Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Zha Yihuang is from Zhejiang.At the time of Qingming, I passed by a temple and went in to enjoy it. I saw a huge bell in the main hall, which weighed no less than a thousand catties.The scratches on the giant clock looked like fingerprints.Zha Yihuang felt doubtful: "Who has such supernatural powers, can actually get fingerprints on the iron clock?" Looking down, he saw a bamboo basket inside the clock, with a diameter of several feet and a capacity of eight liters, he didn't know what it was useful for.

Zha Yihuang became curious, and immediately ordered his subordinates to "lift up the giant clock and take a closer look."

Seven or eight servants swarmed up and worked together to lift it up, but the dragonfly shook the stone pillar, and the giant clock remained motionless.Zha Yihuang became more and more astonished, and immediately sat on the ground, drinking while waiting for his master to return.

After a while, a beggar walked into the temple slowly, holding a broken bowl full of rice.The beggar stretched out his left hand, grabbed the ring of the bell, and lifted it lightly, and the giant clock was a few feet off the ground. The beggar smiled slightly, poured the rice in the bowl into the bamboo basket, and without looking at the crowd, put down the giant clock again. Turn around and leave.

Going back and forth like this four times, the rice piled up in the bamboo basket, the beggar rolled up his sleeves, lifted the giant clock with his left hand, reached into the bamboo basket with his right hand, grabbed the rice with his hand, swallowed it in a big mouthful, ate it clean in an instant, and wiped his lips with his hand , burped.Zha Yihuang saw his amazing power and appetite, and asked: "Your Excellency is such a good man, why do you beg?"

The beggar smiled and said: "I eat like an ox, eat too much, no one dares to hire me." Zha Yihuang persuaded: "Your Excellency has all the skills, why don't you join the army?" The beggar sighed: "It's a pity that there is no way." Zha Yihuang said: "Don't worry about this, I'll figure out a way." At that moment, he asked the beggar to go home with him, and put on new clothes and shoes for him, so as to entertain him.

Beggars have excellent food, eating five or six times as much as ordinary people.After staying for a few days, Zha Yihuang took out 50 taels of gold and gave it to the beggar, saying: "I have signed up for you to join the army, we will leave soon, so I will leave."

This time, there was no news, and ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

More than ten years later, when Zha Yihuang's nephew took office in Fujian, he went to the county magistrate. A general named Wu Liuyi came to visit him. What is the relationship between Master Ling and Mr. Zha Yihuang?" The nephew said: "Mr. Zha is my uncle, does the general know him?"

Wu Liuyi said: "That is my mentor. I have been away for more than ten years, and I miss him often. Please send me a message. Please come to the humble house for Mr. Zha to talk about it." The nephew agreed vaguely, thinking: "Uncle is a generation Famous Confucianism, how can a disciple be a martial artist?"

It happened that Zha Yihuang was passing through Fujian on business, and his nephew reported the matter in detail. Hearing this, Zha Yihuang was full of confusion and thought about it, but he still didn't know who Wu Liuyi was.But seeing that he was very enthusiastic, he was very happy, so he immediately prepared his horses and went to visit Wu Mansion.

Wu Liuyi received the stabbing letter and went out to greet him in person.Zha Yihuang stared at him intently, the man in front of him was a complete stranger and had no impression, he thought: "The general must have mistaken him."

Wu Liuyi was extremely courteous, and politely invited Zhai Yihuang to his home. After turning through three or four doors, he suddenly saw women walking back and forth in the inner room. Zhai Yihuang knew that they were members of the general's family, and it was inconvenient for men and women to meet each other, so he stopped not before.Wu Liuyi bowed repeatedly and said, "Mister is not an outsider, please come in, please come in."

When I came to the hall, as far as I could see, there were many maidservants, those who rolled the curtains, those who moved the chairs, those who poured tea, and those who poured wine, all of them were young girls.Zha Yihuang was dazzled, so he collected himself and sat down in the chair in a gentle manner.Just as he was about to ask about Wu Liuyi's background, General Wu coughed lightly and patted his hands several times. A maid held an official uniform and placed it on the table respectfully.

Wu Liuyi put on his official uniform, and all the maidservants fastened the buttons and belt for him, and waited on him attentively.Wu Liuyi looked at Zha Yihuang and said, "Offended." As soon as he finished speaking, the two maidservants jumped forward and each held Zha Yihuang's arm, making him unable to move.

Wu Liuyi, facing Zha with a solemn face, bowed his knees and knelt down to salute, just like a courtier kowtowing to an emperor, behaving respectfully.Zhai Yihuang was stunned, not knowing why.After kneeling down, Wu Liuyi changed into casual clothes again, and said with a smile, "Sir, don't you remember the beggars in the temple?"

Then the banquet was full, and the drums played in unison in the hall.After dinner, Wu Liuyi arranged a place for Zha Yihuang, and ordered several concubines to "serve Mr. well." He bowed his hands and said goodbye, and left.

The next day, Zha Yihuang couldn't sleep because of drunkenness, Wu Liuyi greeted him three times outside the door one after another, Zha Yihuang knew about this, felt uneasy, and was about to leave and return home.Wu Liuyi smiled and refused, took the key and locked the door to prevent Cha from leaving.

Zha Yihuang had no choice but to live idly in Wu's mansion. Every day, he saw Wu Liuyi counting his family property, slaves, maidservants, mules and horses, clothes, utensils, houses and fields, and registering them one by one.I thought: "This is the general's housework, so don't ask too much."

One day, Wu Liu took the account book in one hand and said to Zhai Yihuang, "I can't have today's achievements, it all depends on my husband's support. The property in the family, one maidservant and one property, I don't dare to own it, I would like to share it equally with my husband." Said: "No, this is absolutely impossible." He refused to accept it.

Wu Liuyi refused to listen, and took out ten thousand taels of gold, divided one into two, and forced to donate half to Zha.The antiques and jade articles in the house, silk and satin, maidservants and servants are all shared equally with Zha.All the servants tidied up and saluted, and loaded the belongings into the carriage, invited Zha Yihuang to get on the carriage, and the group jumped on their horses and swung their whips, happily returning to Zhejiang.

Later, Zha Yihuang was implicated in the Ming Dynasty case and imprisoned. Wu Liuyi contributed money and efforts to clear the way for the government, and was finally released without charge.