After Chen Xijiu brought his father’s remains back from Xi’an and buried his parents together, the filial son had finally fulfilled one of his deepest wishes. Yet his trials were not over.
He remembered his father’s words in the underworld: when he returned home, his wife would be sent back. So Chen Xijiu asked his cousin, Chen Shijiu, to accompany him to the Zhou family home.
Standing before the Zhou family gate, Chen Xijiu told the servants: “I have come to see my father-in-law and bring my wife home.”
The servants went inside to report his arrival. But after a long while, the gate remained tightly shut. Chen Shijiu, who had a quick temper, shouted: “Come out at once and return my cousin’s wife!”
After a commotion inside, the gate finally opened. Zhou sent someone out with a message: “Go home for now. We will send her back shortly.”
Why had Zhou suddenly agreed to return his daughter?
A vow that could not be broken
Years earlier, Zhou had betrothed his eldest daughter to Chen Xijiu because he admired Chen’s father, Chen Ziyan. At that time, Zhou believed Chen Ziyan would pass the imperial examinations and bring future honor and prosperity to the family.
But Chen Ziyan failed the examinations, and the Chen family gradually fell into poverty. Zhou, who valued advantage over loyalty, began to regret the marriage. When his daughter married into the Chen family, he even made her wear worn-out clothing and old jewelry.
Later, still unwilling to accept the match, Zhou repeatedly caused trouble for the Chen family. Eventually, he forced his daughter back to his own home.
After being taken away, Zhou’s daughter wept every day.
“What is so good about the Chen family?” Zhou asked her. “They are poor and lowly. I will find you a better household so you can live in comfort.”
But his daughter would not yield.
“Father,” she said, “as long as I live, I belong to the Chen family, and when I die, I will be a ghost of the Chen family. Chen Xijiu is upright and filial. I will never leave him.”
One day, Zhou told her: “There is no use holding on. The Chen family has already sent a divorce letter.”
“I do not believe it,” she said. “I have cared for my husband and honored my mother-in-law. Why would they cast me away?”
She turned to go to the Chen home and ask the truth for herself, but Zhou stopped her and locked her away.
A desperate choice
Later, Zhou learned that Chen Xijiu had gone to Xi’an in search of his father’s remains. Hoping to make his daughter abandon all hope, he told her: “Xijiu is dead.”
From then on, she spent her days in tears.
Before long, a Hanlin scholar came to propose marriage. Zhou happily agreed, carefully hiding the matter from his daughter. It was only when the wedding day drew near that she discovered the truth.
In despair, she refused all food and drink. One day, she covered her face with a quilt and thought only of meeting Chen Xijiu in the afterlife. Gradually, her breathing stopped.
Seeing that his daughter appeared to be dead, Zhou was alarmed. Just then, Chen Xijiu had come to demand his wife’s return. Zhou decided to send her body back to the Chen family and then blame Chen Xijiu, using the matter to vent his anger.
The wife returns home
Zhou had his daughter carried back to the Chen home.
When Chen Xijiu saw that his wife had stopped breathing, he was overcome with grief. Neighbors who heard what had happened hurried over and urged him to send her back.
“Return her quickly,” they said. “Otherwise, you may bring disaster on yourself. Your father-in-law must be plotting something.”
But Chen Xijiu refused to abandon his wife. He laid her gently on the bed and stayed by her side.
Before long, Zhou sent a group of armed men to the Chen home. Without explanation, they began smashing doors and windows. When Chen Shijiu heard the commotion, he gathered more than 10 men and fought them off. Zhou’s men fled in defeat.
Just then, from the bed, Chen Xijiu’s wife suddenly drew a breath.
Chen rushed to her side.
“My wife,” he cried, grasping her hand, “you are awake!”
Tears fell from his eyes as he struggled to believe what he was seeing.
His wife slowly opened her eyes. “How did I come here?” she asked.
Seeing her husband before her, her eyes filled with tears. As her mind cleared, she remembered everything that had happened.
Help from the unseen realm
She told Chen Xijiu that when she had covered her face with the quilt and was losing consciousness, someone suddenly helped her up.
“I am from the Chen family,” the person said. “Come quickly, and you and your husband will be reunited.”
Strangely, she found herself walking out of the room without knowing how. Then two more people appeared and supported her by the shoulders as they led her onward.
Before long, she arrived at an official hall. To her surprise and joy, her parents-in-law were there.
“Father, Mother, where is this place?” she asked.
Her mother-in-law answered kindly: “Good daughter-in-law, you need not ask. We will surely send you back to the Chen family.”
A few days later, she saw her husband there as well. But soon afterward, he hurried away, and her father-in-law was gone for several days.
One evening, her father-in-law suddenly returned and ordered a carriage to be prepared.
“Good daughter-in-law,” he said, “you should go back now.”
Still in a daze, she entered the carriage. Before long, she arrived at the Chen family gate. Then she realized she was lying on the bed.
After hearing his wife’s account, Chen Xijiu told her of his own strange journey to Xi’an and his meeting with his parents in the underworld.
Through many trials, husband and wife were finally reunited. Filled with emotion, they said to each other: “It seems that in the unseen realm, divine beings have been protecting us.”
From then on, what trials would they face? Chen Xijiu’s father had said that his filial devotion had been acknowledged by the Heavenly Emperor and that great wealth would be bestowed upon him. Would this promise come true?
To be continued…
See Part 1 here
Adapted from Chen Xijiu in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Translated by Cecilia
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