Five

The onlookers uttered a cry and rushed to save her. But, under a somber cloud, the waves in the river's heart broke into boiling foam, and they saw no further trace of that desperate woman.

Alas! She was an illustrious singer who was as beautiful as a flower or a jade. In an instant, the water had swallowed her.

The people, grinding their teeth, would have beaten Li and Sun; but these, in terror and dismay, made haste to push their boats out of the bank, and then went each his own way.

Li Chia, seeing the thousand ounces of silver in his cabin, wept ceaselessly for the death of Shih-niang. Because of his remorse, he became possessed by a kind of madness, which he could never get rid of.

Because of Sun's frustration, he had to keep his bed. He thought he saw Shih-niang standing in front of him all day and every day. It was not long before he confessed his crime in death. .

We must now tell how Liu, having left the capital to return to his own village, also halted at Kua-chow. Leaning over the river to take up some water in a bronze basin, he let the thing slip, and therefore begged certain anglers to drag their net for it.

When they drew up, there was a little box in the net. Liu opened it, and it was full of pearls and precious stones. He rewarded the anglers generously and placed the box near his pillow.

In the night, he had a dream. A young woman rose from the troubled waters of the river, and he recognized Shih-niang. She drew near, wishing him ten thousand happinesses. Then she recounted the unworthy ingratitude of Li and said,

There were a hundred and fifty ounces of the bounty that you gave me. I have not forgotten your generosity, and I have placed this gift box in the angler's net as a sign of recognition."

It was only then that he awoke, and he sighed for a long time after learning of Shih-niang's death.

There was a time when those who told the story declared that Sun, since he believed he could gain a beautiful woman for a thousand ounces, was evidently not a respectable person. According to them, Li Chia has not understood the sorrowful heart of Shih-niang, and he is therefore stupid, unrefined, and unworthy of mention of his past actions. There was no one more heroic than Shih-niang. As far back as ancient times, she was unique. The question is, why did she not meet a charming companion, some phoenix worthy of her love? How could she have made the mistake of falling in love with Li Chia? It was an admirable piece of jade that was thrown at a man who did not deserve it; so that his love turned into hate, and it sparked a thousand passionate feelings

Thus, impulses drowned in the deep water. Alas!