In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a village in Wuning in Daozhou. There was a family named Zhou in the village. Their family is an outsider, and old man Zhou and his son Zhou Yuqing depend on each other.
Although old man Zhou was over forty, he maintained himself well and was in good health. In order to make a living, he spent some money to buy several acres of fertile land. The father and son became full-fledged farmers, barely able to make ends meet by farming. .
's son Zhou Yuqing was born handsome and handsome, with an extraordinary temperament. Although his family was poor, many young women secretly liked him.
Zhou Yuqing is very filial. He hopes to find a gentle, virtuous, and filial woman. Since he has just grown up, he is not in a hurry to get married.
But Old Man Zhou didn't think so. If his son got married early, he would be relieved of his worries, so he found a matchmaker.
After accepting Old Man Zhou’s money, the matchmaker promised him that she would definitely find him a beautiful and capable wife.
By the way, this matchmaker is really capable, and she brought a young and beautiful woman to her in a few days.
The woman's name is Liu Shuang, who lives in the town. Her family has been in business for generations. Although they are not as rich as the wealthy businessmen, they still have enough food and clothing.
Mr. Liu heard that Zhou Yuqing was handsome and filial. Although his family was poor, he was hardworking and hard-working. Now that they met, he felt that it was extraordinary and he agreed with satisfaction.
Liu Shuang hid in the boudoir, and Zhou Yuqing was secretly happy to see such a talented person.
Both families are extremely satisfied with this marriage, and the auspicious date has been decided. What was unexpected was that on the day of the engagement, the drunken old man generously took out ten taels of gold, which made everyone stunned. Even Zhou Yuqing looked shocked, wondering where his father got so much money.
Regarding this, Old Man Zhou smiled and said, "Money is an external thing, as long as the two of them can be happy."
For a time, the news that Old Man Zhou was a rich man spread like wildfire.
After Zhou Yuqing and Liu Shuang got married, they were loving and filial. They were ready to take care of Old Man Zhou and let him enjoy his old age.
However, Old Man Zhou made a decision that puzzled the villagers. He wanted to move to the east of the village to live alone.
The east end of the village is close to the back mountain, and there are many graves around it. It is very desolate and deserted. People are even afraid of passing there at night.
Zhou Yuqing thought that his father was confused, "Dad, why are you moving away even if you don't enjoy all the blessings?"
Liu Shuang also persuaded her father-in-law to stay, so that the family could live together and take care of each other.
Old man Zhou was very stubborn and insisted on moving out.
Zhou Yuqing and his wife couldn't persuade them, so they had to let him go. Worried that he was living alone without anyone to take care of him, Liu Shuang said to her husband Zhou Yuqing, "Husband, you see that my father is in good health. Why don't you find him a companion."
Zhou Yuqing also had the same idea, "This is a good idea. I will go find him tomorrow." Matchmaker. "
Since Old Man Zhou gave him 10 taels of gold as a betrothal gift, many young women have been willing to serve Old Man Zhou, and the matchmaker has found several candidates for him with little effort.
Among them, there was a woman named Pan Lian'er, who was fair-skinned, beautiful, and quick at work. She was a widow and said she was willing to serve Old Man Zhou.
When the woman saw Old Man Zhou, she had a strange smile on her face, but it quickly returned to its original state. Old Man Zhou frowned slightly, hesitated and agreed.
After the two got married, Mr. Zhou was still unwilling to move back in. He went out early and came back late every day to do farm work.
Mrs. Pan is very diligent, keeps her home in order, and lives a peaceful and peaceful life.
Every once in a while, Old Man Zhou would secretly find Zhou Yuqing and give him a few taels of gold, saying that he had saved it over the years. You were newly married and had a lot of money to spend.
Zhou Yuqing was puzzled. Every time he asked where the gold came from, Mr. Zhou would make a fierce face and say that it was money he earned when he was young. You can just use it.
One day, Zhou Yuqing went to visit his father and stepmother and brought some pork.
When I went back, I met Zhang Dahan, a lazy cook in the village.
At this time, Zhang Dahan was holding a black snake as thick as an arm in his hand, with a smile on his face, and said to himself that he had made a fortune now.
Zhou Yuqing had sharp eyes and could tell at a glance that this was a pregnant female snake. He was kind-hearted and walked over quickly, "Dahan, where did this snake come from?"
Zhang Dahan's smile did not diminish, "You guys are talking about me. Dahan is lazy and will only get poorer. Look, is this going to work? The big snake was lying on a grave at the end of the village, motionless, just in time for me to take advantage of it."
Zhou Yuqing listened and started. He took out a tael of silver from his arms and said, "Dahan, I bought this snake. This tael of silver is enough for you to eat and drink for more than half a month."
When Dahan saw the silver, his eyes were shining, he didn't hesitate and said yes quickly.
After Zhou Yuqing took the snake over, he was also puzzled as to why the snake was motionless and its eyes moved from time to time, which meant that it was still alive.
After finding a place of dense grass that was inaccessible, Zhou Yuqing put the snake down gently and sighed, "Just leave it to fate."
Not long after, Zhang Dahan found Zhou Yuqing and whispered to him, your stepmother Pan did not follow the rules of women and took advantage of her during the day. While your father was out working, he secretly fell in love with a monk. This monk is an evil monk with profound magical powers. You have to be careful.
Zhou Yuqing shook his head after hearing this, "That's impossible. My stepmother is a very good person. She takes good care of my father. How could she do such a disgraceful thing?"
Zhang Dahan looked displeased, "Brother Zhou, Although Zhang's character is not very good, he never tells lies. If you don't believe it, just pretend that Zhang didn't say it." After saying this, Zhang Dahan walked away.
Would rather believe this kind of thing than believe it? After some hesitation, Zhou Yuqing decided to go and have a look.
That afternoon, Zhou Yuqing quietly came to the area near his father's house.
Sure enough! He saw two figures in the house and the laughter of a strange man. For a moment, Zhou Yuqing was so angry that he decided to wait for his father to come back at night to expose the matter.
However, by the evening, I still hadn’t seen my father come back. At first, when he was lying by the window, he heard the play and noise of his stepmother and a strange man. After a while, the two of them seemed to disappear out of thin air, and the room was deserted.
Zhou Yuqing was about to go home when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. He thought his father was back, but when he opened the door, he was shocked! Three snakes appeared in front of
, and the snake walking in the front said humanly, "Benefactor, hide in the closet quickly, it's too late."
As soon as he finished speaking, the other two snakes left quickly.
Zhou Yuqing saw that the snake had no ill intentions towards him, he nodded and hurriedly hid in the closet of the bedroom. And this snake, chanting a spell, turned into a lock, and the cabinet door was locked.
Soon, Pan and the strange man walked in.
The strange man looked fair and dressed as a monk. He said to Pan, "You said that boy Zhou Yuqing is here. Where is he?"
Pan blushed, "I just saw him lying outside the window. Isn't that weird? You just care about pleasure. "
"You said that Old Man Zhou is proficient in magic and can turn gold. Is this true?" the man curled his lips and asked suddenly.
Mrs. Pan nodded, with a hint of cunning in her beautiful eyes, "One night, I saw Old Man Zhou digging dirt in the back mountain. As he dug, the dirt turned into gold. This matter is easy to handle. , As long as his son is captured, he will not say anything. "
"I hope this is true." The strange man looked solemn and snorted coldly.
Then, the two searched the house but could not find Zhou Yuqing.
At this time, Old Man Zhou came back from work. He saw a strange man and his wife Pan being intimate with his own eyes. He was so angry that he smashed a bowl and seemed to be chanting some spell.
The man laughed, "It's just a small plan."
Soon, a stooped old man appeared. He was very respectful to Old Man Zhou, "There is one last agreement between you and me."
Old Man Zhou did not hesitate to say The old man said, "Kill this lewd thief."
The strange man was very skilled in Taoism, and he beat the old man out of his wits in just a few rounds.
It turns out that Old Man Zhou once rescued the old man, but the old man turned into a kid and still remained grateful and promised to help him with two things.
One of the things was that Old Man Zhou wanted gold, so the old man gave him a lot of gold; the other thing was that the old man was unable to do anything when he encountered the evil monk, so he had to run for his life.
The man looked fierce and said to Old Man Zhou, "Now that the truth of the matter is revealed, I won't embarrass you. Hand over the gold quickly."
Old Man Zhou was not afraid at all, with an angry look on his face, "Dream."
Man Without saying a word, he raised his leg and kicked it hard. Old man Zhou thought it was over. At this critical moment, two snakes jumped out from nowhere and tightly protected his body, blocking the blow.
At the same time, the lock on the wardrobe disappeared out of thin air and turned into a young woman, opening her mouth wide and biting the man from behind.
The man was caught off guard and broke one of his arms, screaming in pain.
Zhou Yuqing, who was hiding in the closet, also rushed out to protect Old Man Zhou.
"You evil monk, you have harmed many decent women, the little snake will never let you go." The woman succeeded in sneak attack and continued to launch a fierce attack on the man. Two snakes also came to help.
This woman was the female snake that Zhou Yuqing rescued. She was going through a tribulation that day and was rescued by Zhou Yuqing. Out of gratitude, he was advised to hide in the closet and escape.
This man had great magical power. She had just escaped from the tribulation and knew that she was no match, so she had to look for opportunities to sneak attack.
In the end, the man was at a disadvantage because he lost an arm. One of the snakes took the opportunity to bite his neck, and the man died.
Pan was so ashamed that he was sent to the government by Old Man Zhou.
After experiencing this incident, Old Man Zhou took money lightly. He took out all the gold and distributed it to the poor. It is said that he lived until he was eighty years old before he died.
Zhou Yuqing and his wife also devoted themselves to doing good deeds, and finally lived to be eighty years old before dying without illness.
