Ghost Story of Liaozhai

There are business brothers in Juxian County. The elder brother is rich and the younger brother is poor. Their houses are next to each other, separated by a wall.During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, there was a severe drought in the world, and the younger brother's family was struggling and had nothing to eat.The wife said: "Go to the elder brother for help, try your luck." The younger brother said: "It's useless, if the elder brother is willing to help me, he would have done it long ago. How could it be the turn now?"

The wife said: "It doesn't matter if you try it." The younger brother had no choice but to go to his brother's house to borrow food. The sister-in-law said: "Brothers are separated, and they should support themselves. You want to borrow food. I'm sorry, but I can't help you." to home.

There are three or four rascals in the village, coveting his brother's wealth, they climbed over the wall at night and went to rob.The elder brother's family all woke up, knocking on pots and bowls, calling for help.The people in the neighborhood couldn't understand the behavior of the two, and no one was willing to help.The elder brother had no choice but to call for his younger brother's name and ask him to help him.

The younger brother was about to save someone, but his wife refused, and said loudly through the wall: "Sister-in-law, brothers are separated, and they should support themselves. You want to ask us for help, I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do to help you." In a short while, all the hooligans smashed the doors and windows, grabbed the elder brother's family, and suffered a lot. Torture, whip and iron, all kinds of torture continued.

The older brother and his wife wailed loudly, but the younger brother couldn't bear it, and immediately went to the rescue with his son.The younger brother and his son are proficient in martial arts, they fought for three or two rounds, all the scoundrels were defeated and fled in haste.The younger brother went up to check on the elder brother's injury, and saw burnt skin on the thighs of the husband and wife, with a scorching smell, so he summoned the servants and ordered them to take care of the injured, and then left.

Although the elder brother was injured, the family property was not lost. He said to his wife, "Thanks to my younger brother's generous help this time, the family property has not been damaged at all. I am going to donate part of the property to my younger brother. What do you think?" The wife shook her head and refused. , said: "If my brother is really righteous, why did you have to wait until you and I were injured before coming to rescue? It can be seen that he has no good intentions, and he is not allowed to give him a penny."

Not long after, the drought worsened, and my younger brother's family had no rice to cook, so I went to my elder brother's house to ask for help. I only borrowed a bucket of coarse rice, which was not helpful.The younger brother was frowning, and said to his wife: "For the current plan, it is better to sell the house to my brother, and exchange some money for two days." The wife nodded in agreement, and immediately sent her son to the elder brother's mansion to present the land deed.

The elder brother accepted the land deed and said to his wife, "Even if my younger brother is not benevolent, he is still my brother and sister. Besides, he is very skilled in martial arts. With him around, the family will be safe. Once my younger brother moves away, what should I do if the scoundrels come again? The title deed will be returned, and some silver taels will be given to him."

The wife said: "Otherwise, my brother kept saying that he was going to leave. He just wanted to blackmail us. If he gave him silver taels for nothing, wouldn't he fall into a trap? Since he wants to sell the house, we will do what he wants and just buy it. As for everyone Scoundrels are easier to deal with, as long as the city walls are raised, they will be safe."

The two made up their plan and immediately bought the house from their younger brother, paying more than a dozen taels of silver.The younger brother lost his house and had no choice but to move to a neighboring village.When the scoundrels heard that his younger brother had left, they immediately went to his elder brother's house to rob, took away the gold and silver in the house, beat the couple violently, and opened a warehouse to release grain to help the people.

The elder brother suffered multiple injuries and died the next day.One son, only five years old, was left behind. The family property was scattered and life was difficult. He often went to his brother's house to eat.Seeing this, the wife was not happy, and there was quite a bit of resentment in her words.The younger brother excused her and said, "Although the elder brother is unjust, but the child is innocent, so what is the crime?" He went to the street to buy steamed cakes to treat his nephew.

As for the elder sister-in-law, due to the poverty of the family, she had to sell the house for dozens of taels of silver, barely making ends meet.Years passed in a blink of an eye, and my nephew was 15 years old. He was weak and unable to do heavy work.The younger brother asked him to go to the street to sell sesame seed cakes with his son.

That night, my younger brother saw his elder brother coming in his dream, and said, "My younger brother, regardless of the past, took care of the dog for me. I am very grateful. There is a cellar under the grass in my house, and there are some pieces of silver in it. You try to redeem the house. The gold hidden in the cellar is enough to subsidize the family."

The younger brother redeemed the house according to his elder brother's instructions, opened the cellar, and found 500 taels of gold.From then on, he abandoned his old business and opened a restaurant in the downtown area. The business is booming, and the days go by.

A few years later, the elder sister-in-law passed away due to illness, and the younger brother was getting older, so she separated from her nephew and gave him half of the property.