Ghost Story of Liaozhai

During the Zhengde period, Feng Mou, a scholar in Guangping, was young and frivolous, and indulged in excessive drinking.In the early morning of this day, Feng Sheng went out, and met a young girl in a red dress with a beautiful face.Followed by a servant girl, the master and servant ran around on the grass, the dew soaked their clothes and shoes.When Feng Sheng saw the girl for the first time, he fell in love with her.Returning drunk in the evening, I saw a monastery beside the road that had been abandoned for a long time. A woman came out of the monastery. It was the beautiful woman in the morning.

The girl ran into Feng Sheng by chance and turned to enter the temple.Feng thought to himself: the monastery is a place for monks to practice, so why hide women?Thinking of this, I tied the donkey in front of the gate and went into the temple to check.I saw broken walls and weeds growing on the stone steps. While hesitating, a white-haired old man walked out slowly, neatly dressed, and asked, "Where did you come from?" Feng Sheng said, "I pass by the ancient temple occasionally. Just wanting to look up at the scenery. Where is the old man from?" The old man said: "The old man is wandering and has nowhere to go, so I will take this place to settle down for the time being. It is rare for a distinguished guest to come. If you don't mind, please come in and have a cup of tea."

The two walked side by side and came to the backyard of the main hall. A stone road led to the hall. The road surface was clean. When entering the room, there were bead curtains and curtains, scented with incense. They sat down and exchanged names. Feng Sheng was still drunk, half drunk and half awake, and asked: "I heard that my husband has a daughter who is not yet married. I don't think it's presumptuous. I want to marry your wife. What if I don't know?" The old man laughed and said: "I will do this." If you don't know the master, you have to ask your wife for advice." Feng Sheng nodded and said: "It should be so." He asked the master for pen and ink, and wrote a poem: "A thousand pieces of gold is looking for a jade pestle, and you will do it yourself with diligence. If Yunying wants to, she will smash Xuanshuang herself .” The master smiled and said nothing, and passed the poems to the left and right for viewing.

Suddenly, a maid said a few words in the old man's ear, and the master got up and said, "Young master, sit down for a while, and the old man will come when he goes." He opened the curtain and entered the bedroom, and faintly heard whispers in the inner room, talking a few words The old man turned back immediately, and Feng Sheng thought: "The big thing should be done." Unexpectedly, the old man chatted here and there, and kept his mouth shut about the marriage. .”

The old man said: "My son is outstanding, and the old man has admired him for a long time. It's just that I have some secrets, so I can't speak." Feng Sheng said: "But it's okay." The old man said: "The old man has nineteen daughters, twelve of whom are married. It's up to Zhuo Jing to decide, the old man never participates." Feng Sheng said: "I have no interest in such trifles. I only want the girl in red this morning." Old man Xin remained silent and ignored him, but the underlying meaning was obvious: Want to marry my daughter, no way.

Suddenly he heard a soft voice coming from the room, Feng Sheng couldn't bear it any longer, he took advantage of his drinking and shouted: "Since we can't make a husband and wife, it's always okay to see Lingmei's beauty." While talking, While opening the bead curtain, broke into the boudoir.Sure enough, I saw a girl in red, slim and graceful.

Feng Shengmao entered without invitation, all the female family members in the house were quite surprised.Old man Xin was even more furious, and ordered his servants to throw him out in a hurry, flying straight into the grass, flying bricks and stones, and smashing him indiscriminately.Feng Sheng was drunk, but he didn't feel any pain.He heard the donkey grazing and chewing loudly, so he got up from the grass, turned on the donkey, and walked staggeringly.The night was gloomy, Feng Sheng strayed into a deep valley, surrounded by howling wolves and owls, piercingly piercing, his hairs stood on end, he looked around in a daze, and he didn't know where he was.

Looking at the lights in the woods, Feng Sheng thought: there must be a village here.So I went to stay and saw a high-walled courtyard. I knocked on the door with a horsewhip. Someone in the house asked, "Who is outside? Come here in the middle of the night?" "Wait a moment, please, I will report to the master." Feng Sheng stopped and waited, and after a while, a servant came out to lead the donkey for him.

When Feng Sheng entered the house, he saw that the hall was gorgeous and brightly lit.After a while, a woman came out and asked the guest's surname, and Feng Sheng told the truth.After a while, several maidservants in green clothes helped an old lady out, and said: "Your Majesty has arrived." Feng Sheng got up and stood up, Yu knelt down and saluted, the old lady waved her hand to stop him, and invited him to take a seat.Asked: "Is the son the grandson of Feng Yunzi?" Feng Sheng said: "Exactly." The old lady said: "So you are the son of my nephew. You are old and have trouble walking, so there are very few contacts between your relatives."

Feng Sheng said: "I have lost my parents since I was young, and most of my grandfather's old friends are unknown to me. I don't know what to call the old lady?" There is no clue about the master's origin.The Junjun said: "Why are you here late at night, my son?" Feng Sheng was always bold and conceited. He was about to describe his experience in the temple in detail. The Junjun said with a smile: "It's a good thing for a man to marry a woman. Humiliated the woman, why is the wild vixen so arrogant? Don't worry, I will decide this matter." Feng Sheng was overjoyed and thanked again and again.

The county monarch looked around and said, "I don't know the daughters of the Xin family are so beautiful." The maid in Tsing Yi said: "Old man Xin has nineteen daughters in total, all of them are as beautiful as flowers. I don't know which one the young master wants to marry?" Feng Sheng said: " The one in the red dress is about 15 years old." The servant girl said, "This is the fourteenth mother. In March, I came with my mother to pay respects to the county lord's birthday. Why did I forget?"

The Junjun smiled and said: "I remembered, could it be the one with a veil on his face, lotus flowers embroidered on his shoes, and spices inside?" The maid said: "That's her." The Junjun said: "This little girl will know Dress up, it's natural to be charming. But the figure is indeed slim, and the son has good eyesight." Then he ordered the servant girl: "Go and invite the fourteenth lady to come." The servant girl took the order and left.After a while, he returned and said, "Miss Fourteen is here."

Feng Sheng raised his eyes and stared, only to see a woman in red, bowing down to the old lady, the Junjun stretched out his hand to help her up, and said: "My daughter-in-law, you are welcome." The woman's face turned red when she heard the words, and she stood gracefully , dare not make a sound.The Jun Jun stroked her hair and asked, "What is Fourteenth Niang doing at home?" The woman lowered her head and replied, "I have nothing to do, just embroidery." She looked up and saw Feng Sheng, shy and uneasy.

The Junjun said: "This is my nephew. He married the lady with good intentions. Why did you drive him out and make him lose his way?" The woman bowed her head and was speechless.The Junjun said: "I invite the girl here not for anything else, but to be a matchmaker for my nephew." The woman remained silent.The county monarch acted resolutely, and immediately ordered his men to clean the bed and bridal chamber for the two of them.The woman shyly said: "I can't be the master of this matter, I have to tell my parents." The county lord said: "I will make a mistake for you?"

The woman said: "The command of the Junjun, the parents must not dare to refuse. But such a hasty marriage, even if the maidservant dies, she will never agree." My daughter-in-law." Picked off a golden flower from his head, handed it to Feng Sheng, and said: "Take the token, go home and choose an auspicious day, and I will send the bride to get married." Pointing to a maid, said: "Send Nephew go back." The rooster sang outside the window, the servant brought the donkey, Feng Sheng reluctantly said goodbye, and went out for a walk, a few steps away, when he looked back, the village was gone.But there are only a few solitary graves among the dense pine forest and chaotic grass.Feng Sheng thought for a long time, and finally realized: Isn't this place the tomb of Xue Shangshu?

Xue Shangshu was the younger brother of Feng Sheng's grandmother when he died for a long time, so the county lord kept claiming that he was his nephew.So guess from this, the Junjun is also a ghost?What about Fourteenth Niang, where did she come from?

Feng Sheng returned with a sigh, and chose a date at random, just waiting for the marriage.Sometimes I can't help but think: "Can the ghost's words be accurate?" When I went to the temple again, I saw that the temple was desolate. I asked the nearby people about the traces of Fourteen Niang, and everyone said: "I haven't seen it. But there are often fox demons in the temple. " Feng Sheng thought to himself: "If you can take a beautiful woman as your wife, even if the Fourteenth Mother is a demon, what's the problem?"