Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 226 Xiaoxing replaces Yue
It was shortly after the evening bell rang. The monks came out of the dining hall and saw Zhang Xiru standing beside the stone path. Some of them came over in groups of three or four to chat with Zhang Xiru, and they talked for a long time before dispersing.

Seeing Zhang Xiru and Monk Guangheng going up to the Foguang Pavilion together, Wang Heng and Xiaocai said goodbye to them and slowly walked westward along the mountain path to the gate of Jubao Temple and went out.

Wang Heng whispered, "I never thought that the monks at Jubao Temple were so vulgar that they would flatter the officials appointed by the imperial court."

Xiaocai frowned and said, "Seventh Brother, when I delivered Mr. Zhang's luggage at noon, I had a very strange feeling. These monks were too enthusiastic about Mr. Zhang."

Wang Heng laughed and said, "Monks are still so obsessed with fame and gain, their six senses are not pure, what kind of vegetarian food are they eating, what kind of Buddhist chanting are they doing?"

Xiaocai said, "Mr. Zhang is extremely talented, has friends all over the world, and is famous in Jiangzuo. What does he have to do with the monks in Jubao Temple? From my observation of their demeanor, it doesn't seem like they are trying to curry favor with the powerful. It seems like they have some inexplicable connection."

Wang Heng sneered and said, "Could it be that the old monk Zhihai from Jubao Temple also took out one thousand taels of silver and asked Mr. Zhang to write an article? Write "Jubao Temple Records"?"

Xiaocai seemed to have realized something and said, "Don't say it, it's really possible. Jubao Temple is known as a big temple, but it seems that there is no famous record."

Wang Heng shook his head and said, "Can the old monk come up with one thousand taels of silver?"

The two of them returned to the villa with doubts. Everyone in the Liu family had already had the vegetarian meal. The housekeeper Ade left some food for them, which was still mushroom gluten and the like. It tasted better than last night.

Because we had a long rest in the afternoon, we were not too sleepy in the evening, so we made an appointment to watch the moon over the mountains.

After a while, the moonlight comes into the house, the branches in the mountains are swaying, the moon shadow is lingering, the moonlight is cold, and I feel infinitely lonely.

The night was long, so the reading lamp was lit. Xiaocai practiced writing calligraphy for a while, and Wang Heng planned to continue reading the book "Memories of Hexiang Tower".

My wife Fu Niang's talent in poetry is ten times better than mine, and her talent in debate is also ten times better than mine. In addition, Fu Niang learned both the zither and chess from me. So my wife and I can be said to be equally matched.

The Li and Chen families are cousins. After Fu Niang and I got married, we lived in Hexiang Tower for ten years. We got along well with each other, and we didn't care to tell outsiders about the trivial family matters.

My master gave me several dozen gold coins a month for my living expenses. In terms of the amount alone, it was not a small amount. However, I squandered it, lived a life of poetry and wine, and had many friends. I spent a lot of money. My wife Fu Niang also sold her hairpins to buy wine, so we were often short of money. Our boxes and cages were always empty. We had to pawn our summer clothes and winter fur coats to redeem them.

My mother saw that my husband and I did not know how to save money and were in deficit every month, so she wanted to blame Fu Niang. My younger sister Hua Rong was still unmarried and gossiped for no reason, causing discord in the family. This was also a sign of the decline of our Jiangning Li family, a family of scholars and officials.

There is a saying in the countryside that if there are snails in the lines on your hand, it means you are like a winnowing basket. One snail means you are poor, but two snails mean you are rich. It's just a nursery rhyme.

There is a snail on the thumb of my right hand, and the rest are winnowing baskets. My sister Huarong laughed and said, "One snail is poor."

There are no snails on Fu Niang's fingers, all ten of them are dustpans, but her feet are all snails. Yu Mei Hua Rong said again, "Ten snails and ten dustpans, no one will mention it when you die."

The people in the boudoir had no way to go out and were trapped in a small courtyard, so gossip was inevitable. Among the dozens of inner houses of the Yu family's elderly relatives, the word soon spread throughout the Li family that there was an old lady who "was covered with ten snails and ten winnowing baskets, and no one mentioned her after her death."

When the gossip reached my ears, I couldn't believe who was so vicious. Fu Niang and I are cousins, and the dowry from my parents-in-law was quite rich. Where did this obvious hostility come from?

Yu wanted to confront his mother and Huarong immediately, but thinking of his mother's old age and Huarong's young age, he was unwilling to provoke easily. He did not expect that this concession would make it impossible for Yu and his wife to stay at home in the future.

During the hottest day of the year, my mother suddenly fell ill and was seriously ill for ten days. I took care of her day and night in her bedside, but soon I fell ill due to exhaustion.

Another ten days passed, and my mother was able to eat thin porridge, so she ordered the housekeeper to go to the Narcissus Temple to ask for divination. The Taoist priest in charge of the Narcissus Temple used six sticks to determine fortune and misfortune, and it was said that it was miraculous. The housekeeper asked about my luck in the coming year, and the Taoist priest said that other things would go smoothly, and my condition would soon improve, but he could not avoid the pain of losing his wife.

The housekeeper asked the Taoist priest how to resolve the problem. The Taoist priest said that the problem could be solved by taking the little star to replace the moon, which means that the disaster could be solved by taking a concubine to replace the wife.

The housekeeper came back and reported to his mother. His mother did not believe it at first, and asked several people to go to various nearby temples to ask for divination. The hexagrams they got were all the same, which was to take more concubines to replace the disasters brought to the first wife and other family members.

So my mother had no choice but to believe it and started looking for a concubine for me.

I did not expect such a farce to be created in my family. I told my mother that I would never take a concubine. My family is not rich and I have not achieved fame, so how can I enjoy the good fortune of a concubine?

Mother Yu cried, "My son, this concerns the lives of Fu Niang and other people in the family."

I entered the county school when I was young, and was already a county student. I was not an ignorant child, and I had made many friends and guests. The tricks of the women in the inner court could not deceive me.

I don't know which gossip girl gave my mother this idea. She cheated my mother out of her own money and wanted to take control of my daughter-in-law. If I find out, I will never let her enter the house again.

However, my mother usually treats me as a kind mother, and she is still the mistress of the Li family. I still want to save her some face, so I reiterate to her that I will never take a concubine.

In order to avoid the rumor that Xiaoxing had replaced Yue, my wife Fu Niang packed up and returned home. My husband and I had always been in tune with each other, so we bid farewell to Hexiang Tower and went to stay for a few days at my father-in-law's home in Cuihua Village.

A few decades later, my servant came to tell me that my mother had not given up and was still looking for a suitable candidate, but she was unable to get anything done because I was not at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Yu were reluctant to return home, and it was against etiquette for them to live in Yue's house for a long time. Fu Niang remembered that Yue's family had a small villa at the foot of Jubao Mountain, with a few thatched cottages still remaining. So Mr. and Mrs. Yu took their maid and lived in the villa.

The few thatched cottages in the villa were in good repair and were carefully taken care of by an elderly couple who were servants of the Chen family.

There are melon and bean racks hanging in the corners of the walls, wild flowers blooming on the bamboo fences, swallows building nests on the thatched eaves, and several vegetable plots behind the house. In front of the house, the stream converges into a river and flows slowly, with a small boat tied to the riverside. In the distance, there are continuous green mountains and white clouds.

People who have lived in the city for a long time were ecstatic to find themselves in such a beautiful place. Fu Niang and I were busy painting, writing poems, growing flowers and vegetables every day, and before we knew it, autumn had arrived.

On a sunny day, I planted chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge. I looked out at the distant shadows of clouds on Xiushan Mountain, and saw that the southern mountain was covered with clouds and mist, as red as fire.

I called Mr. Chen to ask him, and he said that the whole mountain was full of golden lanterns, which was a local sight.

I invited Fu Niang to go hiking the next day to see the golden lanterns in bloom on the other mountain, and Fu Niang gladly agreed.

When Wang Heng got to this point, he found it quite interesting and asked Xiaocai to read it with him.

Xiaocai read a few pages carefully and expressed some doubts: "This copy of "Memories of Hexianglou" has old paper and old ink, but the handwriting doesn't seem very old. Moreover, the binding of this booklet is unusual. I can't tell what the problem is."

Wang Heng felt the same way.

In the summer nights, frogs croak noisily and in the distance the mountain wind rustles.