Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Xu Jichang, a native of Mofangzhuang, Linzi County, worked as a small official in the county government before his fame.On this day, I went to a relative's house as a guest. When I came back, I passed by the cemetery. I saw an old man sitting in front of the door. Xu Jichang drank too much wine during the day and asked the old man for tea.

The old man brought him into the hall, served him tea, and said, "It's dark, so why not stay here for one night, my lord, and come back tomorrow morning, how about it?" Xu Jichang nodded in agreement, and the old man ordered his family to prepare a banquet to entertain the guests.During the dinner, the old man said: "When the old man and the young master are speculating, there is a sentence that I don't know if I should say it or not?"

Xu Jichang said: "Please tell me." The old man said: "Young master's character is noble and admirable. I have a young girl under my knees, who is not yet married. I want to marry my son as a good friend of Qin and Jin. I don't know what you want?" Xu Jichang heard the words, Surprised and delighted, for a while, I didn't know how to word it.

The old man smiled slightly and ordered his servants: "Go and tell the lady to dress up and come out to meet the guests." After a while, a girl came out with light makeup and a gorgeous appearance.When Xu Jichang saw the girl for the first time, he was fascinated and wished to go to bed with her immediately. He drank a few glasses of wine and said, "I'm too drunk to drink any more."

The old man understood and said with a smile: "Come here, take Mr. Xu and Miss back to their rooms to rest."

The two maids agreed with a smile, pushed and pushed the couple into the bridal chamber. After the **, Xu Jichang asked the girl's name, and the girl said: "My surname is Xiao, and I rank seventh." Xu Jichang nodded, and asked about the girl's family background in detail, Xiao Qi said: "Although the little girl is humble, she married the son as a concubine. , even if you think about it, you won’t be humiliated, why bother to ask?”

Xu Jichang is addicted to beauty, blindly seeking pleasure, and no longer wordy after hearing the words.Xiao Qi said: "This place is not a home. I have heard that the son's wife is a virtuous person, so maybe she won't be jealous. Please clean the bed for me when you go back, and make a spare room. I will come later." Xu Jichang agreed , holding the girl in his arms, loving her wantonly.

The next morning, when Xu Jichang woke up, the girl in his arms had disappeared. Surrounded by pines, straw mats under his buttocks, he was sleeping in the wild, full of suspicion, horrified, and hurried back home.After returning, he told Xiao Qi's words to his wife and asked her to prepare a vacant room.His wife obeyed him, and immediately cleaned the bedroom, made the bed and folded the quilt, busy with everything, closed the door, and asked with a smile: "Miss Xiao will really come?" Her words were full of disbelief.

At dusk, the wife went to Xu's residence and said with a smile, "Come on, let's go to the bedroom and have a look, the bride should be here too." The two entered the bedroom and saw a beautiful woman on the bed with a fairy-like face, it was Xiao Qi.Both husband and wife were astonished, Xiao Qi covered his mouth and smiled, and went forward to salute.

From then on, Xiao Qi lived in Xu's family, took care of labor, and was diligent.This day, Xiao Qi said to Xu Jichang: "Sisters told me that if you want to visit at home, please make preparations." I'm worried, they will bring their own food and drink, but they just need to trouble the elder sister to cook."

In the early morning of the next day, someone brought vegetables and meat, snacks, water and wine, and picked a load full of them. The wife started the kitchen and lit the fire, and soon a table of banquets was cooked.At noon, six or seven girls came to visit, the elders were in their forties, and a group of girls sat around, chattering, and the room was full of laughter.

The wife peeped through the window, and only saw Xu and Xiao Qi in her eyes. As for the other guests, she didn't see any of them. It seems that all the women are not human beings, and they possess secret skills that can make them invisible.Sitting until the moon was in the middle of the sky, all the girls got up to say goodbye, and Xiao Qi went out to see them off.The wife saw that the food and drink on the table was exhausted, the cups and plates were clean, and there was not a single piece of leftover food left, and said with a smile: "These women are really starving ghosts reincarnated."

After a while, Xiao Qi returned from seeing off his guests, thanked his wife for her cooking skills, and took the dishes to the kitchen to wash them.The wife said to Xu: "When guests come to the door, there are no ones who bring their own food and drinks. It is too negligent. Inviting them again another day is an apology."

A few days later, the women visited again, this time they still ate and drank as much as they wanted, but they restrained themselves and left four dishes untouched. Xu Jichang asked the reason, and the women laughed and said: "Madam sister-in-law dislikes that the sisters eat too much. The dishes are specially reserved for her."

During the banquet, there was a young girl, ten or nine years old, dressed in white and plain clothes, who claimed to be Xiao Qiliujie, widowed and widowed.Seeing her charming appearance and lively chatting and laughing, Xu fell in love with her.The host and the guest were drinking together, and Xu was invited to be the referee and set the rules: during the drinking order, laughing is not allowed.Sixth Sister Xiao couldn't stop laughing, fouled frequently, was fined a dozen glasses of wine in a row, her cheeks were flushed, her drunken eyes were hazy, she smiled and said: "I'm so dizzy, you go on, I'm going to sleep." She said goodbye and left.

Xu Jichang was thinking of a beautiful woman, so he found an excuse, left the banquet in a hurry, and looked for Sixth Sister everywhere, only to find that she closed her eyes and was resting on the bed.Xu Jichang secretly kissed her on the lips, but Sixth Sister didn't respond.Xu Jichang's heart was itchy, and boldly, he stretched out his hand to touch the private place of the sixth sister. He was about to take advantage of the danger and indulge in carnival, when he suddenly heard someone calling his name in the hall.Xu Jichang scolded secretly for disappointment, hurriedly straightened his clothes, and saw that the sixth sister had a silk scarf in her sleeve, and she took the sheep and put it in her arms.

In the middle of the night, all the girls left one after another, the sixth sister still fell asleep, Xiao Qi entered the room to urge her, the sixth sister slowly opened her eyes, yawned, tied her skirt, combed her hair, and went out.Missing the beauty, Xu found it difficult to fall asleep, so he put his hand into his bosom, wanting to take out the silk scarf to play with, but when he touched it, the silk scarf disappeared. .

Seeing this, Xiao Qi smiled and said: "You don't need to look for it, the silk scarf has already been taken away by the sixth sister." Xu Jichang was surprised, salivating and said: "Good girl, your sixth sister is so beautiful, is there any way for me to follow her..." Xiao Qi shook his head and said, "You and Sixth Sister are not meant to be together. Sixth Sister was a singer in her previous life, and Young Master was a scholar in his previous life. You two fell in love with each other, but because your parents stopped you, it was difficult to stay together. Later, Young Master fell in love with you. Sick bed, when dying, I hope to touch the skin of Sixth Sister. Sixth Sister has not had time to see you for the last time because of mundane affairs. So I come here to make up for you in this life, and let you fulfill your wish. Now I have touched it, Sixth Sister Miss will never see you again."

Xu Jichang didn't believe it, so he hosted several banquets and invited all the girls, hoping to see Sixth Sister again, but the result was naturally disappointing every time.Xu Jichang secretly suspected that Xiao Qi was jealous and deliberately obstructed it, so he treated her coldly.This day, Xiao Qi said: "My husband always blames me because of Sixth Sister. She doesn't want to see you, so what has it to do with me? You and I have been together for eight years, and our fate is about to end. Since you want to see Sixth Sister wholeheartedly, I I will help you one last time, follow me."

Xu was overjoyed, and the two went on the road together and came to Xiao Qiniang's house.The father-in-law and mother-in-law came out to greet her, and the father-in-law said: "My little girl has been taken care of by the son-in-law for a long time, and I am very grateful. The old man is dying, and his legs and feet are inconvenient, so he seldom interacts with his son-in-law. Would it be strange?" While talking and laughing, a banquet was set up.

During the banquet, Xiao Qi asked about the recent situation of the sisters, and the old man said: "They have gone back to their husbands and sons-in-law's house, only the sixth sister is still there." Immediately ordered the maidservant, "Go and invite the sixth girl to come out to see the guests." He refused to show up for a long time.Xiao Qi became anxious, and went into the house to drag her, and the sixth sister was willing to come out. When she first saw Xu, she nodded slightly, with an indifferent expression.

After a while, the old man and his wife left, Xiao Qi said: "My sister thinks she is noble, and she always refuses to see her husband. He is in a bad mood and often blames me." The sixth sister said coldly: "The thief who stole the silk scarf, Who wants to associate with him." Xiao Qi said with a smile: "Your parents have kissed before, why are you so unfeeling?" He exchanged the wine glasses in front of the two, persuaded them to drink several glasses of wine, and left.

There were only two men and women left in the room. Xu Jichang got up to ask for sex, but the sixth sister refused.The two went to bed hand in hand, and when they were taking off their clothes, they suddenly heard shouts outside the house, and the fire shone brightly. Sixth Sister stomped her feet again and again, but suddenly she disappeared without a trace.

Xu Jichang was disappointed, and looked intently, the buildings and terraces disappeared in an instant, and the place he was in was the cemetery of Yu's family. When he was wondering, he could only hear the sound of footsteps, and a dozen hunters brought eagles to lift him up. The knives swarmed up, and asked in surprise: "In the middle of the night, who is here?" Xu Jichang said casually, "Lost." All the hunters asked: "Just now we were chasing prey and lost a fox. Didn’t you see it?” Xu Jichang said: “I didn’t see it.” The hunters stopped talking and turned to leave.

Xu Jichang was full of annoyance and came back feeling melancholy, and he never saw Xiao Qi again.