In Kaifeng City, Henan, Deng Chengde traveled to Yanzhou, Shandong Province, spent the night in a broken temple, and made a living by helping the government to copy the household registration roster.
As the year draws to a close, the bureaucrats and servants all go home. Deng Chengde was alone, cooking and eating in the broken temple. When the sky was dimly bright, a young woman knocked on the door and walked in, quite gracefully, and left after burning incense and prostrating in front of the Buddha statue. The next day, the young woman came again, as she had done yesterday, and left after burning incense and worshipping.
That night, Deng Chengde got up and lit a candle and was about to start work, when the young woman came earlier.
Deng Chengde said: "The girl came to the temple to worship after dawn two days ago, how did she come so early today?" ”
The young woman said, "After dawn, people have a lot of mouths, so it is better to come at night." I came too early and was afraid to disturb my husband's sleep. Just now I saw the lights of Mr. House lit up in the distance. Knowing that the gentleman had gotten up, he came deliberately. ”
Deng Chengde teased: "There is no one in this broken temple, the girl might as well stay here, or avoid running back and forth." ”
The young woman smiled and said, "Who said that there was no one in the temple, is sir a ghost?" Deng Chengde saw that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and when the young woman was finished worshipping, Deng Chengdra sat down with the young woman and asked for pleasure.
The young woman said, "Before the Buddha, how can you do these things?" Moreover, the gentleman is so poor that he has no place to stand, and he still has delusions! Deng Chengde kept pleading.
The young woman continued, "Thirty miles from here, there is a Li family village, and there are six or seven children in the village, and they have not yet invited a teacher. Mr. Li went to the village to visit Li Qianchuan, and he could go to the village to be a Teacher of Montessori.
The husband pretended to bring the family room, let Li Qianchuan prepare another room for you, and the concubine could come to wash and cook for the husband, which was the long-term solution. ”
Deng Chengde was worried that if he and the young woman were so meticulous, they would be punished by the government after being accused.
The young woman said, "Don't get in the way." The concubine's surname is Fang, her nickname is Wen Shu, and she has no relatives, and she stays in her uncle's house all year round, so who knows about it. ”
After Deng Chengde listened, he was overjoyed. After Fang Wenshu left, Deng Chengde immediately went to LiJia Village to visit Li Qianchuan, and sure enough, he got his wish. It was agreed that before Chinese New Year's Eve, he would take his family room and move to Lijia Village. After going back, tell Fang Wenshu what happened.
Fang Wenshu made an agreement with him to let Deng Chengde wait on the road. Deng Chengde then said goodbye to his friend, borrowed a horse, and rode away. Fang Wenshu was indeed waiting in the middle of the road, so Deng Chengde got off the horse, handed the reins of the horse to Fang Wenshu, helped her get on the horse, and led the horse forward in front of her.
When they arrived at Lijia Village, the two lived in the study and got along very happily. After living here for six or seven years, the two were harmonious, and I had never heard of any family looking for a young woman.
Fang Wenshu suddenly gave birth to a son. Deng Chengde has not been able to have children because of his wife in his hometown, and now he has a son, and he is very happy, because he was born in Yanzhou, so he named his son "Yansheng".
Fang Wenshu suddenly said, "After all, fake couples can't take it seriously." The concubine had originally planned to bid farewell to her husband and leave this place, but how did she know that she had given birth to this oil bottle again! ”
Deng Chengde said: "In the past few years, there has been no trouble, plus the tuition fees collected, and some money has been saved, I plan to flee back to my hometown with my wife and find another livelihood. ”
Fang Wenshu said, "Thank you for your kindness!" However, I really can't do the things of bending down and shrinking my shoulders, pretending to be smiling, pleasing my husband and wife, and also being a nurse for this boy, crying all day, which is really unbearable! ”
Deng Chengde, in place of his wife, said that she was not a jealous person, and Fang Wenshu still bowed her head and said nothing.
A month later, Deng Chengde and Li Qianchuan discussed that they would no longer be teachers and planned to go out to do business with Li Qianchuan's son. Back in the room, he said to Fang Wenshu: "I want to be a teacher for a lifetime, and it is difficult to be rich." Now that I have learned to do business, if it goes well, I will soon come back. ”
Fang Wenshu also did not answer.
That night, Fang Wenshu suddenly hugged her son and got up. Deng Chengde asked, "What is Madame going to do?" ”
Fang Wenshu said, "Concubines plan to leave." ”
Deng Chengde hurriedly got up and went forward to ask questions, only to see that the door had not yet opened, and there was no trace of Fang Wenshu and his son. Greatly shocked, this is how he woke up and realized that Fang Wenshu was not a human being, and the previous statement that he was staying at his uncle's house was mostly false.
Deng Chengde did not dare to bid farewell to fang Wenshu because of her unknown origins, but only pretended to say that she took her son back to her mother's house.
Initially, before Deng Chengde left his hometown, he and his wife Lou Shi agreed that they would return at the end of the year; then several years passed, but there was no news at all, and people around him said that he was bound to die in a foreign country.
Lou's brother originally had no sons because of her, and wanted his sister to remarry. Lou said: "Wait another three years, if he has not returned, I will not be late to remarry." ”
Weave for a living every day. One day, in the evening, Lou Shi walked to the courtyard and was about to close the outside door, when a woman took advantage of Lou Shi's lack of preparation, suddenly sneaked in, still holding a baby in her arms, and said: "I came back from my mother's house, it was late, and I missed the head of the house." Knowing that my sister lived alone, I came to ask for a night's sleep. ”
Lou saw her alone, with the baby, rather pitiful, and agreed. When I got to the room, I saw that the woman was a beautiful woman in her twenties.
Lou Shi was very happy, sleeping with her at night and talking, teasing the baby together, Lou Shi saw that the baby was white and fat, and sighed: "Husband Jun has been away for many years, and there is no news, so that I don't even have a son!" ”
The woman said, "I am disgusted that raising a child is too tiring, so I will pass on the child to my sister as a descendant, what does my sister think?" ”
Lou said: "Let's not say that my sister can't bear to cut love; even if my sister can't bear it, my sister doesn't have milk to raise him." ”
The woman said, "It's not difficult." I had just given birth to him, and I didn't have any milk, so I just took half a pack of pills. The remaining half of the medicine, I still keep, I will give it to my sister. So he took out half a packet of medicine and placed it under the window sill.
Lou Shi also casually agreed, thinking that the woman was just laughing for a while and did not pay attention to it. After falling asleep for a while, after dawn, hearing the child crying, Lou woke up, but found that his son was still there, and the woman had opened the door to leave.
Lou Shi was horrified, and really couldn't believe that there was a mother in the world who easily gave up her son. At this time, it was already breakfast time, and my son was crying in bed, and he must have been hungry. Lou Shi had no choice but to pick up the half-pack of medicine under the window sill and eat it, and after a while, sure enough, the milk was abundant, so he fed his son.
A year later, his son grew stronger and began to learn teeth and teeth, which Lou liked very much and regarded as his own. So I no longer intend to remarry. However, every day I got up early to hold my son and take care of him, and I didn't have much time to knit, and the family was increasingly embarrassed.
One day, the woman suddenly came. Lou Shi was afraid that she had come to ask for her son, and she was the first to take the lead, blaming her for not saying goodbye last time, and then continuing to say how hard it was to raise her son this year.
The woman laughed and said, "My sister told me this, thinking I wouldn't ask for my son?" So he reached out and summoned his son. The son did not recognize the woman, and threw himself into Lou's arms in tears.
The woman said, "The stinky boy doesn't even recognize his mother!" If you want him to be a son for his sister, less than a hundred taels of silver, it is definitely not possible. My sister brought the silver, we wrote the notes, and my son will be yours in the future, and I will never bother again. ”
Lou Believed it was true, but with so much silver, he couldn't take it out, and his face was ugly.
When the woman saw this, she smiled and said, "Sister, don't be afraid." It was just a joke. I came here for my son. After the last separation, considering that the sister was alone, it would be very difficult to raise her son, so I thought of ways to raise more than ten pieces of silver, this time to send money to my sister. ”
So he took out the silver and handed it to Lou. Lou Shi was afraid that after accepting the silver, he would only raise a son for her, and later she asked for her son, but instead had evidence and resolutely resigned.
The woman put the silver on the bed and went out to leave on her own. Lou Shi hugged her son and chased him out, the woman had gone far, Lou Shi kept calling her behind, the woman did not hear, did not stop for a moment. Lou Shi was still worried that she would definitely come to ask for her son in the future.
After getting the silver, he lent the silver out and lived on interest and weaving. It is planned that if the woman asks for her son in the future, she will take back the principal and return it to her for a lot of money, and she cannot be allowed to take her son away. With this windfall, the family also gradually became rich.
After another three years, Deng Chengde went out to do business, earned some money, packed his bags, and returned to his hometown. The couple had not seen each other for many years, and were talking to each other about hardships, when they saw a child next to them, Deng Chengde asked: "Whose son is this?" ”
Lou told her husband about her experience with the woman. Deng Chengde asked again, "What is his name?" ”
Lou replied, "Before I listened to his mother, I called him Yansheng. ”
Deng Chengde was shocked and said, "This is indeed my son!" He asked, "What day did you first meet her?" Only then did I know that the day Fang Wenshu and his wife first met was the day they were separated from themselves. Deng Chengde told his wife about the separation between him and Fang Wenshu from acquaintance to childbirth.
Lou Shi was no longer worried that Fang Wenshu would come back to ask for his son, and both husband and wife were very pleased. Deng Chengde also hoped that Fang Wenshu would come to see him again, but he never saw her again until he died.