The First Volume, First Chapter of The Ancient City of Jingjue
Chapter 1: The Paper Woman
My grandfather, Hu Guohua, came from a family of renowned landlords in the surrounding ten-mile area. At the height of the family's wealth, they bought more than forty houses in three connected alleys in the city. Over the generations, there had been some officials and businessmen in the family, and they had even donated to the Qing Dynasty's grain depot and acted as supervisors for transportation.
There is a saying: "Wealth does not last beyond three generations." This saying is quite true. Even with mountains of gold and silver, it cannot withstand the extravagance of the descendants. By the time of the Republic of China, the family began to decline. First, there was a division of the family's assets, and Hu Guohua received a substantial portion, enough to live a worry-free life. However, he refused to settle down, and this was partly due to the social environment of the time. At first, he became addicted to gambling, and later he took up opium smoking (Fushou Pao), squandering the family's entire fortune.
When Hu Guohua was young, he indulged in all sorts of vices: eating, drinking, gambling, womanizing, and smoking. In the end, he became so poor that he didn't even have a penny to his name. If a person becomes addicted to opium, it gnaws at their insides unbearably, but with no money, what could they do? In his wealthier days, the owners and employees of the opium dens treated him with great respect, calling him "Hu Ye" (Master Hu) and greeting him with warmth. But once he became penniless, they treated him as a beggar, driving him away without hesitation.
When a person is driven to poverty, they care little for morals and shame. Hu Guohua came up with a plan to deceive his uncle for some money. His uncle knew that Hu Guohua was a wasteful gambler and never gave him a cent, but this time, Hu Guohua tricked him by saying he was going to marry a wife and needed some money for the wedding.
Upon hearing this, his uncle was moved to tears. "Finally, this unworthy nephew is doing something respectable! If he marries a virtuous wife who will manage him, perhaps he will turn his life around," his uncle thought. So, he gave Hu Guohua twenty silver dollars, urging him to marry a good woman and lead a proper life, far from opium. He also promised to visit his nephew and his wife in a few days.
Hu Guohua, a master of deceit, thought of a clever plan. He went to the village and found a paper craftsman, one who made paper figures and horses for the dead. This craftsman was highly skilled and could create anything his client requested, with exquisite detail. Hu Guohua had him create a paper woman, carefully painting her face, eyes, nose, clothing, and hair with watercolor. From a distance, she looked just like a living person.
When Hu Guohua returned home, he placed the paper figure on the kang (a traditional heated bed), covered it with a quilt, and thought to himself, "When my uncle arrives, I'll tell him my wife is ill and cannot meet him. He can just take a glance from afar." Delighted with his plan, he hummed a tune and went into the city to smoke opium.
A few days later, Hu Guohua's uncle arrived, bringing some cloth and snacks as gifts for his new wife. Hu Guohua stuck to his prearranged story, saying that his wife was ill and could not meet him. He asked his uncle to look at her from behind the curtain. However, his uncle was insistent and demanded to meet the new wife, offering to pay for a doctor to treat her.
The more Hu Guohua tried to stop him, the more suspicious his uncle became, and they began to argue. At that moment, the curtain to the inner room was lifted, and a woman stepped out. She was fair-skinned, with a round face, large buttocks, and small feet. Hu Guohua's heart skipped a beat. "Wait, this is the paper woman I had made! How did she come to life?"
The woman greeted Hu Guohua's uncle, explaining that she had been ill and had not been able to welcome him properly. She then said that now she felt better and invited her uncle to stay for a meal. Her uncle, thrilled, thought to himself, "What a virtuous wife my nephew has! With her good fortune and appearance, my late sister in the afterlife must be pleased as well." Overjoyed, he gave Hu Guohua ten more silver dollars.
Hu Guohua stood there, panicking. He didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified. The evening passed quickly, and the paper woman prepared a meal. His uncle, drunk on several cups of wine, was too inebriated to notice anything wrong with her. However, Hu Guohua felt disgusted, watching the woman across from him. Her face was too pale, with no natural color, and any redness on her cheeks was clearly from rouge.
After his uncle drunkenly passed out, Hu Guohua borrowed a donkey cart and sent him home. On the way back, Hu Guohua became increasingly terrified. He decided not to return home and spent the night in a brothel, quickly spending the ten silver dollars his uncle had just given him.
The next morning, he returned home, only to find the room dark and the paper woman lying motionless on his bed under the quilt. It was as if everything had never happened.
In a panic, Hu Guohua decided to burn the paper figure. He took the paper woman outside, lit a match, and was about to set her on fire when the paper woman suddenly spoke. "You heartless man! I was kind to you, yet you want to burn me!"
Startled, Hu Guohua heard the paper woman continue, "I pity you. Even though you gamble and indulge in vices, your heart is not completely bad. I want to marry you. Will you accept me?"
Hu Guohua shook his head frantically, asking, "What are you? A demon or a ghost?"
The paper woman replied, "I am a ghost, temporarily inhabiting this paper figure. But don't look down on me just because you are poor. In my previous life, I was wealthy, and the gold and jewelry buried with me are enough to fund your opium addiction for ten lifetimes. Haven't you heard? A rich ghost is a hundred times better than a poor man."
The mention of money made Hu Guohua waver. He had been extremely poor lately and even pawned his clothes. However, he was still afraid of dying while trying to get rich. He had heard stories about how ghosts could drain the life force of men, leaving them nothing but dry, hollowed-out skeletons. So, he told the paper woman, "Even if you truly care for me, I can't marry you. Our paths are different—humans and ghosts are separated by the realms of life and death. It would go against the natural order."
The paper woman responded, "Since you are so heartless, I won't force you. But remember, when you are truly desperate and cannot go on, come to the abandoned graveyard at Shisan Li Pu. In the middle of the cemetery, there is a tomb without a tombstone. Inside is my coffin, and in it are gold and silver. If you dare to come, take all the treasures you want."
With that, the paper woman fell silent, and Hu Guohua, gathering his courage, set her on fire, turning her to ash. Later, when he was at his wit's end and penniless, he considered going to the graveyard at Shisan Li Pu to dig up the tomb. But in the end, he resisted the temptation and managed to scrape by, borrowing from others. Two years later, when he was truly desperate and had nowhere else to turn, he finally went to the graveyard. But that is a story for another time.