Journey to the West 9

8/8/2019 Journey to the West 9

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Journey To The West 9

Chapter 9Chen Guangrui Comes to Grief on His Way to

His PostThe Monk of the River Current Avenges HisParentsThe story goes on to tell that Chang'an city inthe great land of Shaanxi had been a placewhere emperors andkings had made their capitals for generationafter generation. Ever since the Zhou, Qin and

Han dynasties, theThree Prefectures had been as rich as brocade,and the eight rivers had flowed round its walls.It was indeed afamous country. At that time Emperor Taizongof the Great Tang was on the throne. He hadchanged thename of the reignperiod to Zhenguan, and had

been reigning for thirteen years. The year wasjisiand theworld was at peace; tribute was being sent infrom the eight directions, and all within the fourseasacknowledged themselves as subjects.One day Taizong took his seat on the throneand assembled all his military and civilian

officials. When theyhad finished making their greetings, theminister Wei Zheng came forward from theranks of officials and


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memorialized, "As the world is now at peaceand the eight directions are calm, anexamination should be heldin accordance with the practice of the ancients.

Thus we could recruit wise scholars and selectmen of talent tohelp with our civilizing mission.""The suggestion of our wise minister is right,"said the Emperor, and notices inviting worthymen to competein the examinations were posted throughout theempire. All the Confucian scholars on the civilor militaryrolls in every prefecture, district and countywho had distinguished themselves in thethreestageexaminations for their understanding ofliterature were to go to Chang'an for a final test.When this notice reached the district of Haizhouit was seen by a man called Chen E, whosecourtesy namewas Guangrui. He returned home and said toMadame Zhang, his mother, "The court hasissued a yellownotice saying that the Chancellery will beopened for an examination to select men ofwisdom and talent.

Your child wants to go and take part. If I amgiven an official post it will bring me fame andmake our familyillustrious; my wife will be given a title, my sonswill be given preferential treatment; and it willbring glory


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to our house. Such is my ambition; and I havecome to tell you, mother, that I am going.""You are a scholar, my son," his mother replied,"and it is right that 'one who studies when

young shouldtravel when grown up'. But do take care on the

journey to the examinations, and if you aregiven office, comeback home as soon as you can." Chen Guangruithen ordered his servants to get his luggagetogether, took hisleave of his mother, and started off on his

journey. When he reached Chang'an theexamination grounds wereopen and he went in. Having been successful inthis examination, he went to the palace for thethree questionstest. The Tang Emperor personally awarded himthe first place, and he was paraded round thestreets onhorseback for three days.It happened that just when the procession waspassing the gateway of the minister YinKaishan, the minister'sunmarried daughter Wenqiao, whose othername was Mantangqiao (Beauty Throughoutthe Hall), was

making decorations for the house and throwingan embroidered ball to see who her futurehusband would be.When Chen Guangrui passed below she saw atonce that he was exceptionally handsome, andshe knew that


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found that the district of Jiangzhou needs aprefect. I beg Your Majesty to give him thisoffice." The Emperortherefore appointed him prefect of Jiangzhou

and ordered him to pack his belongings and setoff as he had tobe there by a set date. Chen Guangrui thankedthe Emperor for his grace and withdrew. Hewent back to theminister's mansion and consulted his wife, thenhe took his leave of his parentsinlaw and setoff togetherwith her for his post in Jiangzhou.It was late spring as they left Chang'an at thestart of their journey. Warm breezes werecoaxing the willowsinto green, and light rain was touching theblossoms with red. Chen Guangrui was able tocall at his ownhome on the way, so he and his bride could paytheir respects to his mother, Madame Zhang."Congratulations, my son," she said. "And youhave brought a bride back with you too.""Thanks to my mother's blessings, your sonwas placed first in the examinations," hereplied, "and given aparade through the streets on His Majesty's

orders. As I was passing the gateway ofminister Yin's residence, Ihappened to be hit by an embroidered ball, andthe minister was kind enough to give me hisdaughter's hand.


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The court has appointed me prefect ofJiangzhou, so I have come to fetch you, mother,and take you with meto my post." Madame Zhang was overjoyed, and

she packed her luggage and traveled with them.One night, after they had been on the road forseveral days, they put up at the Liu theSecond's Ten ThousandFlowers Inn, where Madame Zhang wassuddenly taken ill."As I'm not feeling well," she said to her son,"I'd better stay in this inn for a couple of days toget over itbefore going on." Chen Guangrui accepted hersuggestion. The next morning he saw a manselling agoldencoloured carp in front of the inn andbrought it from him for a string of copper coins,intending tohave it lightly fried for his mother. Then henoticed it blinking."It's said that if a fish or a snake blinks it is noordinary creature," he thought. He asked thefisherman wherehe had caught it."In the Hongjiang River, five miles from theprefectural capital," the fisherman replied. Chen

Guangrui hadthe fish taken back to the Hongjiang River to bereleased there, then went back to the inn to tellhis motherabout what had happened.


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"It is good to release living things," his mothersaid, "and I am very pleased." Then ChenGuangrui said, "Wehave been at this inn for three days, and the

time limit set for me is a tight one, so I must beon my waytomorrow morning. Are you well enough yet,mother?""I'm still poorly," his mother replied, "and it's sohot to travel now that I'm afraid it might makeme seriouslyill. You had better take a couple of rooms for meand leave me some money; I'll stay here for thetime being.

You two can go on ahead to your post. Comeback to fetch me in the autumn when it'scooler." Havingdiscussed it with his wife he rented a wing forher and gave her some money, then they tooktheir leave of herand set off.It was a hard journey, setting off every day atdawn and not stopping till nightfall, and beforethey realized itthey reached the ford over the HongjiangEstuary. They saw two boatmen, Liu Hong andLi Biao, punt their

ferry to the bank for them. This was the disaster,these were the enemies, that Chen Guangruihad been fatedto meet ever since before he was born. He toldhis servant to put the luggage on board, whilehe and his wife


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climbed sedately into the boat. Liu Hong staredat Miss Yin, and saw that her face was like a fullmoon, hereyes like autumn waves, her tiny mouth like a

cherry, and her waist as supple as a willow; hercharms wouldhave made fishes sink and wild geese fall fromthe sky, and her beauty put moon and flowers toshame. Evilthoughts surged up in him, and he conspiredwith Li Biao to punt the boat to a misty anddeserted place andwait till the middle of the night, when they killedfirst the servant and then Chen Guangrui. Theypushed boththe corpses into the river and went away.When the young lady saw her husband killedshe tried to fling herself into the water, but LiuHong put hisarms round her and said, "If you come with me,you'll be all right; but if you don't, I'll cut you inhalf." Unableto think of any other way out, the young ladyhad to agree to stay with Liu Hong for the timebeing at least.The murderer took the boat across to theSouthern bank and gave it to Li Biao. Then he

dressed up in ChenGuangrui's clothes and, armed with the deadman's credentials, went with the young lady totake up his post inJiangzhou.


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The corpse of the murdered servant floated withthe current, but Chen Guangrui's body sankstraight to thebottom and did not move. A patrolling yaksha

demon stationed at the Hongjiang Estuary sawhim and rushedstraight back to the dragon palace to report. Hearrived just as the dragon king was entering thethronehall."Someone has murdered a learned gentleman atthe Hongjiang Estuary, and thrown the bodyinto the bed ofthe river," he reported. The dragon king had thebody brought in and laid in front of him. Afterexamining itcarefully he said, "This is the benefactor whosaved my life: why has he been murdered? Asthe saying goes,'Always repay a kindness'. I must save his lifetoday to repay him for the favour he did me inthe past." Hewrote a memorandum and sent a yaksha with itto the city god and local god of Hongzhouasking for thescholar's soul so that he could save his life. Thecity god and the local god told a junior devil togive Chen

Guangrui's soul to the yaksha, who took it backto the palace of crystal and reported to thedragon king."What is your name, scholar?" asked thedragon king. "Where are you from? Whatbrought you here, and why


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were you killed?"Chen Guangrui bowed to him and replied, "Myname is Chen E and my courtesy name isGuangrui. I come

from Hongnong County in Haizhou Prefecture. Iwas given first place in the recent examinations,and was onmy way with my wife to take up my post asprefect of Jiangzhou when we boarded a ferry atthe bank of thisriver. The boatman Liu Hong lusted after mywife, so he killed me and threw me overboard. Ibeg you to saveme, Your Majesty.""So that's how things stand," said the dragonking. "I am the golden carp you released. Yousaved me then, soI must help you now that you are in trouble." Hehad Guangrui's body placed beside a wall andput a "FacePreserving Pearl" in its mouth to stop it fromdecomposing so that the soul could be returnedto it in future forhim to obtain his revenge. "As you are now atrue soul, you shall stay in my palace for thetime being as acommander," the dragon king added. Chen

Guangrui kowtowed in thanks, and the dragonking gave a banquetto welcome him.Miss Yin's hatred for the villainous Liu Hongwas such that she wished she could eat hisflesh and spread his


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flayed hide on her bed, but as she was pregnantand the child had not yet been born she had toforce herself togo with him. In the twinkling of an eye they

reached Jiangzhou. The clerks and constablesall turned out towelcome him, and the subordinate officials inthe prefecture gave a banquet for him in themain hall of hisoffice."Now that I, your student, have come here, Ishall be entirely dependent on the support of allyou gentlemen,"said Liu Hong."Your honour is a great genius," the officialsreplied, "and you will naturally treat the peopleas your ownchildren, thus cutting down litigation andmaking punishment unnecessary. We will all beable to rely onyouyour excessive modesty is uncalled for."When the banquet was over they all went away.Time flew by. One day, when Liu Hong was faraway on official business, the young lady was inasummerhouse in the official residence sighingsadly as she thought of her motherinlaw and

her husband.Suddenly she felt weak and her belly started toache. She fell to the ground unconscious, andbefore she knew


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it she gave birth to a son. She heard a voice inher ear saying, "Mantangqiao, you must do asI tell you. I amthe Lord of the Southern Pole Star, and I have

come to give you this son on the orders of theBodhisattvaGuanyin. One day he will be extraordinarilyfamous. When the villainous Liu comes back hewill certainlywant to kill this boy, so you must look after himwith great care. Your husband has been rescuedby thedragon king; one day you will be reunited withhim and your son, and your sufferings will be atan end.Remember my words. Wake up, wake up!"When the young lady came to she rememberedevery word he had spoken, but as she wrappedthe baby tightin swaddling clothes, she could not think whatto do. When Liu Hong came back he wanted todrown the childthe moment he saw him, but the young ladysaid, "It's already dark: we can throw him in theriver tomorrow."Fortunately Liu Hong had to go a long way awayon urgent business the next day.

"If I wait till that villain returns my son will bekilled," thought the young lady, "so the bestthing would be toabandon him in the river as soon as possibleand let fate determine whether he is to live or dodie. If Heaven is


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merciful someone will rescue the boy and bringhim up, and we shall be reunited one day."Then, worryingthat she might not be able to recognize him, she

bit open her finger and wrote a letter in bloodgiving a fullaccount of his parentage and background. Thenshe bit off the little toe of the child's left foot tobe anidentifying mark, wrapped him up in one of herown shifts, and carried him out of the officialresidence whennobody was looking. Luckily the residence wasnot far from the river bank. When she reached itshe wept fora while and was just going to throw him in whenshe noticed a board floating beside the bank.The young ladybowed to Heaven in her gratitude and tied thechild to the board with her sash, placing theblood letter next tohis chest. Then she pushed him out into thestream to go where he would and returned tothe yamen in tears.The boy floated downstream on the plank untilhe came to a stop under the Jinshan Temple.The abbot of this

temple was a monk called Faming who bycultivating the Truth and being awakened to theWay had found thesecret of avoiding rebirth. As he was sitting athis meditation he heard a baby crying, and hehurried anxiously


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down to the riverside to look. He saw a babylying on a board beside the bank, and got himout of the water asquickly as he could. When he read the letter

written in blood that was on the baby's chest heknew why he wasthere. He gave the child the milkname Jiangliu,"River Current," and arranged for him to befostered. Theletter in blood he put away in a very safe place.Time passed like an arrow, and the days andmonths moved asfast as a shuttle. When Jiangliu reached the ageof seventeen the abbot told him to have hishead tonsured andenter the religious life. Giving him the Buddhistname Xuanzang he laid his hands upon his headandinstructed him to observe the monasticdiscipline. Xuanzang was determined tocultivate the Way.One day in late spring the whole communitygathered under the shade of some pine trees toexpound thescriptures, meditate and discuss the innermysteries. A bibulous, meateating monk whohad been confounded

in a disputation by Xuanzang lost his temperand started to abuse him: "You animal, youdon't know your ownsurname or who your parents were. Don't tryany of your clever tricks here." Stung by thisabuse, Xuanzang


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went into the temple and knelt before histeacher with tears streaming from his eyes."All men who are born between Heaven andEarth, and who are endowed with the Positive,

the Negative, andthe Five Elementsall are begotten by a fatherand reared by a mother," he said. "How canthere be any manalive who never had father and mother?" Hebegged over and over again to know hisparents' names."If you really wish to find out about your fatherand mother, come with me into my cell," saidthe abbot, andthey went there together. The abbot lifted downa little box from on top of a massive beam,opened it, took outa letter written in blood and a shift, and gavethem to Xuanzang, who unfolded the letter andread it. At last helearned about his parents and the wrongs theyhad suffered.When he had read it he collapsed, weeping andcrying out, "How can I be a man if I don't avengemy fatherand mother? For seventeen years I haven'tknown my own parents, but now I know that I

have a mother. Iwould not be alive today, teacher, had you notrescued me and brought me up. Please allowme to go and see


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my mother, then I will put an incenseburner onmy head and rebuild the temple to repay thegreat kindnessyou have shown me."

"If you want to go and look for your mother youhad better take the letter written in blood andthe shift withyou. If you go to the private residence of theprefect of Jiangzhou you will be able to see yourmother."

Xuanzang did as his teacher had said and wentto Jiangzhou as a mendicant monk. It happenedthat Liu Hongwas away on business, and as Heaven hadarranged for mother and son to meet, Xuanzangwent straight to thegateway of the residence to beg for alms. Miss

Yin had dreamt the previous night of the moonbeing eclipsedand then coming back to its full roundness."I have never heard from my motherinlaw,"she thought, "and my husband was murderedby that evil man.My son was abandoned on the river, and if hewas rescued and brought up, he would beseventeen now. Who

knows, perhaps Heaven is going to make usmeet today." As she was deep in her reflectionsshe heardsomeone chanting scriptures and calling foralms in front of her home, so she thought shewould go out and


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ask him where he had come from, and hereplied, "I am a disciple of Abbot Faming of theJinshan Temple.""A disciple of Abbot Faming of the Jinshan

Temple, are you?" she said. She asked him inand gave him avegetarian meal while observing closely the wayhe moved and talked.He seemed very much like her husband, so shesent the servants away and asked, "Tell me,young teacher,have you been a monk since childhood or didyou become one later in life? What is yourname? Do you havea mother and father?""I did not become a monk when I was a childnor when I was older," he replied. "I must tellyou that I bear ahatred as deep as the sea because of a terriblewrong. My father was murdered and my mothercarried off byan evil man. The Abbot Faming, my teacher, toldme to come and find my mother in the residenceof theprefect of Jiangzhou.""What is your mother's name?" she asked."My mother's name is Yin Wenqiao," he replied.

"My father was called Chen Guangrui. Mymilkname wasJiangliu, and my Buddhist name is Xuanzang.""I am Yin Wenqiao," she said, then added,"Have you any proof?" When he learned thatshe was his mother,


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Xuanzang fell to his knees and wept aloud."Mother," he said, "if you don't believe me, thenlook at this evidencethe blood letter and theshift." As

soon as she saw that they were the real ones,she and her son embraced each other and wept.Then she said, "Go away at once.""I can't possibly leave you, mother, on the veryday I've seen you after seventeen years of noteven knowingwho my parents were," he said."My child, you must go away as fast as youcan," she replied. "The evil Liu will certainly killyou if he comesback. Tomorrow I'll pretend to be ill and say thatI once made a vow to donate a hundred pairs ofmonks'shoes. I'll come to your temple to fulfil the vow,and I'll talk to you then." Xuanzang obedientlybowed to herand left.Now that she had seen her son Miss Yin wasboth anxious and happy. One day she said thatshe was ill, andshe lay in her bed refusing food and tea. WhenLiu Hong came back and asked what was thematter she said,

"When I was young I once vowed that I woulddonate a hundred pairs of monks' shoes. Fivedays ago Idreamt that a monk came with a sharp sword inhis hand to demand the shoes, and since then Ihaven't been


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feeling well."

"That's easily done," said Liu Hong. "Why didn'tyou mention it before?" He took his place in the

official halland gave instructions to yamen assistantsWang and Li that every household living in thecity of Jiangzhouwas to make a pair of monk's shoes and handthem in within five days.When the common people had handed all theshoes in, Miss Yin said to Liu Hong, "Now thatthe shoes havebeen made, what temples are there here towhich I can take them to fulfil my vow?""In Jiangzhou we have the Jinshan Temple andthe Jiaoshan Temple; you can go to whicheverof them youprefer," replied Liu Hong."I've long heard that the Jinshan Temple is agood one, so I'll go there," she said. Liu Hongtold the yamenassistants Wang and Li to arrange a boat. Miss

Yin went aboard with a trusted servant, theboatman pushedoff, and they headed for the Jinshan Temple.On his return to the temple Xuanzang gave

Abbot Faming a full account of what hadhappened. The abbotwas delighted. The next day a maid arrived atthe temple to say that her mistress was coiningto repay a vow,


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and all the monks came out to welcome her.When Miss Yin came into the temple she prayedto theBodhisattva, offered a rich meal to the monks

with a donation of money to each of them, andtold her maid toput the shoes and the summer socks into theoffertory tray. She then went into theBuddhahall andworshipped with great devotion. When she toldhim to, Abbot Faming went away to distributethe gifts to themonks. Xuanzang saw that all the other monkshad gone and that there was nobody else in theBuddhahall,so he went up to his mother and knelt down.She told him to take off his shoes and socksand saw that one toewas indeed missing from his left foot. The pairof them hugged each other and cried again,then they bowed tothe abbot to thank him for his kindness inbringing the boy up."I'm worried that the villain may get to know ofyour reunion," said the abbot, "so you hadbetter go back asquickly as you can to avoid trouble."

"My son," said Miss Yin, "I shall give you asandalwood bracelet. You must go to a placecalled the TenThousand Flowers Inn to the Northwest ofHongzhou, which is about five hundred milesfrom here, where we


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left Madame Zhang, your paternal grandmother.I shall also write you a letter that you must taketo the houseof the minister Yin Kaishan which lies to the left

of the palace inside the capital city of the TangEmperor. Heis my father. Give him this letter and ask him tosubmit a memorial to the Tang Emperor askinghim to sendhorse and foot to capture or kill that bandit.Then your father will be avenged and yourmother will berescued. I must stay no longer as I am afraidthat evil man may be suspicious if I am lateback." She left thetemple and went back in her boat.Xuanzang returned to the temple in tears andtold the abbot that he was leaving at once forHongzhou. Whenhe reached the Ten Thousand Flowers Inn hesaid to the innkeeper Liu the Second, "How isthe mother ofPrefect Chen of Jiangzhou who is staying inyour inn?""She used to stay here," replied the innkeeper."She went blind, and as she didn't pay any rentfor three or four

years, she now lives in a ruined tilekiln nearthe Southern gate and begs in the streets everyday to keepherself alive. That official went away a very longtime ago and she hasn't heard from him to thisday, though I


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don't know why." On learning this he asked theway to the ruined tilekiln at the Southern gateand found hisgrandmother.

"You sound like my son Chen Guangrui," saidhis grandmother."I'm not Chen Guangrui, I'm his son. My motheris Miss Yin Wenqiao.""Why have your father and mother not come?"she asked; and he replied, "My father wasmurdered by abrigand and my mother was forced to becomehis wife. I have a letter here and a sandalwoodbracelet frommy mother." His grandmother took the letterand the bracelet, and sobbed aloud. "My soncame here for thesake of fame and glory. I thought that he hadforgotten all feelings of decency and gratitude;it never occurredto me that he might have been murdered. Whata blessing that Heaven in its mercy did not cutshort my son'sline, so that I now have a grandson to come andfind me.""How did you go blind, granny?" askedXuanzang.

"I was always thinking of your father andlonging for him to come back every day," shesaid, "but as he neverdid I wept so much that! lost the sight of bothmy eyes." Xuanzang fell to his knees andprayed to Heaven.


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"Although I am seventeen," he said, "I havebeen unable to avenge my parents. Today I havecome on mymother's orders and found my grandmother; if

Heaven is at all moved by my sincerity, may mygranny's eyessee again." When he had prayed, he licked hereyes with the tip of his tongue. The licking soonopened them,and they could see once more.His grandmother looked at the little monk with amixture of joy and sadness and said, "You reallyare mygrandsonyou're the very image of my sonGuangrui." Xuanzang took her out of the kilnand reinstalled herin Liu the Second's inn, where he rented a roomfor her, gave her some money to live on, andtold her that hewould be back within a month.Taking his leave of his grandmother, he wentstraight on to the capital, where he foundMinister Yin's housein the Eastern Avenue of the imperial city. "I ama relation of the minister's," he said to thegatekeeper, "andI would like to see him."

When the gatekeeper reported this to theminister, he said, "I am no relation of anymonk." But his wife said,"I had a dream last night that our daughterMantangqiao came home; perhaps he has aletter from our


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soninlaw."The minister had the young monk brought intothe main hall, and when the monk saw theminister and his

wife he wept and bowed to the floor beforethem, then took an envelope out of his bosomand handed it to theminister. The minister opened the letter andread it through, then wailed aloud."What's the matter, my lord?" asked his wife,and the minister replied, "This monk is ourgrandson. Oursoninlaw Chen Guangrui was murdered by abrigand, who forced Mantangqiao to becomehis wife." Hiswife too began to weep bitterly when she heardthis news."Try not to upset yourself, wife," said theminister. "I shall ask our sovereign at courttomorrow morning to beallowed to lead an army myself. I shall certainlyavenge our soninlaw."The minister went to court the next day andwrote in a memorial to the Tang Emperor: "Yoursubject'ssoninlaw, the top graduate Chen Guangrui,was murdered by the boatman Liu Hong while

going with hisfamily to take up his office in Jiangzhou, and mydaughter was forced to become his wife. ThisLiu Hong has


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usurped office for many years by masqueradingas my soninlaw. This constitutes treason. Ibeg YourMajesty to dispatch horse and foot at once to

destroy this rebellious brigand."The Tang Emperor was so angry when he readthis that he ordered Minister Yin to set off at thehead of sixtythousand men of the Imperial Guard. Theminister left the court with the decree and wentto the parade groundto muster the soldiers before setting out forJiangzhou. By setting out at dawn every dayand not stopping tillnight, they traveled as fast as a shooting star ora flying bird, and before they realized it they hadreachedJiangzhou, where Minister Yin's army campedon the Northern bank. That night he sent amessenger with agoldinscribed tablet to summon the deputyprefect and district judge of Jiangzhou. MinisterTin explainedthe situation to them and told them to call outtheir troops to help him. They crossed the rivertogether, andsurrounded Liu Hong's yamen before dawn. Liu

Hong, who was still in his dreams, heard thesound of cannonand the beating of drums and gongs; when thesoldiers rushed his residence he was helplessand soon


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captured. The minister ordered that Liu Hongand his gang should be tied up and taken to theexecutionground, while the army was to encamp outside

the city walls.The minister went into the main hall of theyamen and asked his daughter to come out andsee him. Hisdaughter, who had been longing to go out, felttoo ashamed to face her father and so was onthe point ofhanging herself.When Xuanzang learned of this he went as fastas he could to save her, fell on his knees, andsaid, "Your sonand my grandfather have come here with anarmy to avenge my father. That brigand hasbeen arrested, sothere is no need at all for you to kill yourself. Ifyou die mother, I won't be able to stay alive."The ministertoo came into the residence to talk her out of it."They say that a woman should only have onehusband in her life," she said to them. "I wasbitterly grieved atthe death of my husband at that brigand'shands, and could not bear the disgrace of

marrying his murderer; butas I was carrying my husband's child I had toswallow the shame of staying alive. Now, thankgoodness, my


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son has grown up and my father has brought anarmy to avenge my husband but how could Ihave the face tosee you. The only way I can make up for it to my

husband is to kill myself.""My child," said the minister, "this was not acase of abandoning morality for the sake ofmaterial gain. Youacted under duress, and did nothing to beashamed of." Father and daughter thenembraced each other andwept, while Xuanzang sobbed too. "There is noneed for the two of you to be so distressed,"said the minister,wiping away his tears. "Today I have capturedour enemy, that rebel, and now I must deal withhim." He gotup and went to the execution ground.As it happened, the assistant prefect ofJiangzhou had sent constables to arrest theother pirate, Li Biao, andthey brought him in. The minister was verypleased, and he ordered that Liu Hong and LiBiao were to be putunder a close guard. They were each given ahundred strokes of the heavy pole, andstatements were taken

from them about how and why they hadcommitted the wicked murder of ChenGuangrui. Then Li Biao wasnailed on a wooden donkey and pushed to themarketplace, where he was sliced into athousand pieces, after


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which his head was hung up on public display.Liu Hong was taken to the Hongjiang Estuarywhere he hadmurdered Chen Guangrui. The minister, his

daughter and Xuanzang went to the riverside,where they madeofferings and libations to the emptiness and cutout Liu Hong's heart and liver while he was stillalive tosacrifice to Chen Guangrui. They also burnt afunerary address.The bitter lamentations of the three of themstartled the underwater palace. A patrollingyaksha demon handedthe funerary address to the dragon king. Whenhe had read it, the dragon king sent MarshalTurtle to ask ChenGuangrui to come and see him."Congratulations, sir, congratulations," said thedragon king. "Your lady, your son and yourfatherinlaw areall sacrificing to you on the bank. I shall nowreturn your soul to you and give you anAsYouWill pearl,two rolling pearls, ten pieces of mermaid silk,and a belt of jade studded with pearls. Todayyou will be

reunited with you wife, your son and yourmother." Chen Guangrui bowed to him over andover again toexpress his gratitude. The dragon king then tolda yaksha to take Chen Guangrui's body out tothe estuary,


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where he was to return the soul to it; and theyaksha obediently went off.When she had wailed for her husband andsacrificed to him, Miss Tin tried to jump into the

water to drownherself, but with a desperate effort Xuanzangmanaged to keep hold of her. Just at this tensemoment they sawa corpse floating towards the bank. Miss Yin,rushing forward to see who it was, recognized itas that of herhusband and started a great wailing. Everyoneelse had now come up to look, and they sawChen Guangruiopen his fist and stretch his foot as his bodygradually began to move. Suddenly he sat up, totheir greatastonishment. He opened his eyes, and the firstthing he saw was his wife, his fatherinlaw andthe youngmonk all weeping beside him."What are you all doing here?" he asked."After you were killed I gave birth to this son,"replied his wife, "and by a piece of good fortunehe wasbrought up by the abbot of the Jinshan Temple.When he came to find me I sent him to see my

father; andwhen my father knew what had happened hesubmitted a memorial at court and brought anarmy here to arrest


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your murderer, whose heart and liver we havejust plucked from his living body to sacrifice toyou. But how isit that your soul has been returned to you,

husband?""It is all because we bought and released thatgolden carp when we were staying at the TenThousand FlowersInn: the carp, it turned out, was the local dragonking. When that treasonous murderer pushedme into thewater I was rescued by the dragon king, whohas given me back my soul and presented mewith all thetreasures I have on me. I never had any idea thatyou had borne this son, or that myfatherinlaw hadavenged me. Our sorrows are now at an end.This is a very happy moment indeed."When the other officials heard what hadhappened they all came to offer theircongratulations, and theminister gave a banquet to thank all hissubordinates. The army set off on its return

journey that same day.When they reached the Ten Thousand FlowersInn the minister ordered them to encamp while

Guangrui andXuanzang went to the inn to find the old lady.The night before she had dreamt of a witheredtree blossomingagain while magpies made a clamorous dinbehind the building.


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"Perhaps my grandson has come," she thought,and while the words were still in her mind shesaw Guangruiand his son at the gate of the inn.

"Isn't this my grandmother?" said the littlemonk; and the moment Guangrui saw his agedmother hekowtowed to her. Mother and son embraced intears; then he told her all about what hadhappened. Theinnkeeper's account was presented and settled,and then they set off for the capital. When theyreached theminister's residence, Guangrui, his wife, hismother and Xuanzang all went in to see theminister's wife, whowas overcome with joy and told the servants tolay on a large banquet to celebrate."We can call today's banquet a 'reunionbanquet,'" said the minister, and the wholehousehold was indeedhappy.When the Tang Emperor entered the throne hallearly the next morning, Minister Yin steppedforward andsubmitted a memorial giving a detailed accountof what had happened, and recommending

Chen Guangrui asa man whose talents could be put to great use.The Tang Emperor approved the memorial andordered that


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Chen Guangrui should be appointed a Scholarin order to take part in administration at court.As Xuanzanghad decided to follow the contemplative life he

was sent to cultivate his conduct in the HongfuTemple. Lateron Miss Yin finally ended her life in a quiet andhonorable way, and Xuanzang went back to theJinshanTemple to report to Abbot Faming. If you don'tknow what happened afterwards, listen to theexplanation inthe next installment.

Documents

Journey to the West 9