A woman of four or five and twenty came to the village, carrying a medicine bag and selling her skill in healing. When any asked her about an illness, she could not write a prescription herself, but waited till night to consult the gods. In the evening she would sweep out a small room and shut herself in it. The people crowded about the doors and windows, straining their ears in perfect silence, only whispering together and not daring to cough; within and without all was hushed. Toward night a sound of the curtain was heard. "Has Nine Aunt come?" said the woman within. A woman's voice answered, "Yes." "Has Lamei come with Nine Aunt?" she said, and a voice like a maid's answered, "Yes." The three voices chattered together, endlessly and without pause. Presently the curtain-hook rattled again. "Six Aunt has come," said the woman. There was a babble of voices. "Has Chunmei brought the little master too?" a woman asked. "The naughty boy," said another, "would not sleep for whining, but would come with his mistress. He is heavy as a hundredweight, and has tired me to death!" Then were heard a woman's flattering voice, Nine Aunt's voice asking after people, Six Aunt's greetings, the two maids' consoling words, and a child's happy laughter—all mixed together. Then the woman was heard laughing. "The little master is very amusing," she said, "to come such a long way with a cat in his arms." After that the voices grew fewer, the curtain sounded again, and the whole room was a-babble: "Why is Four Aunt so late?" A small, thin girl's voice answered, "The road is a thousand li and more; I came with my aunt, and it took us all this time. My aunt walks slowly." Then each inquired after the other's health, and there were sounds of moving seats and of asking for extra stools, jumbled all together, a great hubbub filling the room, which did not settle for the time of a meal. Then the woman was heard asking about the sickness. Nine Aunt thought ginseng best, Six Aunt thought astragalus, and Four Aunt thought atractylis. They consulted a while, and then Nine Aunt was heard calling for a brush and inkstone. Presently came the crackling of paper, the tinkling of the brush being taken up and the cap of it cast aside, and the rumbling of ink being ground; then the brush was thrown down and struck the table, and there was the sound of gathering herbs and wrapping them. After a while the woman pushed aside the curtain, called the sick man, and gave him the medicine and the prescription. Then, returning into the room, she was heard bidding farewell to the three aunts, and the three maids took their leave, and the child gurgled and the cat mewed, all rising together. Nine Aunt's voice was clear and high, Six Aunt's slow and deep, Four Aunt's sweet and soft; and the three maids each had her own tone, so that every one could be told apart. All were amazed, thinking they were indeed gods; but when they tried the prescription it was not very effectual. This is what is called ventriloquism, used only to sell one's art. Yet it was strange enough!
Wang Xinyi once said: "In the capital I chanced to pass through the market and heard the sound of stringed music and song, with a crowd about it like a wall. Drawing near to look, I saw a young man singing in a sweet drawn-out voice. He had no instrument, but only pressed one finger on his cheek, pressing and singing, and the sound rang out clear and strong, like the plucking of strings." That too is a branch of the ventriloquist's art.