Chapter 9: Chen Guangrui Meets Disaster on His Way to Office; The River-Drift Monk Avenges the Wrong and Reclaims His Roots

Now then: Chang'an, capital of the great land of Shaanxi, had been the seat of emperors through age after age. From Zhou to Qin to Han, its three districts were brocade-bright with flowers and its eight waters ran around the city walls. A true realm of famous beauty it was. At that time Emperor Taizong of Great Tang sat the throne, having taken the reign title Zhenguan. Thirteen years had passed since his accession, the year was jisi, the realm lay at peace, tribute came in from the eight directions, and the four seas acknowledged his rule.

One day Emperor Taizong held court and gathered all his civil and military officers. When the ceremonies of audience were complete, Chancellor Wei Zheng stepped out from the ranks and said:

"Now that the realm is at peace and all directions lie quiet, we ought to follow ancient custom, open the examination grounds, summon worthy men, and select talent for office, so that governance may be strengthened."

Taizong said, "What my worthy minister says is sound."

At once he ordered notices of recruitment posted throughout the empire:

In every prefecture, district, and county, without distinction of military or civilian status, any scholar of letters whose writing is clear and whose learning is strong enough for the three examination sessions is to proceed to Chang'an and present himself for the examinations.

When that proclamation reached the region of Haizhou, there was a man there surnamed Chen, named E, style Guangrui. The moment he read the notice, he returned home and said to his mother, Madam Zhang:

"The court has sent down the yellow list and opened the southern examinations to test and choose the worthy. Your son wishes to go and sit for them. If I gain even the smallest office, bring honor to my kin, secure rank for my wife and children, and cast glory on our gate, then the wish of my heart will be fulfilled. I report this to you now and ask leave to go."

Madam Zhang said, "You are a man of books. When young, one studies; when strong, one acts. It should indeed be so. Go then and sit the examinations. Only take care on the road, and if office comes to you, come back early."

Guangrui ordered his servant to pack the baggage, bowed farewell to his mother, and set out at speed. When he reached Chang'an, the examination grounds were in full swing, and he entered them at once. He passed. Then in the palace examination, after answering the three policy questions, he was named First Scholar by the Tang king's own brush and paraded through the streets on horseback for three full days.

As luck would have it, during that parade he passed in front of the mansion of Chancellor Yin Kaishan. The Chancellor had a daughter, named Wenjiao and also known as Mantangjiao, "Charm Filling the Hall." She was not yet married. At that very time a painted tower had been erected, and from it she was throwing down an embroidered ball to choose a husband.

Just then Chen Guangrui rode beneath the tower. The young lady saw at once what a fine-looking man he was and knew him for the newly named First Scholar. Her heart leapt with delight. She threw down the embroidered ball, and it struck Guangrui squarely on the black gauze cap of his official dress.

At once a stream of flutes and pipes sounded. More than a dozen maidservants came down from the tower, caught hold of Guangrui's horse, and led the First Scholar into the Chancellor's mansion to be married.

The Chancellor and his lady came out into the hall immediately, summoned the ceremonial witnesses, and gave their daughter to Guangrui in marriage. They bowed to Heaven and Earth, bowed as husband and wife, then bowed to father-in-law and mother-in-law. The Chancellor ordered a feast prepared, and they drank in joy through the night. At last the new-wed pair went hand in hand into the bridal chamber.

The next day, at the fifth watch and the third drum, Emperor Taizong took his seat in the Golden Chime Hall, and all his ministers came to court. The emperor asked:

"To what office should the new First Scholar Chen Guangrui be appointed?"

Chancellor Wei Zheng replied, "I have examined the prefectures under Heaven. In Jiangzhou there is a vacant post. I ask that Your Majesty appoint him there."

The Tang king accordingly made him prefect of Jiangzhou and ordered him to prepare at once and depart without missing the time limit. Guangrui thanked the throne, left the court, returned to the Chancellor's mansion, and discussed matters with his wife. Then, after bidding farewell to father-in-law and mother-in-law, he set out with her for Jiangzhou to take up his office.

It was late spring. A mild wind blew green through the willows, and fine rain stippled the flowers red. Guangrui first turned homeward and went with his wife to bow before his mother, Madam Zhang.

"Congratulations to my son," she said. "And you've brought back a bride as well."

Guangrui answered, "It is through my mother's blessing that your son by good fortune placed first in the examinations. While riding in the triumphal procession, I passed before Chancellor Yin's mansion and happened to be struck by the embroidered ball. The Chancellor at once took me as his son-in-law. The court has appointed me prefect of Jiangzhou, and I have come now to take my mother with us so she may accompany us to my post."

Madam Zhang was overjoyed and began making ready for the journey.

After several days on the road, they reached the inn of Liu the Younger at Wanhua. There Madam Zhang suddenly fell ill, and said to Guangrui:

"I do not feel well. Let us stay here two days while I recover."

Guangrui obeyed. The next morning he saw a man at the inn door hawking a golden carp. Guangrui bought it for a string of cash. He meant to have it cooked for his mother, but then he noticed the fish blinking strangely.

"I've heard that when fish or snakes blink in that way, they are no common thing."

So he asked the fisherman, "Where did you catch this?"

"In the Hong River, fifteen li from the prefectural seat."

At once Guangrui carried the fish to the Hong River and released it alive. When he returned to the inn and told his mother, Madam Zhang said, "Releasing life is a good deed. I am very glad of it."

Guangrui then said, "We have already stayed three days at this inn, and the deadline for my office is pressing. I mean to leave tomorrow, if only I knew whether Mother is well enough."

Madam Zhang said, "I am still not right in myself. The road is hot at this season, and I fear the illness will worsen. Rent a house here for me and leave enough money. You and your wife may go on ahead to your post. When autumn cool comes, then you may return for me."

Guangrui discussed it with his wife. They rented a house, left money for Madam Zhang, bowed farewell, and went on.

Travel was hard. They walked by day, slept by night, and at length reached the ferry on the Hong River. There the boatmen Liu Hong and Li Biao rowed up to receive them. Such was Guangrui's fate from a former life that he should come straight into the hands of these enemies.

Guangrui ordered the servant to carry the baggage aboard. Husband and wife had just stepped onto the boat together when Liu Hong took one full look at Miss Yin. Her face was like a full moon, her eyes like autumn water, her cherry mouth small and red, her waist supple as a willow. Truly she had beauty to sink fish and shame flowers. At once wolfish desire rose in him.

He and Li Biao conspired together and poled the boat out to a reach where not a sign of human habitation could be seen. Then in the dead of the third watch, while night lay still, they first murdered the servant, then beat Chen Guangrui to death, and threw both bodies into the river.

Seeing her husband murdered, the young wife flung herself toward the water too. Liu Hong caught her in one arm.

"Submit to me, and all will be well. Refuse, and one stroke of the blade ends it."

With no plan and no escape, she could only yield for the moment and bend to him. The villain took the boat to the south bank and left it under Li Biao's charge. Then he put on Guangrui's robes and cap, took his papers of office, and went with the lady to Jiangzhou to take up the post in Guangrui's name.

Now the servant's body that Liu Hong had murdered drifted away with the current. But Chen Guangrui's body sank to the bottom and did not move. A night-patrolling yaksha from the Hong River estuary saw it and sped at once to the Dragon Palace. By chance the Dragon King was then sitting in audience, and the yaksha reported:

"At the mouth of the Hong River some unknown person has murdered a scholar and cast his corpse into the water."

The Dragon King ordered the body brought before him. Looking closely, he said:

"This is the very man who saved my life. How has he been murdered? The saying runs: kindness must be repaid with kindness. Today I must save his life to repay the debt of that earlier day."

He immediately wrote a warrant and sent the yaksha to the City God and earth god of Hongzhou, commanding them to surrender the scholar's soul so that his life might be restored. The City God and the earth god summoned the lesser ghosts and handed Chen Guangrui's soul over to the yaksha, who brought it straight back to the Crystal Palace and announced himself before the Dragon King.

The Dragon King asked, "What is your name, scholar? From where do you come? How did you come here to be murdered?"

Guangrui bowed and said, "This student is Chen E, style Guangrui, from Hongnong County in Haizhou. By grace I placed first in the new examinations and was appointed prefect of Jiangzhou. While traveling with my wife to take up the office, I boarded a boat by the river and was murdered by the boatman Liu Hong, who desired my wife. I beg Your Majesty to save me."

The Dragon King said, "So that is the matter. Sir, the golden carp you released before was none other than myself. You are my benefactor. If you are now in danger, how could I fail to save you?"

He had Guangrui's body placed to one side and set a face-preserving pearl in its mouth so that it would not decay and might in time be restored to life for vengeance. Then he said:

"As for your true soul, stay for a time in my watery court and serve as a recorder under my command."

Guangrui knocked his head to the floor in thanks. The Dragon King set a feast before him, and that matter may rest there.

Now to return to Miss Yin. She hated the thief Liu so bitterly that she longed to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. Yet because she was with child and did not know whether it would be boy or girl, she had no choice but to submit outwardly and endure.

Time moved on. Before she knew it, they had reached Jiangzhou. Clerks, gate-keepers, and runners came out to receive the new prefect. The subordinate officials laid on a public feast in the hall. Liu Hong, acting the magistrate, said:

"This student comes to this place relying wholly on the support of you gentlemen."

The officials answered, "Your Honor placed first in the examinations and is rich in talent. You will naturally treat the people as children, keep litigation light and punishments clean. We who serve under you are the ones who depend on such grace. Why speak so modestly?"

When the public banquet was over, each man went his own way.

Time flies. One day Liu Hong went out on official business. Left alone in the yamen, the lady thought of her mother-in-law and husband and sat grieving in a flower-pavilion. Suddenly her body grew heavy, pain seized her belly, and she fainted to the ground, giving birth in a swoon to a son.

At her ear a voice spoke:

"Mantangjiao, listen well. I am the Longevity Star of the Southern Pole, sent by Guanyin's command to deliver this child to you. In years to come his name will spread far and wide; he is no common soul. If the thief Liu returns, he will surely kill the child. Guard him well. Your husband has already been rescued by the Dragon King. In days to come husband and wife will meet again, mother and son be reunited, and the wrong avenged. Remember my words. Wake now, wake."

Then the voice was gone.

When the lady came to, she remembered every word. Clutching the child to her, she could think of no way out. Just then Liu Hong returned, saw the boy, and demanded that he be drowned.

The lady said, "Night has already fallen. Let him be cast into the river tomorrow."

Fortunately, the next morning Liu Hong was suddenly called away on urgent business. The lady thought:

"If this child waits for the thief to come back, his life is done for. Better throw him into the river now and leave life or death to Heaven. If Heaven takes pity and someone rescues and raises him, then perhaps one day we may meet again."

Yet she feared he would never be known for who he was. So she bit her finger and wrote a blood-letter setting down in full the names of his father and mother and the whole story of his origins and wrongs. She also bit off the little toe on the boy's left foot to serve as a mark of recognition. Then she wrapped him in one of her own close-worn undergarments and, finding a quiet moment, carried him out through the yamen gate.

The yamen lay near the river. At the riverbank she wept her fill. Just as she was about to cast the child away, she saw a wooden plank drifting up along the bank. Facing Heaven, she prayed, laid the boy on the plank, tied him fast with a sash, bound the blood-letter at his chest, and pushed him out into the current, leaving his fate to where the water might carry him.

Tearful, she returned to the yamen; we need not follow her for the moment.

The child drifted on that plank with the current until at last he came to a stop below Jinshan Monastery. The abbot there was a monk called Faming, a man who had cultivated the truth, awakened to the Way, and attained the subtle secret beyond birth and death.

He was sitting in meditation, studying Chan, when he suddenly heard the cry of an infant. At once his heart stirred. He hurried to the river and saw, beside the bank, a wooden plank with a sleeping baby on it.

The abbot hastily rescued the child. Then he found the blood-letter in the infant's wrappings and learned the whole story. He gave the child the milk-name River-Drift, entrusted him to others to nurse and raise, and stored the blood-letter away with great care.

Time flies like an arrow; sun and moon weave like a shuttle. Before anyone knew it, River-Drift had grown to eighteen years of age. The abbot then had him shave his head and enter religion, gave him the Dharma name Xuanzang, rubbed the crown of his head in ordination, and set him firmly on the path of cultivation.

One day in the weather of late spring, the monks were all beneath the shade of pines lecturing on scripture, studying Chan, and speaking of subtle truths. There was among them a wine-and-meat monk, and Xuanzang argued him into a corner. The monk grew furious and cursed him:

"You little brat, you don't even know your own name or who your parents are, yet here you are stirring up ghosts with us?"

Stung by those words, Xuanzang went straight into the monastery, knelt before his master, and with tears running down both cheeks said:

"A man is born between Heaven and Earth, takes his nature from yin and yang and the five phases, and is entirely brought forth by father and nurtured by mother. How can anyone live in this world and have no parents? I beg you, Master, tell me my father's and mother's names."

The abbot said, "If you truly wish to seek your parents, come with me to the abbot's room."

Xuanzang followed him there. Faming took down a small casket from atop a great beam, opened it, and drew out the blood-letter and the undergarment, handing them to Xuanzang. Xuanzang unfolded the letter and read it. Only then did he learn in full the names of his father and mother and the story of the wrong that had been done.

When he finished reading, he broke down weeping and fell to the ground.

"If I do not avenge the wrong done to my parents, how can I call myself a man? For eighteen years I have not known my own father and mother; only today do I learn that I have a mother living. Had my master not rescued and raised me, how could I be alive now? Grant me leave to find my mother, and then I will carry an incense basin upon my head and rebuild the temple halls to repay my master's deep kindness."

His master said, "If you would go seek your mother, take this blood-letter and the undergarment with you. Go as a mendicant monk to the private yamen in Jiangzhou. Only that way will you be able to see her."

Xuanzang received his master's words, dressed as a monk out collecting alms, and went straight to Jiangzhou. As luck would have it, Liu Hong happened to be out on business, and Heaven itself seemed bent on arranging the meeting of mother and son. Xuanzang therefore came right to the private yamen gate and began chanting for alms.

By chance Miss Yin had had a dream the night before, in which the waning moon became full again. She thought to herself:

"I have no word of my mother-in-law. My husband was murdered by that thief. The child I cast into the river would be eighteen by now, if anyone rescued and raised him. Perhaps Heaven will allow us to meet this very day."

Even as she sat in thought, she heard scripture being chanted at the gate and someone calling for alms. She came out and asked, "Where have you come from?"

Xuanzang answered, "This poor monk is a disciple of Abbot Faming of Jinshan Monastery."

"If you are a disciple of Abbot Faming's, then come inside."

She had food brought for him. Looking carefully at his carriage and speech, she thought him strikingly like her husband.

She dismissed the maidservants to one side and asked, "Little master, did you leave home in childhood, or only in later years? What is your name? Have you father and mother?"

Xuanzang answered, "I was not a monk from childhood, nor did I leave home in middle age. If I speak of my case, the wrong stretches up to Heaven, the vengeance deepens like the sea. My father was murdered. My mother was taken by the thief who killed him. My master Abbot Faming told me to seek my mother here in Jiangzhou's yamen."

The lady asked, "What is your mother's surname?"

Xuanzang replied, "My mother is surnamed Yin, given name Wenjiao. My father is Chen Guangrui. My milk-name was River-Drift, and my Dharma name is Xuanzang."

The lady said, "Wenjiao is I. But what proof have you?"

When Xuanzang heard that she was indeed his mother, he dropped to both knees and wept bitterly.

"If my mother does not believe me, I have the blood-letter and the undergarment as proof."

Wenjiao took them and looked. They were true. Mother and son embraced and cried together. Then she said, "My child, go quickly."

Xuanzang answered, "For eighteen years I have not known the parents who gave me life. Today I have at last seen my mother. How can I bear to leave?"

She said, "My son, go at once. If Liu Hong returns, he will surely kill you. Tomorrow I will feign illness and say that years ago I vowed to give away a hundred pairs of monks' shoes. I will come to your monastery to fulfill that vow. Then I will speak further with you."

Xuanzang obeyed her word and left.

After seeing her son, the lady's heart was torn between joy and grief. One day she pretended to be ill and would neither take tea nor touch food, but lay in bed instead. When Liu Hong returned to the yamen, he asked the reason.

She said, "When I was young I vowed to give away a hundred pairs of monks' shoes. Five nights ago I dreamed of a monk holding a blade and demanding those shoes, and ever since then my body has not been right."

Liu Hong said, "A little thing like that - why not say so earlier?"

He immediately held court and ordered the left and right runners: every household in Jiangzhou was to provide one pair of monks' shoes within five days. The people all complied. Then the lady said to Liu Hong:

"Now that the shoes are finished, what monasteries are there here where I may go to fulfill my vow?"

Liu Hong said, "There are Jinshan Monastery and Jiaoshan Monastery. Whichever one you choose."

"I have long heard Jinshan is a fine monastery. I will go there."

Liu Hong ordered the runners to prepare a boat. The lady went aboard with her confidantes, and the boatmen poled them off toward Jinshan.

Now Xuanzang had returned to the monastery and told Abbot Faming everything. The old monk was overjoyed. The next day a maid came ahead to say that her mistress was arriving to fulfill a vow.

All the monks came out to receive her. The lady entered the gate directly, paid reverence before the bodhisattva, and laid on a fine vegetarian feast. She then had the servant girls bring in the monks' shoes and summer stockings on trays to the Dharma Hall, where she again lit incense from the heart and bowed. Abbot Faming distributed the gifts among the monks.

When Xuanzang saw the monks disperse and the Dharma Hall empty of all others, he came forward and knelt. The lady had him remove his shoes and stockings. Sure enough, the little toe on his left foot was missing.

At that moment they embraced once more and wept, then together bowed to thank the abbot for the grace of raising him.

Faming said, "Now that mother and son have found one another, the villain may learn of it. Leave quickly and return, so that disaster may be avoided."

The lady said, "My son, I will give you one incense ring. Go then northwest from Hongzhou for some fifteen hundred li. There is an inn there called Wanhua. We left your grandmother Zhang there long ago, your father's own mother. I will also write you a letter. Take it straight to the imperial city of Tang, to the left side of the Golden Hall, to the mansion of Chancellor Yin Kaishan, who is your mother's father. Deliver my letter to your grandfather and tell him to memorialize the Tang king, take command of troops, and capture the thief so that your father may be avenged. Only then can your mother be rescued. I dare not stay long, for I fear the villain will suspect my late return."

With that she left the monastery and boarded the boat again.

Xuanzang wept his way back to the temple, informed his master, took leave at once, and traveled straight toward Hongzhou. At Wanhua Inn he asked Liu the Younger, the innkeeper:

"Years ago a guest from Jiangzhou named Chen left his mother in your inn. Is she still well?"

Liu the Younger said, "She stayed with me long enough. Later she went blind. For three or four years she had no rent to pay. Now she lives in a broken tile kiln just inside the south gate, begging in the streets each day. That guest left long ago and never returned. To this day there is no word of him. I do not know what became of him."

Hearing this, Xuanzang at once asked the way to the broken kiln by the south gate and found his grandmother there.

The old woman said, "Your voice sounds like my son Chen Guangrui."

Xuanzang answered, "I am not Chen Guangrui. I am Chen Guangrui's son. Miss Wenjiao is my mother."

"Why then have your father and mother not come?"

"My father was murdered by bandits. My mother was taken by the thief as his wife."

"How did you know to come looking for me?"

"My mother sent me. She wrote you a letter and sent one incense ring as proof."

The old woman took the letter and the ring and burst into loud weeping.

"My son went away for ambition and office. I thought he had simply forgotten duty and gratitude, but never knew he had been murdered. Yet Heaven has taken pity and not cut off his line, and today I still have a grandson who comes to seek me."

Xuanzang asked, "Grandmother, how did your eyes grow so dim?"

She said, "Thinking of your father, I longed for him every day and watched for his return. Because he never came, I cried till both eyes went dark."

Xuanzang then knelt, faced Heaven, and prayed:

"Today Xuanzang is eighteen years old and still cannot avenge the wrong done to his parents. I have come by my mother's command to find my grandmother. If Heaven truly sees my sincerity, let my grandmother's sight be restored."

When he had finished praying, he touched his tongue to her eyes. In a moment they opened again and her sight returned as before. Peering at the young monk, she said:

"You truly are my grandson. You look exactly like my son Guangrui."

The old woman was wild with joy and grief together. Xuanzang led her out of the kiln and back to Liu the Younger's inn. He rented a room there for her to stay in and left her travel money.

"I will be back within a month."

Then he took leave of his grandmother and went directly to the capital. There he found the mansion of Chancellor Yin on the east street of the imperial city and said to the gate-keeper:

"This poor monk is kin to the household and has come to see the Chancellor."

The gate-keeper reported the matter. The Chancellor said, "I have no kin among monks."

But the Chancellor's lady said, "Last night I dreamed that my daughter Mantangjiao came home. Could it be that the son-in-law has sent a letter?"

So the Chancellor ordered that the young monk be invited into the hall. When Xuanzang saw the Chancellor and his lady, he fell to the ground weeping and bowing, then drew a letter from his robe and handed it over. The Chancellor broke the seal, read from beginning to end, and burst into tears.

His lady asked, "My lord, what has happened?"

The Chancellor said, "This monk is your and my daughter's son. Chen Guangrui, my son-in-law, was murdered by a thief, and Mantangjiao has been taken by force as that thief's wife."

Hearing this, the lady also wept without end.

The Chancellor said, "Do not grieve overmuch. Tomorrow I will memorialize the throne and personally lead troops. My son-in-law shall be avenged."

The next day the Chancellor entered court and reported to the Tang king:

"My son-in-law, First Scholar Chen Guangrui, was traveling to Jiangzhou with his family to take up office when the boatman Liu Hong murdered him and seized my daughter as his wife, impersonating my son-in-law as an official for many years. This is a monstrous aberration. I beg Your Majesty to dispatch troops at once and exterminate the bandit."

The Tang king flew into a rage. He sent six myriads of imperial forest troops and ordered Chancellor Yin to take command.

The Chancellor received the decree, went at once to the drill grounds to muster the army, and marched straight for Jiangzhou. They traveled by day, camped by night, and before long reached the river opposite the city, where the Chancellor pitched camp on the north bank. In the night he sent golden tallies to summon the assistant prefect and district judge of Jiangzhou, told them the whole matter, and ordered them to bring troops to assist in crossing the river together.

Before dawn had fully broken, Liu Hong's yamen was surrounded. Liu Hong was still deep in sleep when a cannon-shot boomed and war drums roared. Troops swarmed into the private compound. Taken wholly unawares, he was seized at once. The Chancellor issued military orders that Liu Hong and all the other prisoners be bound and taken to the execution ground, while the army camped outside the city.

The Chancellor himself entered the main hall of the yamen and asked that his daughter be brought out. She was so ashamed to meet her father that she tried to hang herself. Xuanzang, hearing of it, rushed in and saved her, then dropped to his knees before her.

"Your son and my grandfather have brought troops here to avenge my father. Now that the thief has been taken, why should Mother seek death instead? If you die, how can I keep living?"

The Chancellor too came in and urged her to live. She said:

"I have heard that a woman follows one husband to the end. My own husband was murdered by a thief. How could I keep my face and live under that thief's roof? Only because I carried a child in my womb did I endure the shame and steal out this poor life. Now at last my son is grown, and my father himself has led troops to avenge us. What face have I left with which to stand before others? Only death can answer my husband."

The Chancellor said, "This is no case of my daughter changing her constancy with fortune. All of it came from what could not be helped. Why should it count as shame?"

Father and daughter embraced and wept. Xuanzang too could not stop sobbing. At last the Chancellor wiped away his tears and said:

"You two must grieve no more. I have the enemy in my hands now. Let me go dispose of him."

He went out at once to the execution ground. By happy chance, the assistant prefect had also captured the water-bandit Li Biao and had him brought in. The Chancellor was delighted. Liu Hong and Li Biao were hauled forward, each given a hundred heavy blows, and their confessions taken down. Li Biao first was fastened to the wooden donkey, paraded through the market, carved a thousand cuts, and beheaded for public display.

As for Liu Hong, he was taken to the ferry on the Hong River, the very place where Chen Guangrui had been murdered years before. The Chancellor, his daughter, and Xuanzang all went in person to the riverbank, faced the empty sky, and performed the sacrifice. Then they cut Liu Hong's heart and liver out alive and offered them to Guangrui. A sacrificial memorial was burned as well.

All three stood by the river weeping bitterly. This soon stirred the water-court below, and a patrolling yaksha brought the memorial text before the Dragon King. When the Dragon King had read it, he sent General Turtle-Shell to fetch Guangrui and said:

"Sir, joy, joy. Your wife, your son, and your father-in-law are all at the riverbank offering sacrifice to you. I will return your soul to your body now. I also present you with one wish-granting pearl, two turning pearls, ten lengths of shark-silk, and one belt of bright pearls and jade. Today husband and wife, father and son, mother and child may all be reunited."

Guangrui thanked him again and again. The Dragon King then ordered the yaksha to carry Guangrui's body out to the river mouth and restore it to life. The yaksha obeyed.

Now after the sacrifice, Miss Yin again tried to fling herself into the river, only for Xuanzang to catch hold of her with all his strength. In the midst of that confusion, they suddenly saw a corpse floating up on the water and drifting close to the bank.

The lady hurried forward to look. At once she recognized it as her husband's body and gave way to loud, helpless wailing.

Everyone came running to look. Before their eyes Guangrui stretched his fists, moved his legs, and little by little his body unfolded. Then suddenly he climbed upright and sat there. All were struck dumb with amazement. Guangrui opened his eyes and saw before him his wife, Chancellor Yin, and the young monk, all weeping around him.

"Why are you all here?"

His wife answered, "After the thief murdered you, I gave birth to this son. By great fortune Abbot Faming of Jinshan Monastery rescued and raised him, and when he came to seek me out I had him go find his grandfather. Father learned the truth, informed the court, and led troops here to seize the thieves. Just now Liu Hong's heart and liver were cut out alive and offered in sacrifice to my husband. But how has my husband come back to life?"

Guangrui said, "It is all because in years past, when we were at Wanhua Inn, I bought and released that golden carp. Who would have guessed it was the Dragon King of this river? Later, when the bandits threw me in, he saved me entirely. Just now he restored my life and sent treasures with me, all of which are on my person. Least of all did I expect that you had borne this son, or that my honored father-in-law would avenge me. Truly bitterness has turned to sweetness. It is joy beyond measure."

When the officials heard the story, they came to offer congratulations. The Chancellor ordered a feast laid out to thank the subordinate officers, and that very day the army began the journey back.

When they reached Wanhua Inn, the Chancellor ordered camp pitched. Guangrui then went with Xuanzang to Liu the Younger's inn to seek his mother. That night, by chance, the old woman had dreamed of dead wood blooming and heard magpies calling and calling behind the house. She thought:

"Could it be that my grandson is coming?"

She had scarcely spoken the thought when Guangrui and his son arrived together at the inn door.

The young monk pointed and said, "Isn't that our grandmother?"

Guangrui saw his old mother and dropped at once to his knees. Mother and son embraced and wept, and the whole story was told again from beginning to end. The debt owed the innkeeper was paid, and they all set out back toward the capital.

Once they had returned to the Chancellor's mansion, Guangrui, his wife, his mother, and Xuanzang all came to see the Chancellor's lady. Her joy knew no bounds. She ordered the servants to lay out a grand feast in celebration. The Chancellor said:

"This feast should be named the Reunion Banquet."

And truly the whole household was glad.

The next morning, at court, Emperor Taizong took his seat. Chancellor Yin stepped out from the ranks, recounted the whole chain of events in detail, and recommended Guangrui as a man of talent fit for serious use. The Tang king approved and promoted Chen E to the rank of Academician, to remain at court and assist in affairs of state.

As for Xuanzang, he set his mind on quiet meditation and was sent to cultivate himself at Hongfu Monastery. Later, in the end, Miss Yin took her own life with composure. Xuanzang returned at last to Jinshan Monastery to repay the kindness of Abbot Faming.

But what happened afterward is another matter, and must wait for the next chapter.