Ming Dynasty During the Chongzhen period, there was a gongman named Liu Agong in Gan County, Jiangxi Province. He was young and very healthy. This age was supposed to be when Jiayi had children and grandchildren, but he was alone, without children.
The watchman is commonly known as the "night watcher", who patrols the street at night and tells the time, and often bumps into Chi Mei (read chi mei). If things go on like this, it will be hard for people to lose their health, and it will be difficult for them to inherit the incense.
so that the first generation of changers began to choose heirs. It was passed down to Grandpa Liu's generation. He knew the secrets of the beating. He decided to end him, instead of choosing an heir, so that the beating would no longer be passed on, so he chose to be alone.
Calling watchers usually work in groups of two. One person holds the gong in his hand, and the other holds the bang in his hand. They knock five times a night, once every hour. After the fifth time, it means that it’s dawn, commonly known as the five shift. .
It was originally the Liu family holding the gong and the Fan family holding the bang, but the fan surnamed the gangster in his early years got involved in lawsuits and was assigned to do hard labor outside the Guan. .
On this day, Grandpa Liu was sleeping at home during the day as usual, and was suddenly awakened by a deafening knock on the door. It turned out that Ma San, a housekeeper outside the city's wealthy Zhao Yuan, approached Grandpa Liu for work.
The day after tomorrow is Zhao Yuanwai's sixtieth birthday. He believes very much in Mr. Zhou Yi's words. The husband told Zhao Yuanwai that a birthday banquet will be held on the third day of the night afterwards, which will make the Zhao family's fortune more and more prosperous.
In order to make the time accurate, Zhao Yuanwai asked the housekeeper to invite Grandpa Liu to have a birthday banquet, hoping that he would play gongs outside the house on the third shift, so that the Zhao family could hear the first gong sound.
Grandpa Liu thought in his heart that it was so strange that the birthday banquet was held in the middle of the night. He lived a lot of years unheard of. He asked Ma San: "Is this what Wang Juren said to Zhao Yuan?"
Wang Juren is a well-known local Mr. Zhou Yi, who is proficient in face and is very famous in the local area. He will always ask him about birthdays and celebrations at home. On weekdays, member Zhao often went to ask for advice, but Ma San shook his head and said: "It's not him, it's Mr. Fang, whom my young master invited back from Yingtian Mansion. I heard that he is very famous outside the Guan."
Ma San took twelve taels from his arms. The silver is on the table,Let Grandpa Liu be sure to do what he explained on the birthday banquet. After Grandma Liu sent away Ma San, he lost sleep in the bed. He always felt that this matter was strange, but he couldn't tell the strangeness.
So, he got up and put on his clothes and went to the city to ask Wang Juren about something. After walking half a tea time, he came to the Wang's compound. Seeing a general lock closing the door, Grandpa Liu asked his neighbors and learned that Wang Juren had gone to Suzhou for funeral three days ago.
When he was about to turn around and leave, Grandpa Liu heard a "buzzing" outside the courtyard, so he looked through the crack of the door and saw many flies flying in the courtyard.
Grandpa Liu felt a little strange. The green-headed flies in the courtyard should be attracted by the smell of blood, but Wang Juren is not at home and there is no livestock in the house. Where does the smell of blood come from? The more he thought about it, the more something went wrong in his heart. It happened that he took the gong with him and used it to break the general lock.
Grandpa Liu hurried into the back room, and saw a shriveled man lying on the ground. Judging from his clothes, it was Wang Juren. Blow-headed flies were buzzing around it. Strangely, the body should be stored. For several days, there was no foul smell at home, but a scent of pine.
Grandpa Liu couldn't stay for a long time, so he went out and told his neighbors that Wang Juren's body was found, so he hurried to report to the official. Both the county grandfather and Hao Zuo came personally, and after an inspection, Hao found that Wang Juren's internal organs had burning marks, but the fire was well controlled and only burned in his body.
The neighbors were crying and insisted on seeing Wang Juren leave with a baggage three days ago. The two also said hello. This case is a bit weird and there is no clue for a while. The yamen just hangs like this.
After Grandpa Liu returned home, he always felt that someone was in the dark, and he was covering up some secrets first. Because of his old age, he was a little sleepy this morning, so he yawned and went to sleep. At this moment, a black shadow stopped outside the window for a long time and then left. At this moment, Grandpa Liu, who was sleeping, moved his nose.
In a blink of an eye, it was Zhao Yuanwai's 60th birthday. People with identities in the city were invited to the birthday banquet. There were lots of traffic and people in front of Zhao's house. There is a juggling hot spot in the mansion. Guests applaud and applaud.Whitewash the appearance of a peaceful and prosperous age.
Liu Agong knew that he couldn't lose sight of these people, so he squatted not far from Zhao's house and waited until the guests were almost inside before he got up and walked in with gifts. Although he was entrusted to do things, he didn't want to lose his courtesy and bought some persimmon cakes as gifts on Meiguan Street.
The concierge of the Zhao family knew Grandpa Liu and saw Grandpa Liu attending a banquet with a simple gift. The concierge was full of disgust. He kept the persimmon cakes on his index finger and thumb, and threw them in a corner at random. Without the name of Grandpa Liu in the lobby, he let him in.
The concierges of the prime ministers are all seven officials. Outside this Zhao is the richest man in Ganxian . Those who meet are all high-ranking officials and dignitaries. The concierge doesn’t take it seriously. Since Grandpa Liu was not rolled, no one took him to the seat. Fortunately, the butler Ma San saw him.
Ma San said: "The things that are explained must be done." Grandpa Liu patted the cloth bag and said, "Don't worry, you won't miss the auspicious time." Ma San nodded, and he pointed to a side house. Said: "Wait for a while after you finish the change, go to this room for dinner."
Grandpa Liu took a look and saw that the table was empty and there was nothing. Ma San explained: "If you wait for a while, the guests will bring the leftover meals here." Grandpa Liu said dissatisfiedly: "You didn't mean that member Zhao invited me to a banquet, so why let me eat the leftovers? What about the leftovers?"
Ma San looked up and down Grandpa Liu, and said, "What is your identity? What is the identity of the person sitting in the hall? Are you worthy to sit and eat? Others want to eat leftovers. The food is not qualified yet!"
Liu Agong was very wronged, he is older than Zhao, and now he can only sit by and eat some leftovers. Ma San asked Grandpa Liu to wait outside the hall, waiting for him to hit the gong before opening the table.
When Grandpa Liu watched the sky, it was almost three shifts. He took out the bamboo clapper from the cloth bag and knocked it three times, then took out the gong "Kang Kang Kang" and knocked it three times. The birthday banquet was officially opened. Grandpa Liu packed up his things and sat in the side room waiting for the leftovers from the banquet.
Soon the maid brought up half a bowl of boiled fish. Maybe the guests at this table love fish. When this dish is removed, only a tail is left.Grandpa Liu picked up the chopsticks and ate a few bites. The fish was delicious. When he was eating with relish, he smelled a pine scent from the dishes.
Immediately after the second dish, the third dish was also served, almost every dish has a pine flavor. Grandpa Liu put down his chopsticks and fell into deep thought. The taste of rosin is very unique, light and fragrant, and ordinary people would not feel it, and would treat it as vegetable oil.
However, Grandpa Liu smelled a strong scent of loose pine in Wang Juren’s house, and after he returned from Wang Juren, he seemed to smell it in his sleep. When he was in doubt, Zhao Yuan took his son outside. Toast each seat.
Zhao Yuanwai was followed by a young man wearing a Confucian costume. He was wearing a mask and stood out from the crowd. Grandpa Liu felt curious, and got up to look over. He accidentally knocked over the lantern on the table, and then poured some sesame oil from the lantern.
Grandpa Liu leaned forward to smell it, and he snorted in his heart: "Turpentine oil?" He got up and looked around. As it was a birthday banquet at night, the Zhao family lit up candles all around. If the lantern was filled with turpentine oil, When the candle inside burns out, the flame ignites the resin, and the compound will be swallowed by the flame, and the people here will also die in the flames.
Grandpa Liu was frightened by the thought and sweated on his back. He hurried to the housekeeper Ma San and said: "It is dangerous to have resin in the lantern. Let the guests leave quickly. I am too late for fear that it will be too late."
After being scolded by Zhao Yuanwai, he was suffocated in his heart. Seeing Liu Grandpa’s fingering, he angered: "What are you talking nonsense? You will roll when you finish eating. I didn't see that I was busy."
Grandpa Liu also wanted to go up and persuade him, but they were stopped by the family on the side. They were hungry. They felt uncomfortable seeing a watchman sitting in the house eating, so the two family members dragged him out.
Grandpa Liu stomped angrily. At this moment, Mr. Fang, wearing a mask, walked out and said to Grandpa Liu: "You go back soon. Some people will die with arrogance and prejudice." Then he Said to Jiading: "Don't let him in."
Turned and left after speaking, only to see Mr. Fang walking lame.With his left hand on his waist again, Grandpa Liu looked at his back, thinking of what happened in the past few days, a name "Fan Sanjia!" appeared in his mind. The government sentenced him to exile outside the customs to do hard labor. The reason was that he ran into Zhao Yuanwai's son, Zhao Gui, drank alcohol and killed the noodle stall owner.
Fan Sanjia was young and energetic and could not understand Zhao Gui's evil deeds. He came forward to testify that he committed the crime. As a result, Zhao Yuanwai bought the county government office to change the autopsy (post-mortem report), which proved that the noodle stall owner died of illness. The county grandfather was again a stupid person, and he released Zhao Gui on hearing his words.
This Zhao Gui was frantic. While Fan Sanjia was not at home, he took someone to light his fiancee’s house with turpentine oil and burned the family of three to death. So Fan Sanjia overcame the wall and entered Zhao's house overnight to find Zhao Gui to settle accounts. He was found to have interrupted his leg on the spot and tied him to the county office. The county grandfather sentenced Fan Sanjia to exile.
At this time, the candles in the red lanterns outside the house are about to burn out. At the critical moment, Grandpa Liu couldn't ignore the life and death of everyone in the house. He untied the gong on his body and struck it desperately.
The already empty street, the gong suddenly sounded, which was very harsh and unpleasant. The people who were eating in the room also heard the sound of gongs, and everyone put down their chopsticks and whispered to ask what happened.
Grandpa Liu yelled, "Fan Sanjia, come out for me." Zhao Gui was a little bit drunk, he walked out the door and yelled, "Old fellow, what are you calling? Fan Sanjia was sentenced to exile long ago. , I'm just like him, interrupting your leg."
Liu Grandpa said: "Mr. Fang is Fan Sanjia, you can know if you take off his mask." The guests heard the quarrel outside the door and came out to watch. Grandpa Liu continued: "Everyone, the red lanterns in this courtyard are strange. They are full of pine resin, and the candles inside are burned out. Everyone will be buried in the flames."
Zhao Yuan is also in the crowd. Guang, asked Jiading to take down a red lantern, and there was rosin in it. He thought in his heart that it was Mr. Fang who arranged the birthday banquet. Grandpa Liu was not a lie. The resin was lit, and the people present were in trouble.
So they immediately sent people to find Mr. Fang, this Mr. Fang was indeed pretending to be Fan Sanjia. After he escaped from outside the pass,Always thinking about revenge for his fiancee, but due to the influence of Zhao Yuanwai's family in the county seat, he could not punish Zhao Gui.
One day, he saw Wang Juren and Zhao Gui in Yingtian Mansion, so he approached and followed, and learned that they were discussing organizing a birthday banquet outside Zhao. Therefore, Fan Sanjia came up with a strategy. He learned some Zhouyi techniques from prisoners outside Guan. So, taking advantage of Wang Juren's departure, he pretended to be a Mr. Zhou Yi who had returned from outside the pass, cheated Zhao Gui's trust, and followed him back to Gan County.
Fan Sanjia is afraid of his identity being leaked and he is afraid of confronting Wang Juren. On the day he returned, he put some pine resin in Wang Juren's dishes and used some secret techniques to make it spontaneously burn in his abdomen, kill Wang Juren, and go to Suzhou pretending to be Wang Juren.
At this birthday banquet, as Grandpa Liu said, Fan Sanjia carefully designed it to make the Zhao family and people related to the Zhao family be buried in the fire, as a way to punish them for collaborating with each other.
Everyone heard that the Zhao family was in danger, and they ran out of the house. Someone saw Fan Sanjia with his mask removed in the lobby. At this moment, he was holding a candle in his hand to light the resin in the house.
Grandpa Liu pushed everyone away and went up and said: "This is the end of the matter. Put down the candle and surrender. You have a long way to go after you are young."
Fan Sanjia cried and said: "When I killed Wang Juren From that moment on, I was just like Zhao Gui as a wicked person. In order to achieve my goal, I extinguished my conscience. I was afraid that you would see through my identity and want to kill you. I have no way to go."
Zhao Gui clamored outside the door Said: "The bold fugitive Fan Sanjia will be captured before he is alone." The new county grandfather is a good official. He knows that there are clues. Only when a person has great grievances will make him frantically think of such a vicious strategy.
So he stood up and said: "I am the new magistrate, Fan Sanjia, you can tell me if you have wronged it, please put down the candle, you are still young and don't do stupid things." Fan Sanjia continued: "Lord magistrate, Wang Juren He deserves to die as much as Zhao Gui.”
It turns out that Wang Juren’s plan to burn Fan Sanjia’s fiancée’s house was put forward by Wang Juren. He was dressed in the coat of Mr. Juren actually took a fancy to Fan Sanjia’s fiancé’s home, so Zhao Gui punished Fan Sanjia with one stone and two birds with one stone.Let Wang Juren get this piece of land again.
Zhao Gui was still cursing, and Grandpa Liu was furious. Taking advantage of everyone's attention, he pulled his clothes and walked into the courtyard. Zhao Gui was a dandy boy who had no power to bind a chicken, and was carried by Grandpa Liu to Fan Sanjia like a chicken.
So, Fan Sanjia poured the oil from the lantern on Zhao Gui, faced him with a candle, and asked him to confess his crimes of killing the noodle shop owner and killing Fan Sanjia’s fiancee’s family on fire. Zhao Gui was so frightened that he screamed and confessed to the crime in order to survive.
Grandma Liu said: "Sanjia, you are a kind-hearted person. It is not worth giving up a good life for Zhao Gui."
Fan Sanjia felt sour and put down the candle. . Grandpa Liu put away the gong and left. Everyone felt lingering after this incident. Everyone was grateful for Grandpa Liu's help. They were full of grievances about being imprisoned by the Zhao family.
As a result, many people stopped doing business with the Zhao family. Because Zhao Gui was arrested, all those who had been persecuted by him came to complain, and even the evil deeds of Zhao members were exposed. In the end, the father and son were sentenced to be executed for numerous crimes. The former county magistrate was dismissed for investigation and prosecution for failing to handle the case, and Hao Zuo was expelled from the county office.
Under the influence of the county grandfather, Fan Sanjia was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. One year later, he took over the gongs and bangs from Grandpa Liu, continued to work as a guard, and continued to support Grandpa Liu.
is written at the end:
In the end, Fan Sanjia got revenge and lived a happy life. The ending is more literary, and the content of the story is more realistic.
All living beings are common people, and their lives are very similar. When I was young, I had a tortuous relationship, a rough middle-aged life, hard work for his wife and children, and lived every day carefully, afraid of accidents.
Ordinary people walked all the way trembling, but when others were in distress, it was these kind-hearted ordinary people who stepped up to rescue people in distress.
People have no distinction of high or low, no matter of work. People in all walks of life should be respected.
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