Liaozhai: Fox and Ghost Loves · chapter 23 of 25
Face to Face
面对面
Lianxiang finds the embroidered shoe under Sang Xiao's pillow. Then someone slips through the door, and at last the two women stand face to face.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 天黑了。莲香还坐在桑晓的床边。
Tiān hēi le. Liánxiāng hái zuò zài Sāng Xiǎo de chuáng biān.
Night fell. Lianxiang was still sitting at Sang Xiao's bedside.
- Sang Xiao 莲香，我的枕头下边有一只绣鞋。你帮我把它弄坏吧！
Liánxiāng, wǒ de zhěntou xiàbian yǒu yì zhī xiùxié. Nǐ bāng wǒ bǎ tā nòng huài ba!
Lianxiang, there's an embroidered shoe under my pillow. Please destroy it for me!
- Lianxiang 就是这只鞋？真好看，这是她的吧？
Jiù shì zhè zhī xié? Zhēn hǎokàn, zhè shì tā de ba?
So this is the shoe? It's so pretty... It's hers, isn't it?
Chapter 23 is part of SayMei Stories Unlimited ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Part 1 of Liaozhai: Fox and Ghost Loves (chapters 1–5) is free, and The Second Cup of Tea, The Great Race: The Twelve Animals, The Kitchen God, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Chang'e and the Moon, Alice in Wonderland and Judge Dee's Cases are free from start to finish.
- Li 桑公子……天哪，是你！
Sāng gōngzǐ… tiān na, shì nǐ!
Mr. Sang... heavens! It's you!
- Lianxiang 别走！今天我们见了面，就把话说清楚吧。
Bié zǒu! Jīntiān wǒmen jiàn le miàn, jiù bǎ huà shuō qīngchu ba.
Don't go! Now that we've met at last, let's talk this through.
- Sang Xiao 李姑娘，你为什么骗我？你是鬼，对不对？
Lǐ gūniang, nǐ wèishénme piàn wǒ? Nǐ shì guǐ, duì bu duì?
Miss Li, why did you lie to me? You're a ghost, aren't you?
- Narrator 李姑娘一句话也没有说。
Lǐ gūniang yí jù huà yě méiyǒu shuō.
Miss Li didn't say a word.
- Lianxiang 以前你说，他的病是我害的。现在，你看呢？
Yǐqián nǐ shuō, tā de bìng shì wǒ hài de. Xiànzài, nǐ kàn ne?
Before, you said his sickness was my doing. What do you say now?
- Li 莲姐姐，我错了……求求你，救救他！
Lián jiějie, wǒ cuò le… qiúqiu nǐ, jiùjiu tā!
Sister Lian, I was wrong... I beg you, save him!
- Lianxiang 别哭。你先告诉我，你是谁？
Bié kū. Nǐ xiān gàosu wǒ, nǐ shì shéi?
Don't cry. First tell me who you are.
- Li 我爹是一个官。我十五岁就死了，埋在墙外边。
Wǒ diē shì yí gè guān. Wǒ shíwǔ suì jiù sǐ le, mái zài qiáng wàibian.
My father was an official. I died when I was fifteen, and I was buried outside the wall.
- Lianxiang 那你为什么要害他？
Nà nǐ wèishénme yào hài tā?
Then why did you harm him?
- Li 我没想害他，我只想爱他……我真后悔。
Wǒ méi xiǎng hài tā, wǒ zhǐ xiǎng ài tā… wǒ zhēn hòuhuǐ.
I never meant to harm him! I only wanted to love him... I regret it so much.
- Lianxiang 我听说，鬼想让人死，这样就能天天在一起。是这样吗？
Wǒ tīngshuō, guǐ xiǎng ràng rén sǐ, zhèyàng jiù néng tiāntiān zài yìqǐ. Shì zhèyàng ma?
I've heard that ghosts want people to die, so they can be together every day. Is that so?
- Li 不是。两个鬼在一起，一点儿也不快乐。
Bú shì. Liǎng gè guǐ zài yìqǐ, yìdiǎnr yě bú kuàilè.
No. Two ghosts together aren't happy at all.
- Lianxiang 傻妹妹！天天晚上跟一个鬼在一起，人怎么会不病呢？
Shǎ mèimei! Tiāntiān wǎnshang gēn yí gè guǐ zài yìqǐ, rén zěnme huì bú bìng ne?
Silly little sister! Night after night with a ghost, how could a person not fall sick?
- Li 狐狸也能让人死。为什么你不害他？
Húli yě néng ràng rén sǐ. Wèishénme nǐ bú hài tā?
Foxes can make people die too. Why don't you harm him?
- Lianxiang 不害人的狐狸是有的。不害人的鬼，一个也没有。
Bú hài rén de húli shì yǒu de. Bú hài rén de guǐ, yí gè yě méiyǒu.
There are foxes that harm no one. A ghost that harms no one? There isn't a single one.
- Sang Xiao 一个是鬼，一个是狐狸……她们说的，都是真的！
Yí gè shì guǐ, yí gè shì húli… tāmen shuō de, dōu shì zhēn de!
One's a ghost, and one's a fox... everything they said is true!
- Lianxiang 我早知道会有今天。这个药，我找了一百天。可是，还要妹妹帮忙。
Wǒ zǎo zhīdào huì yǒu jīntiān. Zhège yào, wǒ zhǎo le yìbǎi tiān. Kěshì, hái yào mèimei bāngmáng.
I knew this day would come. I spent a hundred days finding this medicine. But it still needs your help, little sister.
- Li 我？我能做什么？
Wǒ? Wǒ néng zuò shénme?
Me? What can I do?
- Lianxiang 这个药，你先放在嘴里，再送到他的嘴里。
Zhège yào, nǐ xiān fàng zài zuǐ li, zài sòng dào tā de zuǐ li.
Put this medicine in your mouth first, then pass it into his mouth.
- Li 这怎么好意思啊……
Zhè zěnme hǎoyìsi a…
How could I... that's so embarrassing...
- Lianxiang 别看你的绣鞋了，它不会救他！快一点儿！
Bié kàn nǐ de xiùxié le, tā bú huì jiù tā! Kuài yìdiǎnr!
Stop looking at your embroidered shoe. It won't save him! Be quick!
- Narrator 李姑娘红着脸，一次，两次，三次……药送进去了。
Lǐ gūniang hóngzhe liǎn, yí cì, liǎng cì, sān cì… yào sòng jìnqu le.
Blushing, Miss Li did it once, twice, three times... and the medicine went down.
- Sang Xiao 我的肚子怎么像在打雷？
Wǒ de dùzi zěnme xiàng zài dǎléi?
Why does my belly sound like thunder?
- Lianxiang 肚子打雷，病就要走了！
Dùzi dǎléi, bìng jiù yào zǒu le!
When your belly thunders, the sickness is on its way out!
- Narrator 莲香又给他吃了一点儿药，然后对着他的嘴吹气。
Liánxiāng yòu gěi tā chī le yìdiǎnr yào, ránhòu duìzhe tā de zuǐ chuī qì.
Lianxiang gave him a little more medicine, then breathed into his mouth.
- Sang Xiao 好热，我的身体热起来了！
Hǎo rè, wǒ de shēntǐ rè qǐlai le!
So warm... my body is warming up!
- Lianxiang 好了，你的病好了！
Hǎo le, nǐ de bìng hǎo le!
There! You're cured!
- Li 鸡叫了，天快亮了……我一个鬼，能去哪儿呢？
Jī jiào le, tiān kuài liàng le… wǒ yí gè guǐ, néng qù nǎr ne?
The rooster's crowing, and it's nearly dawn... where can a ghost like me go?
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- What does Sang Xiao ask Lianxiang to do with the shoe?
“你帮我把它弄坏吧”
- Where does Li say she is buried?
“埋在墙外边”
- What does Li say about two ghosts together?
“两个鬼在一起，一点儿也不快乐”
- What does Lianxiang say about ghosts?
“不害人的鬼，一个也没有”
- How must Li give Sang Xiao the medicine?
“你先放在嘴里，再送到他的嘴里”