That night, Widow Zhou was about to sleep with her daughter Xiaobao when she heard someone shouting at the door: "I have to find this kid today and see if I don't beat him to death."
Xiaobao, who was awakened, saw a group of people holding a torch and holding a hoe, pulled the corner of Widow Zhou's clothes and said, "Mom, I'm afraid."
Since her husband Zhang Zhuzi died unexpectedly five years ago, Widow Zhou has grown up alone with pulling Xiaobao. When her husband passed away, Xiaobao was only one year old. Her mother-in-law said she was a husband. In addition, Xiaobao was a girl, and no one in the family had ever cared about their life or death.
And Widow Zhou is not from Zhangjia Village. Eight years ago, her hometown was drought, and she was the only one left at home. She followed people from the same village to Zhangjia Village. Zhang Zhuzi left her at home when she saw that she was beautiful. The two soon got married and had a baby.
"Xiaobao, don't be afraid, my mother is here." Widow Zhou hugged Xiaobao in her arms and glanced at the room unconsciously.
"Ah, there is something there..." Before Xiaobao could finish speaking, he heard a knock on the door.
"Sister-in-law, have you slept?" After pausing for a while, a rough voice outside the door continued, "The village has been thieves. We are searching. If you don't sleep, we will come in and take a look, so as not to have any accidents."
Wife Zhou hesitated for a moment and said in panic: "It's okay, our house is small, no thieves come in. My child and I have fallen asleep, so it's inconvenient to open the door. Otherwise, don't you go and look for it?"
The person outside the door did not give up and continued, "Sister-in-law, am I worried about the safety of you and your children? You should open the door and ask us to come in and take a look."
Zhou Widow replied, "Thank you, brother. I can't even keep rats in my family, and there will be no thief who cares about it. It's really inconvenient for me to take a child with me."
As the saying goes, there are many troubles in front of the widow. Widow Zhou had to do this, and it was hard for the people outside the door to continue to be entangled, so she had to say helplessly: "Then my sister-in-law just asks us, we are all outside the door."
Seeing that the people outside the door stopped being entangled, Widow Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and quickly patted Xiaobao in her arms to coax her to sleep.
But Xiaobao insisted on not sleeping, pointed to the southwest corner and said, "Mom, I just saw someone coming in, right in that corner."
Hearing Xiaobao's words, Widow Zhou suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. In fact, she just saw this person entering the house, but she was worried that if she went to open the door, if the thief had evil intentions, then she and Xiaobao would be in danger.
So she planned to pretend to be invisible, thinking that after the people outside the door left, the thief would leave on his own. But now that Xiaobao has exposed it, it is difficult to pretend.
Zhou's widow began to sweat coldly on her forehead. Just as she was anxious, she suddenly had a plan.
"Xiaobao, call me cousin, this is the cousin who comes to see you from my mother's hometown." Widow Zhou stood up and sat up.
Then he said in a complaining tone: "Cousin, look, my child is six years old, why are you here to see me now?"
The thief was stunned when he heard Widow Zhou's words. He quietly put away the dagger in his hand and looked at Widow Zhou and his daughter without saying a word.
Wife Zhou walked out of bed and lit the candlelight, and said to Xiaobao in a slightly reproachful tone: "Look at your child, why don't you call anyone?"
Xiaobao could only timidly call, "Cousin."
His thief slowly walked out of the shadow after hearing Xiaobao call him cousin. At this time, Widow Zhou saw clearly what he looked like. She was a slightly thin boy who was about seventeen or eighteen years old.
Wife Zhou remembered some of the drought in her hometown before, and suddenly felt a little pity, so she said, "You must be hungry all night, and it's not easy to get angry again in the middle of the night. If you don't dislike the leftovers for us tonight, I'll bring you the ones."
Hong Kong nodded, so Widow Zhou brought the leftovers to the boy. The boy was obviously hungry and ate the food brought by Widow Zhou.
After eating, the boy touched and said to Widow Zhou, "Sister, I'm in a hurry and didn't bring any gifts to the child."
With Zhou quickly stopped him and said, "You come here and you're very happy to see me. Children don't need gifts."
Looking at dawn, Widow Zhou took out a cloth bag and packed several layers inside and out. Widow Zhou stuffed the cloth bag to the boy and whispered in his ear: "I'm a widow, it's not convenient to stay overnight. You can leave Zhangjia Village quickly. You can accept these ten taels of silver. I have only so much, you can take it first."
The boy was ashamed and refused to accept the cloth bag handed over by Widow Zhou. Widow Zhou could only force him to force him and continued, "The child is still watching. I won't say anything more. Remember to think more, and be down-to-earth."
suddenly the boy knelt on the ground and said to Widow Zhou with tears in shame: "Sister, I remember your great kindness in my heart. I, Tan Hui, will definitely repay you."
Widow Zhou hurriedly helped him up and said, "What do you say to repay but not repay? As long as you can do things steadily and be honest, I will not keep you when there is no one outside now. You can leave quickly."
Tan Hui nodded and quietly left Zhangjia Village.
After seeing Tan Hui leave, Xiaobao asked Widow Zhou: "Mom, is he really my uncle?"
Widow Zhou replied: "Yes, he is your uncle. It's almost dawn, so go to bed quickly."
No one cared about this matter. Just when everyone forgot about this matter, something incredible happened.
Three years later, a luxury carriage came to the village on this day. The head was a young man wearing a red robe and a square winged black hat .
and the group walked into the village in a grand manner. Xiaobao, who was playing in the village, looked familiar with the person in the leader, but he really couldn't remember where he had seen him.
and their group walked to the door of Widow Zhou's house in diameter, which made Widow Zhou confused and asked quickly, "Who are you?" The person led by
walked to Widow Zhou and said, "Sister, I am Tan Hui. Do you still remember me? I'll pick you up and Xiaobao."
Widow Zhou said excitedly, "It's you, you're back."
Tan Hui asked others to stay outside the door, and he followed Widow Zhou into the house to reminisce about the past.
it turned out that Tan Hui was a scholar, but unfortunately his family was poor, his parents died early, and he grew up eating a hundred families of food. The last time he passed by Zhangjia Village was to take the exam in Beijing.
It’s a pity that I met a robber on the road and my money was stolen. Not only did I miss the time for the scientific test, but I even became a problem to survive.
Dogs are anxious to jump over the wall, and rabbits will bite people if they are anxious. So, due to his livelihood, Tan Hui had a bad idea and embarked on the road of stealing.
Tan Hui was filled with emotion and said to Widow Zhou: "Fortunately I met you. If I met others, I would not be the same as me today."
Then he happily said to Widow Zhou: "Now I have achieved fame and honor, the prince wants to accept me as his son-in-law. I told him that there are sisters and nieces in the family, and he specially approved me to pick you up to Beijing."
Widow Zhou quickly refused: "It's your own efforts to do it today. I am a country woman who doesn't understand anything, and I won't say I won't do it. Please repay me."
Tan Hui saw that Widow Zhou refused, and hurriedly said, "That day three years ago, I treated you as my elder sister. I have no relatives. If it weren't for you that day, I would have been on the road of no return and you changed my life."
"I have bought you a small courtyard in Beijing. I asked Xiaobao to study. It is difficult for Xiaobao to make a name for himself in this small countryside. Sister, please consider it more for Xiaobao."
Wife Zhou agreed to follow Tan Hui to Beijing. Later, Xiaobao studied with Tan Hui. Because he was well-educated, he was no worse than a man, so he finally married the son of the prime minister of the dynasty.
