In the fifth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, there was a beggar named Qiao Kui of Taiping Prefecture. He was in his forties, ragged and skinny, and often begged along the street with a black-haired mangy dog, and he was hungry and full.
In fact, Qiao Kui was not like this when he was young. Although he was not born in a wealthy family, his father was in business and had a small wealthy family. He had a full meal three meals a day, and had a car and a horse when he went out. He was already a good person.
When he was twenty years old, his father died unexpectedly, and his family has fallen into trouble since then.
At the age of thirty, his mother also fell ill and died, leaving him alone.
But after his father's death, Qiao Kui was left undisciplined and became obsessed with eating, drinking, whore and gambling. By the time his mother passed away, there was no more money at home.
After his mother left, he was even more scrupulous and became even worse. Soon he lost his ancestral home and had to live on the streets and beg for a living.
Usually he lives in a dilapidated temple in the suburbs. A black dog with scabies dependent on him for more than ten years, and now he is already in a very old age.
Qiao Kui became like this now, which was entirely his own fault, but he complained about the injustice of the way of heaven and often scolded God in the temple.
This winter, it was cold and the ground was frozen. Qiao Kui and the old black dog snuggled up to each other in the broken temple with wind leaking from all sides, looking very desolate.
In a daze, two people with an official look grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up and walked out of the temple. He wanted to shout, but found that his throat seemed to be blocked and he couldn't speak.
The two of them carried him away for a long time, came to a generous government office, pushed the door open and turned into a side hall. When they entered the hall, they saw an adult in a red robe sitting at the top.
Official report: "Sir, Qiao Kui brings it!"
Qiao Kui hurriedly knelt down. The master looked up at him and asked, "Is it Qiao Kui from Taiping Mansion?"
"Son, he is a villain!"
"I am the judge in charge of Taiping Mansion. I learned that you often scold God in the temple and felt that being a beggar was unfair. I will arrest you today to let you understand the reason."
Qiao Kui vaguely understood that this was not the yamen in the world. The judge
ordered: "Come, come and take the mirror of life."
The two officials next to him walked in with a bronze mirror. One of them came high and stood in front of Qiao Kui.
Qiao Kui was wondering, and when he looked inside, he saw that the person in the bronze mirror was not himself, but a young man dressed in a carpenter.
"I look back on my previous life for you, please watch it carefully." As soon as the judge finished speaking, the picture in the mirror began to flow.
I saw the carpenter Xiao Quan was digging wood at home. At this time, a rich businessman with a big belly came in and said, "Xiao Quan, there is a business!"
Xiao Quan said enthusiastically, "Oh! It's Mr. Wang, do you want to make a scale?"
Grain merchant Mr. Wang nodded: "That's right, making a large scale of 500 kilograms, but this fixed-pan star, move it a little back a little, and weighing more than 7 or 8 taels in 500 kilograms is enough."
Xiao Quan smiled and said, "As long as the grain is weighed, it can weigh a little more than the actual weight. It accumulates a lot of money, which is also a considerable income!"
"Hehe, that's right, this is the price of scale. How long can I get it?"
"After a month!"
"Okay!"
In an instant, the picture in the bronze mirror flowed again, and Mr. Lu, Mr. Li, Mr. Zhao and others came to customize the large scale, and they asked him to move the fixed plate star forward, and Xiao Quan accepted it all according to the order.
Qiao Kui was just watching it, and the judge slapped the agglomeration and shouted, "Did you see it clearly?"
Qiao Kui was shocked and replied, "The villain has seen it clearly, but I don't know what Xiao Quan in the bronze mirror has to do with him?"
"Then Xiao Quan is your previous life!" Then he said, "Get blessings, wealth, and longevity three thin pieces."
The official sent him to get three thick booklets, and the judge looked through them one by one, and said, "Since , the first emperor, , has set a pound of sixteen taels.Sixteen stars are sixteen stars, namely Beidou Seven Stars , Nandou Six Stars , and Fu Lu and Fate Three Stars, totaling sixteen stars. If you have traded in the world, you will lose one liang to reduce blessings, two liang to reduce fortunes, three liang to reduce life, and four liang to reduce blessings and longevity. "
The judge finished reading and stared at Qiao Kui and said, "I just looked through the good and evil book of your previous life. You made eight inferior scales, weighing 19.2 million kilograms of grain. Because you deliberately moved the fixed plate star forward, you missed 307,200 taels of grain. Do you think, how much blessings and longevity do you want to lose? You are indefinitely reduced! It is already a blessing from outside the law to ask you to be a beggar to repay your previous debt! "
After hearing this, Qiao Kui looked pale and suddenly said unwillingly: "I'm just making scales! Where are those grain merchants who use scales? What punishment is it? "
judge sneered: "Isn't the old black dog who has been with you for ten years? "
Then, an official officer brought the old black dog in and threw it in front of Qiao Kui.
The old black dog stood up shakingly and looked into the mirror. It was not a dog, but a rich businessman with a big belly.
Qiao Kui looked carefully and exclaimed: "Isn't this the grain merchant Wang who asked me to make scales in his previous life! "
judge said: "That's right! Do you still say that the law of heaven is unfair? "
Qiao Kui fell to the ground with a depressed face, murmured: "So that's it...so that's it..."
At this time, the two officials stepped forward, picked up Qiao Kui again, walked out the door and returned to the same way, and arrived at the gate of the dilapidated temple, and threw a man and a dog into the temple.
Qiao Kui suddenly woke up and found that he and the old black dog were still curled up in the corner of the dilapidated temple.
At this moment, the old black dog suddenly woke up, looking at Qiao Kui with tears in his eyes.
Qiao Kui also had tears rolling down. He looked up and saw a couplet on both sides of the broken statue:
No matter how you deceitful, it should be difficult to argue at this point;
With his plan, how can you be in front of the mirror?
One person and one dog, holding your head and crying.
