Okay, here is the translation following your instructions: Two Slices of Amazement - A Case for the Table

Author: (Ming) Ling Mengchu / Tang Songbo (ed.)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The creation of Chinese short stories in the late Ming Dynasty achieved considerable accomplishments. Following the Three Words, the First Strange Stories and Second Strange Stories emerged, collectively known as The Two Strange Stories, which are also a precious literary heritage of ancient China. The author of The Two Strange Stories, [Ming] Ling Mengchu (1580—1644), styled Xuanfang, styled initially Chucheng, styled additionally Jikuang Guanzhuren, was from Wucheng, Huizhou (now Wuxing, Zhejiang). Ling Mengchu was born into a family of officials, and failed the imperial examinations multiple times in his youth and middle age, so he turned to writing and publishing books. In the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign (1634), he was selected as a deputy candidate and appointed as the county magistrate of Shanghai, overseeing coastal defense matters and clearing up the accumulated corruption in the salt fields. In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, he was promoted to the position of assistant magistrate of Xuzhou and concurrently served as the acting magistrate of Fangcun. In the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign, when Li Zicheng's forces approached Xuzhou, Ling Mengchu refused to surrender and died of grief and bloodletting. He wrote extensively in his lifetime, and his greatest contribution lay in the creation of popular literature. The guiding ideology of Strange Stories also emphasizes rewarding virtue and punishing evil, and the author claimed, "I focus on admonition, hence I repeatedly convey this intention in every chapter." Sometimes the discussions become overly verbose, but certain arguments are worth noting, such as the opening discussion on bandits in the eighth volume, which directly targets the ruling class and is not empty talk. Due to the limitations of historical conditions, the book reflects a rather strong fatalistic ideology, as well as concepts like karma and clan hierarchy. In some passages, descriptions of sexual behavior are quite explicit, and we should all adopt a critical attitude toward this.