Now, when Bao Xing saw the notice, a clever idea came to him in his hour of need. Seeing a man standing beside him, he turned to him at once and asked, “How far is this Yinyi Village from here?” “No more than three li,” the man answered promptly. “But why do you ask?” “I won’t hide it from you, friends,” said Bao Xing. “The fact is, my young master is an old hand at driving out evil spirits, subduing demons and catching goblins — the moment he lays a hand on the trouble, it’s cured. There’s just one thing. We’re strangers here, and though my young master has certain powers, he dare not show himself, for fear of being accused of misleading people with uncanny talk1. So he won’t drive out spirits for just anyone. Whoever comes to him must beg him in all sincerity. He’s sure to say he can’t subdue demons — and the more he says he can’t, the harder you must beg. Only when he has tested you and found you truly in earnest, sincere through and through, will he agree.” “Is that all?” said the man. “So long as your young master agrees, I’d gladly walk through boiling water and fire.” “In that case,” said Bao Xing, “enough idle talk. Roll up this notice and come with me.” The onlookers on either side, who had gathered to watch the fun, heard that someone could catch demons and could not help wanting to see for themselves, and quite a crowd followed behind them.

Bao Xing led the man to the door of the cheap little eating house and said to the crowd, “Friends and neighbours, if my young master won’t agree and tries to leave, I beg you, stop him.” The man, too, addressed the crowd: “May I trouble you, good neighbours? If the exorcist won’t consent, I beg you to lend me a hand.” Having laid a good solid ambush at the door, Bao Xing went into the eating house and said to the man, “First go to the counter and settle our bill. Then we won’t lose any more time when we leave.” “Yes, yes,” said the man, and went over to the counter. Everyone behind it clasped their hands in greeting and made way for him: “My respects, Second Master Li! It’s been a long time since you honoured our little shop.” (Who would have guessed? The man’s name was Li Bao, and he was the steward of Lord Li’s household.) “My respects,” Li Bao answered quickly. “I must ask a favour. Whatever the young gentleman upstairs and his man here have had, put it on my account.” The proprietor hurriedly agreed and quietly let the waiter know. Bao Xing and Li Bao came to the foot of the stairs, and Bao Xing told Li Bao to listen for a cough: that was the signal to hurry upstairs and beg. Li Bao agreed, and only then did Bao Xing go up.

Upstairs, meanwhile, Lord Bao had been waiting, more and more on edge. He had all but stared his eyes out, and still there was no sign of Bao Xing coming back. All sorts of wild ideas ran through his head. At first he had supposed that seeing his uncle must have involved a great deal of fuss, or perhaps the loan had fallen through and the boy was too embarrassed to come back and face him. Then another thought struck him: “I never once heard him mention any such relative. Can it be that, seeing I have neither baggage nor money for the road, he has run off on his own? Or perhaps, young as he is, he has taken a wrong turning — who can tell?” While he was still wondering, up the stairs came Bao Xing, grinning all over his face. At the sight of him Lord Bao could not help getting angry. “Where have you been, you wretch?” he scolded. “You’ve kept me waiting here long enough!” Bao Xing went up close and said in a low voice, “I didn’t find my uncle. But something has come up…” And he told him all about the young lady of the Li household in Yinyi Village who had been bewitched by a demon, and how they were asking for someone to catch it. “So now, young master, I’d like you to go along and bluff it out.” Lord Bao flew into a rage. “You wretch!” he said. But Bao Xing gave him no chance to say more: right there at the top of the stairs he began to cough, over and over.

Up the stairs came Li Bao, who dropped to his knees before Lord Bao. “I humbly greet you, sir,” he said. “My name is Li Bao. My mistress has sent me to find an exorcist2 to save our young lady. Just now I met your attendant, who tells me your powers are vast and your magic boundless. I beg you, sir, rescue our young lady!” With that he kowtowed and would not get up again. “Steward,” said Lord Bao, “pay no attention to what that boy of mine says. I can’t catch demons.” “You hear that?” Bao Xing put in from the side. “He’s saying he can’t. Quick, kowtow!” At this Li Bao knocked his head on the floor again and again, so hard that the floorboards boomed. “Young master,” Bao Xing went on, “see how sincere he is. It’s pitiful. There’s nothing else for it — have mercy on him, young master, do.” Lord Bao glared. “You wretch, every word out of your mouth is nonsense!” Then, to Li Bao: “Get up, steward. I have a journey to make. I can’t catch demons.” But Li Bao would not hear of letting him go. “You can’t leave now, sir. I’ve already begged all the neighbours to help me stop you downstairs. Besides, they all know you’re an exorcist. If you leave and my mistress hears of it, I’ll never be able to bear the blame.” With that he kowtowed again. Lord Bao could not shake him off, and could only curse Bao Xing in silence. Then another thought came to him: “This is all idle talk in the end. How could there be any demon? I, Bao, have right on my side, and right overcomes evil. I may as well go with him and see, and then think of some way to get myself out of it.” His mind made up, he said to Li Bao, “I can’t catch demons — but I don’t believe in them either. Very well. I’ll go with you and have a look.”

Hearing that Lord Bao had consented, Li Bao was overjoyed. He kowtowed, got to his feet and led the way. When Lord Bao came downstairs, there was a sea of people at the door of the shop, all come to see the exorcist. At the sight Li Bao hurried forward. “Thank you for your trouble, friends and neighbours,” he said. “Happily, my sincerity has won the day: the exorcist has consented, and there’s no need for you to stop him. I beg you all, stand aside a little and clear a path. That would be a great kindness.” With that he made them a bow. The crowd stepped back to either side, leaving a lane open down the middle. Li Bao led the way as before, Lord Bao followed, and Bao Xing brought up the rear. From the crowd came voices of praise: “What a face! What a presence! No wonder he has such powers. That air of righteousness alone would keep evil away.” And there were busybodies among them who thought nothing of the trouble, so that quite a few followed all the way to Yinyi Village. Before they knew it they had entered the village, and Li Bao went on ahead to announce them.

Now, this Lord Li was none other than Li Wenye, Minister of Personnel3 — the ‘Heavenly Official’ — who had retired on account of his age to live among the woods and fields. Even the village’s name, Yinyi, ‘living in seclusion’, had been chosen by Lord Li, and meant no more than that he had withdrawn to the woods and fields. His wife was Madam Zhang. They had no son, only a daughter, who while strolling in the garden had chanced to fall under the power of an evil spirit. Lord Li had forbidden any fuss to be made about it, but his wife loved her daughter too dearly: she had sent Li Bao out in every direction to find an exorcist to drive the spirit away, and Lord Li, at a loss, had had to give in. That day husband and wife were in their bedchamber discussing their daughter’s illness when Li Bao came to report: “I’ve found an exorcist. He’s a young scholar.” At this Lord Li thought to himself, “If he is a scholar who reads the books of the sages, what business has he working at heterodox arts4? I shall go out and take him to task.” With that, he told Li Bao to show him into the study.

Li Bao went back out to the main gate and showed Lord Bao and his servant into the study. When tea had been served, he came in again and announced, “My master is coming to see you.” Lord Bao rose at once. In came an official, his beard and hair half white but his face as fresh as a boy’s. Lord Bao, calm and unhurried, stepped forward and bowed. “Your Excellency, your junior pays his respects.” Seeing what an uncommon bearing Lord Bao had, and how striking his looks were, Lord Li hastened to return the bow, and they sat down as host and guest. “Your honoured name?” he asked. “Your home? And what brings you to these humble parts?” Lord Bao told him everything, holding nothing back: how he had set out for the metropolitan examination in the capital and met with disaster on the road. So, Lord Li saw, this was a scholar fallen on hard times. “He speaks so frankly,” he thought, “he must be honest and true. But I wonder what his learning is like.” And so, as they chatted, he examined him on a good many points of scholarship. Ask Lord Bao one thing and he answered ten; even the oldest and most famous scholars could not match the breadth of his learning. Lord Li was more delighted than he could say. “This young man’s frame and features are out of the ordinary,” he thought, “and he has learning like this besides. One day he is sure to rise above other men.” They had not talked long when he took his leave for the time being, telling Li Bao, “Look after Mr. Bao well. Don’t neglect him. He will sleep here in the study tonight.” With that, he went back to the inner quarters. Of catching the demon, not a single word had been said.

But the lady of the house, as it turned out, had secretly sent word to Li Bao that he must not fail to get the exorcist to catch the demon in her daughter’s rooms; she had already moved the girl into her own bedchamber. So Li Bao asked, “What will the exorcist need? We should get it ready in good time.” “Three tables and a chair,” said Bao Xing, “with a frontal for the table and a cover for the chair, to set up an altar in the young lady’s room. Cinnabar5 and a new brush, yellow paper and a sword, a censer and candlesticks — all of it must be clean. Once my master has composed his mind and gathered his spirit, he’ll mount the altar at the second watch.” Li Bao went off to see to it. Before long he was back. “Everything’s ready,” he told Bao Xing. “If everything’s ready,” said Bao Xing, “have them take it all to the young lady’s chamber. Everyone lend a hand, and I’ll go and set up the altar.” Li Bao had men carry the tables and the chair, while he himself took all the cloths and other soft things; then he asked Bao Xing to come along, and together they went to the young lady’s bedchamber. A faint, sweet fragrance hung in the room. There in the central room they first set two of the tables side by side, then lifted the third up onto the front one and put the chair up on the one behind. They tied on the table frontal and draped the chair cover; then they set out the censer and candlesticks and laid out the ink and inkstone, paper and brush, the sword and the rest. When everything was in place, Bao Xing left the chamber with Li Bao and headed straight back to the study, telling Li Bao not to go far but to wait within call and come the moment he was wanted. “Yes, yes,” said Li Bao.

When Bao Xing came into the study, it was already about the first watch. Lord Bao had toiled all through the night before and walked a long way besides, and he was utterly worn out. He had not gone to bed, but he was so sleepy that he was nodding back and forth in his seat. “Look at my young master,” said Bao Xing at the sight. “Eats his fill and goes straight to sleep — not even afraid it’ll sit on his stomach.” He went up to him and called, “Young master!” Lord Bao woke with a start and, seeing Bao Xing, said, “You’ve come just in time. Help me to bed.” “Just go to bed like that, young master, and that’s that?” said Bao Xing. “Didn’t we come here to catch a demon?” “That was your doing, you wretch!” said Lord Bao. “I can’t catch demons.” Bao Xing lowered his voice. “Just think, young master, of all the trouble I took to find you lodgings like these, and the fine food you’ve eaten, and that good old Shaoxing wine you’ve drunk, so fragrant and so mellow. And now that you’ve eaten and drunk your fill, you want to go to sleep. As the saying goes, ‘Paid without earning it, you can neither eat nor sleep in peace.’ Can you really feel easy about that, young master? Why don’t we go and take a look at the young lady’s bedchamber? With your righteous spirit, young master, you might well overcome the evil thing — and wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?” This speech made Lord Bao waver. Besides, he did not believe in demons himself, and had meant to come and look anyway. So he could only say, “Oh, very well. Go on with your antics, you wretch.” Seeing Lord Bao get to his feet, Bao Xing called out at once, “Lights, quick!” And from outside came answers on every side: “All ready, sir!”

Lord Bao left the study, with Li Bao carrying a lantern ahead to light the way. When they reached the young lady’s bedchamber and he looked in, candles were blazing, the tables and chair stood stacked up high, and everything was laid out ready. He knew at once that this was all Bao Xing’s hocus-pocus. As he stepped into the room, he heard Bao Xing instruct Li Bao: “Everyone who has no business here must keep away. Above all, no women may peep.” At this Li Bao hastily withdrew and went off to hide.

Bao Xing took up the incense, lit it and set it in the censer, then went down flat on the floor and knocked his head three times. Lord Bao could not help laughing to himself. Then Bao Xing climbed up to the high table, ground the cinnabar ink, dipped the new brush in it and tore the yellow paper into strips. He was just about to write when he felt his wrist move, as though someone were holding it6. When he looked, this is what he had written: “Naughty, naughty! Deserves a beating, deserves a beating!” Bao Xing’s flesh began to creep. He hastily burned the strip in the lamp flame and scrambled down from the platform. Lord Bao was sitting upright over to one side. Bao Xing went up to him and said, “Young master, rather than sit here, why not sit up at the high table?” Lord Bao, with no way out, had to get up. He climbed onto the high platform and sat down in the chair. On the table before him lay a sword, with cinnabar, yellow paper, brush, inkstone and the rest. Lord Bao was secretly pleased too: “Give him his due — he’s thought of everything.” And so, almost in spite of himself, he picked up the brush, dipped it in the cinnabar and spread out a sheet of yellow paper. He was just about to write when, before he knew it, his wrist was following the brush, and the words flowed from his hand. He was about to look at them when from outside came a cry of alarm and a thud as someone fell to the ground.

At the sound Lord Bao snatched up the sword, climbed down from the platform and went to the door of the bedchamber to look. It was Li Bao. Pale with terror, he said, “Master Exorcist, sir, I’ve been frightened to death! I’d just come into the courtyard when a streak of white light shot out through the door. I saw it, and before I knew it the colour had drained from my face and I’d fallen flat.” Lord Bao was puzzled too. He went back into the room, but Bao Xing was nowhere to be seen. When he and Li Bao looked for him, they found Bao Xing curled up in a ball under the table; only when he saw someone coming did he dare poke his head out. Seeing Li Bao there, he covered up at once: “I told you people — no one may peep while my master is working his magic. Even I was hiding under the table! How dare you break the rules of the rite? Lucky for you my master’s powers are boundless.” It was a pack of lies, but he made it sound most convincing — such was the gift of his quick wits. Only then did Li Bao say, “My master and mistress were afraid you’d tire yourself out so late at night, sir, and sent me to see to you and ask you to retire early.” At this Lord Bao had Bao Xing light a lantern, and they went back to the study.

Why, you may ask, was Lord Li so watchful? Because the day before, after meeting Lord Bao in the study, he had gone back to the inner quarters and, on seeing his wife, praised him over and over: “Mr. Bao is a man of fine character and fine learning. There’s no telling how far he will go.” At this Madam Zhang said, “If that is so, and he cures our child, why not join our two families in the bond of Qin and Jin8?” “That is exactly what I was thinking, my dear,” said Lord Li. “Let us see how the child’s illness goes, and then decide.” So the old couple had the matter on their minds. And when they heard from Li Bao that the exorcist would mount the altar at the second watch to catch the demon, they did not dare go to bed early. The second watch struck and they were still up, so they sent Li Bao especially to find out how things stood. They had not expected him to come back with this slip of paper — and that was why Lord Li had told him to make careful inquiries.

The next day — who would have believed it? — the young lady’s illness had vanished as if it had never been, and she was completely recovered: a marvel indeed. Lord Li and his wife were happier than ever. They had hurried through their washing and dressing when Li Bao came to report: “Last night I questioned Bao Xing closely. He says the things on that slip of paper are troubles his master met with as a boy. Each time, ill fortune turned to good, and he came to no harm. And I made sure: he isn’t betrothed yet.” Lord Li was overjoyed. He understood now that this was a fox repaying a kindness, bringing about a happy match. He straightened his robe and went to the study. Li Bao announced him, and Lord Bao came out to greet him. Lord Li was all smiles. “My daughter owes her rescue to you, my worthy young friend,” he said. “Her grave illness is cured — truly a marvel. I have no son, only this one daughter, and she is not yet promised to anyone. I should like to offer her to you, to hold your dustpan and broom9. What do you say, my worthy young friend?” “In this matter,” Lord Bao replied, “your junior truly dares not decide for himself. I must first tell my parents and my brothers and their wives before I dare join our families.” Seeing that he would not agree, Lord Li, smiling broadly, drew the slip of yellow paper from his sleeve and handed it to him. “Read this, my young friend, and you will understand. There’s no need to decline.” Lord Bao took it and read it, and before he knew it he had flushed to the tips of his ears. He thought to himself, “How could I have written such things last night, half in a daze?” And then: “So the young woman I saw in the hills when I was caught in the rain as a boy was a fox, sheltering from her doom! And she has saved me time and again — she knows how to repay a kindness.” Bao Xing stood by on tenterhooks, itching to urge his master to say yes, but he did not dare put in a word. Seeing Lord Bao lost in silent thought, Lord Li said, “No need to hesitate, my young friend. As I see it, this was no evil spirit making mischief at all: it came to tie the red thread10 for you. Which shows that everything has its appointed course. One mustn’t be too rigid.” At this Lord Bao could only answer, “Since Your Excellency honours me with such undeserved favour, how could I dare refuse? There is just one thing I must make clear. When your junior has sat the metropolitan examination, I will go home and tell my parents and my brothers and their wives, and then I will send the betrothal gifts.” Seeing that Lord Bao had agreed, Lord Li was delighted. “That is just as it should be,” he said. “A true man’s word, once given, stands, and I am sure you will never go back on yours, my young friend. I shall wait quietly for good news.”

As they talked, tables and chairs were set out and wine and food brought in, and Lord Li kept him company in person. Over the wine they talked of how to set a household in order and govern a state. Lord Bao answered as readily as water flows, and everything he said was as well ordered as warp and weft. Lord Li was so delighted that he would not hear of master and servant going on their way. He kept them three days running, and Lord Bao was presented to his wife as well. When the three days were up, Lord Li had baggage and horses made ready, with clothes and money for the road, and sent his steward Li Bao to go with them to the capital. Lord Bao bowed his farewells to Lord Li, and there were more parting words. Bao Xing, by now in the highest of spirits and full of vigour, followed his master out. Li Bao led up the horse and held the stirrup, Lord Bao mounted, and all along the way Li Bao waited on him carefully and saw to everything with the greatest attention. One day they reached the capital and found lodgings. All the business of handing in his papers at the Ministry of Personnel was done without Lord Bao having to give it a thought; he had only to wait for the day and go into the examination hall.

Our story turns now to the affairs of the court. When the Emperor Zhenzong died and the Emperor Renzong took the throne, Empress Liu was made Empress Dowager, Lady Pang was made Empress, Guo Huai was made chief steward, and Pang Ji, as the Emperor’s father-in-law, was further honoured as Grand Preceptor11. This Pang Ji had always been a slanderer and a flatterer, and, trading on his position as the Emperor’s father-in-law, he was forever bullying his fellow officials. Then there was a crowd of men who flocked to wherever power lay, and they banded together into a faction: openly they took advantage of the Emperor’s youth, and in secret they meant to seize power for themselves. But who would have thought it? Renzong, who had been through so many trials since he was a child, was a wise and clear-sighted ruler. The elder statesmen of the previous reign stood at his side to help him govern, and all the upright ministers kept their posts as before, so that even Pang Ji could do nothing about them. And so the government was strict and the laws were clear, and things had not yet fallen into disorder. Now, as the spring examination drew near, the Grand Preceptor Pang Ji was appointed chief examiner by imperial decree. So among the candidates for the metropolitan examination there were some who looked for a back door and some who bribed their way, all manner of schemes. Lord Bao alone relied on nothing but his own learning. He sat all three sessions of the examination, and when the day came for the results to be announced, because he had no one to pull strings for him, he was passed twenty-third among the metropolitan graduates. There was no place for him in the Hanlin Academy12; instead, by imperial decree, he was appointed straight from the list as a county magistrate13, and was given the post of Magistrate of Dingyuan County in Fengyang Prefecture. When he had received his letter of appointment, Lord Bao packed his things and hurried out of the capital. First he went home to pay his respects to his parents and his brothers and their wives, and told them of the dangers he had met on the road and of his betrothal into the family of Minister Li. The squire and Madam Zhou were alarmed and delighted at once. A day was chosen to sacrifice to the ancestors and to kowtow in thanks to old Master Ning. A few days later Lord Bao bowed farewell to his parents and his brothers and their wives and, taking Li Bao and Bao Xing with him, set out to take up his post. As they neared the borders of Dingyuan County, he told Li Bao to follow slowly with the baggage, while he and Bao Xing changed into plain clothes and went on in disguise, making private inquiries along the way.

Where there is much to tell, the tale runs long; where there is nothing to tell, it is short. One day Lord Bao and Bao Xing slipped quietly into Dingyuan and found an eating house to stop at for a meal. They were in the middle of eating when a man came in from outside. The waiter saw him and greeted him: “Haven’t seen you in a while, sir!” The man picked out a seat and sat down.

To learn what became of this man, read the next chapter.