Okay, here is the translation following your instructions: Two Days' Wonder

Author: Ming Ling Mengchu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: ▼Complete Content ▼Sandalwood Aroma ▼Compact and Lightweight ▼Original Illustrations ▼Portable
Based on the same starting point, the "Two Captures" (Er Pai) often feature stories depicting the shameless and ungrateful behavior of scholars and officials, such as the saying " Officials and bandits are equally numerous" or "Why must the scholar's world surpass the bandit's." By comparing scholars with bandits, the author demonstrates a profound understanding of the ruling forces in society and a courageous spirit in critiquing them.
—Like the "Three Conversations" (San Yan), love and marriage are also important themes in the "Two Captures." The "Two Captures" affirm the supreme value of "emotion" (qing) in life, but more often associate it with "desire" (yu), particularly sexual love, and provide affirmative descriptions of women's desires, undoubtedly delivering a more direct challenge to traditional moral views. For example, in the story "Through the Gate of the Inner Chamber, Firm Hearted Like a Lantern," Luo Xixi and Zhang Youqian fell in love since childhood and privately pledged to marry each other. Later, Xixi was betrothed by her parents to another man, and she defied them, meeting with Youqian privately every day...