Wushan Lesser Guai#

Gaping mouth, round belly, born incomplete, Bulky form, craving and chasing tasty treats. Greedy for flavors, it longs for delight, Wagging its tongue, it speaks in spite.

One spring, the Webbed Hollow hosted a grand banquet to mark the blossoming of the flowers. A young guai from Mount Wushan, having presented the gift, saw the ladies chatting and laughing at the feast and decided to join the other guais in the cave for drinks and merriment.

A few cups in, the guais began to jest with each other. A pig guai remarked, "1'd rather live in this rich cave of yours, with banquets for every season and festival. Back in our place, the Lady is too strict to allow any fun."

A proud insect guai responded, "Our ladies in the cave often host banquets to keep the mistress company. We may not compare to the halls of the Celestial Court, but our second lady has some businesses in the mortal world, so we're not short on silver. It's tough, though; if she didn't find ways to bring in money, we wouldn't have made it this far."

Another pig guai added, "Beautiful and elegant are all your ladies. I wonder which celestial mountain is fortunate enough to be where they might start their new families."

The insect guai laughed, "Our ladies can't leave this place. The businesses outside are managed by carefully chosen people. Since we only take bridegrooms who marry into the family, the talented ones don't want to come, and the ladies don't fancy those who do. Look over there, those four scorpions; their family is in decline, and their descendants are unworthy. Only one is somewhat acceptable, but not one of our ladies would marry him. Whoever gets unlucky will marry him on a fateful day, so they say."

The guais laughed heartily, enjoying themselves, when suddenly there was a shout, "Oh no! The ladies are quarreling!" A panting pig guai in charge ran over, shouting, "The mistress in the cave has lost her mind. She got into a fight with our Lady over a few words from a maid and even smashed the very gift that was brought."

The guais were all startled. The clever ones quickly wrapped some food in lotus leaves and handed it to the pig guais as an apology,"Next time, we'll make sure there's no misunderstanding. Sorry for spoiling the fun." "All right, all right! The pig guais took the food and hurriedly followed the steward out, asking, "What exactly happened?"" "Who knows? It's all too odd. Every time we come, there's a commotion. I've heard their mistress is always quite muddle-headed..."