After the young scholar left, Du Liniang lived with the nun in a rented house outside the Huaian city. One evening, as they were chatting by the oil lamp, it became dimmer and the room darker. The lamp was burning out of oil. As soon as the nun left the room to get more oil there was a knock on the door. She opened the door and saw an old woman and a girl standing before her. They told her that they’d been traveling for days, exhausted and asked if they could put up for one night in here. Du Liniang ushered them inside the dimly-lit room, making eye contact with the woman. In the darkness it was more difficult to make out one another’s feathers but slowly recognition spread over both faces. Liniang stood face to face with her mother and her servant girl.
“Chunxiang, Take a close look at the girl and tell me who she likes like.”
“I may be wrong but she looks like your daughter,” the servant replied timidly.
“Look around and see if anyone else is in the room. If not, then we may have encountered a ghost,” said the old lady who was limp and flaccid by now.
At this moment, Du Liniang has recognized her mother and servant girl. However, she never thought they should have appeared at this wild and desolate place outside town. She didn’t know what had happened.
“What are you doing here?” Liniang was shocked that her mother and Chunxiang were traveling so far from the city walls.
“Where did you come from?”
“We’re running from Huaian where my husband is the magistrate but it is not safe there right now.”
This confirmed everything for Liniang and she threw herself into her mother’s arms and began crying. But the mother was so confused and slightly frightened by the image of her daughter standing before her.
“How is this possible? Are you really human again? Are you real?”
“Don’t be afraid, mom. I am flesh and blood,” Liniang reached out and took her mother’s hand in her own. The mother shook with fear and grabbed onto Chunxiang. She wanted to flee but her feet were so weak to move. She could do nothing but implored repeatedly. Just then the nun returned with the lamp oil, literally lighting up the room. Chunxiang had sharp eyes and she recognized her.
“Madam. Didn’t you see this is Mother Stone, the same nun you and your husband left in charge of our old home?”
“Mother Stone. Please come over. Look, by chance my mother found her way here but she believed I am a ghost,” said the daughter, clutching the nun’s hand and asking her to testify her identity.
The nun refilled the oil in the lamp to make the room brighter. Afterward, she started to comfort the mother. The four women had a long and slightly confusing talk. Liniang told the story of her resurrection but left out the part about her going to the nunnery dating Liu, the young scholar. She told her mother that the God from Mount Tai appeared in Liu’s dream and asked him to dig up my grave and make me resurrected. Mrs. Du had a hard time believing that the girl sitting before her was indeed her daughter but she eventually calmed down and took Liniang in her arms. The mother and daughter finally recognized each other.
Needless to say, this is a happy reunion of mother and daughter. However, the young scholar still searching for his father- in-law was not as lucky. The couple did not have much money in the first place. When they left Nan’an with the nun, they spent on the jewelry buried in the grave on the way. Before he left home, the girl gave him some of her jewelry buried with her in the grave. The jewelry was worth some money but the young man had no idea of their worth and value. Not even the worldly wisdom. He was always ripped off when he tried to exchange money with the jewelry. Soon, he ran out of money and by the time he reached Huaian he was penniless. It was getting dark and he felt exhausted. He stumbled into a lodge looking for a place to sleep for the night.
