法苑珠林 70.86

70.86

宋世永康人呂慶祖。家甚溫富。當使一奴名教子守視墅舍。以元嘉中便往案行。忽為人所殺。族弟無期先大舉慶祖錢。咸謂為害。無期齎羊酒脯。至柩所而祝曰。君荼酷如此。乃云。是我魂而有靈使知其主。既還至三更。見慶祖來云。近履行見教子畦疇不理。許當痛治奴。奴遂以斧斫我背。將帽塞口。因得齧奴三指。悉皆破碎。便取刀刺我頸。曳著後門。初見殺時。諸從行人亦在其中。奴今欲叛。我已釘其頭著壁。言畢而滅。無期早旦以告其父母。潛視奴所住壁。果有一把髮。以竹釘之。又看其指並見破傷。錄奴詰驗臣伏。又問。汝既反逆。何以不叛。奴云。頭如被繫。欲逃不得。諸同見者。事事相苻。即焚教子并其二息（右九驗出冤魂志）。

Lü Qingzu, a native of Yongkang in the Song era, had an extremely wealthy household. He usually had a servant named Jiaoxi guard his rural villa. During the Yuanjia era, he went there to inspect it and was suddenly killed by someone. His clan brother Wuqi had previously borrowed a large amount of money from Qingzu, so everyone suspected he had done the deed. Wuqi brought sheep, wine, and dried meat to the coffin and prayed, saying, 'Your bitter end was cruel like this; if your soul possesses spirit, let its author be known!' When he returned, at the third watch of the night, he saw Qingzu coming and saying, 'Recently, when I went on inspection, I saw that Jiaoxi had not tended the fields, and I promised that I would severely punish the slave. The slave thereupon chopped my back with an axe and stuffed his hat into my mouth. I was thus able to bite three of the slave's fingers, completely breaking them. He then took a knife, stabbed my neck, and dragged me to the back gate. When I was first being killed, the attendants were also among them. The slave now intends to flee; I have already pinned his hair to the wall.' Having finished speaking, he disappeared. Early the next morning, Wuqi reported this to his parents, and they secretly inspected the wall where the slave stayed. Sure enough, there was a handful of hair pinned to it with a bamboo nail. They also looked at his fingers, all of which showed broken wounds. They arrested the slave and interrogated him, and he confessed. They further asked, 'Since you committed this rebellion, why did you not flee?' The slave said, 'My head felt as if it were tied down, and though I wanted to escape, I could not.' Everything agreed with what the others had seen. They thereupon burned Jiaoxi and his two sons. (The preceding nine verifications are from the Record of Wronged Spirits.)