Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

I pound the rake carefully to buy bighead carp, and the west wind blows up the four-cheeked perch.The cedar is crisp and greasy, but everywhere except Songjiang.

This song "Four Seasons Pastoral Miscellany" written by Fan Shihu in the Southern Song Dynasty is about the Songjiang four-gill bass, the No. 1 fish in the south of the Yangtze River. This kind of four-gill bass is only produced under the Xiuye ​​Bridge outside the west gate of Songjiang City. It is a rare delicacy.

Songjiang, also known as Yunjian, is a famous town on the left side of the Yangtze River and a county in the southeast. It has the reputation of clothing and quilting the world.

Yang Weizhen, an iron flute Taoist from the Yuan Dynasty, lived here as a guest and wrote a poem: "The river is like a dragon entering the sea, and the green mountains are like phoenixes coming to the clouds."

During the Mengxia season, Jiang Yueting, a large landowner who owned [-] acres of flower fields (cotton fields) in Mohuazhuang outside Yunjian County, was listlessly enjoying four-gill perch soup under the Xiuye ​​Bridge alone.

His surname is Jiang, and Yueting was his stage name when he was filming.

The countryside is deserted and lonely, with no suitable companions and no one to share even the delicious food.

The nanny Lao Song came over with the gift list and directed the two boys to pick up the betrothal gift tied with red silk and said: "Uncle, look at this, the small plate sent to the Ye family, can you still use it?"

A while ago, a wife from an old Sheng family was enthusiastic about criticizing her. She told Yueting about the third girl of the Ye family in Wujiang, a 16-year-old girl who was good at poetry, with pretty features and elegant manners.

After seeing each other, Yueting was very satisfied. Mrs. Sheng came back and told him that he was handsome and well-off, and everyone in the woman's family seemed to like him.

Next is the combination of eight characters, which the Taoist priest in charge of the Chenghuang Temple said is a good match.

After writing the marriage letter, the two parties agreed according to customary customs that a good day would be given as a gift, a small plate would be given tomorrow, and a large plate would be given three days before the auspicious day. The wedding was scheduled for August [-]th.

The small plate is Xiaoding, and the gift list drawn up by Lao Song is: 80 taels of grained silver, six pieces of silk and satin, six pieces of cotton, six pieces of gold and silver jewelry, a pair of pig's trotters, a load of glutinous rice dumplings, and a load of Dingsheng cake.

The Ye family came from a Jinshi family, so Yueting was a bit high up. The time when Yueting's ancestor was an official was far away. Although he had studied for several years, he did not enter school and was just a white man. Therefore, the betrothal gift should not be neglected.

Yueting rummaged through it for a while. He didn't understand these general affairs, so he let Lao Song handle it by himself. He took a pen and paper and wrote a letter to Wang Heng and Wang Cai in Taicang Prefecture, telling them that he was getting married soon and asked them to He came to Yunjian Mohuazhuang before August [-]th, because he had no brothers in his family, so he needed their help to send the big dishes to Yue's family three days in advance.

The letter was delivered to the Wang Yamen in Taicang, and Mrs. Zhu asked the servant who delivered the clothes to take it to Ziyang Academy.

When Wang Heng and Xiaocai received the letter, a month had passed. The major exam was about to begin, and then the summer vacation. After the summer vacation, Wang Heng was going to Nanjing Imperial College.

Seeing that Yueting was about to get married, the two of them were very happy. They put away things in the academy in advance and prepared for the end of the exam. They took a boat back to Taicang and went to Yunjian to have a wedding banquet in advance.

A day or two later, I suddenly heard that on the occasion of the 50th birthday of the Empress Dowager, the imperial court was granting amnesty to all the people. The prefect's yamen posted notices stating which prisoners could be released immediately and which prisoners could pay money to have their sentences commuted. The notice in front of the yamen said that there was Taihu Lake water Bandit Sun Erlang and Yu Sanniang have been detained for more than ten years. If their family members pay [-] taels of silver, they will be released immediately.

When Wang Heng saw the notice, he sent Wang Cai to take 100 taels of silver to redeem these two people.

Wang Cai didn't understand what he meant, and it was strange that he was reluctant to part with the silver.

Wang Heng then told him that it was because the two of them had a sense of righteousness and bravery. After redeeming the two of them, there was no need for them to come and thank them. If they had to ask, they would just say that it was their sworn brother Barefoot Liu Da's. Just a little kindness.

Wang Cai came forward to redeem Sun Erlang and Yu Sanniang. They were good people who would do their best to the end. He also gave each of them a sling of money to pay, told Wang Heng's words, and asked them to return to their hometown to live a good life.