Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Cheng Xiaosi, a native of Jiannan, Sichuan, is an intelligent man with a poor family background, his parents died young, and he works under Hu Yintai, so he is loved by adults.Mr. Hu has three sons and four daughters under his knees, and most of them have entered into marriage contracts with the aristocratic family, only the fourth mother is in the boudoir.On this day, Master Hu said to Cheng Xiaosi: "My son is talented and will never be poor for a long time. I will marry my little girl to you as my wife, and I hope you will take good care of her." Now he is preparing for the wedding for the two of them. After they got married, Cheng Xiaosi studied hard, Cold and heat never stop.

At the beginning, when Si Niang Yunying was unmarried, there was a magician who looked at her and said, "Miss will be rich and honored when she comes." The brothers and sisters heard the words, but they didn't think so. Now Si Niang is marrying a poor scholar as his wife. The brothers and sisters looked down on her even more, and often called her "noble person" in front of Si Niang to make fun of her.Siniang is dignified and taciturn, no matter how provocative her brothers and sisters are, she always turns a deaf ear to them.

Si Niang had a maid named Gui Er, who was indignant when she saw this, and said loudly: "You dogs see people as inferior, how do you know that my uncle will not be prosperous and is in a high position?" Er Niang snorted and said with a smile: "If a poor scholar If I can become an official, I will goug my eyes immediately." Guier sneered, "I'm afraid that when the time comes, you won't be able to part with your eyeballs." Erniang's personal maid named Chun Xiang laughed and said, "If Miss breaks her promise, she will just poach my eyeballs." Yes." Guier shouted: "Okay, you said it." The two made a high-fiving oath and made a bet.

Not long after Master Cheng held a birthday banquet, all the sons and daughters came to celebrate their birthdays, gold and silver birthday gifts were piled up everywhere, but Si Niang's family was empty-handed, so the aunt took the opportunity to tease her and asked, "Fourth Sister, what birthday gifts did you bring this time? " Erniang laughed and said: "Simei rests her head on her shoulders, and the ceremony has not yet arrived." Upon hearing this, Siniang smiled slightly, but she was not angry and remained calm.Since then, the sisters thought Si Niang was weak and easy to bully, and despised her even more.

Mr. Hu has a concubine, surnamed Li, who has a unique vision. She often says to her daughter Sanniang: "Siniang is wise on the inside and clumsy on the outside. She is wise but stupid. She is smart but not exposed. She studies hard day and night for Mr. Cheng, and she will never live under others for a long time. Treat them well, so we can meet each other in the future." Sanniang obeyed her mother's instruction, and every time she went back to her mother's house to visit relatives, she deliberately made friends with Siniang.

This year, with the help of Mr. Hu, Cheng Xiaosi entered the county school to study.The next year was just in time for the scientific examination, Master Hu passed away unfortunately, Cheng Xiaosi had to keep a filial piety for his father-in-law, so he was unable to take the examination.After the funeral period, Siniang took out the money from her private house and donated it to the husband-in-law, saying: "I have won the number of 'legacy talents' for you, and you can take the make-up exam. Now that your father has passed away, your brothers and sisters are all arrogant and domineering, so you can't live in the family for a long time. This imperial examination , work hard, and if you feel proud, I will follow suit." Cheng Xiaosi Nuo Nuo promised to go to participate in the scientific examination, and when parting, the mother and daughter of Sanniang also had gold and silver gifts.

This time, Cheng Xiaosi carefully prepared for the imperial examination, so as to ensure that he would hit the first blow, but when the ranking was released, he failed in the ranking.Cheng Xiaosi was disheartened, aggrieved, shameless to see his wife, and immediately went to the capital alone with money in his pocket.The capital is a place of wealth and honor, and the Hu family has many relatives who are officials in the court. Cheng Xiaosi didn't want to meet them, so he changed his name and looked for jobs everywhere.

There is a censor in Beijing, Mr. Li, who met Cheng by chance and admired him very much. He is now hired as an aide.He also donated money for a "Gongsheng" quota for him. With the help of Mr. Li, Cheng Xiaosi successfully entered the Guozijian, and soon after he took part in the Shuntianfu Examination, won consecutive battles, ranked seventh in the second class, and was awarded the title of "Shu Jishi" , Entered the Hanlin Academy as an errand.

Cheng Xiaosi made a name for himself, confessed the truth to Mr. Li, told his real name, and said: "My wife is still in Sichuan, I want to go home." Mr. Li nodded in agreement, and said: "Now you are an official of the imperial court, and you have to go home if you want to go home." The scenery is beautiful." Immediately, he lent Cheng Xiaosi 1000 taels of silver, and told him to buy a house in his hometown first, and then return to his hometown sooner or later.

Since Mr. Hu passed away, the eldest son was forced to sell his father's former villa for money due to the lack of money in his family, and the buyer said it happened to be Cheng Xiaosi.

Not long after, the third son got married, and the fourth mother went to congratulate her. The brothers and sisters saw her well-dressed and radiant, and learned from the elder brother that Cheng Xiaosi had become famous in the imperial examination, and that the fourth mother had become the wife of an official. .Regardless of previous suspicions, Siniang talked and laughed happily over the wine.The whole family was chatting, when suddenly there was a scream from outside the house, and Chun Xiang broke into the hall in embarrassment, her cheeks were stained with blood, and her eyelids looked like finger marks, crying: "Gui'er is going to gouge my eyeballs, Miss, help me. " Er Niang heard the words, thinking of the original bet, she was ashamed.

Not long after, the banquet ended, Si Niang went into the house to meet San Niang's mother and daughter, said a few words to Mrs. Li, and left.After returning home, Mrs. Li sent a lot of gold and silver jewelry, and took out maids and servants, but Si Niang didn't accept anything, and only accepted one maid.

Later, the family fortune of Hu's family declined, and the brothers and sisters didn't know how to be frugal, so they quickly ruined their family property and lived in poverty.The father's coffin has been placed in the hall, and the coffin has decayed and no one cares about it.When Cheng Xiaosi heard the news, he was filled with indignation, and immediately paid for the funeral affairs, buried his father-in-law in peace, and then went to the capital with his wife and did not meet with everyone.

More than ten years later, the Hu family has been in decline, and the family has plummeted. The second son was involved in a lawsuit and was arrested and imprisoned.Seeing that his brother was in prison, the eldest son wrote to his father-in-law for help, but his father-in-law came forward to intercede.

The eldest son had no choice but to go to the capital to ask Cheng Xiaosi and his wife for help.When they came to the mansion, Si Niang came out to greet her and asked, "The elder brother is busy with family affairs, so he came to the capital all the way, why?" The eldest son knelt down on the ground, crying and explaining the reason.Si Niang helped him up, and said with a smile: "Brother is such a good man, why does he keep crying because of such a trivial matter? Although my younger sister is a woman, she has never cried in front of others. There are many relatives in the Hu family who are officials in the court. If you want to save the second brother, you need to ask them for help, why ask me? I thought that the elder brother traveled a long distance to visit his younger sister, but it turned out that I was wrong." After finishing speaking, he walked away.

Angry and ashamed, the eldest son returned home bitterly. Seeing that Siniang refused to help, everyone in the family scolded him loudly.After a few days, the second son was suddenly released without charge, saying: "Thanks to the help of the fourth sister this time, otherwise, I would have been dead." After hearing this, the family members realized that they had wronged the good guy.