Many years ago when Penang was still a tax free port, a
youth by the name of Ho Kun who was a scuba diving fan suddenly fell sick after
diving off the coast of Tanjung Bungah. At that time, Ho Kun already had a
steady girlfriend and Ho Kun’s parents thought of getting the couple married to
‘boost luck’ (冲喜) for the hope Ho Kun’s can recover soon. This act of
‘boosting luck’ was prevalent amongst the old Chinese of that time.
However, after the marriage; not only Ho Kun did not recover
but his sickness aggravated; moreover, strange hand print surfaced on he and
his wife, Mei Lin every time when the couple got intimated. Both of them look
as if being slapped by someone or something.
Ho Kun’s father consulted many mediums and fortune tellers
on those strange happenings until he caught hold of the late Penang ghost king,
Lim of that time.
When Ho Kun’s father was at Lim’s place, he closed his eyes
and chanted some mantra. After some chanting, the ghost king opened his eyes
and said:
“Your son has kissed a drowned lady ghost and this ghost now wants to
marry Ho Kun!”
Of course, the old Mr. Ho kept denying his son had anything
to do with a drowned ghost since he knew that their son already had a steady
girlfriend then… but the ghost king Lim asked the old man to return home and
ask Ho Kun himself.
Under the scrutiny of his father, Ho Kun finally remembered
something… he remembered to have saved a drowned girl who fell into the sea for
some reason. Since only Ho Kun was trained on CPR and mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation techniques; he tried to revive the girl but the girl failed to be
saved unfortunately. It was to his father’s relieve since his son was trying to
help and not actually kissing the drowned lady as claimed.
So Ho Kun’s father returned to the ghost king and updated
the ghost king Lim about his latest findings.
As before, the ghost king closed his eyes and chanted more
mantras…
After a while, Mr. Lim opened his eyes and started to speak:
“Apparently now this lady ghost has fallen in love with Ho Kun and
since Ho Kun was the first one who have kissed her, now it wanted Ho Kun to
marry her! Otherwise this vengeful lady ghost would not leave Ho Kun alone…
this lady meant what she said as this is a hard lady we are dealing with…”
On hearing the words, old Mr. Ho kneeled down before the
ghost king and beg him to help. After pondering for a while, the ghost king
finally said:
“Alright. But first Ho Kun must first divorce his wife and then you
must perform a Taoist deliverance ritual for this drowned ghost to appease her…
It is very important that the couple must be separated for a whole 3 years…”
Ho Kun’s father had to agree with the ghost king’s terms and
a deliverance ritual was subsequently performed.
Two years lapsed and Ho Kun’s body has recovered. Though the
couple was ‘divorced’ they kept in contact and Mei Lin was later found
pregnant. At this point, Ho Kun and Mei Lin decided to get married again and
since none of their parents opposed; the couple remarried just short of one
year according to the terms set up by the late ghost king.
All was happy for both Ho Kun and Mei Lin’s families… but
not so good news for the poor ghost king.
The poor ghost king was found falling into sea near Tanjung
Bungah but he was somehow saved by someone…
I will continue this long story in due time as it is pretty
long…
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