The examiner is reborn in Changyun County, Shandong as a successful scholar whose wife gives birth to a remarkable daughter; however, he refuses to marry her off and stonewalls her suitors.

[5] In his postscript, Pu Songling remarks that the enmity between Xing and the examiner was so great that it took more than three lifetimes to be resolved, while musing, "Are all the beloved sons-in-law in the law former aggrieved spirits from the underworld?

"[5] Originally titled "Sansheng" (三生), "Three Incarnations" was fully translated into English in the fifth volume of Sidney L. Sondergard's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio published in 2008.

[6] The central theme of the black comedy[6] is reincarnation, which reflects the "pervasive cultural belief in the soul's survival".

[6] A scene from the play Hushuo (2003), which was staged at the Shenzhen University, is inspired by "Three Incarnations", with a reviewer for the MIT Press commenting that the cast "underwent reversals with a difference ... (staggering home) like the wandering soul of 'Three Lives' to not quite where they began, which is not necessarily where they intended to go.