The story takes place during the Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty. There is a library located two miles east of Shanghe Village. The teacher is an old man named Li Ru who is over fifty years old.
One late autumn night, the old man was sitting at his desk as usual, correcting the students' articles with the faint light. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from nowhere and almost blew out the lamp. The gentleman hurriedly protected the lamp. At this time, a woman's faint cry was vaguely heard. The sound was a bit far away, and it seemed to be coming from outside the hospital. At first, the old man thought it was the sound of the wind blowing something, but the crying sound became louder and louder, seemed to be getting closer and closer, and became more and more miserable, which made the old man's hair stand on end.
This was the case for the next three days. On the fourth day, the crying seemed to have come outside the door. The old man finally couldn't bear it any longer, straightened his clothes, sat in the center of the hall, held a ruler in hand, and shouted angrily: "I, Li Ru, read the books of sages and taught innocent schoolchildren, and my students are all over the world. I have never done anything wrong in my life, so why am I afraid that you, a brat, can't come to my door?" After saying this, it was quite effective. The crying stopped suddenly, and the night was peaceful.
The next day, the old gentleman expected that the female ghost would definitely come again, so he didn’t even drink wine during dinner. After dinner, he was still correcting articles at his desk, but it was a little different today. Today's desk has been tidied up, the four treasures of the study have been placed in place, the lamp oil has been filled, the wick has been thickened, and the ruler has been placed within easy reach. It can be seen that the old gentleman still attaches great importance to this female ghost. Sure enough, at the third watch, the woman's cry came again.
The old man stood up, opened the door, and returned to his desk to continue revising the article. After a while, the crying sound seemed to come into the house. The old man looked up and couldn't help but take a breath. I saw that the woman was about thirty years old, with disheveled hair, and her face was covered in blood. What was even more terrifying was that her abdomen had been cut open, dripping with blood, and she was holding a baby in her arms.
The old gentleman stretched out his hand to take the ruler, pointed at the female ghost and shouted: "What a shameless female ghost, who dared to cause trouble to the world late at night, and broke into my school naked. My ruler is an upright thing, let's see if I can forgive you lightly?"
After hearing this, the female ghost hurriedly knelt down and begged: "Sir, calm down and please redress my grievances. I have a lot of grievances and no place to complain. I heard that the old gentleman is an upright man, so I came here to ask him to uphold justice for me."
It turns out that this female ghost's maiden name is Wang, and her family calls her Cuigu. He is also from this area and lives in Shangtuya, north of Shanghe Village. The family is not rich, but they can still have enough food and clothing. When Cuigu reached the age of marriage, she was betrothed to the son of a wealthy family in Liujiagou to the east of Shangtuya. The wealthy family's surname was Liu and his son was called Liu Fugui. When they first got married, the couple was very affectionate, but as time went by, Liu Fugui changed his appearance and spent all day hanging out with women instead of doing his job. Cuigu saw it in her eyes and felt the pain in her heart. At first, Cuigu didn't dare to speak, but as time went by, she was afraid that her husband would be on the road of no return. She couldn't see her husband going down that bad road, so she persuaded him: "It's been more than a year since my second elder passed away. It's time for you to calm down and learn some righteousness. If you continue like this, our family will soon be ruined by you." For a period of time after he finished speaking, Liu Fugui did restrain himself and did not go out for several days. But the good times didn't last long, and he relapsed into his old habits and hooked up with Liu Erlaizi's wife from a neighboring village. He refused to listen to Cui Gu's advice several times, and even beat Cui Gu severely in the end.
There is a farmhand named Tian Shun in this village who does heavy work for the Liu family. Ever since his grandfather's generation, the Tian family has been helping the Liu family. One day, Liu Fugui went to Tian Shun's house to look for him to work. Tian Shun was not at home. When he entered the house, he saw his wife sitting on the kang doing needlework. I have seen his wife in the past, but I have never taken a close look at her. After a private look at her alone, she found that Tian Shun's wife was quite pretty, so she started to touch her and talk dirty to her.
Tian Shun's wife, Li, although her family was poor, had a violent personality and extremely upright conduct. She kicked Liu Fugui away with one kick. The peasant girl still had some strength and shouted at him: "Get out of here quickly. If you are so rude again, I will stab you to death with scissors.""
Liu Fugui is also a veteran at playing with women. How could he be frightened by her few words? He opened his hands with a look of Gao Yanei , and said coquettishly: "Little baby, don't be so stubborn. What's so good about this poor family? Come with me, and I guarantee that you will be popular, drink spicy food, and enjoy endless happiness. "At this time, the door of the courtyard rang. Liu Fugui looked out and saw that Tian Shun was back, and ran away in despair.
Mrs. Chen told Tian Shun what had just happened, and he was so angry that he went to find someone named Liu to settle the score. His wife stopped him. Mrs. Chen said: "Forget it, just be careful in the future. It is us who will suffer in the end when we go to find him. With his kind of virtue, sooner or later he will be struck by lightning from the sky, and five thunders will smash him to pieces. ”
At this time of year, when spring flowers were blooming and farming was busy, Cuigu looked at every busy household in the village. Only a few acres of her own land were uncultivated, and she felt extremely anxious. Now she was about to have a child again, so she couldn’t work, and her husband was pregnant. How can I live such a life without such a person? I couldn’t help but regret marrying into the Liu family. While she was in distress in the house, Tian Shun happened to come in to do some work. When Cui Gu heard the footsteps, she thought it was her husband coming back and said angrily: "Get out, this is not your home. "Tian Shun didn't know why, and was in a daze towards the back room.
At this moment, Liu Fugui really came back. He was shocked when he saw Tian Shun at home, thinking that he came to settle accounts with him. But then he thought about it, Tian Shun is usually honest. He shouldn't have the guts. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and a bad idea came to his mind, and he thought: You deserve to be in trouble. He came to Tian Shun in three steps, grabbed Tian Shun's collar, and shouted: "Come quickly!" Catch the adulterer! "
At this time, Cuigu had already heard the noise outside, and hurriedly came out to see what was going on. Seeing this scene, she also understood the general idea, and quickly covered Liu Fugui's mouth and cursed: "You are a piece of shit who has been stabbed a thousand times, are you trying to blackmail someone with your wife? Are you still a man? How dare you do such an unscrupulous thing? "
" Fuck you, you dare to speak for him. "Liu Fugui flew up and kicked Cui Gu.
Tian Shun was kidnapped by Liu Fugui and others and sent to the county government office. When Liu Fugui returned home from the county government office, he saw Cui Gu washing her face and combing her hair, and asked: "Where are you going to wash up and dress up? Cuigu replied: "Go and testify in a lawsuit." Liu Fugui was overjoyed. He took Cuigu's hand and said, "You are really my good wife. Let's go. When you get to the court, you will say that Tian Shun tried to rape you. I happened to catch up and capture him."
Cuigu was so angry that she trembled all over, and spat in Liu Fugui's face: "You are such a sinister and sinister person, how can I be like you? I want to accumulate more virtues for my unborn child!" I want to go to court to prove Tian Shun's innocence. "
Liu Fugui's eyes widened and he was furious. He picked up the kitchen knife and said viciously like crazy: "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will chop it into pieces. Do you believe it or not?" "
Cui Gu was so angry that she was a little unsteady on her feet. She glared at him and said, "Then do it. Anyway, I have had enough of this day. "
At this time, Liu Fugui's pupils were filled with blood, and his teeth were clattering. He cut open Cui Gu's stomach with one knife. Cui Gu and the child in her belly died on the spot, killing one and two. Liu Fugui was also a little panicked at this time, and hurriedly Bury Cui Gu.
When Cui Gu's family found out that their daughter was dead, Liu Fugui poured all the dirty water on Cui Gu, saying that Cui Gu had been caught committing adultery with someone else. When they were arguing, Cui Gu picked up a kitchen knife and wanted to commit murder. When trying to grab the kitchen knife, Cui Gu accidentally killed herself, and her children also suffered. After saying that, Liu Fugui burst into tears.
When the Wang family saw this, they thought that it was really their daughter who had an affair first, so it was difficult to pursue the matter further, and the matter was dropped.
After hearing the whole story, the old gentleman was already so angry that his beard was trembling. So he wrote hard and wrote all night long for Cuigu to write the petition. At this time, the rooster crowed, and Cui Gu said goodbye to the old man and drifted away.
In the afternoon of the same day, an old friend sent a letter. After reading it, the husband said to the old friend: "My wife's old illness has relapsed, and I will go back for a few days to visit." The old friend said: "Sir, don't be anxious, my sister-in-law is a lucky person." Before leaving, the old friend sent snacks and fruits to express his feelings, and told him to be careful on the road and go back quickly. The reason why I told my husband to go and come back quickly is because the village will invite a theater troupe from the county town to perform in an opera recently to wish for a good harvest.
Singing a opera in the village is a big event, and it has already caused a sensation among the people in a radius of more than ten miles. The theater owner was thinking of putting on a new play, but he couldn't come up with a new plot. After arriving in the village, he stayed in the old gentleman's library. That night, I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep, thinking hard about the new play, when I accidentally discovered the petition written by the old gentleman. At first glance, he was overjoyed, slapping his thighs happily and cheering repeatedly. He called the actors to rehearse overnight, and on the fifth day he put up the poster. The villagers were also shocked and wanted to know what this new play "Ghost" was like.
The play started, and the stage was bustling with excitement, but the folks below the stage were silent. They were so absorbed in watching that they even forgot to cheer. Playing the role of Cui Gu, her acting skills are superb. When the performance reached the point of being disemboweled, the people in the audience were furious and there was a commotion. At this time, an old couple came onto the stage crying, holding "Cui Gu" in their arms and shouting: "My poor girl, my parents are going blind thinking about you. Come home with dad!" It turned out that this old couple was Cui Gu's parents. The villagers also shouted loudly, demanding justice from the county magistrate.
The local county magistrate's surname is Zou, and he can be regarded as an upright official. He immediately went to court to find out the whole story and put Liu Fugui in prison. After the public case was over, Mr. Zou asked: "The truth of this case has been revealed, but I don't know who wrote this complaint?" At this moment, a police officer came to report: "Please tell me, Mr. Li Ru, a teacher from Shanghe Village, is outside the hall asking for an audience." It turned out that the old gentleman happened to come back at this time and heard that the villagers were talking about Cuigu's grievances, so he hurried to the county government office.
Magistrate Zou asked about the whole story. From then on, Cuigu's grievances were redressed, and the story of the old man writing a petition on behalf of the ghost spread.
