During the period of the Song Dynasty, there was a small mountain village on the edge of Qingshan. There was a young woodcutter named Huang Fengqi in the village. His parents died when he was young. In order to support himself, he became a woodcutter at the age of twelve.
Huang Fengqi’s neighbors are a young couple who run a tailor shop together. The man’s surname is Xie, and everyone calls him Boss Xie, while his wife’s surname is Zhu. Zhu is a very good embroiderer. It is said that most of the clothes in their shop are embroidered by Zhu herself. However, she rarely goes out and not many people have seen her. Even Huang Fengqi has only seen her. Passed her several times.
However, Zhu was very beautiful and very considerate in her words and actions. The couple knew that Huang Fengqi had a hard time living alone, so they often helped Huang Fengqi, which moved him very much.
In the autumn of this year, Huang Fengqi went up the mountain to cut firewood as usual, and met Boss Xie as soon as he went out. Boss Xie is carrying a bamboo basket and is also preparing to go up the mountain to pick some fodder for dyeing fabrics. After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, they decided to go up the mountain together.
At noon, the two of them sat under a big tree to rest and took out dry food. At that time, Huang Fengqi brought a pot of realgar wine and handed it to Boss Xie to drink. Boss Xie didn't care at that time. He took a sip after taking it, but the next second, his expression suddenly changed and he spit out the wine in his mouth.
Huang Fengqi looked confused and laughed and scolded him for being wasteful, but Boss Xie pinched his neck with both hands, his face turned red, and he looked very painful. When Huang Fengqi saw this, he realized something was wrong and quickly stepped forward to ask what happened. But the next second, Boss Xie fell to the ground, and his body began to swell and deform. A sharp barb grew out of the back of his buttocks, and his hands turned into black pliers.
In less than a cup of tea, Boss Xie turned into a huge black scorpion. Huang Fengqi was so frightened that he stepped back repeatedly, but the scorpion seemed to have spotted him and slowly crawled towards him. At the critical moment, Huang Fengqi touched his axe, closed his eyes, and smashed it with all his strength.
The scorpion was caught off guard, and an ax hit it directly on the head. Before it could start to struggle, Huang Fengqi frantically waved the ax in his hand as if he was crazy. He didn't stop until the scorpion in front of him was completely motionless. , and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.
Thinking of the scene where Boss Xie revealed his true form just now, he was still frightened. He didn't dare to look at Scorpion's body anymore and turned around and went home.
That night, Boss Xie’s wife Zhu came to look for Huang Fengqi and asked him if he had seen her husband. Perhaps out of guilt or fear, Huang Fengqi waved his hands repeatedly and made up a random reason to send her away.
For several days after that, Mrs. Zhu searched for her husband's whereabouts every day, probably because of her inner guilt. Although Boss Xie was a monster, he had never harmed her. For this reason, Huang Fengqi never dared to tell the truth and began to Help take care of Zhu.
Zhu's health seems to be very poor. She only goes out in the evening every day, but she will go home within an hour at most. After so many days, there was still no news from Boss Xie. She was extremely anxious and vaguely guessed something. Fortunately, Huang Fengqi was always there to comfort her and help her search, which relieved her a lot.
Although Boss Xie has disappeared, life continues to go on. The tailor shop has not been open for a long time. For this reason, Huang Fengqi took the initiative to ask for help, saying that he could help her look after the store. Zhu didn't know anyone else in the village, so she immediately agreed. Since then, every morning, Huang Fengqi would go to the door of Xie's house to pick up the clothes sewn by Zhu and sell them in the store.
I have to say that her craftsmanship is very good and her sewing speed is very fast. She can even sew twenty pieces of finely crafted clothes in one night. Moreover, the clothes she sews are very popular and can be sold out almost every day. Because of this, the two of them made a lot of money.
Huang Fengqi wanted to give her all the money, but Zhu refused. Mrs. Zhu said that she was in poor health and could not travel far, so she hoped that Huang Fengqi could help her find her husband's whereabouts, and the money would be regarded as a reward for him.
Huang Fengqi felt guilty, but couldn't resist her, so he had to agree. But this search lasted ten years. In the past ten years, he has lived a conflicted life every day. On the one hand, he felt guilty for killing Boss Xie, and on the other hand, he felt at ease because he only killed a monster.
In addition, in these ten years, Huang Fengqi almost never saw Zhu again. Every time Zhu sewed clothes, she would leave them at the door of her home, and Huang Fengqi would pick them up the next day. The door to her house is always closed, as if no one lives inside.
Until this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, Huang Fengqi bought some mooncakes and prepared to give them to Zhu. Coincidentally, as soon as he walked to the door of his house, he saw Mrs. Zhu walking to the door holding a pile of clothes. The bright moonlight shone down, making Zhu even more beautiful, but Huang Fengqi looked shocked when he saw him, because she hadn't gone out in ten years, but her appearance had not changed at all, and there was no trace of time on her face. Still stunningly beautiful.
Huang Fengqi was so surprised that he forgot to say hello to her for a while, and it took him a long time to react. After the two exchanged pleasantries, they went home.
That night, Huang Fengqi lay on the bed tossing and turning and couldn't sleep. He always felt that something was wrong. In order to find out the truth, he quietly climbed over the wall and got into the yard of Zhu's house.
Her yard is very tidy, with basically no debris. The strange thing is that there are spider webs in the corners, and it looks like it hasn't been cleaned for a long time. The lights were still on in the room, so Zhu must have not rested yet. He tiptoed to the window, pierced the window paper and looked inside, but the scene in the room was so frightening that he collapsed to the ground.
There are spider webs everywhere in Zhu's house, and in the center of the room, there is a huge spider hanging upside down. Its eight eyes are shining with terrifying red light in the dark. Under its body, there is a sewing machine. Half of the clothes were gone.
Huang Fengqi then realized why Zhu's appearance had not changed in ten years and she could sew twenty pieces of clothes in one night. It was because she was not a human being, but a spider spirit.
Huang Fengqi was terrified when he thought that he had been a neighbor with a spider spirit for many years. After much thought, he decided to destroy the monster. She was not human after all. Then, he secretly found some hay, surrounded it around the room, and lit a fire while Zhu was resting.
It was a dry day and the fire quickly devoured everything. Zhu had no time to escape and died in the fire.
After the matter was resolved, Huang Fengqi breathed a sigh of relief, but not long after, he had a strange dream. Boss Xie and Mrs. Zhu appeared in the dream. They cursed Huang Fengqi for being heartless and said that although they were monsters, they had never harmed anyone. Although he was a human, his heart was darker than that of a monster. Afterwards, the two men transformed into their original forms and pounced on him crazily, biting him to bits.
For several days in a row, Huang Fengqi would always have such a strange dream, which made him afraid to fall asleep at night and his energy became worse and worse. After a period of torture, Huang Fengqi suddenly went crazy. He told everyone he met that he had killed a scorpion spirit and a spider spirit, and that those two monsters were his neighbors.
After the incident reached the county government, officers and soldiers arrested him. However, Huang Fengqi was killed in prison the day after he was imprisoned. As for the truth, no one knows.
