During the opening of the Sui Dynasty, there was a family living in the southern suburbs of Yongning Mansion, the male protagonist Jiao Laohan was over fifty years old, married his wife Miao in the early years, and the couple had only one daughter under their knees, named Jiao Yuniang. There is an old Xiucai in the city, named Jin Angong, who once saved Jiao Laohan's life. Jiao Laohan saw that Jin Shaoqing, the son of Duke Jin An, was the same age as his daughter, and married his daughter to Jin Shaoqing, only waiting for the two to get married when they became adults.
A few years later, Jin Angong and his wife died one after another, Jin Shaoqing had no money to bury, thanks to the help of Jiao Laohan, Jin Angong and his wife were able to enter the earth. For this reason, Jiao Laohan's wife Miao has a lot of complaints. In front of Jiao Laohan, he said: "Your money is not blown by the wind, but you have learned from the rich man to do good deeds." Jiao Laohan said angrily: "Duke Jin An had a life-saving grace for me back then, but he still didn't think about repaying the favor, how is it different from a beast?"Miao knew that her husband was upright, so she didn't say anything, and fell asleep on her own. Jiao Laohan did carpenter work and often went up the mountain to cut wood, but Jiao Laohan accidentally fell off the cliff on the way up the mountain, and when everyone found Jiao Laohan, he had already been angry for a long time. Miao and Jiao Yuniang buried Jiao Laohan.
After Jin Shaoqing learned about it, he wore linen and filial piety and went to the grave to worship. At this time, Jiao Yuniang was over eighteen years old, and according to local customs, she should have married a long time ago. How could Jin Shaoqing be destitute, so he has not been able to salute. Three years after the opening of the emperor, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty opened the examination for scholars, and Jin Shaoqing intended to make a name for himself. Before leaving, Jin Shaoqing came to his mother-in-law's house to say goodbye, and he said to his mother-in-law Miao: "The little son-in-law has poems and books in his belly, and this time the virtuous son-in-law will definitely be able to come back with a fame. ”
Miao glanced at Jin Shaoqing, thinking that just because of his poor and sour appearance, he still expects to take the top prize, I am afraid that he will starve to death if he can't go to the capital. But Miao quickly changed his smile and said, "My son has high aspirations, which is a good thing." Let me go into the house and say to Yu Niang. With that, Miao Shi turned into the inner room, and Jiao Yuniang was sitting on the bed. The Miao clan whispered: "Your dead ghost father is so hateful, and he has asked for such a bad fate. Now, he is so shabby that he doesn't even have a complete set of clothes, and he still wants to get ahead and take the top prize, which is simply a fool's dream. ”
That Jiao Yuniang said: "I only hate my father for his own selfish feelings, abandoning his daughter's happiness, and following such a poor ghost, wouldn't it make me suffer for life?"That Miao rolled his eyes and said, "If we withdraw from our family, he will definitely refuse." It's better for us to let the world evaporate, and report his disappearance to the county government office a year or two later. When the time comes, I will marry you to a rich and noble family, and it will not be in vain for your youth and beauty, what do you think?Jiao Yuniang nodded and said, "That's very good." It's just that he's a man, how can we two women do it?Miao said: "There is a dry well in our backyard, and when I pretend to be jewelry and fall into the well, he will look down, and you and I will take the opportunity to push him into the well, so unaware." ”
After making up their minds, Miao and Jiao Yuniang went out to meet Jin Shaoqing. When Miao walked to the well in the backyard, he deliberately shouted, "Oops, my bracelet fell into the well." Jin Shaoqing really looked for it, Miao and Jiao Yuniang saw the opportunity, and the two of them pushed together and pushed Jin Shaoqing into the well. The big dry well is bottomless, and the mother and daughter are sure that Jin Shaoqing will definitely die. The two men also found a wooden plank to cover the mouth of the well and pressed it with a large stone. Even if Jin Shaoqing can't fall to death, after three or five days, he will starve to death even if he is hungry.
In the evening, the mother and daughter drank to celebrate, and did not fall asleep until the second watch. In the middle of the night, Jiao Yuniang had a nightmare, in which Jiao Niang was surrounded by fire and was hot and dry. Jiao Yuniang's clothes were torn to pieces, and at this time, countless poisonous insects and beasts rushed towards Jiao Yuniang, Jiao Yuniang ran out of the house desperately, and ran all the way to the City God Temple in the suburbs. The temple was inhabited by homeless people called Hanako. Now seeing a naked ** beauty appear in front of her, everyone pounced on Jiao Yuniang like a vicious dog.
The next day, Miao got up and saw no trace of his daughter, and he was very anxious. At this moment, the neighbor Wang Laohan just returned from the market, and after seeing Miao, he said anxiously: "Go and see, Yu Niang was tortured in the City God Temple." When Miao staggered to the City God Temple, he saw his daughter Jiao Yuniang's eyes glazed, lying on the grass, her hair was messy, and the people standing around were full of onlookers. Miao took off her clothes, wrapped them for her daughter, and took them home.
At this time, Jiao Yuniang's consciousness gradually came to her senses, and she learned that she had become a beggar's plaything yesterday, and she was so ashamed that she was killed by her head. Miao lost his beloved daughter, and he didn't come up in one breath, but he died of anger. A few days later, the neighbors found the bodies of their mother and daughter, and scraped together some money to bury them.
Six months later, the group rode a tall horse to the door of Jiao Yuniang's house, led by no one else, it was Jin Shaoqing, the new champion of the year. It turned out that Jin Shaoqing did not fall to his death after falling into the well. The soil at the bottom of the well was soft, and Jin Shaoqing just fainted. Jin Shaoqing seemed to see a ghost to detain his soul. At this time, his father-in-law appeared in front of him and said, "Virtuous son-in-law, you can't sleep, wake up quickly." In the end, Jin Shaoqing opened his eyes sharply and found himself at the bottom of the well. Jin Shaoqing vaguely saw that there seemed to be light in front of him. It turned out that when the Three Kingdoms were competing for power, many tunnels were dug under the city of Yongning Mansion, and the well of Jiao Yuniang's house was one of the entrances and exits of the tunnel. Because of its age, the tunnel has long been idle and has become an underground river. It was the dry season, and the water in the tunnels had long since dried up.
Jin Shaoqing groped and crawled along the tunnel, and finally climbed to the moat outside the city. Jin Shaoqing escaped from death, sighed in his heart, and embarked on the road to Beijing alone to catch the exam, if he can win the championship in one fell swoop, he will marry Jiao Yuniang, if he fails to win, he will retire from Jiao Yuniang after he comes back, so as not to miss the happiness of others. Jin Shaoqing rushed to the capital and won the top prize in one fell swoop.
Jin Shaoqing returned to his hometown with honor, and only then did he learn that Jiao Yuniang and his mother-in-law were dead, and he was grief-stricken. Jin Shaoqing didn't care about his past suspicions, and he didn't forget his father-in-law's kindness, and repaired the tombs of several people, and then took office. Later, Jin Shaoqing married the daughter of the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and the husband and wife were harmonious and loving. Jin Shaoqing loved the people like a son, and later became a doctor, and the couple lived until they were over 90 years old before dying of illness.