ENG
Can you discern the outer guise?
Who cares when hidden from our eyes?
When hung up high, what use retains?
A puppet's dance, its fleeting gains.
Tales told of Zhu's Estate in the Webbed Ridge, the ancestral home of the wealthy textile family in the Kingdom of Zhuzi. Rumors claimed the estate housed vast amounts of gold and jewels, but those riches were never found.
In the Kingdom of Zhuzi lived two thieves who called each other brothers. The elder, a broad and forthright soul; the younger, a handsome and clever spirit. Fleeing a warrant, they sought Zhu's Estate in the mountains as their next target as well as a hideout. For days, they scoured the hills, their rations spent, and their hope lost. Weary and famished, they chanced upon a tea hut. The young thief called out, "Let's rest there, brother!" The elder replied, "We've seen no one for days; how could there be a tea hut?" But driven by hunger, the young one hastened toward it.
The elder chased after him, pleading. They tussled until they entered the hut. Crude and dirty, it had rough log tables and stone stools. There were no patrons inside, only a hunchbacked old man with a cane brewing tea. The young thief asked, "How do you sell tea here with no one around, old man?" The old man pointed to a dim village behind the hut. "This humble one lives in the hilltop village. This hut serves but to eke out my living." He then served two bowls of thick, strange-smelling brew. The young thief reached for one, but the elder stopped him and asked the old man, "Do you know of Zhu's Estate?" The old man grinned, "It lies within the village. Drink your tea, and I shall guide you there." The young thief beamed, but the elder grew warier. He snatched the bowl from the young one. "I shall try it first." With that, he downed it in one gulp.
No sooner had the tea hit his belly than he collapsed, writhing in agony. The young thief turned to the old man, only to witness his true form revealed as a hunchbacked, cane-wielding creature, its body entangled in silk. Lifting his eyes, he saw a colossal spider perched in the rafters, tugging the strands to prompt the bug to tap its cane with a resonant "ting-ting." At this signal, the stone stools shifted and unfurled their legs. They became little stone spiders. They spat silk at the elder thief to entangle him. At this sight, the younger thief turned and fled, as if he had not heard his brother's pleas for help.
The opening lines set the theme: things that look one way on the outside can hide something very different, and someone can pull the strings from out of sight to make a scene or control people. That idea frames the story about Zhu's Estate in the Webbed Ridge, the ancestral home of a rich textile family in the Kingdom of Zhuzi. People told tales that the estate held huge amounts of gold and jewels, but those riches were never found.
Two thieves who called each other brothers lived in the kingdom. The elder brother is described as broad and forthright; the younger as handsome and clever. They were fleeing a warrant and decided to raid Zhu's Estate and use it as a hideout. They spent days searching the mountains near the estate, grew hungry and exhausted, and eventually stumbled upon a lonely tea hut.
The hut looked crude and empty; inside was only a hunchbacked old man with a cane, brewing tea. The young thief wanted to rest and drink immediately, while the elder was suspicious. The old man said he lived in a dim village behind the hut and that he would guide them to Zhu's Estate. He served two bowls of a thick, strange-smelling brew.
The elder insisted on drinking first and asked the old man about the estate. As soon as the elder swallowed the tea, he collapsed in pain. The younger watched as the hunchback’s true form became clear: its body was entangled in silk, and a colossal spider in the rafters was tugging strands to make the old man tap his cane. At that tap, the stone stools in the hut shifted into little stone spiders that spat silk and bound the elder.
At that moment the younger thief turned and fled, leaving his brother entangled and unable to escape. The story ends with the elder trapped and the younger gone; the supposed riches of Zhu's Estate remain unfound. The whole episode shows the literal and metaphorical point of the opening lines: appearances hid a deadly trap, and unseen strings controlled what seemed ordinary.