During the Tianshun period of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a benevolent and charitable member in Suzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan Province, named Shi Ji, who was bent on making friends and helping the poor because he repeatedly failed to take the imperial examinations, and wanted to become famous for this.
His father Shi Jian was a rich man of his duty, living frugally, but he refused to spend a penny indiscriminately, and now when he saw his son spending money like dirt, he could not help but feel some pain, so he secretly put a lot of gold and silver in several cellars, so as not to let people know, and prepared to tell his son before his death.
Although Shi Jian thought well, he did not expect that if he was in good health, he would suddenly return to heaven one night, without leaving half a last word, so the matter of hiding gold became a permanent secret.
At that time, Shi Ji was over forty years old and had no sons. He made a wish to Guanyin Bodhisattva, and if he gave birth to a son, he wished to give three hundred taels of silver to repair the temple for Guanyin Bodhisattva. A year later, his wife Yan shi did indeed give birth to a boy. When the couple talked about returning the wish to Guanyin Bodhisattva, they named the child Shi Hui.
On the day of the child's full moon, Shi Ji brought three hundred taels of silver to the Huqiu Shanshui Yue Guanyin Hall to make a wish, he burned the incense and prostrated his head, and suddenly heard someone outside the temple crying, so he went out to see, it turned out to be the same window GuiQian when he was a child, sitting alone on the edge of the sword pool, singing against the pool water. He went forward to inquire about the reason, but Gui Qian was only in tears and could not speak.
Shi Ji pulled him into the Guanyin Hall and interrogated him repeatedly, and Gui Qian said why. It turned out that he had misheard people's words, used his family property as collateral, borrowed three hundred taels of silver as capital, went out to do business, and finally lost a fine. The creditor went to the door to collect the debt, benefited Gali, and took his whole family as a slave, and Gui Qian fled at night in a hurry. Thinking of being cornered, he ran here to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water.
Upon hearing this, Shi Ji immediately took out the three hundred taels of silver that he had prepared to return the wish and handed it to Gui Qian, asking him to quickly rescue his wife and children. Gui Qian was overjoyed, and came to Guanyin Bodhisattva and prostrated his head and swore: "I have received the saving grace of Shi Jun, and if I cannot repay in this life, I am willing to repay the dog and horse in the next life." Shi Ji went home, collected another three hundred taels of silver, and sent it to the temple to return the wish.
On the third day, Gui Qian led his twelve-year-old eldest son, Gui Gao, to the door to thank him. Shi Ji was very happy and entertained with wine and dinner. Shi Ji said to him, "To save people is to save them thoroughly." My family has a mulberry jujube garden outside Xumen, a few grass huts, and ten acres of thin land. If you don't feel broken, go there to farm and live a life. Gui Qian was very touched, thanked him for his kindness, and said goodbye to his son.
After Gui Qian moved to the Mulberry Jujube Garden, he asked his wife, Sister-in-law Sun, to bring gifts to the Shi family to thank him. This sister-in-law can speak the Tao, can be the most pleasing to people, and when they first met, they knew Yan like sisters. At that time, Sister-in-law Sun was already five months pregnant, and Yan Shi said: "You already have two sons, if you give birth to a daughter this time, I am willing to marry you to a child." Sister-in-law Sun went home and told her husband, and the two were very happy. Later, Sun Dajie did indeed give birth to a daughter, and yan sent someone to greet An, and since then the two families have been in constant contact, like relatives.
In addition, there is an ancient ginkgo tree in the mulberry jujube garden, and it is said that there are gods who appear, and in the past, the gardeners used to burn paper under the tree every first day of the first lunar month and pray for the blessing of the gods. This year, Gui Qian also came to burn paper under the tree, and suddenly saw a small mouse, walked around the tree, and then burrowed under the tree and disappeared. Gui Qian took a closer look, only to see a small hole the size of a bowl exposed under the root of the tree, so he asked his wife to bring a hoe and dig down the hole, and when he reached a depth of about three feet, he found three porcelain jars. He opened it and saw that it was all silver with white flowers.
The couple went back into the house and counted, about fifteen hundred taels. Gui Qian planned to give three hundred taels back to the Shi family, but Sun Dajie hurriedly said, "I can't do it!" No way! ”
Gui Qian asked, "According to Xian's wife's opinion, what should I do?" Sister-in-law Sun said, "In my opinion, relying on these ten acres of mulberry fields and sending people to the fence is not a long-term solution." It is better to take this silver and buy some land in other places, slowly get out of here, and become a rich man yourself. Wouldn't it be better to repay his family's kindness at that time? ”
Gui Qian said, "'There is a wise woman, who is as good as a man.' You're right. I have a distant relative in Huiji County, Shaoxing Province, and I can entrust him to buy land there. ”
In the spring of the following year, Gui Qiantui said that he would go to his relatives, privately bought the land there, entrusted someone to take charge, went to calculate the account once a year, and returned still wearing old clothes and not showing the appearance of money. In the past five years, the Gui family has set up a share of everyone's dang in the meeting, but the Shi family does not know anything.
Time flies, and another three years have passed. Shi Ji suddenly fell ill and died, and Sister-in-law Sun instigated her husband to take the opportunity to escape. Yan Shi couldn't stay bitter and sent them away with tears. Because Shi Ji was generous and generous when he was alive, his family was already empty, and coupled with funeral expenses, the Shi family inevitably owed some debts, and the Yan family could not manage their finances, so after five or six years, the orphans and widows were too poor to live.
When Shi Ji was a childhood friend, named Zhi De, he left his post and returned to his hometown, and when he heard that the Shi family was so defeated, he couldn't bear it in his heart, and specially went to the door to mourn. Xiao Shi also went out to greet him, very polite. Zhi Weng asked, knowing that he had not yet decided to marry, he married his daughter to him and provided food and clothing. The mother and son of the Yan family were grateful, but although Ke Zhiweng had been an official, he was very clean and honest, and the family was not rich. Now that I have added the use of my son-in-law's family, my life is more reluctant. Occasionally, someone said that Gui Qian made a fortune in Huiji County, and people called him Gui Yuanwai. Zhi Weng suggested that his son-in-law go to Huiji, thinking that Gui Qian would definitely repay the favor he had received when he remembered the favor he had received. Shi also went home to consult with his mother, and Yan Shi also said: "When Sun Dajie and I had sister-in-law's affection, now that it has started, it will certainly not treat us badly." I'll go with you. ”
So the mother and son came all the way to Huiji County. Only to see that the Gui family was indeed a high-door household, and the servants were like clouds. However, when the Gui family saw the shi family's mother and son, they were very sloppy, and they did not remember the original life-saving grace, and only gave twenty-two pieces of silver as the way home. The mother and son were very angry and had to go home in misery.
Yan Shi was hit by this, coupled with the fatigue of the road, and after returning home, he fell ill and died within a few days. In order to do the funeral for his mother, Shi also had to sell the ancestral house and move it to the father-in-law's house, and when he was moving furniture, he found an account book from the ceiling of his grandfather's room, which stated how much silver was buried somewhere and how much silver was buried somewhere. Shi was also overjoyed, and first dug out two thousand taels of silver from under the threshold of the bedroom, and took out a part to redeem the ancestral house.
Shi also dug up all the account books and obtained tens of thousands of taels of silver. Only the fifteen hundred and two buried under the ginkgo tree in the mulberry jujube garden were gone, leaving only three empty altars. Since then, the Shi family has become a local rich man.
Besides, Gui Yuan would be a rich man on the outside, because the official government's servitude was heavy and he was very distressed. The neighbor Yousheng persuaded him to pay for the official, saying that if he became an official, he could not only glorify the court, but also be exempted from military service, killing two birds with one stone. Gui Qian was credulous, prepared three thousand taels of silver, and went to the Beijing Division with Yousheng. As soon as he arrived at the Capital Division, Gui Qian gave the silver to Yousheng and let him squander it.
After half a year, Yousheng used Gui Qian's silver to buy an official for himself. Gui Qian realized that he had been deceived and was eager to kill Yousheng. But that night, Gui Qian had a dream, dreaming that his family had become dogs, begging for food at the Shi family, and waking up sweating.
Gui Qian got this strange dream, his heart was so distraught, he couldn't care less about killing Yousheng, he hurried home from Jingshi to see that his two sons were already dead, and his wife Sun Dajie was also very ill and unconscious, Gui Qian shouted, and Sun Dajie suddenly opened her eyes and shouted: "Father, I am your eldest son Gui Gao." Because my family was ungrateful to the Shi family, and my father had sworn to repay the dogs and horses, he asked my brothers and mother to come to the Shi family tomorrow to reincarnate as dogs. Father Yang Shou has not yet arrived, and he will also come to cast a dog fetus in August next year. Only the fate of the sister and Shi and the couple escaped this difficulty. Sister-in-law Sun said, and died of despair.
Gui Qian remembered what he had seen in his dream, understood that all this was retribution, and felt remorse in his heart. After the funeral, he took his daughter to Suzhou to marry the Shi family and help the orphans and widows. He thought that the Shi family was very poor, and his son must not have married yet. Who knew that when they got there, the Shi family was even more magnificent than before, but the Shi Mother Yan clan was gone. Gui Qian was ashamed and rushed to ask Shi for his sins, saying that he would pay tribute to Lady Yan.
Gui Qian had just laid out the ceremony when suddenly three black dogs rushed in, surrounded him, clutched his clothes, and kept howling, as if they had something to say. Gui Qian knew that they were changed by his wife and children, and he couldn't help but cry and fall to the ground.
Later, Shi also married Gui Qian's daughter as a concubine. Gui Qian also stayed in the Shi family to help, because he was bent on eating and praying to the Buddha to repent of the past, after a year, there was no disease and no disaster, and finally he finally grew old in the Shi family.