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= Chapter 5: Righteous Indignation in the Magistrate's Court: A Rescue That Breeds Disaster =
''Modern English translation by Martin Woesler (2025)''

To the tune of "Treading on Sedge":

Now scheming to swallow whole, now plotting to usurp —
The villain's wicked arts are manifold.
Who knew this was no true match?
Thinking it real, they're wrong again.
Just at the right moment she arrives;
Just at the right moment he appears.
Fated foes will find their paths are never wide.
Were it not for the wild vine and the idle tendril,
How could the peach blossom ever have been led to bloom?

Now then: Young Master Guo, ever since he and Shui Yun had hatched their plan to abduct Miss Shui, had feared that she might prove unmanageable even after the abduction. He had therefore once again invited the prefect and the magistrate to sit in his house and wait, intending to have them adjudicate based on the horoscope card, so there could be no argument. He also invited a great many relatives, wanting to display his triumph — that he had at last brought Miss Shui home.

That day, having dispatched a large company of men and successfully seized the sedan, he rode home in high spirits, his retinue swarming around him. At his front gate, the porters were about to set the sedan down, but Young Master Guo waved them on: "Carry it inside!" Past the smaller hall he still urged them forward, until they reached the main hall's terrace, where at last he permitted them to stop. The prefect and the assembled guests rose and came down the steps to congratulate him: "A virtuous maiden is not easily won — today you may truly be felicitated!"

Young Master Guo, at the pinnacle of self-satisfaction, swaggered up to the hall, bowed to the prefect and the magistrate, and said: "I must beg your indulgence for today's unorthodox proceedings. The betrothal was contracted with Miss Bingxin — there is a horoscope card to prove it. But she reneged on her promise and substituted another. Unable to accept this, I have today exercised my prerogative and brought her here. I beg Your Honor and the magistrate to pass judgment!"

The prefect and magistrate said in unison: "We know the whole history of this marriage from beginning to end. Now that she has been brought here to set matters right, past errors may be forgiven. Open the sedan at once and usher her into the bridal chamber!"

Young Master Guo said: "That will not do. If I simply take her to bed, she may claim it was coercion. Only an official ruling will give both parties peace of mind."

The prefect said: "Very well — open the sedan and invite the new bride out for a discussion."

Young Master Guo sent several maids to open the sedan door. The maids lifted the curtains and saw that the sedan door was fastened with a small lock. They reported this to Young Master Guo, who said: "That is nothing." He went over and twisted off the lock. The maids opened the two doors and peered inside — then stood frozen, staring at each other in speechless bewilderment. Young Master Guo, seeing them standing like statues, cursed: "You stupid wretches — help the new bride out! What are you gaping at?"

The maids replied: "There is no new bride in the sedan — whom should we help out?"

Young Master Guo, stunned, rushed to the sedan and looked inside. There was nothing but a yellow cloth bundle — not a shadow of a person. He stamped his feet in fury: "I saw her clearly up on the pavilion! How did that wretched girl manage to switch things when she got into the sedan? Insufferable!"

The prefect, the magistrate, and all the guests crowded around the sedan to look. It was indeed empty. They all sighed in admiration: "Miss Bingxin is truly a divine being!" They turned to Young Master Guo: "I advise you to put this out of your mind. This girl's ways are unfathomable — she is no ordinary mortal."

Young Master Guo, unable to utter a word, hung his head and sighed. The prefect had the cloth bundle and the leather trunk opened — nothing inside but stones of various sizes. Everyone laughed. After a long period of confused discussion, the guests drifted away.

Only one man — a close friend of Young Master Guo's named Cheng Qi, who was frequently at his side — remained seated. Young Master Guo said to him: "Today's opportunity seemed perfect, yet again it came to nothing. Perhaps it is simply not my fate."

Cheng Qi said: "If the scheme fails, you call it fate. But if it had succeeded, you would call it destiny. Wooing a bride by genteel means, expecting her to submit of her own free will — that is the hard way. But if you have the power and the force to seize her, things become much simpler. With your resources, what scheme could possibly fail?"

Young Master Guo said: "Do not underestimate the difficulty. She is a girl of the inner chambers who rarely comes out. Even with all the boldness in the world, how is one to get at her?"

Cheng Qi said: "I have heard something about her father, Shui Juyi — and therein lies the key."

"What key?" asked Young Master Guo.

"I hear that her father has been banished to the frontier and there has been no news of him for a long time. I also hear that Miss Bingxin is extremely filial — she must long for his pardon. All you need to do is forge a red congratulatory placard announcing that the Censorate has submitted a memorial for his pardon, that the emperor has graciously approved it, and that he has been restored to his former rank. Send twenty-odd men disguised as messengers to burst through her gate shouting the good news and demanding a reward. If she does not come out, they should claim there is also an imperial edict of pardon that requires her personal acceptance. In her joy, she will forget her caution; and hearing that there is an edict, she will not dare refuse to appear. The moment she emerges, have a concealed sedan ready — bundle her in and carry her off. She is a frail young woman; however eloquent she may be, she cannot overpower a crowd of men."

Young Master Guo was delighted: "An excellent plan!"

Cheng Qi added: "Excellent, but it might create complications."

"What complications?"

"She is the daughter of an official family. If you send a mob to seize her in her own home and she turns out to be hot-tempered — if anything happens to her — the consequences would be dire. Even though you and the prefect are allies, it would be better to file a formal petition first, bring her to the magistrate's court and then to the prefect's, and have them issue a ruling: 'Since the betrothal was duly contracted, she is hereby returned to be married.' That way everything will be aboveboard."

Young Master Guo was even more delighted: "Better still!" The two finalized their plan and set about making preparations in secret. As the verse says:

Before one villainy is done, another hatches;
How shall the world find peace?
Think not that beauty alone is plagued by trials —
Even stout men find the road severe!

Now Miss Bingxin, having eluded the ambush at the South Farm by her stratagem, shut her doors and kept strictly to herself, admitting not even other women. But her father's exile and the lack of news weighed on her mind.

One day, she had just finished her morning toilette when she heard a sudden commotion outside. A crowd of men burst through the gate and pasted a large red placard on the screen-wall of the main hall, shouting: "His Lordship has been pardoned by imperial decree and restored to office! We have come to bring the good news and claim our reward!" Several more cried: "There is also an edict of pardon — will the young lady please come out and receive it!"

In the confusion, Miss Bingxin had no choice but to go to the rear of the hall to look. She could see the red placard posted on the wall but could not read it from behind the screen. The messengers kept shouting: "Come quickly to receive the imperial decree!" Fearing that a delay in receiving an edict might be taken as disrespect, she took two maids with her and walked out into the hall to inquire. Her feet had barely touched the ground when the messengers surrounded her: "The edict is at the prefect's hall — the young lady must come in person for the reading!"

Before she could speak, a sedan was carried in from outside and she was urged to get in. Miss Bingxin saw the situation and knew she had fallen into a trap. But she stood squarely in the center of the hall, her face showing not a trace of alarm, and spoke with perfect composure: "All of you — be still and listen. You have been sent to escort me, but you should understand: Young Master Guo invites me, not because he bears me a grudge, but because he wishes to marry me. If I consent when I arrive, he will be your master and I shall be your mistress. If any of you are rude or unruly now, I shall remember every one of you and punish you when I reach the Guo household. Do not say I did not warn you."

Cheng Qi, who was among the crowd in disguise, hastily replied: "The young lady's foresight is beyond compare. We beg only that you set forth at once — no one will dare be disrespectful."

Miss Bingxin said: "Very well. Stand back and attend me properly. Let me change my clothes and instruct the servants to guard the house, and then I shall go." The men obediently stepped back.

Miss Bingxin told a maid to fetch her clothes — and quietly had her slip a sheathed knife into her sleeve. While changing, she said: "If you wish me to make things work with your master, you must follow my instructions."

Cheng Qi said: "Whatever the young lady commands, who would dare disobey?"

Miss Bingxin said: "Young Master Guo has pursued this match three times. Though his methods have not been proper, his intentions have been earnest — I cannot dismiss him entirely. But the way you have brought me here today, by trickery and fraud — if I am taken straight to the Guo house and I submit, it will look like a hasty, illicit union. I would rather die than consent to that, for there would be no honorable way to do so. Far better to take me first to the magistrate's court and the prefect's office, where the matter can be properly adjudicated. If the officials issue a ruling in favor of the match, it will no longer be disreputable, and then, when I am taken to the Guo house, there may be room for discussion."

Cheng Qi, hearing this, was pleased — it matched his own plan exactly. He said: "We common folk may not understand these niceties, but since the young lady wishes to see the magistrate first, let us take her there and then to the prefect — what difference does it make?" He called for the sedan and helped Miss Bingxin aboard. She gave instructions for guarding the house, took two maids and two boy-servants with her, and quietly told a servant to take down the red placard and bring it to the magistrate's gate. Then she stepped calmly into the sedan. As the verse says:

When ghosts and goblins fill the eye, she does not flinch;
When thunder crashes in her ears, she does not start.
Let them think she's fallen into their snare —
From the very jaws of death she seeks her life.

The men hoisted the sedan onto their shoulders, exultant, thinking their great deed accomplished. With twenty or thirty men swarming around it, they rushed pell-mell toward the magistrate's gate, trusting in the Guo family's power to clear a path.

But just as they neared the gate, they collided head-on with Tie Zhongyu. He had come to Shandong on his scholarly travels and happened to have reached this very place. Riding a hired mule, with Xiao Dan trudging behind him, he was plodding along solitary and forlorn when the mob came hurtling around a corner and nearly knocked him off his mount. Tie Zhongyu leapt down in fury, seized the nearest bearer by the chest, and roared: "You wretched scoundrels! There is no fire, no funeral — what gives you the right to rush about in broad daylight like bandits, nearly throwing me, Tie, off my mule? What is the meaning of this?"

The men shouted in a clamor: "Who do you think you are? This is Grand Secretary Guo's family fetching a bride! Even if you were a Mister Gold or a Mister Jade, we could haul you before the magistrate and have you beaten to a pulp!"

Tie Zhongyu was even more enraged: "If this is Grand Secretary Guo's household fetching a bride, where are the drums? Where are the lanterns? There must be foul play here. I shall bring you before the magistrate and get to the bottom of it!"

Cheng Qi stepped forward and said soothingly: "An accidental collision — nothing to get excited about. And from your accent, sir, you are from another province entirely. Why meddle in affairs that do not concern you? Let go and be on your way."

Tie Zhongyu was almost persuaded to let go when a voice from inside the sedan cried out: "Injustice! Injustice! I beg the hero to save me!"

Tie Zhongyu tightened his grip: "So there is injustice after all! This I certainly cannot let pass. To the magistrate with all of you!" The men surged forward to push him away. Tie Zhongyu's patience snapped. He released his grip and let fly with fists and feet, sending them scattering in every direction. Cheng Qi intervened: "Sir, no need to fight. This is getting out of hand — neither you nor they can settle this privately. They say you should go to the magistrate — why not take it there?" Since the court was nearby, and they were too many for Tie Zhongyu to hold off alone, the whole mass of them surged, pushing and pulling, to the magistrate's gate.

Tie Zhongyu, seeing they had arrived, released his grip, strode to the drum-stand, pulled out his riding crop, and beat the drum until it thundered. The constables came running and surrounded him: "Who are you, and how dare you beat the drum? Come inside and face His Honor!"

Now, the magistrate had already received word from the Guo household that Miss Shui had been seized and was being brought in for his judgment. He was therefore sitting on the bench, waiting. When the drum sounded, the constables ushered in a young scholar who walked up to the bench without bowing or kneeling, merely raising his hand in greeting: "Your Honor."

The magistrate examined him and asked: "Who are you? Why have you struck the drum?"

Tie Zhongyu said: "Who I am, Your Honor need not ask, and I need not say. But just now I encountered a case of abduction and injustice on the road, and being unable to tolerate it, I have beaten the drum to ask Your Honor for a ruling — to determine whether the wrong is truly wrong, and whether justice is truly just."

The magistrate, noting Tie Zhongyu's handsome bearing and quick tongue, did not dare act rashly. He asked: "What case of abduction?"

"The parties are right outside — they will be brought in shortly." Before he had finished, the Guo household's party arrived, surrounding Miss Bingxin. Before she could even enter, Cheng Qi rushed forward, posing as a Guo family servant: "This Miss Shui was betrothed long ago to our young master. She has tried to renege, so our master has sent us to bring her here. We beg Your Honor to adjudicate, so that she may be escorted home for the wedding."

The magistrate said: "If the betrothal was duly contracted, she should be returned for the wedding. There is no need for her to enter — take her away at once."

Cheng Qi turned and told the crowd: "No need to bring her in — His Honor has already ruled. Take her home for the wedding."

Miss Bingxin had just reached the middle of the courtyard. When she saw that she was being blocked and pushed back, she planted herself on the ground, sat down cross-legged, and wailed: "The duty of a parent-official is to judge wrongs and hear grievances! How can he refuse to hear a single word?"

The magistrate waved her away, but Tie Zhongyu, unable to contain himself, leapt forward and shouted at the magistrate: "What a muddleheaded judge! On the public bench, you listen to one side only and will not let the other speak? Even the most corrupt and power-hungry officials in the empire are not so brazen as this! If this is how you conduct yourself, the world would need only one magistrate — but there are still prefects, circuit intendants, and governors-general above you!"

The magistrate, hearing Tie Zhongyu making such a scene, slammed his gavel in anger: "This is the court of His Imperial Majesty! Who are you to be so insolent?"

Tie Zhongyu laughed loudly: "A fine 'public court' this is! Let me tell you — even a nobleman's estate, imperially bestowed and restricted, I have broken into, and rescued people from it, and no one dared call me insolent!"

Now this magistrate was newly posted to Shandong and still remembered the news from the capital — including the story of Tie Zhongyu storming the Hall of Leisured Ease. Hearing this declaration, he was struck with alarm: "From what you say, sir — could you possibly be Tie Tingsheng, the eldest son of Commissioner Tie of the Censorate?"

Tie Zhongyu said: "Now that Your Honor knows my humble name, perhaps you will think twice about conducting such lawless business."

The magistrate, seeing that it was indeed Tie Zhongyu, hurried from behind the bench and bowed deeply: "My name is Bao Zi. When I was in the capital awaiting appointment, I heard your illustrious name like spring thunder in my ears — but alas, had no opportunity to meet you. Today I am honored by your presence, though I fear I have given offense. I beg your forbearance." He offered Tie Zhongyu a seat and had tea served.

After tea, the magistrate said: "You, sir, must surely know the whole history of this affair. It is not that I dare to do wrong, but that I cannot refuse Grand Secretary Guo's entreaties."

Tie Zhongyu said: "In fact, I know nothing about it. I simply happened upon the scene just now and intervened out of a sense of justice. I do not know the details at all — I would appreciate hearing them from you."

The magistrate said: "That is stranger still. I thought you had come with a purpose. To learn that it was merely the cold eye and warm heart of a bystander makes it all the more admirable." He then told the full story: how Miss Bingxin was the daughter of Vice-Minister Shui; how Young Master Guo, smitten with her beauty, had tried to marry her; how her uncle Shui Yun had promoted the match; how she had switched the horoscope to her cousin's; how the feast at the Guo house had failed when she turned back at the gate; and how the abduction from the South Farm had yielded nothing but a sedan full of stones.

Tie Zhongyu, hearing all this, could scarcely contain his excitement. "From what you say, this Miss Shui is truly an extraordinary woman of a thousand ages! Remarkable! We must not let this pass!" Without waiting for the magistrate, he strode off the bench and went outside to see her. And indeed, she was extraordinarily beautiful.

Tie Zhongyu stepped forward and bowed deeply: "I humbly beg your pardon, my lady. It seems you are an immortal from Penglai, descended to the mortal world — and I, with mortal eyes, failed to recognize you. But if you possess such remarkable talents, how did you fall into the trap of these scoundrels today? That puzzles me."

Miss Bingxin rose quickly and returned his bow: "Ever since my father was banished, I have been consumed with worry day and night. When I suddenly heard that a decree of pardon had been issued, I thought: who would dare forge an imperial edict? So I went out to receive it — and thus fell into their hands." She drew the knife from her sleeve and held it up: "I have long known that the wronged cannot hope for justice. I had resolved to die here. But if, by great good fortune, a knight of true valor would deign to stretch out his hand, then even the day of my death would be as a year of life."

Tie Zhongyu asked: "What decree?" Miss Bingxin told a maid to have the servant produce the red placard. Tie Zhongyu took it back to the bench and showed it to the magistrate: "Is this placard genuine or forged?"

The magistrate examined it: "I have received no such report. Where did this come from?" Tie Zhongyu, seeing the magistrate disclaim it, tucked the placard into his sleeve and said angrily: "Enough! Forcing a marriage upon an official's daughter is lawless enough — but to forge an imperial decree on top of it! I shall go straight to the provincial governor tomorrow. And these men who forged the decree — they are all your responsibility, Your Honor. Not one must escape!"

He turned to leave. The magistrate hastily detained him: "Please, sir, do not be hasty. Let me question them first, and then we shall decide." He summoned Cheng Qi and the others and demanded: "Where did this placard come from?" The men looked at one another in silence. The magistrate called for the leg-screws. At the mention of torture, they panicked and blurted out: "Your Honor, it was nothing to do with us — Young Master Guo wrote it and ordered us to post it!"

The magistrate said: "I thought so." He sent a party of men under guard to jail, and ordered a warm sedan to convey Miss Shui safely home. He then invited Tie Zhongyu to stay for a drink.

Tie Zhongyu, pleased that Miss Shui had been sent home safely, did not refuse. Over wine, the magistrate said: "The placard was certainly Young Master Guo's doing, but his father, Grand Secretary Guo, probably knows nothing of it. If you bring this to the governor's attention, not only will Young Master Guo suffer, but Grand Secretary Guo himself may face consequences. I beg you to exercise some leniency."

Tie Zhongyu said: "I bear no grudge. I acted solely on Miss Shui's behalf. If Young Master Guo can bring himself to forget about Miss Shui, then he and I have never even met — why would I pursue the matter?"

The magistrate was delighted: "You are a true man of honor! You fight injustice where you find it and let go when it is resolved." After more wine, Tie Zhongyu took his leave. The magistrate, learning that he had no lodgings, had him sent to the Longevity Temple as his guest, with an earnest invitation to meet again the next day. And with that, Tie Zhongyu departed.

Meanwhile, Young Master Guo had already learned what happened at the magistrate's court. He rushed to see the prefect, complaining that some young friend of the magistrate's had interfered, sent Miss Shui home, and threatened to have his own servants thrown in prison. The prefect sent for the magistrate, who explained that the young man was Tie Zhongyu, son of Commissioner Tie of the Censorate — the same who had stormed the Hall of Leisured Ease, and who now had the forged placard in his sleeve and was threatening to take the matter to the governor.

Young Master Guo protested: "He may be a commissioner's son, but my father is a Grand Secretary — we are equals at least. Why is he meddling in my affairs?"

The magistrate said: "It is not that I do not wish to support you, but as long as he holds that forged placard, we cannot antagonize him. That is why I resorted to diplomacy."

Young Master Guo said: "With your 'diplomacy,' my hopes for Miss Shui are as good as dead."

The magistrate said: "Do not give up so easily. He is here alone. I have lodged him at the Longevity Temple. Go home and consult with someone resourceful — perhaps there is a way."

Young Master Guo went home, found Cheng Qi, and told him the magistrate's advice. Cheng Qi said: "The magistrate was clearly hinting at something when he mentioned that the man is alone and is staying at the Longevity Temple. He is pointing us in a direction."

"What direction?"

"The magistrate wants you to deal with him by some stratagem. Whether you beat him or kill him — that is up to you."

"Both of those are risky," said Young Master Guo.

Cheng Qi leaned close and whispered: "All we need to do is this and this..." Young Master Guo beamed: "Brilliant! But we must act quickly — he might leave." And the two set about their preparations.

From this preparation there arose:

Kindness transmuted into chivalry;
Romance dissolved into moral duty.

To learn what scheme they devised against him, the reader must turn to the next chapter.

[[Category:Hao Qiu Zhuan]]

Hao Qiu Zhuan/en/Chapter 5 - Revision history

Maintenance script at 07:46, 26 March 2026