Ghost Story of Liaozhai

Feng Wengsheng in Guangping County has a son with similar characters. Both father and son are scholars.Feng Weng was nearly [-] years old, with an upright personality and a poor family. In a few years, his wife and daughter-in-law died of illness one after another, and he did all the housework by himself.

That night, Xiangru was sitting quietly under the moon, when he suddenly saw a girl from the east neighbor peeping from the wall. She had a beautiful face and a smile on her face.After repeated requests, the girl climbed the wooden ladder and turned into the wall.The two slept in the same bed, and asked her name, the girl said: "I am a girl next door, named Hongyu." Xiangru admired her very much, and the two made a covenant that they would never lose each other.

Since then, the woman came and went every night and had a good time for half a year. Feng Weng went out at night and heard the woman's laughter in his son's room. If you work hard and do something slutty, if someone finds out, your moral reputation will be ruined. Riri indulgent, don't you want to die?"

Xiangru knew his mistake when he heard the words, and knelt down to repent. Feng Weng was still angry, and rebuked Hongyu: "As a woman, she doesn't obey women's ways, she is willing to degenerate, and she comes to harm others. If the incident happens, you and I will be ashamed. After cursing for a while, he went to bed angrily.

Hongyu shed tears and said: "Young master's father scolded you rightly, it's my fault. The fate between you and me is over." Xiangru said: "Father is here, I dare not make my own claims. If the girl has feelings, please bear with me for now." Hongyu said decisively, and said: "My son and I have no matchmaker's words, but the orders of our parents. How can we grow old if we get intimate without authorization? There is a beautiful woman here who can be married as a wife." Xiangru sighed: "I will be poor next time. , who will marry me?" Hongyu said: "Come and meet again tomorrow night, I will find a way for you."

The next night, the woman came and gave Xiangru 40 taels of gold as a gift, and said, "Sixty miles away, there is a Miss Wei in Wu village. She is eighteen years old. Her parents are up for sale. She has never been married. The young master came to the door." Visiting, promising great benefits, will surely lead to harmony between Luanfeng and Phoenix." After saying that, he resigned.

Xiangru went into the house to discuss with his father about marrying a wife. Feng Weng said: "It's not wrong for a man to get married, but he has no money. Old man Wei is greedy for money, so it's not easy to get along with him." Xiangru said: "Let's try it." Feng Weng pointed Nodded, no more words.

Xiangru borrowed carriages and horses, hired several servants, and went to meet old man Wei alone.The two sat down to talk, the old man Wei was satisfied when he saw Xiangru's extraordinary appearance, and was even more delighted to know that his ancestors belonged to a famous family. The only worry was that Xiangru's dowry was not generous enough.

Xiangru listened to his hesitant words, understood in his heart, dumped all the money in his pocket, and poured all 40 taels of gold on the table. Then the old man Wei smiled, and immediately wrote the marriage letter, and the two families set a date for the wedding.Xiangru went into the house to meet her future mother-in-law, and found that the living room was poor and simple. Miss Wei hid behind her mother and looked at herself secretly.

The old man Wei asked Xiangru to stay for one night, and said: "Young master, there is no need to greet the relatives. After the old man prepares the dowry, he will send his daughter to the door in person." He is reasonable, he is not a person who is open to money, and he has promised to betroth his daughter to me." Feng Weng couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard this.

When the wedding day came, old man Wei escorted his daughter back as expected.After getting married, Ms. Wei was diligent and thrifty in managing the family, and she was filial. The husband and wife lived in harmony and respected each other as guests.Two years later, Miss Wei gave birth to a baby boy named Fu'er.Not long after the Ching Ming Festival, the husband and wife went up to the mountain to worship their ancestors with their son in their arms, and met the official and gentry Mr. Song.When Mr. Song came to the censor, his character was low. When he saw Miss Wei's beauty, he immediately felt possessive and sent someone to inquire about Xiangru's husband and wife. A beautiful woman will come home." So he came to visit and stated his intention.

Xiangru was furious when he heard this, and thought to himself, "The surname Song is rich and powerful, so don't go head-to-head with him, what should we do now?" After pondering for a while, he said perfunctorily: "The matter is important, and I can't make the decision for a while. You give me three days to think about it, and I will reply to you after three days." I made up my mind in my heart, "For the present plan, the only way is to take refuge with the whole family and live in seclusion in the mountains from now on."

Master Song shook his head and said with a smile: "I can only give you a stick of incense time, it's a matter of taking or giving up, it's decided with one word, why bother mother-in-law?"

Xiangru held back his anger: "That being the case, let me enter the house to discuss with my father." He left the table in a hurry, went back to the inner room, and discussed the countermeasures with Feng Weng. I'll go meet him for a while." He rushed out, glared at Master Song, pointed at the sky, and scolded him endlessly.

Master Song was furious, and with a wave of his hand, the thugs from the house rushed up, pushed Feng Weng and his son to the ground, punched and kicked them, and the two moaned and wailed unceasingly.Miss Wei heard the movement and went out to check with the child, but was forcibly captured by the thugs and kidnapped.During the struggle, the child fell to the ground, croaking.Fortunately, the neighbors kindly rescued him and the whole family survived.

Xiangru was young and strong, and was able to walk with a stick after a few days of recuperation, but Feng Weng was so angry that he couldn't eat, vomited blood and died.

Xiangru was inexplicably sad, wrote a pleading paper and beat drums to appeal for grievances, and went to court, but the officials colluded with evil, and the result is self-evident.Miss Wei was taken over by Master Song, unbearable to be humiliated, and committed suicide.When Xiangru heard the news, he was filled with grievances and had no way out.Every time he thinks of a way to assassinate Song, he is also worried that he will have too many followers to succeed, and the baby needs to be raised, so he can't just sacrifice it in vain.Only mourning day and night, tossing and turning.

This day, I felt sorry for myself at home, and suddenly a man came to express condolences. He was a man with a beard and a broad face, and I had never met him before. When I asked him about his background, the man said: "You have the hatred of killing your father and taking your wife. Don't you want to take revenge?" Xiangru suspected that he was Master Song's minion, so he didn't dare to confide in him, but only responded vaguely.The man was furious, his eyes were cracked, and he burst out angrily, "I thought you were a gentleman, but if you don't think about it, you are a covetous person who fears death. What you have done is disgusting."

Xiangru saw that his expression did not seem to be fake, so he said frankly that he asked for help, "Don't go, a good man. I am lying down and trying my best. The reason why I endured humiliation and stealing life is because I can't let go of the baby in swaddling. I know you are a righteous man, can you take care of my only son? I will Desperate to find the surname Song."

The man said: "Raising babies is a woman's business, and it's beyond my ability. You don't need to take care of the orphans. You take care of the children yourself. As for revenge, leave it to me."

Xiangru was so grateful that he kowtowed like pounding garlic, the man let him kneel without even looking at him, and left quickly.Xiangru chased him out to ask for his name, and the man said: "If things don't work, I don't want to hear your complaints; if things happen, you don't need to be grateful. So why do you need to know my name?"

After the man left, Xiangru thought to himself, "Whether the matter is successful or not, I will inevitably be implicated. It is still 36 tricks, and the best is to go." Thinking of this, Baozi fled.

It was night, when the Song family was sleeping soundly in the mansion, someone entered through the wall, killed Mr. Song, father and son, and brought a daughter-in-law and a maidservant.The Song family reported the murder case to the county government. The county magistrate was horrified and thought, "Song Yushi and Feng Xiangru have always had an enmity, and the murderer must be him." Immediately issued a letter to arrest Xiangru and bring him to justice.It just so happened that Xiangru had fled far away and disappeared without a trace, the county magistrate became more and more certain about his guess, and ordered all the government servants to search mountains and seas, and he must capture the culprit.

All the yamen servants spread their nets and searched to Nanshan, and suddenly heard the baby crying, and immediately found Xiangru's hiding place, with iron chains on his body, and dragged him back to return to his order.As for the child, just abandon the wilderness.When Xiangru saw this, he felt indignant.When I went back to meet the county magistrate, the official asked, "Why did you kill?" Xiangru said, "It's wrong. A certain person died at night, and I came out in the daytime, with a baby in my arms. How can I climb over the wall and kill someone?"

The county magistrate said: "If you don't kill people, why run away?" Xiangru was at a loss for words and could not explain.The county magistrate ordered him to be imprisoned, and Xiangru cried: "I don't regret my death, but what is the crime of the orphan? Why did you cruelly discard him?"

The county magistrate said: "You killed Song Yushi's son, and I killed your son to die. Why do you complain?" Xiangru remained silent.He was in prison and suffered all kinds of torture, but he still refused to admit the murder.

That night the county magistrate was lying in his study at night when there was a sudden ding sound, as if his clothes had been stabbed by some sharp object. The sharp knife with a bright handle dangling, penetrated several inches into the wood, and it was unstoppable. Seeing this, the county magistrate was frightened, broke out in a cold sweat, and thought: Who wants to kill me?I searched all around, but there was no one there.Feeling uneasy, I wondered, "Could it be that Feng Xiangru was wrongly imprisoned, and someone would fight for him? Well, anyway, Song Yushi is dead, so it's better to sell a favor and spare Feng Xiangru's life." So he released the prisoner and sent Feng Xiangru to walk.

When Feng Xiangru returned home, there was no rice in the room, and the lonely shadow faced the four walls, which was desolate.Thanks to the help from neighbors, he was able to survive ri with difficulty.Thinking that the great revenge has been avenged, I feel relieved; thinking about the misfortune, almost destroying my family, I burst into tears.I also thought of being poor for half my life, the incense was cut off, and I often cried bitterly in no one's place, unable to control myself.In the past six months, the incident of the murder subsided, Feng Xiangru and the government retrieved his wife's remains, reburied them, and wanted to die in grief, tossing and turning on an empty bed, intending to commit suicide.

Just as he was looking for death, suddenly there was a knock on the door outside the house, he listened intently, there were murmurs outside the door, mixed with the humming of a child, he hurriedly got up to peek, it seemed to be a woman, tremblingly opened the door, the woman Said: "The young master has been wronged, and he is healthy. Congratulations." The voice was familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was in a hurry.Under the candlelight, I opened my eyes and took a closer look. It turned out to be Hongyu, holding a child in her hand, laughing on her crotch.

Seeing the old man for the first time, Feng Xiangru hugged Hongyu tightly, wept bitterly, did not bother to ask about the child's background, Hongyu accompanied him sadly, and comforted him kindly.After a while, he gently pushed him away, pointed at the child, and said, "This is your son, do you remember him?"

Feng Xiangru was overjoyed, staring at the child with burning eyes, seeing his picturesque features, which resembled his youthful appearance, he smiled and said, "Fu'er, it's really you. You're still alive? Aunt Hongyu saved you, right? "

Hongyu nodded and admitted, and said, "To tell you the truth, I am not a girl next door, but a fox demon. One night when I was practicing in the valley, I heard Fu'er crying in the grass, so I adopted him. Now you are out of trouble. I specially brought Fu'er here to reunite with your family." Feng Xiangru thanked her with tears, the child was leaning against Hongyu's arms with an intimate attitude, and obviously regarded her as his biological mother, but at a young age, the past was forgotten, and he no longer recognized his biological father.

Before dawn, Hongyu stood up and said, "I'm leaving." Feng Xiangru knelt down on the bedside, weeping uncontrollably.Hongyu smiled and said, "I'm just joking with you. Now that the family has started a new life, sleep and sleep are not enough to revitalize it. I will not leave you alone." Rolling up her sleeves, she went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.Feng Xiangru was worried that his family would not be able to support himself, so Hongyu smiled and said, "Young master, just study hard and leave the housework to me. Don't worry, I won't let you starve to death." He took out his gold and silver jewelry and rented dozens of acres of farmland. Field, hired farming.Weeding and planting vegetables, repairing houses and repairing tiles, it is normal for the day.Neighbors in the village heard that Hongyu was virtuous, so they came over from time to time to help with some farm work.

After half a year like this, the family is full of people and the life is getting better and better.Feng Xiangru was very grateful, and said: "The rest of my life after the catastrophe depends on my wife's self-made fortune. But there is one thing that is still unsettled, and I don't know what to do?" Hongyu smiled and asked, "What is it? Let me tell you."

Feng Xiangru said: "The exam time is approaching, but my status as a scholar has not yet been restored." Hongyu smiled and said: "I sent four taels of gold to the academic officer a few days ago, and the son has resumed his name on the record. Don't worry about it. If you wait If you open your mouth, it would have been a long time ago." Feng Xiangru thanked you again and again.

Soon after, Feng Xiangru won the imperial examination and passed the examination. At the age of 36, he had a rich family, continuous fertile land, and a spacious living room.Hongyu's body is graceful, as if a gust of wind can blow her away, but cao does housework, and does all the hard work with ease.Even in the cold winter, his hands are still as smooth as jade. He says he is 28 years old, but judging by his appearance, he is only in his early twenties.