Gamblers
Tang Shu, a Native of Mindi, is an old family man who has squandered his family property because of his profligacy. So set up a gambling game to make a living. The gambler A is very rich, and Tang Shu's wife takes the initiative to hook up with him. Tang Shu coveted money and pretended not to know. At the beginning of the game, A put down the money, let Tang Shu play for him, and went to the bedroom to hang out with Tang Shu's wife.
Later, Tang Shu died, his wife gambled according to the permanent bureau, and A came here more like he had arrived at his own home. One day, the two were resting in bed, and in a trance it seemed that someone was peeping at the door. After a while, the man entered the room, and it turned out to be Tang Shu. Tang Shu bent down and said respectfully, "The gamblers have come together, I have been wandering outside the door for a long time, I dare not disturb you, now that the rain clouds are over, hurry up and greet the guests to start!" ”
Taken aback, A stood up and grabbed the door and fled, and Tang Shu's wife picked up the teacup at the head of the bed and threw it over. The teacup passed through Tang Shu's body and hit the pillar, and Tang Shu's ghost was gone.
The above story is from "Delusional Record", which is a small story that makes people sigh. Some people have no shame for the sake of profit, and such people now have them. Ji Xiaolan also told the story of someone's wife cheating, but the protagonist's human nature is much more complicated.
Zhang Yike
Zhang Yike, not knowing where he was from, took his wife to earn a living outside cyprus and was hired by a single businessman. The businessman likes Zhang Yike's wife and spends money like dirt without stinginess.
A few years later, all the merchants' property became the pockets of Zhang Yike and his wife, and they could not even afford to live in the hotel, so they could only stay in the Zhang family. Zhang Yike's wife often insulted and prepared to drive the merchant away. Zhang Yike disagreed and said, "We have become rich all by this person, and if we fail him, I am afraid it will not be auspicious." ”
Zhang's wife did not listen, one day, with a stick to drive away the businessman, Zhang Yike blocked, the wife said: "He likes my beauty, I like his money, the two do not owe each other." Now that he has no money, why should he stay here? Zhang Yike was very angry and accidentally killed him in the process of beating and scolding his wife. He gave the merchant a hundred taels of silver to pay for the journey, and then went to the government office to turn himself in. Originally, the murder of his wife was to be killed, but after the government knew the original commission, it opened a net and did not sentence him to death.
Another couple is also making a living outside cyprus, the wife is sick and dead, and the husband is ready to beg and return home. A merchant gave him fifty taels of silver, which was very strange. The merchant said, "Your wife entrusted me to take care of you when she was dying. A became suspicious and questioned repeatedly, and the businessman admitted to having an affair with his wife. A threw the silver on the ground, fought with the merchants, and finally went to the government office. This merchant was paraded to the public according to the law, and the government was released from the light hair and hit several boards.
Ji Xiaolan and his colleagues talked about this matter, and an official said: "Zhang Yike and the merchants in the following stories are not upright gentlemen, but they are all ancient and hot sausages." So it's all handled lightly. Wen Gong pondered for a moment and said, "Such a judgment is not in accordance with the law, but now that the world is getting worse, these two people are not bad." It is also possible to handle it from light. ”
Human nature is complicated, Zhang Yike approves of wearing a green hat to make a fortune, and after the businessman is poor, he does not want to fall into the well. Although the wife of a certain person is out of the wall with red apricots, she cannot rest assured of her husband when she is dying, and entrusts her lover to take care of her. The businessman in the second story also talks about credit, and the mistress is no longer alive, and she still fulfills her promise. Therefore, just because so-and-so has cheated, you can't think that he or she is not a good person. There are many reasons for cheating, but most of them are still the most distressed about their original partners, taking the original family interests as the bottom line.
Here are a few more short stories from "Delusions", all of which are about ghosts.
Ghost
Legend has it that after people are eaten by tigers, they will become ghosts, driven by tigers, and often like water ghosts, find someone to replace.
There was a young man in Hangzhou who was debauched and unruly about his words and deeds, and one day, he was walking in the mountains of Xin'an, thirsty and went to the stream to drink water, and saw his reflection turn into a sheep's head. He was shocked, and secretly wondered why he had fallen into the animal path before he was dead. I also thought about how my parents were old and my brothers were still young, so how to live in the future. He became a livestock, and the loan he owed to the widow could not be repaid on time. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel sad from my heart, and I cried bitterly.
Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, it's all right." The young man looked up and asked him why he had become a sheep's head. The man said, "I am a ghost, and because the punishment has been fulfilled, I have been released by the mountain god." You once committed adultery with a nun, so I came to you to replace you. Whoever is eaten by a tiger, the ghost first turns his face into a beast before making food for the tiger. Because of the good thoughts you just had, the mountain god has chosen someone else as a substitute. You're all right. ”
The young man took a picture of the stream, and sure enough, it returned to its original state. After he came down the mountain, he changed his ways and often told others about it.
Ghost Man
There are five empty rooms behind Fan Zhongyan's ancestral hall in Suzhou City, which is the ancestral property of the Fan family. It has been uninhabited for a long time and occupied by foxes. If you see men and women mixed and singing and dancing, it is a fox demon. If you hear a long sigh or a generous lament, it is a ghost.
The Fan family had a servant who guarded the ancestral hall, and her daughter was ten years old, who was abducted by bad people and looked for many days without a trace. The wife was heartbroken and went to the empty house to hang herself. Suddenly, a man with a big beard appeared. The man stopped her and said, "Don't do this, I'll go get your daughter back." The servant's wife thought that the man was from the Fan family, and thought that the other party was just comforting herself by saying this. She temporarily dispelled the idea of taking her own life and went back to wait.
When her husband heard about it, he thought it was very strange, because he knew everyone in the Fan family, and there was no such person. Moreover, no outsiders came to the ancestral hall today. So he said to his wife, "Maybe it's the ghost god helping, let's wait and see, maybe there will be good news." ”
Traffickers have taken his daughter to Wujiang, pretending to be the girl's father, and sold her to a rich man's house as a maid. Having written the voucher, the trafficker left with the money. The main mother suspected the girl of crying, picked up the bamboo pole to fight, and suddenly a bearded man appeared from the ground and blocked the bamboo pole with his arm. The master mother fainted in fright, and the beard was gone.
Moments later, the trafficker staggered back, saying that he had kidnapped the child. The master reported to the authorities, the traffickers were brought to justice, and the girls were reunited with their parents.
Coffin lid
Suzhou Fuxue is in the remote area south of the city, next to a mass graveyard, most of the poor are buried here after death, some are not even buried, only the coffins are carried here and thrown down. Over time, there were scattered white bones everywhere, and broken coffin boards could be seen everywhere.
A certain door fighter (a person who does miscellaneous work for the school official) came home in the middle of the night, passed by this place, and saw a woman in her twenties sitting on the ground crying. Embroidered eyebrows and black hair in the moonlight, delicate and pitiful. The door fighter guessed that the other party was a big family running away, so they came forward to talk. Taking the opportunity to pat her shoulder and touch her wrist, the woman did not care.
The doorman said, "My wife has just died, come home with me to live!" The woman looked at him with squinting eyes and said, "So good, don't lie to me." The doorman was afraid that she would repent, so he picked it up and carried it on his shoulder and went home. The woman struggled, but he still carried her to the door.
A large dog suddenly roared and rushed over, and the door bucket panicked for a moment, and threw the woman to the ground, and on closer inspection, it turned out to be a broken coffin lid. Mendou quit his job of studying and doing miscellaneous work at the government, and did not dare to go to the south of the city for the rest of his life.