In Changle County(長樂縣), Fujian Province, there was a woman surnamed Li. At the age of twenty-five, she gave birth to a son. Unfortunately, six months after the birth, her husband passed away. She was determined to raise the orphaned child. In the Li household, there was only a maidservant and an elderly servant. Apart from them, even close relatives rarely visited. The people in the village and surrounding areas who knew her held great respect for her.
When her son turned fifteen, she sent him outside to study under a teacher. One day, as Li was spinning thread and weaving linen in the morning, she suddenly saw a white-clad man standing by the bed. Startled, she scolded him, and the man disappeared behind the bed. Fearful, Li called the maidservant to accompany her in her room.
By noon, when her son returned from outside, they had lunch together. He also saw a white-clad man by the bed, screamed in terror, and the man disappeared again. Li said to her son, “It is said that someone dressed in white is the Bodhisattva of Wealth. This house has been occupied by our ancestors for over a hundred years. Could our ancestors have left behind some gold and silver wealth here?” She and the maidservant then pried open the floor under the bed and found a large blue stone, the size of a square table, underneath. On top of it was a red satin silver bag containing five ingots of silver. Delighted, Li wanted to lift the stone, but lacking strength, she couldn’t. She suggested, “When digging underground treasures, we should first worship the Bodhisattva of Wealth. Son, quickly go to the market and buy offerings for the god, worship him, and then open it.” The son immediately took the silver bag to the market to buy a pig’s head. When the pig’s head was ready, he realized he hadn’t brought money, so he handed the silver bag to the butcher and said, “I coincidentally didn’t bring money, please compensate with these five silver ingots from this bag.” Then he returned with the pig’s head in a cloth bag.
As he passed in front of the county office, a constable followed him and asked, “Young man, what’s inside the bag?” He replied, “It’s a pig’s head.” After repeated questioning, in anger, Li’s son threw the cloth bag on the ground and said, “If it’s not a pig’s head, is it a human head?” As he overturned the bag, indeed, there was a human head, and blood was everywhere. Li’s son was greatly frightened and cried in terror.
The constable took him to the county office. Li’s son explained the situation truthfully, stating that he had bought it from a certain butcher shop. The butcher was also arrested and brought to trial. His confession matched exactly with what Li’s son had said, and the original silver bag was presented. However, when the bailiffs brought it to the court, it was wrapped in red satin, but upon opening, the red satin had turned into blood-stained white cloth, containing five human fingers. The county magistrate was shocked. After re-examining Li’s son based on his confession, he personally went to their home, pried open the large blue stone in the underground storage, only to find a headless male corpse beneath it. The clothes, shoes, all in white, and the right hand with five missing fingers. The human head and five fingers matched the missing parts of the corpse. Despite thorough investigations, no clues about its origin or history were found. Therefore, the butcher and Li’s son were locked up in prison, and the case remains unresolved to this day. This incident occurred in the twenty-eighth year of the Qianlong era.
Translated from《長樂奇冤》in 《子不語》:
福建長樂縣民婦李氏，年二十五，生一子，越六月而夫亡，矢志撫孤。家只一婢、一蒼頭，此外雖親族罕相見者，里黨咸欽之。子年十五，就學外傅。
一日，氏早紡績，忽見白衣男子立牀前，駭而叱之，男子趨牀後沒，氏懼，呼婢入房相伴。及午，子自外歸，同母午餐，舉頭又見白衣男子在牀前，駭而呼，男子復趨牀下沒。母語子曰：「聞白衣者財神也，此屋自祖居，至今百餘年，得毋先人所遺金乎？」與婢共起牀下地板，有青石大如方桌，上置紅緞銀包一個，內白銀五鋌。母喜，欲啟其石，而力有未逮，乃計曰：「凡掘藏，宜先祀財神，兒曷入市買牲禮祭，而後起之。」兒即持銀袱趨市買豬首。既成交，乃憶未經攜錢，因出銀袱與屠者曰：「請以五鋌為質。」更以布袋囊豬首歸。
道經縣署前，有捕役尾之，問：「小哥袋內盛何物？」曰：「豬頭。」役盤詰再三，兒怒擲袋于地曰：「非豬頭，豈人頭耶？」傾囊出，果一人頭，鮮血滿地。兒大恐啼泣。役捉到官，兒以買自某屠告。拘屠者至，所言合，並以銀袱呈上。經胥吏輾轉捧上，皆紅緞袱，及至案前開視，則緞袱乃一血染白布，中包人手指五枚。令大駭，重訊兒，兒以實對。
令親至其家啟石坑，內一無頭男子，衣履盡白，右五指缺焉。以頭與指合之相符。遍究從來，莫能得其影響。因繫屠與兒于獄，案懸莫結。此乾降二十八年事。