In Tang Dynasty唐 朝, there was a scholar by the name Wei Gu韋 固. One year, he was studying in Qing He清河County and stayed at an inn. A friend suggested that he would introduce him to the daughter of the ex-deputy prefect of the Qing He County and made an appointment with him to be at the forecourt of Lung Men Temple龍 門 寺at daybreak next morning.
Wei was very anxious and woke up before daybreak. He arrived at Lung Men Temple under moon light and was quite surprised to find an old man sitting on the steps in front of the temple turning the leaves of a book. Wei was curious. He approached the old man and asked, “Elderly gentleman, what is it that you are reading so early in the morning?” The old man replied, “This is no ordinary book. This is the marriage record of all the people in the world.” Then Wei asked about the bag that the old man placed beside himself. He replied, “the bag contained red strings to tie up the feet of future couples as soon as they are born. Your feet have been tied, why take all the trouble to seek your match.”
Wei said, “Then according to you, where is my wife and what does her family do for a living?”
The old man replied, “ She is the daughter of an elderly woman by the name Chen selling vegetables next to your inn.”
Wei paid no heed to this strange talk and waited by the temple for the daughter of that ex-official.
At daybreak, people started passing by. At that time, an elderly woman carrying some vegetables with a pole came along. She was blind in one eye and was limping in one leg. She also carried a little girl.
The old man pointing at the elderly woman, said to Wei, “The child she is carrying in her bosom is your wife.”
Wei was displeased. He retorted back, “ You are full of nonsense. How would I marry her child? The child is too young anyway.”
The old man smiled and soon he disappeared. Wei waited for his prospective wife to arrive until noon but she never came.
Fourteen years on, Wei completed his studies and was appointed a high ranking official. He married and his bride who was only seventeen. After marriage, he found out something he could not believe, despite her background from a
gentleman’s family. She told him that when she was young, she was at one time raised by a woman selling vegetables by the name Chen. She was half blind and had a limping leg.
Hearing that story, Wei recalled the incident in front of Lung Men Temple and believed that the
old man under the moon really spoke the truth.
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