When he was five years old, his father fell ill and died, and after that, he followed his mother Liang Shi and relied on each other. Due to the limited economic conditions in the family, often eating the last meal without eating, Zhao Yuan often went to the deep mountain old forest in the east of the village to collect firewood, dig up herbs, in exchange for two or two thin silver, buy rice to live. There are many birds and animals in the mountains, and the villagers go into the mountains to hunt, often returning with full loads. Zhao Yuan did not want to kill, so their family's food basically could not smell the smell of meat.
One day, Zhao Yuan dug up two ginseng sticks, carried a bundle of firewood, and came out of the mountain. When I walked to the mouth of the village, I saw the fisherman Ruan Xiao'er carrying a bamboo basket in one hand and a large turtle in the other hand coming from the direction of the river. The big turtle was wrapped around a rope as thin as a needle and thread, and Zhao Yuan saw that it stretched its neck, looked at himself pitifully, and couldn't help but stop and look at the big turtle a few more times. The shell of the big turtle was comparable to that of a two-foot iron pot, and it weighed almost forty or fifty pounds. Ruan Xiao'er carried it on his right hand, obviously struggling.
After Zhao Yuan looked at the big turtle a few times, it actually shed a few tears from his eyes, Zhao Yuan was shocked, and secretly said: All things have spirits, it is crying at me, is it trying to beg me to save its life? Seeing that Ruan Xiao'er was about to pass by, Zhao Yuan suddenly said, "Little Second Brother, wait a minute." ”
"What's up?" Ruan Xiao'er stopped and asked without anger. Although he and Zhao Yuan are the same age, he looks down on readers, so he has nothing to do with this boy.
"You see, this big turtle is in tears, it's really too pitiful, can you let it go with great compassion?" Zhao Yuan put down the chai burden and pointed to the big turtle in Ruan Xiao'er's hand. Ruan Xiao'er glanced at him and laughed coldly, "I had a hard time fishing it out of the river, why did I let it go?" Just because it's pathetic? Put it away what do I take tonight? You're a nerd, I don't believe you've grown up so big and haven't eaten meat yet. ”
"All the livestock that were killed were pitiful, so why didn't you let them all go?"
Ruan Xiao'er's words made Zhao Yuan dumbfounded, but he was not dead hearted, and quickly took out the two ginseng he dug up from the chai he had dug, "You see the color of these two ginsengs, at least more than five hundred years, if you take them to the city to sell, you can sell at least twenty-two pieces of silver." I gave them to you, you exchanged this turtle for me, do you think it's okay? ”
"Your ginseng is really good!" But you can think about it, this turtle is worth two or two silver at most, you take two ginseng and exchange it with me, don't you suffer a big loss? When you meet the villagers later, don't say I bullied you. Ruan Xiao'er also recognized the goods, stared at the ginseng in Zhao Yuan's hand and only looked at it a few times, and then saw its value.
Zhao Yuan said solemnly, "I was willing to exchange with you, how can I learn from those long-tongued women and open their mouths to talk nonsense?" ”
"Well, for the sake of your boy's sincerity, then I'll change with you." However, I will not let you suffer too much loss. After saying that, Ruan Xiao'er handed the bamboo basket and the turtle in his hand to Zhao Yuandao, "There are still a few eels in here, and they are given to you at the same time." ”
"Thank you little brother." Zhao Yuan happily took these two things, and then he carried firewood on his back, carried a bamboo basket and a turtle, and went straight to the river. Ruan Xiao'er looked at the boy's back, estimating that he was going to go to the river to release life, he couldn't help but look at the ginseng in his hand, smacked his lips, and said, "What a nerd!" With that, he hummed a little tune and went home.
Zhao Yuan went to the river and really released the eel in the big turtle and the bamboo basket. The five eels swam away quickly. Only the turtle that had regained his freedom still looked at Zhao Yuan and refused to go into the water for a long time. Zhao Yuan saw that he wanted to be grateful to himself, so he smiled and waved his hand, "You can't speak, you don't have to thank me, hurry back to where you should go!" ”
After the turtle heard this, he nodded, turned around, and climbed into the river without hesitation. After Zhao Yuan returned home, he gradually forgot about this matter. Not long after, this boy went to the house to participate in the autumn examination, and the result was still as usual, the name of Sun Shan.
His mother, Liang Shi, felt that Zhao Yuan was not a piece of reading material, so she persuaded him to change his career and find another way out. At this time, she turned out a piece of turquoise Qilin Jade from the bottom of the box, "Son, you will soon reach the year of the weak crown, and it is time to start a family!" You take this jade pendant and go to the south of the city to find a cloth seller Wang Youde, who will definitely let you and his daughter Siyi finish their marriage after seeing this jade pendant. You're done with your marriage, but you've made a wish with your dad. ”
Wang Youde was already a rich man, very famous in the county, Zhao Yuan had already heard his name, and he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, "Mother, are you afraid that you are old and confused?" How could that rich man look up to a poor man like us? I see your jade pendant, the color is dim, the texture is rough, and it is not worth a few dollars, right? ”
Liang Shi said in a deep voice, "Although it is not valuable, it is a relic given to us by the Wang family, do you see what words are engraved on it?" ”
Hearing this, Zhao Yuan hurriedly took the jade pendant and looked at it carefully, only to find that the jade pendant was also engraved with the word "Si Yi", and he couldn't help but be surprised, "Is this jade pendant really sent by the Wang family?" ”
Liang Said, "That's right. More than 20 years ago, your father saved Wang Youde's life, and Wang Youde became friends with him. Later, I gave birth to you, the Wang family gave birth to a thousand gold, named Siyi, Wang Youde in order to repay your father's kindness, and took the initiative to set up this family affair with us. Now that Si Yi has reached the age of twenty-eight to be married, it is time for you to marry her. ”
I see! Zhao Yuan nodded, shook his head again, and said, "If I go and marry Miss Wang, who will take care of you in the future?" I'm not going! ”
"The Wang family has feelings and righteousness, and will certainly not ignore me." As long as you finish your marriage with Miss Wang, they will definitely send someone to take me to live in the palace. All you have to do now is take this jade pendant and go to your uncle Wang. Liang said again.
Zhao Yuan listened to this, so he let go of his ideological baggage and took the jade pendant to the county seat to find Wang Youde.
Wang Youde's business in the county town is very large, and no one in the city knows and knows. Zhao Yuan effortlessly found the Wang family, and then showed his intentions to Jia Ding. When Wang Youde heard that his old friend's son had come to the door, he was so excited that he couldn't even wear his shoes, so he personally ran to the door to greet him. However, when he saw zhao yuan dressed very coldly, and learned from him that his old friend had long been ill, he began to snub this boy. So he instructed the housekeeper Liu Jiang to arrange a room for Zhao Yuan and let him live in the palace for the time being.
Liu Jiang secretly got Wang Youde's will, so he arranged Zhao Yuan's bedroom next to a pigsty. There were dozens of pigs in that pen, and the feces that were discharged every day were smelly. Wang Youde made this arrangement because he wanted Zhao Yuan to retreat in frustration. But Zhao Yuan, a stupid man, slept next to the pigsty for half a month, and he did not have the slightest intention of saying goodbye and leaving. It seems that this boy is really ready to marry Miss Wang Family and live a good life.
After the servants of the Wang family heard this, they all secretly laughed at Zhao Yuan as a toad who wanted to eat swan meat. Wang Youde and his wife Liu Shi did not want to recognize this family at all, so the two discussed in bed day and night how to save the face of the Wang family, and then broke the marriage contract.
Miss Qianjin Wang Siyi, who grew up in a greenhouse since childhood, naturally developed an arrogant and rude nature. After she learned that her parents promised herself to a dirt bun when she was a child, she repeatedly went to Wang Youde and his wife to protest, "Father, mother, I will not marry the dirt bun with the surname Zhao even if I die, you still let him get out of our house early, I see him feel disgusted." ”
It turned out that after Wang Siyi heard the rumors of Jia Ding, he took the beard and secretly went to the place where Zhao Yuan lived to see him a few times. Although this boy had a clear eyebrow, his shirt was patched up and mended, which really disgusted Wang Siyi. Therefore, she who is suspicious of the poor and loves the rich, plus the hierarchical concept of "door to door", is very clear, and she can't look at Zhao Yuan in any way.
After Wang Youde learned that his beloved daughter did not like Zhao Yuan, his mood suddenly became bright, and he couldn't help but laugh at Liu Shi, "You let Yi'er be a little calm, I will find a way to deal with this matter." ”
Early in the morning one day later, the housekeeper Liu Jiang found Zhao Yuandao, "Zhao Gongzi, our grandfather values you very much, and he hopes that after you marry the young lady, you will be able to take charge of the property in the housekeeper." However, when you first arrived, you must not have any experience in selling cloth for business, right? It just so happens that I am going to go to Ying Tianfu to buy goods this afternoon, you go there with me to walk around, or a long insight, learn some experience, how do you see? ”
"So good! Everything is at your disposal. Zhao Yuan did not know that this was a ruse played by Wang Youde, so that afternoon, he followed Liu Jiang on a cargo ship. The cargo ship traveled on the river for several hours and gradually reached the Yangtze River. At this time, it was also late, and Liu Jiang prepared fine wine and food and sent it to Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan didn't think much of it, and raised his chopsticks to eat. As a result, before the chopsticks could move a few times, the boy's head was tilted and he fell into the cabin.
Liu Jiang took advantage of the night to directly throw Zhao Yuan into the water, and then deliberately shouted, "No, Zhao Gongzi drank too much wine, and he lost his footing and fell into the water!" "At that time, the wind and waves on the river were strong, and naturally no one went into the water to rescue them. And the cargo ship, too, quickly sailed away.
Not long after Zhao Yuan fell into the river, a large turtle actually swam from the middle of the river and grabbed his shirt. After the cargo ship left, the big turtle drove Zhao Yuan out of the water and headed straight for the shore. I don't know how long later, the sky was bright, and Zhao Yuan gradually opened his eyes. As soon as he sat up, he found himself on the shore, his clothes still wet, and he gradually remembered the events of last night. Until this time, he was still wondering in his heart: Did he get drunk last night and accidentally fall into the river? Broken, Liu Butler, they must not know it yet, right? Oh, what a drinking mistake!
Zhao Yuanzheng was annoyed with himself, a big turtle actually grabbed a white fish, swam out of the river, and climbed in front of him without hesitation. Zhao Yuan looked at the big turtle twice and found that it was very familiar. When it looked up and couldn't stop blinking at himself, he suddenly remembered: Isn't this the big turtle that he released from Ruan Xiao'er with two ginseng sticks half a year ago, and shouldn't it be that he saved himself last night?
Zhao Yuanyi was overjoyed, and immediately buried his head and asked, "Big turtle big turtle, did you save me last night?" ”
The big turtle couldn't speak, but it nodded. After listening to Zhao Yuan's question, it immediately nodded at him. Zhao Yuan realized that it was the big turtle who secretly saved him in order to repay his kindness! However, this place is far from home, how did this big turtle swim here? How did you save yourself at a critical moment?
After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Yuan didn't understand it either. He couldn't help but stand up and look around. In front of you is a vast river, behind which is a thick reed, and I don't know where this is and when I will be able to go back. Zhao Yuan remembered his elderly mother at home and suddenly became lost.
The big turtle grabbed the white fish and put his head on Zhao Yuan's calf, signaling him to follow it. Zhao Yuan had nowhere else to go, so he had to follow it and slowly walk towards a small village not far away. This journey does not seem to be far, but one person and one turtle have walked for nearly an hour. As soon as I walked to the mouth of the village, I found dozens of villagers gathered around a square pool to watch the liveliness. Directly north, a few young and strong villagers are stuffing a young girl into a wooden cage that is square on all sides. It looked like she was going to sink the maiden and the wooden cage into the turquoise pool. The girl's face was full of panic, and she couldn't stop shouting tears at a white-haired old man next to the wooden cage, "I don't want to die yet, Grandpa, save me." ”
"Cailian, Grandpa doesn't want you to die, but Grandpa can't save you!" After you go down, don't blame Grandpa for not being useful. The old man knelt down to the wooden cage and cried out in tears. The surrounding villagers did not have the slightest sympathy. Zhao Yuan saw that the crowd was so numb, and couldn't help but ask the people around him indignantly, "What the hell is going on?" Why did you sink that girl into this pool? ”
"Boy, you're a foreigner, aren't you?" We advise you to leave things alone and get out of here. An old lady ruthlessly gave Zhao Yuan a dismount, and another kind old man couldn't stop crying, "A month ago, a big monster that looked like a snake suddenly came to this pool, more than ten feet long, it climbed to our village for three days and two ends to steal chickens and steal ducks to eat, and then when the chickens and ducks finished eating, it began to bite people." The godmother in our village said that this was the snake god who came to our village, and because he was not well taken care of, he began to anger us. If you want to save the lives of more than two hundred people in our village, you must send a virgin boy or a virgin girl to it on the fifteenth day of every month, and today it is just to take Zhou Cailian, the granddaughter of Zhou Datou, to open the knife——"
With that, the old man pointed to the godmother not far away. At this moment, the goddess was wearing a black dagger, dancing a peach wood sword in her hand, and did not live in front of the wooden cage. As she jumped, she said something in her mouth. As soon as Zhao Yuan saw it, he knew that it was the old woman who was pretending to be a ghost, so he couldn't help but scold loudly, "Where is the snake god?" What a mess! Simply ridiculous! Let go of that girl! ”
After saying that, Zhao Yuan quickly rushed to the edge of the wooden cage, ready to rescue the young girl Zhou Cailian by himself. The divine mother saw that this boy had come to make trouble, and hurriedly ordered the young man to throw Zhao Yuan into the water. Zhao Yuan could not swim, and after being thrown into the water, he pounced in the pond. The villagers looked at him, some laughed at his inadequacy, and some secretly lamented his sins. Zhou Cailian was very grateful to Zhao Yuan's feat, but she was now a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and she could not protect herself, so she could only cry in the wooden cage.
Old Man Zhou was very sad to see Zhao Yuan thrown into the water, and he couldn't help but turn around and jump into the pool without hesitation to save Zhao Yuan. At this moment, a monstrous wave suddenly appeared on the calm water, and then, a huge white snake head rose from the water and rushed straight towards Zhao Yuan. When the villagers saw this, they immediately scattered like birds and beasts, screaming loudly and fleeing for their lives. The godmother was even more frightened and ran away. As a result, she did not run a few steps, and she slipped under her feet and directly fell to the ground with a dog shit-eating action.
The godmother rolled twice in panic and was preparing to get up, when the big turtle came out of nowhere and used its shell to make a force, and the godmother did not stand still, but rolled down the ramp into the pool. At this time, Old Man Zhou also rescued the wet Zhao Yuan from the water, and the two of them desperately climbed towards the shore. The white snake in the water saw that the two people had landed, but the godmother had fallen into the water, so he temporarily gave up the pursuit of the two and swam towards the place where the godmother fell into the water. The goddess couldn't stop slapping the surface of the water, and the white snake was even more excited to see it, so after swimming over, she immediately opened the blood basin mouth. After a few flutters in its mouth, the goddess quickly stopped moving. When the big turtle saw this, he shook his head vigorously and directly threw the white fish that was about to dry out in his mouth into the mouth of the great white snake.
The white snake did not notice, and together with the corpse of the godmother, swallowed the white fish into its belly. I didn't think it would be long before it rolled in the pool. Soon, the pool water began to turn red, and the big white snake gradually surfaced from the pool and stopped struggling. Along with them, dozens of juvenile whitefish surfaced. When Zhao Yuan, who was terrified, saw this scene, he realized that the dried white fish in the mouth of the big turtle actually contained severe poison, and the big white snake in the pool was poisoned by this poison.
That big turtle, another feat! To this end, Zhao Yuan crawled in front of it, patted his head in a friendly manner, and said, "Thank you, old man, you saved my life again." "When the villagers saw that the great white snake was dead, they would never have to feed it again, and they ran back and applauded. Old Man Zhou felt that all this was the credit of Zhao Yuan, so he invited him to his home and served him good wine and good meat. Of course, Zhao Yuan did not dare to be proud of his achievements, and even praised that all this was the credit of the big turtle. But when he turned back and was ready to thank the old friend again, the big turtle did not know where to climb.
Later, Zhao Yuan realized that he had been secretly calculated by the Wang family, but he did not go to the county court to expose them, because he felt that without them, he would not be able to know Old Man Zhou and the Cailian girl, let alone marry the beautiful, kind and virtuous Cailian.
Soon after the two got married, Zhao Yuan took the old mother to the small fishing village and lived with Old Man Zhou and CaiLian. And Wang Youde, the tree of great style, and later because he offended the magnates, he was actually beheaded by the door. This is really "good has good to repay evil and evil, it is not that the time has not yet come."