The story takes place in the Song DynastyBaoyuan period. There was a salesman named Zhu Hong in Zhengping County, Caizhou Prefecture. Zhu Hong's family was poor, and he relied on the help of his neighbors since childhood. Later, when Zhu Hong grew up, he learned how to sell goods from others. He usually walked around the streets selling melons and fruits, so he could barely make ends meet.
There was a carpenter Li in the south of the city. Seeing that Zhu Hong was a loyal and honest man and a person worthy of trust, he betrothed his daughter Li Yuee to him and subsidized him a lot of money to do business. After Zhu Hong had some money, he bought a donkey cart and started selling some large items such as pots, pans and pans. In less than two years, he not only earned his money back, but also accumulated a lot of money.
Zhu Hong and Li Yue'e were very loving after their marriage. The year after their marriage, Li Yue'e gave birth to a daughter for Zhu Hong and named her A-Zhu. However, something unexpected happened. When A-Zhu was five years old, Li Yue'e became seriously ill. Zhu Hong did not hesitate to sell his land to treat his wife's illness, but he still could not save his wife's life.
Zhu Hong was devastated by his wife's death, but he still stood up for his daughter. Zhu Hong had spent all his savings treating his wife. In the end, Zhu Hong had no choice but to borrow some money from his neighbors before burying his wife. After taking care of his wife's funeral, Zhu Hong wanted to go out to do business as soon as possible so that he could pay off the foreign debt he owed as soon as possible.
But Ah Zhu was only five years old at the time, and he couldn't bear it if he let her follow him around the world, fearing that his child would suffer along with him. If A-Zhu is allowed to stay at home, there will be no one to take care of her. When Zhu Hong was in trouble, Wang, a matchmaker from the county, came to visit. Zhu Hong often sells goods everywhere, and basically knows all kinds of people. He asked: "Sister Wang came to the humble house, what do you want to teach me?"
The Wang family smiled and said: "Congratulations to my brother! There is a widow named Ding in the neighboring town. I heard that you had just lost your wife, and asked me to be a matchmaker. I want to marry you as a sequel. As long as my brother nods and agrees, we will do it tonight. I can make you the groom. After hearing this, Zhu Hong was a little angry and said: "My relationship with Yue'e is stronger than gold. Now that Yue'e's body is not cold, you come to persuade me to renew our relationship. Where is your conscience?" "
Matchmaker Wang was not angry, but said earnestly: "Brother, I know that you and Yue'e are in love, and the old Li family is kind to you, so you should not marry Yue'e for the rest of her life. But In everything you do, you should be more considerate of others. If Yue'e saw your father and daughter suffering under Jiuquan, would she be able to bear it better? You, a grown man, will be a bachelor for the rest of your life. Poor Ah Zhu, a girl. She has no mother to teach her. She will grow up to be a crazy girl. How can she get married? I'm afraid Yue'e will hate Jiuquan by then! Now that your land has been sold and you still owe a lot of foreign debt, your top priority is to find a way to make money quickly and find someone at home. The woman is taking care of Azhu, so you can work hard outside with peace of mind. If you take good care of Azhu and marry her in a few years, who will say that you are heartless and unrighteous? Do you think my sister is right? "
Zhu Hong is a person without a backbone. When he heard what Matchmaker Wang said, he thought her analysis was very reasonable, so he nodded and agreed to the marriage and married Widow Ding. Widow Na Ding was in her early thirties and very beautiful, which fascinated Zhu Hong.
A few days after Widow Ding came to the house, she said to Zhu Hong: "A good man should have high aspirations. It's not the best for you to stay at home all day. Others don't know, and they think I don't let you go out. Now I take care of you at home. Azhu, you can just work out and make a living. Pay off the foreign debt first and work hard in the future. The separation now is for more reunions in the future. "
Zhu Hong followed Widow Ding's advice and prepared to go on a long trip to the south, where he would make a lot of money. Before leaving, Zhu Hong asked Ah Zhu to be obedient, and the obedient Ah Zhu nodded in agreement. After Zhu Hong arrived in the south, he often had the same strange dream. He dreamed that his daughter's face was covered with blood and she murmured: "Dad, it's so cold."
Zhu Hong could have earned fifty taels of silver from his cart of goods, but he missed his daughter, sold the goods at a discount, and hurried back to his hometown in Zhengping County.After Zhu Hong returned home, he looked around for his daughter, but when he asked Widow Ding, Widow Ding pretended to be sad and said: "A few days after you left, Ah Zhu kept shouting that she wanted to find you. I said you would come back after a while. Unexpectedly, one day when I was cooking in the house, Ah Zhu ran out and never came back. I launched a search with my neighbors, but could not find Ah Zhu's whereabouts... "
After hearing this, Zhu Hong collapsed on the ground and said in tears: "Azhu...my Azhu..."
At this moment, Zhu Hong's yellow dog ran over, grabbed Zhu Hong's trouser leg and ran towards the northwest corner of the yard. The yellow dog grew up with Ah Zhu since childhood. The yellow dog often played with Ah Zhu. Could it be that the yellow dog knew about Ah Zhu's whereabouts? The yellow dog began to dig at the soil with its paws in the open space in the northwest corner of the yard. Zhu Hong wondered, wasn't this place originally a vegetable cellar? When was it filled in?
Not long after, Zhu Hong saw the child's clothes exposed in the soil. He stepped forward and pried them off with his hands, and an unacceptable scene appeared. Buried in the soil was the body of his daughter A-Zhu. Ah Zhu's face was covered in blood, his body was covered with injuries, and his perineum was torn apart. His death was extremely miserable. When Widow Ding saw this scene, she was so frightened that she turned around and ran away. Zhu Hong rushed up and tied her up with ropes and sent her to the county government office.
At that time, the magistrate of Zhengping County was a high-ranking official. When he learned that it was his stepmother who murdered his young son, he couldn't help but flew into a rage. He directly used the ancestor of the five punishments , and used a clamp to clamp Widow Ding's legs in half. Widow Ding couldn't endure the torture, so she had to confess to them all.
It turns out that Widow Ding had a parallel husband named Dong Biao, and the two had been having an affair for a long time. Dong Biao's ancestors had accumulated some wealth and were relatively generous in spending, so Widow Ding obeyed his advice. Dong Biao had a hobby, that is, he liked to play with girls. In order to please Dong Biao, Widow Ding said to him: "I heard that the wife of the salesman Zhu Hong has recently passed away. Why don't I drag the matchmaker to marry him? I have seen Zhu Hong's daughter. She is only five years old and is very beautiful. When Zhu Hong is not at home, , let the officials take good care of the girl, what do you think?"
After hearing this, Dong Biao was very happy and gave Widow Ding a pair of jade bracelets on the spot, and promised Widow Ding that there would be a reward after the incident was completed.
Widow Ding found matchmaker Wang and gave matchmaker Wang five taels of silver as a benefit, asking her to facilitate the matter. This led to the above scene where the matchmaker approached Zhu Hong to propose marriage.
After Widow Ding married Zhu Hong, she sent Zhu Hong away with words after a few days of love, and then called Dong Biao to her home. Poor Azhu was only five years old. Before she could see the great world, she was brutally tortured to death by Dong Biao and Widow Ding, and was finally buried in a vegetable cellar by them. If it weren't for the yellow dog at home digging up the earth and digging up corpses, I'm afraid the world would never know that there are such snake and scorpion stepmothers in the world.
After the case was found out, the people of Zhengping County were filled with indignation! In order to quell public anger and correct people's morals, the county magistrate asked Widow Ding and Dong Biao to ride around the city on wooden donkeys for ten days. Widow Ding and Dong Biao were beaten with wooden pestles until all their intestines and excrement came out, their blood flowed, and they were worse than dead. Wherever the prison car went, angry people poured rotten eggs and feces on their heads. After ten days of parading through the streets, Ling Chi was taken to the execution ground and chopped into pieces! The common people had not yet come to terms with their hatred. After whipping the corpse for more than ten days, they threw it into a mass grave and fed it to wild dogs .
Although the matchmaker Wang did not directly participate in the murder, she was considered an accomplice. The county magistrate ordered ten steel nails to be nailed to her tongue to punish her for talking nonsense and gossiping! Wang Po After returning home, her tongue had pus and sores, and she could not eat or drink. She finally died in bed wailing for more than ten days. When Matchmaker Wang died, her tongue stretched out more than a foot long, and her death was extremely horrific. Later, people used the adjective "long-tongued woman" as a gossip, which probably comes from this.
Zhu Hong buried his daughter next to his wife's grave, became a monk in a temple, and spent the rest of his life facing the ancient Buddha with a green lantern.
Postscript:
The green snake’s bamboo mouth and the needle behind the wasp’s tail are not poisonous, but they are the most poisonous to women’s hearts.
[Solemn statement]
This story is a folk tale, purely a literary creation. The plot and characters are fictitious. It is intended to enrich readers' spare time life. Please do not contradict feudal superstition.
