Xushaojun is a scholar who lives on the North Bank of Taihu Lake. He lost his parents when he was young, and his family was poor, but he was smart and studious, and he was very famous within a few decades. His uncles and aunts often help him, hoping that he can make a difference in the future. Later, when his uncle was older, he gave him less help, so he cultivated a wasteland to grow some vegetables for self-sufficiency.
Xushaojun often goes to the eagle beak rock by the lake to recite poems. That day, xushaojun felt hungry and was about to go back to the house to cook. He just heard a few shouts. A middle-aged fisherman shouted to him, “brother, scholars are taking pains to buy a fish to replenish their body. I was lucky today. I caught a red scale carp. I can sell it to you for a low price. This is the first time I have caught such a good fish!”
Xushaojun didn’t plan to buy fish, but the middle-aged man said he had caught a rare fish, so he went to see it. The middle-aged man pulled the boat over and picked up the big carp in the cabin. Strange to say, the carp kept nodding to xushaojun when he saw him. Look at the small part of the fishing fork on its back. With compassion, Xu Shaojun took out his only bucket of money and bought the fish. He pulled out the fishing fork on the fish’s back, and when he got home, he took herbal powder, put it on its wound, wrapped it up with a cloth, and gently put it back into the lake.
One night, xushaojun sat under the lamp mending his clothes and sewing. His fingertips were pricked by a needle. The pain made him show his teeth. He thought, if only he could have a daughter-in-law! Some people sewed their clothes when they were torn, and some people brought delicious food when they were hungry… Thinking about it, he sighed and said to himself, “you are a poor and kind girl. Where are you…”
At this time, there was a knock at the door. Xushaojun wondered who would come to my house so late? He put down his work, opened the door and saw a beautiful girl standing at the door. He stammered, “what can I do for you, miss, who came to my humble abode late at night?” The girl said shyly, “my name is Hongling. I lost my way because of my relatives. Can I stay with you for the night?” Hearing this, Xu Shaojun immediately lost his mind: “this… This…” he looked at the dark outside, looked at the girl’s poor expression, and finally asked the girl to enter the door.
It’s easy to live in the same room. The next day, Miss Hongling didn’t mean to leave. She still didn’t plan to leave on the third and fourth days. On the fifth night, after sleeping in the middle of the night, xushaojun found that there were more people around him. He was so excited that he hugged her tightly… From then on, xushaojun and Hongling lived a sweet married life. Hongling gave xushaojun oneortwo silver. She asked him to buy a textile machine. She weaves cloth at home. Then she asked her husband to sell it in the city and earn some money to support her family. She lived happily.
That autumn, Hong Ling was pregnant. When she was about to give birth, Hong Ling asked xushaojun to build two small huts in the backyard of the house, put a bed and a large water tank in the huts, told him not to peek at them, and asked him to go to the next door of Cui Ji’s store in the town to invite an old lady surnamed Liu to deliver the baby. Xushaojun did it.
On the third night, xushaojun only heard the sound of water coming from the hut, but he didn’t dare to approach. At dawn, a baby was crying in the hut. Then Mrs. Liu came out with a baby in her arms. Xushaojun looked at his white and fat son and was too happy to close his mouth. Old lady Liu helped xushaojun take care of Hong Ling until she was pregnant.
However, after a hundred days, the baby is crying all day. It can’t be coaxed. With a slight sigh, Hong Ling walked into the small hut where the baby was born. After a while, Hong Ling came out with a green bead in her hands. She shook the bead in front of the child, and the child immediately stopped crying. Hong Ling had to sew a small sachet with silk cloth, put beads on the child’s neck, and the child stopped crying. Later, when the child grew up day by day, he could eat, drink and play quietly without hanging the sachet with beads around his neck. Xushaojun asked his wife to collect the beads, but Hong Ling said, it’s better to hang them around the child’s neck. This is a precious pearl, which can cure all diseases.
Hongling still weaves cloth, and weaves more patterns of cloth, sells at a higher price, and life is getting better and better. Slowly, xushaojun did not study as hard as before. Sometimes, he went to the city to sell cloth. After selling cloth, he had to live in the city for two days before coming back. Hongling persuades him to study hard. Xushaojun is very unhappy. Tired of listening, he takes out the wine and drinks it.
One day after his son turned one year old, xushaojun came back from the city and told his wife: the county magistrate’s mother didn’t know what was wrong, and many doctors couldn’t cure her. The county magistrate’s mother was as anxious as ants on a hot pot. He asked his master to write a notice and post it at the gate of the county. The notice said, who can cure the county magistrate’s mother’s disease and reward ten liang of gold. After reading the notice, xushaojun remembered that his wife had said that the jewel on his son’s neck could cure all kinds of diseases. Therefore, he hurried back to get the jewel and go to cure the mother of the county magistrate. In this way, he could get ten liang of gold and save it for the trip to Beijing in the future.
After hearing Xu Shaojun’s words, his wife advised him not to covet that small fortune. As long as he was content to study, he would surely have enough money to travel to Beijing for the exam. When Xu Shaojun heard his wife say this, he sighed, picked up a book at random and read it silently.
However, at dawn the next day, Hong Ling found that the jewel on her son’s neck was missing. She looked everywhere for xushaojun, but there was no sign of him. When Hong Ling knew that Xu Shaojun had secretly taken the jewels to cure the county magistrate’s mother, she sighed.
At dinner, xushaojun finally limped back. His wife asked him about his trip to the county government with concern. Xushaojun bowed his head and said nothing in shame. When the question was urgent, Xu Shaojun sighed and said, “madam, I’m sorry for you…” it turned out that Xu Shaojun took the Pearl to the county government, and soon cured the county official’s mother’s disease. After the county official was overjoyed, he became greedy. He knew that Xu Shaojun’s Pearl was priceless, so he gave him ten liang of gold. Of course, xushaojun refused to give him Baozhu. The county magistrate made a plan and pretended that if xushaojun didn’t agree, let him go.
Who knows, xushaojun was captured by two captains before he walked out of the gate of the county yamen. Two constables found the jewel by pressing Xu Shaojun. Then the county magistrate stole the jewel from the county yamen under the pretext that Xu Shaojun was treating his old mother’s illness. He thought that he was confused for a while and had seen his mother’s illness, so he didn’t go deep into it. He just recovered the jewel and beat him out of the County Yamen with sticks.
When the wife learned that xushaojun had lost his precious pearl, she was very sorry. She knew that her husband wanted to make a fortune, so she had to sigh heavily, and asked her husband to eat first, and then take a long-term view. At this time, a loud voice outside the door shouted: “red damask fairy, come out quickly and return to the Dragon King’s mansion of Taihu Lake with me. If you don’t obey the order, you will suffer from eternal shackles…” Hong Ling immediately trembled when she heard the loud voice. Xushaojun grabbed his wife’s sleeve and said, “madam, what’s the matter with you? What’s the matter?”
Hong Ling said plaintively: “Now, I don’t have to tell you any more. I was the niece of Dragon King of Taihu Lake and the fairy of red scale carp in the lake. A few years ago, I used to listen to you read poems in the lake and fell in love with you. Later, you saved my life. I was more determined to marry you and decided to accompany you for life. But you shouldn’t listen to me. After stealing the Pearl, it was snatched by the county magistrate. The Pearl was a magic weapon I had trained for thousands of years and was the key to my body Bao. Now, I lost my magic power when I lost my precious pearl, so I had to go back with the two gods… “She said, sobbing. It turned out that the county magistrate was so excited when he got the pearl that he ordered someone to hang it at the gate of the Yamen and send someone to watch it, so that people passing by could see it. The splendor of Baozhu rushed out of the city and was discovered by two magic messengers who were looking for Hongling fairy everywhere. They rushed to take back the Baozhu and found her trace.
Xushaojun was deeply hurt and remorseful. He grabbed his wife’s skirt and asked the two gods to help them and let her stay. I saw the two messengers fiercely holding their wives and running to the lake. Xushaojun picked up the child and chased him to the lake. He only heard the voice of Hong Ling: “in the future, you should take good care of our child and cultivate him into a person with achievements.” As soon as xushaojun fell and sat on the ground, he almost fainted. He kept saying, “I’m obedient, I’m obedient, and I won’t make you angry anymore…”
Xushaojun felt sad for a day and a night without eating or drinking, but his mother was always crying when the child disappeared, which made him more worried. In desperation, he picked up the child and ran to the lake, shouting: “Hong Ling, I’ll come with you…” as soon as he closed his eyes, he would jump into the lake.
Just then, I heard a roar: “stop!” A man hobbled along. Xushaojun stopped to look for his voice. It was his uncle!
The old man came up and grabbed his sleeve. “Pa pa” was two slaps in the face: “bastard! What a loser! You don’t want to live, but the child is still young, and he doesn’t want to die!” The uncle glared at xushaojun, hugged the child and said as he walked, “from now on, the child will be raised by our two elders. I don’t believe you, a big man, only have the courage to die! If you want to die, you have to die far away, so as not to disgrace your ancestors by dying in your hometown!”
Xushaojun squatted on the ground and sobbed for a long time. He finally figured out that if poor people want to live a happy life together and not be bullied, they can only be proud of themselves by studying hard and gaining fame. From then on, xushaojun lived the same life as before, working on the wasteland and staying up late to study hard. Fortunately, the uncle’s family often came to help him, either to give him rice or money. In this way, Xu Shaojun’s life was passable.
Two years later, Xu Shaojun won the imperial examination, and soon he went to the capital to take the imperial examination. After the release, he almost fainted with joy. He used the unspent travel expenses to buy a tall horse and ride it back to his hometown from the capital.
At the door of his house, xushaojun found that the door of his humble house was open and the smell of food wafted out. When he entered the room, he was surprised to see that there were many people in the room. When he came in, a woman came up to him and shouted, “my husband, are you back?” Hearing the sound, xushaojun took a closer look. He was so surprised that his mouth opened wide: isn’t this his wife Hong Ling? “Why are you back?” he said in surprise
“You’ve all won the scholarship. Do they dare not let me come back to congratulate you?” Hong Ling said with a smile. At this time, xushaojun’s uncle and aunt, as well as old lady Liu, who had delivered the baby for his wife, also came over. They congratulated xushaojun together. Uncle said: “nephew, in fact, you have today’s glory. It’s all the credit of my nephew’s daughter-in-law, Miss Hongling. Without her careful planning, there may not be a good ending.”
“What the hell is going on?” Xushaojun was confused and asked hurriedly.
“In fact, Hong Ling is not a fairy…” Mrs. Liu said loudly. It turned out that Xu Shaojun’s reputation for diligent study and talent spread to Cui family village ten miles away. Miss Hongling, the daughter of Cui Yuanwai, envied him very much and loved him. She told her father what she thought, but her father didn’t pay attention to the poor scholar at all, so he refused. Hong Ling told her servant girl what was on her mind. The servant girl discussed with her and said to find a reason to try xushaojun’s character. So the servant girl entrusted her fishing father to try xushaojun with a fish and found that he was really kind-hearted. Later, Miss Hongling made up her mind and sneaked out to marry Xu Shaojun. As for her saying that she is a carp fairy, the main reason is that she doesn’t want xushaojun to know her true identity. That pearl is the night pearl handed down by her family and has certain effects. At that time, her father knew about her private marriage. Although he was very angry, it can be seen that the raw rice was cooked, so he neither recognized her nor cared about her. But Hong Ling’s mother misses her daughter and often asks Aunt Liu, the wet nurse, to secretly send some money and things to Hong Ling.
However, later, the days were a little better, but xushaojun slowly changed. He not only became not fond of reading, but also always wanted to make ill gotten gains. Seeing that her husband had become mediocre, Hong Ling was very anxious. She secretly negotiated with her two brothers to save xushaojun. They agreed. Later, the two brothers disguised themselves as divine emissaries to escort Hong Ling back with the help of xushaojun’s loss of the Pearl. In this way, they gave xushaojun a head-on blow, separated his husband and wife, and made him regret, so as to achieve the goal of making him work hard and gaining fame. In the past three years, although Hong Ling left xushaojun, she secretly gave him a lot of help. Every time his uncle sent him articles and child support, they were all Hong Ling’s.
Xushaojun was stunned. Looking back on the past, he had mixed feelings. He took his wife’s hand and said, “good wife, you are really my benefactor! As the saying goes, one fence has three posts, but I am one man and three helpers! I am really lucky!”