Ming Dynasty During the Zhengde period, Fengxiang Prefecture had an Meixian . It is located at the foot of Qinling main peak Taibai Mountain . There is a strange village called Fifth Village . According to legend, the origin of the village name was that a long time ago, a person with the fifth surname lived here.
The compound surname is not surprising among the hundreds of surnames, but the fifth compound surname with the ordinal number seems unusual. It is said that after Liu Bang established Han Dynasty , in order to disperse local tyrants, the descendants of the princes moved to Guanzhong .
Among them, Qi State Tian family was divided into the first to eighth families during migration. The Yuansun Tian Gui was the fifth surname, so the "fifth" surname was passed down.
is not the passage of time. Later generations changed the surname "fifth" to the surname "di" and "wu". And the story I want to tell today happened in the fifth village.
Wuji is a villager in the fifth village. Despite his glorious ancestors, his family was already in a state of disgrace. He could only rely on climbing the mountain to chop wood and then take it to the market to sell and make a living.
In fact, chopping wood seems simple, but it is actually a skill. Some tree trunks require iron saws to pull slowly, while others require thick branches to chop with an axe. If you don’t understand these labor-saving techniques, if you can’t cut a load of wood, you will be exhausted.
On this day, Wu Ji came to the mountain with a hemp rope. His eyes swept across the woods and finally stayed on a tree that was neither thick nor thin.
He rarely cut down those trees with vitality, so he always chooses. Only those dead trees without vitality can cut down them as dry firewood. It can save some effort and sell them at a good price.
He walked to the edge of the tree, took a step forward with his left foot, and turned his body to the left to form a left lunge. At the same time, both hands hold the axe tightly, and tilt it from the front of the abdomen to the upper right.
"One, two, three, hey!" Wu Ji shouted at the same time when the axe fell. This is also some of his habits of chopping wood, because when exerting force, he must breathe with some breath, so that he will not easily hurt his body.
There were people passing by jokes before, saying that he was a woodcutter and chopping wood was like practicing martial arts. How could he be so particular about it? Wu Ji just smiled at this. In his opinion, practicing martial arts is to strengthen the body, so why can't he chop wood like this?
Of course, Wu Ji did not make these unnecessary explanations, because others did not know what was behind this, but he had heard from the older generation in the village.
In the past, the fifth clan fought bloody battles on the battlefield, but he was a general. This set of wood-cutting skills also evolved through Nanquan , so it looks like practicing martial arts.
At this time, he saw his palm facing upwards, high as his neck, bent his left palm and placed under his elbow in front of his chest, with his palm facing downwards. He looked at the axe in his right hand and slowly breathed.
When he exhaled this breath, the dead tree in front of him also cracked and was about to fall to one side.
Just as Wu Ji looked proud, he saw the big tree falling, but the smile on his face froze. It turned out that where the big tree fell, there was a pile of weeds, and there was a big snake twisting its body inside the weeds.
"Oh no, this big tree will definitely hit it if it falls." Wu Ji muttered in his heart. Then he let out a long sigh and chopped the other side of the big tree with an axe.
"Bang!" The big tree fell down. Fortunately, he corrected the direction in time. The direction of the big tree falling down tilted, and ultimately did not hit the big snake.
Wu Ji was worried that there would be an accident, so he ran to the snake and saw that the snake's abdomen was bulging, tossing and turning on the ground, looking very painful.
"Looking like this, this female snake has some signs of difficult childbirth." Wu Ji muttered. He had heard the elderly in the village say before that animals are like humans. If the childbirth is not smooth, there will be signs of difficult childbirth.
He slowly approached the female snake, wanting to check the situation carefully, but he didn't want to alarm the other party. The female snake suddenly raised its head and spit out the snake's letter to scare him off.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help you." Wu Ji reached out and signaled. In order to show sincerity, he threw away the axe in his hand and squatted down slowly.
The female snake stared at Wu Ji's eyes, probably because she felt his kindness, or maybe it was because of unbearable pain in her abdomen. Its head was tilted down and its body rolled up again.
"I can't care about that much, just treat the dead horse as a living horse!" Wu Ji frowned and said with determination.
He saw the female snake in such pain, so he thought of using some old methods to deliver the other party, but it was his first time to deliver the female snake.
He put the female snake's body flat and then signaled: "Relax, wait until I ask you to force it, you can use force again."
The female snake seemed to understand, waiting for the instructions of the man in front of her. After relaxing, her body also became soft. Wu Ji's fingers touched it and felt a chill.
Wu Ji knew that the female snake relaxed its vigilance and should have agreed to him to help. Then his expression became solemn and he began to gently tap the female snake's abdomen with his knuckles to determine the position of the snake egg in his abdomen.
Fortunately, Wu Ji's ancestors learned medical skills, otherwise it would be difficult to encounter such a situation. I saw that he took out a silver needle from somewhere and stabbed it into the abdomen of the female snake. Soon the abdomen of the female snake shrank a little.
Through the careful inspection just now, he concluded that a snake egg broke in his belly, so the two snake eggs squeezed together to block the birth canal entrance.
At the moment, this silver needle is to draw the egg white from the snake egg. When the egg white is halfway through, he pulled out the needle. At this time, he was already sweating profusely.
After pulling out the silver needle, Wu Ji gently pushed the egg into the snake's anus with his thumb. Sure enough, after a while, several snake eggs were born intact, and another one was broken and cracked because the snake egg was born.
"Okay, you have to have a good rest next." Wu Ji looked at the somewhat weak female snake and kindly instructed.
At this time, the female snake suddenly picked up the little flower snake in one mouthful and sent it to Wu Ji. Seeing this, he stretched out a hand to take it and couldn't help asking, "What are you doing? Are you going to give it to me?"
The female snake nodded after hearing this, and then said, "My benefactor, if you didn't help me deliver the baby, I and the children wouldn't be able to survive. Xiao Hua seems to like you very much, so I will give it to her benefactor. It may be able to help you in the future."
Wu Ji saw that the big snake in front of him could talk, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He looked down at the little flower snake in his palm, and saw that the other party was tied together and gently touched his fingers with his head.
"Thank you, I will definitely raise it." Wu Ji promised to the female snake.
The female snake was willing to give its child to the other party, so it naturally recognized Wu Ji's character. It stared at its own child and whispered: "Child, our family's lives are saved by the benefactor. You must protect the benefactor."
The little flower snake glanced at the mother, then followed Wu Ji's arm, drilled into the other party's arms, then poked out a small head, and looked outside innocently.
"You have just finished giving birth and the baby is going to hatch, so take a break quickly." Wu Ji reminded with concern.
"My benefactor, I was originally a snake immortal who was practicing in Taibai Mountain. I was injured by thunder tribulation, which led to childbirth difficulties. Thanks to my benefactor who helped me to save me." The female snake thanked again.
"It's just a simple task, it's not worth mentioning." Wu Ji scratched his head and said with a smile. He was a little lucky at this moment. If he hadn't discovered it in time before, the big tree might have fallen and caused a big disaster.
"My benefactor, don't feel guilty. Even if the big tree falls, it won't hurt me at all." The female snake seemed to see through his thoughts.
"Really? That's good, that's good!" Wu Ji felt less guilty when he saw the other party say this.
"You are weak, I won't disturb you from resting. My wife is still waiting for me at home!" Wu Ji saw that it was getting dark and wanted to say goodbye to the other party.
Just as Wu Ji was about to leave, the female snake suddenly reminded: "My benefactor, your wife has a problem. Don't eat when you go home. Remember what I said."
Wu Ji was a little puzzled after hearing this. Just as he was about to ask a few questions, he saw the female snake disappear with his child.If he hadn't looked down and saw the little flower snake in his arms, he would have thought he had a dream!
Wu Ji packed up the tools for chopping wood. Today, he delayed his efforts to help the female snake deliver the baby, so he could only wait until early tomorrow morning to go up the mountain to tie up the wood.
The fifth village is at the foot of the mountain. Wu Ji's home lives at the west end of the village. It took half an hour to walk down the mountain. At the entrance of the village, he ran into Di Shitian in the village, so he said hello: "Brother Shitian, where are you going?"
Di Shitian saw Wu Ji and said with a panic look: "I...I'll go to the town to do business..." After that, he hurried away.
"Strange, what happened? Why are you doing so in a panic?" Wu Ji was a little puzzled.
This Dishitian has a good relationship with him on weekdays. The elders of the two families had many contacts. Later, Dishitian's parents passed away, and the other party became an orphan. He was taken back to raise by his uncle when he was a child and returned to the village he had only returned to a few years ago.
Wu Ji's parents were thinking of the old love, so they often took care of each other, and even asked their son to get along well with each other and not to treat each other differently just because the other person was an orphan.
Wu Ji is an honest person and keeps his parents' advice in mind, so he always treats Di Shitian as a brother and often invites him to visit his home.
Although the Wu family is not rich, the family is willing to work hard and hard, so they don’t have to worry about eating or drinking. One more person comes to the house for dinner is nothing more than adding a pair of dishes.
In fact, Wu Ji was lucky. With such a family background, it was difficult to marry a wife from another place, but he was different. He married a beautiful wife and met Ma Cuiping three years ago.
Speaking of his wife Ma Cuiping, she was also a lady from a wealthy family back then. However, because of the decline of the family, her parents could not withstand the blow overnight, and both of them committed suicide.
Ma Cuiping had no money to bury her parents, and at this time, her father's friend Wu Hengyuan paid for her to bury her parents and took her back home.
Wu Hengyuan took the other party home, and his original intention was to recognize the other party as his adopted daughter, but he did not want to be attracted by his son Wu Ji at first glance. So Wu Hengyuan found Ma Cuiping and asked the other party for his intentions.
In order to repay the kindness, Ma Cuiping agreed to the marriage, so she naturally became the daughter-in-law of the Wu family.
Wu Hengyuan also later learned that Ma Cuiping and Di Shitian had already had an engagement, and because Di Shitian's parents passed away early, the Ma family and his wife did not mention this matter.
Perhaps out of guilt, Wu Hengyuan recognized Di Shitian as his adopted son, treated him as his biological son, and promised to find him a good wife in the future.
Di Shitian and Wu Ji have a deep brotherly relationship, and Wu Hengyuan sees it. Since the other party was taken away by his uncle, the Wu family has often missed him.
However, when Di Shitian came back this time, Wu Ji felt obviously unfamiliar with the other party. He always felt something was hidden when talking and behaved.
Wuji looked at Di Shitian's back and walked away. Wu Ji returned home and started shouting before he even entered the door: "Madam, I'm back, Madam..."
Wu Ji shouted a few times but no one agreed. Seeing that the door was covered in vain, he pushed open the door and walked in. At this time, his wife walked out of the inner room in messy clothes.
"My wife, what are you doing in the room? You didn't agree even after calling you a few times. Why didn't you see your parents or elders?" Wu Ji asked casually at the other party.
"The second elder is going to visit relatives. It will take some time to come back. I have prepared the meal and waited for you. Seeing that you have not come back for a long time, I happened to be dizzy and lay on the bed to rest for a while." After Ma Cuiping said that, she greeted the other party for a meal.
"You go and get some wine, and then invite Brother Shi Tian over. I want to have a few drinks with him." Wu Ji said in Zhihu.
"Please drink him? Didn't he go to the town?" Ma Cuiping said casually.
"How do you know?" Wu Ji then remembered that when he met on the road just now, the other party did say he went to the town to do business.
"I... I heard that he was just passing by in front of the door!" Ma Cuiping made an excuse and turned around and walked into the kitchen to serve food.
Wu Ji didn't think much about it. He looked down and saw that the ground was full of mud. Thinking that just after he got off the mountain, his shoes were too dirty so that the house would not be filled with dirt, so he prepared to go and change them to have a meal.
He came to the room, glanced at the messy bed sheets, took out a pair of cloth shoes from under the bed and put them on his feet, but his eyes suddenly widened, and he said in confusion: "No, these shoes seem a little small, why are they not wearing them?"
"My husband, come and have dinner." At this time, Ma Cuiping shouted outside.
"Here!" Wu Ji saw that his shoes didn't fit, so he simply didn't change them, so he left the room and sat down at the table.
"My husband, I think you are exhausted, so why don't I have a drink with you? I remember the last time we drank, it was the wedding night." Ma Cuiping said, and went to get another jar of wine.
Wait for his wife to pour a bowl of wine. Wu Ji was about to pick up the food and eat it, but suddenly remembered what the female snake said today: "My benefactor, your wife has a problem. Don't eat when she goes home. Remember what I said."
Wu Ji's chopsticks that were pinched to her mouth suddenly stopped. Seeing this, his wife quickly persuaded: "Honey, eat quickly, it's still hot."
Wu Ji put down the chopsticks, then looked at his wife and asked: "My wife, is someone here at home today?"
Ma Cuiping replied with a dodge in her eyes: "Honey, what are you saying? Who is there at home?"
"Is that true? But why do I feel that someone at home seems to be here?" Wu Ji got up and approached, looking straight at the other party.
"My husband, you must be exhausted. Take a few sips of wine to relieve your fatigue. Today, the dishes I cooked for you are all your favorites." Ma Cuiping picked up a bowl of wine and handed them over.
"Bang!" Wu Ji waved his hand away, and the wine in the other party's hand sprinkled all over the floor.
"My husband, what's wrong with you?" Ma Cuiping's face changed and she said with a slight angrily.
"Hmph, what's wrong with me? I want to ask you what's going on?" Wu Ji finished speaking, grabbed a bowl of meat on the table and threw it into the corner. A mouse happened to crawl over and take a bite, but the next scene made Ma Cuiping widen her terrified eyes.
It turned out that the mouse ate the meat and lay motionless on the ground, obviously dead.
Ma Cuiping shook her head and said, "No, no, you lie to me. The food is not poisonous, it must have fainted."
"Hmph, you still want to argue, I think you clearly want to kill my life." Wu Ji shouted angrily.
"My husband, no, it's not like this, I...I..." Ma Cuiping looked panicked, she glanced outside the door, as if she was expecting someone to appear.
However, Wu Ji saw this subtle movement. He looked out the door and shouted, "Die Shitian, come out."
"Crack..." As soon as Wu Ji finished speaking, Di Shitian pushed the door and entered, and he sneered, "Brother Wu Ji, how did you guess it was me?"
"I just came back and met you on the road. At that time, you said in a panic that you were going to the town. I was wondering, what else to do when you were so late?" Wu Ji looked at the other party and said.
"Oh? So what? Can't you go to town when it's dark?" Di Shitian asked back.
"Of course there is no problem with this, but when I got home, my wife was in a messy clothes. Obviously, she had just gotten up from the bed. How could she know that you went to the town?" Wu Ji asked.
"I shouted when I left, can't I hear it by Sister Cuiping?" Di Shitian said.
"Even so, you guys and men are still careless. I wanted to change my shoes, but I found that the pair of cloth shoes under the bed didn't fit. I was obviously a size smaller when I put them on, so I concluded that the shoes must not be mine." Wu Ji said coldly.
"My husband, I made those shoes for you. I didn't expect to buy one size smaller. Please listen to my explanation..." Ma Cuiping interrupted quickly.
"Enough, you adulterers, do you think I pretended not to see anything? The shoes on his feet were clearly the ones I wore. If I guessed correctly, the shoes on his feet were one size larger now." Wu Ji roared.
"Hahaha... You're right, these shoes are indeed a size larger and don't fit at all.Cuiping and I have already had a engagement, but I didn’t expect you to take the lead. Your father and son are indebted to me and want me to stop pursuing it. But is this possible? "Di Shitian roared with wide eyes.
"Shi Tian, I didn't know about this at first. After I knew the whole story, Cuiping had already married me. I can't..." Wu Ji said with some guilt when he heard the other party mentioning the past.
"No one can take it away from me. Your family deserves this retribution, hahaha..." Di Shitian laughed.
"You...what happened to your parents? They treated you like your biological children. "Wu Ji asked worriedly.
"They have already gone to see the King of Hell first. In a while, you can go downstairs to fulfill your filial piety. "Di Shitian looked at the other party and said coldly.
"Ah, I'm fighting with you! "Wu Ji heard the news of his parents' murder and rushed up.
Di Shi Tian sneered, as if he was ready, and saw him kicking Wu Ji out directly, and then sneered: "You dare to fight me just by these two tricks. Since you can't steal it, I will make you happy today and let you go to the underworld to be a couple! "
When Ma Cuiping heard this, her face suddenly kicked. She hurriedly looked at the other party. Just as she was about to say something, she saw Di Shitian flashing out of the door and locking the door from outside.
"Shi Tian, open the door quickly. I haven't gone out yet. Let me out quickly. I'll go with you! "Ma Cuiping shouted loudly.
"Hmph, since you are husband and wife, how can you fly away from each other when you are in a disaster? I think you should stay with him, so you can have a companion on the way to the underworld. "Di Shitian smiled.
After a while, a fire lit up outside the Wu family's house, and thick smoke rolled in the house. When Wu Ji saw this scene, he naturally knew that Di Shitian set a fire outside. He wanted to burn them to death like this.
He looked at his wife who was crying and knocking on the door desperately. The smoke choked the other party and coughed constantly, and couldn't help but shout: "Stop shouting, do you still see that? He is using you and doesn't really love you. "
At this moment, Ma Cuiping was already very clear in her heart, but she still didn't want to believe that all this was true. When the other party was in love with her today, she was still talking sweetly in her ears, saying that she would take her to find a place to live again, why didn't she keep her word?
"Be careful! "Wu Ji saw a wooden beam on the roof falling down and was about to hit the other party. He stood up and pounced on him, hugged his wife in his arms and then rolled on the ground and avoided him.
In order to protect his wife from harm, one of his legs was still hit by the wooden beam, which made him grin.
"Mr., what's wrong with you?" "Ma Cuiping looked at the other party and asked with concern.
"Take the bed in the room away, there is a hole in the ground to escape, don't worry about me, go quickly! "Wuji shouted at his wife.
"I'm leaving, what do you do?" "Ma Cuiping looked at her injured husband and hesitated.
"My leg is injured. If you don't leave, we will all die of death. Let's go quickly! "Wu Ji pushed his wife and advised him not to care about him anymore.
The fire spread very quickly. Seeing that the rent was about to collapse, Ma Cuiping gritted her teeth and ran to the room to get into the tunnel. Before leaving, she cried and said, "Honey, I'm sorry for you in this life! "
" Go quickly! "Wuji shouted hard, he didn't want to see his wife die here.
"Boom! "The house swallowed by the fire finally collapsed, and Wu Ji was about to die. At this time, a white light enveloped his body, and the fire burned near the white light but it automatically went out.
"My benefactor, I'm here to save you. "At this time, a voice sounded in the house.
Wu Ji thought he could not escape death. When he opened his eyes, he found that the little flower snake in his arms crawled out and was looking at him.
"Xiaohua, did you save me? "Wu Ji seemed a little unbelievable, but he didn't expect that the little flower snake given to him by the female snake was so capable.
"My benefactor, my mother is in danger of going home, so I would like to wish you escape this disaster. "The little flower snake said.
I saw the little flower snake open his mouth, and all the fires around him were sucked into his mouth. However, even so, the Wu family's house was still burned to ashes by the fire.
This sudden fire in the Wu family attracted the attention of the villagers, and everyone rushed over to put out the fire caused outside the house.
Village chief Wu Bai shouted to everyone: "Save people quickly, Wu Ji is still inside, save people quickly!"
"Village Chief, I'm fine, I'm worried." Just as the village chief finished speaking, Wu Ji walked out staggeringly.
"Brother Wu Ji, your leg is injured." Wu Ling'er saw Wu Ji's injury, hurriedly ran up to support the other party and greeted him with concern.
"Thank you, Ling'er." Wu Ji thanked.
This Wu Ling'er is the daughter of the village chief, five years younger than Wu Ji. When she was a child, she went up the mountain to play naughtyly and almost fell off the cliff. Wu Ji tried her best to save her.
In fact, anyone with the discerning eyes of the villagers can see Wu Ling'er's thoughts about Wu Ji, but they are from their own family surnames, and because Wu Ji has married, Wu Ling'er hides her love in her heart.
Village chief came over and asked, "Do you know how the fire broke out in your home?"
Wu Ji hesitated for a moment and didn't say it, because once this matter was said, his wife would also be implicated.
Just as Wu Ji was silent, Wu Dazhuang in the village stood up and said, "Village Chief, I know who set the fire."
It turned out that Wu Dazhuang saw the scene of the fire in the Shitian, so he explained the whole story to the village chief.
The village chief turned to the patriarch of the Di clan and said, "Brother, what should you do about this?"
Di Yiyun is the patriarch of the Di clan. After hearing about this, he said indignantly: "Village Chief, please deal with it according to the village rules. You can't break the village rules of our fifth village."
When everyone arrived, they found Di Shitian and Ma Cuiping were entangled in the bed. It turned out that Ma Cuiping had survived the disaster. She thought her husband had been burned to death by the fire. If she didn't find a support, she would have been very sad in the future.
She found Di Shitian again. After crying, under the other party's sweet words, she chose to forgive him.
Di Shi Tian thought that the great revenge had been avenged, and he was happy in his heart. The silly woman in front of him threw herself into her arms and did something shameful to the other party again.
After the village chief was discovered by the village chief, Di Shitian looked panicked. He grabbed Ma Cuiping and said, "Village chief, patriarch, it was all her who seduced me, it was her fault..."
Ma Cuiping didn't expect the other party to blame so quickly, and she felt extremely disappointed. When she saw that her husband Wu Ji was in trouble, she felt even more ashamed.
"Cuiping, you..." Wu Ji never expected that his wife, whom he had saved, would come over to find the other party shamelessly.
"Wu Ji, what do you think about this?" The village chief came back to ask Wu Ji for his opinion.
"Village Chief, you have the final say!" Wu Ji sighed.
"No, don't come here!" Di Shitian saw several big men in the village walking towards him, took out a sharp knife from under the pillow on the bed and pressed it against Ma Cuiping's neck.
"Die Shitian, let the person go." The elder of the clan shouted with shame.
"Don't come over, I'll kill her when I come over again!" Di Shitian threatened.
"Hmph, you have done such a humiliating thing and want to let go of covering up your crimes. How can the village rules spare your lives? Be arrested and soaked pig cage !" The village chief scolded angrily.
"This is what you forced me. Since that's the case, I will fulfill you." After Di Shitian finished speaking, he stabbed Ma Cuiping with a sharp knife.
"No!" Wu Ji shouted in disbelief.
"Swish!" A little cold light flashed, and Di Shitian's body suddenly stood there motionless.
Just when everyone was surprised, the sharp knife in his hand also fell to the ground, and a little wound between his forehead was bleeding, which quickly seemed shocking.
Wu Ji looked down at the little flower snake in his arms. He knew that it must be the other party who rescued his wife again, but now it is not the time to thank the other party. In order to prevent everyone from panic, he did not tell the truth.
"This... this is retribution!" The patriarch shouted in pain, and the others also echoed.
"There is another person, arrest her." The village chief looked at Ma Cuiping who survived and ordered again.
Ma Cuiping quickly picked up the sharp knife on the ground. She stabbed her chest without hesitation, and soon the corner of her mouth was bleeding. She kept her last breath and looked at her husband Wu Ji and said, "Honey, I'm sorry, I was deceived by his sweet words..."
"Miss..." Wu Ji took two steps at a time, ran over and hugged the other person in his arms, and shouted sadly.
Ma Cuiping probably felt that she had no shame to face her husband again, and finally chose to end her life. Despite his wife's betrayal again and again, Wu Ji chose to forgive him.
During the Qingming Festival of the following year, Wu Ji brought paper money to his wife's grave. He glanced at the grave next to him, which read the Tomb of the Stone Heaven.
At this time, Wu Ling'er quietly came behind her. She asked in confusion: "Husband, don't you hate them?"
Wu Ji shook his head and said: "Those that do not belong to me will still be lost even if they are snatched. If I had known today, why should I be back then!"
