Text/Murong Zijun
During the Ming Dynasty, Feng Sheng was a native of Guangping, Hebei, young and crazy, and drunk as much as he wanted. At dawn this day, he went to visit a friend's house, passing by the dilapidated temple, and suddenly met a young girl, she was wearing a red shawl, her face was beautiful, followed by a beard, Feng Sheng wanted to go up to talk, but she disappeared in a flash.
When it was dark, Feng Sheng was very drunk before he rushed home, and when he passed the abandoned temple, he saw the girl he had met in the morning walking towards the temple, and he tied the donkey outside the door and followed the girl to see what was going on. Only to see that there were a few broken walls scattered in the courtyard, looking very desolate, just as Feng Sheng was wandering irregularly, a well-dressed old man came out and asked: Where did the guests come from?
Feng Sheng replied: I passed by this temple by chance and came in to see. The old man smiled and said: I have no place to live outside, I have to temporarily live in the temple to settle down in a small home, if you are not disgusted, please go into the house to drink a cup of tea as an antidote. Feng Sheng went to the backyard with the old man to have a look, and the courtyard was very neatly cleaned.
When I came to the room, the door curtain bed tent smelled, and after sitting down, the old man introduced himself: Yu Weng's surname is Xin, and Feng Sheng drunkenly smiled and asked: I just saw the girl in red, is she your daughter? If she has not yet decided on a relative, I would like to take an heirloom treasure jade mirror as a dowry, Xin Laoweng smiled and said: I will discuss it with my old wife.
The old man asked Feng Sheng to sit for a moment, opened the curtain and went in, and quickly walked out again. Who knew that the old man came out and did not marry him, but said some polite words to him, Feng Sheng couldn't help but ask: I don't know if you and your wife agree to my marriage proposal, the old man rolled his eyes and said: I have nineteen daughters, I have married twelve, and the rest are my wife's masters.
Feng Sheng felt that he was being teased, so he played drunk and said: I like your daughter so much, even if I can't become a husband and wife, let me see her Yuyan, said, he stood up and opened the curtain and broke into the room. Sure enough, I saw the girl in the red shawl, and she was standing on the streamer on her chest, laughing with her family.
The old man was furious and called on two strong men to drag him outside the courtyard door, and Feng Sheng was so drunk that he could not stand steadily, so he suddenly fell into the bushes of thorns. Then, the rubble tiles were thrown at him like raindrops, but fortunately they did not hurt him.
Feng Sheng heard the donkey screaming, so he reluctantly climbed on the donkey's back, because the wolf howled in the dark, which frightened him. After looking around for half a day, I didn't know where I was, but I saw in the vast woods, there were lights flickering, and I thought that it must be a village, and I rode a donkey to that side.
Feng Sheng came to a high gate building, knocked softly with a horse whip, and soon a servant came out and asked: Who are you? Why come and disturb people in the middle of the night? Feng Sheng said that he was lost and had no way to come to stay. The servant said, "What is your name?" I had to tell my master, and after Feng Sheng told him, he stretched out his neck and waited outside.
After a while the servant came out and let him in, and led the donkey for him. Feng Sheng was taken to the front of the lobby, where the lights were dim. But the house looks very gorgeous. A few of them helped an old lady out, and she said to him: Junjun is coming, and Feng Sheng quickly got up and respectfully saluted the old lady.
The old lady quickly stopped him and made him sit down, and then asked: Are you Feng Ziyun's grandson? Feng Sheng said yes. The old lady said: You should be my grandson, hey, flesh and blood, we have been isolated for a long time, it seems strange. Feng Sheng said: Bao'er lost his father when he was a child, and most of the people in his grandfather's family did not know you, so I could not recognize you, the old lady said: You will know in the future.
The old lady asked: Why did you get lost here late at night? Feng Sheng then told the old lady what he had met the girl in red and what had happened to him. The old lady smiled and said, "You are a man of books, why is the wild fox so proud, are you not worthy of his daughter?" Rest assured, you can definitely marry that girl, Feng Sheng thought to himself that the fox girl is also willing.
The old lady asked the lady next to her: The daughter of the Xin family is so beautiful, and the charm of my grandson is fascinated, and the old lady said: The Xin family has nineteen daughters, all of whom are beautiful as flowers, I don't know which one is the official? Feng Sheng said: The girl was about sixteen years old, and the old lady smiled and said: It should be fourteen niangs.
The old lady said: Could it be that she is wearing a high-soled shoe with lotus petals engraved with lotus petals, and the shoes are filled with incense powder, and the little nun who walks with a veil? The beard replied yes. The old lady said: This little girl looks slim, feminine and not tacky, and her grandson has good eyesight, so she quickly sent someone to call her to me.
After about an hour of kung fu, Ya Gui entered and said to the old lady: Xin Fourteen Niang has come. As he was speaking, the girl in the red shawl had come over, and he bent down to kowtow to the old lady, and the old lady said, "Get up, and after you have become my granddaughter-in-law, don't do the courtesy of a slave again, and the fourteenth lady got up and stood beside the old lady."
The old lady caressed her sideburns and said, "What do you do every day?" Fourteen Niang replied in a low voice: When she was idle, she looked back and saw that Feng Sheng was a little shy, and she still looked uncomfortable. The old lady raised her voice and said: This is my grandson, he can see that you Xin family only proposed to you, why did you expel him in the middle of the night?
The fourteenth lady bowed her head and did not speak, and the old lady waved her hand and said: Today I will be the master, and you two will finish your marriage here. Saying that, he asked the servants to clean the house, lay the furniture, and hold the wedding ceremony immediately.
But the fourteenth lady refused to say: My parents do not dare to disobey the order of the county king, but I also have to warn my parents that marriage is a major matter and cannot be hasty. The old lady then praised the fourteenth lady for her understanding, plucked a golden flower from the fourteenth lady's head and handed it to Feng Sheng, asking him to go back and choose an auspicious day of the zodiac as the wedding date, and said that as long as he chose a good day, it would be fine, and they would naturally know without informing the woman.
When it was almost dawn, the old lady asked the servant to lead the donkey to send Feng Sheng out, and when he walked out of the gate, the servant was gone, and he instinctively looked back, and the cottages and houses were gone, only to see the lush pine trees, and the messy weeds covering the piles of graves. Feng Sheng stood there thinking for half a day before remembering that this was the graveyard of Xue Shangshu's family, and Xue Shangshu was the younger brother of Feng Sheng's grandmother, so the old lady called him a grandson.
Feng Sheng understood at this time that he had met a ghost, hey, the ghost was a matchmaker to force the fox girl to marry him, and he didn't know whether this matter was reliable. When he returned, he consulted the calendar, chose an auspicious day, and waited for the wedding date to come. On this day, Feng Sheng cleaned up the residence, and waited until it was dark and did not move, and Feng Sheng laughed at himself and said: Only you fool will believe the words of ghosts.
Just when he thought he was ridiculous, he suddenly heard a noise outside the door, so he pulled his shoes out to inspect, only to see that the palanquin had been parked in the courtyard, the two servants helped the bride to the new house, and the two servants carried large urn-like porcelain jars and placed them in the corner of the house, and there was no valuable dowry, but Feng Sheng did not care.
Later, he asked the Fourteenth Lady, "Why are you afraid of a dead ghost?" Fourteen Niang said helplessly: Xue Shangshu is the envoy of the Five Capitals Patrol Ring, and the ghosts and foxes within a hundred miles of this area are his attendant guards, and the one who dares to say no. Feng Sheng was a little embarrassed when he heard this, and the next day he rushed to the cemetery to pay tribute to the old lady.
When they returned home, they saw two strange maidens, they held a few brocade horses to congratulate, and then without waiting for Feng Sheng to inquire, they left. Fourteen Niang said to Feng Sheng: This is a gift from Junjun.
Feng Sheng's classmate, The Prince of Chu, whose father was a political envoy in the middle of the dynasty, often drank together. When he heard that Feng Sheng had married a wife, he came to Hexi with gifts. A few days later, nachu gongzi sent someone over to ask Feng Sheng to drink, and the fourteenth lady advised her husband: That day I quietly inspected nachu gongzi through the crack in the door, he looked like a monkey-eyed eagle hook nose, and he did not want to have frequent contact with such a person.
Who knew that Chu Gongzi actually came to visit the next day, and also took a new article he made for Feng Sheng to read, Feng Sheng secretly had a mocking tone in his speech, Chu Gongzi was ashamed and angry, and at that time the two of them blushed and dispersed unhappily.
When the Fourteenth Lady saw that Chu Gongzi was gone, she couldn't help but say sadly: Chu Gongzi is a jackal, how dare you sarcastically satirize him. Feng Sheng confidently said not to take this matter seriously, and The Fourteenth Lady said: I was originally forced to marry you, but since we are already husband and wife, I can't look at your frivolous tricks and don't ask you. From now on, don't go out for a while and read behind closed doors, otherwise, let's separate.
Feng Sheng did not think that the fourteenth lady did not love herself, and he also knew that the Xin family was afraid of the old lady, and it was not him who was afraid, so he listened to his wife's words. Not long after stopping, Chu Gongzi actually sent someone to ask him to go to the feast. It turned out that it was the adult who came to the school to take the Xiucai, Chu Gongzi took the first place, and Feng Sheng took the second place.
Feng Sheng refused not to go at first, but the people who came repeatedly asked him to go, and Feng Sheng and his wife said that he really couldn't resign anymore. Fourteen Niang said indignantly: What I said to you, you have become a deaf ear. Feng Sheng was also a little angry when he heard this, so he shook his hand and left without looking back.
When he arrived at the Chu family, he realized that this day was the birthday of The Prince of Chu again, and the guests were full of guests and the feast was very rich. Chu Gongzi took out his test paper to show Feng Sheng, and the guests all gathered around, all admiring and admiring. At this time, Feng Sheng was already drunk, and he sneered at Chu Gongzi and said: Oh, do you still think that you are the first to do a good job in your article? Hey, who made me grow up without my father?
The guests present were all shocked to hear this, Chu Gongzi was so angry that he almost fainted, the guests gradually dispersed, and Feng Sheng also slipped back drunk. After he woke up drunk, he regretted it again, and when the fourteenth lady knew what had happened, she rebuked her husband and said: You are also a person who is light and thin, and your lightness is a person who cultivates good moral character, that is, lack of morality, and your lightness will suffer misfortune for those whose moral character is corrupt.
Feng Sheng promised not to drink again and cause trouble, and The Fourteenth Lady said bitterly: I can already feel that you are about to suffer a great disaster, and I can't bear to see you suffer, please let me go. Feng Sheng cried bitterly when he heard it, and the fourteenth lady put down her face and said: From now on, you must study behind closed doors, even at home, you must not drink alcohol, Feng Sheng sincerely accepted.
The fourteenth lady is diligent and thrifty in running the family, spinning and weaving hard every day, even if she returns to her mother's house, she does not spend the night at her mother's house. Sometimes she also took money from her mother's family to invest in a small business, and the money she earned was put into the porcelain jar she brought from her mother's house.
On this day, Feng Sheng went to the city to mourn, and the Fourteenth Lady repeatedly told him to go early and return early, and he was not allowed to drink with people in the middle. Who knew that when he met Chu Gongzi on the way home, Chu Gongzi asked his servant to help Feng Sheng lead the horse and pull him to his house, and as soon as Chu Gongzi arrived home, he asked him to set up a wine banquet to wash the dust for him.
At this time, Feng Sheng forgot his wife's words to the nine clouds, and after a while of kung fu, Chu Gongzi poured him into a daze. Feng Sheng was a bohemian man, he was locked up at home by his wife, suddenly came out to drink, and for a moment he forgot about it, and he fell to the ground drunk.
It turned out that The wife of Chu Gongzi, Ruan Shi, was not only a fierce woman, but also very jealous, and no one in the family dared to apply grease and powder. Last night, a beautiful yahuan in the family was laughing with Chu Gongzi in the bookstore, and Ruan Shi just happened to see it, and without saying a word, she directly beat the yahuan to death with a stick. Chu Gongzi was ridiculed by Feng Sheng many times, he held a grudge in his heart, and today he happened to meet Feng Sheng, so he framed him with the dead yahuan, and he asked the domestic servant to drag the dead yakuza to Feng Sheng's bed, and then closed the door.
Feng Shengjiu woke up at dawn, he woke up and turned over to find someone around him, took a closer look at the yahuan, gently stroked, found that the body had been stiffened, and pulled his throat and shouted loudly. The Chu family came to see the dead lady and pretended to be surprised to rebuke him, and at this moment, the Prince of Chu also came, and he slandered Feng Sheng for forcing the rape and killing of the maid, and asked the servants to tie up Feng Sheng and take him to Guangping County.
The next day, The Fourteenth Niang heard the news, and the Fourteenth Niang went to the prison to visit the prison, and Feng Sheng was ashamed of herself. At this time, the fourteenth lady could only comfort her husband and said: This Chu Gongzi's plan to frame you is very thorough, so it is better that you recruit it temporarily, so as not to suffer from the pain of skin and flesh again, and come back and find a way.
After Feng Sheng confessed, he was sentenced to death, and the fourteenth lady wept sadly at home day and night. On this day, she suddenly sent her own personal servant away, and then entrusted someone to buy a good girl named Lu'er, and Lu'er has been guarding the fourteenth lady step by step.
The domestic servant who went out to inquire about the news came back and told The Fourteenth Lady that Feng Shengqiu was going to be executed after autumn, and she was not willing to eat and sleep. The lady who had been sent away for more than a month on this day suddenly returned, and the two talked for a long time in the inner room, and the fourteenth lady smiled as soon as she came out.
Feng Sheng was acquitted a few days later, it turned out that the fourteenth lady's personal maid was also a beauty, the fourteenth lady heard that the emperor was going to Datong to inspect, so she let the lady dress up as a prostitute waiting in the brothel, and the emperor saw the feminine lady in the brothel, and she liked it very much.
Because this lady was favored by the emperor, so the emperor wanted to reward her with gold and silver jewelry, the lady cried and said no, as long as the emperor rescued her father Feng Sheng, the emperor carefully inquired, and the lady told her father about the tricks used by the Prince of Chu. The emperor sent someone to investigate the case, and the case was quickly clarified, Feng Sheng was rehabilitated, and Feng Sheng listened to it and bowed to his wife and his wife.
Who knows, this matter did not last long, the fourteenth lady said to Feng Sheng: I have seen through the cold of the world, and I am tired of the red dust world, when you first went to prison, I begged all my relatives and friends, but no one came out to help me find a way to pay attention, and when I saw me, I hid far away. Please let me go, I have chosen Lu'er for you, and marry her.
Feng Sheng listened, he cried and fell on the ground and refused to get up, who knew that the next morning when he woke up, he found that his wife was white-haired overnight, and black and thin, like an old woman of seventy or eighty, and after a few days, the fourteenth lady was sick and dying, Feng Sheng decocted the medicine and served soup, as if serving his parents, he did not even dare to close his eyes, afraid of waking up, the fourteenth lady did not know what would become, and soon the fourteenth lady aged and died.
Feng Sheng was devastated, he had just finished the funeral for the Fourteenth Lady, and the Fourteenth Lady's close-fitting beard had disappeared. Feng Sheng eventually married Lu Er, and a year later, he gave birth to a boy, whose family was increasingly dilapidated due to years of drought.
Feng Sheng suddenly remembered the porcelain jar of the Fourteenth Lady, he knew that the Fourteenth Lady often threw silver into the porcelain jar, explored from the inside of the jar, did not touch anything, helplessly broke the porcelain jar, and the gold poured out of the porcelain jar, so the family became rich from then on.
The old servant of the family went to Taihua to run an errand and saw the still beautiful Fourteenth Lady, riding a green mule, or her body ring following behind. Fourteen Niang smiled and asked: Feng Lang is okay? Please tell Feng Lang that I have become an immortal, and I will disappear when I say it.
Story material "Chatting with Zhiyi"
Disclaimer: This story is purely fictional, please do not sit in line with feudal superstitions.