《吕祖全传》Vol. 4

After Shi Pozi lay down, she could not fall asleep no matter how hard she tried. Worried that Zhou Gong’s prediction was true and Peach Blossom Maiden’s words were false, she tossed and turned until nearly dawn, when she had only just closed her eyes. Then she suddenly heard a knock at the door and jolted awake again. She hurriedly answered, her heart filled with joy. She knew her son had returned safely. Turning over, she sprang out of bed and rushed to the door, calling, “Zongfu, my son! Are you home? I’ve missed you so much my heart has been breaking!” She quickly opened the door.

Mother and son were overjoyed to see each other, as if they had been reunited after losing one another, or brought back to life after death, yet their hearts were also heavy with sorrow. Shi Pozi had no time to ask anything else. She rushed forward, clasped Shi Zongfu in her arms, and wept aloud. “My son! Have you really come back alive?” Seeing that his mother was speaking strangely, Shi Zongfu replied through his tears, “Mother, I truly did escape death and make it home. Let’s go sit in the main room, and I’ll tell you everything.” Shi Pozi took her son by the hand, and they went together to sit in the main room.

Shi Zongfu told his mother, step by step, how he had taken shelter from the rain on the road, when he had hidden in the ruined kiln, and how he had heard her calling him three times. As soon as he heard her voice, he said, he had hurried out of the kiln. He never imagined that the ruined kiln would collapse right afterward, nearly crushing him to death. His luggage had all been buried inside, but fortunately he had kept the silver on him. At this, he could not hold back his tears. Shi Pozi wept too as she listened. After they had cried together for a while, she urged him, “Let’s not grieve just now. A great benefactor lives next door—the person who saved your life. Come with me at once to thank Miss Ren.”

Shi Zongfu asked which benefactor she meant. Shi Pozi then explained what had happened. When she had waited in vain for her son to return, she had gone to Zhou Gong for a divination. Zhou Gong told her that Shi Zongfu would be crushed to death in the ruined kiln at the third watch that night, and that nothing could be done to save him. She had returned home in tears. Then Miss Ren, the daughter of the elderly Master Ren next door, had taught her how to avert the disaster, thereby saving Shi Zongfu’s life. She pointed to the paper horse, eggs, sieve, lamp, clothes, mirror, and shoes on the table, and asked her son if he recognized them.

After hearing his mother’s account, Shi Zongfu realized that everything matched his own experience in the ruined kiln exactly. Only then did he understand. “Mother, you are quite right. Miss Ren truly saved my life. We can’t go to her house to offer thanks empty-handed, or people will gossip. I still have twenty taels of silver on me. Take out two or three taels, buy a sheep and prepare a jar of wine to send over. That will show our sincerity.”

Shi Pozi thought her son’s plan made sense, but then remembered that she had paid Zhou Gong one tael and three-tenths of a tael for the divination. “Buying a sheep and preparing wine would indeed show our gratitude, but we needn’t spend our own money,” she said. “Zhou Gong charged us for the divination and said he would pay double if his prediction proved wrong. Why not first go and ask him to return the fee, then use it to buy the sheep and wine? But Miss Ren warned me not to reveal her name under any circumstances. If Zhou Gong asks how you came back alive, what should you say?” Shi Zongfu replied, “Don’t worry, Mother. Just say I came back on my own. How could he know that the Ren family saved me?”

Once they had agreed on what to do, mother and son ate breakfast, locked the door, and went together to the marketplace where fortunes were told. By then, Zhou Gong had finished his ten divinations, and only Peng Jian was left outside, taking down the signboard. Shi Pozi called to him. Peng Jian turned around, saw her, and then noticed Shi Zongfu standing beside her. He jumped in fright. “Brother, are you a man or a ghost? Have you come back today to claim someone’s life?”

Shi Zongfu pretended not to understand and smiled. “Master Peng, how have you been? We parted only six months ago, and now you’re making fun of me? Please go inside and tell them to return the money for the two divinations we had yesterday.” Hearing this, Peng Jian understood what had happened. He walked over with a smile and said, “Brother, you’ve come back! Were you safe and sound at the third watch last night? It seems my master’s divination was wrong. This time he’ll have to pay you back double.”

Shi Pozi was old and knew how to handle people. She quickly interjected, “Master Peng, we’re poor people. How could we dare ask your master for compensation? We only ask him to return yesterday’s divination fee. I borrowed that money from someone else. If I can take it back and repay them, I’ll be deeply grateful to your master.”

How Shi Zongfu eventually got the divination fee back will be told later.

As soon as Peng Jian heard what Old Woman Shi said, he understood that she and her son had agreed to come and reclaim the money paid for the divination. He gave a cold laugh and went inside. “Master Zhou, you can’t boast so boldly today! Hurry up and return their money. I warned you to be careful when reading fortunes, but you said you were never wrong. Now the prediction you made has come true.”

Master Zhou was still seated. Hearing this, he snapped, “Are you out of your mind? What nonsense are you talking?” Peng Jian smiled. “They’ve come to claim ten times the silver they paid.” Master Zhou was furious and demanded to know who had come for the money. Peng Jian told him they were waiting outside, then ushered Old Woman Shi and her son in before Master Zhou could give any instructions.

Master Zhou recognized Old Woman Shi, then noticed the young man standing beside her and was startled. The day before, he had predicted that Shi Zongfu would be crushed to death in an abandoned kiln at the third watch. Yet here the man stood, alive and well. Master Zhou thought to himself, “My divinations have always been accurate. Why hasn’t this one come true? There must be some reason.”

He asked Old Woman Shi who the man beside her was and why they had come. She replied that he was her son, Shi Zongfu. He had not died the previous night and had only returned home that morning, so she had brought him to kowtow to Master Zhou. Shi Zongfu promptly knelt and kowtowed, then stood aside. His gesture left Master Zhou deeply embarrassed; his face flushed red. He pushed the silver on the table toward them and said, “Old Woman Shi, I won’t keep your money. Take it back.”

Shi Zongfu stepped forward and collected the silver. Master Zhou then pressed him: Had he stayed in the abandoned kiln south of the city the night before? Who had taught him magic and saved his life? If he told the truth, Master Zhou promised him an additional reward.

Shi Zongfu replied that he had been hurrying home the previous night and had no time to find lodging, so he had indeed spent the night in the abandoned kiln. At midnight, he had a stomachache and went out to relieve himself. Just as he reached the kiln entrance, the structure collapsed, so he was not crushed inside.

Master Zhou refused to believe him. His reading had shown that it would rain at the hour of the Monkey, stop at the hour of the Rooster, and clear by the third watch; Shi Zongfu would die alone in the kiln, with no one to save him. How, he demanded, could Shi Zongfu have happened to go out to relieve himself? Peng Jian gave a cold laugh. “Your divination may be powerful, Master Zhou, but it cost you. Shi Zongfu really did have a stomachache, and that’s how he escaped disaster. Now that you’ve returned the silver, let mother and son go home. There’s no need to keep questioning them.” Master Zhou felt as though he had been publicly mocked. He lowered his head in shame and said nothing. Seeing this, Old Woman Shi took her leave, and Peng Jian went out with them.

Shi Zongfu then asked why he had received only ten taels when the sign outside advertised a fee of ten taels and three mace. Peng Jian slapped his thigh and said he would make up the remaining three mace himself. Old Woman Shi quickly urged him not to quibble over such a small amount. Getting their original payment back was already good enough; Master Zhou had repaid them tenfold, which was more than enough. Peng Jian thought she was right, so he too brought out ten small packets of silver and gave them to Shi Zongfu. Shi Zongfu accepted them without embarrassment. Mother and son exchanged a few polite words, then left in high spirits.

Peng Jian was so angry that he stood there stunned. When he returned to the inner hall, he said nothing. Master Zhou was already displeased with Peng Jian’s teasing. Seeing him come in looking angry, Master Zhou wanted to scold him, but feared that people would say he blamed a servant for his own failed divination. So he held his tongue and ordered Peng Jian to take down the sign outside and stop telling fortunes from then on. Peng Jian dared not disobey and took the sign down. His shame at that moment was just as the poem says: even if one drew all the water from the Three Rivers, it could not wash away the shame covering his face today.

The Shi family mother and son were delighted to have received ten taels and three mace of silver. They bought a sheep and wine by the roadside, went home to change into new clothes, and took gifts to the Ren family to thank Old Master Ren and his wife. Old Master Ren thought the gifts too lavish and refused several times, but the Shi family insisted, so he finally accepted them and arranged a feast to welcome them. When they parted, Old Master Ren and his wife repeatedly warned them not to reveal that it was their daughter who had found a way to save Shi Zongfu.

Ever since the Shi family had reclaimed their divination fee, Master Zhou had been unable to put the matter out of his mind. He closed his fortune-telling stall for several days and sat brooding alone in his study, turning the question over and over: his Bagua readings had always been accurate, so why had he gotten Shi Zongfu’s death wrong? Yet he also felt that his earlier reading had not been mistaken, which only deepened his confusion.

Suddenly, Master Zhou thought he could cast a divination for himself. He took out the divination tube and shook it. The result showed “pure Yin holding the position” (a hexagram in which Yin lines occupy the primary position). Alarmed, he recalled that his earlier reading had also indicated harm from a woman. He calculated again and again, but still could not discover the woman’s name, and his frustration grew. The storyteller explains that Peach Blossom Girl had already passed her magic on to Old Woman Shi, and had also learned Master Zhou’s birth data long ago. No matter how he calculated, therefore, he could not determine Peach Blossom Girl’s name. Master Zhou swore bitterly that if he discovered who she was, he would cut her in two. At last he tossed aside the divination box. Still unable to find an answer, he gave up. From then on he sat brooding all day and barely ate; everyone around him knew his temper was bad and did not dare try to console him.

Before long, it was the beginning of the seventh month. One day, Master Zhou was sitting alone in the flower pavilion when Peng Jian came in and saw his furrowed brow. Smiling, Peng Jian tried to comfort him. If Shi Zongfu had not left the abandoned kiln, perhaps he really would have been crushed to death. Or perhaps he had done good deeds along the way; as the saying goes, “A little hidden virtue can add ten years to one’s life,” and so a noble person had secretly come to his aid. Peng Jian urged Master Zhou to cast another divination and see whether that was what had happened.

Master Zhou said he had already cast one, and the result clearly showed that a woman had saved Shi Zongfu and overturned his reading. He simply could not discover her name. Peng Jian, however, thought that no man or woman in Chaoge could defeat Master Zhou’s divine Bagua. Even if one reading had failed, it was no great matter. Many people were now waiting outside to have their fortunes told, and some had come from far away only to leave in frustration when they could not get a reading. If Master Zhou stopped divining for people over such a small setback, he would surely become a laughingstock.

Master Zhou thought Peng Jian had a point, but he still wanted to make sure his reading was accurate and find out who the woman was before reopening his stall. Peng Jian then asked him to cast a divination on his behalf, to see what fortune or misfortune the next few months would bring. Master Zhou agreed, saying that Peng Jian had served him for many years and was loyal and diligent, so today he would grant him a reading. He told Peng Jian to burn incense before the Former Sage, then bring over the divination box. Peng Jian was delighted. He immediately burned incense and handed him the box.

Master Zhou shook the divination tube six times and studied the result carefully. Suddenly his expression changed; he stuck out his tongue and shook his head. It seemed that this reading too had produced a dire omen that shocked him. His face changed from dark to yellow, and a purplish glow appeared between his brows. But whether Peng Jian’s divination foretold good fortune or disaster, the story has yet to reveal.

Chapter Seven: Peng Jian tries divination and unexpectedly learns of an ominous fate. He deliberately seeks help, and discovers a chance of survival.

The poem’s meaning is this: He had thought the Duke of Zhou’s divinations with the Eight Trigrams were the most accurate, but he never expected Peach Blossom Maiden’s method of breaking them to be even more ingenious. There is always someone stronger than the strongest. She clears away confusion and saves Old Peng’s life.

The Duke of Zhou cast a hexagram for Peng Jian, and its signs were dire. He remained silent for a long time, his face changing color. Seeing his sorrowful expression, Peng Jian asked whether the reading was inauspicious and how he might avoid its consequences. The Duke of Zhou told him that the signs showed his life was in danger: his time would come at the hour of the Ox on a certain night within three days. First he would suffer a headache, then he would vomit blood and die. The Duke of Zhou pitied Peng Jian, who had served him loyally and faithfully for many years, but said that he had no power to overturn Heaven’s decree. He gave Peng Jian ten taels of silver so he could spend the time he had left drinking and easing his mind, and promised to see to his funeral arrangements.

Peng Jian had always believed that the Duke of Zhou’s divinations never failed. He was so terrified that he collapsed to the ground. Taking the silver, he went alone to a tavern to drink. Thinking that he would be dead in just a few days, he could not help weeping. The tavern keeper saw him in this state and asked whether he was short of money. Peng Jian replied that something else was troubling him. After drinking too much, he stumbled home drunk. When he awoke the next day and remembered that his time was near, he decided to go out and seek pleasure again. He even stopped going into the inner quarters to attend to the Duke of Zhou.

Peng Jian remembered that the Duke of Zhou had once predicted Shi Zongfu’s death, yet Shi had ultimately escaped it. He wondered whether Shi might know how to avert disaster. On the road, he met Shi Zongfu, bought wine and food, and followed him home, hoping to ask how he might save himself over a meal.

During the meal, Shi Zongfu and his mother noticed Peng Jian’s unusual behavior and pressed him to explain. Peng Jian said that the Duke of Zhou had determined he would soon vomit blood and die, and begged them to show him how to escape this calamity. He added that since Shi Zongfu had once survived the collapse of a ruined kiln, he must know how it could be done.

Shi Zongfu’s mother told Peng Jian that her son had indeed escaped the ruined kiln because someone had guided him, but that person had warned them not to reveal her name, lest the Duke of Zhou come into conflict with her. Peng Jian guessed that their benefactor was a woman, and Old Madam Shi was startled. Whether she will reveal Miss Ren’s name, and whether Peng Jian can be saved, remains for now a mystery.

Madam Shi heard Peng Jian plead again and again. When she also heard him say that Shi Zongfu had escaped disaster thanks to a woman who had secretly saved him, her face went pale with fright. She hurriedly asked Peng Jian how he knew that the person who had saved her son was a woman.

Peng Jian said that the Duke had divined that someone had secretly broken his Bagua, but had been unable to discover that person’s name. He begged Madam Shi to point him toward this capable woman and promised never to reveal her whereabouts or her methods. If he could preserve his life this way, he said, Madam Shi would have earned great hidden merit through her good deed.

After Peng Jian begged her repeatedly, Madam Shi thought of how she herself had once sought help everywhere for her son, and her compassion was stirred. She decided to hint that Peng Jian should seek help at the Ren household, without telling him Peach Blossom Girl’s name. Whether he could be saved would depend on his fate. She told him that the neighboring Ren household was where Elder Ren and his wife lived. If he told the old couple about his impending disaster, he might meet the capable person. But he must never say that Madam Shi had directed him there.

Peng Jian still did not understand whom he should ask for help, so Shi Zongfu reminded him that since he knew the person was a woman, he could go to the Ren household and ask the women there. Madam Shi and her son again urged Peng Jian to keep the matter secret. After drinking a few cups of wine, he returned to his residence with a faint hope.

Peng Jian tossed and turned all night. At daybreak, he put on fresh clothes and went to visit Elder Ren. Elder Ren and his wife treated him warmly, like a younger member of their own family, and welcomed him into the rear hall. Just then, Peach Blossom Girl happened to come and pay her respects to her parents, and met Peng Jian there.

Seeing how advanced the two elders were in years, Peng Jian thought that he was about to die and would never be able to visit them again. He could not help bursting into tears. At first, the Ren couple thought he was saddened by their old age. But when they heard him say that he would die that very night, they pressed him for an explanation. Peng Jian then told them how Duke Zhou had cast a divination for him and declared that he would die.

Peach Blossom Girl said she knew a little about divination and asked Peng Jian to give her his birth date and hour so she could calculate his fate. After working it out, she confirmed that Duke Zhou’s judgment was indeed correct: Peng Jian would vomit blood and die at the fourth watch that night. The Ren couple and Peng Jian were overcome with grief and asked whether there was any way to save him. Peach Blossom Girl said there was, though it would take considerable effort, and the method could not be freely disclosed. She then led Peng Jian to the rear garden to speak with him in detail.

Peach Blossom Girl asked Peng Jian whether there was a Temple of the Three Officials in the city. She calculated that the night was the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Zhongyuan Festival, and that the Lord of the Northern Dipper—a star deity who governs human lifespan and destiny—would return from the Jade Capital at the second watch, passing through the Temple of the Three Officials to record matters concerning human reincarnation. She instructed Peng Jian to prepare incense, seven cups of pure water, and seven Dipper lamps offered to the Northern Dipper. After bathing and changing into fresh clothes, he was to set them out at the temple at sunset and devoutly recite the venerated title “Great Sage, Primordial Lord of the Northern Dipper.” At the second watch, he was to hide beneath the altar table and wait.

Peach Blossom Girl also gave Peng Jian a golden xi zi, a ritual implement made of gold as described in the original, and a scroll of the Divine Light Incantation, a spell recited in Daoist rites. She taught him to come out from beneath the altar table when the star deity called his name, then strike the golden xi zi, recite the incantation, and plead with the deity for a longer life. She said that the implement and incantation could overpower the deity, making him tremble with fright and suffer a headache. Once the deed was done, Peng Jian could return home and rest. She repeatedly warned him that if Duke Zhou asked, he must never reveal her identity. Deeply grateful, Peng Jian took his leave and went back to prepare as she had instructed.

That night, Peng Jian bathed, changed clothes, gathered everything he needed, and went to the Temple of the Three Officials. He instructed the temple caretaker to admit no visitors. Alone in the hall, he lit incense, knelt, and recited the venerated title of the Lord of the Northern Dipper. At the second watch, when he heard the wind, he hid beneath the altar table. He smelled a strange fragrance and heard someone remark that the offerings had been prepared cleanly and completely.

After a while, names and lifespans began to be read aloud in the hall, one by one. When Peng Jian’s name was called, someone said that he had a lifespan of fifty years and would vomit blood and die at the fourth watch that night. Peng Jian was terrified out of his wits. The story leaves the outcome unresolved, without saying whether he was ultimately saved that night.

Peng Jian hid beneath the altar table. When he heard the gods say that he would cough up blood and die at the fourth watch that night, he was terrified out of his wits. He hurriedly recited a spell and struck his ritual implements. The Star Lord of Fire Virtue called out to stop him and told him to seek a longer life from the fifth Star Lord.

Taking into account Peng Jian’s honest and upright nature, the fact that he had done no evil, the offerings he had made to them, and that Peach Blossom Maiden had sent him to ask for help, the Star Lords decided to change his name and extend his life. They renamed him “Peng Zu,” granted him a lifespan of eight hundred and fifty years, and gave him a pill that, they said, would transform his body, free him from every illness, and let him enjoy good fortune, prosperity, and longevity. The Star Lord instructed him to fast and bathe on the third and twenty-seventh of every month and devoutly pay homage to the Dipper, bowing and praying to the Star Lords of the Northern Dipper. He must never reveal Heaven’s secrets, or he would suffer Heaven’s punishment. Peng Jian also asked for wealth and descendants. The Star Lords granted these requests, then vanished like a breeze.

Peng Jian felt invigorated and overjoyed. Remembering Peach Blossom Maiden’s instruction to return home and rest once his task was done, he quietly woke the temple caretaker, left the temple, and went home to bed.

Zhou Qian sat up until the fifth watch, certain that Peng Jian was dead. He picked up the Tiangang Sword and went with a young servant to inspect Peng Jian’s room. Seeing Peng Jian lying motionless in bed, he assumed he had stopped breathing. He let his hair hang loose, took up his sword, and performed the Dipper steps, treading the stellar positions in a prescribed ritual pattern. Reciting incantations, he tried to hold Peng Jian’s soul in place before performing a rite to send it on to a favorable rebirth.

Peng Jian woke and saw Zhou Qian performing the ritual. He sat up, startling Zhou Qian. Thinking an evil spirit was at work, Zhou Qian raised his sword and shouted at him. Peng Jian laughed and asked what he was doing. Once Zhou Qian realized Peng Jian was still alive, he demanded to know how he had been saved and suspected that he had found a way to break Zhou Qian’s divination.

Zhou Qian took Peng Jian to his study, ordered him tied up, and demanded to know who had taught him how to escape death. Peng Jian refused to give Peach Blossom Maiden’s name. He said he had expected to die, but had slept through the night and was still alive. Zhou Qian did not believe him and ordered the servants to beat him. Though the family claimed to have given him a hundred lashes, only twenty or thirty actually landed. Peng Jian was in great pain, but he kept Peach Blossom Maiden’s instructions and would not reveal who she was.

Seeing that Peng Jian’s complexion was rosy, Zhou Qian guessed that he had met a supernatural adept and learned a method for prolonging life. He offered him a reward to make him confess, but Peng Jian remained silent. Furious, Zhou Qian threatened to kill him with his sword. Terrified, Peng Jian had no choice but to say that Ren Taigong’s daughter, Ren Taohua, had told him to wait at the Temple of the Three Officials and seek a longer life from the Star Lords of the Northern Dipper. He also said that Shi Zongfu had been taught by Peach Blossom Maiden.

Zhou Qian was enraged. He believed Peach Blossom Maiden had not only foiled his divination, but had also let Shi Zongfu and his mother humiliate him. He swore to take revenge. Peng Jian pleaded on her behalf, explaining that her parents had no other child, and that she was still young, only sixteen that year. The book explains that Peach Blossom Maiden and Lord Zhou had descended into the human world one after the other. Lord Zhou arrived one or two hours earlier, which made him several decades older.

After learning what had happened, Zhou Qian gave Peng Jian ten taels of silver for his recovery and warned him not to go to the Ren household and reveal the matter. He then secretly investigated and confirmed that the Star Lords of the Northern Dipper had indeed descended the previous night at the Temple of the Three Officials in the eastern part of the city. He was astonished that Peach Blossom Maiden’s Daoist arts had reached the point of communicating with the gods. Worried that he could not defeat her, he thought it over and instructed his servant Xu Cheng to summon the official matchmaker, a matchmaker recognized by the authorities and responsible for arranging marriages. He was preparing to use another scheme.

Lord Zhou told Xu Cheng to find an official matchmaker. He remained seated and waited, plotting how to bring about Miss Taohua’s death.

Lord Zhou ordered his servant Xu Cheng to fetch an official matchmaker surnamed Jiang. After the others had withdrawn, he told Matchmaker Jiang that he wished to take the Ren family’s daughter, Taohua, as his daughter-in-law, and promised her a generous reward if she made the arrangement. Jiang found this strange: she had never heard that Lord Zhou had a son. She also pointed out that the Rens were ordinary people and might not dare to marry into a noble household. Besides, there were only three days to arrange the wedding, which was far too little time.

Lord Zhou then revealed the truth: he had no son. He only wanted to lure Taohua into his residence so he could find an opportunity to kill her. Taohua had once thwarted his Bagua, a system of divination used to predict good and ill fortune. Three days later, a baleful spirit was due to descend, according to his calculations, and he planned to kill her as she stepped down from her bridal sedan. Lord Zhou promised Matchmaker Jiang a hundred taels of gold. She agreed to help, but said they would need to find a way to persuade Grandfather Ren to accept the match.

Lord Zhou calculated with his fingers and learned that Grandfather Ren was away from home and would not return until the hour of the Snake the following day. He arranged for Matchmaker Jiang and Xu Cheng to wait at the entrance to the Ren home. They planned to deceive Grandfather Ren by presenting gifts and offering congratulations on the wedding, then use Lord Zhou’s power to force him to agree.

The next day, Matchmaker Jiang and Xu Cheng waited outside the Ren home until Grandfather Ren arrived. Jiang falsely claimed that her daughter was getting married and brought tea cakes and pastries as gifts for the Ren family. Grandfather Ren had just returned from the estate and had not yet eaten, so he tried some of the pastries. Jiang then placed a pair of golden flowers in his hair, while Xu Cheng draped a red silk sash over his shoulders. The two knelt and offered their congratulations. Only then did Grandfather Ren realize they meant that the Duke of Zhou wanted to take Taohua as his daughter-in-law.

At first, Grandfather Ren was furious. Marriage, he said, required the willing consent of both families; no one should use power to force it. But Matchmaker Jiang warned him that if he refused, Lord Zhou would accuse his daughter of practicing sorcery and disrupting the Bagua. Most of the officials in Chaoge were on friendly terms with Lord Zhou, and the Ren family would likely suffer. Grandfather Ren considered that his daughter was indeed of marriageable age, and that joining a powerful family like Lord Zhou’s would bring honor. Gradually, he began to warm to the idea. He still said he needed to discuss it with his wife, but Matchmaker Jiang took this as agreement and immediately left with Xu Cheng.

When Grandfather Ren returned home, he told his wife, Madam Ren, about the proposal. Both thought it would be a great honor for their daughter to marry into a ducal family; their only concern was that they might not have enough for her dowry. Grandfather Ren thought they could prepare the dowry later, so he and his wife went together to the back garden to tell Miss Taohua.

Taohua was carrying a flowerpot to water the peach trees. Her parents asked her to sit down and told her that Lord Zhou had sent someone to propose, and that her father had agreed she would leave home on the nineteenth. Halfway through hearing this, Taohua’s face turned deathly pale. She cried out, lost consciousness, and fell from her chair to the ground.

When Ren Taohua heard that her parents had agreed to the marriage with the Zhou family, she was so furious that she could not sit still and fell from her chair. Her parents, Ren Taigong and his wife, were alarmed and hurried to help her up. Taohua told them that Lord Zhou was setting a trap. He had no son, his wife had died long ago, and he had only a sixteen-year-old daughter—yet he was urgently demanding that the wedding procession arrive in three days. The marriage was meant to avenge Taohua for breaking Lord Zhou’s spells earlier; he planned to use the wedding to have her killed.

Taohua made a finger calculation, a method of using the fingers to determine good and ill fortune, and saw that the nineteenth was a day when ill omens descended and everything would go badly. Lord Zhou had deliberately chosen it so that he could use baleful forces to harm her. Ren Taigong was enraged. He wanted to tear up the marriage contract and even fight Lord Zhou to the death. Taohua urged her parents not to worry. She had come down to the mortal world at the Jade Emperor’s command to break Lord Zhou’s spells. Since there was no avoiding this matter, she would find a way to deal with it. She asked her parents to demand from the Zhou family a number of items to be used in the wedding procession:

Two feet of red silk; the sedan chair embroidered with the Eight Immortals of the Caverns, eight immortals from Daoist legend; and the body of the chair decorated with silk in different colors. They were to provide a pair of empty precious vases, placing the Five Grains and a clothes iron inside. When the sedan chair reached the Zhou family’s gate, sandalwood and cypress leaves were to be put into the vases, then the iron added and burned. A member of the Zhou household was to carry the iron around the sedan chair three times; only then could the procession enter. A saddle and a square measuring vessel were to be placed at both the main gate and the second gate. After the bride stepped down from the chair, she was to step over the saddle and then pay homage to Heaven and Earth. A colorful carpet was to be laid from the main gate to the inner hall, so that the bride’s feet would not touch the ground after she left the chair. She also demanded that Peng Jian of the Zhou household come to await her orders, and that Lord Zhou’s son personally enter the Ren family as a son-in-law. Taohua said she would not marry if even one of these demands was refused.

Ren Taigong wrote down each demand and made a list. The couple knew their daughter was capable, and hearing her say she could counter Lord Zhou’s spells put them somewhat at ease.

Meanwhile, the matchmaker Jiang and Xu Cheng returned to the Zhou household and told Lord Zhou that the Ren family had agreed to the marriage, with the bride to arrive on the nineteenth. Lord Zhou was delighted. He rewarded the matchmaker and Xu Cheng with silver, then, fearing the Ren family might change its mind, immediately prepared betrothal gifts, food, and wine and sent them to the Ren household.

After Ren Taigong accepted the gifts, he told Matchmaker Jiang to take back a list written on red paper. The nineteenth was an extremely inauspicious day, he said, so the Zhou family had to prepare everything on the list for the wedding procession. If even one item was missing, the Ren family would withdraw from the marriage, even if that meant facing a lawsuit. Jiang assumed the list would contain rare and difficult-to-find things. When Ren Taigong read it aloud, she found that everything was an ordinary household item and agreed to arrange it for the Zhou family. Lord Zhou read the list and agreed to fulfill every demand. He said that Peng Jian would go and await the Ren family’s orders.

The Book of Celestial Patterns, which Lord Zhou studied, taught methods for divining good and ill fortune and calculating directions, but contained no spells for averting calamity. So he gave little thought to the items Taohua had requested. At dusk on the eighteenth, he worked out in his study the directions from which the baleful spirits would descend. He calculated that the Four Extinctions and Four Annihilations stars were in the northeast, the Mourning Spirit in the north, the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare in the east, and the Wood Wolf of the Dipper, the Golden Ram of the Ghosts, the Hare of the Mao Day, and the Horse of the Star Day in the northeastern corner. Seeing that the directions of these baleful spirits aligned with the position of his house, Lord Zhou was very pleased.

He worried that Taohua might use the requested items to ward off danger, so he decided to summon several more malevolent spirits in secret and have them lie in wait at different places, ready to kill her as the bridal chair passed. He bathed, changed clothes, and took the Book of Celestial Patterns and the Celestial Pattern sword to the rear garden, where he set up an altar with incense, flowers, lamps, candles, paper, brushes, and yellow paper. He ordered his attendants to leave, shut the gate, and began the ritual.

At the third watch of the night, Lord Zhou removed his golden crown and let down his hair. Following the book’s talismanic patterns, he drew a talisman on yellow paper with cinnabar, then held the precious sword, burned the talisman, and chanted an incantation. A strange wind sprang up. A cloud of smoke bore down a celestial general. Lord Zhou asked him to go to the Ren household the next day during the hour of Si, between nine and eleven in the morning, and wait until Taohua climbed into the bridal chair, then beat her to death with an iron whip. The celestial general agreed and departed.

Lord Zhou next summoned the True Spirit of the Funeral Gate, asking him to wait on the left side of the Ren family’s main gate and, when Taohua stepped down from the bridal chair, use his divine power to strike her dead. He then summoned the Venerable Spirit of the Funeral Procession and had him wait on the right side, telling him not to return until Taohua had been killed.

The Duke of Zhou burned the fourth spiritual talisman. A fierce wind roared through the sky, and a mighty divine general descended, unlike the deities he had summoned before. The verse of praise described him as wearing a silver helmet and plain-colored armor, with a precious jade at his waist and multicolored battle boots on his feet. His face was pale, his brows and eyes stern, and he stood ten feet tall. He held a sky-piercing halberd and inspired awe in every direction. His name was the White Tiger God.

The White Tiger God came before the offering table and asked what the Duke of Zhou commanded. The Duke said, “Tomorrow, at the hour of the Snake, I will marry Ren Taohua. I ask you, honored god, to display your divine might. When she is seated beneath the bridal canopy in the wedding chamber, bite her to death, then return to your station.” The White Tiger God accepted the order, rose into the sky, and departed.

After summoning the four orthodox deities, the Duke of Zhou put away the Celestial Dipper Divine Book, composed his appearance, and ordered the offerings cleared away. He returned to his inner room, feeling very pleased with himself. He thought, “Ren Taohua, even if you have the power to turn things around, you won’t escape this calamity. I summoned these four divine generals to use every kind of treacherous scheme to harm you. You brought this disaster on yourself!” He brooded for a while and did not fall asleep until the fourth watch.

Ren Taohua was determined to contend with the Duke of Zhou and had already prepared her various magical treasures. Early the next morning, after washing and dressing, she went to the rear garden to water the peach trees, but felt uneasy. She counted on her fingers and learned what was behind it. She could not help laughing to herself: “Duke of Zhou, you underestimate me. Now you have summoned four more vicious gods to harm me in secret. What a waste of effort.”

She returned to her embroidery room, opened a brocade pouch, and took out a small peach branch. She carried it to the rear garden, recited an incantation, and blew on the branch, calling, “As I will it, take your true form!” At once, the branch grew into a seven-foot-long halberd. She let her hair fall loose to hide her face, formed a hand seal and recited an incantation with one hand, then raised the halberd and called, “Red Fiend Divine One, descend at once!”

Taohua’s mastery of Daoist arts was deeper than the Duke of Zhou’s. She had practiced for a long time at the Jade Pool and possessed a heavenly book bestowed by the Immortal Qi. The Immortal Qi was the chief of the gods and sages, and Taohua recited the Spirit-Summoning Incantation he had taught her. So she did not need to burn talismans or pace the Dipper. A short while later, the Red Fiend Divine General descended on the wind, clad in golden helmet and armor. He stood in the peach orchard and asked what she commanded.

With her eyes tightly closed, Taohua said, “Zhou Qian tells fortunes for people and reveals the secrets of Heaven. I have twice broken his spells, yet he has not repented. Now he has formed another wicked plan. Under the pretense of marriage, he secretly sent the Black Fiend Marshal to guard the gate and take my life when I enter the bridal sedan. I have no choice but to ask you, honored god, to protect me in secret. When the Black Fiend God brings down his steel whip, block it with your golden whip. Once I am seated in the colored sedan and have left the gate, take the Black Fiend God back with you. If you fail to follow the divine command, I will punish you according to the law of the celestial book.”

Taohua formed a hand seal to send the god away, and the Red Fiend God departed on the wind. She put her hair back in order, breathed a breath of immortal energy onto the halberd, and it turned back into a small peach branch. She also broke off three tender shoots from the peach tree and one willow branch and took them to her embroidery room. With her own hands, she made a small bow and three arrows. Then she took several strands of cotton thread, crossed and braided them into the shape of a sieve basket, and cast a spell to seal and protect them. Once everything was ready, she put it all away.

As the hour of the Snake approached, wedding drums and music sounded outside the gate. Ren Taigong and his wife came in wearing wedding clothes and asked their daughter if she was ready. Taohua wept and said, “Father, Mother, you have raised your daughter for sixteen years in vain. Today I go to the Zhou household, where I fear I will not be treated kindly. A fierce struggle is unavoidable, and I cannot know whether I will live or die. There are a few words I ask you to remember.”

Ren Taigong and his wife were stricken with grief. They said they would do whatever their daughter asked. Taohua recited:

“Yin and Yang must unite for things to reach their beginning and end. Do not think that those who do good will be left without descendants. Those who have no children will one day have descendants; when their allotted time comes, they may ascend in broad daylight. The two of you will ride the clouds together to pay homage to the Celestial Emperor. Zi, Wu, Jia, and Wu are the days that will fulfill the sign. Heaven and Earth’s fixed order does not miss by the slightest margin. The Peach Orchard has long awaited its solitary elder. Only then will the blessings and joys of doing good in this world be made clear.”

These words foretold that Ren Taigong and his wife would one day ascend together and become deities of the Peach Orchard. After speaking, Taohua urged her parents not to grieve and said she needed to prepare for the wedding. But the couple could not hold back their tears. They clung to their daughter and wept aloud.

Just then, a maid came to report that Peng Jian had arrived. Ren Taigong and his wife stopped crying as Peng Jian entered. He urged them not to weep and said he had something to report. Seeing him, Ren Taigong grew angry. He reproached him for failing to keep his daughter’s instructions and for letting the matter slip to the Duke of Zhou, who had borne a grudge ever since. Now the Duke had even set a trap by pretending to arrange a marriage, all to scheme against his daughter. Ren Taigong warned Peng Jian that if anything happened to her, he would fight both him and the Duke of Zhou to the death.

Peng Jian was so agitated that his face reddened and his feet stamped wildly. He explained that at first he had not spoken plainly, but the Duke of Zhou had questioned him repeatedly and beaten him hundreds of times. Later, the Duke drew his sword and threatened to kill him, so he had been forced to tell. Afterward, the Duke put him under guard and forbade him to leave, which was why he had not been able to come warn them sooner. He admitted that he was gravely at fault, but said he had not known the Duke had set such a trap.

Before Peng Jian could finish, Taohua urged her father not to blame him unfairly. Then she turned to her brother and called him over, saying that the Duke of Zhou had sent him for a reason…