Mei Ouchang, a provincial graduate of Jiangnan, said that in his district a certain Sun served as magistrate of Dezhou and tried a strange case. It began thus: a villager had married a wife for his son, and when the bride entered the house, kinsmen and neighbors all came to congratulate. When the drinking had gone past the first watch, the bridegroom went out and saw his bride in her gay attire hurrying round behind the house; suspecting something, he followed her. Behind the house flowed a long stream, crossed by a small bridge. He saw the bride cross the bridge and go straight on, and was the more puzzled. He called, but she did not answer. She waved her hand to him from afar, and he hurried after her. Though they were scarcely a foot apart, he could never catch her. After several li they entered a village. The woman stopped and said to her husband, "Your house is so lonely, and I am not used to it. Let us stay a few days at my home, and then go back together to visit your parents." So saying, she drew a hairpin and knocked at a gate, which opened with a creak, and a girl came out to answer. The woman went in first, and the man, unable to help himself, followed. Inside, his parents-in-law were both in the hall, and said to him, "Our daughter has been spoiled; she has never been a moment from our knees, and the thought of leaving her old home makes her heart heavy. Now that she is come with you, our fears are relieved. Stay a few days, and we shall send you both home." So they set apart a room for him, with bed and bedding all prepared, and there he lived.
Meanwhile the guests at his own house, seeing the bridegroom so long absent, all went to look for him. Only the bride was in the room, and no one knew where the groom had gone. From that time they enquired far and near, but no news came. The old parents wept, saying their son must be dead. After nearly half a year, the bride's family, mourning that their daughter had no husband, asked the man's father's consent to marry her off again. The father grieved the more and said, "There are no remains or garments to prove that my son has become a thing of another world! Even if he is truly dead, to marry her at the year's end would not be too late—why this haste?" The bride's father, bitter the more, brought suit in court. Magistrate Sun, puzzled and at a loss, ordered that the matter wait three years, filed the case, and sent them away. Now the villager's son, living in the girl's house, was treated with great cordiality. Whenever he spoke of returning home, the girl agreed, but somehow they never set out. After more than half a year his heart wavered, a thousand cares disturbing him. He wished to return alone, but the girl firmly kept him. One day the whole household was in great commotion, as if in urgent danger. Hastily they said to him, "We had meant to send you and your wife home together in a few days, but our gear is not ready, and we are suddenly overtaken by misfortune. Perforce we must send you back first." So they led him out the gate, and returning at once, their words and motions were most hurried and brief. He was about to seek the road when, looking back, he found the house and courtyard all gone—only a lofty mound stood there. In great fright he found his way home in haste and told the whole story from beginning to end, then went and laid a plaint before the magistrate. Sun summoned the girl's father, admonished him, and sent the girl home to be united with her husband.