031叶生
Scholar Ye

叶生，文章词赋，冠绝当时，却久困名场，屡试不中，以致抑郁含愤而死。他生不能如愿，死后其魂随从知己，借其福泽，终于得中。故事情节千回百转，跌宕起伏，深刻揭露了科举制度扼杀人才的罪恶。

Being good at creative writing, Scholar Ye was very famous at that time. He had trapped in the fame and benefit field for a long time and but repeatedly failed, resulting in depression and anger and died at last. He could not achieve his wish in life, and after death his soul followed his bosom friend, borrowing his blessing, and finally won the imperial exam. The story was plotted with twists and turns, ups and downs, which deeply exposed the evil of the imperial examination system to stifle talents.

生前屡不成，
死后魂随知己行，
中举谁人功？

He failed repeatedly when he was alive.
After death, his soul followed his bosom friend.
Who gets the credit for his success?

 

032四十千
Forty Thousand

一个富有的仆人，梦见有人向自己讨债，之后妻生一子，方知原委，于是就尽着额定的数额抚养，结果在钱将用尽之时，儿子就死掉了。这并不是迷信故事，因为作者在其中寄予了深邃的思想：穷人多生佳儿，富人多生顽儿。本文用苍白的因果报应之说来解释，却产生了强烈的反差效果。

A rich servant dreamed that someone was asking him for a debt, and then his wife gave birth to a son. It is only at this moment that he got to know the reason, so he did his best to raise the amount, but his son died when the money was about to run out. This is not a superstitious story, because the author placed deep ideas in it: the poor have more fine children while the rich have more stubborn children. This paper uses the pale theory of karma to explain, but produced a strong contrast effect.

穷人生佳子，
富人生子多顽痴，
因果知不知？

The poor have good sons,
The rich have bad dudes.
Do you know the cause and effect?

 

033成仙
Become immortal

周生与成生友情笃厚。周生蒙冤入狱而成生舍命相救，而成生则彻悟世情灰冷而成仙。本文倾诉了作者对于科举考试的失望，感叹书生只能借助于修道成仙来摆脱艰辛的生活。

Mr. Zhou and Mr. Cheng had a deep friendship. Zhou was unjustly imprisoned and Cheng sacrificed his life to save him. But Cheng thoroughly understood the cruel world and became an immortal. This article expresses the author's disappointment about the imperial examination and exclaims that the scholar can only get rid of the hard life by virtue of practicing Taoism and becoming an immortal.

科考杀人刀，
无奈出家去修道，
艰辛谁知晓？

The imperial exam is a killing knife.
The scholars had to become monks.
Who knows their hardship?

 

034新郎
The groom

新婚之日，新郎被假新娘带至陌生之地，共同居住半年多。而此时两家人早已打得一塌糊涂，几乎要对簿公堂。后来假新娘因要遭天谴，才放回新郎，家里才安定下来。

On the wedding day, the groom was taken to a strange place by the false bride and lived together for more than half a year. By this moment, the two families had already been put into a mess. Worse of all, the two sides almost went to court. Later, the false bride would be punished by God, so she had to return the groom and the two families settled down.

以假来乱真，
祸端骤起害无尽，
打假救人心！

Confuse the true with the false.
The trouble is endless.
Fight fake to save the hearts!

 

035灵官
Occult official

狐狸潜心修道，却遭天谴。作者意在警示世人，人间谁也不能预知祸福。老百姓常常无故遭殃，原因是暴政埋下了无数不可预见的隐患。

The fox devoted himself to Buddhism, but was cursed by God. The author intends to warn the world that no one in the world can predict good or bad. The common people often suffer for no good reason, because tyrannies sow countless unforeseen dangers.

修道遭天谴，
祸福难料害无边，
无奈受熬煎。

Cultivate oneself according to a religious doctrine.
Cursed by God, there is no end to misfortune.
Can do nothing but suffer much.

 

036王兰
Wang Lan

题目虽然是王兰，但故事内容却是王兰死后的一系列见闻。百姓贫穷无以致富，只得靠旁门法术。富翁女儿生病，竟然不是因为身患疾病，而是因为富家子强加所致。贺才只是行为偏差，但官府却以无名之罪，竟然将其拷打致死。而官府的凶残魔爪，完全拜封建统治者所赐。

Although the title is Wang Lan, the content of the story is about a series of experiences after Wang Lan’s death. Poor people could not get rich so they had to rely on side magic. The millionaire's daughter got sick just because of the rich family who imposed her instead of illness. Ho Cai was merely deviant, but the government tortured him to death for the unknown crime. And the ferocious claws of the government were given by the feudal rulers.

百姓事事难，
动辄得咎一何艰！
祸殃总不断。

Everything is difficult for common people.
They are liable to be blamed at every move.
There will always be disasters for them.

 

037鹰虎神
Eagle and tiger gods

东岳庙的任道士是一个守戒规，心诚至美的道士。小偷趁他每天鸡叫起身焚香涌经时，溜到他房中行窃, 将他褥垫中仅有的三百铜钱偷走。小说艺术地展现出小偷可憎可鄙的丑态。

The Taoist priest of Dongyue Temple is good man. Taking advantage of his rooster crowing every morning, a thief sneaked into his room and stole the only three hundred coppers from his mattress. This story artistically shows the thief’s abominable ugly state.

偷儿何其耻，
盗窃心诚美道士，
恶行千夫指。

What a shame for the thief!
Steal thing of the sincere Taoist priest.
The evil deed is condemned by all men.

038王成
Wang Cheng

败家子王成，懒惰成性，生意做不成，却因戏斗鹌鹑致富。世人皆知，富贵皆因勤劳而能获得，而王成却因懒惰而得，实属罕见。但其实王成也有贫贱不能移的品格，这才是上天始弃终爱他的原因。

Prodigal son, Wang Cheng was so lazy that he failed in business. But because of the game of quail he got rich. As we all know, wealth and honor are obtained by hard work, but Wang Cheng obtained them by laziness, which is very rare. But in fact, Wang Cheng also had good character that his determination could not be moved, which is the reason why God abandoned him but loved him at the end.

懒惰运气佳，
戏斗鹌鹑也能发，
统统是胡话。

Laziness brought good luck.
Quail can make one rich.
It's all nonsense.

 

039青凤
Qingfeng

书生耿去病少年豪气，不惧邪祟，在耿氏不堪怪异惊扰而搬迁别处后，他却勇敢地前往探究其中奥秘。一次偶然机会，耿生在一个晚上认识了由狐狸幻化成人形的青凤一家，并爱上聪慧美丽的青凤。从此二人上演了一出光怪陆离、动人心弦的爱情故事。

The scholar Geng Qubing was a heroic youth. He did not fear evil. After Geng family could not bear disturbance by evil spirits and moved elsewhere, he bravely went to explore the mystery. Owing to an occasional chance at night, Geng got to know the family of Qing Feng. In fact, this family was a fox family. But this young man fell in love with the bright and beautiful Qingfeng. From then on, the two ones staged a bizarre and moving love story.

人狐虽异类，
爱情真挚诚无比，
幸福美至极。

Man and fox belong to different kinds.
But their love is true.
They are the happiest couple.

 

040画皮
Painted Skin

故事讲的是一个面目狰狞的恶鬼，披上用彩笔绘画的人皮，装扮成一个令人心爱的美女，耍弄各种欺骗手段，以达到裂人腹、掏人心的目的。后来，恶鬼被一个道士识破，在木剑的逐击下，逼得他最终脱去“画皮”，露出本相，而被一剑除掉。这篇小说的寓意深长，耐人寻味，理当是告诫男性不要被美色所惑，以免被披着人皮的恶魔所害。

The story is about a ferocious evil ghost who was covered with a colored-pen-painted human skin and dressed up as a beloved beauty. It played a variety of deception in order to achieve the purpose of cracking people's abdomen and cutting people's hearts. Later, the evil spirit was seen through by a Taoist priest. Under the attack of a wooden sword, it was finally forced to take off its painted skin and revealed its true face which was removed by the sword. The moral of this novel is profound and thought-provoking. We should say that this story warns us not to be deceived by beauty so as not to be harmed by the devil in human skin.

画皮难画骨
人心叵测怎相处？
警惕是要务。

It’s easy to paint skin but hard to paint bone.
How to get along with people with evil heart?
Vigilance is the priority.