In the second year Jianwu,[1] Zhang Kai of [lacuna] City, was returning from the fields to his residence when he saw someone lying by the roadside. When asked about this, he replied: “I’ve injured my foot, and cannot go any further. My family is in Nanchu and I have no way of letting them know. Kai felt sorry for him. Having a cart following carrying some things, he discarded these to allow him to ride. When they arrived at the house, however, the man didn’t make the slightest show of gratitude, but rather told Kai: “In truth there was no injury, it was just a kind of test.” Kai was furious, and said: “What kind of person are you, who dares to toy with me?” He replied: “I’m just a spirit. I have been tasked with recruiting an envoy to Beitai (i.e., Wutai Shan?), and, seeing that the gentleman is senior to me, could not bear to simply take you. I thus feigned illness and lay down by the roadside. Abandoning your luggage so that I could be carried is an act that has truly moved me by its sincerity. Nonetheless, you should accept your fate and come with me. I have no discretion in the matter, so what can be done?” Kai was shocked, and begged the spirit to allow him to stay, making offerings of wine and a suckling pig. The spirit feasted with him, and both wept as he begged the spirit again to save him. The spirit then asked: “Is there anyone who shares the gentleman’s given and courtesy names?” Kai told it: “There’s a man from Qiao called Huang Kai.” “The gentleman should call on him,” The spirit told him: “I will follow.” When Kai reached the house, the owner came out to see him. The spirit waved a red cloth above his head, and as the man turned pierced his heart with a needle, disappearing before the owner could detect it. It told Kai: “The gentleman will be a senior official, and, your servant cherishing that, therefore broke laws to help you. The ways of the nether world are secret and mysterious, and this matter should not be divulged.” After Kai had left, the owner of the other house suffered terrible heart pain, and by midnight he had [2547] passed away. Kai lived to be sixty, and attained the office of Glorious Grand Master.
From Zhenyilu.
Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 321.2546-47:
張闓
□城張闓。以建武二年。從野還宅。見一人臥道側。問之。云。足病。不能復去。家在南楚。無所告訴。闓憫之。有後車載物。棄以載之。既達家。此人了無感色。且語闓曰。向實不病。聊相試耳。闓大怒曰。君是何人。而敢弄我也。答曰。我是鬼耳。承北臺使來相收錄。見君長者。不忍相取。故佯為病臥道側。向乃捐物見載。誠銜此意。然被命而來。不自由。奈何。闓驚。請留鬼。以豚酒祀之。鬼相為酹享。於是流涕。固請求救。鬼曰。有與君同名字者否。闓曰。有僑人黃闓。鬼曰。君可詣之。我當自往。闓到家。主人出見。鬼以赤摽摽其頭。因回手。以小鈹刺其心。主人覺。鬼便出。謂闓曰。君有貴相。某為惜之。故虧法以相濟。然神道幽密。不可宣泄。闓去後。主人暴心痛。夜半便 [2547] 死。闓年六十。位至光祿大夫。出甄異錄
[1] This could potentially refer to 26 CE, during the reign of Guangwudi 光武帝 Guang (r. 25-57), of the Eastern Han; 318 CE, under Yuandi 元帝 Yuan Di (r. 317-322), of the Eastern Jin 東晉; or 495, under Mingdi 明帝 Ming Di (r. 494-498) of the Southern Qi 南齊.