Yingning

Wang Zifu was a native of Luodian in Luxian County, Shandong Province. His father died when he was still a child. Being extraordinarily clever, he passed the imperial examination at the local level and became a xiucai at the age of fourteen.

He was his mother’s favorite and was hardly ever allowed to go outside the town to play. He had been engaged to a girl of the Xiao Family, but she had died too soon, and they had not found someone suitable since.

On the fifteenth of the first month, that is the Lantern Festival, his cousin Wu invited him to join him to see the sights. They had just reached the outskirts of town when a servant from his cousin’s family caught up with them and Wu was recalled home. There were many girls playing around and Wang decided he would enjoy the sights by himself. He was particularly attracted by one girl who was accompanied by a maid and who held a branch of plum blossoms in her hand. She was as beautiful as can be and always wore a smile on her face. Forgetting his manners, Wang glued his eyes on her. The girl walked past him and then said to the maid, “That young man’s burning eyes are like those of a thief!” She threw the plum blossom branch on the ground and walked away, talking and giggling. Wang picked up the flower and, feeling dizzy and disconsolate, he went home.

Once home, he hid the plum blossom branch beneath his pillow and lay down to sleep, refusing to speak or to eat. His mother, worried, invited monks and priests to the house to drive away the evil spirits, but nothing seemed to prevent his illness from getting worse. All at once, he became very thin.

Doctors could only relieve him of obvious symptoms, but he fell into a trance. The mother caressed him and asked what caused his illness, but he kept his silence. Just then, his cousin Wu came. Wang’s mother begged him to secretly get the truth out of his son. So Wu went over to the bed. When Wang saw it was him, tears rolled down his cheeks. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Wu tried to comfort him, gradually turning to the subject of his illness’ cause. Wang confided the whole story, begging his cousin to help him. Wu laughed and said, “You are much too obsessed! What’s so difficult about fulfilling your wish? I’ll go and find her for you. Since she was walking on the outskirts of town without a carriage or a sedan chair, she can’t be from a rich and noble family. If she’s not engaged yet, marrying her shouldn’t be a problem. Even if she is engaged, so long as you’re willing to give a lot of presents, her parents will surely agree to let you marry her. I’ll do it if it will cure you of your illness. Just leave it to me!” Hearing this, Wang was all smiles. Wu then told Wang’s mother what had led to it all and proceeded to search for the girl’s whereabouts. He tried everywhere, but could find no trace of her. This worried the mother even more. but she couldn’t think of any solution. Meanwhile, after Wu had left, Wang’s face lit up and his appetite improved.

A few days later, Wu came again. Wang asked him how things were going, whereupon Wu made up the following story. “I’ve found her,” he said. “I was wondering who she could be. It turns out she’s the daughter of my father’s sister, which means she is your cousin, too. She’s not engaged yet. Although it’s a taboo for cousins to marry, but once they know the truth of the situation, her parents will surely agree.” Wang’s brows relaxed and he was overjoyed.

“Where does she live?” he asked. Wu said off the top of his head,”Out in the southwestern hills, about thirty li or more from here.” Wang pleaded with him again and again to win this marriage for him. Wu placed his hand on his chest and said again to leave it to him, then left.

Wang began to take in more food and his health recovered day by day. He took out the plum blossom branch from under his pillow. Although the flowers had withered, the petals hadn’t fallen off. He held it in his hand and looked at it admiringly, as if the girl of his dream were right there before him.

He complained about Wu’s not showing up again. He wrote him a letter inviting him to come, but Wu declined on the pretext that he had something else to do. Wang was angry and unhappy. Fearing a recurrence of the illness, his mother was eager to find him a wife, but every time she mentioned it, Wang would shake his head. Every day, he waited anxiously for Wu to come, but there was no word from him, and Wang felt even more resentment against him.

One day, it suddenly occurred to him that thirty li wasn’t really very far, so why ask someone else to go? He hid the flower in his sleeve and went off by himself in a fit of pique, without telling anyone in the house.

Alone and with no one to ask for the way, Wang headed straight for the southern hills. After about thirty li, he found himself surrounded by endless mountain ranges, covered with greenery. The scenery soothed his whole body. The place was very quiet with not a single passer-by and only a narrow, precarious path that seemed unnegotiable except by birds. In the distance, at the bottom of the valley, he could see vaguely a small village nestled among flowers and trees. He made his way down the hill and entered the village. There were not many houses and they were all thatched huts, but set in a lovely, quiet environment. Facing north was a hut with willow trees in front of the door, and within the wall, peach and apricot trees were in full bloom amidst tall green bamboos, attracting many singing birds. Thinking this was probably some family garden, he dared not go in without an invitation. Turning around, he saw a big rock across from the gate which was smooth and clean, so he went over and sat down on it to rest.

After a while, he heard a girl inside the wall calling for “Xiao Rong.” The voice sounded sweet and delicate. He cocked his ears to listen. Just then, a girl came by, walking from east to west, holding an apricot blossom in her hand and lowering her head to put it in her hair. When she lifted her eyes and saw Wang, she stopped that motion and with a smile on her face, stepped into the garden. Wang looked carefully and decided it was none other than the girl he had met on the road on the day of the Lantern Festival. He was overjoyed. But he couldn’t find a reason for following her in. He could say he wanted to call on his aunt, but they had never had any contact before. What if he was mistaken? It would be most embarrassing. Furthermore, there was no one inside he could ask, so he lingered there from morning till sunset, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying down or pacing back and forth. He waited and waited, forgetting hunger and thirst. Every now and then, the girl would reveal half her face, stealing a look at him as though wondering why he hadn’t left.

Suddenly, an old woman came out of the garden, leaning on a stick. She scrutinized Wang and asked where the young fellow had come from. “I heard that you’ve been here since morning. What is it you want? Aren’t you hungry?” Wang quickly rose to his feet and greeted her with folded hands. “I’ve come to visit my relatives,” he replied. The old woman, who was quite hard of hearing, missed that, so Wang had to repeat it in a loud voice. The old woman then asked, “And what is the surname of your relative?” Wang could provide no answer, at which the old woman laughed, saying, “Isn’t that strange! How can you call on a relative when you don’t even know the name? I’ll bet you are a bookworm, too. Why don’t you follow me inside, have a simple meal and let me give you a cot to sleep on. Tomorrow you can go home, find out the name and then come back.”

Wang wanted very much to have something to eat as his stomach was protesting. Besides, it would give him an opportunity to get closer to the beautiful maiden. Cheerfully, he followed the old woman in. Inside the gate was a path paved with white stone and lined with red flowers, whose fallen petals littered the steps. After several turns, another door opened, and they were in a courtyard full of bean and flower trellises. The old woman invited her guest into the room. The white walls were as clean and bright as mirrors. Outside the window stood a Chinese crabapple tree, some of its branches stretching into the room. Everything, the cushions, table and chairs, bed and beddings, were spic and span.

Wang had just taken a seat when he sensed someone peeping from outside the window. The old woman called, “Xiao Rong, hurry up and cook something.” The maid answered with a ringing voice. As he sat there talking, Wang introduced his family background in detail. Then the old woman asked, “Could it be that your maternal grandfather’s family is surnamed Wu?” “Yes, it is,” said Wang. Greatly elated, the old woman exclaimed, “Then you are my nephew! Your mother is my sister. In recent years, we have fallen into poverty and, furthermore, we do not have a son, so that we have lost all connections with your family. You have grown so big now and we’ve only just met.” The purpose of my visit was to find you, Aunt,” said Wang, “but in the hurry, I’d forgotten your name.” Well, my married name is Qin,” she proceeded to tell him, “but I did not have a child. There is a girl, but she was the daughter of a concubine. When her mother remarried, she was left with me. She’s not stupid, but lacks education. She is always laughing, never worrying about anything. I’ll call her in later to greet you so that you can meet each other.”

Before long, the maid had a full meal ready, with duck and chicken and everything. The old woman kindly helped her nephew to the food. When he had finished and the maid came in to clear the table, the old woman said to her, “Tell your young mistress, Ning, to come here.” The maid said yes and went out.

Some time went by and then they heard giggling outside the door. The old woman called out, “Yingning, your cousin’s here.” The giggling continued. The maid pushed Yingning into the room with Yingning still covering her mouth to smother her continuous laughter. The old woman stared at her and said, “We have a guest here, it’s so impolite for you to laugh like this.” Only then did Yingning stop her laughing and stand still. Wang greeted her with folded palms. “This is Wang, your aunt’s son,” the old woman introduced him. “We’re all one family yet we don’t know each other. Isn’t that ridiculous?” Wang asked, “How old is my cousin?” The old woman didn’t hear that, so he had to repeat it, which provoked such a fit of laughter from the girl that she couldn’t raise her head. The old woman said to Wang, “I told you she lacks education, now you can see for yourself. She’s already sixteen, but as silly as a child.” “She’s one year younger than I,” said Wang. The old woman sighed and said, “So you’re seventeen, then you must have been born in the year of Geng Wu, that is the year of the horse.” Wang nodded. The old woman went on, “And who is your wife?” To which Wang answered, “I don’t have one yet.” The old woman said, “But you’re so talented and handsome, how come you’re not married yet? Yingning hasn’t married either, she would be very suitable for you. The pity is you are cousins, and that has to be taken into account.” Wang said nothing in response as his eyes were fixed on Yingning and he paid no attention to anything else. The maid whispered to Yingning, “See those burning eyes? That thief-like look hasn’t changed.” At which, Yingning broke into laughter again.

She turned around and said to the maid, “Let’s go and see if the peach blossoms are in bloom.” So saying, she got up and, covering her mouth with her sleeve, left the room with quick, tiny steps. Once outside the door, she roared with laughter. The old woman also rose from her seat and called for the maid to bring the bedding and fix a cot for Wang. She then said,”Nephew it’s not easy for you to come here, you should stay for a few days more and then I’ll send you home. When you feel dull, there’s a small garden at the back of the house where you can take a stroll. And there are books which you can read.”

The next day Wang went to the back of the hut and, sure enough, found a small garden there about one-thirtieth of a hectare in size. The ground was covered with a carpet of fresh, soft grass, dotted with white, fluffy willow catkins. There were three thatched huts surrounded by flowers and trees. As he strolled among the flowers, he heard a rustling sound from the treetop. He looked and there was Yingning sitting on a branch. When she saw Wang, she giggled so hard that she could hardly sit up straight and almost fell off the tree. “Stop that,” Wang said, “you’ll fall!” As she climbed down, she still couldn’t stop laughing, but just as she was about to reach the ground, her hands let go and she fell. Only then did the laughter stop. Wang helped her up and took the opportunity to pinch her wrist, setting Yingning to laughing again, this time so hard that she had to lean against the tree and couldn’t walk away. Wang waited for a long time until she finally stopped, then took the branch of flowers out from his sleeve for her to see. Yingning took the flower and said, “It has withered, why do you still keep it?” “You dropped it on the ground during the Lantern Festival, that’s why I’ve kept it,” said Wang. “What’s the point of keeping it?” Yingning asked, to which Wang replied, “To show you my love and that I will never forget you. Ever since I met you at the festival, I have longed for you, so much so that I fell ill. I thought I would die. I never thought I would be able to see you again, I hope you’ll have pity on me.” “Oh, that’s no problem,” Yingning said. “There’s nothing we can’t part with if it’s for a relative. When you leave for home, I’ll let the old servant pick a big bunch of flowers for you from the garden.” You must be crazy, “said Wang. “Why crazy?” she asked, and Wang said, “It’s not the flower I love, but the person who played with the flower.” Yingning said, “We are cousins. Of course relatives love one another. I’m not talking about love between relatives,” Wang said, “I’m talking about the love between husband and wife.” “Are they different?” Yingning asked and Wang replied, “They sleep together, that’s all.” Yingning lowered her head and turned that thought over in her mind. Then she said, “I’m not used to sleeping with a stranger.” Before she had finished the sentence, the maid came up on the quiet, and Wang scurried off in embarrassment.

After a while, they met again at the old woman’s place. The mother asked, “Where have you been?” Yingning replied by telling her that she had been talking with her cousin in the garden. The old woman said, “The meal’s been ready for a long time. How come you have so many things to talk about? There seems to be no end to your chattering.” “My big brother wants to go to bed with me,” said Yingning. She had barely finished the sentence when Wang, in great dismay, gave her a good stare. Yingning stopped in the middle of what she was saying, a smile still on her face. Luckily, the old woman hadn’t caught the remark and was still pressing for an answer. Wang thought up some thing to cover the moment. Then in a lowered voice, he rebuked Yingning, who asked, “Shouldn’t I have said that just now?” Wang said, “Those are words you say only when there’s no one listening.” “I can keep it from others, but how can I keep it from mother? Besides, there’s nothing extraordinary about sleeping, why keep it a secret?” Wang thought she was being silly and there was no way to make her understand.

They had just finished their meal when someone from Wang’s family came with two donkeys to look for him. When Wang had not returned home after a long time, his mother had become suspicious and looked all over the village for him, but could find no trace of him anywhere. She then sent someone over to Wu, who recalled what he had said to Wang before and suggested they go and search in the mountain villages to the southwest. The servant had been to several villages before arriving at the right one. Wang bumped into him as he was leaving the hut, so he went inside to tell the old woman and begged her to let him take his cousin back with him. The old woman was delighted. She said, “It has been my wish for more than just a day or two, but my own bones are too old to allow me to walk such a long distance. Now that you can take your cousin with you to meet her aunt, it’s a godsend!” So then she called Yingning, who came in laughing. The old woman said, “What are you so happy about that you can’t stop laughing? If only you wouldn’t laugh so stupidly all day long, you would be perfect.” She gave her a stare and then said, “Your big brother wants to take you home with him. Hurry up and get yourself ready.” The old woman offered food and drink to the servant from the Wang family and then sent them off. She said to Yingning, “Your aunt’s family is very rich and they have a lot of land and property. They can afford to feed another mouth. So don’t hurry back. There you can read some books and learn some etiquette so that you will be better prepared to serve your parents-in-law when you’re married. We’ll ask your aunt to find a good husband for you.” Then Wang and Yingning set out. When they reached the valley, they turned around and saw vaguely the image of the old woman leaning against the gate, gazing toward the north.

When they got back home, Wang’s mother was surprised to see such a beautiful girl and asked who she was. Wang told her that she was the daughter of his aunt. But then his mother said, “Everything that your cousin Wu told you that time is false. I don’t have a sister, so how could I have a niece?” Then she turned to ask Yingning who she really was and Yingning said, “I know I’m not the child of this mother. My father’s family name was Qin. But when he died, I was still an infant, so I don’t remember anything.” Wang’s mother then said, “I did have an elder sister who was married into the Qin family, but she died many years ago; how can she still be alive?” Then she inquired about the mother’s looks, the position of the mole and all the answers coincided with what she remembered of her sister. But there was still a question mark. “What you said seems correct. The thing is my sister has been dead for many years, how is it possible for her to be alive?” Just as she was puzzling over the question, Wu arrived. Yingning withdrew into the inner chamber. After hearing the whole story, Wu fell to thinking. Then suddenly he asked, “Is the girl’s name Yingning?” Wang nodded and said yes. “How strange!” Wu exclaimed, and kept repeating that. Asked how he knew the name, he said, “After my aunt, who was married to a Qin, died, her husband lived alone. Later, he was seduced by a fox-fairy and grew weaker and weaker, until he finally passed away. This fox-fairy gave birth to a daughter whom she named Yingning. Everybody in the family saw the infant wrapped in a quilt. After the father died, the fox-fairy still came quite often until a Taoist high priest came and drew a magic figure on the wall. Then the fox-fairy took her daughter away. Could this girl be the daughter?” Everyone joined in guessing and commenting while, from inside, came the laughter of Yingning. Wang’s mother said, “This girl is much too simple-minded!”

Wu asked if he could meet her, so Wang’s mother went inside where Yingning was still laughing away and couldn’t bother to greet her. When Wang’s mother urged her to go out and greet the guest, she tried her best to keep from laughing, standing with her face to the wall for quite a while before coming out. She curtsied to the guest once and turned to leave, her sides almost splitting with hearty laughter that set all the other women in the room giggling, too.

Wu said he would go to the southwestern hills to see if there was anything unusual, and also to act as his cousin’s matchmaker. He found the village but saw no houses at all, only withering wild flowers. He remembered vaguely that his aunt’s grave was somewhere nearby, but the graves were now overgrown with wild grass and it was impossible to distinguish them. He gave a sigh of disappointment and turned back. Wang’s mother, suspecting Yingning to be a ghost, went inside to tell the girl what Wu had told her, but Yingning showed no astonishment or fear.

Then, seeing that she had no home to return to, Wang’s mother expressed sympathy for her. The girl revealed no sadness, but simply laughed innocently. No one could figure out what was behind all this. Wang’s mother arranged for Yingning to sleep with her youngest daughter. At daybreak, Yingning would get up and pay her respects to Wang’s mother. Her needlework was exquisite. The only trouble was that she could not stop laughing. But then, she was quite lovable when she laughed. Even when she went into those fits, it didn’t affect her delicate beauty. And her laughter made everyone happy, so that unmarried girls and young married women in the neighborhood all wanted to be acquainted with her and made friends with her.

Wang’s mother picked an auspicious day for their wedding, but the suspicion that Yingning might be a ghost or demon remained with her. She stealthily watched her in the sunlight and found there was nothing about her body or shadow that was different from a human’s.

On the wedding day, she told Yingning to dress up in gorgeous clothes for the ceremony, but the girl was laughing so hard she couldn’t, so they had to skip that. Seeing she was rather simple-minded, Wang was afraid she might reveal the details of their married life, but Yingning guarded her speech carefully and never said what she shouldn’t. Whenever Wang’s mother was miserable or angry over something, it only took Yingning’s laughter to cheer her up. If a maid did something wrong and feared she might get a beating, she would beg Yingning to go and have a chat with the mistress of the house, and the maid would grab the opportunity to kneel down and confess, and a beating would be avoided. Yingning had a weakness for flowers. She would call on friends and relatives to see what strange and lovely flowers they had, and would secretly pawn her jewelry to buy fine flower strains. Within a few months, there were flowers growing all over the place, on the steps, by the fence and even outside the toilet.

In the backyard, there was a trellis of muxiang flowers near the western neighbor’s garden. Yingning often climbed up the trellis to pick some flowers to put in her hair or a vase. Whenever the mother saw her do that, she would scold her, but she never mended her ways.

One day, the neighbor’s son saw her and couldn’t take his eyes off her, so attracted was he by her beauty. Yingning, rather than avoid him, smiled at him. Taking that to be a suggestion, the young man’s thoughts went wilder.

Yingning pointed with her finger to the foot of the wall, then climbed down the trellis, smiling. The young man felt certain this was meant to be their meeting place and was frenzied with joy. That evening, he went to the spot and saw Yingning there. He went forward and embraced her and began to make love to her. Suddenly, he felt something sharp prick him in the private part of his body. It was so painful, he gave a loud cry and fell to the ground. When he looked closer, he found it wasn’t Yingning but a section of a withered tree lying flat at the foot of the wall. Where he had tried to make love, there was a small hole that had become rotten from rain. His father,hearing the cry, dashed out to see what was the matter, but the son only moaned and said nothing. Only when his wife came did the young man tell the truth. They lit a torch and looked into the hole. There they found a scorpion the size of a small crab. The old man split up the withered tree with an axe and killed the scorpion. He carried his son on his back into the house. That night, the son died.

The old man went to the county seat to sue Wang, claiming Yingning was a demon. The magistrate, who had always admired Wang’s scholarship and knew him to be well-behaved and honest, sentenced the old man to a beating for lodging a false charge. Wang pleaded for the old man, so the magistrate drove the latter out of the court and let him go. Wang’s mother said to Yingning, “You’ve gone too far with your madness. I knew all along that excessive joy conceals sorrow. You are fortunate that the county magistrate was wise so that you were not implicated. If he were a foolish official, you would surely have been arrested and taken to court for trial. You would make such a fool of yourself that my son would not have the courage to face his relatives and neighbors.” Yingning listened in a very serious manner and swore she would never laugh again. The mother said, “All people laugh but they must laugh at the right times.” To everyone’s surprise, from then on, Yingning never laughed again, even if people teased her. And yet, one never saw her looking sad, either.

One night, tears covered Yingning’s face. This surprised Wang. Choking with sorrow, Yingning said, “In the past, because we hadn’t been together for very long, I was afraid to tell you the truth for fear it would shock you. Now, I see that both you and my mother-in-law love me very much and have no suspicion at all, perhaps there’s no harm in my telling you the true situation. I was born of a fox-fairy. When she left, she left me with a ghost, my present mother, to bring up. We have depended on each other for survival for more than ten years now. I have no brother, so I can only rely on you. My mother sleeps alone in the mountain valley. No one has had pity on her or bothered to bury her next to my father. For this, she, in the underworld, often feels sad and regretful. If you don’t mind the trouble and the cost and can relieve her of her pain down there, then no one who gives birth to a girl will ever again have the heart to drown or discard her baby.” Wang agreed. However, he was afraid that since the graves were overgrown with wild grass, it might be difficult to find her mother’s. Ning told him not to worry. They decided on a date and the couple set out with a cart and a coffin. Yingning pointed to a spot in the midst of the grass. When they dug up the earth, sure enough, it was her mother’s corpse they saw, with the skin still intact. Yingning wept for a long time, caressing the body. Then they transported it, and when they found her father’s grave in the Qin graveyard, they buried them together. That night, Wang dreamed that the old woman came to thank him for what he had done. When he woke up and told Yingning about it, she said,”I saw mother come last night. She told me not to disturb you.” Wang regretted that they had not asked her to stay, but Yingning said, “She is a ghost. Here, there are many live people and the yang element is strong, so how can she remain here for long?” Then, Wang asked who Xiao Rong was, and Yingning said, “She’s a fox, too, and an awfully clever one at that. My fox mother left her behind to take care of me. She often used to feed me fruits and cakes, so I’m very grateful to her and miss her a lot. Last night, I asked mother how she was. Mother said she’s already married.” From then on, every year, on the day before Qingming (Note: the day Chinese honor their dead), the couple would visit the Qin family graveyard and pay their respects. Never once did they forget.

A year later, Yingning gave birth to a son. Even as an infant in his mother’s arms, he was never afraid of strangers and smiled at anyone he saw, with very much his mother’s air.