There lived two scholars in Wendeng County, one surnamed Huo and the other Yan. They had known each other since youth, their friendship unusually close, marked by constant, spirited jesting where neither gave ground. One day, Huo Sheng’s wife was chatting with the neighbor who had attended Yan Sheng’s wife during childbirth. In the course of conversation, the neighbor casually mentioned that Mrs. Yan bore two small tumors in her intimate place.

Huo’s wife relayed this detail to her husband. Huo Sheng, in turn, conspired privately with a friend to play a thorough prank on Yan Sheng. When Yan Sheng next visited, Huo Sheng deliberately whispered conspiratorially, “Your wife and I have been intimate.” The others present scoffed at the claim. Huo Sheng then fabricated a vivid, colorful account of the supposed affair, concluding with, “If you don’t believe me, just know that she bears a pair of lumps down there.”

Yan Sheng, listening from outside the window, flew into a rage and departed. Upon reaching home, he brutally interrogated his wife. She pleaded her innocence repeatedly, but Yan Sheng paid no heed, subjecting her to savage abuse. Unable to bear the unending humiliation, the wife hanged herself.

Huo Sheng learned of the tragedy and was consumed by remorse, yet he never dared to reveal the truth.

After Mrs. Yan’s death, her ghost wept nightly, granting no peace to the entire household. Soon after, Yan Sheng died suddenly of a violent illness, and the spectral weeping ceased.

That night, Huo’s wife dreamt of a woman with disheveled hair screaming, “My death was so bitter; I will never allow you and your husband to live happily!” She awoke in a fright, fell ill, and died a few days later. Huo Sheng also dreamt of the woman, who pointed an accusing finger at him and struck his lips with the palm of her hand. He woke up startled, realizing his lip throbbed with dull pain, swollen high. Three days later, two lumps sprouted on his lip, leaving him unable to speak loudly or laugh; opening his mouth too wide became an agony.

………… ………… ………… In the county town lived a man named Wang, who was good friends with a fellow student. When this classmate’s wife returned to her parents’ home, she traveled by donkey. Knowing the donkey was easily frightened, Wang secretly lay in wait in the roadside grasses. As his friend’s wife passed by, he suddenly sprang out, shouting wildly. The donkey bolted in terror, throwing the woman to the ground. The attendant child, being slight of build, wanted desperately to help his mistress back onto the beast but lacked the strength. Seeing this, Wang rushed forward with obsequious concern, carefully helping the lady back onto the donkey’s saddle. The woman, her face full of confusion, did not recognize Wang at all.

From that day forward, Wang strutted about, boasting to everyone of the event. He claimed that while the child chased after the donkey, he seized the opportunity for an illicit coupling with his friend’s wife there in the grass. Every detail he recounted—the exact attire and adornments of the woman—was precisely correct.

When the classmate heard this tale, he was overcome by both shame and fury. He rushed home, gripping a knife in one hand and seizing his wife with the other, and marched to confront Wang with a ferocious expression. Wang, paralyzed with fear, scrambled over the wall and fled. The classmate pursued him relentlessly for nearly two or three li before finally returning, seething with indignation. Wang ran with every ounce of strength he possessed, his lungs straining wide open, and as a result, he contracted chronic asthma that plagued him for many years without cure.