“After passing the jinshi examination, one still remains a commoner and must pass through the Ministry of Personnel’s selection process before being granted office. Yuan Xu’s talent and character were outstanding among all successful candidates, and he was immediately appointed as Collator in the Imperial Secretariat. Though this position was low in rank, it had high requirements and rapid promotion prospects—an excellent starting position for all renowned ministers and worthy officials. I was far inferior to him and entered the idle Ministry of Works.
As for Chen Shigu, he failed the selection process several times. Ultimately, he simply wasn’t part of that circle. Being proud and stubborn by nature, even when dealing with the powerful he never showed false courtesy. The court wouldn’t employ such an aloof and unsociable person—they had to wear him down for ten or eight years, grinding away his proud bones before considering him.
Chen Shigu didn’t care at all about not becoming an official. He completely relaxed, spending his days wandering and drinking freely in Chang’an, calling himself ‘Yanzhi’s study companion,’ styling himself as Yuan Xu’s book boy. Having fulfilled his purpose of accompanying the examination, he had no desire to scramble desperately for that salary by reading faces.
He appeared very poor, often wearing hemp caps and cloth robes while drinking on credit, but strangely he always played with rare antiques from previous dynasties. He was quite famous in our circles of ancient inscriptions and antiquities. When asked where he obtained them, he answered that he bought them from Chang’an’s ghost market.
Three or four years passed this way. Yuan Xu had already been promoted to Palace Censor with a bright future ahead, while Chen Shigu still wandered about in common clothes. Though they’d known each other since humble beginnings and their statuses had become vastly different, their friendship never changed. This was what we acquaintances found most incredible—the two were completely different in everything from political views to beliefs:
Yuan Xu took responsibility for benefiting the world and securing the people, while Chen Shigu believed that regardless of wise or foolish rulers, worthy or unworthy ministers, most common people depended on heaven for sustenance, and changing who was above made no difference. Yuan Xu revered Buddhism with a benevolent bodhisattva’s heart. Chen Shigu was completely unrestrained, not believing in ghosts or spirits at all. Their close friendship seemed only due to being attracted by his spirit of ‘knowing it cannot be done yet doing it anyway.’
Soon, Yuan Xu’s smooth official career was interrupted. The current chancellor Yuan Zai was arrested and given death by imperial decree for monopolizing government and acting tyrannically, causing the sage’s disgust. His entire family was executed. Though Yuan Zai and Yuan Xu had no family relationship, they shared the same surname and clan. While Yuan Zai was in power, he cherished Yuan Xu’s talent and provided much care, even wanting to adopt him as a son, which Yuan Xu politely declined.
Who in court can remain untainted? Though Yuan Xu tried as much as possible not to join any faction, in most people’s eyes he was still one of Yuan Zai’s dozens of associates. Implicated by this clan member, Yuan Xu was banished to Lingnan, appointed as deputy magistrate of Lingshui County in Qinzhou.”
At this point, Tan Lin sighed deeply: “Banishment is too common—I was also banished to Qianzhong. Official careers rise and fall. Yao Chong, Zhang Yue, Zhang Xi—these serving chancellors were all banished to remote barbarous lands, let alone other court officials. ‘Having learned literary and martial arts, one sells them to the imperial household.’ No matter how outstanding one’s personal talents, in the emperor’s eyes, we’re just goods that can be replaced at will.
But as long as one keeps a low profile and waits for the wind to change direction, there’s always a chance to return to Chang’an. If this sage doesn’t favor you, you can wait for the next one.
Chen Shigu thought so too. After seeing Yuan Xu off, he suddenly disappeared for several months. When he returned to Chang’an, he possessed several rare ancient objects—a bone-reflecting mirror, blue dragon hook, coiled dragon tripod. The chief eunuch Yu Chao’en loved collecting antiques most and drooled over these treasures. Chen Shigu generously gave them all away, asking him to expedite Yuan Xu’s return to the capital.
By then the sage’s anger had subsided. Having verified that the two Yuans had no connections and hearing a few good words from those around him, just eleven months later, the restoration edict set out from Chang’an bound for Qinzhou thousands of li away. From Chang’an to Lingnan lay countless mountains and rivers with dangerous obstacles. Even if postal riders traveled day and night on the fastest official roads, one way took two months.
However, when this edict reached Lingshui County, the courier discovered the recipient had already passed away. Though Yuan Xu had indomitable will, he was naturally weak in constitution. Banished to the humid, hot barbarous land, he didn’t become dejected but governed with self-discipline and compassion for the people. As a result, he developed illness from overwork, compounded by acclimatization problems and infection by Lingnan miasma. He died of illness less than a year after taking office.”
Wei Xun interjected: “Old Chen went mad because his friend died of illness?”
Tan Lin shook his head: “Not yet. The courier brought news of Yuan Xu’s death and a final poem back to Chang’an. Though Chen Shigu was heartbroken, he was forced to accept this fact. He even rationally wrote a condolence letter to Yuan Xu’s brother and sister-in-law, enclosing that poem: ‘At dusk, mist and waves darken the river islet; mirage towers hang inverted, reflecting cold moon. The lamp about to die, your voice distant; lone shadow desolate, following the departed stream.'”
“That poem wasn’t a fortune reading—Yuan Xu wrote it?”
Tan Lin said: “Correct. During the banishment period, they wrote many letters to each other, but somehow neither received any. Yuan Xu was still waiting bitterly for Chen Shigu’s news when dying, finally ‘the lamp about to die, your voice distant’—he couldn’t wait and breathed his last. At death, his greatest worry wasn’t for himself but that after the lamp died, his close friend would be ‘lone shadow desolate.’ This person was always thus, forever putting others before himself.
In the letter, Chen Shigu promised Yuan Yi and Li Xian to personally go to Lingnan, retrieve Yuan Xu’s coffin, and return it to ancestral soil for burial at the Yuan family graves on Luoyang’s Beimang Mountain.
Yuan Xu’s death moved many people deeply. He perfectly embodied all characteristics of ‘one who should not die yet died’—young and promising, of noble character, maintaining his original intentions even in adversity with unwavering resilience.
As the Lotus Sutra says: The human world is like a house blazing with fire. Those within this house—some weep and flee, some remain unmoved, some loot during the fire. Yet there are extremely few fearless brave ones who, knowing the rivers and mountains are shattered and great edifices about to fall, still advance against the current, exhausting everything to run about calling, trying to save people from the burning house.
Yuan Xu was such a warrior, and now he was dead. Chen Shigu settled his wine debts, bought a horse, and set out from Chang’an—he would bring his old friend home.
Later investigations jointly conducted by the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review revealed that Yuan Xu never received Chen Shigu’s messages because Magistrate Xi Jianzhang of Lingshui County had intercepted all his private correspondence. Xi Jianzhang practiced corruption and tyranny locally, imposing excessive taxes. Fearing that Yuan Xu, who served as deputy magistrate and wouldn’t collude with him, would report his misdeeds to superiors, Xi Jianzhang constantly worried about exposure.
Yuan Xu fought alone while cut off from all friends and family information, finally becoming exhausted. He had only one old servant brought from Chang’an to Lingnan. When Yuan Xu contracted the local endemic miasma, the servant had no idea how to treat his master. Xi Jianzhang deliberately obstructed his seeking medical treatment and medicine, causing Yuan Xu’s fatal illness and death in despair.
Of course, when Xi Jianzhang was dismembered and his family exterminated by Chen Shigu, he presumably had already repented with heartbroken remorse.”
Wei Xun asked: “So Old Chen went mad after discovering his friend was murdered?”
Tan Lin shook his head again: “No, not yet. By my estimation, the key moment he fell into demonic obsession was when he reached Qinzhou preparing to bring his close friend’s coffin back to their homeland.
It was summer with torrential rains. The Lingshui River had flooded, and floodwaters had just passed through, destroying all residential buildings on both banks. Hundreds of li of silt covered the surface—forget a small tombstone, even the county office was buried. All topographical landmarks had completely changed, making it impossible to find Yuan Xu’s specific burial location.
What happened in the following months only reached Chang’an much later. The Qinzhou Governor urgently reported that Chang’an jinshi Chen Shigu was brazenly excavating graves publicly in Lingshui County. When obstructed, he killed without exception—in a short time he killed over three hundred people. This person seemed to possess sorcery: pointing at heads made them fall, pointing at bodies caused dismemberment at the waist. No one could withstand him.
Lingnan Circuit Military Commissioner Liu Yinguang sent a thousand rattan-armored elite soldiers to suppress him. After Chen Shigu killed dozens of men, he fled. Two days later, Liu Yinguang lost his head in his own bed at the commissioner’s residence, while the concubine sleeping beside him knew nothing.
The string in Chen Shigu’s mind had completely snapped. He constantly excavated and dug along the Lingshui banks, trying to find Yuan Xu’s bones from the endless silt. But natural disasters and floods cannot be resisted by human power—how could he possibly find them?”
Hearing this, Wei Xun was already full of suspicion and asked: “Lingnan is thousands of li from Chang’an. You’re far too familiar with what happened between them.”
Tan Lin remained composed and slowly rolled up his left sleeve, revealing an arm thin as firewood covered with old scars crisscrossing everywhere, some deep enough to show bone.
“I didn’t want to be so familiar—it was truly unavoidable. Upon receiving news from Lingnan, the entire court was shocked and dismayed. Though thousands of li away, this person was ultimately connected to Chang’an and someone had to be sent to suppress or pacify him. This unlucky fellow was me.
Yuan Xu and I were hometown Buddhist friends, and I’d passed the examination the same year as both men—we all knew each other. The court’s thinking was that the national treasury had been empty for long with no spare money to send troops. They’d let me go alone to try persuasion—if successful, good; if not, they’d only lose a minor official.
Though extremely unwilling, imperial edicts cannot be disobeyed. I set out with twenty Imperial Guards and about ten of my own personal attendants. After a difficult journey to Qinzhou, Lingshui County was desolate and declining. Seven or eight out of ten people had abandoned their homes to flee—half due to floods and famine, half due to evil spirits appearing and killing throughout the fields.
After spending considerable money on arrangements and following local guidance, we came armed to the Lingshui riverbank. Seeing this person again, I almost didn’t recognize him. Chen Shigu’s appearance was haggard, clothes tattered, covered in blood and mud like an asura crawled from hell, his eyes glowing like ghostfire.
I’ve forgotten what words we exchanged, only remembering seeing heads flying wildly, blood flowing like waterfalls. I hid behind the Imperial Guards and attendants, watching helplessly as he easily killed everyone, then approached me carrying a bloody sword.
I thought I was about to die and tremblingly pressed palms together chanting sutras, but heard him call: ‘Wang Sui?’
Though Chen Shigu had fallen into madness, strangely his consciousness remained clear. Seeing my face, he immediately remembered that I then served as Director of the Water Bureau among the Ministry of Works’ four departments, specifically managing water conservancy, ferries, bridges, and other construction matters. Though from the jinshi examination background, I’d studied mathematical classics like ‘Nine Chapters,’ ‘Zhou Bi,’ ‘Sea Island,’ and ‘Five Departments’ for work.
He temporarily spared my life and instead captured and imprisoned me in a ruined temple…”