Chinese Literature
“Certainly, if you wish it,’ replied the young man. “I shall be delighted to accompany you.”
They went on together; but they had gone less than a mile when two men came running after them, sweating and panting, with the fronts of their jackets open. “Stop, madam!” they shouted. “We've something to say to you.”
Startled, the concubine and the young man came to a halt. When the two men caught up, they seized them both without a word of explanation, crying: “A fine thing you’ve done! Where do you think you are going ?”
The concubine was taken aback, but she saw now that these were neighbours, one of them being the master of the house in which she had stayed the previous night. ‘“Didn’t I tell you last night,’ she said, “that my husband had suddenly taken it into his head to sell me, so I was going home to tell my parents? Why have you come after me?”
“Never mind that story of yours,” retorted Old Chu. “Murder has been dene in your house, and you must come back to clear yourself.”
“My husband has sold me: he took home the money yesterday. What is this about murder? I’m not going back.”
“So you’re being stubborn, eh?” roared Old Chu. “Well, if you won’t come with us—here, officers! These are murderers! Arrest them! Otherwise we’ll find ourselves involved and you won’t have any peace here either.”
Seeing that things had taken an ugly turn, the young man said to her: “It looks as if you had better go back, ma’am, I’ll leave you here.”
But the two neighbours shouted: “If you hadn’t been here, that would have been all right. But since you are travelling together, we can’t let you go either.”
“How ridiculous!” protested the young man. “I just happened to meet this young lady on the road and walked a short distance with her. This can have nothing to do with me. What do you want me for?”
“Murder has been done,” said Old Chu. “Do you expect us to let you go and take the blame ourselves?”
They ignored all the protests of the concubine and the young man.
By now a crowd had gathered, and people advised the young man: “You can’t just make off. A man with a clear conscience needn’t fear a midnight knock at his door. You'd better go along.”
, “Tf you refuse to go,” said the neighbours, ‘‘that shows you have a guilty conscience. But we won’t let you escape.’ They seized the young man and the concubine and hustled them off.
When they reached Liu’s door, they found the house in a great hubbub. And when the concubine went in and saw Liu dead on the floor, killed by an axe, and realized that the fifteen strings of cash on the bed had vanished, her jaw dropped and she was too frightened to speak.
The young man was appalled, too, and exclaimed; “How unlucky
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