Just as the two men came to the Cold Spring Pavilion, they heard someone in the middle of the crowd of people shouting out: “Li Guoyuan, Li Guoyuan, you do not need to go to the West Lake Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat to find Ji Gong. Give me the ten ounces of silver that you are carrying and keep the three hundred and sixty cash.”
When Zhao Wenhui heard this he said, “My dear brother, the saintly monk is able to see the future through his intuition, and he is here waiting for you and me.”
As they pressed their way through the crowd and looked, they saw Ji Gong’s clothing, but the man wearing it was not Ji Gong. Zhao Wenhui went over and grasped him with his hands, saying, “You good-for-nothing Daoist, you have done something bad to Ji Gong and you are trying to profit from his affairs.”
The old Daoist said, “I certainly have not harmed Ji Gong, but he has eaten up everything we have until we are all, master and apprentices, almost without a scrap of clothing. He gave me these sentences and told me to come here and say them.”
Zhao Wenhui said, “Where is Ji Gong? Take us to see him.”
The old Daoist then took them to the Shrine of Three Virtues. When Zhao Wenhui saw the shrine, he noticed how poor the place looked, with almost nothing except the bare floor and walls. There were half-clad apprentices lounging about, and Ji Gong was sitting in a chair with his naked back toward the visitors.
Wenhui said, “Teacher who is above me, Zhao Wenhui, your follower, presents his respects.” He then suggested to Li Guoyuan that he also should pay the proper courtesies to the holy monk.
Even though at first the monk looked like nothing more than a beggar, to save Zhao Yuanwai’s face Li Guoyuan could not do otherwise than go forward to offer a ceremonial greeting. He bowed his head while he raised his clasped hands respectfully.
The monk asked, “What business brings you here?”
Zhao Wenhui quickly explained about the loss of the prince’s tally scroll with the five thunders and the eight trigrams.
Ji Gong said, “Do not worry,” and had the old Daoist take off the ragged clothes. Ji Gong then put them on. He asked Li Guoyuan to hand over his silver, and Ji Gong gave it to the Daoist to redeem the pawned articles. The monk then left the Shrine of the Three Virtues with the two men and went to the home of Li Guoyuan.
The monk said, “First I will cure the illness of your wife, and after that I will get back the prince’s tally. But there is one thing: to cure your wife, I must take hold of her and go round and round with her.”
When Li Guoyuan heard this, he was half speechless, but Zhao Wenhui said, “Dear brother, you need not be suspicious. Ji Gong is a Buddha living on earth. He would certainly do no wrong. If he were an improper person, of course, I would not have asked him to come here.”
Li Guoyuan said, “Well, then, that’s it,” and led Ji Gong to a courtyard containing a pleasant house facing south. When they arrived, the door was locked. Li Guoyuan’s wife unlocked it from the inside. The serving girls and women had fled sometime previously from that part of the estate, fearing they would be struck by the insane woman. When the door opened and the wife saw the ragged monk outside, she ran straight at him.
The monk ran from her out into the courtyard. In the center was a large wide-mouthed jar for goldfish. Ji Gong ran round and round the jar, shouting, “This is terrible! If she catches me, it will be my life,” while the insane woman ran after him.
After a while, the wife tripped over a basket and fell. Immediately she coughed up some mucus. At the same time her understanding returned to her and she asked, “How did I get here?”
As soon as she fell, one of the braver women ran forward and helped her up. The monk, meanwhile, took a piece of medicine, and after he had had someone bring some water, he dissolved the medicine and gave it to Li Guoyuan’s wife to drink.
Now, this illness of hers had originated with a confusion in the chambers of her heart. It was through the effect of certain affairs upon her that she had been brought to an extreme pitch of anxiety. She had a younger brother named Lin Tingyo. He had already squandered part of the property of his parents in the company of some bad characters with whom he had made friends.
One day he came to his older sister, asking that she lend him several hundred ounces of silver to go into business. Since he was her own flesh and blood, it was natural she would be sympathetic to him. She deceived her husband about her brother’s reliability and persuaded him to lend her brother the silver. In a short time he had wasted it all running with his friends who, in truth, were no better than a pack of foxes or dogs. Then he came back another day and asked her to lend him an ounce of silver for ready money, and she gave it to him. Some days after that, while Li Guoyuan’s wife was sitting in a flower garden at her home, her brother suddenly appeared dressed in clothing so shabby, it was not fit for him to wear. He seemed like a different person, unkempt and ragged. The sight was such a shock to her that she nearly choked to death. This was what had brought on her sickness. When the congestion in her throat was relieved, she immediately recovered.
Li Guoyuan was extremely grateful to the monk and invited him into the library, where wine had been prepared. Just as they were about to drink, one of the household people came in and said that Little Crab Apple was again at the gate demanding the prince’s tally scroll. Li Guoyuan went out with the rest and told him that it would be sent to him later.
Li Guoyuan then turned and said to Ji Gong, “Teacher, what are we going to do?”
The monk said, “I will hire the Wei Tuo from our temple to get the scroll back.”
Li Guoyuan said, “Teacher, the Wei Tuo from your temple is a clay image—how can it steal things?
Ji Gong replied, “It can. That Wei Tuo of ours is always taking on such trivial business for people, but you cannot ask him to go and do something for nothing. You two wait here and drink your wine. I will go now and have a drink when I get back.” The monk stood up, and left.
After the two men had seen him out and returned, Li Guoyuan said, “Brother Zhao, do you think what we heard the monk say is true or false?”
“I don’t know whether it is genuine or not. Previously, when we were at the home of ‘Half a City’ Zhou, Ji Gong was carrying the Wei Tuo at the time he chased the goblin away. Now we are at a second crisis. Perhaps the talk about the Wei Tuo is true.”
After the two men had had some wine, they waited for Ji Gong until past lamp-lighting time. Then they began to get anxious, fearing that the city gates would be closed, shutting him outside the city walls.
Just as they were speaking of this, they saw Ji Gong come in, and they said, “Our teacher has returned to us.”
Ji Gong said, “I’m so angry I could die!”
Zhao Wenhui asked, “With whom is our teacher angry?”
Ji Gong replied, “With the Wei Tuo of our temple. He is really hateful. Ordinarily when I go out, he says, ‘If you have any business, let me take care of it for you.’ Today when I came back, he just glanced at me and turned away. He turned his face completely away and would not speak to me. I just laughed and said, ‘I have some business for you, old Wei.’ He asked what the business was, and I mentioned that I wanted him to go to Prime Minister Chin’s estate and steal back the five thunders, eight trigram scroll from an upstairs room in the flower garden pavilion. I asked him how much he wanted to be paid to