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him.
    With excitement and exhilaration, he approached and politely asked her the meanings of
her alluring response, "Please, don't be naive. We are in public place. Watch out of your
behavior."
    Slightly shaking head, the lady blushed and timidly demurred, in a mellow tone, "There are
prying bystanders. Binding by the conservative social norms, they will look down on us if
we do something improper. Can you follow me to my house?" Promptly consented, he
faithfully went after her.
    The sky gradually transferred itself into gray and eventually into dark. Due to the
morning rain, the roads were damp and soggy. My servant unconsciously traveled over ten
miles. His shoes were covered with mud and his toes were sore. At dusk, he vaguely
observed this mysterious female entering a house. Excited to the brink of deliriousness, he
dashed into that residence with alacrity. Under the reflection of the murky moonlight
projecting over the paper window panels, he could barely distinguish her back. She
gradually turned herself around. Holy smokes! What an unpleasant surprise! She had
become a ferocious ghost; the arrangement of her teeth was similar to a chain saw,
razor-sharp, disorganized and pointed. Her fingernails were like fish hooks, and her face
was navy-blue with two huge lantern-like bulky eyes. My servant was frightened and ran for
his life. Wailing and moaning, the horrible ghost floated after him for five miles. Observing
his father-in-law's house from afar, he jogged toward, pounded at the doors, and he
nervously shouted for help. Someone unbolted the doors and allowed him in.
    Bumping into his sister-in-law, they tumbled and fell to the ground flatly. This
commotion alerted and awakened everybody. Under the near total darkness, they couldn't
make out the visitor. Treating him as a burglar, they fetched rods and canes, dashed out to
the front yard and violently cudgeled him. Physically exhausted, he could neither identify
nor defend himself. After a solid beating, a servant cautiously appeared him with a lamp.
My servant's identity was established due to their great embarrassment and uneasiness.
Next day, they hired an oxcart to carry him home. With chagrin and annoyance, he had
been confined in bed for over two months. After that humiliating incident, he started to
contemplate then eschewed all of his bad habits, becoming an upright person.22
A GENUINE MONK
    In a temple, the study room was haunted by fox spirits. They had lived on its attic for
years. In summer, it was a busy season for people to worship the Buddha. The temple was
always crowded. Due to high temperature, most of the monks slept in that study room's
floor. They were not disturbed by those otherworldly creatures, at all. One day, a wandering
monk visited and stayed in this temple for a few days. That was the most popular season of
the year. Every inch of the temple was occupied. He couldn't even locate a spot, climbed
up and rested himself on the haunted attic.
    At night, the monks clearly heard a fox spirit shouted, in a tone of emergency mixed with
pleading, "Please, gentlemen resting on the ground floor evacuate yourselves at once. My
family and I will relocate ourselves to the floor."
"Why now?" With annoyance and great perplexity, one of the monks protested, "You have
always resided in the attic. Why suddenly evict us?"
    "We don't want to stay side-by-side with the wandering monk," With chagrin and reluctance,
the fox spirit quietly divulged, "He is very sacred. A well-polished monk is like the son of
Buddha. Who do we dare not to make our way for him?"
    "How about us?" With indignation and a touch of ignorance, the monk naively rebuked,
"We are monks, too. And we also have studied the sacred volumes all of our lives." The fox
spirit busted into roars of laughter and gave no comment.
23
IN THE WEST MOUNTAIN
    Mr. Nay visited and paid respect to his ancestor graves located in the West Mountain,
which is a well-known place on the northwest corner of Peking.