Story: Good Marriage (Folk Tales)

Once upon a time there was a mountain, and there was a young, handsome, skilled little carpenter in the mountain, whom the locals called Brother Qiao. You see his skillful hands, the carved dragon can fly, the carved phoenix can dance, it can be said that it is worthy of the name. Brother Qiao built a series of magnificent high-rise buildings for some local rich families, and also made a piece of exquisite furniture, many miss gongzi used the tall buildings he built and the furniture he played to marry and become a family, so that the large families within a radius of dozens of miles were proud of Brother Qiao's craftsmanship. Although Brother Qiao is famous, he has always lived alone in his small hut, and it is strange that no matchmaker has come to the door to propose to him.

One winter, Huang Yuanwai asked him to make furniture, Brother Qiao was busy for a winter and spring, and the furniture made made by Huang Yuanwai was very satisfied, and he said to him happily: "Brother Qiao, with your hands, you will definitely be able to marry a good girl." Brother Qiao smiled bitterly and said, "I hope it can be like what the staff said." ”

On this day, when Brother Qiao returned home from work, he passed by the garden outside the Huang Yuan, where hundreds of flowers were in full bloom, and the rich fragrance of flowers floated out of the wall. He was walking to a gap in the wall when a string of laughter drew him to stop and see a girl chasing butterflies among the flowers. The butterfly flew in the direction of Brother Qiao, the girl aimed at the butterfly and pounced, the butterfly flew away from the top of Brother Qiao's head, the girl and Brother Qiao made a face, so the girl fixed her eyes on it, only to see the handsome and tall Brother Qiao was looking at herself intently, her cheeks were red, and she avoided the shyness in her eyes.

This girl is the third daughter of Huang Yuanwai, and she is a famous beauty in this area. The handmaiden told her that the exquisite and elegant pieces of furniture that had been newly made in the house were made by the clever carpenter who had attracted butterflies to meet her. From the exquisite furniture, the young lady thought of the demeanor of the man she saw, and she couldn't help but have a heart of admiration for Brother Qiao. At this point, she went to play near the garden gap every day, in order to be able to look at Brother Qiao. And Brother Qiao, who used to finish work and didn't take a detour home, since seeing the lady, somehow, always wanted to go around the bend and walk out of the garden, the purpose was just to be able to look at the miss.

After such a long time, as soon as the young lady heard the footsteps of Brother Qiao, no butterflies would come to the vicinity of the gap, and the eyes of the two people were like the carpenter's ink bucket line, directly aiming at each other. Later, the two of them talked, and the more they talked, the closer they got, and the more they talked, the more they knew each other. The young lady secretly made a pair of cloth shoes from her parents, the soles of the shoes were densely covered with fish scales, and the upper was made of sticky, and handed them to Brother Qiao from the gap in the wall. Brother Qiao also sent a handmade flower hat from the gap, which the lady regarded as a treasure and enjoyed it every day. The young lady's abnormal behavior attracted the attention of Huang Yuanwai, and soon she knew the truth, so she forced her daughter to cut off contact with the poor carpenter.

However, the young lady was obsessed with not changing, and hit the wall with death, and Huang Yuanwai hurriedly stopped and persuaded: "The poor carpenter has no tiles on the top and no land on the ground, so let my precious daughter live in that broken hut, how can I bear it?" The young lady said: "Brother Qiao has a pair of skillful hands, and one day there will be a good house to live in." Huang Yuanwai had no choice, turned a corner, and said: "I bet with him, he wins and you will marry him; if you lose, you will die this heart!" This condition is that within a month, he will..." Miss Huang listened and quickly told Brother Qiao the conditions of the bet, and the two of them had mixed feelings. One wall after another looked at each other for a long time, and finally Brother Qiao said: "There will be a road before people go to the mountain, and after a month I will definitely use a flower palanquin to carry you!" ”

On that day, Brother Qiao came to the home of Li Wanqian, a rich man in Dongzhuang, to work with his heart. When the rich man saw him working with a stuffy head, he sometimes sighed and joked, "What is the heart of the future life?" Could it be that you want to please your wife and think in a hurry? Brother Qiao honestly said, "Yes, I want to marry Miss Huang Family..." Before the words could be heard, the rich man laughed loudly. Brother Qiao said directly about Huang Yuanwai's conditions, sighed and said, "Unless the gods and immortals help each other, it will be difficult to find ninety-nine houses and ninety-nine acres of land in a month..." Li Wanqian was overjoyed and said: "Many children of rich families proposed to Miss Huang, but she ignored them!" If you can really marry her, I will help you, and if you can't marry her, you will have to work for me for the rest of your life. Brother Qiao said, "I'm just afraid of empty words." Li Wanqian expected that this bet would be won, and thinking that the young and strong brother Qiao was going to become his long-term worker, he did not hesitate to make a note.

Brother Qiao received the note, and Li Wanqian urged him: "You have all the houses and fields, don't you want to go to Huang Yuanwai's house to propose to you?" Brother Qiao said, "What are the conditions?" I'm going to find ninety-nine cows and ninety-nine flower-tops..." When Li Wanqian heard this, he was a little discouraged and said, "Niu, I don't have so much..." He rolled his eyes and said, "You go and find Zhang Jinshi!" His family has a lot of cattle. Brother Qiao thought that Li Wanqian was kind enough to fulfill himself, so he thanked him and resigned.

After Brother Qiao left, the more Li Wanqian and his wife thought about it, the more funny it was, and the wife couldn't help but say, "If the poor carpenter wins, won't my family be ruined?" Li Wanqian said: "You can rest assured that Miss Huang's eyelids are famous; second, Zhang Jinshi is an iron rooster, not a dime, and he is also famous; third, even if Zhang Jinshi is willing to produce ninety-nine cows, where will this toad go to find ninety-nine flower palanquins?" After saying that, he laughed wildly.

Just before Li Wanqian's laughter had stopped, Zhang Jinshi had already promised to help the poor carpenter Qiao Brother ninety-nine cattle. However, it turned out that Zhang Jinshi saw that Li Wanqian, a well-known old fox, was willing to set up ninety-nine houses and ninety-nine acres of land, and then thought that there were still ninety-nine flower palanquins that he would not get, so he also wanted to make fun of this poor carpenter, so he also made the same note with Brother Qiao according to Li Wanqian's conditions, and promised to come down with his mouth.

Although Brother Qiao was relieved again, the ninety-nine palanquins still made him unable to laugh. Zhang Jinshi also urged him to go to Huang Yuan's house to propose to him. Brother Qiao said, "However, I still have ninety-nine flower palanquins that have not landed!" Zhang Jinshi said, "Do a good job!" You go to the county magistrate, won't you! He said this on his lips, but in his heart he thought: You are a poor carpenter, I am afraid that you have not yet met the county official, and you have been coaxed back with a stick from the servant.

It is also said that this qiao brother has never seen a county official since he was a child, but now he only has the courage to try his luck. So Brother Qiao rushed to the county town overnight and sounded the drum with courage.

The county magistrate hurried to the church, and as soon as he asked Brother Qiao, who was kneeling on the ground, he asked, "Do you have any grievances to be done?" Or do you still have a complaint to sue? This officer is the master of the people, though truthfully! Brother Qiao said honestly: "I have not been wronged, nor do I sue..." The county official was furious: "Bold, then why did you come early in the morning to beat the drum?" Brother Qiao was in a hurry and became stuttering: "Old, old man! The thing is, it is like this..." So, Brother Qiao said the conditions outside the Yellow Officer and the two rich men willing to help.

When the county official heard this, he smiled and leaned forward and backward, and almost fell out from behind the public case: "According to you, everything is only owed to the East Wind!" So you had to come to the Ben Qingtian Grand Master. Brother Qiao hurriedly prostrated his head and said yes, and the county official looked at it even more laughingly, shook his head and said in a tone: "The so-called flower palanquin, the East Wind also, the East Wind, that is, the ninety-nine flower palanquins also!" ”

The county official in a good mood slapped the shocked tangmu, and Brother Qiao was startled, and the county official said: "Brother Qiao listened to the judgment, and this officer borrowed ninety-nine flower palanquins from you." Order you to marry Miss Huang away as quickly as possible, and to capture ninety-nine houses, ninety-nine acres of land, and ninety-nine cows, and if four things cannot be accomplished, I will convict you of defrauding this official. Can you boy be willing to close the case like this? Brother Qiao listened to the verdict at the beginning, and his heart jumped bottomlessly, and then the more he listened, the happier he became, and he heard it and kowtowed and said yes. The county magistrate threw a token to the head of the class: "This official orders you to choose ninety-nine flower palanquins, and go with the little carpenter to marry and drink happy wine!" Then Tang Wei said, "Retreat." ”

In this way, the deadline was one month, and the carpenter was able to do it in just a few days. Three hundred and ninety-six sedans carried ninety-nine flower palanquins, and the head of the class carried a group of servants banging gongs, drumming, holding flags, and holding umbrellas, and Brother Qiao carried Li Wanqian and Zhang Jinshi's notes in his arms, under the auspices of the county messengers and the onlookers of the villagers, to Huang Yuanwai's house to marry Miss Huang. And Li Wanqian and Zhang Jinshi, two rich men who took advantage of the danger of others, not only folded their wealth and lost face, but instead achieved a good marriage between Qiao Carpenter and Miss Huang.