When Pu Songling was young, he once went to Jinan Prefecture to take the imperial examinations. It was the time of the Spring Festival, and according to the customs of the time, merchants from all trades would beat gongs and drums, carrying colorful pavilions and sedan chairs, to the Provincial Administration Commissioner's Yamen to offer congratulations, an event known as "Yan Chun" (Performing Spring).

That day, the crowd was immense. Pu Songling followed his friends to watch the spectacle. The surroundings were walled in by people, a cacophony of noise, a boiling tide of voices, deafening and vibrating.

Focusing his gaze, he saw four officials seated in the main hall, all uniformly clad in crimson robes. As Pu Songling was still young, he could not immediately discern the

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