Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Yi Shi said: "The tricks of ghosts and ghosts in the world can be found everywhere."The north-south traffic arteries, the damage is particularly severe.For example, those who make strong bows and anger horses, and those who resist people outside the country's gates are known to all.It's also like cutting people's luggage, stabbing people's burdens, and grabbing goods in the busy market. These methods have reached the peak of heresy.Another example is meeting by chance, the other party is sweet and glib, and once you get close to him, if there is any problem, the money will be stolen.Liars lay traps at random, with a variety of tricks. Because of their brilliant words and silent moistening, the folks collectively call them "Nianyang".

"Nianyang" in the north is often haunted, and there are many victims.

Prince Xun, a scholar in the county, and a clan official went to visit Taishi.On the way, I saw a man riding a black donkey, walking with him, and talking with each other. The man claimed: "My surname is Zhang, a servant of Qixia County, and I was ordered to go to Kyoto." He spoke humbly and behaved courteously.The two traveled together for dozens of miles and made an appointment to stay together.Wang Zixun was in the front, and Zhang Yamen chased him on a donkey; behind, he waited by the roadside.The servant suspected that Zhang had malicious intentions and drove him away sharply.Zhang felt ashamed and left with a whip.

At dusk, Wang Zixun was resting in a hotel and went out to relax. He saw Zhang Xun drinking in the lobby, and was startled and suspicious. Zhang Xun had also seen him and stood with his hands down. When I got here, I didn't have any doubts.The servants were much more cautious and kept on guard all night, fearing that Zhang had bad intentions.

At dawn the next day, Zhang mentioned again that he wanted to go with Wang Zixun.The servant angrily refused, but Zhang had no choice but to resign in embarrassment.The red sun rose high, and Wang Zixun just started on the road.After walking for half a day, a person in front of him was riding a white donkey. He was about forty years old, with neat clothes and hat, his head was pressed against the donkey's neck, lethargic, and his body was swinging and tottering.The donkey was either in front or behind. Wang Zixun was very surprised and asked, "Brother, what did you do last night? Why are you so sleepy?"

The man woke up suddenly when he heard the words, stretched out his hand and yawned, and said: "My surname is Xu, from Qingyuan. Linzi County Magistrate Gao Xi is my cousin, and my brother teaches in Gaofu. I will go to visit. My brother has a generous gift. Who Knowing that I went to the store last night and slept with the seedling-seekers, I was terrified, and I didn't dare to close my eyes all night, so that my spirit was depressed during the day."

Wang Zixun asked: "What is Nianyang?" Xu said: "My son has only been away for a short time, so I don't know the dangers involved. Now there is a kind of gangster who tempts business travelers with sweet words, and tries every means to eat and live with them, and take the opportunity to cheat Money. I had a distant relative yesterday, so I was deceived by it, and my property and goods were lost, and the loss was not small. We should take this as a warning."

Wang Zixun nodded in agreement, thinking: "The county magistrate of Linzi is very familiar with me, I have worked for him as a staff member, and as a guest in the mansion, I have known each other one by one, there is indeed a person named Xu among them, it seems that there is nothing suspicious about the person in front of him. "So they greeted each other, and asked about Xu's brother's recent situation by the way.Xu suggested that the two invest in the store together, and Wang Zixun agreed.The servant suspected that Xu was coming in a wrong way, so he discussed with the master that it is better to walk slowly and not get too close to Xu.The master and the servant stayed behind deliberately, distanced themselves from Xu, and finally got rid of him.

At noon the next day, I met another young man on the way, about sixteen or seventeen years old, riding a mule, neatly dressed and handsome.Walking along the way, the young man didn't say a word, and then the sun went down, and the young man suddenly spoke: "Not far ahead is Qu Lu's old shop." Wang Zixun replied casually.The young man sighed, as if he was very sad.Wang Zixun asked, "Brother, why are you unhappy?"

The young man sighed and said: "I am from Jiangnan. My surname is Jin. I studied hard for three years and only wanted to be named on the gold list. I didn't want my name to be lost to Sun Shan. My brother was an official in the court, but he was frustrated in the examination room, so he dragged his family and went to the capital to join his elder brother in an attempt to dissuade him. Depressed. I am not used to trekking through mountains and rivers in my life, and the dust and sand hit my face, which is annoying." Speaking of this, he took out a red silk scarf, wiped his face carefully, and looked disappointed.

Listening to his words, Wang Zixun did speak with a southern accent, delicate and charming, like a woman.Feel good, and speak comfort.The young man said: "Just now I got excited about running, but my family didn't have time to keep up, and the servant didn't know where he died. It's getting late, what should I do now?" Slow down, and wait.

Wang Zixun cupped his hands and said, "Let's take a step ahead." He galloped on the horse, leaving the young man far behind.In the evening, I went into the store to stay overnight and entered the guest room. I saw two beds in the room, and one bed was full of luggage.Wang Zixun was displeased, and said to the owner of the store: "The shopkeeper, didn't you agree with the single room, why are there other people?"

Before he finished speaking, a person walked into the room, leaned over to pick up his luggage, turned around and left the room, and said: "Brother, don't get angry, this room is for you, and I will find another one." Wang Zixun listened to him. The voice of the voice was somewhat familiar. When I looked up, this person turned out to be Xu Mou. I really don't meet in life.Smiling slightly, he said, "Brother Xu, we meet again. What are you doing? Don't leave, we will sleep together tonight."

The two sat down to reminisce about the past, and after a few words, another person walked into the house with luggage in his hand. Seeing that both Wang and Xu were there, he turned back and said, "So there are guests in the house. Sorry, let's go." It's in the wrong place." Wang looked intently, but this person was the young man surnamed Jin.Before Wang Zixun could open his mouth, Xu had rushed to his feet, asked the young man to stay, and said: "Brother, it's late now, the guest rooms are full, it's hard to find a vacant room, if you don't mind, you can stay with us for a while." At night, the three of us huddled together to make it warmer."

The young man thanked him and sat down. Xu asked him about his family background, and the young man told him one by one.In a short time, the young man took out a lot of broken silver from the package, weighed it on a scale for about one or two, handed it to the shopkeeper, and said: "Get some side dishes, boil a few pots of wine, the three of us will have a long talk tonight."

The two hurriedly stopped them and said, "How dare you ask my brother to spend money?" The young man smiled and said, "My brother, why be polite?" Wang Zixun asked about the exam questions, the young man explained it in detail, and then recited his own article, mentioning the proud lines in the article, he couldn't help but feel high-spirited.

When Wang and Xu heard this, they both felt sorry for him. The young man said: "Your Majesty has been separated from his family and has no servants around him. I don't know how to feed animals. My mule hasn't eaten since morning. It's terrible." What should I do?" Wang Zixun said: "Don't worry, little brother, my servant knows how to feed horses, and I will give instructions later to ask him to take care of the mount for you." The young man expressed his gratitude.

After a while, the boy said again: "My luck has always been bad, and I have never had any good things when I go out. I stayed in a hotel last night and lived with the wicked. These birdmen played dice all night and made a lot of noise, making it difficult to sleep." People in the north speak differently and call "dice" "dou". Xu didn't understand it for a while, and asked, "What did you just say, throwing a bag, what is a bag?"

The young man gestured with his hands and described the appearance of the dice. Xu immediately understood, took out a dice from his pocket, and said with a smile, "Is this what you mean?" The young man nodded repeatedly.Xu said: "Okay, let's roll the dice, whoever loses will be fined to drink." The three of them drank freely while rolling the dice.After finishing Er'er's wine, Xu couldn't get enough of it, and said, "If you gamble a few more times, whoever loses will be treated."

Wang Zixun said: "I'm not very good at playing. When I rolled the dice just now, I was full of ugly behavior, so I won't show my ugliness." Xu said: "Please go. Brother, let's play together." The boy said: "Okay, play Just play, who is afraid of who." Xu laughed loudly, taking advantage of the young man's unpreparedness, secretly winked at Wang Zixun, and whispered; "Young master, don't reveal the secret, this stupid boy has a lot of gold and silver with him. He is still young, and most likely he has not mastered gambling skills, I am going to kill him, if he wins money, I will treat you to a drink tomorrow."

While talking, the two walked into the next room, and not long after, they heard the sound of yelling and shouting one after another, non-stop, Wang Zixun sneaked to the vicinity to observe, and saw a total of three people in the room, another gambler was also acquainted, But it was Zhang Ya servant.I wondered in my heart, "Why did these three people come together? Could it be that they belonged to the same group?" I didn't want to think too much, I went back to the bedroom, covered the quilt, and fell asleep soundly.

After a while, everyone asked Wang to gamble, but Wang Zixun resolutely refused, and Xu said: "How about I bet for you and win evenly?" Wang Zixun shook his head and refused.Xu insisted on rolling the dice for him, and after a while, he entered the room and reported: "Brother Wang, I won a few chips for you." Wang Zixun was in a dream, so he didn't care, and replied vaguely: "Got it."

Suddenly several people broke into the door, twittering and speaking in Manchurian dialect. The leader claimed to be surnamed Tong. He was a bannerman and was ordered to arrest the gambler.At that time, gambling was strictly prohibited by the government, and everyone was terrified when they heard the news.Tong threatened Wang Zixun loudly, "Boy, gather a crowd to gamble. You are not timid. Don't say anything, go to see the official with the master." Hearing this, Tong Mou immediately restrained his expression, and said with a smile: "It turns out that brother Wang also eats the emperor's food, disrespectful and disrespectful. What happened just now was purely a misunderstanding. Let's continue, and count me in by the way. Throw the dice, this old man Tong is on the go."

The four gamblers just made up a table, and they gambled heavily. Wang Zixun said to Xu, "I'm not interested in knowing the outcome. I just want to sleep. Don't bother me anymore." Xu didn't listen, and continued to report the battle , Er'er's gambling game ended, everyone counted their chips, and Wang Zixun owed the most debts.Tong, one of the winners, took the initiative to search for Wang's package and asked for the silver. Wang Zixun was furious and said, "I didn't participate in gambling, so why ask me for debt?"

The young man grabbed his arm and said in a low voice: "This group of people is vicious and evil, and everyone has ulterior motives. You and I are different. We make friends through literature, and we should take care of each other. In the game just now, I won several dozen taels of silver for Xu, and Tong Then I won Brother Wang’s tens of taels, and I won’t be much different from him. How about this, Brother Wang owes Tong a gambling debt, let Xu pay it back, and Xu owes me a gambling debt, and Wang brother pays it back. Don’t worry , I won't really take the money, it's just for show. After Tong and Xu are sent away, I will return the money to you intact. We are friends of morals, and I promise in the name of a scholar that I will never frame Brother Wang .”

Wang Zixun is a loyal person, seeing that this plan is feasible, he nodded immediately, convinced.

The young man went out and told Tong about the matter, and Tong said, "Okay, I just want some money to collect. As for who gave it, I don't care at all." So Xu took out the silver and "paid" to Tong, and the boy said In front of everyone, he took out dozens of taels of gambling debts from Wang Zixun's package and put them in his arms.

Tong and Xu bid farewell and left. The young man fetched the quilt and slept with Wang Zixun, master and servant.Splendid soft pillow, fragrant.The three went to bed in silence, the young man secretly teased the servant with his body, the servant dodged sideways, the young man entangled him, the servant felt that his skin was soft and unbearable, so he flirted with him, the young man was courteous, panting and moaning endlessly, the prince Xun one by one To my ears, although it was strange, I didn't think much about it.

The next day when it was dawn, the young man got up and urged the master and servant to leave early, saying: "Young master, that donkey is exhausted. I will take a step first and wait for you. I will pay back the dozens of taels of gambling debt later." Here it is." Wang Zixun hadn't spoken yet, the boy had already packed his luggage and boarded his mount.Wang Zixun had no choice but to obey.The young man's mule was driving fast, gradually getting further and further away, and finally disappeared.

Wang Zixun thought that the young man would keep his promise and wait in the future, so he didn't care at first, and asked the servant: "The bed board kept shaking last night, what the hell are you doing?" I have had a warm relationship with the young man." Wang Zixun changed his expression and said, "No, I was deceived by Nian Yang. After the young man claimed to be an official, how could there be a rich man who would take the initiative to seduce a horse breeder?"

Thinking about it again, the young man is elegant in conversation, talented and ordinary, and has no such cultivation.It seems that the world has changed, and liars also pay attention to keeping pace with the times.After chasing for dozens of miles, but no trace of the young man was found, Wang Zixun suddenly realized that Zhang, Xu, Tong, and the young man were all accomplices.If one round fails, another round is set up, trying every means to lure himself into the bait.For the sake of dozens of taels of silver, he actually followed for hundreds of miles. In order to prevent the servant from exposing the trick, he did not hesitate to seduce him with his body.

A few years later, Wu Sheng also encountered a similar scam.