The yamen of Zhaowen county in Suzhou was the former residence of Minister Qian of the Ming. The three rooms of the east wing, because Liu Rushi hanged herself there, have been sealed and unopened under every incumbent.
In the gengzi year of the Qianlong reign a certain Prince Wang of Zhili took up the post. He had a large household and too few inner rooms, so he opened those rooms and housed a concubine there with two maids for company, and housed another concubine in the west wing with an old woman for company.
Before the third watch they heard the old woman in the west wing crying for help. Prince Wang ran over, and the concubine was no longer on the bed. They found her behind it, her eye injured and her forehead broken, naked and bleeding, shrinking and trembling.
She said: “I did not blow out the lamp. I had just put my head on the pillow when a gust of yin wind opened the bed curtains and my whole body went rigid. Something with a high comb and a big red coat lifted the curtain and beckoned me, took hold of my hair, and forced me up. I was terrified and fled behind the curtains, and my eyes were struck by the clothes stand. The old woman heard me cry out and came running, and only then did the ghost let me go and leave through the window.”
The whole yamen was in an uproar, and fearing for the new bride in the east wing, who was timid, they did not tell her either.
The next day, by noon, the east wing door had not opened. They went in. One concubine and two maids had all hanged themselves, joined by one long sash.
So Prince Wang had the room sealed again, and after that there was nothing further.
Some say: Liu died for her minister, a proper death, and should not be a vengeful ghost.
I note that the History of Jin, in the biography of Pucha Qi, records that Qi, a censor, was about to die in the troubles of Cui Li, and went home to take leave of his mother. His mother was napping in the daytime, and woke suddenly with a start. Qi asked: Why did you wake, Mother? She said: I dreamed three men were hiding among the roof beams, so I woke. Qi knelt and said: The men on the beams are ghosts. Your son wishes to die for his honour and means to hang from the beam, so they are waiting above to guide me. And he hanged himself at once.
So it seems that even the ghosts of the loyal and righteous cannot avoid acting as guides and finding substitutes.
