During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, an old man in a gorgeous official robe in a large mansion in Yangzhou Mansion looked at the beggar in front of him with tears in his eyes, his eyes full of joy and love.
His wife Zhang Shi looked at his family master with a puzzled look and said: Sir, does this young man have anything to do with you? Makes you so excited.
The old man saw Madame's puzzled expression, so he said: "Madame, do you remember the experience I told you back then?"
Hearing the old man say this, his wife also became excited, and immediately said: Sir, is he just...
Before Zhang finished speaking, the old man nodded desperately, yes... Yes.
What can make the family of an old man in official robes so excited?
To understand the cause of the matter, we have to start decades ago.
In a county town fifty kilometers from Yangzhou capital, there lived a large family surnamed Xia, headed by Xia Xin, who mainly made their fortune by selling salt.
At that time, Xia's new father, Mr. Xia, was originally a poor boy who was poor and white, and through his own boldness and carefulness, coupled with his willingness to endure hardships, he forged a road, and thus made a fortune by selling salt.
It is possible that he was born in a poor family since he was a child, and after he became rich, Mr. Xia still maintained his diligent and thrifty, simple and kind nature, and did not get carried away because of the development, and no one in sight.
On the contrary, he has a sympathy for the poor people, so under his education, his son Xia Xin also inherited his character, and is a young man who loves to fight grievances, is just and kind.
Once a young Xia Ming followed his father's horse gang out to transport salt, and on the way back from transporting salt, he encountered a drastic change in the weather and a heavy rain, in order to prevent the goods from getting wet and causing losses, so he found a nearby cave to rest.
Just after their group arrived at the cave, they found a drenched man standing in the cave trembling.
Xia Xin saw the man's frozen whole body trembling, so he hurriedly built a fire, asked the man to come and bake the fire with them to warm up, and dried the clothes on his body.
He saw the man alone in this deep mountain, so he asked curiously: Alas, brother, you are quite bold, you dare to walk alone in this deep mountain.
Fortunately, it is our horse gang that encounters us, and if you encounter bandits, you will be robbed of money at light, and you will account for your life at worst.
The man replied: "Fortunately, I met your horse gang, otherwise even if I didn't encounter bandits, this rainstorm weather, in this cave, I would also feel the occasional wind chill, which would also affect my progress in rushing for the exam.
Through the chat, Xia Xin knew that it turned out that this man's name was Duan Qing, a show talent in the countryside below, and this long journey was to come to the provincial capital to participate in the triennial rural examination.
Due to the long distance and the poverty of his family, Duan Qing set out from his hometown a month in advance, relying on two legs over the mountains to rush to the provincial capital to participate in the rural examination, and today he just walked to this deep mountain, suddenly encountered a heavy rain, so he took shelter in this cave and met them.
After Xia Xin learned about the man's situation, he greatly praised his efforts and diligence.
Just as the two were chatting, Xia Xin suddenly found that Duan Qing's face was pale, so he hurriedly asked: I see that your face is so pale, I'm afraid you're not sick, right?
After speaking, he touched Duan Qing's forehead with his hand, not touching it, he was startled, and his forehead was hot.
Duan Qing immediately said: It's okay, just rest for one night.
Xia Xin hurriedly said: You are infected with wind cold, you can't be careless, and quickly took out the herbs they used to treat wind chill from your backpack.
Then he instructed his subordinates to quickly boil the medicine, and after boiling the medicine, he personally brought it to Duan Qing and fed it.
After drinking the medicine, he took some warm things from the horseback he was carrying and covered Duan Qing's body.
After a night's rest, Duan Qing's fever subsided, and after dawn, Duan Qing said to him: "Brother Tai, yesterday I was fortunate that your medicine saved me, otherwise my little life would have been lost in this barren mountain."
Xia Xin said: In this deep mountain, meeting is a fate, if you meet other people, you will not see death and save it.
Duan Qing heard him say this, so he replied: "I didn't expect that Gongzi is not only dignified, but also so righteous, I, a poor and talented person, can get Gongzi's help, I am really grateful."
Xia Xin replied: Brother, you are polite, and the matter of raising your hand is not enough.
Your body has just recovered, and then rely on two legs to toss back and forth, it is estimated that you go to the provincial city to catch up with the exam, and you may not be able to achieve good results, just as I also go to the provincial capital along the way, you follow our horse gang together, and take care of each other.
Duan Qing originally thought that last night had bothered them enough, so he wanted to refuse them, but he couldn't resist Xia Xin's repeated warm invitations, so he set off with their horse gang.
With the care of the horse gang along the way, Duan Qing's body also recovered extremely quickly, and he also knew through chatting that Xia Xin's family was in business, and the family business was quite big.
At the same time, he was also impressed by Xia Xin's character and bold personality, and through understanding along the way, both of them had endless words to say, and they both had a feeling of seeing each other late.
In a few days, they arrived in the provincial capital, because Xia Xin was going to busy with business, and Duan Qing was going to take the exam, so even if the two wanted to get together for a few days, they each had important things to do, so after arriving in the provincial capital, the two of them also said goodbye.
Before parting, Xia Xin took a few taels of silver from the package he was carrying and handed it to Duan Qing and said: "Brother, your body has not yet recovered, I have a few taels of silver here, and you should be in a hurry if you take it with you."
Saying that, he divided a piece of jade pendant he carried with him, divided it in two, and handed half to Duan Qing and said: If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to the county Xia's house to find me.
This half of the jade pendant, you keep it as a memorial, you are a friend I have made, so I hope you don't refuse.
Duan Qing originally wanted to refuse the silver taels that Xia Xin gave him, but when he heard him say this, he accepted it happily and said, "It is also my honor to be able to make this friend of yours today."
If we can see each other again in the future, we will have a long conversation at night, and after saying that both of us laughed, then we will make a decision.
So the two parted.
A few years passed, because Mr. Xia was old, he handed over all the family business to his son Xia Xinlai to manage, and lived a life of nurturing for himself.
After Xia Xin took over his father's business, he adhered to his father's honest and trustworthy, loyal and kind character, and never bullied the people and bullied the people, so the business was getting bigger and bigger, compared with his father Mr. Xia.
Seeing that his son was busy with business all day and his life's major matters had not been solved for a long time, Mr. Xia wanted to start a family for Xia Xin as soon as possible, so as to add a grandson to the Xia family, so that the Xia family's industry would have successors.
Since the Xia family is also one of the richest people in the local area, when he learned that his son-in-law was going to marry a wife, there was an endless stream of people who came to mediate, and the threshold of his family was about to be leveled.
Among the many big families who came to media, Xia Xin did not fancy one, but a woman born into an ordinary family, Liu Hong.
After the two met for the first time, they developed a good feeling for each other and soon fell in love.
Old Master Xia is also a sensible person, as long as his son likes it, he doesn't care about what is right.
So with the consent of Old Master Xia, he soon chose a good and auspicious day to marry Liu Hong back home with an eight-lift palanquin.
After marriage, Liu Hong took care of the house in an orderly manner at home, and Xia Xin was busy with the business of the shop outside, living a life of husband and wife.
Within two years, Liu Hong added a son to Xia Xin, which made the Xia family happy, so Xia Xin named his son Xia Ming.
Under the careful education and cultivation of the husband and wife, Xia Ming is also a loyal and kind, kind and charitable child, although born in a wealthy family, but he has never seen the appearance of a son-in-law.
On the contrary, it gives people more of a feeling of simplicity, kindness, and calmness.
However, just when the Xia family's business was booming, the crisis also came quietly, because Xia Xin was straightforward, in fact, although their family ran a salt business, but never raised the price, and controlled the price of salt so that everyone could afford it and use it, so as to get unanimous praise from the people.
However, it was this move of their family that harmed the interests of other salt sellers, so they united to frame the Xia family.
Coupled with their collusion with the local government, soon the Xia family's shops were forced to close down.
After the shop was closed, the smuggled salt could not be sold, and soon the capital chain was broken, in order to pay off the debt.
Xia Xin had to sell his property to pay off his debts, and just like that, within two years, Xia Jianuo's big industry declared bankruptcy.
The once luxurious summer house was also sold to pay off debts.
The family also moved to live in a thatched hut, but unfortunate things followed.
When Xia Ming was 15 years old, Xia Xin died after a year of delay due to occasional wind chills and lack of money for treatment, and his mother Liu Shi also passed away a year after his father's death, leaving the lonely Xia Ming alone.
The changes in the family and the successive departures of his parents made Xia Ming, who was only 15 years old, have to work hard for three meals a day.
In order to survive, he made ends meet by doing odd jobs, which he could eat if he had something to do, and starve if he didn't have it that day.
On this day, Xia Ming, who had not found a casual job for two consecutive days, was hungry and had no strength.
He was wandering on the street, and before he knew it, he walked out of the street, and suddenly it rained heavily in the sky, so he hurried to a nearby land temple to hide from the rain.
After entering the Land Temple, he saw that the Land Temple was already full of dust, so he cleaned the Land Temple by the way.
After cleaning, he felt extremely tired, so he found a place to sleep.
I don't know how long I slept, but in a daze, I suddenly heard an old man in the land temple say to another person: "Wife, today's rainstorm is too big, it is not normal, it is estimated that something big is about to happen."
Another old lady's voice said: "O old man! Look at the weather, you can calculate it and see what is going to happen.
After a while, the old man slowly spoke: "Wife, just now I calculated that not far in front of our land temple, there will be a Chincha Lord who will pass by here.
The old woman immediately said: This Lord Chincha passed by our side, how could it suddenly rain heavily?
The old man said: This Lord Chincha is incorruptible, and he is deeply valued by today's saints, and the emperor sent him to all parts of the country to inquire about corruption cases, so many officials regarded him as a thorn in the flesh and wanted to get rid of him to avoid future troubles.
Wherever Lord Chincha came, the officials everywhere were panicked, afraid that they would find out their heads, so they secretly paid a lot of killers to prepare for assassination on the way that Lord Chincha passed.
The old woman immediately replied: Such a good clean official for the people, we can't sit idly by, we have to help
The old man immediately said: You forget that the heavenly machine must not be leaked, and if we rush to help, we will be punished if we violate the heavenly machine, and everything depends only on his own creation.
After hearing this, the old woman also shook her head helplessly and said: Alas, it is indeed true, I hope that he will be blessed with a great life and be able to avoid this calamity.
At this moment, Xia Ming suddenly woke up, he opened his eyes and looked around the land temple, and there was no one else
So he looked at the statue of the land lord and the land mother, pondered for a while, as if he suddenly thought of something, and bowed in front of the land lord and the land god statue, so he ran to the heavy rain.
Just as he ran out of the Land Temple, he saw a group of people and horses in official uniforms walking opposite, and among them, several palanquin men carrying a palanquin were walking in the direction of Xia Ming.
At this moment, Xia Ming suddenly saw a corner, there were several masked men in black, hiding in the hidden place of the street.
One of them, a masked man in black, holding a bow and arrow on the string, had already aimed at the palanquin in the middle of the crowd.
At this critical moment, Xia Ming dragged his extremely tired body and ran forward desperately, and exerted all his strength to shout to the crowd: There is danger ahead, there are assassins, everyone quickly protect the adults.
The accompanying people and horses heard Xia Ming calling for help, so they immediately surrounded the palanquin and just surrounded the palanquin. A bow and arrow shot out from afar.
Due to Xia Ming's call for help, Lord Chincha's entourage was prepared, and the arrows shot were immediately shot away by Lord Chincha's personal guard.
At this moment, Xia Ming had not eaten for several days, and he had just used all his strength to run and roar, and at this moment he had fainted on the side of the road.
After saving the danger, Lord Chincha hurriedly got out of the sedan and asked his entourage: who reminded him just now, who said that there was an assassin, fortunately this reminder, otherwise the old man would have died on the spot.
The attendant immediately replied: The adult seems to have heard the voice from that side just now, but at this time there was suddenly no sound.
So Lord Chincha sent his retinue to check, and soon found Xia Ming, who had fainted on the side of the road, so he quickly helped him up and brought him to the adult's side.
The adult immediately asked: What happened to this beggar, why did he suddenly faint, was he injured?
After examining his body, the attendant replied: "Sir, he is not injured, as if he may have fainted from hunger."
So the entourage hurriedly took out some dry food from the package he carried, soaked it in water and fed it to Xia Ming to eat.
It took him a while to come to his senses.
After Lord Qin Cha saw that Xia Ming had woken up, he came to his side and said: "Young man, I didn't expect you to be so young, you have a chivalrous heart, if it weren't for your reminder to the old man, my life would be explained here."
Xia Ming said: It is also an adult's blessing and a great life, just when the villain passed by here, he saw someone with a bow and arrow trying to shoot you, so I casually reminded that adults don't have to pay attention to it.
After hearing this, Lord Chincha also nodded again and again and said: Dare to ask the young man what to call him, whether it is an old man or a husband, remember it in your heart.
Xia Ming said at this time: The villain is a beggar, there is no need for adults to remember, and he must get up and leave after speaking.
Just as he got up, Lord Chincha suddenly looked at his neck and hurriedly asked: Where did you get the jade pendant around your neck? Can you take it off and show it to the old man?
Xia Ming said at this time: This is what my father left for me, and before I died, I told me that I must keep it, take it off casually and hand it to the adult
The adult took the jade pei he handed over, looked at it, and then took out the other half of the jade pei from his arms with a trembling hand and put it on top of his jade pendant, just combining it into a complete jade pendant.
At this time, all the entourage present and Xia Ming gave a surprised expression.
Xia Ming was just about to ask him where he got this half of the jade pendant, but the adult immediately pulled his hand and said: This is not the place to speak, the virtuous nephew will follow me.
So he pulled Xia Ming to sit on the palanquin together, and on the palanquin, the old man talked to Xia Ming about his past with his father, and said: If it weren't for your father's life-saving grace, I wouldn't have achieved what I have now.
All blame me for coming back late, so that your family was framed by corrupt officials, which led to the decline of the family, the death of your parents, and the exile of you as a beggar.
I didn't expect that your father saved my life decades ago, and you saved my life decades later, and I owe your family too much.
Through the chat, Xia Ming knew that this Lord Qincha was named Duan Qing, and when he was still a down-and-out showman, he was rescued by his father on the way to participate in the rural trial.
His father used his horse gang to take him to the provincial capital, and never missed the township examination exam, and the former father split the jade pei he carried with him in two, and gave him half of it and said:
If there was something to do, he could come to the county seat to find him, and gave him silver taels, and later helped him get through the difficulty.
Unexpectedly, in that township examination, Duan Qing took the exam.
Three years later, he participated in the examination for junior scholars, and obtained the emperor's handpicked tanhua in the palace examination, and thus entered the position of editor of the Hanlin Academy.
After several years of training in the Hanlin Academy, his talents were also displayed, and he was subsequently sent by the emperor to Jiangning to serve as a prefect.
During his reign, because of his integrity, he never embezzled or accepted bribes, he was deeply loved by the people, and he was also used by the emperor, and his official position was also promoted all the way until he became the governor of the province.
The emperor sent him to various parts of the province to investigate and deal with corrupt officials and ordinary unjust, false and wrong cases.
However, it is precisely because he is clean and honest and does not collude with other officials, thus becoming a thorn in the side of other officials, and many corrupt officials are afraid that they will lose their lives if they are found out by him, so they secretly send killers to assassinate.
Fortunately, Duan Qing was honest and honest for the official and had a great life, and he escaped assassination again and again.
The two chatted for the sky, and before they knew it, they arrived at the governor's mansion, and he was excited to bring Xia Ming to his wife and said: "Madame, do you remember what I told you back then, the lifesaver I met on my way to participate in the township examination?"
Unexpectedly, today his son saved my life again, and as he spoke, he couldn't help but shed tears of excitement, hugged Xia Ming tightly and said: Don't worry, nephew, your family was framed, the old man just saved his life, and he will also return your Xia family to get justice, and this will be your home in the future.
At this moment, Qingqing's daughter Duan Hui appeared in front of them, and seeing the dirty Xia Ming in front of him, he quickly asked: Who is this young man?
Duan Qing saw his daughter ask like this, so he immediately said: "Do you remember the lifesaver that your father often mentioned to you?"
This is the son of the father's lifesaver called Xia Ming, I didn't expect that today he saved your father's life again, our whole family really owes their family too much.
Duan Hui often heard his father think of his lifesaver, but he didn't expect that today's lifesaver's son saved his father's life, and he immediately felt good about the dirty man in front of him.
So he said to his father: Dad, I'll take him to change clothes, and then took Xia Ming's hand and took him to the bath and change clothes.
When they saw their daughter act like this, Duan Qing and his wife also nodded happily one after another.
When she finished washing and changed into clean clothes, what appeared in front of Duan Hui was a gentle, personable, handsome and dashing Xia Ming, which made her look at him intently.
Until Xia Ming reminded her, she blushed shyly and lowered her head.
In this way, Xia Ming temporarily lived in their mansion.
Duan Qing also used this time to bring to justice some corrupt officials and salt traders who framed the Xia family, thus returning justice to the Xia family.
And returned all the properties of those corrupt officials and traders who occupied the Xia family to Xia Ming.
Through this period of getting along, Xia Ming and Duan Hui also had a good feeling for each other.
Just after rehabilitating the Xia family, Duan Qing and his wife pulled Xia Ming and Duan Hui to their side and said: "The old man owes you the Xia family in this life, I'm afraid it won't be able to pay it back."
I decided to give you my daughter, I don't know what the two of you want?
When the two heard Duan Qing say this, they both suddenly blossomed happily and hugged each other tightly.
In this way, within a few days, Xia Ming chose an auspicious day and married Duan Hui back home.
Not long after marriage, Duan Hui gave birth to twins to Xia Ming, and the husband and wife were close to each other, loving each other, and walked hand in hand for a lifetime.
The blessings brought to their families by the Xia family's unintentional acts of kindness were talked about by the locals, and word of mouth became a local good story.