Too replied “The shortening of life rests with yourself; the lengthening of life rests also with yourself. But this is no concern of mine.” So he gave his sleeves a shake and was gone, the Master no longer urging him to stay.
Thirteen comforted him, saying: “Brother Yang, you are by nature a lucky man. The gods are on your side, why should you fear any spirit? This contemptible fellow likes to upset people with his miserable fortune-tellings and sleight-of-hand.”
[CUTLINE: Cloudlet's Meeting with Wildgoose]
So they drank together, spent the day happily and then parted. In the evening the Master, recovered from the effects of the wine, burnt incense and sat in silence waiting impatiently for Chang-yo to come. The night passed on into the morning watches, and there were no signs of her. He beat the table with impatient hand, saying: “The day is beginning to dawn and yet there is no Chang-yo.” He put out the lights and tried to sleep, when suddenly he heard someone crying outside his window, and then a voice speaking which was no other than Chang-yo's. She was saying: “The Master wears upon his head a demoniacal charm, placed there by this woeful professor. I dare not approach him. I know it was not accepted of your own free will, but still it is done now, and it indicates that our destiny is finished, and this dire creature has found his delight. My one wish is that the dear Master may be protected safe and sound from all harm. I say my last and final farewell.”
Yang gave a great start of alarm, opened the door to see, but there was no trace of her. A piece of folded paper only remained on the doorstep. This he opened and read. Two verses that she had written on it ran thus
"To fill our lot as God intends,
We rode the gilded clouds together,
You poured the fragrant wine as friends,
Before my grave upon the heather.
Ere you had time my heart to see,
We're parted wide as gods and men,
I have no fault to find with thee,
But with a man called three and ten.”
The Master read it over in a state of woeful astonishment. He felt his head and there under his topknot was, sure enough, a charm against spirits. He roared out against it: “This miserable demon of a creature has upset my plans,” so he tore it all to pieces and flew into a towering rage. He again took up Chang-yo's letter, read if through, and suddenly recollected, saying: “This word 'three and ten' indicates that her resentment is directed against Thirteen. He's at the back of this, and while his part may not be the wicked one that Too's is, he has interfered with what is good. The rascal! I'll give him a piece of my mind when I meet him.” Then following the rhyme characters of Chang-yo's verses, he wrote a reply and put it in his pocket, saying: “I have written my answer, but by whom shall I send it?”
It ran thus:
"You mount the speeding wind,
You ride upon the cloud;
Don't tell my soul you dwell
In the gruesome, secret shroud.
The hundred flowers that blow,
The moonlight soft and clear,
Are born of you, where will you go,
My soul, my life, my dear?”
He waited till the morning and then went to pay a call on Thirteen, but Thirteen had gone for a walk and was not to be seen. On three successive days he went again and again, looking for him but failed each time to find him. Even the very shadow of Thirteen seemed to have disappeared. He visited Cha-gak Pavilion in the hope of meeting Chang-yo, but he found that it was a difficult thing to meet a disembodied spirit at will. There was no one to whom he could unburden his heart. Filled with distress, little by little his sleep failed him and his desire for food fell away.
Justice Cheung and his wife took note of this and in their anxiety prepared special dainties, had him called, and while they talked and partook together the Justice said: “Why is it, Yang my son, that your face looks so thin and worn these days?”
Yang replied: “Thirteen and I have been drinking too much. I expect that is the cause.”
Just at this point Thirteen came in and Yang, with anger in his eye, gave him a side glance but said nothing. Thirteen spoke. “Brother, is it because you are so taken up with affairs of state that you seem disturbed in heart? Are you homesick or feeling unwell? What is the reason, I wonder, for your dejected looks and unhappy frame of mind?”
Yang made an indefinite answer: “A man who is away from home, knocking about in strange places, would he not be so?”
The Justice then remarked: “I hear the servants say that you have been seen talking to some pretty girl in the park pavilion. Is that so?”
Yang replied: “The park is enclosed, how could anyone get in there? The person who said that is crazy.”
“Brother,” said Thirteen, “with all your experience of men and affairs, why do you blush and act so like a bashful girl? Although you sent off Too with such dispatch, I can still see by your face that there is something you have concealed. I was afraid that you would get yourself bemused and not see the danger ahead, and so I, unknown to you, placed Too Jin's charm against evils under your topknot. You were the worse for drink and unaware of what I did. That night I hid myself in the park and took note of what passed, and, sure enough, some female spirit came and cried outside your window and then said her good-bye. She cleared the wall at a bound and was gone. I know by this that Too Jin's words were true, and so my faithfulness has saved you. You have not thanked me for it, however, but on the other hand have seemed angry. What do you mean by such conduct?”
Yang could no longer conceal the matter, and so said to the Justice: “Your unworthy son's experience is indeed a very strange and remarkable one. I shall tell my honourable father all about it.” And so he told him everything. He said finally: “I know that Thirteen has done what he did in my interests, but still the girl Chang-yo, even though you say she is a disembodied spirit, is firm and substantial in form, and by no means a piece of nothingness. Her heart is true and honest, and not at all of evil or deceptive make-up. She would never, never do one a wrong. Though I am a contemptible creature, still I am a man and could not be so taken in by a devil. Thirteen, by his misplaced charm, has broken into Chang-yo's life with me, and so I cannot but feel resentment toward him.”
The Justice clapped his hands and gave a great laugh: “Yang, my boy,” said he, “your taste and elegance are equal to that of Song-ok [24]
. You have already called up the fairies; how can you fail to know the law by which it is done? I am not joking now when I say to you that when I was young I met a holy man, and I learned from him the law by which spirits are called up, and I shall now for the sake of my son-in-law call forth Chang-yo, have her forgive your sin, and comfort your troubled heart. I wonder if this would suit you?”
“You are making sport of me,” said Yang. “Even though Song-ok called up the spirit of Lady Yoo, the law by which he did so has been lost for many generations; I cannot believe what you say.”
Then Thirteen broke in: “Brother Yang called up the spirit of Chang-yo without making a single effort, and I drove her away by means of one small charm. When we think of this it surely proves that there is such a thing as calling up spirits; why do you lack faith so?”
At this moment the Justice struck the screen behind him with his fan and called: “Chang-yo, where are you?”
Immediately a maiden stepped forth, her face all sunshine and wreathed in smiles. She tripped gently forth and went and stood behind the lady Cheung.