In Hunan, there was a scholar named Hu Dacheng, whose mother believed in Buddhism. Every time he went to private school, he would pass by the Guanyin Temple. His mother often told him, "When passing by the Guanyin Temple, you should go in and kowtow a few times." He listened to his mother's words and would go in and kowtow every time he passed by the Guanyin Temple. "
Lingjiao was playing with a little boy in the Guanyin Temple
Once, he saw a girl playing with a little boy in the temple. The girl was pretty and graceful.
Hu Dacheng was fifteen years old at that time. Seeing such a beautiful girl for the first time, he couldn't help but feel moved. He took the initiative to step forward and asked the girl her name. The girl politely said: "My name is Lingjiao. I am fourteen years old. I live to the west of Guanyin Temple. My father is Jiao. . Hu Dacheng asked again: "Does the girl have a husband's family?" "
Hu Dacheng asked Lingjiao's name
Lingjiao blushed and said, "I don't have my husband's family yet." Hu Dacheng asked overjoyed: "What do you think of me, girl?" "Lingjiao looked him up and down and said shyly: "I can't make the decision on this matter, I have to ask my parents. "Hu Dacheng said nothing, finished eating to the Bodhisattva and was about to leave.
Lingjiao hurriedly chased him out and said, "If you have feelings for me, go find my father's good friend Cui Ercheng and come to my house to negotiate a match. "Hu Dacheng smiled at her.
He felt that water chestnut was not only witty and smart, but also interesting to him, and he was even more moved. After returning home, he hurriedly told his mother his wish. The mother only had such a son, and when he saw that his son had He was very happy when he found the girl he liked.
Cui Ercheng went to the Jiao family for matchmaking
Early the next morning, Hu's mother went to ask Cui Ercheng for help to go to the Jiao family for matchmaking. When Jiao heard this, she felt that Hu Dacheng's family was very poor and did not agree with this. Cui Ercheng hurriedly explained: "Although Hu Dacheng's family is a little poor, he comes from a scholarly family, is very talented, and has a bright future!" "Jiao felt that what he said made sense, so she agreed.
Hu Dacheng had an uncle who was an official in a county in Hubei, but he never had a son. His aunt had just passed away, and his mother asked Hu Dacheng to go to the funeral.
As soon as Hu Dacheng left Just a few months later, when he was about to come back, his uncle fell ill again, so he had to stay and take care of his uncle.
Later, his uncle died of illness. After burying his uncle, he prepared to go home. However, he heard that Hunan was occupied by Jiangyang thieves. Fleeing everywhere, homeless.
Hearing the news, he was very worried about his mother, but he didn't know where to find her, so he could only grieve alone in front of his own shadow all day long.
One day, he saw an eight-year-old mother. An old lady in her teens was wandering around the village. The sun was setting, but she had not yet left.
She said that she had been separated from her family due to the war and was homeless. Someone asked her about selling herself. She said that she neither wanted to be a wife nor a servant, but only wanted to be a mother, and she didn’t care about her worth.
The villagers laughed when they heard this. When Hu Dacheng stepped forward and took a look, he felt that the old lady had a look on her face. It was a bit like his mother, which instantly triggered his longing for her. He thought that he was usually alone and had no one to mend his clothes.
So he invited the old lady back home and regarded her as his mother. Just as filial. The old lady cooked for him, cleaned the house, mended clothes, and tried her best to help him with the housework.
One day, she said to Hu Dacheng: "This place should be very peaceful, and there will be no war." You are not young anymore. I will marry you a wife in two days. He said with tears: "I have a daughter-in-law, but she is separated in the north and the south. Because of the war, I don't know how she is doing now."
Hu Dacheng cried and complained that he could not find his fiancée
The old lady said: "The world is in chaos and the world is constantly changing. You can't keep waiting for her." He cried again and said: "But who would marry his pampered baby daughter to a homeless man who has nothing?" "The old lady didn't say anything, and silently bought him the things he needed to get his wife.
One day, after the two of them had dinner, the old lady said to him: "Go into the house, light the lights, and don't sleep. I'll go see if the bride has come." As soon as he finished speaking, the old lady left. .
When it was almost three o'clock, the old lady hadn't come back yet, and he felt confused. After a while, he heard crying outside the door. He went out and saw a woman sitting in the yard crying, with disheveled hair. He asked: "Why is the girl crying here?" The woman cried for a long time and did not speak.
Lingjiao reunited with Hu Dacheng
After a while, she said angrily: "Marrying you is not what I want. I have already betrothed myself to Hu Dacheng for the rest of my life. However, when the war broke out, I don't know where he is now." After hearing this, Hu Dacheng burst into tears and said, "I am Hu Dacheng, are you Lingjiao?" When Lingjiao heard this, he immediately stopped crying and was shocked, not believing that he was Hu Dacheng. Hu Dacheng took her into the house, looked at her through the light, and said in surprise: "I'm not dreaming!" Then the two of them turned from sadness to joy and told each other about the hardships they experienced after parting.
Before this, after the war in his hometown, the village seemed to have been washed away, and everything was gone.
Jiao family fled to Changsha with his family. Later, because he had no money, he accepted the betrothal gift from Mr. Zhou. Weddings couldn't be held during the war, so they decided to secretly send the bride to Zhou's house tonight.
Lingjiao was very sad and did not want to marry Mr. Zhou. She had been resisting and refused to dress up, so her family directly pulled her into the car.
Halfway through, she jumped out of the car. Suddenly, she saw four people in front of her carrying a sedan. They said it was the Zhou family who came to pick up the bride. They stuffed her in, lifted her up and left, as if she was flying.
After a while, I arrived here and saw an old lady saying to her: "Go in quickly, this is your husband's home. Don't cry, your mother-in-law will be here soon."
After hearing this, Hu Dacheng suddenly realized , said: "It turns out she is Guanyin Bodhisattva." So the two immediately burned incense and prayed for the early reunion of mother and son.
Hu Dacheng's mother hid in a cave with the villagers during the war. One night, everyone was shouting that the robbers were coming. I saw a boy bringing a horse and giving it to Hu Dacheng's mother.
Mother Hu didn't have time to ask any more questions, so she held the boy's shoulders and got on the horse. The horse immediately started galloping. After a while, she came to a house. The boy helped her off the horse, pointed to the gate and said, "You can live here." Just as Hu's mother was about to say thanks, she saw that the horse had turned into the golden monkey of Guanyin Bodhisattva. It was more than ten feet high, and the boy flew away on it.
Hu’s mother knocked on the door. Hu Dacheng opened the door and saw that it was his mother. The mother and son hugged each other and cried, and the daughter-in-law quickly got up to greet her mother-in-law. The family lived happily together from then on.
The whole family suspected that the old lady was Guanyin Bodhisattva. From then on, they recited the sutras and mantras of Guanyin Bodhisattva more sincerely.
This story reflects the people in the war at that time. Because of the war, many families were separated from their wives and could not be reunited after all. It is really sad. Pu Songling uses this mythical story to entrust the good wishes of family reunion after the war.
(pictures come from the Internet, deleted due to infringement)
