Liaozhai: A scholar should draw a sword

Chapter 189 The Beauty on the Wall of the Inn

As the days passed, Zhou Yu's fame grew.

Since ancient times, Jiangnan has been hailed as the hometown of talented people, capable people emerge in large numbers.

However, Zhou Yu still stood out as a peerless figure, with both civil and military skills, and outstanding talents. Many famous talents even willingly worshiped him and asked for advice with an open mind.

However, many people still hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the teaching methods of the academy.

After all, many scholars have deep-rooted ideas, and their purpose of studying is to seek fame.

However, the teaching methods of Wendao Academy are diversified. In addition to reading, the six arts of a gentleman are also compulsory courses.

In addition, there are talent courses such as piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, which students can choose according to their own strengths and interests.

This method is unacceptable to some scholars who like to study hard behind closed doors, thinking it is a waste of time.

Zhou Yu had expected this, and this was exactly what he wanted to work hard to change.

He said to a group of students that the sole goal of studying should not be to seek fame. It is of course a icing on the cake to pass the exam. It doesn’t matter if you fail the exam.

Having said that, for many scholars, how can they change their fate if they fail to pass the exam?

Even if they passed the examination, many scholars lived in a very difficult life. Some scholars had to sell calligraphy and paintings on the street because of their livelihood, or even set up a street stall to test characters and tell fortunes.

On this day, a scholar about 27 or [-] years old came to Wendao Academy and found Yin Wenli under the guidance of the students.

Currently, Yin Wenli is the head teacher of the academy, not only participating in teaching, but also assisting Zhou Yu in managing various affairs of the academy.

After Yin Wenli inquired, he found out that the scholar was named Feng Yunting, from Shaoxing, and he passed the examination as a scholar in his teens, but failed in the three provincial examinations afterwards.

Therefore, I no longer have any hope for the imperial examination. I heard that many talented people in Wendao Academy are also studying here, so I want to enroll in the academy and learn some talents.

The two were chatting when Zhou Yu walked in.

"gentlemen."

Yin Wenli stood up and greeted him.

Feng Yunting's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously asked, "Mr. Dare to ask is Zhou Jieyuan?"

Before Zhou Yu could answer, Yin Wenli nodded with a smile: "Exactly!"

"I have admired Mr.'s name for a long time, and I am polite to Feng Yunting when I was born late!"

Feng Yunting was so excited that he hurried forward to salute.

Zhou Yu took a look at Feng Yunting, then raised his hand with a smile: "There's no need to be polite, just sit down."

"Thank you sir."

After sitting down and chatting for a while, Yin Wenli left beforehand.

As soon as he left, Zhou Yu suddenly asked Feng Yunting: "I'm afraid you came to Wendao Academy not just for studying?"

"This……"

Feng Yunting was stunned for a while, then he clasped his hands and asked, "I don't know what you mean by that sir?"

"Hehe, it seems that you are not ready yet, so please go back."

Zhou Yu raised his hand and issued the order to evict the guest.

"Sir!" Feng Yunting clasped his hands again, and said anxiously: "Sir, let me listen to Wan Sheng's explanation. The main reason is... the main reason is that Wan Sheng's experience is a bit strange, and I don't know how to... how to talk about it."

Hearing this, Zhou Yu replied: "Since you have found this place, you should open your heart. If you are so hesitant, you might as well not come."

"Yes, yes, sir, the lesson is that late students are educated... In fact, late students did come here to ask for something.

I heard people say it before, saying that Mr. is a strange person.Wansheng encountered a perplexing thing, so...so I want to ask Mr. if there is a solution.

However, what Wansheng said before coming to the academy to study was not against his will..."

After Feng Yunting finished speaking, Zhou Yu asked: "I think, the trouble you encountered is a bit weird, let's talk about it first and listen."

"Yes!"

Feng Yunting responded, and began to talk about his bizarre experience.

Speaking of which, that was half a year ago.

After failing three times in a row, and his wife also passed away a year ago, Feng Yunting was a little disheartened, so he left home to travel around to relieve his mood.

One day, he came to Luo County and stayed in an inn in the south of the city.

That night, Feng Yunting sat at the table drinking a small wine, took out a book to read, and recited a few words when he saw Xing Chu.

This is also a habit he has developed over the years. He likes to drink some wine while reading.

I don't know how long I watched it, but suddenly, I heard a slight movement in my ear, as if it was a woman's whispering.

At first Feng Yunting didn't pay attention, thinking it was the sound coming from another room.

But then I felt something was wrong, the sound should come from this room.

Feng Yunting has always been bold. Although he was suspicious, he was not afraid. He got up and looked around, the cabinet, under the bed, under the table...

I looked at all the places where people could hide, but there was no one else in the house except him.

Did you hear me wrong?
Just when he was wondering, Feng Yunting suddenly saw the figure of a young woman on the left wall.

But there was obviously no painting on the wall before...

Feng Yunting was taken aback. He wanted to ask the store owner, but after hesitating for a while, he finally walked to the wall and looked at it carefully.

This time he finally saw clearly that there was indeed a figure of a young woman on the wall, with a bitter look on her face, her tongue outstretched, and a circle of clues hanging around her neck.

Seeing Feng Yunting looking at him carefully, the woman turned her head to look at him.

As a result, Feng Yunting couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, and stepped back hastily.

He knew in his heart that he must have met the legendary hanged ghost.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have screamed in fright at this time, turned around and fled.

But Feng Yunting was not that frightened. After calming down a little, he cupped his hands at the woman on the wall and said, "Little lady, don't scare Xiaosheng. If you have any grievances, you can tell me. Maybe Xiaosheng can help you." Get busy."

As soon as the voice fell, the woman really opened her mouth.

"Thank you for your kindness, son, we met by chance, and the little girl dare not rush to ask for important things.

It's just that the dry bones under the nine springs, after all these years, can't retract their tongues, and can't take off the noose, it's really miserable.

If the son is interested, he might as well do the little girl a small favor and ask the owner of the inn to cut off the beam and burn it, the little girl will be very grateful. "

Hearing that it was such a trivial matter, Feng Yunting couldn't help laughing and said: "So that's the case, young lady, please don't worry, I will find the shopkeeper to cut this beam at dawn tomorrow, so that young lady can be relieved."

"Thank you sir!"

The woman thanked her, and the shadow on the painting slowly disappeared.

Feng Yunting was amazed, and went back to the desk to read.

The next morning, Feng Yunting approached the innkeeper and asked about the woman.

Hearing what Feng Yunting said, the shopkeeper's face was startled: "Guest officer, you... have you also encountered strange things?"

"What? Someone met it before?"

The shopkeeper sighed: "Yes, but the guests were all scared away, I didn't expect the young master to have the courage to stay.

Listening to the young master's narration, it seems that the daughter of the Mei family is still alive..."

After the shopkeeper's narration, Feng Yunting finally understood the identity of the woman.

Ten years ago, this inn was originally the residence of a wealthy family named Mei.

The Mei family had only one daughter, nicknamed Meier, who was born as beautiful as a flower, with a dexterous mind and a good knowledge of books, which attracted many families to come to propose marriage.

Among them, there is a rich man named Ding Yi.

Ding Yi once met Mei Er accidentally, and he couldn't help but be fascinated by it.He already had a lovely wife in his family, but he still prepared a generous bride price and entrusted a matchmaker to come and propose marriage.

When the Mei family heard that Ding Yi was married, they naturally refused.

After all, the Mei family was not short of money, so how could it be possible for her precious daughter to be someone else's concubine?
Ding Yi didn't give up, and sent a matchmaker to visit the door several times, and finally went to the door with the cheek to propose marriage in person.

The Mei family couple was very angry, and told Ding Yi to give up his heart in front of them, and said that even if the Ding family had gold and silver mountains as a dowry, it was useless.

As a result, Ding Yi was naturally very upset.

After leaving the front hall, suddenly, a piece of Ropa floated in front of my eyes with the wind...

This Fang Luopa was embroidered by Meier herself.

After all, she has reached the age of marriage, and her heart is inevitably a little bit excited, so she imitates the ropa embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks playing in the water in the opera, thinking that she will meet the person she likes in the future, so she will give this ropa as a gift.

Unexpectedly, Ropa was accidentally blown into the air by the wind and flew towards the front yard.

It was also due to Mei Nu's fate that Luo Pa flew in front of Ding Yiyan and was caught by him.

When he saw it, he knew that Mei Er had embroidered it by herself, and there was also a small order written by Mei Er herself on it.

Although Ding Yi knew it was a coincidence, he was very happy in his heart, thinking that this was an opportunity bestowed on him by God.

So, he quickly took Ropa into his sleeve and hurried away.

When Mei Er chased him out, Ding Yi had disappeared.Meier searched for a while, but she could only give up if she couldn't find Ropa.

A few days later, Ding Yi was invited to attend a banquet held by an old friend.

He often attends such banquets, which are actually just an excuse for a bunch of libertines to spend their time outside.

Normally, he would stay out all night for this kind of gathering.

But that day he had some headaches, so he went home early.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he went back, he caught a trick... He was spending time and drinking outside, and his wife, Gu Shi, was also looking for a good friend at home.

Gu's lover is Ding Yi's school boy who studied in his childhood, and later became a steward in the mansion, mainly assisting the housekeeper in managing the servants and chores in the mansion.

At that time, Ding Yi was so angry that he almost vomited blood on the spot.

He never dreamed that his wife would do such an act behind his back, let alone that the book boy who has always been honest and friendly would plant a head of green grass for him.

In a fit of rage, he beat the book boy to death, and Mrs. Gu was also beaten half to death, and was finally given a divorce letter.

After that, Ding Yi didn't dare to go out, for fear that others would laugh at him.

That night, he drank a lot of wine alone, accidentally found out the ropa embroidered by Mei Er, and felt itchy for a while, and even used his guts to touch Mei's mansion.

Then, looking for a place to climb into the courtyard wall and touch Meier's room...

When entering the room, Mel was awakened by knocking over the stool.Mei Er thought that a thief had entered, and screamed loudly in fright.

Ding Yi rushed forward and wanted to force it. He thought, as long as he got Meier, the Mei family would have no choice but to swallow their teeth and marry Meier to him.

However, he didn't expect Meier to resist quite fiercely, and even took out a pair of scissors.

The servants of the Mei family also rushed over in time, captured Ding Yi and tied him to the government.

Originally, there was no suspense in this case. A big man climbed over the wall and ran to other people's house in the middle of the night, and even sneaked into the boudoir of a woman who was not out of the court.
However, in order to save their son from the crime, the Ding family paid a lot of money to buy off the county magistrate, and turned black and white when deciding the case...

The bad thing is that Ropa.

Ding Yi firmly insisted that the Luopa was secretly given to him by Meier for life.

In the past, Meier refused to agree to his marriage proposal because he had a wife.But now he has divorced his wife, so Meier changed her mind and was willing to marry him, and sent him Luopa to make a private appointment for life.

That night was also invited by Meier to go to Mei's house.It's just that he drank a lot of wine at that time, and Mei'er felt a little unhappy, so he made a scene.

Such absurd testimony, the county magistrate actually accepted it... Of course, this was also because he had received the money, so naturally he had to cooperate.

In the end, the county magistrate made a verdict in court, saying that although Ding Yi's behavior was inappropriate, there was a reason for it, and he was fined a hundred taels of silver...

At the same time, the Mei family and his wife were asked to control their daughter. The implication is that a slap can't be slapped, and your daughter is also responsible.

How could the Mei family couple endure such humiliation?He fainted in the hall.

Meier was also ashamed and indignant. After returning home, she couldn't think about it for a while, and hanged herself in her boudoir.

"Well, speaking of it, this family is really pitiful..."

When the talk was about the same, the shopkeeper couldn't help but shook his head and sighed.

"When the daughter of the Mei family died, the Mei family and his wife couldn't bear the blow, and they passed away one after another. The house was left unused for two or three years, and then I bought it, made some simple renovations, and turned it into an inn.

The room you lived in before was Meier’s former boudoir, although it has been remodeled, the beam is still the same beam..."

Hearing this, Feng Yunting couldn't help but smiled wryly: "No wonder... shopkeeper, this is your fault. You know that the room is weird, but you still let guests live in it?"

"Guest officer, I can't be blamed for this. I'm just guessing. Anyway, the daughter of the Mei family has never done anything wrong. Otherwise, why would there be guests in my inn?"

"That's right... But it's not the way to go on like this. She said before that as long as the beam is dismantled and burned, she can be free."

"This……"

The shopkeeper frowned.

After all, he is a businessman. To change a girder, he needs to hire workers and spend money, and he has to move the things in the house, and he can live in the house after the roof is repaired.

Seeing the shopkeeper's expression, Feng Yunting couldn't help but said: "Okay, you don't have to hesitate, I will recognize how much money you spend."

The shopkeeper felt a little embarrassed when he said this, and hurriedly said: "How can you pay for this? Forget it, just change it..."

Feng Yunting changed a room and stayed in the inn for another three days, personally supervised the shopkeeper to dismantle the beams and burn them.

After the room was renovated, Feng Yunting moved back into that room.

That night, Mel appeared again.

As soon as they met, they bowed to Feng Yunting Yingying, with every gesture, they were gentle and generous, slim and light, with the demeanor of a lady of every family.

Coupled with that beautiful face, Feng Yunting was a little crazy for a while.

Speaking of which, his wife had passed away for more than a year, and it was inevitable that he would feel a little lonely alone.

So, he couldn't help but go forward and hold Mei'er's little hand.

Although Feng Yunting knew that Meier was a female ghost, he wasn't afraid at all, instead he was curious and excited.

After all, he has also heard about various adventures of many scholars, and has fantasized about experiencing them himself many times.

Now that the female ghost is right in front of his eyes and looks so beautiful, he naturally has some surprises and expectations...

(End of this chapter)