two stood before the prime minister. Behind them another figure entered. On his head was a kerchief tied with the ends turned up and toward each other in the shape of a Chinese scepter. His robe was embroidered satin and his shoes were those of an official. His face was white and square in shape. In his hands he carried a writing brush and tablet.
One more figure appeared. On his head he wore a soft blue kerchief wound and tied into a turban, while on his body was a robe decorated with medallions of flowers in five colors against a dark-blue background. On his feet he wore soft, dark cloth slippers. His skin was a light, sickly purple in color, his eyebrows heavy and long, shading his widely spaced eyes. His hands were manacled and his ankles in fetters. With his hands he dragged the long chains with which he was bound and the heavy lock that fastened them together. He had a dry, emaciated look. His tangled hair was tied in a loose knot and his beard was like trampled grass.
Prime Minister Qin gazed at him and exclaimed, “Alas!” Yes, it was his adoptive father and patron, Qin Guai, returning home as a baleful ghost! Behind him followed a small demon with a kerchief of glazed material tied about its head. Green clay seemed to cover its face, and above its two protruding golden eyes were pointed vermilion eyebrows. Its body seemed to be painted with lacquer, and around its waist was tied an apron of tiger skin. In its hands it held a huge cudgel studded with wolves’ teeth, which he held close behind the back of Qin Guai.
“My old father!” exclaimed Prime Minister Qin. “I thought that you would have been in heaven long ago. Who would have thought that you could still be suffering in the underworld! Why don’t you go ahead and return now? Tomorrow your child will definitely invite high-ranking Daoists and Buddhists to raise you from suffering, that you may quickly ascend to heaven.”
Qin Guai answered: “Son, for your father’s sake, while you are yet in the world of light occupying your high position, return to the path of virtue before father and son-in-law both go down in the stormy sea. When men inspire hatred, heaven above is angry. Now I am punished in the black depths of hell, suffering every imaginable misery. From there I was ordered by the grand secretary of the Buddhist disciples in heaven to come home to you in this terrible form, to admonish you and to dissuade you from your evil course. You are the embodiment of the prime minister’s office. You must do good deeds, promote the prosperity of all, and be virtuous. You not only failed to do good deeds, but you wanted to destroy a Buddhist building, a monstrous sin of the deepest kind. Because you tried to destroy the Great Memorial Pagoda in the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat and locked up the monks, I want you to listen to my wholesome advice. Release the monks quickly; then restore the Great Memorial Pagoda completely.”
Just as the ghost had spoken to this point, the huge demon with the pitchfork said, “Brothers, take him away.” There was a tremendous roar as the demon shook his flaming iron pitchfork. Qin Guai fell to the ground, was pulled to his feet, and then left with the others.
Prime Minister Qin called to him: “Father, wait! Your child has something more to say!”
But the demons paid no attention simply saying, “Lead on.”
The prime minister was starting forward to grasp him when he suddenly heard the sound of a bell and opened his eyes.
CHAPTER 11
Zhao Bin stealthily visits the estate of Prime Minister Qin; the guiltless Wang Xing is mercilessly punished
In winter, to remember spring’s not far away,
We pile the willow twigs in the roof’s frost,
But wine is given to us that we may drink,
And grieve for sons and grandsons we have lost.
ONCE Prime Minister Qin had his eyes open, he realized that the dream about the demons leading his adoptive father had all come from things that existed only in his imagination. He threw the candle down upon the floor. At that moment a serving woman who was on night duty came into the room and picked up the candle before it could go out. His wife, who was inside the curtained bed, also awoke and asked, “Why is the Great One so disturbed at such trifles?”
Prime Minister Qin replied, “Just now I was reading a book and I had a sudden shock. I fell asleep and entered the land of dreams. There, I saw my old adoptive father and patron returning home as a frightful ghost, chained hand and foot, under the escort of several demon guards. He explained to me my sins in the world of light. I am planning now to stop the work of destruction at the Great Memorial Pagoda and to release all the monks. What do you think, wife?”
When his wife heard this, she laughed and replied, “Great One, you are a true man of books. How can you still believe in such heresies as supernatural powers and disorderly spirits?”
When Prime Minister Qin heard these words from his wife, he again suppressed his heart’s natural goodness. He asked the serving woman what time it was.
She replied, “Just now the third drum sounded.”
Prime Minister Qin said, “Pass on my order that in the third watch I will be at the outer library to conduct a close interrogation of the mad monk. I must punish him severely.”
Just as he spoke these words, they noticed that the candle lantern in the room was making a sound like heavy breathing, and that the flame of the candle had become a foot high. Prime Minister Qin gasped. When he rashly commanded the candle flame to come back to its usual height, the flame did diminish, but it flared up again and continued moving to and fro like a weaver’s shuttle. The stub of the candle was no larger than a date stone. The room was filled with a green light. After this had happened three times, Prime Minister Qin took down the precious family heirloom sword and pointed it at the candle. Suddenly, the candle began to produce two flames. Prime Minister Qin took another sword and the two flames became four. As the prime minister made slash after slash with his swords, the whole room was filled with the light of candle flames circling and whirling round and round.
Next he heard his wife cry out, “Great One! A demon with a huge head is standing outside the gate. Its head can be seen right up above the screen!”
The serving woman said, “But this is terrible. There is a demon squatting under the table and gnashing its long, ugly teeth! Look quickly by the bamboo blind there! That is one of our local demons. It is actually nodding its head.”
Prime Minister Qin asked his wife to sound the gong calling the household people so that they might come and do battle with the demons. His wife and the serving woman went outside to call for help. The household people outside rushed in upon hearing that demons were bedeviling the inner courtyard and came to a stop in front of the prime minister. As they arrived, they heard a terrible scream. One demon seemed to be wounded and its head was bleeding. The men cried out at the awful sight. One of them shouted, “Honorable Prime Minister, there is a spirit wearing a cangue. It is incredible.” People everywhere had always said that no one had ever seen a ghost wearing a cangue, one of those cumbersome wooden collars worn as a punishment, yet now one had appeared.
“Look, Honorable Prime Minister,” another cried. “There is the spirit of someone who has hanged himself. How dreadful!”
“Honorable Prime Minister, there is a demon with no head!” called still another. “There are also other mischievous spirits.”
Now all these things that seemed to be happening were creations of Ji Gong’s Buddhist arts. At the time that Prime Minister Qin had instructed those twenty household people to confine and guard Ji Gong and the other monks, Qin Sheng had talked with the others gathered on the veranda watching the proceedings.
