Deep in the fertile lands of what is now known as the Sichuan region, there lay a prosperous settlement called Gao Village. It was a place of emerald-green paddies and mist-covered hills, governed by the wealthy and respected Elder Gao. For years, the village enjoyed peace, but a shadow had fallen over the elder’s household. This shadow was not a ghost or a spirit of the land, but a son-in-law who had become a curse. The story begins not on earth, but in the celestial bureaucracy of the Heavens. There, a powerful deity known as Marshal Tian Peng, the commander of the Heavenly Milky Way's naval forces, held a position of immense prestige. However, during a grand Peach Banquet hosted by the Queen Mother of the West, the Marshal indulged too heavily in immortal wine. In his drunken state, he flirted shamelessly with Chang'e, the Moon Goddess. For this transgression against divine decorum, the Jade Emperor ordered him executed. It was only through the intervention of other deities that his sentence was commuted to exile. He was cast out of the gates of heaven and tumbled toward the mortal realm. In his haste and confusion, his spirit sought a womb for reincarnation, but he accidentally entered the womb of a sow. He was born with the body of a man but the head and features of a hideous, black-bristled pig.
Now known as Zhu Ganglie, or the 'Stiff-Bristled Pig,' he lived as a demon in the Cloud-Ladder Cave on Mount Fuling. He was a creature of immense strength and insatiable appetite, wielding a weapon forged from divine ice-iron: the Nine-Toothed Rake. Despite his monstrous appearance, he possessed the ability to shapeshift. One day, he arrived at Gao Village disguised as a handsome, hardworking young man. He approached Elder Gao, offering his labor in exchange for food and shelter. The Elder, seeing a strong youth who could do the work of ten men, welcomed him. Zhu Ganglie worked tirelessly; he plowed the fields without rest, harvested the grain in record time, and never complained. Impressed by his diligence, Elder Gao agreed to let the young man marry his youngest daughter, Gao Cuilan. It seemed like a perfect match—a hardworking husband for a beautiful daughter of a wealthy house. However, the deception could not last forever. During the wedding feast, Zhu Ganglie overindulged in wine once again. As the alcohol took hold, his transformation magic wavered. His ears began to flap and grow wide, his nose lengthened into a snout, and thick bristles erupted from his neck. The wedding guests fled in terror, and the Gao family realized they had invited a demon into their home.
Following the reveal, Zhu Bajie—as he came to be known—discarded his human facade. He claimed Gao Cuilan as his wife by force, locking her away in a back pavilion and forbidding anyone from seeing her. He spent his days in the mountains and his nights returning to the village to demand food and wine, eating the family out of house and home. For three years, the village lived in fear, and Gao Cuilan remained a prisoner in her own father's house. It was at this desperate juncture that two travelers arrived at the village gates: the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang and his disciple, the legendary Monkey King, Sun Wukong. They were on a divine mission to the West to retrieve sacred sutras. Seeing the distress of Elder Gao, Wukong offered to help. He learned that the demon was not only strong but possessed celestial magic. Wukong, always the trickster, devised a plan. Using his powers of transformation, he changed his appearance to perfectly match that of the miserable Gao Cuilan. He instructed the real daughter to hide with her father while he took her place in the locked pavilion, waiting for the demon husband to return for the night.