When Jintan(金壇) Yu Yunshi(于雲石) was working in the Hanlin Academy(翰林), he had to bring his father to the capital for support.
Mr. Yu traveled alone to the capital. One day, halfway there, it was getting late, and there was no one around. After searching for a while, he finally found an inn and went in to stay for the night. However, the innkeeper said the rooms were all full and couldn’t accommodate him, asking him to find another place.
During his tenure as magistrate in Henan(河南), Yang Lihu(楊笠湖) was tasked with providing relief to the famine-stricken in Shangshui County(商水縣). It was early autumn, and the scorching heat persisted relentlessly. After completing their midday duties, Mr. Yang instructed his subordinates to seek shade and coolness in the City God Temple.
As they entered the temple and settled, a man hurried towards them, imploring, “I am Zhang Xiang(張相), begging for your help, sir!”
Two men from Shaoxing(紹興), Wang and Xu, fled to Henan in the late Ming Dynasty to escape the chaos caused by Li Zicheng(李自成) and Zhang Xianzhong(張獻忠). Everywhere they passed, they saw corpses strewn across the fields. One night, Wang and Xu encountered two soldiers under Li Zicheng’s command. Realizing they had no way out, they crawled into a heap of corpses within the city. At midnight, they suddenly saw bright lights, and a procession descended from the city tower.
In Haichang(海昌), there was a scholar named Chen(陳秀才某) who once visited the Yusu Temple(于肅愍廟) to seek dreams and divine the fortunes of his future. In his dream, Yusu opened the main gate to receive him, but instead of feeling at ease, Chen became restless. After a few steps, he stopped. Yusu said, ‘You are to be my future student, so according to protocol, you should enter through the main gate.’ Once settled, messengers arrived to report that the City God of Tangxi County(湯溪縣城隍) wished to see him.
