As our story goes Hu Yong'r dreamt that she saw Holy Auntie arrive riding a stork. "My child!" the old woman cried out, "I'm here because I've heard you have taken a husband!"

Yong'r then told the entire story, baring her aching heart.

Your final destiny will still be played out at Beizhou," said the woman. "This is probably just a resting place along the way."

"Take me with you, Auntie!" pleaded Yong'r.

"It's not yet destined for you to leave your present body," answered Holy Auntie.

"And by what inheritance of Fate have I been married to that idiot?"

"When you were my daughter in your last life we sought shelter from the snow at the Guanwang Temple on Swordgate Mountain. There was a young Daoist there named Jia Qingfeng who took quite a fancy to you. But nothing came of his advances and you didn't reject him, so his love went on unrequitted, and because of his obsession for you he became ill and died. As he had lost his wits to love in his former time, he has been reborn as a fool in this life. But how heavy and deep is his love! Sure enough it has bloomed in his present Fate, joined with you as husband and wife. One part of destiny completed! Your final destiny, however, has its time and place awaiting you. So just bide your time patiently and refrain from performing any miracles that might make folks jealous. And if you meet with any sudden problems just look for me in Zhengzhou." Her words finished, Holy Auntie then remounted the stork and was off.

Yong'r awakened, remembering every line in her heart. Realising that this had all been ordained by Fate she accepted it and calmed down at once.

It was now the morning of the second day since Lady Zhang had returned from the wedding and her heart was heavy with concern for her daughter. She wondered how her girl had spent the night; certainly, she thought, her eyes must be red from crying. And so she sent two maidservants over to check. "She's delighted over there!" they reported upon returning. Mama couldn't believe this, but after a few repeated visits and similar reports she sighed in relief and put her worries aside, arguing no more with the squire about it. Now, for their part Squire Jiao and his wife had also feared that the new bride would be unhappy. Needless to say they were delighted to see how happy, filial and harmonious the new couple were. Squire Jiao visited the Hu family's home to express his gratitude, and from then on the two families had no more regular contact.

Now, although Yong'r and Han'ge had been pronounced man and wife they still slept miles apart in bed. Han'ge didn't know about worldly things and so he didn't reach out to embrace his wife. Yong'r also kept her distance while sleeping, but harboring a certain feeling of sympathy. She cared for him and looked after his health much like an additional wetnurse. When she would sometimes shut the door and practice a bit of magic Han'ge would dumbly look on without making a sound, so peace prevailed and there were no incidents. The days gradually passed and before long it had been three years. It was June, and hot as blazes that year; every day until late evening Yong'r spent her free time out in the courtyard trying to enjoy a cooling breeze.

"Han'ge!" she called to her mate. "Is this hot or what?"

"Is this hot or what?" answered Han'ge.

"I'm taking you with me to a cool place tonight so don't be afraid!".

"I'm taking you with me to a cool place tonight so don't be afraid!" he repeated.

Yong'r was a bit worried at seeing Han'ge all confused like that, and it saddened her. That evening when they were seated together on a small bench she began chanting and the bench turned at once into a tiger with bulging eyes and a white forehead, carrying them up into the night sky and directly to the rooftop of a building atop the wall of the Great Anshang Gate. "Halt!" commanded Yong'r and the great beast of prey alighted atop the roof of the structure.

"Isn't it cool here?" asked Yong'r.

"Isn't it cool here?" replied Han'ge.

The couple sat on the peak of the roof and enjoyed the cool air until the fourth watch. "Han'ge, let's get back and go to sleep!" said Yong'r.

"Let's go back and go to sleep!" repeated her husband. And from that night on the couple rode up to the top beam of the Anshang Gatetower nightly to enjoy the coolness there, to return home at the fourth watch. And here is a poem:

One evening Yong'r suddenly suggested that they go up once more to enjoy the cool night air and and Han'ge, as usual, repeated her words precisely. Once again she chanted and yet again the bench changed into a tiger that flew them up into the heavens to the top of the Great Anshang Gate Tower where they could take in the coolness. Now, there was no breeze that evening. "It's so hot tonight!" said Yong'r. Taking out two round paper moon shaped fans for them she and Han'ge began fanning themselves continuously. Just then, as Fate would have it, two soldiers named Zhang Qian and Li Wan passed by the wall on their night patrol. Together they diligently completed one circuit and had almost returned to the Anshang Gate when Zhang Qian suddenly glanced upwards.

"Li Wan!" he whispered. "What do you see?" Aren't there two people sitting up on the roofbeam above the gatetower?"

"If that's what they are, how did they get up there?" answered Li Wan.

Zhang Qian focused his eyes carefully. "It really is two people!" he affirmed.

"If you ask me they're just two old crows!" said Li Wan.

Now, dear reader, remember, the couple were up there fanning themselves.

"If they aren't crows, how come they're flapping their wings?" asked Li Wan.

"As I make it out," said Zhang Qian, "one of them appears to be a man and the other a woman. But I can't really be sure they're not just a pair of crows either, so I'm going to let them have it with one of my arrows!" And so he reached behind him for his bow and dressed it with an arrow, pulling it back all the way before firing with a clear, sharp aim. The arrow flew on ever so straight and true to strike Han'ge forcefully but obliquely in his thigh, causing him to tumble like a stone down the roof and off the wall to the earth, landing like a well-bruised and battered wintermelon. Zhang Qian and Li Wan advanced to find that it had indeed been a man, and rejoiced that he had not died from the fall. They stood him up and bound him under arrrest, but looking up again they could see no trace of the other one.

Early next morning they arrived back in Kaifeng Fu. The magistrate stood and listened as the soldiers Zhang and Li reported while making Han'ge kneel down before the altar.

"Local garrison patrol reporting, your excellency," said Zhang Qian. "Last night during the third watch we had just reached the Great Anshang Gate when we suddenly looked up and saw two people sitting on the roofbeam of the Gatetower waving white paper fans. The moonlight wasn't very bright but we could make out the general shape of a man and a woman. There was no ladder in sight so we concluded that they were evil people who had climbed the wall and roof. In the moments that followed I took out my bow and brought the man tumbling down with one of my arrows, but when we looked up again the woman was nowhere to be seen. We present this man to your excellency for interrogation."

"Who are you?" asked the magistrate of the greater capital district.

"Who are you?" repeated Han'ge.

"Tell the truth forthrightly and you can avoid much suffering!" admonished the magistrate.

"Tell the truth forthrightly and you can avoid much suffering!" answered Han'ge.

"How dare this insolent punk be so brazen in front of me!" raged the magistrate.

"How dare this insolent punk be so brazen in front of me!" replied Han'ge.

All of the officials in the room broke out in uncontrollable laughter. The greater capital district magistrate couldn't bear it any longer and and called for those gathered to try and identify the man. "None of us know him, excellency!" one of them answered for the group.

"That tower atop the Great Anshang Gate is as high as the Polestar!" exclaimed the magistrate. "How could the pair have climbed up there? And how could the one who seemed to be a woman have got up there and then disappeared so quickly? She must have escaped into the darkness. Surely that woman-like character was a witch, a sorceress ghost-spirit who has dazzled and confused this lad, enticing him up onto the roof where he was unavoidably shot down, herself getting away. And now we've got this lad who mumbles nonsense and still hasn't come to his senses. We don't even know his name or hometown, so how can we even open a proper case?" He then considered the situation carefully.

"Take this man and place him in a cangue at a busy intersection!" he ordered. He then looked at Zhang Qian and Li Wan. "I appoint you two to be his guards, and if anyone should hail him you are to arrest that person at once and bring him to me!" A prison official then provided a head cangue, which was quickly fitted onto Han'ge. When Zhang Qian and Li Wan carried him to a busy crossing a huge commotion resulted, with people from the shopping streets and residential alleys all pouring out for a look, jostling and crowding together.

Now the wetnurses and servant girls in Squire Jiao's house awoke at dawn and brought washwater to the couple in their room, but seeing neither Han'ge nor Yong'r they shouted out in alarm and ran to report the disapearance to the Jiaos, who were both shocked. "Where could they have gone with the door and window shut tight?" they wondered. Squire Jiao ran around inside and out without finding a clue as to what had happened. Suddenly he heard people passing in the street talking excitedly in pairs and small groups.

"Last night," some were saying, "a couple of people were sitting on the roof of the Great Anshang Gate. One of them was shot by the soldiers on patrol and the other got away!" And there was more: "Have you seen the cangue over at the corner of the High Street?"

Upon hearing this Squire Jiao shot out the gate as if someone had pushed him and rushed right away to the corner, pushing and shoving the gathered onlookers aside. And when he thrusted forward for a look, there was his own son! He immediately let out a loud wail and burst into tears.

"Why did you climb the wall?" he asked, "and where is the girl?" Now, Zhang Qian and Li Wan spotted Squire Jiao remonstrating with his son and without any explanation seized him on the spot, dragging him between them into the gates of the District Yamen.

"What is your full name," asked the magistrate, "and who is that man in the cangue to you? Why did he climb up and sit atop that forbidden wall? What mischief was he up to? And what was he doing with that woman who fled? Hurry and answer truthfully because I've got no patience left for you!"

Squire Jiao bent deeply and kowtowed with all his strength. "Your humble subject is surnamed Jiao meaning burnt, given name Yu meaning jade, a native of this district. The man in the cangue is my son. Twenty years has passed since his birth but he doesn't understand anything. He still needs people to feed and dress him. When asked a question or told something he just replies with the exact same words, and so we've called him Han'ge, meaning "silly boy", ever since he was little. Your humble subject has retained the boy's childhood nurse to look after him and to never let him leave her sight, indoors or out. Three years ago some matchmakers came to discuss a match for him. Now, your humble subject had previously brought so many prospective brides to him but he frightened off all those other families' daughters. But then came this proposal from a certain Hu Hao of this district, who didn't detest my son for his mental handicap and offered us his daughter Yong'r in marriage. She was truly beautiful, elegant and clever. Last night they had their supper and went to bed together uneventfully. But early this morning my son and his wife were gone although the door and window had been locked. I don't know how or why they climbed up so high or why his wife ran away like that!"

"You must stop talking such nonsense!" thundered the magistrate. "How could you son and his wife have left without opening a door or window? You must be hiding her in your home. Have her come to me at once!"

"Excellency, your lowly subject is a simple common man, How dare I lie to you? Torture me to death if you will but I will die innocent."

The magistrate heard the ring of truth in these words, more so when he remembered that the suspect had indeed repeated his questions. He then sent two men to go and arrest Hu Yong's father and bring him in for questioning, to see where that would lead. A pair of official runners were issued arrestor's badges and despatched to Squire Hu's home, to which they fairly flew.

Now Squire Hu had heard news of the incident from people out in the street, and right away he realised that this dirty business was the work of his own daughter and that Han'ge had been harmed so very gravely. He and Mama were hiding in the house, crying their hearts out when what should they see but two arrestors entering. "Is Squire Hu here?" they shouted.

Squire Hu was so frightened that part of his very soul seemed to jump out of his body.

"We've got strict orders from the capital district magistrate to take you in, sir. Please, let's go."

"But there's no way I can be suspected of a crime, even as an accomplice named by somebody ."

"The magistrate is waiting, sir! You'll understand eveything when you get there."

Squire Hu rushed into his shop and came back with ten ounces of silver coin which he presented to the men. "Here's a contribution to your partying!" he implored. "If you go back without me there'll be more rewards for you!"

The two men took his money and then shamelessly seized him, pushing and pulling their charge out the gate and directly to the district hall where the magistrate was waiting ever so impatiently. Seeing the Squire brought in and bound over for questioning at last, he first recounted to the prisoner the shooting down of Han'ge from atop the gatetower, and then the unresolved testimony of Squire Jiao's about his son and daughter-in-law. Finally he asked Squire Hu to bring his daughter in for interrogation.

Squire Hu only insisted on his ignorance. The magistrate continued: "I've heard that your daughter is extremely bright, pretty and talented while yor son-in law is mentally handicapped in the extreme. There must be an adulterer involved somewhere in this crime. You're just afraid that I'll pressure her into revealing everything, so you've been doing your best to hide her in your home!"

Squire Jiao then kowtowed from the side and begged for Hu's cooperation. "If she's at home, please, bring her out at once and save my poor son's life!"

"In this world," stated Squire Hu, "we hear only of women being abducted by men. It's obvious that you've taken my daughter somewhere for whatever reason, and so you bribed the army patrol to say that they had just brought down one of the two people on the roof and that the other got away. Why, you were there, sir, way up there on the roofbeam, and with a ladder at that, for how else could those two have got up there and the girl back down again without wings? How else, I ask you, could there have been no noise heard from such a fast escape across the rooftiles? And as my daughter's feet had been bound and were so tiny, how could the patrol not have caught up to her, instead allowing her to return to my home of all places?"

Now the magistrate listened to him developing this scenario step by step and decided that it all sounded reasonable enough. "Seize Han'ge's father and have the soldiers Zhang Qian and Li Wan picked up at once!" he ordered! Then he spoke directly to Squire Jiao. "This case is all about your family's plotting of the death of his daughter. You carried out this plan in collusion with Zhang Qian and Li Wan, enticing the totally incompetent boy into involvement. We'll simply have to beat the confessions out of you!"

He then ordered the three to be tortured as necessary. Two men seized each and began working them over until blood gushed forth from the repeated floggings and beatings. Squire Jiao couldn't bear the agony. "As the Creator in Heaven above is my witness, I have never plotted the death of Yong'r!" he cried. "Let me draw a likeness of her face and put up a reward for her of three thousand strings of cash! If only your excellency would have it distributed as a wanted poster on land and sea everywhere, with anyone reporting her whereabouts sure of getting a reward! If Yong'r is then not to be heard of, I will be willing to accept guilt!"

The magistrate had a change of heart as yet the third round of suffering brought no confession. Hearing that plea he suddenly began considering Squire Hu to be an unsavory and important suspect. "That is sensible!" he pronounced. He then released the three from torture and had Han'ge brought in and freed from the cangue, making a thousand of their neighbors guarantors of the family's good behaviour. Finally he ordered the Jiaos to produce the posters of Yong'r, to be distributed on land and sea everywhere. And here is a poem:

This four line poem tells of the difficulties faced in hearing legal cases. When both parties to a dispute put forth their arguments, precedence must be given to the one with the cleverest logic and tightest reasoning. But reaching a point of perfect logic isn't the same as finding out exactly what happened! Take for example Squire Hu's turn at argument in his defense. How nice it sounded! Because of this the magistrate took Squire Jiao and the two soldiers from the town patrol and had them beaten, nobody at the time realising that it was a miscarriage of justice! Here we can see how a judge lacking confidence in his own ability to try a case can always so lightly resort to torture!

Now to get back to our story, Hu Yong'r saw Han'ge shot right off the roof from where he had been sitting at her side. She then chanted a recited at chant and rose up into the sky, heading back home alone.

"It's no good coming back without Han'ge!" she realised. "Mom and dad's place won't do either. What should I do? Well, I do remember seeing Holy Auntie in that dream on my wedding night, and I can her remember her words, to come seek her in Zhengzhou if I were to get into trouble or sudden danger. I've got nowhere to rest, so why not after all go seek Holy Auntie at Zhengzhou, just to see what happens?"

She then put on all her clothes and magical implements. She mounted the bench as before and was off into the sky, arriving at last above a wide uninhabited field. Gradually she descended and dismounted, and set off by herself along a road. It was just the break of dawn when by happy chance she came across her old tutor who had once taught her to read, none other than the old egghead himself, Professor Chen Shan. He had some business to attend to and so was rushing into town from his village at dawn, truly shocked to recognize his old student Hu Yong'r.

"How did you get here, and where are your parents?" he asked.

Yong'r greeted him happily. "I've run into a problem at my husband's home and had to run away. I haven't told mom and dad yet."

She then took out a small, square, white clay pillow and handed it to Chen Shan. "Sorry to trouble you, Master," she implored, "but could you please give this little pillow to my mom and dad, with all my love? It's a white clay pillow of the fairies of Ninth Heaven, to delight the dreams of the soul. Sleep on it and all ailments are driven away. Oh master! You simply must give it to them!"

"My pupil!" he said upon receiving it. "Where are you going now?"

Hu Yong'r pointed straight ahead. "I've got a relation over yonder, waiting for me now!"

Professor Chen nodded but as he started on his way Yong'r suddenly made use of a body-concealing Yin charm to disappear. Chen Shan rubbed his eyes and gasped in disbelief. "I've seen a ghost!" he shouted. Thoughts raced through his mind. Perhaps Yong'r had already died and the essences of her soul had just materialized in front of his eyes! Well, the clay pillow was certainly intended for this world. He was of a mind to cast it aside when he recalled something. "She insisted over and over that I give it to her parents. Hard to say if was just ghost talk or not. I'll just ignore that question and do just what she said to, because otherwise I don't know what she'll do!"

And so placing the little pillow up the sleeve of his coat he walked quietly into town. "I've got something important to take care of today!" he suddenly remembered. "I don't have the free time for this, and Pingan Street isn't even on the way. It's not at all going to be convenient to deliver this pillow there." But just then a young kid called out to him as he passed the doorway of Fei Jiangshi's household.

"Master Chen, where are you off to?"

Now, Chen Shan had once worked as a family tutor for the Fei family, and this kid was indeed his former pupil. Professor Chen then took out the little clay block and passed it to the child. "Take this into your house," he instructed. "I'm in a hurry now but I'll be back for it tomorrow when I come to call on your father." Then he was on his way.

The boy looked at the small clay pillow and thought nothing of it. He then took it into the house, casting it onto his bed in the side room. Later after breakfast that morning his father went out on business and he had nothing to do, so the young pupil lay down on the bed for a nap, using that pillow. And as he had been predestined to discover, just what a fine "Pillow of the Fairies of Ninth Heaven" it was indeed! Without as much as seeing or hearing with his waking eyes or ears he was nonetheless enabled to try out the magic charms of so many kings, dukes and other nobility! Just consider:

Now, just as our young boy was wrapped in the deepest folds of sleep who should appear but two other little fellows, calling him to come out and play with them. They found him asleep in the side room, snoring deeply. One went to tickle his feet while the other rolled a couple of fine paper tubes and stuffed them into the sleeping boy's nostrils. They watched in delight as the fellow sneezed repeatedly and squirmed uncomfortably as if he had a cold. "How happy I feel! How very happy!" he shouted in his sleep. The two little friends then grabbed him by his ears and and shook him awake.

"What are you so happy about?" asked one.

"As soon as I went to sleep I saw saw a gate opening on the face of the pillow, just like that! A marvelous fragrance hit my nostrils and a troop of girls came out playing beautiful music on horns and strings. Each of them was so beautiful and they welcomed me to come play in Fairyland. And when I turned to look, sure enough, there were the fairy mountains, water, flowers and birds, really a grand scene. One girl held up a pot and another a cup and they poured me three drinks of fairy wine. But I couldn't finish the third because you guys woke me up!"

"I don't believe it!" shouted one, "I don't believe it!"

The other grabbed the little pillow. When he examined its face closely he saw the five golden characters for "Ninth Heaven's Playing Fairies' Pillow" carved into it, while at the top was written "Fairy World". Studying it he suddenly realised how such a dream could possibly have been caused by that pillow. "I don't know if your story is for real or not," said the first boy, "but I'm taking this pillow to sleep on tonight, just to see if the dream comes or not!"

"Now don't you use it all yourself!" said the other. "Each of us can enjoy it. You before midnight and me after!"

Now at this point Fei Jianshi was finished with his business rounds and had just returned and what should drift by his ears, out of context, but the words about the boys enjoying something before midnight. He jumped to the conclusion that they were up to something wicked, swept the door open and stepped into the room. The three boys had this little shiney white block that seemed to be the the source of their talk. Fei Jianshi went wild with rage and seized that pillow in his hands. Gazing remotely upwards he raised it up and then dashed it to bits against the stone floor. The poor, poor priceless Fairies' Pillow had been transformed to dust. But can we really be so sure that this pillow is no different from any other ordinary clay pillow similarly pulverised, with no traces of the spirits about it?