The story takes place in the Northern Song Dynasty In the first year of Xuanhe, there is a small mountain village called Taohuazhai in Qingping County, Xiuzhou Prefecture. Taohua Village is backed by mountains and there is a big river in front of the village. Most of the people in the village make a living by cutting firewood or fishing. At the eastern end of the village, there lived a woman named Hua Yueniang. Hua Yueniang's husband was named Fan Erlang, a woodcutter. Unfortunately, Fan Erlang died of illness shortly after Hua Yueniang and Fan Erlang got married, so Hua Yueniang became a widow.
After Fan Erlang died, many people advised Hua Yueniang to remarry. Fan Erlang's mother was still alive at that time. In order to take good care of her mother-in-law, Hua Yueniang turned away all the people who proposed marriage. In order to maintain the livelihood of her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Hua Yueniang had to leave early and come home late to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms and chop firewood. One time Hua Yueniang was picking mushrooms on the mountain and accidentally encountered a pack of wolves. Just when Hua Yueniang thought her life was in danger, Shan Tianbao, a butcher from the same village, appeared in time.
No matter where Shan Tianbao went, he always carried his butcher knife with him. The butcher knife was sharply polished and scared the wolves away. After Hua Yueniang calmed down, she remembered to thank Shan Tianbao: "Master Shan, thank you for saving me today. Otherwise, our family might have perished in the wilderness. Your great kindness will be unforgettable by our family." "I will repay you someday." Shan Tianbao waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, madam. When Erlang was alive, we had a good relationship. If you have any difficulties in the future, just tell me."
Shan Tianbao is worried that the wolves will attack Huayue again. Hua Yueniang was very grateful to her mother, so she accompanied her down the mountain. The butchers that people usually see are usually big and round, with a sinister look on their face. But Shan Tianbao, the butcher, was different. Shan Tianbao looked gentle and gentle, more like a scholar. If it weren't for the butcher's knife on his waist, no one would have thought that he was a butcher.
An ancestor of the Shan family was in the butcher business. Counting his generation, he is already the seventh generation. Shan's family has a rule for slaughtering livestock, that is, whether it is slaughtering pigs, sheep, cattle or horses, they need to be brought to the Shan's family one day in advance. Shan Tianbao gives them a good meal, and then lets the livestock have a good sleep, and finally feeds them before going under the knife. They chanted a piece of " Rebirth Mantra ". In Shan Tianbao's words, it is a good thing that these animals can escape from the livestock path and be reincarnated. He hopes that they can leave happily without any pain.
Shan Tianbao is not only kind to livestock, but also caring to his neighbors. Every New Year and festival, Shan Tianbao would prepare some rice, noodles and meat and visit the lonely elderly people nearby. Soon after, Hua Yueniang's mother-in-law died of illness. Hua Yueniang had no money to buy a coffin for her mother-in-law. In the end, Shan Tianbao paid for the coffin for her. Seeing that Hua Yueniang and Shan Tianbao were both loving and righteous people, the neighbors brought them together. In fact, Shan Tianbao had already taken a fancy to Hua Yueniang's gentleness and virtuousness, but he never dared to speak. Now that everyone said so, he was happy to agree.
On the day when the two got married, the whole village was very lively. Just when the two were about to worship, a beggar suddenly rushed in and said: "You can't get married. It's a bad sign that the chicken can't lay eggs. Hurry up and disperse." "It's gone!" Everyone present was shocked. For some reason, the chickens and ducks in the village had not laid eggs for several days. The person in charge thought that the beggar was causing trouble and was about to kick him out. At this moment, the beggar suddenly picked up Hua Yueniang and ran out of the courtyard.
Everyone saw the old beggar snatching away the bride, which was fine. Everyone chased him out, but the old beggar ran very fast and ran out of the village in the blink of an eye. When everyone caught up with him, they heard a loud noise from behind and the house was razed to the ground by the sand. It turned out that the people of Taohua Village had cut down trees for generations, and the originally lush mountains became bare. After a heavy rain, the mud and sand from the mountains poured down with huge boulders, and the village was razed to the ground.
Perhaps the chickens and ducks had already foreseen the danger, so they delayed laying eggs. Because all this happened so fast, everyone was already scared to death.Only then did someone remember that if the old beggar hadn't made such a scene, everyone would have died in the sand. But when everyone looked at the old beggar again, he had already disappeared, and only Hua Yueniang was left standing there blankly. People asked Hua Yueniang where the old beggar was, and Hua Yueniang said with a confused look: "He was here just now, and he disappeared in the blink of an eye."
People looked around and saw a dilapidated earth temple beside the road. Only then did people understand that it must be Tu Tu Gong who saw that Shan Tianbao and Hua Yueniang were both great benevolent people, so he came to help them. Everyone knelt down to Tu Tu Temple to express their thanks. Fortunately, everyone escaped in time and no one in Taohua Village was killed. In the next few days, under the leadership of the clan leader, people rebuilt their homes in a gentle place, and the earth temple was also renovated. Since then, the incense has continued.
Since then, people have stopped deforestation and planted trees on the mountains every spring. After a few years, the mountains have returned to their lush appearance. In the hundreds of years since then, there have been no landslides in Taohua Village. disaster.
[Solemn statement]
This story is a folk tale, purely a literary creation. The plot and characters are fictitious. It is intended to enrich readers' spare time life. Please do not contradict feudal superstition.
