LIANXIANG

 There was a scholar surnamed Sang, name Xiao, word Ziming, was a native of Yizhou in Shandong Province; he lost his father when he was a child, and lived away from home in Honghuabu. He is quiet and calm, self-respect and self-love, only go out twice a day, to the east side of the neighbor's house to eat, the rest of the time are just sitting quietly in the house. The east neighbor's scholar came over by chance and joked, "Aren't you afraid of ghosts, monsters, and fox spirits living alone?" Sang Xiao laughed and replied, "What ghosts, monsters and foxes is a big man afraid of? When the male comes, I have a sharp sword; when the female comes, I have to open the door to welcome it." When this scholar went home, he discussed with his friends to catch Sang Xiao, and at night he passed a prostitute over the wall with a ladder. The prostitute knocked on Sang Xiao's door with her finger. Sang Xiao peered in and asked who it was, and the prostitute said she was a ghost. Sang Xiao was so scared that her teeth chattered. The prostitute hovers outside for a while and leaves. A neighboring scholar came to Sang Xiao's study in the morning, and Sang Xiao said that he had seen a ghost and that he intended to go back to his hometown. The scholar clapped his hands and said, "Why don't you open the door to greet her?" Sang Xiao realized at once that the ghost was a fake, and settled down to live on.

 After half a year, a woman came to knock on the door of the study again at night. Sang Xiao guess is a friend to play him again, then opened the door to invite the woman in, but a beautiful woman. Sang Xiao surprised to ask her where she came from, the woman said: "I'm called Lianxiang, is the west side of the brothel prostitutes." This port on the brothel is indeed a lot, Sang Xiao also believe. The two went to bed with the lights out, extremely lingering. Since then, Lianxiang three or five nights to come once.

 One night, Sang Xiao was sitting alone in meditation when a woman walked in lightly. Sang Xiao thought it was Lianxiang, welcome to talk to her. A look at the face, but it is another person, young only 15 or 16 years old, hanging sleeves, combing the girl's hair style, elegant and beautiful, between steps, like to retreat and like to enter. Sang Xiao very shocked, suspect that is a vixen. The woman said: "I am a good woman surnamed Li. Adore your elegance, I hope you can like me." Sang Xiao was very happy. When he held her hand, it was as cold as ice, so he asked, "Why is it so cold?" The woman said, "I have had a very weak constitution since I was a child, and how can I not be cold when I wear frost and dew at night!" Then she undressed, and the two of them made love, and the girl was clearly a virgin. The woman said, "I lost my maidenhood in one day for the sake of love. If you don't mind my vulgarity and ugliness, I would like to serve you from time to time. There is no one else in the house, is there?" Sang Xiao said, "No one else, only a prostitute next door, but she doesn't come often." The woman said, "You must be careful to avoid her. I'm not like the prostitute, so you have to keep it a secret and not reveal it. If she comes, I'll leave. If she leaves, I'll come." When the rooster crowed and the woman was about to leave, she handed a curved embroidered shoe to Sang Xiao and said, "This is what I wear on my feet, and you can play with it to hold on to your feelings. But don't play with it when someone is there!" Sang Xiao took it and saw that the shoe was thin and sharp, like an awl for untangling knots. He loved it very much. The next night, there was no one in the house, so Sang Xiao took out the shoes and played with them. The woman suddenly came like a gust of wind, and the two made out. From then on, whenever Sang Xiao took out the shoe, the woman would definitely come to him. Sang Xiao felt strange, so he questioned her. She laughed and said, "It's just a coincidence."

 One night, Lianxiang came and said in surprise, "Why do you look so shriveled?" Sang Xiao said, "I don't feel it myself." Lianxiang then said goodbye and left, promising to come back in ten days. After she left, Li came every day and was not empty for a night. She asked Sang Xiao, "Why did your lover not come for so long?" Sang Xiao then told her about Lianxiang's appointment. Li laughed and said, "Who do you think is beautiful, Lianxiang or I?" Sang Xiao said, "You can be said to be two of the best on earth, both very beautiful, only Lian Xiang's skin is warm." Li immediately had a change of color in her face and said, "When you say both are beautiful, you are only talking to me. She must be like a moon palace nymph, and I am certainly no match for her." Thus very unhappy. Then, counting on her fingers that the ten days were almost up, she instructed Sang Xiao not to divulge it, intending to sneak a peek at Lianxiang.

 The next night, Lian Xiang did come, talking and laughing, very intimate. When she went to bed, Lianxiang was very surprised and said, "It's bad! I haven't seen you for ten days, why are you more tired? You dare to guarantee that you have not met other female sex?" Sang Xiao asked her why she said so. She said, "I judge from your aura, the pulse is scattered, like a messy silk, this is the disease of being lost in ghosts ah."

 The next night, Li came, and Sang Xiao asked, "What did you spy on Lianxiang like?" The girl said, "It's so beautiful. I had said that there was no such absolute beauty in the world, and it was really a fox. When she left, I followed her and it turned out that she lived in a cave in the southern mountain." Sang Xiao suspected that she was jealous and just casually answered her.

 Another night later, Sang Xiao joked with Lianxiang, "Of course I don't believe it, some people still say you are a fox." Lianxiang asked, "Who said that?" Sang Xiao laughed, "It was me who teased you." Lianxiang said, "How is a fox different from a human?" Sang Xiao said, "People who are addicted to foxes will get sick, and the strong ones will die, so it's scary." Lianxiang said, "That's not true. At your age, three days after intercourse, your vitality will be restored, so what harm is there in being a fox? If you indulge in sexual intercourse every day, even a human being is scarier than a fox. All the consumptives in the world died because they were hooked on foxes, didn't they? Even though you are teasing me, someone must be talking about me." Sang Xiao vigorously defended that there was none. Lianxiang pressed harder. Sang Xiao had no choice but to divulge it. Lian Xiang said, "I was already wondering why you were so tired. But how did it get to this level all of a sudden? Could it be that she's not human? You don't say, tomorrow night I'm going to peek at her like she peeked at me."

 That night Li came and only spoke a few words before hearing a coughing sound outside the window and rushed away. Lianxiang came in and said, "You're in danger! She really is a ghost! You covet her beauty, and if you don't hurry to break it off with her, you're not far from death!" Sang Xiao thought she was jealous and was silent. Lianxiang said, "I knew you couldn't get over her, but I can't bear to see you die. Tomorrow I will bring medicine and tonic to remove your Yin Poison. Fortunately, the roots of the disease are still shallow, and you will be well in ten days. Let me stay with you in the same bed and watch over you as you get well." The next night, Lianxiang did take out a small spoonful of medicine and gave it to Sang Xiao. He vomited two or three times in a short while, and felt that his internal organs were unclogged, and his spirit was immediately refreshed. Although he was grateful to Lianxiang in his heart, he never believed that Li was a ghost. Lianxiang night and night in a nest snuggling Sang Xiao; Sang Xiao want to make love with her, always be stopped by her.

 A few days later, Sang Xiao's skin plumped up. Lianxiang wants to say goodbye, and she earnestly urges her to cut off contact with Li. Sang Xiao pretended to agree. When he closed the door and lit the lamp, he took the embroidered shoes and played with them again, thinking about Li. Li suddenly came. A few days did not meet, she is very a little resentful look. Sang Xiao said, "Lianxiang a few nights in a row to cure me, you do not be angry with her, with you to be good lies in me." Li gradually happy. Sang Xiao whispered to her on the pillow, "I love you very much, but some people say you are a ghost." Li's mouth was open for a while, and then she cursed, "It must be that lecherous vixen who is bewitching you! If you don't cut her off, I won't come!" Said whimpering and crying. Sang Xiao said a lot of words to comfort and persuade, and only then did she stop.

 The next night, Lianxiang came, knowing that Li had been here again, and said angrily, "Do you have to want to die?" Sang Xiao laughed, "Why are you so deeply jealous?" Lianxiang even more angry, said: "You planted the root of death, I remove it for you, is jealousy, then how should not be jealous?" Sang Xiao made up a set of words and joked, "People say that my original disease, is a fox." Lianxiang then sighed and said, "If there is really the kind of gossip you said, and you are obsessed, in case there is a long or short, even if I have a hundred mouths, how can I defend myself clearly? Please let me take my leave. In a hundred days I shall see you sick in bed." Sang Xiao could not keep her, and Lianxiang went away very unhappily. From then on Li always accompanied Sang Xiao in the morning and evening. After about two months or so, Sang Xiao felt very tired. At first, she was relieved; then she lost weight day by day, and could only drink a bowl of porridge every day. He wanted to go home to recuperate, but he was so attached to Li that he couldn't bear to leave right away. After a few days of this, he became so sick that he could no longer get up. The neighboring scholar saw that he was sick and tired, and sent his servant boy to bring him food and drink every day. Sang Xiao did not suspect Li until this time, and said to her, "I regret not listening to Lianxiang, and have come to such a pass!" When he finished speaking, he fainted. After a while he woke up, opened his eyes and looked around, Li had already left, and from then on she never came back.

 Sang Xiao lies thin in the empty study, thinking of Lianxiang, like a hungry man hoping for the grain to ripen. One day, he was meditating, suddenly someone lifted the curtain and came in, it was Lianxiang. She approached the bedside and sneered, "You should believe what I said now." Sang Xiao choked for a long time, saying that he already knew his sins and only begged for help. Lian Xiang says, "You're already too sick to be saved. I just came to say goodbye to you for good, to show that I am not jealous." Sang Xiao was extremely sad and said, "There is something under the pillow, please destroy it for me." Lianxiang found the embroidered shoe, took it to the lamp, and looked at it again and again. Li suddenly came in, saw Lianxiang at once, turned back and tried to escape. Lianxiang blocked the doorway with her body, Li was embarrassed and anxious, not knowing where to go. Sang Xiao accused her, and she had nothing to say in reply. Lianxiang laughed, ''It is only now that I have the opportunity to confront you face to face. You used to say that Lang Jun's last illness might have been caused by me, so what exactly is going on now?" Li bowed her head and admitted her mistake. Lianxiang said, "You are so beautiful, yet you are feuding over love?" Li immediately fell to the ground and wept, begging Lianxiang for mercy and help. Lianxiang then helped her up and questioned her in detail about her life. Li said: "I am the daughter of Mr. Li, who died young and was buried outside this wall. I am like a dead silkworm, my remaining love is not yet finished. It was my heart's desire to meet and love with my Lang; and to have my Lang killed was really not my intention." Lianxiang said, "I have heard that ghosts wish their lovers to die because they can get together more often after death, is that right?" Li said, "No. There is no pleasure in the meeting of two ghosts, male and female; if there were pleasure, would there be fewer young boys in the nether world!" Lianxiang said, "You are so silly! Doing that kind of thing every night, even with a human can't stand it, let alone with a ghost?" Li asked, "Foxes can kill people, what's the best way for you not to do so?" Lianxiang said, "That is the stream of picking people's essence blood to tonify themselves, I am not in that category. So there are foxes in the world that don't harm people, but there are definitely no ghosts that don't harm people, because ghosts have too much yin energy." Sang Xiao listened to their words and realized that foxes and ghosts are both real. Fortunately, she was used to seeing them, and she was not scared at all at this time. Just think of their own life-threatening, breath like a swimmer, do not feel lost in tears.

 Lianxiang looks at Li and says, "What can we do about Langjun?" Li's red face said she had no way. Lianxiang laughed and said, "I'm just afraid that if Langjun is strong and healthy, the vinegar lady will have to eat sour prunes again." Li straightened her clothes and bowed down, saying, "If a marvelous physician cures Langjun's illness and alleviates my sins, I will surely hide in the Nine Springs forever in the future, where would I dare to come to earth again with a thick skin!" Lianxiang unzipped her pockets and took out the medicine, saying, "I had known that this day would come, and after parting, I went to the immortal mountains to collect the medicine, and it took me three months before the medicine was ready. Anyone who died of color consumption, ate this medicine is not bad. But what the disease starts from, what must still be taken as the medicine, so I had to ask you in turn to contribute." Li asked, "What do you need me for?" Lianxiang said, "Just a little fragrant saliva from your little cherry mouth. I'll put a pill into Langjun's mouth and trouble you to feed him some saliva mouth to mouth." Li's face flushed and she turned around with her head down to look at her shoes. Lianxiang joked, "It's only the embroidered shoes that sister is pleased with!" Li was even more ashamed, looking down and looking up, she was simply ashamed of herself. Lianxiang said, "This is your usual customary familiar action, why are you stingy now?" Saying this, she put the pill into Sang Xiao's mouth and turned back to urge her. Li had no choice but to feed Sang Xiao a mouthful of saliva. Lianxiang said, "Again!" Li fed another mouthful. After feeding a total of three or four mouthfuls, the pill had been swallowed. A moment later, Sang Xiao's stomach rumbled like thunder. Lianxiang put another pill into his mouth, then blew into his mouth lip to lip herself. Sang Xiao only felt that his dantian was on fire and his spirit was revitalized. Lian Xiang said, "There!" Li heard the rooster crow and bid a fond farewell and left.

 Lianxiang, because Sangxiao was just sick and still needed to be recuperated, was not a good idea to shack up in the neighborhood; so she unlocked the gate, letting people think that Sangxiao had gone back to his hometown, thus cutting off her interactions with outsiders, and guarding him day and night by herself. Li also came every night, attentively waited on him, and treated Lianxiang as she would a sister. Lianxiang also liked her very much. After three months, Sang Xiao recovered his health completely. Li did not come for a few nights: occasionally she came, took a look and left. She was also sullen when everyone was together. Lianxiang often kept her to sleep with her, and she always refused. Once, Sang Xiao chased her out and carried her back, her body light as if she were a straw man. Seeing that she couldn't run away, Li lay down with her clothes and curled her body up, less than two feet long. Lianxiang even more compassionate her, secretly told Sang Xiao intimate embrace her, but shaking also shake her not wake up. Later, Sang Xiao fell asleep; when she woke up and looked for her, she was gone. The next ten days or so, she never came again. Sang Xiao missed her so much that she often took out her embroidered shoes and fiddled with them with Lianxiang. Lianxiang said, "I would love to see such a slender and graceful woman, let alone a man!" Sang Xiao said: "Usually, when I fiddle with the embroidered shoes, she will come, I do have some suspicion in my heart, but I can't imagine that she is a ghost. Now to the shoes, remember her appearance, really sad." Said shed tears.

 Before this, the rich family Zhang had a daughter called Yan'er, fifteen years old, got sick and couldn't sweat to death. After one night, she woke up again, got up and ran out of the house. The Zhangs barred the door and couldn't get out. She said, "I am the ghost of the daughter of Mr. Li. I fell in love with Sang Lang, and the embroidered shoes I left for him are still with him. I am indeed a ghost, what good will you do by keeping me here?" Hearing that she had a reason for her words, the Zhang family asked her how she came here. The girl wandered and looked around, but couldn't tell them exactly. Some people said that Sang Xiao was sick and had returned home, but the girl argued that this was not true. The Zhang family was very puzzled. The scholar from Sang Xiao's neighbor to the east heard about it and climbed the wall to Sang Xiao's place to spy, and saw that he was talking with a beautiful woman; he burst into the house, and the beautiful woman had disappeared in the middle of the chaos. The scholar was surprised and questioned Sang Xiao. Sang Xiao laughed and said, "I've told you before, if it's a female, take it in." The scholar relayed Yan'er's words. Sang Xiao then opens the gate, intending to go and pry, but suffering from no excuse to go to the Zhang family.

 When Zhang Yan'er's mother heard that Sang Xiao had really not returned home, she felt even more strange. She sent an old servant to ask him for embroidered shoes, and Sang Xiao took them out and gave them to her. Yan'er got the shoes is very happy, try to wear, shoes than feet more than an inch smaller, greatly surprised. Taking a mirror to look at herself, she suddenly realized that she had borrowed someone else's body and resurrected, so she told the whole story. Only then did Zhang's mother believe it. The girl wept bitterly in the mirror, saying: "My former appearance, I can still be very confident, but every time I see Lianxiang, still a few ashamed. Now that I have become like this, it is better to be a human than a ghost!" Holding the shoes, he cried bitterly, and could not be persuaded. Lying under the covers again, she did not eat even if she was given food, and her body was swollen; she did not eat for seven days in total, but the swelling gradually subsided; she felt unbearably hungry, and only then did she eat again. After a few days, her body was itchy and her skin fell off. When I got up in the morning, my sleeping shoes fell off, and when I found them, they were too big to wear. Then take the previous embroidered shoes to try on, fat and thin just right, so happy. Then she looked in the mirror and saw that her eyebrows, eyes and cheeks were exactly the same as before, and she was even happier. When she went to see her mother after freshening up, everyone looked at her with surprise.

 When Lianxiang heard about this strange story, she advised Sang Xiao to ask a matchmaker to marry her; however, Sang Xiao did not dare to act rashly because of the big difference between the rich and the poor. On the occasion of Zhang's mother's birthday, Sang Xiao accompanied her sons and daughters-in-law to pay their respects. When she saw Sang Xiao's name, she asked Yan'er to identify the guest through the curtain. When Sang Xiao finally arrived, Yan'er ran out and pulled his sleeve, wanting to go home with him. Mother Zhang rebuked her, and only then did she go into the inner room in shame. When Sang Xiao saw that Yan'er looked exactly like Miss Li, he burst into tears and fell to the ground, refusing to get up. Mother Zhang helped him up and didn't think he was rude. Sang Xiao came out and begged Yan's uncle to be the matchmaker. Zhang's mother discussed with him to choose a good date to invite him to be her son-in-law.

 Sang Xiao went back to tell Lian Xiang and discussed with her what to do. Lianxiang was upset for a long time and was about to say goodbye to Sang Xiao and leave. Sang Xiao was shocked and cried. Lianxiang said, "If you go to someone else's house to get married, what will happen if I go with you?" Sang Xiao planned to go home with her and then marry Yan'er, and Lianxiang agreed. Sang Xiao told the Zhang family about the situation. When the Zhang family heard that he had a wife, they scolded him angrily. Yan'er tried her best to defend him, and the Zhang family agreed to his request.

 On the day of the wedding, Sang Xiao went to the Zhang family to welcome the bride. The house was very simply decorated; when he came back to receive the sedan chair, he saw that from the doorway to the hall, the floor was covered with blankets, and thousands of lanterns were arranged in a brilliant manner, surrounded by flowers, which was very rich and magnificent. Lianxiang help the bride into the bridal chamber, after removing the cover, the two happy as old friends reunion. Lianxiang accompanied by drinking a cup of wine, and then asked in detail about the return of the soul. Yan'er said: "That day I was in a melancholy mood and had nothing to look forward to, only because I was a ghost and felt ugly myself. After we parted, my heart was so ghostly and angry that I didn't return to the grave, so I drifted with the wind and wandered around, envying the living as soon as I saw them. In the daytime, he leaned against the woods and grass, and at night, he walked around with faith. By chance, I walked to Zhang's house, saw a young girl lying on the bed, approached and attached to it, and did not know that it would come to life in this way." Lianxiang listened to these words and silently pondered.

 After two months, Lianxiang gave birth to a son. After giving birth, she became acutely ill, and her condition grew heavier every day. She grabbed Yan'er's arm and said, "I entrust the little child to you, my son is your son." With tears in her eyes, Yan'er comforted her and called for a sorcerer and a doctor for her, but she always refused. Later, she became seriously ill and was dying, with only a trace of breath left. Sang Xiao and Yan Er both cried. Lianxiang suddenly opened her eyes and said, "Don't be like this! You are happy to live, I am happy to die. If there is fate, we can meet again in ten years." After saying that, she died. Sang Xiao lifted the quilt to prepare the coffin, and her corpse turned into a fox. He couldn't bear to see her as an animal and buried her in a grand manner. The son she gave birth to was named Fox Er, and Yan Er raised him as if he were her own son. Every Ching Ming, must hold him to Lianxiang tomb to cry and sacrifice.

 Later on, Sang Xiao was awarded the title of Lifu, and his family became gradually rich. Yan'er, on the other hand, suffered from not being able to have children. Fox Er was very smart, but her body was thin and sickly. Yan'er often wished that Sang Xiao would take a concubine. One day, the maid suddenly said, "There is an old woman outside the door with a daughter who says she wants to sell." Yan'er called Jean in. At first sight, extremely surprised, said: "Is it Lianxiang sister regeneration!" Sang Xiao looked at the girl, really like Lianxiang, also surprised. They asked the old woman: "How old is the girl?" The old woman replied, "Fourteen." "How much bride price do you want?" The old woman said, "My wife only has this piece of flesh and blood, so as long as I let her have a good place to go, I also have a place to eat, and in the future, my old bones will not be thrown into the ravine, I will be satisfied." Sang Xiao gave her a generous price and left the girl behind. Yan'er held the girl's hand and walked into the secret room, cupped her chin and said with a smile, "Do you recognize me?" The girl replied, "No." Asking her last name, she said, "My last name is Wei. My father was a wine seller in Xu Cheng and died three years ago." Yan'er flexed her fingers and thought carefully, Lian Xiang died exactly fourteen years ago. And carefully look at the girl, instrument appearance, demeanor and manners, there is not one thing that does not look like Lianxiang. So she patted the top of the girl's head and shouted, "Sister Lianxiang! Sister Lian Xiang! The promise to meet after ten years, should not lie to me!" The girl suddenly woke up like she was waking up from a dream, her heart opened up and she shouted, "Huh!" Looking fixedly at Yan'er. Sang Xiao laughed, "This is called 'déjà vu yan return' ah!" The girl shed tears and said, "Yes. I heard my mother say that I could talk when I was born, and they thought it was unlucky to feed me with dog's blood, so I forgot about my past life karma. Only today I woke up as if in a dream. Isn't my mother the Sister Li who is ashamed to be a ghost?" They talked about their past lives together with mixed feelings of sadness and joy.

 One day was the Cold Food Festival, and Yan'er said, "This is the day of the year on which Lang and I cry for our sister." So she went with the girl, so that she could see Lianxiang's grave for herself, only to see that the grass was thick and the tree at the head of the grave was already as thick as an embrace. Faced with this scene, the girl also sighed. Yan'er said to Sang Xiao, "Sister Lianxiang and I have been friends for two lifetimes and cannot bear to be separated, so we should let our white bones be buried together in the same grave." Sang Xiao obeyed her, dug up Li's grave, picked out the bones, and brought them back to be buried with Lianxiang. When relatives and friends heard of this strange event, they all came to the cemetery dressed in ceremonial garments, and there were several hundred who came to the meeting without invitation.