Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Scholar Wang Wen, a native of Dongchang County, was honest since he was a child.In the evening of this day, the scholar went to Hubei, passed by Liuhe, and stayed in an inn.Going out to relax, I ran into Zhao Donglou, a fellow countryman. Zhao is a big businessman who does business outside and does not return all year round.The two were very happy to meet each other. Zhao invited Xiucai to go to his residence for a talk. When he came to the door, he saw a beautiful woman sitting inside the house. The window called out: "Nizi, I have something to discuss with my friend, please avoid it first."

The two entered the house, and Zhao fixed up the banquet and greeted each other.The scholar asked: "What is this place?" Zhao said: "This is a brothel. I am on the go, so I will temporarily settle here." During the conversation, Nimi came in and out frequently. .

In a short time, I saw a young girl passing by the door, seeing the scholar, with frequent glances and affectionate eyes.The young girl has an elegant temperament and is as beautiful as a fairy.A scholar has always been an upright person, but at this moment, he asked: "Who is the beauty?" Zhao said: "She is the second daughter of the old bustard, nicknamed Yatou, and she is fourteen years old. There are as many admirers as cow hair, and many people pay for it. Yatou refused to ask her to sleep with her. Because of this, she was often whipped by her mother, and now she is still in her boudoir."

When the scholar heard the words, he bowed his head in silence and was in a daze. Zhao smiled and said, "Brother Wang, is he tempted? If so, I will match you up for you." The scholar sighed and said, "I dare not have such an idea." Even so, But he refused to leave.Zhao smiled and said, "I'm really not tempted?" The scholar said, "Brother Zhao is kind, and I appreciate it. But I'm shy, so even if I have ideas, what can I do?"

Zhao was joking casually, thinking: "Crow head has a strong temper, how can he like poor scholars?" But he said: "Money is not a problem, I will figure out a way, is ten taels enough?"

The scholar thought: "How is ten taels enough? But it's better than nothing." So he accepted the taels of silver, thanked him, gave everything, and collected another five taels of silver, and asked Zhao to intercede.The old bustard really disliked the lack of money, and the crow head persuaded her: "Mother always blames me for not accepting customers, and now you can do what you want. It is the first time for the child to sell himself, although 15 taels of silver is not much, but it is always a transaction, and it will be settled, that's it. That's it. If there is a first time, there will be a second time, and the future will last forever, and there will be more opportunities to make money."

The old bustard has always been unhappy because of her daughter's stubborn temperament, it is rare that she is willing to take the initiative to receive guests, so she is naturally happy to agree.He nodded immediately and ordered the servant girl to invite the scholar.

It was night, and Xiucai and Yatou shared the same bed, enjoying endless love.Afterwards, Yatou said: "The concubine is in the firework, the young master does not despise my low status, and I am very grateful for being lingering with Yatou. But the young master lost all his family wealth, and he only got one night of fun. What will we do tomorrow?"

When the scholar heard the words, he burst into tears.Yatou said: "My lord, don't cry. The concubine has fallen into prostitution, which is not what I want. You are a loyal man, and this concubine wants to stay with you forever. For the long-term plan, let's run away overnight." The scholar was overjoyed, and the two got up and got out of bed, I heard the drum beating three times in a row outside the house, the crow's head changed into men's clothes, a man and a woman took advantage of the night cover, called the servants, and fled in a hurry.

The scholar carried two donkeys with him, Yatou took out a few yellow talismans from his bosom, and stuck them on the donkey's ears and the servant's thigh, and the three of them galloped with whips on their hands, and the donkey ran like flying, unspeakably fast.

The wind whistled in my ears, and the scholar couldn't keep his eyes open. At dawn, a group of people came to the Han River port and rented a house to live in.Xiucai asked why the girl was proficient in spells, Crow Head said: "It's okay to tell you the truth, but don't be afraid. At that time, I was not a human being, but a fox demon. My mother has a greedy personality and forced me to pick up guests every day. I have always hated her Dissatisfied. Now out of the sea of ​​suffering, a hundred miles away, my mother is no longer able to trace her traces, and she has been safe since then."

The scholar didn't doubt even more, and said: "I can't help but be happy to marry a girl. But I can't help being ashamed. How can I make a living?" Yatou said: "This is nothing to worry about. You can go to the market It’s not a problem to set up a small business to support the family. If you don’t have funds, you can just sell two donkeys.”

Xiucai complied with the suggestion, and really opened a small shop in front of the door, doing business with the servants, selling wine and tea; Yatou embroidered at home, embroidered shawls and purses for sale, and made a profit every day.The family situation gradually improved, and Xiucai invited several servant girls to serve his wife, and a few servants to run the shop.

This day, Crow's head suddenly looked pale, and said: "Tonight will be a catastrophe, what can we do?" The scholar asked: "What's going on?" Come to persecute. If you send your sister to come, you don’t have to worry; I’m afraid she will go out in person.” In the middle of the night, Yatou rejoiced: “Don’t worry, it’s my sister who came.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Nizi push the door and enter.Yatou greeted her with a smiling face, and Nizi scolded: "Little girl is shameless, how dare you elope. Mother told me to arrest you and bring you to justice." While speaking, she reached into her bosom, took out a rope, wrapped it around Yatou's neck, and Yatou Angrily said: "What is my crime?" Nizi became more and more annoyed, and pushed her sister to the ground, with a sneer, the crow's head skirt was torn.

When the maids and servants in the room heard the news, they came out one after another to fight against the injustice. Nizi was afraid and fled away in a panic.Yatou sighed and said: "My sister will come back this time, and my mother will definitely come in person. The catastrophe is imminent, so find a way." He ordered his servants to pack their luggage and was about to move overnight, when his mother suddenly came out of nowhere, with an angry face on her face, and said: "I I knew that the little girl would definitely resist, so I had to do it myself."

Crow's head begged on his knees, but his mother ignored her, grabbed her by the hair, and walked away.The scholar wanders and is sad, and eats and sleeps.He hurried to Liuhe to find the whereabouts of the crow's head, hoping to redeem her with a lot of money.When I came to Liuhe, I saw that the gate remained the same, and the personnel affairs were different. The three members of Yatou's family had long since disappeared. When they asked the neighbors, they all replied, "I don't know when they moved out."

The scholar returned disappointed, so he dismissed his servants, packed his bags, and returned east to his hometown.

A few years later, Xiucai happened to pass by Yandu, passing by the Yuyingtang, and saw a little boy, seven or eight years old.The servant noticed that the child looked exactly like the young master, and looked at him repeatedly.The scholar asked, "What are you looking at?" The servant smiled and said, "This little boy looks just like the master." The scholar smiled slightly, staring at the child carefully, with an extraordinary demeanor, thinking: "The little guy is really similar to himself, and he has no son anyway." , it is better to redeem him and adopt him as a adopted son."

So he asked the child's name, and replied, "Wang Zi." The scholar wondered, "You were discarded when you were young, how do you know your surname?" The child said, "The master of the Yuyingtang told me. There are words, and it says: Son of Shandong Wang Wen." The scholar was horrified, and shouted: "I am Wang Wen, but I don't have a son. It must be someone with the same name and surname."

I love the child's intelligence in my heart, and I immediately took it home. When the neighbors see the child, they don't need to ask, they know that he is the son of a scholar.After a few years, Wang Zi gradually grew up, and he was a man of strength and strength, who loved hunting, loved to fight and killed, and did not care about production.The scholar reprimanded him many times, but he couldn't stop it.

Wang Zi claimed to be able to see ghost foxes, but his neighbors didn't believe him.Soon after, a certain house in the village was infested with a fox demon. Wang Zi was asked to identify it. Wang Zi reached out and pointed out the hiding place of the fox demon. Floating down, sprinkled all over the ground.Since then, the fox demon has disappeared and the family is safe.When the villagers heard about this, they were secretly amazed.

This day, Xiucai went to the market to play, and suddenly ran into Zhao Donglou. He was disheveled and haggard.Surprised, he asked: "Brother Zhao, how did you become like this?" Zhao sighed and said, "It's hard to explain, find a quiet place, and talk slowly."

When the two returned to the palace, Xiucai put on a feast to surprise Zhao. Zhao drank a few glasses of wine and began to tell his story: "After the old bustard captured Yatou, he tortured him sooner or later. Soon his family moved north, and the old bustard ordered Yatou to pick up the guests. Yatou swore to die. The madam imprisoned her. Afterwards, Yatou gave birth to a son, who was abandoned in a back alley. He heard that he was taken in by the nursery, and now he thinks he has grown up. This is the flesh and blood of brother Wang."

The scholar burst into tears when he heard the words, and said: "I am sorry to see you, the evil son has already recognized me." Briefly narrating the whole story, he asked again: "Why is Brother Zhao so carefree?" Don't be serious. Hey, the matter has come to this, and there is nothing to say."

At the beginning, when the old bustard moved with his family, Zhao followed him all the way. There were a lot of goods around him, which made it difficult to move, so he simply dealt with it at a low price and sold it at a low price.On the way, he spent a lot of money staying in a restaurant for dinner, which was all borne by Zhao, and he suffered a huge loss.Nizi is extravagant, and within a few years, Zhao Mou's family has disappeared.Seeing that he was out of money, the old bustard immediately added coldly to him, and Nizi changed her mind again, hooked up with the rich man and didn't return all night.Zhao's resentment was hard to appease, but he was alone and weak in a foreign land, but there was nothing he could do.

On this day, the old bustard went out, and the crow's head poked its head out of the window and called loudly: "Master Zhao, the little girl has something to tell you: the girls in Goulan were originally ruthless, and they were all greedy for money. Now that you have ruined your family, you are still obsessed with obsession, and you will never leave." , catastrophe is not far away." Hearing this, Zhao was terrified, as if waking up from a dream.Finally made up his mind to return home.

Before leaving, he visited Yatou secretly, and Yatou wrote a letter, asking him to pass it on to the scholar.

Zhao told the story one by one, took out a letter, and wrote in the letter: I am very pleased to learn that Zi'er is reunited with my husband.My concubine is in trouble, Mr. Zhao will tell it for me.What can I say about the evil debts of the previous life?The concubine is in a secluded room, where the sky is dark.Being whipped every day, the skin is broken, and the hunger is unbearable, the days are like years.If my husband does not forget the old friendship, he can discuss strategies with his son to save me from disaster.Although the mother and elder sister are cruel, they are close relatives of flesh and blood after all. Please tell Zi'er not to hurt his life.

The scholar read the letter with tears in his eyes. He immediately showed his money and ordered his son to save people.Wang Zi had just turned eighteen this year. Hearing that his mother was suffering, his eyes were tearing open, so he left quickly without saying a word.When I came to the old bustard's residence, I saw cars and horses gathered in front of the building, and the business was booming.When Wang Zi broke into the building, Nizi was having a banquet with the guests. When she first saw Wang Zi, she immediately changed color. Wang Zi rushed to catch up and killed him with a single blow.

The guest was shocked and shouted: "The bandits have killed people." Before she finished speaking, Nizi curled up and turned into a fox, and she was beaten back to her original shape.Wang Zi broke into the backyard with a knife, and saw that the old bustard was ordering the maidservant to make soup, and when Wang Zi came, he suddenly disappeared.Wang Zi looked around, laughed, bent down to take down the bow and arrow, opened the bow and pulled the string, and shot the arrow towards the beam of the house, hitting the heart of the old bustard, only to hear a scream, and a dead fox body fell from the air.

Wang Zi cut off the fox's head with a knife, found the place where his mother was imprisoned, smashed the doors and windows with a huge stone, and rescued the crow's head.When the mother and son met, they wept bitterly. Yatou asked, "Where's your grandma?" Wang Zi said, "Kill it for me."

Wang Zi pretended to agree, secretly peeled off the fox's fur and hid it secretly.After the old bustard died, he left a lot of gold and silver. Wang Zi honestly accepted them all with a smile, and returned to his hometown with his mother.The husband and wife reunited, full of sorrow and joy.When the scholar asked about the whereabouts of the old bustard, Wang Zi said, "It's in my bag." While speaking, he opened the package and took out two pieces of fox leather.

Crow's head was furious, and scolded: "You disobedient son, why are you so presumptuous?" Weeping loudly, he was so sad that he wanted to die.The scholar tried his best to comfort him, and reprimanded his son: "Why are you standing still, bury the fox fur soon." Angry and crying endlessly.Wang Zi had no choice but to dig a hole indiscriminately, and hastily buried the fox fur, and the crow head was relieved.

Since the return of the crow's head, the scholar's family has become even richer.I was grateful to Zhao for reporting the news, and sent him a lot of gold and silver.Only now did Zhao know that the old bustard's family were all fox demons.

Wang Zi took care of his parents and was extremely filial, but his temper was short-tempered, and sometimes he yelled and cursed at the slightest disagreement.Yatou said to the gentleman: "My son has a 'stubborn tendon' on his body. If you don't pick it off, you will eventually kill people and cause trouble, and ruin your family."

That night, Wang Zi went to bed to rest, snoring like thunder, and the husband and wife worked together to tie Wang Zi's hands and feet with ropes. Wang Zi woke up in shock and shouted: "My son is innocent, why tie me up?" "Don't be afraid, I'm treating your illness." Wang Zi didn't listen and yelled loudly, but his hands and feet were restrained and he couldn't break free.

Yatou took out a long needle, pierced his son's ankle, penetrated into the flesh three to four quarters, cut off the tendon of Wang Zi's leg with a knife, and pulled out the "bending tendon" on his leg. Pull out the tendons one by one.After finishing everything, he untied the rope and said to his son, "It's all right, have a good sleep."

At dawn the next day, Wang Zi ran to his parents' bedroom and knelt down to repent: "My son thinks of what he did in the past and feels very guilty. Please forgive me."

Since then, Wang Zi has a gentle temperament, like a virgin, and has been praised by his neighbors.