There was a scholar in Fujian in the Ming Dynasty, surnamed Jiang, named Jiang Lian, his father was a showman, and he himself was a scholar. Initially, Jiang Lian set up a family affair with the daughter of his uncle Yu Yuan.
Nowadays, such a cousin-sister relationship cannot be married in modern times, because the man's grandmother and the woman's grandmother are the same person, which is considered a close relative. But in ancient times, this was not uncommon, and it did not violate the law or morality.
According to the convention, Jiang Lian can marry his cousin Yu as his wife when he grows up. But life is always full of accidents, Jiang Lian's family has a misfortune, the family fortune plummeted, and he had no choice but to go to the market to beg to make ends meet, and even had to solve the problem of food and clothing for his mother first.
After learning of this, Yu Yuan thought that his nephew was too disgraceful to marry his daughter, so he decided to repent of his marriage and discuss a solution with his wife.
The wife proposed a plan: to buy a coffin, then close the coffin lid and nail it well. When Jiang Lian came to propose, he told him that their daughter had died. Of course, this plan cannot be known to the daughter. When the matter is over, I will consider marrying my daughter off.
Yu Yuan thought this was a good idea, and immediately asked the old mother to take her daughter upstairs and told her that "no matter what happens, you are not allowed to go downstairs". Then he went to buy a coffin and put it in the yard.
After some time, Miss Yu was upstairs looking out the window, and suddenly saw her aunt and cousin coming, heard crying from the yard, and then saw them crying and leaving. Miss Yu was confused and asked about her mother-in-law, but her mother-in-law was at a loss.
Things have to come to light after all. Miss Yu slowly learns the truth: it turned out to be a ploy by her parents, who deceived her aunt and cousin Jiang Lian, claiming that she had died, in an attempt to make them die. Although Miss Yu was resentful, she was helpless, after all, she couldn't tell her parents.
Then, Miss Yu's marriage has progressed again, and she is about to marry a man named Han Zhong. Although the marriage has been set, the wedding has not yet taken place.
A month later, in the evening, Miss Yu saw a beggar passing downstairs and heard his voice as if he were a person who was crying in the yard that day. Guessing that it was her cousin Jiang Lian, she hurriedly went downstairs and called him upstairs from the back door.
After Jiang Lian saw Miss Yu, he said excitedly: "Cousin, are you still alive?" ”
Miss Yu took out the food and said, "Don't mention my life and death, you should be hungry, eat something quickly." ”
Jiang Lian was so hungry that he gulped down and was soon full.
Miss Fish's room has two wardrobes containing her dowry. She sorted out the clothes in the two wardrobes into one wardrobe, and then said to Jiang Lian: "Mother-in-law has gone out to run errands, and she will be back soon, you hide here first." ”
Jiang Lian hid in the closet, and after a while, her mother-in-law and Miss Yu's mother returned.
After some deliberation, Miss Yu's mother and mother-in-law decided to arrange her marriage. After Miss Yu heard this, although she was apprehensive, in order not to let them find out that there was someone in the cabinet, she could only pretend to be happy and agreed, and said that she could pack her luggage alone tonight and did not need to be accompanied by her mother-in-law. The mother was pleased to agree to her request, and the mother and daughter went downstairs.
That night, Jiang Lian and Miss Yu became husband and wife.
After dawn the next day, Jiang Lian came out of the closet. At noon, the neighbor girl invited Miss Yu to her house to see the embroidered cloth, and although Miss Yu shirked a little, she finally went.
At this time, Yu Yuan came upstairs and saw that his daughter was not there, so he asked him to send the wardrobe for the wedding to Han Zhong's house. Because their wardrobe was made of fine wood and was very heavy, Jiang Lian hid inside and was not discovered.
By the time Miss Yu returned, the wardrobe was gone. She secretly regretted that she should not have gone to the neighbor's house, but there was no way to undo it, so she had to go to her husband's house as soon as possible, perhaps in this way to avoid being discovered.
So, Miss Yu went to Jiang Lian's house and told her aunt: "The daughter-in-law is actually not dead, but the husband is hiding in the closet of the Han family." As she spoke, she cried and told her aunt everything about her parents' schemes, Jiang Lian and what happened to her.
My aunt asked Miss Yu what to do now.
Miss Yu was also helpless, so she could only say helplessly: "I can only resign myself to fate." ”
Coincidentally, Han Zhong had a younger sister, and Han Zhong was delayed in some things that day, and he couldn't go home at night. Therefore, he instructed his sister to guard the new house and gave her the key.
In the evening, everyone left, and Han Zhong's sister was curious about the bride's clothes, so she took the candle and went to open the cabinet. As a result, as soon as I opened the cabinet door, I saw a person inside, and I was startled, the candle in my hand fell, and the fire was extinguished.
Jiang Lian heard someone open the cabinet door and mistook it for Miss Yu - after all, they spent the night together last night, and they fell asleep during the day because they were tired, and they didn't know that they had been moved elsewhere. So he didn't hesitate to hug the woman in front of him, ready to enjoy it again.
Han Zhong's sister was frightened and asked, "Who are you?" How can you be so rude! Do you know who I am? ”
Jiang Lian didn't notice her voice in a panic, and just said, "Aren't you Miss Yu?" ”
Wrong, I'm Miss Han. Han Zhong's sister was not angry.
Jiang Lian thought for a while and said, "Maybe you can say the same." ”
Han Xiaomei continued: "At the beginning, Miss Yu was obviously engaged to her cousin, but later it was rumored that she died, and she was engaged to my brother, which is really strange. I've said a long time ago that this will definitely change, but I didn't expect it to be the same as I thought. It's providence that we can be together, don't you think? ”
Jiang Lian listened to these words and understood Han Xiaomei's intentions, so he agreed without hesitation, and a spark of love immediately sparked between the two.
When the day was about to break, Han Xiaomei said: "I understand your kindness to me, but if my brother comes back, we will both be embarrassed." Why don't we go back to your house together? If Miss Yu comes to my house, she will be your sister-in-law, and you will not suffer; If she stays in your house, then she is the first person in the door before me, and she is the main room, and I am a concubine, and you will not suffer a loss, and you can have a wife and a concubine at the same time. ”
Jiang Lian thought for a moment and felt that this proposal was very reasonable.
So, Han Xiaomei packed up and returned to his home with Jiang Lian.
After returning home, Miss Yu was serving her mother-in-law when she suddenly said, "Why hasn't my cousin come back for a long time?" Could something be wrong? ”
As she was talking, she turned around and saw Jiang Lian and Miss Han.
Miss Yu felt incredulous and said, "Apart from me, there is a woman who is willing not to dislike my husband as a beggar and is willing to go home with him?" It seems that you are also a good woman. ”
Miss Han was very happy to hear this, and immediately worshiped Miss Yu as her sister, and expressed her willingness to be Jiang Lian's concubine. Miss Yu was also very happy, helped Miss Han up, and the two saluted each other. Jiang Lian and his mother were even more overjoyed, almost singing happily.
And Han Zhong was extremely unlucky, not only lost his wife, but even his sister was taken away. After learning that his wife and sister had run away with Jiang Lian, he was furious, found the Yuyuan theory, and said that he would sue the Yu family.
Yu Yuan knew that he was wrong, and he couldn't stop his daughter from marrying Jiang Lian, so he had to promise to compensate Han Zhong for two beautiful maidservants.
As for Jiang Lian, Miss Han brought a lot of possessions with her, and Miss Yu's parents also gave a lot of dowry, so their family's life became rich. Miss Yu and Miss Han are also very filial to their mother-in-law, which makes Jiang Lian feel very pleased.
Therefore, Jiang Lian resumed his studies and was finally admitted to the Jinshi.
Years later, Jiang Lian often recalled the experience of those years and deeply felt the wonder of life. List of high-quality authors