In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a rich man named Ma in Majia Village at the foot of Wushan Mountain. He had a house and land in his family, as well as shops in the county seat. He was a wealthy household in this area.
Rich Man Ma has two sons. The eldest son, Ma Fucai, is already twenty-two years old and has become Rich Man Ma’s right-hand man, mainly responsible for running shops in the county. The second son, Ma Fugui, is over fifteen years old. He has no knowledge and skills and has a naughty temperament. He stays at home.
This year, Ma Fucai married Ruping, a woman from a neighboring village under the introduction of a matchmaker. Ruping was gentle, virtuous and generous, and was deeply loved by the Ma family.
Not long after his marriage, Ma Fucai couldn't worry about business in the county town, so he had to say goodbye to his beloved wife and go to the county town to run a shop. He only found time to come back for a few days a month. Although they get together less and apart more often, the relationship between the young couple is like honey mixed with oil, getting stronger and stronger.
Ru Ping serves her parents-in-law at home, takes care of her brother-in-law, and keeps the family's life in order. More than two years passed like this.
The weather was extremely hot that day. Ru Ping had been working all day and her clothes were soaked with sweat. When she got back to her room at night, she wanted to take a warm bath.
Seeing that it was already dark and everyone in the family had gone to bed, she asked the maid to carry a bucket of water and put it in the room, and then she also went to rest.
At this moment, Ru Ping was particularly relaxed. She was half lying in the bathtub, holding up water with both hands and pouring it on her body, causing countless splashes. She kept chanting: "Bubbles, bubbles!" It felt like she was back in her childhood, and she was having a great time.
At this time, my brother-in-law Ma Fugui couldn't sleep because of the hot weather, so he wanted to get up and drink some water. Unexpectedly, when he passed the door of his sister-in-law's room, he found that her door was ajar and there was a light in the room. He was curious about what his sister-in-law was doing so late, so he tiptoed into his sister-in-law's room.
He happened to see Ru Ping talking to herself while playing in the water, looking at her sister-in-law's childish scene, so Ma Fugui also imitated her and shouted: "Water bubbles, water bubbles!"
Ru Ping heard The voice startled him so much that he forgot that he was taking a shower. He stood up and shouted loudly: "Who?"
Ma Fugui could only see his sister-in-law's head, but when she stood up, she had a great time, and the two of them At the same time, he was dumbfounded. Ma Fugui turned around and rushed out of the room.
Only then did Ru Ping react, her face flushed with embarrassment, and then her whole mood collapsed. Thinking that her husband was deeply in love with her, she would never see him again, so she got dressed and tidied up. Put on good makeup, and then hang yourself from the rafter with a rope.
The next morning, Father Ma and Mother Ma saw that the servants had prepared the meal, but Ru Ping hadn't come out yet, which felt strange. She usually gets up early to arrange these things, but what happened today? Ma Mu was a little worried and came to see her in person. But when she opened the door of Ru Ping's room, she found that she had already died and had no breath.
Ma Mu fainted on the spot and couldn't understand why this person who was fine the day before committed suicide. The Ma family was also in chaos because of Ru Ping's sudden death. Only Ma Fugui hung his head and hid in the corner.
When Ru Ping's family received the news, thinking that their daughter they had raised for more than ten years was gone, they called dozens of people to come to Ma's house to ask for an explanation.
As soon as Ru Ping's father entered the door, he grabbed his relatives' clothes and asked loudly: "I was such a good daughter, why did she hang herself? Your family must have bullied her!"
Father Ma had a hard time saying, after all, she belongs to their family. His daughter died in his own home. Although he didn't know the reason now, he still wanted to comfort the other party as much as possible.
had no choice but to wipe her tears and say: "My dear, please calm down. Our family treats Ruping like a daughter. How could we bully her?"
"Then you mean that my daughter died by herself for no reason. If it was yours Do you believe it, kid?" Ru Ping's mother was very emotional and asked while holding Ru Ping in her arms and crying.
Everyone else stood behind Ru Ping's parents to cheer. The battle was so huge that dozens of people surrounded Ma's family. Ma's father had no choice but to ask the clan elders to come forward to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the matter.
After all the good things were said, Ru Ping's parents agreed to let the Ma family bury her generously, and then compensate his family for thirty acres of good land and one hundred taels of silver, and the matter was over.
When Ma Fu learned that his wife had committed suicide, he rushed home and saw that his wife, who was gentle and virtuous a month ago, was now separated from the yin and yang. He could not figure out why his wife did this.
He believed that his wife was very loving to him and got along well with her parents and family. There was no reason to commit suicide. Something unknown must have happened that caused Ru Ping to be confused.
So he started a private investigation and carefully looked at all the furnishings in the room before Ru Ping committed suicide, and found that there was still water in the bathtub that had not been drained in time and the footprints of two men at the door of the room. Ma Fucai suspected that it was related to the servants in the family, so he questioned all the servants in the family.
But he did not ask for any valuable clues. While Ma Fucai was immersed in pain, he tried hard to recall what problems his wife would have.
Only then did he realize that his usually naughty younger brother Ma Fugui had not been seen in the past few days. This was unreasonable. Although Ma Fugui was not very sensible, why was he not there when such a big thing happened at home?
Ma Fucai began to look for his brother everywhere, and finally found him hiding alone in the woodshed. When Ma Fugui saw his brother, he instinctively flinched back, his eyes filled with fear.
Ma Fucai saw this younger brother who had grown up behind him and saw through his thoughts at a glance. Ma Fucai couldn't bear the anger in his heart and grabbed his collar and said, "Ma Fugui, what on earth have you done to your sister-in-law to make her think so hard?"
Ma Fugui saw his brother's eyes red and wanted to do something to him. , his youthful and energetic spirit came back, and he shouted: "I didn't do anything, it's all her fault." Then the two brothers struggled with each other.
The noise of the fight disturbed the horse's father and mother in the front yard. They quickly pulled them away and asked carefully about the reason. Only then did they understand the whole story of Ru Ping's suicide. But now that the matter has come to this, it is useless to blame Ma Fugui. The whole family discussed it. This matter can only end here, rotting in the stomach.
After Ru Ping was buried, Ma Fucai saw things and missed her. She felt that her family was unworthy of her, and she felt sad, self-blame, and guilt. She had nowhere to vent her emotions. Within a few days, she fell seriously ill and died within a month.
The Ma family lost their son and daughter-in-law one after another, as well as thirty acres of land and one hundred taels of silver. The family was enveloped in sorrow. The more Ma thought about it, the more she felt aggrieved. She felt that her son was also dead, and one life was worth one life. Ru Ping's family The land and silver should be returned.
So he went to Ru Ping's house alone and cried, wanting his land and money back. Unexpectedly, Ruping's parents ignored her and kicked her out of the house. Ma's mother couldn't think about it anymore, so she bumped her head in front of their house and died.
When Father Ma heard the news, his whole family was devastated. Three members of a good family had died like this in less than a month. He felt that Ru Ping's family had an unshirkable responsibility. I had no choice but to call the authoritative elders and young men in the clan to go to Ru Ping's house to ask for an explanation.
Father Ma saw his old wife who had been with him for many years lying dead on the roadside, and his heart was bleeding. He grabbed Ru Ping's father and cursed loudly: "Your daughter hanged herself. Our whole family did not beat her or scold her, nor did we. You didn't bully her. You asked me to pay for thirty acres of good land and one hundred taels of silver, and you were not satisfied and even forced my wife to death. Let's go to the official now!"
Father Ma dragged Ru away. Ping's father walked straight out. Ru Ping's mother was afraid that her old man would suffer a loss, so she had to say softly: "This situation today is not what we want to see, and it was not caused by us. For the sake of our dead children, we Don't sue the officials about this matter, let's settle it ourselves."
Later, after discussion, the two tribes reached an agreement to return the original 30 acres of land and 100 taels of silver to the Ma family, and in addition to compensate the Ma family for 20 acres. land. In this way, the Ma family members carried Ma Mu's body away from Ru Ping's house.
After everyone had dispersed, Ru Ping's father came to his senses. It didn't matter. His daughter was gone, the money and land he wanted had been returned, and he had used twenty acres of land instead. After much deliberation, what happened to the Ma family had nothing to do with their family, so why should he be asked to pay for the land? He felt so angry that he couldn't let go.
He thought for a long time before saying to his wife: "If the horse mother dares to die in front of our house, I will die in front of his house. At night, I will hang myself in front of his house. If you take my body to the county government to file a complaint, I will If you don't believe me, you can't defeat the Ma family!"
At this time, Ru Ping's mother still had some sense, so she quickly persuaded: "The matter has reached this point, and if it continues, both sides will be hurt. Now the daughter and son-in-law are gone. , let’s just put up with this tone and let this matter end here!”
But Ruping’s father was always small-minded, so he couldn’t get over this tone, so he took a rope and slipped away quietly while his wife was not paying attention. At home, when no one was around in the middle of the night, he hanged himself on the door of Ma's house.
After going back and forth like this several times, Ma's father was exhausted and couldn't afford to fall ill. Seeing that the matter was getting out of hand, the elders came forward and called the two families together, and finally negotiated for both families to withdraw. In one step, the Ma family returned twenty acres of land, and each lived their own lives from then on.
Ru Ping's mother lost her daughter and her husband, and was heartbroken. After arranging everything at home, she went to a nearby temple to become a monk, eating fast and chanting Buddha's name all day long, and spent the rest of her life.
Father Ma fell ill and Ma Fugui stayed at his bedside for three months. No matter how good the medicine was, he could not save his life. In the end, Ma Fugui was left alone.
After experiencing so many things, Ma Fugui finally realized his mistake. If he had not peeked at his sister-in-law taking a bath, all the tragedies would not have happened, and the two families would not have been destroyed like this.
After Ma Fugui buried his father, he sold all his family property at a low price. From then on, he lived alone in the world, and no one knew anything about him anymore.
In this way, the two families were completely separated, because Ma Fugui's absurd behavior led to a series of tragedies. This story also tells us that men and women must be careful in their words and deeds, especially in the feudal society of the past, where men were superior to women, so Ru Ping had to commit suicide.
▲This story is an original folk tale by [Sister Peach]. The material is taken from folk legends and original fiction. It aims to enrich readers' spare time life, educate and entertain, and has nothing to do with feudal superstition!
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