During the years of the Ming Dynasty, there was a wealthy businessman named Miao Santai in Baoding Prefecture, Hebei Province. His ancestors had opened silk cloth shops for several generations, and the business was very prosperous.
Mrs. Miao had two sons. The eldest was named Miao Sheng, who was married to the Sun family; the second was named Miao Li, who was married to the Ma family. Miao Santai asked Miao Sheng to do business with her since she was a child, but she asked Miao Li to concentrate on studying. She also hired a teacher named Sun Ming for Miao Li.
The eldest brother Miao Sheng has nothing to say about his business, but the second child Miao Li does not study hard and wanders around.
In addition, Sun Ming was also an incompetent teacher with evil intentions. Instead of focusing on teaching and educating people, he teamed up with Miao Li to deceive Miao Santai. Miao Li didn't study well. Instead of saying that he didn't study hard or that he didn't teach well, he blamed it on bad luck.
When Miao Li reached the age of twenty, he had not achieved any fame, so Sun Ming deceived Miao Santai to send him to prison in the capital. Miao Santai was fooled around and around, and she kept wasting money. During the
period, Miao Li's wife Ma gave birth to a son, named Miao Chen, while his brother Miao Sheng's wife never gave birth. Despite this, Mrs. Miao was still very happy. After all, she already had a grandson. Whether it was the eldest grandson or the second grandson, there was always someone to succeed him.
(1)
Miao Li was going to be imprisoned in the capital, and his teacher Sun Ming happened to be going to take the provincial examination, so all the expenses were naturally borne by Miao Li.
The teacher and student arrived in the capital together, but Sun Ming only took care of taking the exam and did not care about Miao Li's studies at all. Miao Li was like a runaway wild horse, going in and out of various romantic places in the capital every day, and eventually contracted a sexually transmitted disease. After he recovered and returned home, he contracted a cold again. In the end, the two illnesses overlapped and he died.
Miao Santai usually doted on Miao Li, but when she saw her son dying of illness, she was so sad that she died of illness soon after. Later, Miao Li's wife Ma also died of illness due to excessive sadness. Only Miao Li's son Miao Chen was left to live with his uncle Miao Sheng.
At this time, Miao Sheng still had no children, so he treated Miao Chen as his biological son. When he was twelve years old, he asked Miao Chen to learn business from him. Miao Chen is particularly motivated. With a little guidance, he quickly became a good businessman.
In this year, Miao Sheng’s wife Sun gave birth to a son, named Miao Cheng, who the couple regarded as the apple of their eye. Mrs. Sun was very happy and saw that Miao Chen behaved well at ordinary times, so she betrothed her niece Yulan to him, hoping to get married to him again. Miao Chen and Yu Lan fell in love after their marriage and lived a prosperous life.
When Miao grew up, Sun wanted him to study, but Miao Sheng said: My brother is a lesson. Not only did he not study well, but he also got into bad habits. I think he should let his son learn to do business from me, so as not to waste money!
Sun did not refute anymore.
Because they had a son in middle age, Miao Sheng and his wife doted on their son. Not only did Miao Cheng not study well, he was too lazy to do business. He idled around all day, competing with his uncle Miao Li.
When Miao Chen saw that his cousin was not up to par, he discussed with his wife Yulan that he wanted to separate from his uncle and go out to work alone.
Yulan then said to her aunt Sun: Miao Cheng is getting older and will inevitably marry a wife. Then the family will no longer be able to live in it. Why don't we move out?
Sun thought so and told her husband about it. Miao Sheng bought them a house so that Miao Chen and his wife could live alone outside.
At that time, Miao Chen was twenty-five years old and still helping his uncle with the business. However, Miao Sheng felt that they were already alone, so he paid him some wages like other workers.
One day, Miao Chen said to his uncle: I am married now. Although my uncle also gives me some wages, it is not enough to live on. I hope you can give me some capital. I want to start a business on my own.
Miao Sheng said nothing after hearing this.
It turns out that Miao Chen had selfish motives after getting married, and often did some tricks in business. Miao Sheng had heard about it for a long time, but he never revealed it due to love. Now that he heard that he wanted to go it alone, he felt very unhappy.
Seeing that his uncle refused, Miao Chen invited relatives and friends to persuade Miao Sheng.
Miao Sheng said: I have been raising Miao Chen since he was a child. I taught him business and gave him a wife. He said he wanted to separate, so I bought him a house and paid him wages. I didn't owe him anything. Now he actually wants to go out to work alone and asks me for capital.
I am older now and Miao Cheng is still young. If Miao Chen wants to leave, he can leave, but he must write me a note and pay us regular maintenance fees, and then I can lend him the capital.
Before relatives and friends could speak, Miao Chen said: When grandpa was alive, the family property should be divided into two parts, but my father died early and did not get any. When my mother died, there were some relics, but I don’t know where they are now. Should my uncle give me half of the family property? I deserve it. How can I say it’s a loan?
After hearing this, Miao Sheng became furious and cursed: Your father ate and drank so much that he spent money from the flower shop; I was responsible for repaying all the debts owed by your grandfather; the clothes for your mother's death were not even enough for funeral expenses; if I hadn't taken you in, I'm afraid you would have starved to death, and now you have said such heartless words!
Miao Chen said: Since you said so, then these can be ignored. But I started as an apprentice at the age of twelve and became an apprentice at the age of fifteen. You should give me the wages for the ten years from the age of fifteen to the age of twenty-five, right?
Miao Sheng sneered and said: In this case, should you give me all the money you spent to marry your wife and buy a house?
Just like that, the two of them were arguing back and forth, and their relatives and friends couldn't stop them.
In the end, there was no other way. A prestigious elder stood up and said: Don’t mention those things before, and don’t talk about whether to borrow or not. Now it is only said that Miao Sheng gave his nephew 300 taels of silver because he had no business capital, while Miao Chen paid 15 taels of pension every year in gratitude to his uncle for raising him.
After the elder finished speaking, no one had any objections. Miao Sheng and Miao Chen's initial goals were also achieved. The two wrote the agreement and notarized it. After a meal, everyone dispersed.
(2)
After Miao Chen's new store opened, because he was good at management, he also managed to win over several of his uncle's old customers, and the business became more and more prosperous. As for Miao Sheng's old store, the business is getting worse and worse because of the lack of Miao Chen as a helper and the poor management of his son Miao Cheng.
Miao Sheng thought that his nephew was causing trouble in private and robbed his business, so he went to Miao Chen to argue. But Miao Chen didn't buy it at all, and said a lot of unpleasant things. Miao Sheng couldn't swallow this, and became ill in a rage, and died of depression within half a year.
When Miao Chen heard that his uncle had died, he pretended to come over to mourn and said: All funeral expenses will be borne by me alone. My aunt and brother don't need to worry.
Miao Chen said so, and that's exactly what he did. He organized the entire funeral in an orderly manner. Seeing Miao Chen's hard work, relatives and friends all praised Miao Sheng for raising his nephew in vain.
But who would have thought that after the funeral, Miao Chen would make a detailed list, listing all the expenses, and completely wipe out the 300 taels of silver that his uncle originally lent him.
When Sun saw that the 300 taels of silver were gone, she asked Miao Chen for alimony. Miao Chen said: It is beneficial to have capital. The cost of alimony used to depend on these 300 taels of silver. Now that the capital has been used up, where can the alimony come from?
Only then did Sun realize that the reason why Miao Chen was so enthusiastic was because he had no good intentions at all.
Ms. Sun knew that her husband was mad at Miao Chen, and now he had cheated him out of his capital without paying alimony. She felt resentful and wanted to go to the government to sue him. After Miao Chen heard about this incident, he went around to try to make some connections, and finally let the Sun family get away with it.
In fact, if Miao Chen is a conscientious person, although he does not need to lend the capital to Miao Cheng, he can take his aunt and Miao Cheng into his home just like his uncle adopted him. On the one hand, he can support the elderly and on the other hand, he can control his younger brother. However, Miao Chen is too dark-hearted and does not care about their life and death at all, so that Miao Cheng does nothing all day long and hangs out with a bunch of rogues every day.
Speaking of these gangsters, one of them is named Sun Chao, who is the son of the original teacher Sun. Teacher Sun failed the exam for several years, and finally died of depression, leaving his son behind. It turned out that Sun Chao was also unmotivated. This was all retribution for the deception he had made of his students' parents.
Miao Cheng hangs out every day, and his mother, Sun, is particularly anxious. Seeing that she can't control him, she wants to marry him a wife to control him.
Sun Shiyang's people acted as matchmakers for Miao Cheng. People thought that Miao Cheng was uneducated and his family was poor.
Someone suggested that as long as Miao Chen came forward to witness the marriage, this matter could be considered. However, Miao Chen not only ignored it, but secretly badmouthed Miao Cheng, so there was no chance of finding a wife.
Later, while gambling, Miao Cheng broke his leg while avoiding being caught by an official. became a cripple after recovering from his leg injury, so no one was willing to marry his daughter to him.
If you want to say that children who don’t learn well don’t want to learn anything, but there is only one thing that does not need to be taught, and that is “color”.
Although Miao Cheng could not marry a wife, his skills in seducing women were quite good. When he was not lame, he often gambled with Sun Chao in a casino, and he managed to get the casino owner's daughter in a hurry.
The boss’s daughter is called Xiu Niang, and the two have a fierce fight in private, but only Sun Chao knows about this. Later, after Miao Cheng broke his leg, he stopped going to the casino, but Xiu Niang was pregnant at this time.
Xiuniang was afraid that her parents would find out, so she wrote a letter to Miao Cheng and asked Sun Chao to send it to him. In fact, she wanted Miao Cheng to buy a pair of abortion pills.
At that time, Miao Cheng had difficulty with his legs and feet, so he entrusted Sun Chao to get a medicine for him. He didn’t know whether Sun Chao was trying to save money and bought fake medicine, or whether the medicine itself was too strong. After Xiu Niang took the medicine, not only did the pregnancy fail, but her own life was ruined.
When Miao Cheng found out, he cried bitterly and vowed never to go to Xiu Niang's house to gamble again.
But it didn't take long for Miao Cheng to feel sad. The scar healed and he forgot about the pain. Then he fell in love with a charming middle-aged midwife, known as the Yin Empress.
(3)
Why is she called the Yin Empress? Because this woman is quite evil and often creates illegitimate babies and fake belly for others.
Miao Chen's wife, Yulan, had never given birth after marriage and was afraid that her husband would marry a concubine. She also asked the Yin Empress to make a prosthetic belly. She asked the Yin Empress to bring a child back from outside. Unexpectedly, the child died on the way, so it was never completed.
As for Miao Cheng, firstly, he blamed the Yin Empress for not doing good things, and secondly, he was greedy for her beauty, so he wanted to tease her, so he made a treacherous plan with Sun Chao.
One day, Miao Cheng rented two houses in a remote place, and met a few scoundrels to gamble money in the outer room. He lay on the bed in the back room and pretended to be a pregnant woman in labor, and then asked the Yin Empress to come to the house to deliver the baby.
In the middle of the night, Sun Chao went to find Lady Yin to deliver the baby at home. Lady Yin, not knowing what was going on, jogged all the way to Miao Cheng's rented house.
When Lady Yin arrived, she saw Miao Cheng with his head wrapped on the bed. She really thought Miao Cheng was a pregnant woman, so she touched Miao Cheng's lower body and shocked herself. Miao Cheng got up and raped Lady Yin.
Although Yin Niangniang shouted and screamed, no one heard her because the place was so remote. The most irritating thing was that after Miao Cheng was satisfied, he called in the gang of scoundrels outside and took turns bullying Yin Niangniang.
After they finished, they carried Yin Niangniang half a mile away and threw her on the roadside. Yin Niangniang endured the pain and finally returned home.
Lady Yin originally wanted to go find them to settle the score, but because it was too dark, she couldn’t see clearly who it was, and she was also afraid of ruining her reputation, so she had to swallow her anger and lay at home for more than a month to recover.
Unexpectedly, Miao Cheng was so happy that he became sad. After having some debauchery that night, he was infected with wind and cold , so he got Yin syndrome, and died of ineffective treatment. When he was dying, he kept calling "Xiu Niang".
After Miao Cheng died, his mother, Sun, was heartbroken. When packing his things, she found a note, but because she didn't know the words, she had to put it away temporarily.
Sun Chaoguo came to help with the funeral arrangements. Mrs. Sun asked: When my son died, he kept shouting "Xiu Niang". Do you think it was this Xiu Niang who killed my son?
Sun Chao said: It was not Xiu Niang who killed Miao Cheng, but Miao Cheng who killed Xiu Niang. So he told Sun that Xiuniang had written a letter to buy medicine for an abortion.
Sun Chao continued: Miao Cheng and Xiu Niang had feelings. After Xiu Niang died, Miao Cheng couldn't let go of it. He also told me that he kept the note Xiu Niang wrote to him as a souvenir.
When Sun heard this, he took out the note and showed it to Sun Chao. Sun Chao said it was this one and read the content to Sun Chao.
After hearing this, Ms. Sun burst into tears and said: If I had known this, I could find someone to arrange this marriage. Not only would Xiu Niang not die, but my son would not be extinct!
When Miao Chen heard that his brother was dead, he came over to express his gratitude. Later, he hurried home because his wife Yulan was in labor.
Magnolia has always had a fake belly, but this pregnancy is real, and she is about to reach October.
One night, Miao Chen dreamed of an old woman saying to herself: The child in your wife's belly is not your child. The child in the wild grave behind Guanyin Temple in the east of the city is your child.
When Miao Chen heard this, he was frightened and woke up on the spot. He happened to hear his wife moaning. He knew that his wife was about to give birth, so he quickly asked his servant to find the Yin Empress to deliver the baby.
After the servant went out, he came back not long after and said: Empress Yin went out to deliver a baby at night and met a ghost. She picked up a ghost fetus. She was comatose at home and could not go out. She said that there was Lady Zhao next to Guanyin Nunnery in the east of the city, who also delivered babies, and she asked us to invite her.
Miao Chen heard the servant mention the three words "Guanyin Temple", which matched his dream, so he said: Let's go, I will go with you!
It happened to be the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. The weather was at the fourth watch and the moon was bright. Miao and Chen walked to the east of the city. When they passed Guanyin Nunnery, they only heard the cry of a child coming from the grave behind the nunnery.
Miao Chen felt strange, so he and his servant took a look with a lamp, and saw a child lying next to a grave. When he picked it up and looked at it, he saw that he was still wrapped in a paper-cut Mingyi.
Miao Chen was surprised and happy to see the child because of the dream. He quickly held the child in his arms and asked his servant to invite Empress Zhao. He then returned home holding the child.
(4)
When Miao Chen returned home, Yulan had already given birth to the child, but unfortunately it was stillborn. Yulan was crying there, Miao Chen put the child next to him, talked about what happened in the dream, and advised her not to be sad, only said that she had raised twins, and it would be fine if one of them died.
Only one girl and the servant in the family knew about this matter, and Miao Chen repeatedly told them not to leak it.
Mrs. Sun hugged the child and took off the clothes on her body. It was strange. As soon as the paper clothes were taken off, they immediately turned into ashes. After a while, Empress Zhao came. She heard that the child had been born, had a meal and a meal, and then left.
Miao Chen picked up the child near Guanyin Temple, thought it was Guanyin Bodhisattva appearing, so he named the child Miao Guansheng.
Miao Cheng's mother, Sun, heard that her niece Yulan had given birth to twins and one of them died. She said regretfully: It would be great if both children survived. One of them could be adopted into my family, which would also give Miao Cheng an heir.
In fact, this is also Sun's wishful thinking. An ungrateful person like Miao Chen will not adopt the children to her even if she gives birth to twins.
Since Miao Cheng's death, Sun's life has become even more difficult. She kept Miao Cheng's coffin in Guanyin Temple in the east of the city, but she came to Miao Chen to take care of her in old age.
In the blink of an eye, Miao Guansheng has grown to fifteen years old. He is very smart. Whether it is studying or doing business, he can do everything at once. He is even better than Miao Chen when he was young.
When Miao Chen saw his son grow up, he married him a wife. What is amazing is that both Miao Guansheng and his wife were very filial to his great-aunt. But Miao Chen was a little unlucky. When he was doing business, he found that the servants' hands and feet were unclean and some were cheating. Miao Chen argued with him several times.
It turned out that the servant had an affair with an outsider and stole a lot of Miao Chen's goods. When Miao Chen found out, he beat him up and threatened to send him to the official.
That servant was not a vegetarian, and he actually said: Although I am your servant, I have at least worked hard for you for most of my life, so it is not an exaggeration to take advantage of you now. It is better than picking up a child of unknown origin in a wild grave, raising him as your own son, and leaving your family property to him in the end.
Miao Chen was hurt by him, so he sent him to see the official in a fit of anger. As a result, he spent a lot of money. Not only did he not recover the stolen goods, but he also made the matter a fuss. As a result, he went to see the Lord of Hell.
When Miao Guansheng saw that his servant was angry with his father, he kicked him out of the house, but by this time it was already too late. Rumors spread throughout the city that Miao Guansheng was a wild child.
Miao Guansheng had doubts in his heart, so he went to ask his mother and adoptive mother, but his mother and adoptive mother hesitated and refused to talk, so Miao Guansheng had to put the matter down.
Another year passed, and Miao Guansheng's wife was about to give birth. When she was about to give birth, she went to see the Yin Queen to deliver the baby.
At this time, the Yin Niang was dead, and her daughter-in-law took over the mantle of her mother-in-law and was called Xiao Yin Niang.
Miao Guansheng went to pick someone up the night before, but she only came over the next morning. Fortunately, Miao Guansheng's wife gave birth to a baby late, and she gave birth to a son only after the vagina came over.
When Miao Guansheng invited Xiao Yin Niang to drink, he asked: Why did I invite you last night and you only arrived this morning? Fortunately, my wife is very lucky, otherwise I would have missed something important!
Xiao Yin Niang said: Nineteen years ago, on the night of July 15th, my mother-in-law went out to pick up a ghost fetus, fell ill and died. From then on, we didn’t go out at night to deliver babies.
Miao Guansheng asked: How did your mother-in-law deliver the ghost fetus? The little Yin Niang made a scary gesture and slowly told the story of the incident.
(5)
It turns out that since the Yin Empress was raped by rogues such as Miao Cheng, anyone who came to ask her to deliver babies at night would either ask her husband and son to accompany her, or not go at all.
On July 15th of that year, at midnight, suddenly a boy in green clothes came to the house with a lantern, saying that Xiu Niang, the daughter of the casino family, wanted to ask her to come and deliver the baby. Niang Niang and her husband followed the boy to a small house behind Guanyin Temple.
A girl came out and asked the boy to sit outside with her husband, while Lady Yin went into the house and served Xiu Niang to give birth to a child.
After washing the child, Xiu Niang took off one of her clothes, wrapped the child up, then went to the pillow and took out a silver coin and gave it to Yin Niang Niang. Yin Niang asked her for a wedding dress, so Xiu Niang took out an old skirt from the box and gave it to her.
The girl took out the wine and rice for Lady Yin to eat. Lady Yin always felt that the wine and rice had an earthy smell, so she stopped eating after a few bites.
Later, Empress Yin felt that the room was unusually cold, and she felt a little scared. She hurriedly went out, but she couldn't find her husband when she came out, so she hurried back home. Halfway through, she found that the wedding dress around her waist was actually made of paper, so she quickly took it off.
Looking at the ingot of silver in his hand, it turned out to be made of paper. Upon closer inspection, saw that both the wedding dress and the silver had turned into ashes. He was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and fell to the ground.
At this time, her husband came out from nowhere and helped her back home. After returning home, Lady Yin fell ill and died within a few days.
The next day, his husband went back to the back of Guanyin Nunnery to see if there was any small house there. All he saw was a field of graves, with some blood stains next to one of the small graves, and no children.
Then he went to ask the nun in the nunnery, and then he found out that the small grave belonged to Xiu Niang, the daughter of the casino owner. She was buried there not long after her death. Maybe she gave birth to a baby after her death, but she didn't know where the baby went.
After Miao Guansheng heard what Xiaoyin Niang said, he was stunned and thought: I am exactly nineteen years old this year and was born on the night of July 15th. Some people say that I was brought back from a wild grave. Am I the child of that Xiu Niang? But who is the father?
When he was hesitating, he saw his great-aunt sitting there and crying after hearing what Xiaoyin Niang said. Miao Guansheng quickly asked her why she was crying.
Great-aunt told the story of the marriage between her son Miao Cheng and Xiuniang, and then took out the letter written by Xiuniang from her body. Miao Guansheng was shocked after reading it, and called his adoptive mother over to ask about the matter.
Seeing that she could no longer hide the matter, the adoptive mother had no choice but to tell the truth.
Only then did Miao Guansheng suddenly realize, he hugged his great-aunt and cried: It turns out that you are my biological grandmother, and the dead uncle is my biological father!
My great-aunt cried with joy and recognized her grandson. It was God's will that allowed Miao Chen to adopt the Miao family's flesh and blood.
Miao Guansheng thanked Xiaoyinniang profusely, and then had someone notify the casino owner.
It turns out that after Xiu Niang died, the casino owner was angry when he found out that his daughter had died due to an abortion, but he could not find out who the adulterer was, so he had to give up.
The owner of a casino thought his daughter had done something scandalous and wanted to burn her. Later, his wife Liu couldn't bear it and asked her husband to bury her in a wild grave behind Guanyin Nunnery.
Later, the casino owner died and had no son, leaving Liu alone to make ends meet. Mrs. Liu was overjoyed when she heard that she suddenly had a grandson.
Later, Miao Guansheng recognized his grandmother, took her home to raise her, and then buried his father Miao Cheng and his mother Xiuniang together. Miao Guansheng was grateful that Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared and saved his life, so he donated money to repair Guanyin Temple.
A year later, Miao Guansheng gave birth to another son, who was adopted by Miao Chen.Miao Guansheng was grateful for the kindness of his adoptive mother Yulan in raising him and served her as his own mother.
Back then, Miao Chen failed his uncle in raising him and refused to take in Miao Cheng. As a result, God accepted Miao Chen's son. This was the retribution for brotherly discord and ingratitude.
For an unscrupulous descendant like Miao Cheng, risking his own life is considered retribution, but in the end he also had a son and a grandson, and he inherited all Miao Chen's family property. This can be considered a kind of luck, maybe because of the blessing of his parents!
