s saber, which was hung on the wall, started rattling and its blade automatically jerked out of the sheath a few inches, its dazzling gleam flashing like a lightning. Wu gave a start and sat up. Tian also sat up and asked: “Who is sleeping on the floor?” Wu said: “They are all my servants.” Tian said: “There must be a bad guy among them.” Wu asked why he knew. He said: “This saber was bought in a foreign country. No man can escape death when the saber cuts. It has been in our family for three generations and a thousand people have fallen victim to it. Look, the blade looks as if it has just been ground and polished. Whenever it sees a vicious man, its blade automatically jumps out of the sheath and death is near. Master Wu, you should distance yourself from evil men and cultivated gentlemen. In that way, there is still a gleam of hope for you to escape calamity.” Wu nodded his head. Tian kept tossing about in the bed, upset by foreboding. Wu said to him: “Every man has his destiny, good or evil. Why are you so worried?” Tian said: “I’m afraid of nothing. Only I have my old mother to support.” Wu said:”How could things be that bad?” Tian said: “I want nothing bad to happen.”

Among the three servants sleeping on the floor were Lin Er, who was well liked by the master, a page boy who was only twelve years old and often ran errands for Wu, and Li Ying, who was surly and often bickered with the master over petty things and with whom Wu often showed dissatisfaction. Now Wu thought to himself that Li Ying must be the suspect. The next morning, Wu called Li to him, lavished good words on him and then sent him away.

Wu’s eldest son Wu Shen had married a woman whose name was Wang. One day, Wu went out to tend to some business and left the servant Lin Er at home. The chrysanthemum flowers in front of the study were now in full bloom. The bride thought to herself that, now that her father-in-law was out, the courtyard must be empty. So she went into the courtyard and started picking the flowers. Suddenly Lin Er jumped out from nowhere and began to take liberties with her. Wang tried to escape but Lin Er dragged her into a room by force. Wang cried and struggled, her face turning gray and her voice hoarse. Wu Shen, having heard the noise, rushed into the room and Lin Er ran away. When Wu got home and heard about this, he went angrily to get Lin Er. But there was no sign of him.

A couple of days later, the Wu family learned that Lin Er had joined the household of a high official. The censor was away in the capital and all the household affairs were entrusted to his brother. Wu wrote a letter to the official’s brother about Lin Er, thinking the man would oblige him for the sake of friendship. But the official’s brother threw the letter on the ground without even opening it. Wu was all the more angry. He wrote a letter to the county magistrate seeking justice. Although an arrest warrant was issued, the bailiffs did not go to arrest Lin Er. And the county magistrate did not pursue the affair any further. Wu flew into a rage. When Tian Qilang came, Wu said to him: “What you said has turned out to be true.” Wu told him all about Lin Er’s escape. Tian’s face immediately turned pale and he did not utter a single word the whole time. Then he went away.

Wu set his most capable servants to secretly watch for Lin Er. One night, Lin Er slyly slipped back into the house, and was caught by the servants on night patrol. They led him to Wu. Wu ordered the servants to beat him hard. Lin Er said something very offensive. Wu’s uncle Wu Heng was an honest and kind old gentleman and he was afraid that Wu might do something wrong in his rage. So he asked Wu to turn Lin Er over to the county authorities. Wu agreed and sent Lin Er to the county hall.

At this time, the high official’s name card and letter were also sent to the county magistrate. The magistrate released Lin Er and returned him to the butler of the high official’s household. Lin Er therefore became all the more brazen. He spread rumors that the bride of the Wu family was having an affair with her father-in-law Wu could do nothing about it and was extremely angry. He went to the high official’s house and scolded the family loudly. The neighbors tried hard to appease his anger and persuaded him to go home.

The next evening, a servant suddenly reported to Wu:”Lin Er has been killed and mutilated and his corpse was discarded in the wilderness.”Wu was pleased as well as surprised and he felt that his anger was appeased a bit. Not long after, they heard that the high official’s house had filed a case against Master Wu and his uncle Wu Heng. Wu had therefore to accompany his uncle to the court to confront the accuser. The county magistrate did not bother to listen to them and ordered that Wu Heng, the uncle, be tortured. Wu protested loudly:”It’s wrong to accuse us of murder. I indeed scolded the official’s family. But it had nothing to do with my uncle.” The county magistrate turned a deaf ear to Wu. Wu, with his angry eyes wide open, rushed to save his uncle but was caught by the corvees. The corvees had been bribed by the high official’s family and beat Wu’s uncle very hard. The uncle, who was nearly eighty years old, died half-way through the beating. Wu had to carry the body home. Angry and indignant as he was, he could do nothing. He wanted to ask for Tian Qilang’s advice but the latter never came to express his condolences for the death. Wu thought to himself:”I treat him well. But why is he now treating me like a stranger?”Wu suspected that it was Tian Qilang who had killed Lin Er. But thinking twice, he thought: “If he really did this, why hasn’t he come to me for advice?”So he sent a man to Tian’s house to see what had happened. The door was locked and the house was empty. Even Tian’s neighbors did not know his whereabouts.

One day, the high official’s brother was giving the county magistrate a bribe in the inner room of the county yamen when a woodman came in, for it was time to deliver fuel and water. The woodman put down his load, took out a shiny saber and rushed at the high official’s brother. The latter, in great panic, tried to ward off the saber with his arm. The arm was cut off. And another slash cut off his head. The county magistrate fled, horrified. The woodman, standing on the spot, looked for his next prey. The bailiffs hurried to close the gate of the house and began to shout loudly, brandishing their weapons. The woodman, seeing no way to escape, killed himself. People came up to identify him. Some recognized him as Tian Qilang. The county magistrate dared not to come out until he’d recovered from his horror. He saw the corpse lying in a pool of blood, the hand still gripping the saber. He gave no order to cover the body with a piece of cloth and just stood looking at it. The corpse suddenly jumped up and cut off the magistrate’s head with the saber. And then it collapsed totally. The bailiffs went to arrest Tian’s mother and son, only to find they had escaped a couple of days before.

Hearing the news, Wu rushed to the scene and cried sadly. People thought it was Wu who had masterminded the action. Wu bribed the authorities by selling all his assets. He was eventually acquitted but was left impoverished. Tian Qilang’s body lay in the wilderness for thirty or so days and vultures and dogs stood guarding it. Wu finally had it buried with a grand funeral.

Tian’s son wandered to Dengzhou, settled down there and changed his name to Tong. He later joined the army and fought his way up to the rank of general. When he finally went back to his hometown Liaoyang, Wu was eighty years old. It was then that Wu showed him his father’s grave.