《跨天虹》Vol. 3

Once Luanxiao had left with the two men, she fainted. Her parents sat by her bed. On the second day she suddenly turned over and cried out, "Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang, bring me the Mo Xian Treasure Mirror so I can see it." Her parents called to her again and again and felt that she still had a trace of breath, so they poured broth and water into her mouth. Gradually her limbs grew warm and she could move again, and then she called out "Mother." Her parents were overjoyed and pressed their palms together to give thanks to heaven and earth. She ate a little, and within three or five days she felt fully recovered. She then told her parents about what she had seen while her soul was wandering.

Minister Kuikui at once sent out official documents and had notices posted throughout the land: "Whoever presents the Mo Xian Mirror will have my daughter in marriage." He also dispatched several capable officials, dressed in common clothes, to travel in secret and gather news. The matter was no small one, and within a few months it had spread across the realm.

When Jingkong heard of this, he went into the city himself to read the notice and thought to himself: "My younger sister has a mirror, and she said someone walked out of it. That must be the Mo Xian Mirror. If I get this mirror and present it to Minister Kuikui, his daughter, as lovely as a flower and as fine as jade, will be able to marry me, which would be far better than that woman who beat the monks." He intended not to tell his sister when he returned home, but to trick her out of the mirror first. Lost in these thoughts on the road, he suddenly found himself at his own front door. He went inside and saw Chunniang.

Chun-niang had already understood how matters stood, and she had worked out her plan. Jing-kong said nothing, so Chun-niang spoke up: "Brother, a windfall is about to come my way." Jing-kong asked, "What windfall? Give your brother a share to use." Chun-niang replied, "Of course you'll have your portion." She pointed at the mirror and said, "If someone is willing to pay ten thousand taels, I'll sell it to him."

Jing-kong was stunned for a long moment. Then he said, "Where would anyone come up with that much silver to buy it? If it fetches ten or twenty taels, that will be more than enough." He then went on to chat idly about other matters.

Three or four days passed, and Jingkong thought to himself, "If this mirror is to be got, asking for it will never work. As the saying goes, asking a thousand times is no match for stealing once." When Chunniang was busy cooking in the kitchen, he slipped into the room and searched high and low, turning over chests and cabinets, but he could not find so much as a trace of it. Chunniang knew the thing was valuable, and she had long since hidden it in a narrow alley where no one would think to look.

Jingkong searched for a long time without success, so he moved to the bedside and kept looking, crawling completely under the bed. Unexpectedly, Chunniang walked in and happened to see the monk crawling beneath the bed like a dog, and she was greatly startled. Quietly, she picked up a door bar and struck him hard across the waist. The pain made Jingkong scramble out in a hurry, but his body would not straighten, so he lay down on the floor and cursed, "You lewd woman, why would you strike so cruelly!" Seeing that he was still cursing, Chunniang raised the door bar to strike again. Terrified, Jingkong hastily crawled back under the bed to hide. Two shichen (about four hours) passed before the pain slowly eased.

Chunniang knew Jingkong wanted to steal the mirror, so she asked him, "What are you doing crawling under my bed?" Jingkong replied, "You used to let me climb onto the bed. Now you won't even let me crawl under it?" Chunniang said, "Now you won't let me climb onto the bed either."

Jingkong felt somewhat embarrassed and forced a smile. "I'm determined to climb it anyway," he said. He reached out, pressed Chunniang down onto the bed, and tried to be intimate with her, hoping that this would make amends. Chunniang's face darkened, and she struggled free with force. Seeing that she would not consent, Jingkong grew angry and said, "I'm going to climb it no matter what." He added, "Do you mean to use on me the same tricks you used on Zhang Biao? Don't dream!"

Hearing this, Chunniang flared with indignation. "You black-hearted bald donkey!" she cried. "All my life you have ruined me, and you have also brought about my husband's death. Now you want me to collude with you, a bald donkey like you. How could I ever hope to hold my head up again? Leave at once!" She pushed him away with both hands. Seeing her rebuff him, Jingkong was so enraged that he concluded she meant to sever all ties with him. He pinned Chunniang to the ground, beat her severely, and then walked off on his own.

It can be seen that wicked people's minds are easily fickle: two people who at first were deeply devoted to each other turn against one another and become like enemies. The reasons behind this are often beyond the understanding of outsiders.

Chunniang's affair with the monk Jingkong began merely from a momentary loss of reason. But once the two had become entangled, they found it hard to sever the connection. Whenever her husband was away from home, she would take the chance to meet Jingkong in secret, and she had originally had no intention of killing her husband. Then, unexpectedly, Zhang Biao returned home one day. Fearing that her shameful affair would be exposed, and with the situation like riding a tiger's back, from which there was no easy escape, she was driven to form a vicious scheme on the spur of the moment.

After her husband's death, Jingkong lived with Chunniang as though they were husband and wife, never apart for a single day. But as time passed, Chunniang gradually grew weary of him. When they were intimate, Jingkong always affected a coy, girlish manner, rubbing his bald head against her face. It was tolerable right after he had shaved, but once his hair had grown back even a little, she found it unpleasant. Jingkong was impetuous and aggressive, like a hungry tiger pouncing on a sheep or a greedy hawk seizing a hare. Occasionally she could bear it with effort, but now it happened every single day, and Chunniang felt as though she had cast away her armor and surrendered, enduring torment. This made her resent Jingkong all the more.

In Chunniang's view, her husband, after all, had been a scholar who knew how to cherish a woman, and the difference between him and Jingkong was great. Therefore she had long since grown far less close to Jingkong than before. She treated him with coldness, let him come and go as he pleased, and felt not the slightest attachment to him.

She often woke from her dreams at the fifth watch, the hour before dawn. In the early morning, when the mind is clearer, conscience also comes to the surface. Thinking that her husband had been without fault yet had been killed by her own hand, his remains scattered here and there, she shed a few tears of remorse. She wanted to refuse Jingkong but could find no pretext, so she resolved to seize this occasion to pick a great quarrel with him and drive him out.

Although Liu Chunniang had once done wrong, Jingkong pushed her to the brink of death and left her body in pieces, and only then did she shed a few tears of repentance and resolve to mend her ways. She wanted to refuse the monk but could find no pretext, so she planned to seize the occasion of today to make a great scene and drive him out.

Though Liu Chunniang had this intention, she had not truly made up her mind. Having obtained the mirror and a large fortune, she feared that if Jingkong stayed by her side he would secretly do her harm, and that if they went before the authorities he would take a share of her property, so suspicion and resentment arose in her heart. She reckoned that with this money she could marry a husband and start life afresh, honorably and upright. To keep forever watch over this monk, and to feel ashamed before old acquaintances and neighbors, was not what she wanted. These thoughts were vicious and crafty, hard for others to anticipate.

Jingkong was no good man either. He wanted to obtain the mirror so that he could live a life of wealth and rank in days to come, and so he regarded his old acquaintance Liu Chunniang as an enemy with whom he could not coexist. Should she steal the mirror, he would feel his road to wealth and rank cut off, and he would rather die than set foot at her door again. When he first had no wife and met Chunniang, he treated her as a treasure. But as they grew familiar over time, his attitude changed, and he began to covet her wealth. This is precisely the mind that is insatiable and grasps for more.

Who would have thought that this quarrel would give rise to internal strife and startle:

The blind man who pretended to be blind secretly saw through the truth; the truly filial son avenged his father's wrongs.

The dispute between the two was bound to bring disaster. How matters would unfold from here, read on below, and then you will find it satisfying.

Scroll Five, Story Four: The Blind Boy Unravels a Strange Injustice Through Twists and Turns.

Zhang Zhen'er was sitting by the kitchen stove when he overheard the two of them quarreling and heard clearly everything they had said. The next day he leaned on his cane and went to a relative's house, where he had someone write out two complaints. He tucked them into his clothes and hurried to Huanglong Temple to find Jingkong.

Jingkong was standing in front of the mountain gate talking with someone. When he saw Zhen'er he asked, "Nephew, what brings you here?" Zhen'er recognized his uncle's voice and went up to bow, then started to speak but stopped, afraid that others might hear. Jingkong, worried that Zhen'er might say something he should not, pulled him into his room and asked what he had come for. Zhen'er said, "I came especially to tell you, Uncle, that yesterday you and Mother quarreled, and the neighbors heard it. Everyone is saying you murdered my father, and the baojia (the local officials responsible for household registration and public order) are about to report you."

Jingkong panicked at once. After thinking for a moment, he said to Zhen'er, "I have no time to worry about anything else now. Tomorrow I will go to the county seat and first file a complaint accusing your mother of murdering her husband." Zhen'er replied, "If you do that, Uncle, you may clear yourself, but you will be destroying my mother." Jingkong said, "As long as I can get myself out of this, how could I still care about her!" Zhen'er then asked how his father had died, and Jingkong told him everything in detail. After they had talked for a while, Jingkong walked Zhen'er out through the mountain gate.

When Zhen'er got home, he pretended to be astonished. Chun-niang asked him what was wrong, and Zhen'er said, "Just now, as I reached the doorway, I heard people to the east saying that Aunt Zhang had murdered her husband, and to the west..."

Back home, Zhen'er was badly frightened. Chunniang asked him what had happened, and he said, "Just now, as I reached the gate, I heard people to the east saying that Aunt Zhang had murdered her husband, and people to the west saying that Liu Chunniang had murdered her husband. I asked them where they had heard this, and they said, 'Your mother hanged herself with a rope and threw the body into the river.'"

Chunniang realized that the rumors matched the facts word for word, and she was at a complete loss. Again and again she begged Zhen'er to think of a way for her to escape this disaster. At first he deliberately refused to say anything, but when he saw her weeping and bowing to him, he hurriedly helped her up and said, "Mother, do not be alarmed. Let me first ask you: do you still wish to have dealings with your uncle?"

Chunniang replied, "A man like that, what dealings could there still be? He defiled your mother and then caused your father's death. I wish I could devour him alive and flay him to vent my hatred."

Zhen'er said, "Since that is so, let us first accuse Uncle of murdering your father. That may preserve your safety, so that you will not be punished for this matter."

Chunniang said, "That plan makes sense."

Zhen'er then questioned her closely about her husband's conduct before his death. Chunniang confessed without being pressed, and what she said agreed with Jingkong's testimony.

The next day, Zhen'er handed in a written complaint through Chunniang, and Jingkong also submitted one. The magistrate read both complaints, which concerned two cases of homicide. One side said the other had committed murder, and the other said the first had plotted the death. There had to be hidden circumstances behind this, so he immediately issued arrest warrants and had the two plaintiffs brought in for questioning. Before long, both had been taken into custody. The magistrate recorded their testimony, and each side's account sounded reasonable. He then asked Chunniang, "What other people are there in your household?" Chunniang replied, "There is only a blind man at home." The magistrate then promptly summoned Zhang Zhen'er to answer questions.

Zhen'er came to the court hall and said nothing. She merely handed up a written complaint, and it accused none other than Chunniang and Jingkong. The magistrate read it clearly and demanded that the two confess. Each shifted the blame onto the other, and neither would admit to anything. The magistrate applied leg clamps to Jingkong and beat him fifty strokes. He then used finger clamps on Chunniang's fingers and beat her thirty strokes of "passing-boat nails" (guochuan ding, a painful punishment inflicted with the finger clamps). Unable to bear the torture, the two were forced to admit to adultery. As for the murder, there was neither a corpse nor a murder weapon, so the magistrate found it difficult to convict. He had the instruments removed, ordered them taken away, and said the case would be heard again the following day. The three of them walked out of the court hall together.

When they reached a secluded spot, Chunniang said to Jingkong, "Zhen'er has framed us. Now that things have come to this, we have confessed to the adultery, but we cannot admit to the killing. If the magistrate uses torture again, we can only shift the blame onto Yang Laoshi." After discussing it, the two agreed to proceed in this way.

The next day the magistrate resumed the hearing and was ready to apply torture again, but the two men stubbornly insisted that Yang Laoshi was the killer. The magistrate immediately issued an order to arrest Yang, and had him put in the clamps once more. Yang had no choice but to confess that he had carried the man to the river and drowned him. The magistrate then ordered him put in prison pending sentencing, and brought out a pair of double cangues (a device that locked two people together for public display). He fastened them on the lecherous monk and the adulterous woman and had them paraded through the four gates of the city.

Let us set aside for now the tangled romance of Liu Chunniang. Zhang Yang, having met Shi and Bu by the river, went up the mountain with them. When he saw the chieftain, he hurried to bow. The chieftain was called Niao Shan Dawang (the Great King of Bird Mountain), and he was gentle and refined, nothing like a bandit. When Zhang Yang knelt to pay his respects, the chieftain quickly helped him up and said, "You are a man of principle. Now that you have fallen on hard times, settle in here at ease, and I will certainly avenge you and wipe out your humiliation." With that, he arranged a seat for Zhang Yang. After tea, he laid out a banquet to entertain him. The two took to each other at once as if they had known each other for years, and the chieftain promptly appointed Zhang Yang as his military strategist.

Zhang Yang was highly capable. He offered the chieftain plans and also drafted proclamations and official documents, and the chieftain was greatly pleased. A little over a month later, the chieftain sent several dozen foot soldiers (followers of the mountain stronghold) to Zhang Yang's home to seize the two people and hand them over to the strategist to deal with as he saw fit.

These minions, the bandit leader's underlings, received their orders and disguised themselves as ordinary townspeople. After several days on the road they reached the Fushun area. Having learned where Zhang Biao lived, they knocked on his door at dusk and entered, searching every room, but found neither the monk nor the woman. When they reached the kitchen, they saw a blind man asleep there.

They hauled the blind man to his feet and demanded, "There was supposed to be a monk and a woman here. Where have they gone?" Zhen'er had only just woken, and still muddled, he answered, "The monk, the woman... are in the cangue." "There's nobody at home," said the minion. "They're wearing cangues," Zhen'er said, "in the town." "Zhang Biao clearly said they were outside the city. How could they be in town?" As he spoke, he slapped Zhen'er across the face.

The blow jolted Zhen'er fully awake. Hearing them mention Zhang Biao, he hurriedly asked, "Did you just say Zhang Biao? Have you perhaps met him?" The minions then told him where Zhang Biao had come from. Only then did Zhen'er realize that these men were bandits, and so he told them what he knew about the two people.

"In that case," said the minion, "what are we to report to the chief when we return?" One of the others said, "Let's just take this blind man with us." Zhen'er pleaded, "I was hoping to confront those two face to face. If you take me away, their crimes will be lighter."

The minions had no evidence in hand, and they hesitated for a long while.

The minions (petty chiefs and attendants), unable to produce anything to serve as evidence, hesitated for quite some time. Seeing that the torches in their hands were nearly burned out, everyone suddenly panicked and did not know what to do.

One of them said, "Brothers, don't panic. Let me tell you a story." The others protested, "Now is the time for stories?" The man replied, "Hear the story, and there will be torches." Upon hearing that a story could produce torches, the men had no choice but to quiet down and listen.

The man began: "In the days of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yunchang (Guan Yu), together with Lady Gan and Lady Mi, surrendered to the Han and stayed at a post station. Cao Cao sent food and supplies. Everything else was complete, but he sent only a single candle. Cao Cao, seeing that Guan Yu was alone attending the two □□□ sisters-in-law, deliberately devised this stratagem. Yet Guan Yunchang was resourceful. Seeing the candle about to burn out, he tore down the walls of the post station, set fire to the bamboo slats he had removed, and kept the fire burning through the whole night. This is called the 'Strategy of Burning Torches.' Now we have no torches, yet walls surround us on every side. Why should we worry?"

Hearing this, the minions immediately □□□□, tore down many things, and bound them into torches. When they reached a wall, something suddenly rolled out with a clatter. Everyone looked, and it was a mirror.

Zhen'er, hearing that it was a mirror, said to the others, "Great chiefs, do not trouble yourselves. This mirror was obtained by my father when he was fishing. Take it to my father, and he can bear witness."

The minions shouldered the mirror and departed. We will leave them here for now.

Zhang Zhen'er heard of his father's whereabouts and thought: "If I do not go to him and demand my father's life back, how can Yang Laoshi ever hold up his head? For now, I had better first do □□, drape a piece of yellow cloth over my back, write the four characters 'Avenge My Father' on it, and beg along the streets." To his surprise, this trade flourished. Why? Because he wore this eye-catching sign on his back, everyone took him for a devoted son, and they vied to give him copper coins and grain, so that he had plenty of food and clothing.

One day Zhen'er was walking through a remote place when three men suddenly blocked his way. They said to him, "You mean to avenge your father, so we are going to take you away and have you executed right now."

Zhen'er asked, "Who are you?" The three replied, "We have been sent by the authorities."

Zhen'er said, "I am on my way to clear my father's name, and I am willing to go with you." The three tried to dissuade him: "If you go with us, you will certainly lose your life. It would be better to give up the revenge. We will let you run away."

Zhen'er answered, "My benevolent father died wrongfully. For the sake of this injustice, I would gladly face fire and flood. If I can clear his name, I can close my eyes in death without regret."

The three saw how sincere and earnest his filial devotion was. They had originally been testing him with words, but they had not expected his resolve to be so firm. They said, "Your filial devotion is truly sincere. But your eyes cannot see, and that makes it hard for you to act. We have eye medicine here. Apply it, and your sight will be restored."

Zhen'er said joyfully, "If it could really be like that, I would see the light of day again."

The three touched his eyes once, and at once they grew bright. When Zhen'er looked closely, he realized that the three before him were Daoist adepts (daoren), practitioners of the Daoist path. He quickly knelt and bowed to the ground, kowtowing seventy or eighty times in a row. When he rose to his feet, the three adepts had vanished without a trace.

Zhen'er was both astonished and delighted. He thought to himself, "They must be the Three Officials (Sanguan Dadi), the venerable deities who govern Heaven, Earth, and the waters. Seeing that my filial devotion is commendable, they came specially to help me." He then threw away his walking stick and began to stroll about freely, his heart filled with joy.

Yang Laoshi endured this suffering and was held in prison, with no relatives coming to visit him. At home he had only a daughter of fourteen or fifteen, delicate and young, left alone in the house. Fortunately, Wang Po from next door often came to keep her company.

Confined in prison, Yang Laoshi found his days hard to bear. Unexpectedly, once Zhang Zhen'er regained her sight, her begging also went smoothly. Every day she first brought the food she had collected to the prison for Yang Laoshi to eat, and only afterward ate herself; she never missed a day. Whenever she had money to spare, she used it to buy firewood and rice for Yang Laoshi's daughter. She supported two people on her own, which was truly not easy.

Setting this matter aside for now.

Turning to the minions (the petty underlings of the mountain stronghold), who carried this mirror back up the mountain...

These underlings carried the mirror back up the mountain, reported to the Great King, and then went to see Zhang Biao to relate the whole matter again. Zhang Biao accepted the mirror and placed it in his room, and □□ entered the room to rest. Before long, numerous immortals walked in one after another, facing □□□□□□□□□, and Zhang Biao himself could not make out what was happening.

He pondered it the whole night, and the next day he told the matter to the Bird Mountain Great King. The Great King said with delight, "Hearing you say so, this must be a treasure. Prime Minister Kuikui has now sent men to paint the likeness of the treasure and search everywhere. Whoever offers the Mo Immortal Treasure Mirror will have his daughter betrothed to him by the Prime Minister. Why doesn't Master present this mirror and strive for fame and fortune? If you remain in these mountains, you will never have a chance to rise. I say this not to drive you away, but truly for your sake."

Zhang Biao reflected privately that what he had heard during his dream journey to the Moon Old Man's Palace matched the present circumstances, and so he agreed.

The two of them settled the matter, and the next day dispatched two underlings to carry the mirror on their backs, along with their luggage. The Bird Mountain Great King gave them fifty taels of silver for travel expenses, prepared farewell wine, and personally escorted them to the Ten-Li Pavilion (the place where the ancients saw off those setting out on long journeys). The two clasped hands and took their leave...