Behind the Jiuzhen Temple, within Sanwu Village, in Xiangxiang, in Tanzhou, there was a large well, its spring extremely deep and clear. It had long been a marvel, and people who looked at the spring had to bring paper money and throw it in the well; when the notes reached the spring they would sink. In the Yuanzhen era (1295-97), the autumn of the jiwei year,[1] there were seven travelling traders who, passing, went to look and joked: “It is said this spring is most magical; when people throw in spirit money it sinks straight to the bottom; nobody has ever seen paper notes float back up again.” The crowd thereupon saw a Zhiyuan paper note and some yellow and white spirit money notes rise to the surface and before long sink once more. The merchants became very alarmed, buying paper money and throwing it in, kowtowing and then departing. This spring is like that because it has spirit administrators. Nonetheless, despite being strange, this spring can truly be called greedy!
[1] This should be 56th year of the cycle, and therefore either 1259 or 1329. This may be an error or deliberate fudging.
Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.212 (Tale 377):
九真廟泉異
潭之湘鄉三五里間九真廟，背有一巨井，其泉極浚洌。素異者，人有觀泉，必須具楮財投井，楮財到泉即沉。元貞己未秋，有行商七人徑往一觀，戲曰：「聞此泉最靈異，人皆以紙錢投之，直沉於底，未嘗見泉中有紙錢浮將出來。」衆因而（「因而」，明刻本作「目」。）看見有至元鈔一踏、黃白紙錢數片，浮出水面，須臾復沒。衆商遂駭，亦置楮財投之，叩首而去。蓋泉有神司之故爾。雖然，此泉雖異，亦可謂之貪泉也夫！
Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).
Zhiguai Translations 