A man named Zhang from Hezhou traveled to Yangzhou(揚州) and stayed at the Xingjiao Temple(興教寺). The monks’ quarters in the temple were haunted by a fox immortal, so no one dared to stay there. Zhang, with his carefree personality, decided to reside in the monk’s room.
Not long after Zhang moved in, an old man claiming to be Wu Gangzi(吳剛子) came to visit. After exchanging greetings with a bow, they began to converse.
The county magistrate Zhong Liquan(鍾醴泉) of Tiantai County(天台縣) told me: when his father served as the governor of Guizhou(貴州) Dading Prefecture(大定府), he established a lead mining bureau. One noon, a bull suddenly rushed into the lead factory, and despite the efforts of dozens of people whipping it, they couldn’t drive it away. Liquan went to observe, and the bull knelt on the ground as if bowing. Therefore, he asked the person who brought the bull, “Is this a plowing ox or a slaughter ox for meat?”
In Hangzhou, there was a scholar named Sun who, on a summer night, was reading in his study. He felt something crawling on his forehead and, upon brushing it with his hand, saw countless strands of white beard hanging down from the plaque on the ceiling. On the plaque was a large face, about the size of a seven-stone jar, with eyebrows and eyes like an ordinary person, smiling and looking down.
Ge Zuliang(葛祖亮), an official in the Ministry of Rites, told me: A neighbor named Cheng, who was wealthy but childless for many years, unexpectedly had a son in his old age. This son was intelligent and clever, with bright features that Cheng cherished dearly. However, by the age of twelve, the child fell seriously ill, incurring countless medical expenses. As he grew older, instead of engaging in productive activities, he took pleasure in cockfighting and dog racing, squandering away the family fortune.
The official residence of Yao Tingdong(姚廷棟), the governor of Huai-Xu Dao(淮徐道), was located in Suqian(宿遷). He celebrated his father’s birthday and invited a group of pear garden disciples to perform a play in the hall. The wall next to the hall was very high, and thousands of people could be seen outside the wall, all with wide-open eyes watching the performance. Initially, he thought they were subordinates such as soap slaves and officials, scolding them, but they still did not leave.
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.
Shen Yutan(沈雨潭) also said, on a day in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong, thunder and lightning raged, and thunderbolts spun over the Huai’an(淮安) Orphanage. It was about to strike an old woman in the courtyard. At that time, this old woman was urinating. Suddenly, a loud thunder directly struck above her head. The old woman panicked, immediately lifted the chamber pot, and threw it in the direction of the thunder. Afterwards, a golden-armored Thunder God circled around the roof for a few rounds and then landed on the ground.
During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, there was a scholar named Cai in Guilin, young and handsome with an elegant demeanor.
One spring, Cai went to the theater to watch a play. While engrossed in the performance, he felt someone touching his buttocks from behind. Enraged, Cai prepared to scold the person and even raised his fist to strike. However, when he turned around, he discovered that the one who touched him was also a young man, even more handsome than himself.
In the twenty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign, Westerners presented eighteen copper-made robots as tribute to the imperial court. These eighteen robots were capable of performing the play “The West Chamber.”
Each of these robots was a little over a foot tall, and their bodies, ears, eyes, hands, and feet were all made of copper. They had mechanisms connecting their hearts, stomachs, kidneys, intestines, etc., similar to the construction of a self-playing clock.
Jijia Prefecture(嘉州) in Chuxiong Prefecture(楚雄府), Yunnan, is a place where ethnic minorities live. There, there is a tall holly tree with twisted roots, extending for more than ten miles. From a distance, it looks like dozens of woodenware shops have opened under the tree, with tables, chairs, beds, couches, kitchens, and cabinets all complete inside, enough to accommodate more than ten households. Unfortunately, the leaves of this holly tree are too sparse to provide shelter from wind and rain.
In the capital, there was an elderly woman who could see ghosts. She once told people, “I once saw a ghost at a certain family, utterly infatuated to the extreme. However, the situation was pitiful, evoking a poignant and touching feeling. The ghost’s name was unknown, residing in a certain village. The family was moderately well-off, and the ghost died at the age of around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. About a hundred days after his death, the deceased’s wife invited me to accompany her.
