Time: 2013-03-06 12:33 Source: "Story Club" Author: Nanshan Wolf\In Fengjie County on the banks of the Yangtze River, there is a four-line song that both young and old can sing: "Xu You, Xu You, with no grievances or grudges, you opened the tomb for no reason, may you be punished with oil!" This song talks about a corrupt official named Xu You, who stole from the tomb of Liu Bei, the Emperor Liu.\ In ancient times, the city of Fengjie was called Kuizhou. The main hall of the prefectural office had three doors: one central door and two side doors. Strangely, the central door of the hall was tightly closed all year round, and no one had ever seen it open.\ At that time, when honored guests arrived, the central door was supposed to be opened to welcome them, and even small households would open the main room doors to show respect. But in Kuizhou, no matter who arrived, they had to use the side doors because Liu Bei's tomb was directly under the main hall. No matter how high an official you were, no matter how much money you had, could you compare to Emperor Liu Bei? After all, he was the emperor of the Shu Kingdom, even if a minor one!\ Therefore, not opening the central door had become an unwritten rule in the Kuizhou Prefecture, and locally there was a saying: "The central door of Kuizhou Prefecture — must not be opened."\ During the Ming Dynasty, in the Wanli era, a newly appointed prefect arrived in Kuizhou, named Xu You, who did not believe in superstitions. He was a top scholar, appointed by the emperor, and upon taking office he wanted to display grandeur and power, insisting that the central door of Kuizhou Prefecture be opened to welcome him.\ At first, the subordinates dared not do it, but Prefect Xu spoke firmly: if you don't follow me, go home and take care of your children. Who would want to lose their job? The emperor may be far away, but this prefect was the highest official here — if he wants the door opened, then it must be opened.\ When a new prefect took office, it was a big deal. That day was highly lively; the entire city of Kuizhou was bustling with noise: horn players, drummers, gong beaters, stilt walkers, dragon boat rowers, and the ceremonial guard entered the city. The people were amazed, and the streets were filled with onlookers.\ This prefect lord, flaunting his power, sat in a sedan chair for ten men and entered the main gate, passed through Zouma Street, climbed the Nine-Step Stair, and reached Shizi Ba. Just as he arrived at the prefecture office gate, strangely, the clear sky suddenly turned dark with thick clouds, a fierce wind rose, thunder and lightning raged; one flash of lightning struck directly at his sedan chair, and a clap of thunder struck right beside Prefect Xu's ear. Terrified, Xu You not only wet his clothes but also tumbled out of the sedan chair, lying on the ground motionless like a dead pig, foaming at the mouth continuously.The onlookers found it amusing. Some said the new governor had swine madness, some said he had epilepsy, and some said he was lovesick, getting flustered whenever he saw a pretty girl. Of course, it was none of these; if he really had such ailments, how could he have ranked first in the imperial exam and become a governor?
Later, Xu You himself said—it was Zhang Fei who slapped him out of the sedan chair. In a daze, he saw Emperor Liu Bei of the Later Han seated in the main hall, Zhuge Liang fanning with a feather fan, Lord Guan raising his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and Zhang Fei wielding his Serpent Spear at the entrance, not letting him in and repeatedly threatening to kill him.
From then on, Xu You never dared to open the main gate again. Yet, Xu You was an extremely corrupt official. Some said that because of his arrival, the land in Kuizhou had sunk two inches! He wanted to pluck the feathers from birds in the sky; he wanted to scrape the scales off fish in the Yangtze; he even dared to fish coins out of boiling oil! Kuizhou, originally poor and barren, had bad luck thrice over meeting such an official.
One day, Xu You was in the back hall counting the gold ingots he had confiscated when his finger slipped with a “clink,” and a gold ingot fell into the gap between the bricks. Xu You was very surprised—the floor was paved with square bricks, the gaps were tiny, so how could the gold ingot have fallen in?
Xu You then pried open the square brick. Strangely, the gold ingot was gone, but a smooth, shiny, black circular stone slab appeared. He tapped it: “dong dong dong”—the sound was like a large bell in a temple. Clearly, it was hollow inside.
Xu You was thrilled. He had long heard that Uncle Liu's tomb was directly under the governor's main hall, and it seemed true—there must be plenty of treasure inside. Now he was about to get rich. Descending from here might just lead him to the tomb passage. Xu You was overjoyed, as if he had married a flower-like young wife.
As Xu You expected, when he pried open the circular stone slab, a tomb passage appeared. Although it was pitch dark, Xu You was so happy he almost leaped. Fearing that others would share his riches if they knew, he didn't tell anyone. Quietly, by himself, holding a lantern, he crawled into the tomb passage.Xu You descended the eighty-one steps of the tomb, passed through three gates, turned nine corners, and as he walked, a gust of cold wind blew out his lantern, plunging everything into darkness.
Xu You panicked, trembling all over, cold sweat pouring down, and it took him a while to calm down slightly before forcing himself to move forward by touch.
After a short while, he finally saw a faint light. When he approached, he saw a huge tomb chamber with an enormous coffin suspended in the air by iron chains. The coffin was painted bright red, and in the center hung a dazzling golden ten-thousand-year lamp, flashing with a greenish glow.
Looking closer, Xu You saw that the lamp post had the words "Kongming Lamp" carved on it. Beneath the lamp post stood a stone tablet inscribed with: "Xu You, Xu You, no grievances, no enmities, opening the tomb without cause, your punishment is to be oiled!"
The signature was by Zhuge Wuhou, and the date was exactly more than a thousand years ago! Looking closer, the scenes from that day appeared before him: Emperor Liu Bei of the Han Dynasty sat high in the main hall, Zhuge Liang waving his feather fan, Lord Guan raising the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and Zhang Fei wielding his snake spear. Xu You suddenly felt his legs go weak and collapsed on the ground, feeling warmth under his body—he had wet himself. Shaking with fear, he got up and kowtowed incessantly, stammering: "Prime Minister, spare me, Prime Minister, spare me!"
It turned out that over a thousand years ago, Kongming had predicted that a corrupt official named Xu You would come here, and thus punished him to be oiled!
Xu You quietly left the tomb, telling no one about what had happened. But ever since he exited, he fell ill and could not recover. His illness was strange: he felt dizzy, numb from rheumatism, his calves cramping, and no medicine seemed to work. The condition worsened day by day, and despite consulting numerous doctors and consuming heaps of medicine, nothing helped.
One day, a monk from Baidi Temple brought Xu You a folk remedy, claiming it was the only thing that could save his life.
Xu You opened it to find it wasn't a medicine at all; the paper had only one word: "Oil."
Xu You pondered it for a long time and finally understood what it meant. Though frightened and embarrassed, he had no choice but to follow the instructions. So, when no one was around, he secretly sneaked into the tomb passage and oiled the Kongming lamp in the tomb chamber.It was strange, really. Every time Xu You went to apply oil, his illness would ease a bit. The next day, he would apply oil again, and the illness would ease a little more. But if he didn't apply the oil, the illness would get worse. There was no other way; he had to go apply oil every day. Of course, this oil cost money. Over the course of a year, all the wealth he gathered turned into oil, flowing into the Kongming lantern, exhausting his family's savings. He had no choice but to ask his wife for money, and even her secret savings were used up. Yet, that Kongming lantern was mysterious; no matter how much oil he poured in, it could never be filled. But Xu You didn't dare stop applying oil—the illness was still there!
This made his wife unhappy. As the saying goes, 'Three years as a prefect and you earn a hundred thousand silver taels.' Xu You was a prefect, yet he had no money, not even his own savings.
His wife said: 'Husband, I advised you not to do those immoral deeds, but you didn't listen, treating my words as the wind. Think about it, Uncle Liu has been dead for many years, and how many people have come to work in Kuizhou Prefecture? Why didn't they dare to lay a hand on Liu's tomb? Now all the oil in Kuizhou has been bought up by you. What oil will you use to light the lamp?'
Xu You felt a twinge of guilt upon hearing his wife's words, but he also felt frustrated. He slapped his hand on the dressing table and shouted, 'Why are you nagging?'
The slap knocked over the bottle of hair oil that his wife had on the dressing table. Seeing the bottle, Xu You was overjoyed: wasn't there oil here? He quickly righted the bottle, grabbed it, and dashed toward the tomb. He knelt every step and kowtowed every five steps. Reaching the Kongming lantern, he held the bottle of hair oil high…
How much oil could be in that bottle? Even if all of it was poured out, it wouldn't fill half the lantern!
But the unexpected happened: as soon as Xu You poured the little oil into the lantern, which had never been full before, it filled up immediately…
Xu You knelt on the ground, unwilling to get up, tears streaming from his eyes, banging his head with such force that bumps the size of apples appeared on his forehead.
After a long, long time, Xu You lifted his head, his gaze landing on the stele in front of the Kongming lantern. Suddenly, he widened his eyes: the words on the stele that used to command him to apply oil and light the lamp had disappeared, replaced by four new words: 'Serve the Public, Uphold Integrity'!
Later, Xu You truly became an honest official, and Kuizhou Prefecture was renamed Fengjie as a result…