Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Wang Cheng, who lives in Pingyuan County, his ancestors used to be officials, passed down to his own generation, and his family fortune has declined, leaving only a few dilapidated houses, living in poverty, coupled with his lazy nature, gradually unable to make ends meet, even sleeping without a quilt , only a piece of broken straw mat will make do.

Not far from Wang's house, there is a manor, which has been in disrepair for a long time, and most of it has been destroyed, leaving only a gazebo.It was midsummer and the heat was unbearable. In the evening of this day, Wang Cheng went to the pavilion to cool off and slept until Sangan the next day before lazily getting up.He lingered and wanted to return, and suddenly saw a light flashing in the grass, and looked closer, and found a gold hairpin, which was exquisite in style, with four small characters "Made in Yibin Mansion" written on it.

When Wang Cheng was a child, he lived in a wealthy life. He saw many golden hairpins, and he was not greedy for property. He thought, "I don't know who lost this golden hairpin. The owner must be very anxious. I will wait here. If someone comes to look for it, I will go back to the house." Return the golden hairpin to him."

After a while, an old lady came slowly, picking up the thatch with her hands, as if she was looking for something.Wang Cheng asked: "Old woman, are you looking for the golden hairpin? You don't need to look for it, it's here with me." He said and returned the golden hairpin to her.

The old woman couldn't help being overjoyed, she had no choice but to praise Wang Chengcheng's noble character, and said: "Although this golden hairpin is not worth a lot of money, because it is a relic of my deceased husband, I have always kept it by my side."

Wang Cheng asked, "Who is your husband?"

The old woman said: "My lord, the king of Cambodia."

Wang Cheng yelled out, "Master Wang, that is my ancestor, how did you know each other?"

The old woman said: "Are you the grandson of Wang Jian? I am a fox fairy. I met your grandfather a hundred years ago. Later, he died of old age. I lived in seclusion alone. I happened to pass by here, lost my hairpin, and you picked it up again. Is it not God's will?"

Wang Cheng said with a smile: "I heard from my grandfather that he did have a fox wife. Since you are my grandfather's widow, you are my nainai. Please go to the grandson's house and tell me about it."

It was inconvenient for the old woman to refuse, so she followed Wang Cheng to the house, and his wife came out to greet her. The old woman saw the shabby living room, Wang's wife was dressed in rags and shoes, and her face was disheveled. There is no rice in the middle, and asked: "The family is so poor, how can we survive?"

Wang's wife said: "Then what can we do? One day counts as the other."

The old woman took out the gold hairpin and said, "Take it to the market as a pawn, exchange it for a few taels of silver, buy some rice noodles and come back, and I will come back in three days."

Wang Chengdao: "It's rare for nainai to come here once. Please finish your meal and rest for one night before leaving."

The old woman smiled and said: "My dear grandson, you can't even support your wife. There is only one bed in the room. Where do you want me to sleep? Could it be that you let me sleep on the floor?" After saying that, she went away.

Three days later, the old lady visited again and said to Wang Cheng, "Grandson, a man must not be lazy and not do his job properly. He should do a little business. It is not a long-term solution to sit and eat."

Wang Chengdao: "Although I intend to do business, I don't have the capital."

The old woman said: "In the past, I followed your grandfather and saved 40 taels of flower powder. You can use it to buy some cloth and sell it in the capital. You can make a small profit by setting off immediately."

Wang Cheng agreed, bought more than 50 pieces of Gebu, and put them in the load. The old woman said: "I will go to the capital, and I will arrive in six or seven days. Don't be lazy during the journey, and you must walk fast. If you arrive in the capital one day late, you will regret it." and."

Wang Chengnuo took the order and set off with a load. It rained heavily along the way, and his clothes were completely wet.Wang Cheng has always been used to being lazy, but now he was drenched by the rain and was exhausted, so he found a small inn to rest.Unexpectedly, it rained heavily all night, and it was still endless. When I got up the next day, there was water everywhere, and the official road was muddy and difficult to pass. .”

This rain lasted for two days and two nights. When the sky cleared, Wang Cheng came to the capital on foot. He missed the opportunity and stayed in the inn. Buying and selling cloth will surely make a fortune."

Wang Cheng asked, "What's going on?"

The shopkeeper said: "It has been raining continuously for the past few days, the goods are in short supply, and the supply of cloth is in short supply. Baylor's mansion is buying cloth in a big way, and the price has tripled. Many cloth sellers have made a lot of money."

Wang Cheng asked: "Does the Baylor House still need to buy cloth?"

The shopkeeper said: "No need, the amount was already purchased yesterday, and the guest officer came late. Hey, many merchants came to join in the fun with carts of cloth when they heard the news that Baylor House bought cloth. Like a mountain, the price has plummeted, and the guest officer is afraid that he will lose all his money this trip. Listen to the little old man's advice, and quickly dispose of the cloth in your hand at a low price, otherwise the longer you wait, the greater the loss."

Wang Cheng nodded, and walked around the street. Sure enough, there were cloth sellers everywhere. It was impossible to make money now, so he had no choice but to deal with the cloth at a low price. After calculating the remuneration, he lost more than ten taels of silver .

Wang Cheng failed in his first business venture, so he couldn't help being depressed. Unexpectedly, the house leaked and it rained all night, and he didn't sleep vigilant enough at night.

Someone gave Wang Cheng an idea, "If you lose money in the inn, the shopkeeper will not be able to escape the responsibility. You can go to the Yamen to sue him."

With a kind heart, Wang Cheng shook his head and said, "It's all my fault for throwing away the money. What does it have to do with the shopkeeper? How can I beat him back?" So he refused to listen to the instigation, left and left.

This incident soon spread to the shopkeeper's ears. Seeing that Wang Cheng was an upright person, he couldn't help feeling a little good in his heart. When he was parting, he specially gave him five taels of silver as a travel expense.

Wang Cheng returned home with a pitiful five taels of silver, thinking, "How can I have the face to go home to see my wife with my unruly appearance? Why don't you just look around, maybe you will meet a turning point."

Thinking of this, I wandered aimlessly, and came to a street corner. I saw a few young masters on the ground, fighting quail. Shiwen, I might as well buy more quails and sell them to the rich young master, I’m sure I can make a lot of money.” So he spent all he had, bought sixty or seventy quails, raised them in cages, and prepared to sell them on the street the next day. It was already dark, and I still went back to the shopkeeper's inn to settle down.

Who would have thought that it was raining heavily at night, and it rained continuously for several days, many quails were locked in a narrow space in the cage, eating, drinking and huddling together, unable to breathe fresh air outside, and lacking exercise, they died of a serious illness Ninety-nine percent of the more than 70 quails died, and only one quail survived.

Wang Cheng was so sad that he wanted to cry, the shopkeeper comforted him: "My lord, don't cry, let's go see the quails."

When the two came to the cage, they saw the only quail inside, with a sparkling spirit, not at all decadent. The shopkeeper analyzed: "I see this quail with fighting spirit in its eyes, and it is by no means an ordinary color. If I read it correctly, It should be a 'fighting king', and many dead quails in the cage may have been killed by it. Raising it well and taking it out for gambling in the future is also a way to make a living."

At this point, although Wang Cheng didn't really believe what the shopkeeper said, but the quail in front of him was his only hope, so he had no choice but to take care of it and train it carefully, teaching it fighting skills.

Not long after, the quail became very tame and brave. They took it to the streets to gamble with people, and they were always victorious. They won a lot of wine, rice and cloth, and a lot of gold and silver. After half a year, they accumulated more than [-] Two gold.

Soon, Wang Cheng's quail became famous and known far and wide.It happened that there was a prince in the capital who liked to fight quail very much. Hearing that Wang Cheng's quail was powerful, he specially ordered his subordinates to invite him to the palace to compete and compete.

The shopkeeper privately told Wang Cheng, "The opportunity to make a fortune has come. As long as our 'Douwang' defeats all the quails in the palace, the prince will definitely buy it at a high price when he is happy."

Wang Chengdao: "If the prince really intends to buy quail, how can we bargain with him?"

The shopkeeper said: "When the time comes, I will act according to my eyes."

When the two came to the palace, they took a closer look. There were many guests who were ordered to fight quail, and Wang Cheng was not the only one. When the birds gathered, the prince took out a quail and said, "Whoever has the guts to compete with me, come up and show your hand."

A young man stepped forward to challenge and released quail, but he was defeated after a few rounds.Then there were many guests who competed, but they all lost to the quail held by the prince, and they returned home one by one.

The prince laughed loudly, "All the quails are vulnerable, so there is no decent one?"

The shopkeeper quietly said to Wang Cheng: "It's your turn."

Wang Cheng released the quail according to his words. The prince looked at it and changed his color: "The eyes are murderous. This is a master. Don't underestimate the enemy. Come on, let out my 'iron beak'."

Iron Beak is the best among the prince's quails, very brave, but once on stage, he was defeated by the "King of Fighting" after only a few moves.The prince was furious, and released several quails one after another, all of them were brave and good fighters, but one of them was defeated, and none of them could get cheap in front of the "King of Fighting".

Seeing the bravery of the "King of Fighting", the prince nodded and said: "We are facing opponents in chess, it seems that it is difficult to win without inviting 'Jade Quil'."

Not long after, the servants brought a quail, and saw that it was covered in snow white, as big as a heron, and had an extraordinary appearance.When Wang Cheng saw it, he couldn't help being discouraged. He knelt down and said, "My lord, this quail is a fetish. The little one is willing to admit defeat."

The prince smiled and said: "I haven't competed yet, why admit defeat? Ah, I get it, you are afraid that my 'jade quail' will kill your quail, and you will have no one to eat from now on, right? It doesn't matter, if your' If you die in battle, I will pay you a large sum of money."

Wang Chengdao: "Since that's the case, then the villain will have the courage to fight." He released the "Dou Wang" and ordered him to fight hard.

When the two quails met, the "Jade Quail" rushed straight to bite, while the "Douwang" stopped quietly and waited for it.Suddenly the "King of Fighting" pounced in the air, like a crane preying on food, the attack was extremely fierce.

The two quails were fighting in the air, flying up and down, and held each other for a long time. "Jade Quail" gradually lost its strength, but "Dou Wang" became more and more courageous in the fight, and the more he fought, the more anxious he was. The feathers scattered one after another, and fled in embarrassment.

The spectators watched from the sidelines, seeing the "Dou Wang" winning, they couldn't help clapping their hands and applauding.

The prince was also moved, he gently picked up the "Douwang", stroked it back and forth, tsk-tsk admiringly, and asked Wang Cheng, "Is this parrot for sale?"

Wang Chengdao: "The villain and 'Dou Wang' depend on each other for life, and they are not willing to sell."

"I can offer a big price, you think about it."

"Since the prince really wants to buy it and is willing to pay a high price, the villain has no choice but to part with it."

"You make an offer."

"1000 taels of gold."

"Crazy man! What kind of baby quail is worth 1000 taels of gold?"

"The prince doesn't regard 'Dou Wang' as a treasure, but in the hearts of villains, he thinks that even the city wall is not as precious as 'Dou Wang'."

"Why do you say that?"

"The villain walks the streets with the 'Dou Wang', and wins every gamble. The gold counts in two days, and the rice counts in buckets. A family of more than ten people depends on the 'Du Wang' for food, clothing, housing and transportation. Isn't this a rare treasure?"

The prince was silent for a while, and said for a while, "So, how about 200 taels of gold for a one-buy price?"

Wang Cheng didn't answer, just shook his head.

The prince gritted his teeth, "300 taels."

Wang Cheng secretly observed the shopkeeper, and saw that he remained calm, and said: "If the prince really wants it, 900 taels of gold will be fine."

The prince smiled and said, "Come on, who is willing to spend 900 taels of gold to buy a quail?"

Wang Cheng stopped talking, picked up the quail, turned around and wanted to go.

The prince was anxious, and hurriedly said: "Okay, okay, don't go, I will give you 600 taels, if you want to sell it, you can keep the quail, otherwise forget it."

Wang Cheng looked at the shopkeeper, saw that he was still silent, and thought to himself, "600 taels is a lot, so you can't be too greedy." So he said, "Okay, 600 taels, we're done."

The prince was overjoyed, and ordered the accountant to send 600 taels of gold, which was a big package. Wang Cheng left the quail, and happily took the gold to say goodbye.

Back at the residence, the shopkeeper complained: "Why are you so impatient? If you pay the price again, won't you get 800 taels of gold?"

Wang Cheng said with a smile: "600 taels is really not a small amount, so that's all. Shopkeeper, you can make a fortune this time, thanks to your old contribution. I put the gold on the table. You can take as much as you want."

The shopkeeper shook his head and said: "Little old man is not greedy for money, gold is not easy to come by, you keep it all for yourself."

Wang Cheng refused to eat alone, and insisted on distributing the gold to the shopkeeper.

Wang Cheng packs up his luggage and returns to his hometown, builds a building and buys a field. The husband and wife work hard, and the days go by as long as possible.The old lady lived in Wang Cheng's house for three years, and she finally retired to the mountains because she missed the unfettered life in the wilderness.