It is said that during the first century of the Tang Dynasty, there was a wealthy businessman living in Linxi County, this person was named Chen Maochun, and his family had a lot of property, not only in the city, but also a large number of fertile fields in the countryside.
As the saying goes: the poor are treacherous, the rich have a long conscience, Chen Maochun is such a person, although he has a lot of money, but he is very righteous, and he takes care of those tenants very much, and he will take the initiative to reduce the rent in every year of the disaster, and from time to time he will open a porridge shed to help the poor, and he can be regarded as a great benevolent person in the local area, but his reputation is not very good.
As the saying goes: no one is perfect without gold and no one is perfect. The same is true for Chen Maochun, he also has shortcomings and shortcomings, and it is precisely because of this that he has a general reputation in Linxi County, and he has mixed praise anyway. This person has a fatal flaw is that he is very lustful, and he has already accepted a four-room concubine before he was established, and his wife became depressed because of his frequent concubines, and as a result, the two died of illness within a few years of marriage, and their parents passed away the next year.
Without the restraint of his parents and the nagging of his wife, Chen Maochun became more unscrupulous, and immediately accepted another concubine as soon as he came out of the mourning period, if ordinary men could have several wives in their families.
may wake up happily when he dreams, but Chen Maochun is still not satisfied, and often lingers in the brothel of Qinglou, even if he sees a beautiful girl or a beautiful woman on the street, he will make a few provocative words, fortunately, he is not the kind of person who has no sense of proportion, but he just teases a few words without actual action.
People know his character, and he usually does a lot of good deeds, and he treats his neighbors well, so people can endure it.
Chen Maochun has a friend named Versace, and the relationship between the two is quite good, plus there are usually some business contacts, so when they have nothing to do, they will get together to have a few drinks, and when the two drink together, this day.
Versace asked curiously: "Brother Chen, there is something I really can't understand, you already have five concubines in your family, and all of them are as beautiful as flowers, but why do you still look for flowers and willows everywhere, and indulge in those fireworks women all day long and can't extricate yourself?"”
Chen Maochun took the wine glass and drank it all, then shook his head helplessly and said: "I can't hide it, I don't know what's wrong with me, anyway, I can't move my legs when I see a beautiful woman, and after trying to marry her home, it stands to reason that I should love her in every way, right?"
Strangely, it didn't take long for me to get bored after I got married, and then I had to look for a new target. You say that I like the new and hate the old, or that I am unkind, but I just can't change this problem!”
Versace said: "Actually, it is not a big deal for a man to have three wives and four concubines, even if he occasionally goes to the Qinglou to have fun, it is harmless, but everything must have a degree, if you are too addicted, it is not too good." ”
Alas......In fact, I also understand what Brother Fan said, but I just can't control it. Besides, if I don't enjoy life to the fullest, I can do whatever I want, so what use do you say even if I earn more money?This man!It is still necessary to know how to have fun in time. Chen Maochun said slowly!
That's what you say, but so are you. Before Versace finished speaking, he was interrupted by Chen Maochun: "Brother Fan, I understand your kindness, you don't need to persuade anymore, no matter how much you say, I can't change this problem!."Today, let the two of us brothers have a good time drinking and talking, and don't mention these unhappy things.
By the way, some time ago, I heard that there were a lot of new girls in Fenglai Pavilion, and they were beautiful and moving in various countries. I'm going to have a drink there tomorrow, so come with me then!."”
After hearing this, Versace waved his hand again and again, and said with a smile: "Hehe, I'll forget it!."The younger brother is not as blessed as Brother Chen, I have to take care of the business of the store, the business in the store has not been very good for a while, if there is no improvement, my father should take me again. ”
Although the Fan family is not as rich as the Chen family, it is only relatively speaking, in fact, the Fan family is also a large family, and the family also runs a lot of businesses, and it is also one of the best families in Linxi County. Versace is not lustful at all, he has only one wife in the family, and he has never taken a concubine for many years, but he is more money-loving, taking care of the store, and working hard to make money is his greatest pleasure.
Hearing that Versace rejected his invitation, Chen Maochun was not surprised at all by this answer, he said with a smile: "Since Brother Fan doesn't have time, then I won't force it, but I have to help you persuade Uncle Fan another day, you have already started a family, don't play the board at every turn!."”
Versace arched his hand and said, "Then I'm here to thank you in advance." ”
The two drank and chatted until nightfall, and the two broke up, and Chen Maochun staggered home. It is said that his five concubines are all gentle and virtuous kind women, although they have been snubbed by their husbands soon after marrying into the Chen family.
can't get the companionship and love they deserve, but they have never complained for half a sentence, and silently bear the pain they shouldn't have suffered. But fortunately, Chen Maochun's original wife gave birth to a pair of children, and now the two children are only four or five years old, which is the cutest time, and the concubines rely on teasing the children to pass the time on weekdays, so that life is not too boring.
On this day, Versace suddenly came to Chen Maochun, saying that a cloth merchant from Jiangnan brought a large number of goods, and now they are placed in the warehouse outside the city.
The two rushed to the warehouse for fear of being taken first, fortunately they came in time, and the other merchants in the city probably knew the news relatively late, and when they came to the warehouse, they didn't find anyone else, and the two checked the goods and found that they were very suitable for both the condition and the **.
So the two of them packed almost all the goods, they asked the man to send the goods back to the shop, while the two of them walked back in a hurry, and just as they were about to enter the city, Chen Maochun was almost knocked to the ground by a stumbling woman.
Chen Maochun just wanted to get angry, but when he saw the woman in front of him, he immediately turned angry to joy, just because the woman was so beautiful, although the woman was wearing plain clothes, her face was full of tiredness and servant dust, but even so, she could still see her petite face and delicate facial features, ** delicate and white like goat milk curd, curved willow eyebrows, a pair of apricot eyes and bright eyes that made people can't help but want to look at it twice.
Although the woman is not a sinking fish and a goose, it is difficult to find a more beautiful woman than her within a hundred miles of Linxi County.
The lustful Chen Maochun met a stunning beauty, and what happened next can be imagined, after some inquiry, it was learned that the woman's name is Liu Hongyu, and her hometown is from Lixian County, Jingzhou Prefecture, because her hometown suffered a flood that has not been encountered in a century.
Her parents were swept away by the flood, leaving her alone to survive, so she came to bid for her uncle, but she didn't expect that her uncle's family had already moved away, and now she has been displaced and has nowhere to go.
After listening to the woman's story, Chen Maochun's heart was simply happy, and he couldn't help but secretly say in his heart: "It's just that God helps me." Chen Maochun couldn't help but take Liu Hongyu back to his home, saying that it sounded good to help her find a place to stay, but in fact he wanted to take her as a concubine.
For his little thoughts, Liu Hongyu naturally knew very well in her heart, as the so-called nothing to be courteous or a traitor or a thief, how could there be a free lunch in the world.
However, Liu Hongyu also has her own principles, she said to Chen Maochun: "I understand all your thoughts, but I have one condition, although I am not from an official eunuch, but I am also a young lady from a small rich family, although I am poor and destitute now, I will not be a concubine, if you are really sincere, then you will carry a sedan chair and marry me." ”
Because Liu Hongyu is so beautiful, Chen Maochun, who has long been fascinated by sex, nodded and agreed without thinking about it, and then chose a good day and auspicious day to do a happy event, and Liu Hongyu officially became the housemother of the Chen family.
After getting married, Liu Hongyu also showed the bearing and talent that a housemother should have, not only handled the affairs of the family in an orderly manner, but also did things very thoughtfully and decently, treated Chen Maochun even more considerately, loved her stepson and stepdaughter, and got along very well with the five concubines.
Since having Liu Hongyu's company, Chen Maochun has indeed been honest for a while, but the nature of the country is easy to change, and he began to be restless again before a year, and he ran to a place like Qinglou every three or five times, but now it is much better than before, at least not so often.
Liu Hongyu is different from his ex-wife, she is not angry because her husband frequently lingers in the land of fireworks, according to her words, it is very common for a husband to have three wives and four concubines, but it is harmless to be lustful, and even encourage her husband to take a few more concubines, so that the Chen family can have a few more men in the future.
Liu Hongyu's empathy moved Chen Maochun, but he felt that he already had a son, although several other concubines had not been pregnant in recent years, but the incense of the Chen family had been continued, so he didn't pay much attention to Liu Hongyu's proposal, and even felt that it was more important to have fun than having more sons.
As time slowly passed, Chen Maochun's trust in Liu Hongyu became deeper and deeper, and even once handed over all the family deeds, house deeds, account books and silver tickets to her for safekeeping, and even the monthly accounts of the shops in the city, as well as the matters of collecting rent in the countryside, she was also responsible for all the matters of collecting rent, and he himself became the shopkeeper and put all his mind on eating, drinking and having fun.
The east flows by the water, the fallen leaves are one after another, the time flies by in such a day, in a blink of an eye, Liu Hongyu has been married to the Chen family for three years, on this day she said to Chen Maochun with a resentful expression: "Husband, when will you be a head like this!."Seeing that we are getting older and older, we can't just know how to have fun and enjoy it all our lives!The concubine also wants to be a mother, and she also wants to live a life where her children and grandchildren are entangled in their knees. ”
Lady, aren't we having a good time now?We don't have to worry about food or clothing, and the huge family business is now all in charge of you, are you still not satisfied?Chen Maochun picked up the teacup and replied disappreciatively.
I expected you to say that, and you really don't change it. This one is for you!Saying that, Liu Hongyu took out a package from the wardrobe and handed it to her husband, the package was a little heavy, Chen Maochun opened the package in confusion and found that there was a stack of silver tickets inside, and some silver, at a cursory glance, there were as many as four or five hundred taels.
Chen Maochun looked at the silver ticket inside the package and asked suspiciously, "What is this going to do, lady?"”
Liu Hongyu sighed lightly and said: "Since you are so lustful and playful, then simply have a good time, Luoyang is only three or four hundred miles away from here, I heard that it is very prosperous, Goulan Qinglou is everywhere, and there are countless stunning beauties, I will give you half a year to have fun there, if you feel that there is not enough time, then play for a year, but after a year, you must come back, and then you will settle down to live a good life, and you can no longer go outside to spend time drinking." Would you like to do that?”
As soon as he heard that there were countless beauties, Chen Maochun's eyes immediately widened, and he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, and said with a smile: "How could the lady suddenly think of doing this!."”
It's not because of you!I also have no way but to use a dead horse as a live horse doctor, I can't hide it, a friend of my father was like you back then, I can't wait to live in the Qinglou every day, his wife used this method, and then the person really changed his temperament, husband, I also hope you can change it, so that I and my sisters will not be alone in the empty room every day. ”
Rest assured, this time I will definitely be able to get rid of the problem of being greedy for sex and fun. Although Chen Maochun swore what he said, his heart had already flown to Luoyang City.
Seeing this, Liu Hongyu pursed her lips and smiled, and said: "Husband, you'd better say hello to those relatives and friends before leaving, just say that you want to go to Luoyang City to buy a house and prepare to develop over there, and when we settle down there, we will move our family. ”
What the lady said is extremely true, or you think about it more carefully. I'll let you know in the next few days. Chen Maochun kept rubbing his hands and said with a look of impatience.
In order to set off as soon as possible, Chen Maochun only took less than three days to inform the news, and early in the morning of the fourth day, Chen Maochun packed his luggage and left. After he arrived in Luoyang, he was immediately deeply attracted by the prosperous scene in front of him, which was indeed as his wife said, full of small courtyards, and the women in it were all charming and moving and incomparable with those rouge vulgar fans in Linxi County, just like the local chicken and the phoenix have no comparison.
Chen Maochun made an agreement with Liu Hongyu when he left, saying that he would come back in half a year, but in front of Qiu Ma's voice, he had already forgotten the time, and when he remembered that he still had a home, he had been away from home for seven or eight months.
The silver that Liu Hongyu gave him at the beginning was almost spent at this time, and Chen Maochun was indeed a little tired of this kind of life, and decided to go home and live a down-to-earth life with his wife and concubines, but what he never expected was that the day before he was about to leave to go home, his friend Versace and cousin Chen Chuang suddenly found him, and also brought a bad news, when Chen Maochun heard the news, his eyes immediately rolled and passed out.
It turned out that just three months ago, Liu Hongyu suddenly began to sell all the properties of the Chen family, and at the same time she also claimed that her husband Chen Maochun had already chosen a house in Luoyang City and opened several new stores there, and wrote back to let her sell her property, and then develop like a family, because Chen Maochun had informed everyone before, saying that he wanted to go to Luoyang to develop, so relatives and friends were not suspicious, and even kindly helped find various buyers.
Before Chen Maochun handed over the deed and deed to Liu Hongyu for safekeeping, now it is very convenient to trade, in just one month, except for the ancestral house of the Chen family, all other properties were sold, and the next day after the sale of the family property, Chen Maochun's five concubines left Linxi County in the same carriage, Liu Hongyu said that they went to Luoyang and the old man first, and there are still some things at home that have not been dealt with, and she will take the two children to leave after processing.
What people didn't expect was that Liu Hongyu disappeared the next day, leaving only Chen Maochun's children at home, and an old mother who was responsible for taking care of the two children before. It was only at this time that people realized that something was not quite right, so there was Versace and Chen Chuang rushed to Luoyang to find Chen Maochun, the two came to Luoyang and looked for him here for more than ten days, and found more than a dozen brothels in Qinglou before finally finding him, Chen Maochun was still a little confused on the way home, he never believed that this matter would be true, until he returned home and saw the yard full of messes, the young two children were at a loss to snuggle in the arms of the old mother, the two children did not have light in their eyes until they saw their father appear, Chen Maochun hurriedly ran to the Yamen to report to the official, hoping to catch Liu Hongyu back through the help of the government, by the way, to find their own wealth.
It's a pity that Liu Hongyu has been gone for nearly a month, and there is a vast sea of people, no one knows which direction Liu Hongyu escaped from, and no one knows where she will flee, trying to find someone under such conditions is like looking for a needle in a haystack!Although the yamen had posted notices everywhere and sent them to various states and counties, he had lived for more than a month, but there was still no clue.
Fortunately, Liu Hongyu, a woman, did not do anything wrong, leaving the Chen family's ancestral house unsold, and even left a lot of silver for Chen Maochun, otherwise he and his two children would have to live on the streets.
In this way, Chen Maochun passed in a daze, until this day, one of Chen Maochun's concubines, Li Chunyan, suddenly came back, and through Li Chunyan he learned that not long after he left, Liu Hongyu began to encourage several of their concubines to run away from home, saying that instead of staying alive and widowed here every day, it is better to leave simply.
Find a place outside where no one knows you, and then find a man who feels sorry for you to start your life again, after all, they are still very young, and the days ahead are still very long, and Liu Hongyu also made a promise that as long as they are willing to leave, they will be given a large sum of silver at that time, which is enough for them to have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.
Over the years, the concubines have been very depressed, neither can they get the care and love of their husbands, nor have children to sustenance, although they have been wives, but they live a widow-like life, rather than staying here and continuing to stay alone in the empty house, it is better to take the silver and find a place where no one knows to start over, as Liu Hongyu said.
Which woman doesn't want someone to love, which woman doesn't want to be a mother, as a result, Liu Hongyu easily persuaded everyone without much words, because there were five concubines secretly helping her under various covers, so that the sale of property went exceptionally smoothly, and soon the huge family business was sold and there was not much left.
On that day, the five of them took the silver they had received and left in a carriage, and after leaving the boundary of Linxi County, they went their separate ways to seek their own happiness.
And the reason why Li Chunyan came back was because she was grateful to Chen Maochun in her heart, and she was thinking about that kindness in her heart, speaking of which Li Chunyan was also a hard-working person, she was originally from Jingzhou, her parents died when she was eleven or twelve years old, and without the protection of her parents, she could only live in her uncle's house.
But her uncle is a good gambler, and he owes a lot of gambling debts outside, so he sold her to the trafficker for a hundred taels of **, and then the trafficker took her to Linxi County and sold her into the Qinglou here.
It wasn't until Li Chunyan was seventeen years old that she was fortunate to be favored by Chen Maochun, and ransomed her for her, and brought her home as a concubine.
Although Chen Maochun married a new concubine a year later and left her out in the cold, compared with the life of the Qinglou, at least she lives like a person now, and Chen Maochun is also very good to these concubines, although she is a little cold, but at least they live without worrying about food and clothing, and they have never been less than them in terms of food and clothing.
After their concubines separated that day, Li Chunyan returned to her ancestral hometown of Jingzhou, and bought a house there to settle down, but her heart was not forgotten by Chen Maochun, and she was also very concerned about the two children, so she found it again, she did not seek to be rich and expensive, but only to ask the family to live in peace and stability, three meals and four seasons, accompanied by lovers, the so-called quiet years, nothing more than that.
There are still people who think about it so far, and this feeling makes Chen Maochun moved, thinking back to the ridiculous things he did a few years ago, he feels ashamed, he has no face to continue to live in the city, so he sold his ancestral house, took Li Chunyan and two children, and the old mother moved to live in a small town outside the city.
After going through the red dust years, seeing the prosperity of the world, after experiencing this incident, Chen Maochun's temperament has completely changed, and he has returned to a plain life, and he understands what it means to cherish, he regards Li Chunyan as his wife, and let the two children call her mother.
Although Wanguan's family wealth is gone, he still has many years of experience in business, and he has opened a shop in the town with his previous experience, although he does not make as much money as before, but it is not a problem to feed the family.
After changing his temperament, Chen Maochun also sent his two children to study in the school, hoping that they can study hard, remember the teachings of his husband, and never follow their old path in the future.
The affairs of the Chen family spread in the streets and alleys of the city, and for a while it became a topic of conversation after dinner, and everyone also had different opinions on this matter, and various versions of gossip were overwhelming.
But the most popular version is that this incident was a trap deliberately set by someone, Liu Hongyu's appearance was not accidental, but someone deliberately set up a residence, and the person who did the game was Chen Maochun's good friend Versace. Because since the Chen family's accident, the Fan family's shop began to expand rapidly, and the business is getting bigger and bigger, and at the same time, it has also opened branches in several surrounding counties.
Those rumors quickly reached Chen Maochun's ears, and after he heard it, he only smiled faintly and didn't say a word. Indeed, since his accident, Versace's various actions are indeed very suspicious, coupled with his previous understanding of him, people's suspicions should not be wrong, recalling that the reason why he met Liu Hongyu that day was also because Versace came to find the city he came out of.
But now Chen Maochun doesn't want to continue to pursue this matter, firstly, he says that he has no substantive evidence, and secondly, he feels very bitter about his past behavior and does not want to think about it. And then there is all this that happened, in fact, he can't blame others, it is the result of his own fault, and it is also his due retribution to end up in such a field now.
As the so-called blessings and misfortunes lurk, misfortunes and blessings rely on, and Saion knows whether he is blessed or not. It is also through this incident that he really understands the importance of his family, and he also has his own love, and now the only thing he wants to do is to accompany his family in the future, not to be rich and noble, but to ask for a safe and secure family, live a good life in a down-to-earth manner, raise a pair of children, be a competent husband, a competent father, and make up for the previous debt to them.
A few years later, Chen Maochun and Li Chunyan gave birth to a lovely daughter, a family of five happy, Chen Maochun with many years of business experience, the current store business is very good, although there is no way to compare with before, but the family does not worry about eating and drinking. At the same time, Chen Maochun also enjoyed the joy of family life that he had never enjoyed before.
More than ten years later, when Chen Maochun was basking in the sun outside with his grandson, a name caught his attention when he listened to the chatter of the surrounding neighbors, saying that the Fan family, the richest man in Linxi County, was looted by bandits overnight, not only the family property was robbed, but even the head of the family, Versace, was splashed with blood and died on the spot.
In order to prevent the Fan family from retaliating afterwards, they actually killed more than 40 members of the Fan family, leaving no one alive.
Chen Maochun sighed softly after hearing this, then hugged his grandson and said, "It's not too early, let's go home for dinner, grandma will make dumplings for us to eat today, and Huzi will eat a few more in a while." The child's son Tiger Head and Tiger Brain are very cute, and after hearing Chen Maochun's words, he replied in a milky voice: "Grandpa, I will eat ten in a while." ”