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An ill-fated girl happens to meet an ill-fated young man. the Hu Lu Bonze adjudicates the Hu Lu case.
Tai-yue， for we shall now return to our story， having come， along with her cousin to madame Wang's apartments， found madame Wang discussing certain domestic occurrences with the messengers， who had arrived from her elder brother's wife's home， and conversing also about the case of homicide， in which the family of her mother's sister had become involved， and other such relevant topics. Perceiving how pressing and perplexing were the matters in which madame Wang was engaged， the young ladies promptly left her apartments， and came over to the rooms of their widow sister-in-law， Mrs. Li.
This Mrs. Li had originally been the spouse of Chia Chu. Although Chu had died at an early age， he had the good fortune of leaving behind him a son， to whom the name of Chia Lan was given. He was， at this period， just in his fifth year， and had already entered school， and applied himself to books.
This Mrs. Li was also the daughter of an official of note in Chin Ling. Her father's name was Li Shou-chung， who had， at one time， been Imperial Libationer. Among his kindred， men as well as women had all devoted themselves to poetry and letters； but ever since Li Shou-chung continued the line of succession， he readily asserted that the absence of literary attainments in his daughter was indeed a virtue， so that it soon came about that she did not apply herself in real earnest to learning； with the result that all she studied were some parts of the "Four Books for women，" and the "Memoirs of excellent women，" that all she read did not extend beyond a limited number of characters， and that all she committed to memory were the examples of these few worthy female characters of dynasties of yore； while she attached special importance to spinning and female handiwork. To this reason is to be assigned the name selected for her， of Li Wan （Li， the weaver）， and the style of Kung Ts'ai （Palace Sempstress）。
Hence it was that， though this Li Wan still continued， after the loss of her mate， while she was as yet in the spring of her life， to live amidst affluence and luxury， she nevertheless resembled in every respect a block of rotten wood or dead ashes. She had no inclination whatsoever to inquire after anything or to listen to anything； while her sole and exclusive thought was to wait upon her relatives and educate her son； and， in addition to this， to teach her young sisters-in-law to do needlework and to read aloud.
Tai-yue was， it is true， at this period living as a guest in the Chia mansion， where she certainly had the several young ladies to associate with her， but， outside her aged father， （she thought） there was really no need for her to extend affection to any of the rest.
But we will now speak of Chia Yue-ts'un. Having obtained the appointment of Prefect of Ying T'ien， he had no sooner arrived at his post than a charge of manslaughter was laid before his court. This had arisen from some rivalry between two parties in the purchase of a slave-girl， either of whom would not yield his right； with the result that a serious assault occurred， which ended in homicide.
Yue-ts'un had， with all promptitude， the servants of the plaintiffs brought before him， and subjected them to an examination.
"the victim of the assault，" the plaintiffs deposed， "was your servants' master. Having on a certain day， purchased a servant-girl， she unexpectedly turned out to be a girl who had been carried away and sold by a kidnapper. This kidnapper had， first of all， got hold of our family's money， and our master had given out that he would on the third day， which was a propitious day， take her over into the house， but this kidnapper stealthily sold her over again to the Hsueeh family. When we came to know of this， we went in search of the seller to lay hold of him， and bring back the girl by force. But the Hsueeh party has been all along _the_ bully of Chin Ling， full of confidence in his wealth， full of presumption on account of his prestige； and his arrogant menials in a body seized our master and beat him to death. The murderous master and his crew have all long ago made good their escape， leaving no trace behind them， while there only remain several parties not concerned in the affair. Your servants have for a whole year lodged complaints， but there has been no one to do our cause justice， and we therefore implore your Lordship to have the bloodstained criminals arrested， and thus conduce to the maintenance of humanity and benevolence； and the living， as well as the dead， will feel boundless gratitude for this heavenly bounty."
When Yue-ts'un heard their appeal， he flew into a fiery rage. "What！" he exclaimed. "How could a case of such gravity have taken place as the murder of a man， and the culprits have been allowed to run away scot-free， without being arrested？ Issue warrants， and despatch constables to at once lay hold of the relatives of the bloodstained criminals and bring them to be examined by means of torture."
