Translation and reflections on "The play title Pu Sheng's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" Volume 2"

Translation:

Let’s just say it casually, it may not make sense. Just listen casually, but you may not believe it.

While enjoying the coolness of the summer night and chatting under the melon trellis of the bean shed, a soft drizzle came.

It must be that you hate speaking worldly words, but you like to listen to the ghosts of autumn graves coming out to read poems.

The title of the play is Pu Sheng Liaozhai Zhiyijuan ①

I just want to talk nonsense and listen to it,

The rain is like silk on the melon stand in the bean shed②.

The material should be disgusted with human language ③,

I like to listen to the ghosts singing in autumn graves ④.

①The poem was written in the 28th year of Kangxi reign (1689), when the author's father died at his home in Xincheng. The Wang family was married to the Bi family of Pu Songling's house for generations. Wang Shizhen was able to read part of the manuscript of Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and wrote this poem after reading it. At that time, Wang Shizhen had moved from the Imperial Academy to Zhan Shifu, Shao Zhanshi, and the Hanlin Academy to study as a bachelor. Pu Songling was only a scholar, so he was called "Pu Sheng". The poem's rich imagery reveals the strange and strange nature of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and Pu Songling's creative mentality.

② Two sentences of "Guwu": It is nonsense to say it, but it is interesting to listen to it. "I don't want to talk nonsense", please refer to the note (11) of this book "Liao Zhai Zi Zhi". The bean shed and melon stand represent a place for telling stories.

③Information: words of speculation.

④ When ghosts in autumn graves sing: The meaning of the sentence "Ghosts in autumn graves sing Bao family poems" in Li He's "Autumn Comes" is used.