Story of Qu Yuan - Khuất Nguyên Liệt Truyện - Truyện Tranh - Vietnamese Comics

During the Warring States period, China was divided into seven ducal states- Ch'in, Ch'u, Ch'i, Yen, Chao, Han and Wei. Battles were frequently waged between one state and another, resulting in massacres and seizures of land and cities.

Loyal to his country and people, Ch'u advised his king to appoint talented and capable persons and promote the general welfare. By doing so, he found favour with the king.

The alliance posed an effective deterrent to Ch'in's ambition. It also earned Minister Ch'u more prestige giving him the right to oversee a wide spectrum of domestic and diplomatic affairs.

The King of Ch'in was very pleased with this idea and prepared a considerable amount of gold and jewelry for Chang's adventure. Chang returned to the king the prime minister's seal, pretending to resign from his position before leaving for Ch'u.

The princess expressed her willingness to promote the proposed Ch'in-Ch'u alliance. All who were involved in the conspiracy agreed that there could be no new alliance until the six-state alliance was disunited and the old alliance could not be broken until something was done to separate King Huai from Minister Ch'u.

Unable to quench his desire for the free gift of land that Ch'in had promised or to forget what Princess Cheng had told him, King Huai retorted:"Is a new territory not worth the pair of white jade talismans that you once demanded from Chang I?" He ordered that Ch'u Yuan be taken out of his court by the garrison soldiers.

The poem was read by people in the Ch'u court, and was used by Tzu-lan and Chin Shang against Ch'u. They told King Huai that in the poem he was compared with a despotic ruler. The king was enraged and dismissed Ch'u Yuan from his official post.

The meeting did not take place until three months had passed, when Chang I was sure that the six-state alliance no longer existed.

While he was still in Ch'i, Ch'u Yuan learned that King Huai had begun negotiating again with Ch'in. Fearing his king would be deceived once again, he wasted no time parting with his hosts.

After Ch'u left, the whole cabinet sided with Tzu-lan and Cheng Hsiu. The alliance with Ch'i failed soon after, and beginning with the 27th year of King Huai's reign, Ch'u was repeatedly invaded by Ch'in.

Chin Shang demanded that Ch'u step aside, but he would not. Chin ordered his men to push Ch'u out of the way and led the delegation forward.

King Huai soon fell ill and died a year later.

His horse neighed and his groom looked back at Ch'u. Ch'u concluded:" Yes, these two men, and this horse, are all Ch'u's. We shall stay in Ch'u for our final days."

Soon after that, Ch'ang saw Ke Chin again. Overjoyed, he kowtowed to her, but Ke Chin helped him to stand up. As she was just about to speak, the old woman appeared. Ke Chin hid herself behind a stone and said to Ch'ang:"Climb over the wall and down the ladder at the other side of it tonight. You will find a house with red windows. That's where I live."

Once in the nether world, Hsi Fang p'ing found a town and went in search of a prison. There he saw his father lying in a yoke looking very miserable. When the old man looked up and saw his son, he wept bitterly and told Hsi Fang p'ing that the jailers had been bribed to beat him brutally and he was a mass of bruises. Hsi Fang p'ing cursed the jailers loudly. He took out a writing brush and wrote a complaint, and went straight to the town government to lodge an accusation.

Wang rubbed his eyes and stared;he saw the three men drinking in the moon, their images as clear as if they were reflected in a mirror.

By the time she arrived, the plant had died and she cried, "You killed my brother!"Overwhelmed with grief, she pinched a section from the withered stalk, planted it in a flower pot which she put in her room, and watered it every day. Ma was full of remorse.

The next day Ch'eng gave the cricket to the local government. The magistrate saw the size of it and bitterly scolded Ch'eng, but Ch'eng told him about the rooster, and then the cricket displayed its ferocity. Impressed, the magistrate sent it on to the governor.

A year later, because Hsiao-ts'ui was unable to bear him a child, she advised Yuan-feng to marry someone else. Yuan-feng refused at first, but Hsiao-ts'ui was adamant, so Yuan-feng reluctantly agreed, and decided to marry the daughter of Minister Chung. During the days before the wedding. Hsiao-ts'ui sewed a hand-made wedding dress for the bride-to-be.

The amount of silver in each envelope varied from eight one-hundredths of an ounce to 3 one-hundredths. Only one family the Hsun family, had given him a tenth of an ounce. All together there was less than one ounce, which was not even enough for a month's supply of food. Chou Chin rewrapped the silver and gave it to the monk.

Stroking the gate frame, Chou Chin thought."I will never pass through this gate again."He felt sad and began to sob.

Fan Chin was the first one to finish his paper. Chou Chin read it carefully but was not satisfied. Chou Chin thought, "An essay of this low quality cannot pass, " and then he put it aside. A short while later, before anyone else had finished, Chou Chin thought, "Why don't I read Fan Chin's paper again?If there is any way I can pass his essay, I will do so to reward his will and hard effort."

One of the neighbours consoled Fan Chin's mother and wife with a proposal, "Don't worry. You should first send two people to follow Great Lord Fan Chin and look after him. The others can bring wine and eggs to entertain the heralds. Then we can sit down and decide what to do." Everyone agreed with this proposal.

On the fourth day, Fan Chin's mother went into the kitchen and saw her daughter-in-law watching the servant girls wash the dishes and chopsticks. She said to them, "Be careful, don't break anything. They don't belong to us."During the Warring States period, China was divided into seven ducal states- Ch'in, Ch'u, Ch'i, Yen, Chao, Han and Wei. Battles were frequently waged between one state and another, resulting in massacres and seizures of land and cities.