Translator’s note: Chinese families often refer to each other in the third person by their familial titles. Throughout this section, Madam Zhang is referred to as “grandmother/mother-in-law” and her name is never used. Lady Yin’s mother is referred to as just “wife” when we get to Minister Yin’s house. This sounds so awkward in English that I made an executive decision to refer to everyone by their names where possible. TW: There is mention of suicide in this chapter.
Xuanzang went back into the monastery to his master, weeping, and immediately bid him farewell and left for Hongzhou. He went to the Ten Thousand Flowers Inn and asked for the owner Liu Xiao’er, “Years ago, a guest named Chen left his mother here to stay with you. How is she?”
Liu Xiao’er replied, “She used to live here, but after a while she went blind. After three or so years, her son had still not returned for her or paid my fees. She now lives in a broken potter’s kiln by the South Gate and walks the streets begging to make a living. That guest has been gone for a long time and even to today, I have not heard from him. I can’t figure out why he has just disappeared.”
Hearing this, Xuanzang quickly asked for directions to the South Gate to go find his grandmother.
“You sound a lot like my son Chen Guangrui,” Madam Zhang said.
“I am Chen Guangrui’s son,” Xuanzang replied. “Lady Wenjiao is my mother.”
“Why aren’t your parents with you?” Madam Zhang asked.
“My dad was murdered by a bandit,” Xuanzang said, “and my mother was forced to become the bandit’s wife.”
“How did you know to come find me?” the old woman said.
“Mother told me to come,” Xuanzang said. “I have a letter from her, as well as a ring of incense.”
Madam Zhang took the letter and incense and cried, “I thought my son thought me a burden and left me here. How could I know that he was murdered! Ah, Heaven has pitied me. Even though my son is gone, my grandson has come to find me.”
“How have your eyes become clouded?” Xuanzang asked.
“I have been so anxious wondering about your father,” Madam Zhang said, “I cried so much that it clouded my eyes.”
Xuanzang knelt down and prayed to Heaven, “In all the eighteen years of my life, I have not been able to avenge my parents. Today I have come to find my grandmother. I pray Heaven would pity this faithful disciple, and restore my grandmother’s eyesight.” After praying, he touched the tip of his tongue to his grandmother’s eyes. Immediately, the grandmother’s eyes opened and were restored.
The old woman looked upon the young monk and said, “Indeed you are my grandson. You look just like Guangrui!” Madam Zhang was both joyous and sorrowful.
Xuanzang led his grandmother back to Ten Thousand Flowers Inn1 and rented a room for his grandmother. He gave her some money for expenses and said, “I’ll be back in about a month.”
Xuanzang then bid farewell to his grandmother and traveled to the imperial city. On East Street he found the residence of Chief Minister Yin and spoke to the doorman: “This young monk is a relative of the family and is here to see the master.”
The doorman brought the message inside to the minister. “I don’t have any relatives who are monks,” the minister said.
“I dreamt last night that our daughter Mantangjiao came home,” his wife said, “perhaps our son-in-law has sent a letter home?”
So the minister asked the doorman to invite the young monk in. Seeing the minister and his wife, the young monk fell to the floor at their feet, weeping. He pulled the letter from his robes and handed it to the minister. The minister read the letter from beginning to end and also began to weep bitterly.
“What’s the matter?” his wife asked.
“This monk is our grandson,” the chief minister said. “Our son-in-law Chen Guangrui was murdered. Mantangjiao was forced to become the murderer’s wife.”
When his wife heard this, she, too, began to cry ceaselessly.
The minister said, “Don’t worry my love.2 Tomorrow I will report this to the emperor at court, and I will personally gather the troops and go avenge our son-in-law.”
The next day, the minister entered the court and presented the report to the Tang Emperor: “Your servant’s son-in-law, the zhuangyuan Chen Guangrui, was killed by the boatman Liu Hong as he was traveling with my daughter to Jiangzhou to take up the post of governor. The murderer forced my daughter to be his wife, impersonated your servant’s son-in-law, and has falsely assumed the post of governor for many years. I beg your majesty to send troops to extirpate this impostor.”
Men and horses
The phrase I translated as troops here is 人马, literally men and horses. I feel like this phrase gives a much more vivid image than its English counterpart.
The Emperor was furious. He immediately ordered sixty thousand troops to march out under the command of Minister Yin. Marching from dawn to dusk, they soon reached Jiangzhou. The army pitched camp on the north bank of the river. Under the cover of night, a messenger was sent to fetch the vice governor and the judge. Minister Yin told them what had happened and ordered them to supply additional troops to cross the river together with the imperial troops. Before dawn had broken, they had Liu Hong’s house surrounded.
Liu Hong was still dreaming when he heard cannon fire and the beating of golden drums. The soldiers raided the governor’s house and captured the surprised Liu Hong. Minister Yin had Liu Hong bound and taken to the execution grounds, then ordered the soldiers to retire to the barracks pitched outside the city.
Minister Yin entered entered the governor’s house, sat down in the parlor, and asked to see Lady Yin. Lady Yin wished so to see her father, but she felt so ashamed she wanted to hang herself. When Xuanzang heard this, he hurried in and saved her. He knelt before her, saying, “Your son and Grandfather brought the troops here to avenge Father. The criminal has been captured, why does Mother now want to seek death? If Mother dies, how can your son then live?”
Minister Yin also entered the chambers to console her.
“A wife should be faithful until death,” Lady Yin said. “How could I yield so shamefully to the man to caused me such grief in murdering my husband? The only thing that made such humiliation worth enduring was the child I carried. Now with Heaven’s grace my child is grown, my father has brought troops to avenge my husband, but what face have I left to greet my father? I can only die to repay my husband!”
“You had no choice, my daughter,” the minister said. “There is no shame in that.”3
Father and daughter embraced and sobbed. Xuanzang also wept without ceasing. Wiping his tears, the minister said, “Don’t worry anymore, you two. I’ve captured the bastard. I’m going to go deal with him, and then I’ll come right back.”
He went to the execution grounds. Just then, the vice governor’s troops, who had been sent to capture Liu Hong’s accomplice, arrived with Li Biao. The minister was pleased, and both men were caged and caned one hundred strokes each and made to give a written confession that they had conspired to kill Chen Guangrui. Li Biao was first nailed to a wooden donkey and wheeled into the market square where his flesh was cut off with a knife a thousand times before he was beheaded.4 Liu Hong was brought to the Hong River ferry crossing where he had killed Chen Guangrui. The minister, Lady Yin, and Xuanzang all came to watch personally as Liu Hong’s heart was cut out and offered as a sacrifice to Guangrui, and a scroll of the eulogy burned, as a memorial to his death.
As the three stood weeping on the riverbanks, they caught the attention of the patrolling yaksha. The yaksha brought the eulogy to the Dragon King. The Dragon King read it, then sent a turtle commander to summon Guangrui. “Congratulations sir! Your wife and son, as well as your father-in-law, are on the riverbanks making sacrifices to you. I will return you to life today. I shall give you one Pearl of Wishing,5 two Pearls of Balance, ten bales of mermaid silk, and a jade belt adorned with shining pearls.”
The Dragon King then ordered the yaksha to escort Guangrui’s corpse out of the river so that he might come back to life.
As Lady Yin stood on the banks grieving her husband, she again wanted to throw herself into the river, frightening Xuanzang so much that he grabbed her and held her tight. In this confusion, they suddenly saw a corpse float to the surface of the water and toward the shore. Lady Yin hurried forward and saw that it was her husband and began to wail loudly.
Everyone crowded around to look and saw Guangrui stretching his limbs and slowly begin to wake. He suddenly sat up, frightening everyone out of their wits. Guangrui opened his eyes and saw his wife and father-in-law sitting there next to a young monk, all crying, and said, “Why are you all here?”
“After you were murdered,” Lady Yin said, “I gave birth to a son who was raised by the elder of Gold Mountain Monastery. After he was grown, he found me, and I told him to find his grandfather. When Father found out, he reported it to the court and brought troops here to capture the murderer. Just now his heart was cut out and offered to you, but how is it that you’ve come back to life?”
Guangrui replied, “It’s all because, all those years ago when you and I were at Ten Thousand Flowers Inn, I released that golden carp I bought. I didn’t realize that carp was the Dragon King of this place. When the bandit threw me into the river, it was all thanks to him that I was saved. Just now he returned me to life and placed a treasure on my person. I didn’t think that you would have given birth to a son and that my father-in-law would avenge me. It truly is the end of a bitter age and the beginning of a sweet one.”
When the officials heard the news, all came to congratulate him. The chief minister threw a banquet to thank the local officials and send the troops home. When they came to Ten Thousand Flowers Inn, the minister gave orders to pitch camp. Guangrui and Xuanzang then went to Liu’s Inn to find the grandmother. That very night the grandmother had dreamt that a dead tree bloomed and that the magpies behind the house were singing. “Does that mean my grandson is coming?” she thought.
Before she finished thinking it, she saw the door of the inn open and Guangrui and his son arrive together. The young monk pointed and said, “Isn’t this my grandmother?”
When Guangrui saw his aged mother, he fell to his knees. Mother and son embraced and had a good cry and told each other all that had happened. They paid Xiao’er what they owed and set off for the imperial city. At the minister’s house, Guangrui, Lady Yin, Xuanzang, and grandmother all came to greet the minister’s wife. Wife was beside herself with joy, and immediately ordered the servants to prepare a feast to celebrate.
The chief minister said, “Today’s banquet shall be named “Reunion Banquet.” And the whole family celebrated.
The next morning, when the Tang Emperor opened his court, Chief Minister Yin stepped forth and presented a detailed report of all that had happened and recommended that the Emperor still make use of Guangrui’s talent. Having read the report, the Emperor appointed Chen E to a position befitting his scholarship where he would have a hand in shaping imperial policy. Xuanzang was determined to continue to follow the way of Zen and was sent to become a monk of the Great Blessing Monastery.
Some time later, Lady Yin calmly committed suicide after all and Xuanzang traveled alone to Gold Mountain Monastery to repay Father Faming for his kindness. We do not know what happened next. Find out in the next chapter.
1 Liu Xiao’er’s Inn ↩
2 the text says my wife because third person ↩
3 What a good and reasonable dad! ↩
4 Arabian Nights pre-censorship anyone? It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home. ↩
5 A dragon’s pearl of wish fulfillment, aka a Dragonball. ↩
Etymology Adventures 
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