It is said that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a remote mountain village in the east of Jingzhou Mansion, and the people in the village were industrious and simple. As the saying goes, the men in the village mostly make a living by chopping firewood and hunting, and the women go to the tea garden to help people pick tea to earn money to supplement the family. There is a woman named Shi Xiaoyue in the village, she is kind and helpful.
Shi Xiaoyue is not tall, but she looks good, that is, there is a red birthmark the size of a goose egg on the left side of her face. Despite this, no one laughed at her for being ugly, and they all said that she was the most beautiful flower in the village. That's because she has a kind heart, and when she sees anyone in trouble on weekdays, she will help anyone who can help.
Her kindness makes her beauty radiate from the inside out, so the villagers say that she is the most beautiful, and they also say that whoever can marry her must be the blessing saved by doing good deeds in her previous life. When Shi Xiaoyue was 18 years old, there were really many young men who came to the door to propose marriage, but they were all politely rejected by their parents.
It's just because Shi's father and mother both know that Shi Xiaoyue already has someone in his heart. The young man's name is Zhang Yiaxe, born a few months earlier than Shi Xiaoyue, he is hardworking and filial and handsome. Originally, they should have been married at the age of 17, but Zhang's father fell ill at this time. In order to treat his father, the filial Zhang Yiaxe took out the silver he was going to use to become a parent.
A few months later, Zhang's father's illness gradually improved, but the family's savings were also spent. Zhang Yiaxe asked Shi Xiaoyue to wait for him for two years, and when he earned enough money to get married, he married her. Shi Xiaoyue fell in love with Zhang Yiaxe, so she naturally agreed. During these two years, a matchmaker told Shi Xiaoyue that Zhang Yiaxe was a poor guy, and asked Shi Xiaoyue not to wait for him any longer, and said that she could introduce a handsome guy from a wealthy family to Shi Xiaoyue, but Shi Xiaoyue refused.
There are also matchmakers who find Zhang Yiaxe, saying that Shi Xiaoyue is ugly and Zhang Yiaxe is handsome, saying that she can find him a fair-skinned and beautiful woman. The result? was rejected by Zhang Yiaxe, saying that Shi Xiaoyue was the most beautiful in his heart. The two were stronger than Jin, and later became husband and wife. After the two got married, they respected each other and loved each other very much.
After marriage, Shi Xiaoyue was diligent and thrifty and filial to her in-laws, and the neighbors praised the Zhang family for marrying a virtuous daughter-in-law. Zhang's father and mother are also very satisfied with this daughter-in-law, the family is harmonious and has a happy life. Three years later, Shi Xiaoyue gave birth to a pair of children to Zhang Yiaxe. With two more children in the family, Zhang Yiaxe worked even harder.
One day, as soon as the rooster crowed, and before the day was fully light, the couple was already dressed and got up. Shi Xiaoyue went to the kitchen to cook, Zhang Yiaxe picked up the axe and polished it in the yard, he did this every day, so that he could chop more firewood. The family had breakfast, and the sky was getting brighter. Zhang Yiaxe picked up the axe, took the dry food handed by Shi Xiaoyue, and prepared to go out and go up the mountain to chop wood with a few people in the village.
Shi Xiaoyue stopped him and said, "Xianggong, if you don't go to another mountain to cut firewood, don't always chop firewood on one mountain, trees also need to recuperate." Zhang Yiaxe said: "Isn't it a long way to go to other mountains to chop firewood?"And it is far from the road, and it is inconvenient to transport firewood to sell. Even if I wanted to go, and my companions didn't, I couldn't help it.
You also know that we all chop firewood together, and with only three or five companions helping each other, it is much easier to chop and transport firewood. We usually cut wood, sawed wood, harvested firewood, picked firewood down the mountain, and used ox carts to pull firewood to the town to sell, so that we could make more money by dividing labor and working together. ”
Shi Xiaoyue said: "Then you can talk to the leading brother Liu Ze." Zhang Yiaxe replied: "It's useless, someone has mentioned it to him before." Brother Liu said that the purpose of everyone cutting firewood is to make money, of course, how to come quickly, and it is inconvenient to go to other mountains to cut firewood and transport it. ”
Shi Xiaoyue frowned and said, "I always feel that it is inappropriate for you to do this. Zhang Yiaxe held Shi Xiaoyue's hand and comforted: "Don't think about it, we are just chopping wood, what can we do." Then he went out to chop wood. Shi Xiaoyue said to herself: "Maybe it's really thinking too much." She shook her head.
After touching a cup of tea, Aunt Ma's voice came from outside the door: "Xiaoyue, it's time for us to go." If we delay any longer, we will be late, and Steward Luo will deduct our wages. Shi Xiaoyue replied: "Okay, I'll come out right away." Leaving the children to be taken care of by her parents-in-law, Shi Xiaoyue took a hat and hurried out.
Shi Xiaoyue and Aunt Ma, along with other women in the village, rushed to the tea garden with a group of 8 people. They are all tea pickers who go to work in the tea plantation, and they talk and laugh along the way and get along very well. As she passed a mountain pass, a woman at the front suddenly stopped. Pointing to the short distance to the left, he said, "Look, there's a good show there?" ”
Everyone looked in the direction of her finger and saw a mountain rat and a white snake fighting, the mountain rat had palm-sized movements and flexible movements, and kept attacking the white snake. The white snake was swollen and sluggish, gradually falling into a disadvantage. Seeing this, Shi Xiaoyue bent down and picked up a few stones from the ground. The woman asked, "What are you doing here?" ”
Shi Xiaoyue replied: "Of course, it's to save the white snake and drive the mountain rats away." The woman said, "What are you doing to save it?" Mountain rats and snakes are not good things, let them eat dogs, we can also watch the fun, why bother. ”
Shi Xiaoyue said: "There are good people and bad people, but in fact, why not animals? We can't generalize. Look at the snake's belly, whether it is slightly bulging. Everyone looked at it and nodded. Shi Xiaoyue continued: "That's because it's pregnant. The mountain rat was so hateful, and its actions were in danger.
We are all women, and we should know that pregnancy is not easy, and how much suffering it takes to have a child. I couldn't bear to see the mother snake hurt by a mouse, so I wanted to give her a hand. After everyone listened, they didn't stop Shi Xiaoyue anymore. Shi Xiaoyue immediately threw a few stones at the mountain rat. The rat was hit by one of the rocks, turned around and fled.
When the female snake saw that Shi Xiaoyue had saved herself, she crawled in the direction of Shi Xiaoyue. Everyone was taken aback and hurriedly took a few steps back. At this time, the female snake stopped and nodded at Shi Xiaoyue. Aunt Ma said: "This snake is really spiritual, it is thanking Xiaoyue for saving her life." When everyone saw this, they were amazed.
Suddenly, the female snake showed a painful expression and her body staggered. A woman said, "What's wrong with this snake, it looks like it's in pain?" Shi Xiaoyue thought for a while and said, "The female snake is estimated to have had a fetal gas when she was fighting with the mountain rat just now, and this should be about to give birth." Looking at its painful appearance, it should be a difficult birth. **Ten Thousand Fans Incentive Plan The woman smiled: "No, will snakes also have difficult births?" This is the first time I've heard of it. Shi Xiaoyue explained: "I heard an old hunter say that there are two situations in the production of female snakes. There are snake eggs that are directly raw, and then hatch into baby snakes. There are also those who give birth to small snakes directly, but this situation is the most prone to dystocia. The old Orion once taught me how to deliver the female snake, and I had to help her again. With that, he walked towards the female snake.
At this time, Aunt Ma stopped her: "Xiaoyue, it's too late." If we don't go to the tea plantation, we will be late, and we will be fined half a day's wages. Shi Xiaoyue replied: "Aunt Ma, you go first." So Aunt Ma took the others and left first, sighing as she walked: "Xiaoyue, this person is kind-hearted, for an irrelevant female snake, she doesn't even want half a day's salary." ”
And Shi Xiaoyue is using the method taught to her by the old Orion, using her fingers to gently tap rhythmically on the female snake to help the female snake give birth. After touching a cup of tea, the female snake successfully gave birth to two baby snakes. Shi Xiaoyue saw that the female snake was out of danger, so she quickly ran towards the tea garden. She was still late in a hurry, and was deducted half a day's wages by the steward of the tea garden.
In this regard, Shi Xiaoyue did not complain, and worked diligently as always. was busy until the evening, and Shi Xiaoyue finished work and went home. When I got home, I immediately went into the kitchen and cooked the food skillfully. The family had eaten happily, and Shi Xiaoyue, who had been busy all day, was also tired, and as soon as she lay down on the bed, she fell asleep.
I don't know how long it took, Shi Xiaoyue came alone and came to the place where she saved the female snake during the day. Seeing the female snake waiting for her there, the female snake spat out and said, "Engong, thank you for saving me." I am waiting for you here to tell you that you should not let your husband go up the mountain to chop wood tomorrow, otherwise it will be dangerous. ”
Shi Xiaoyue asked, "Why?" The female snake said, "Don't divulge the secrets of heaven, that's all I can tell you, please remember." And you were fined half a day's wages for saving me. Tomorrow you can go outside the village, find the third big tree, and walk 50 steps to the east, and then pick up the grass. There were a dozen taels of silver there, which were dropped by passers-by.
It's been years and no one has noticed. This little bit of money is a little bit of my heart, please accept it. After the she-snake finished speaking, she turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared. Shi Xiaoyue opened her eyes and found that it was pitch black around her, and she realized that she was dreaming just now. However, the words spoken by the female snake in the dream kept echoing in her ears.
Shi Xiaoyue was so sleepy that she fell asleep again after a while. I don't know how long it took, Shi Xiaoyue heard the crowing of the rooster, opened her eyes, and sat up from the bed. At this time, her husband Zhang Yiaxe also woke up. The couple got up together to prepare for today's work. Suddenly, Shi Xiaoyue remembered what the female snake said in her dream.
After thinking for a moment, she felt that she would rather believe it than not. said to Zhang Yiaxe: "Xianggong, don't go up the mountain to chop wood today, otherwise there will be danger." Hearing this, Zhang Yiaxe was very puzzled and asked, "I just chop wood as usual, what danger will there be?" Shi Xiaoyue didn't know it herself, so she told Zhang Yiaxe what the female snake said in her dream.
Zhang Yiaxe listened to it and said with a smile: "It's just a dream, how can you take it seriously." Then he went and sharpened his axe for chopping wood. But what the female snake said echoed in Shi Xiaoyue's ears again, and she hurriedly called out to her husband and said, "The female snake also told me that in a place outside the village, there are more than a dozen taels of silver, let's go and find it, so that we can know whether what the female snake said in the dream is true." ”
So the couple came to the outside of the village together, found the tree that the mother snake said, and then walked 50 steps to the east, and the two picked up the grass nearby, and sure enough, they found a dozen taels of broken silver. At this moment, Zhang Yiaxe finally believed it. Just didn't know what the danger was, Zhang Yiaxe guessed that there might be danger on the mountain, so he hurried to inform his partner who was chopping wood together.
After hearing this, the others all believed it, but Liu Ze didn't believe it, and said: "A dream scares you like this, if you don't go to me, it's really a starving coward, and if you work for one more day, you will get more money for one day." Liu Ze didn't listen to everyone's persuasion, and went up the mountain alone to cut wood. When they saw this, they went home and rested.
At noon, the sky was cloudy, and in the blink of an eye, the rain the size of beans fell. The rain fell heavily for an hour before it gradually stopped. Zhang Yiaxe was teasing the two children at home, and Ma Gui, an accomplice who was chopping wood, ran in and cried sadly: "Brother Liu Ze, he has been taken care of. Zhang Yiaxe was shocked and hurriedly asked the reason.
Ma Gui said the matter, it turned out that it was raining heavily at noon today, and Liu Ze went to the thatched house halfway up the mountain to take shelter from the rain, this thatched house was built by them together, the purpose was to rest there for a while at noon, and have a place to shelter from the sun and rain. But unexpectedly, this time, the heavy rain triggered a mudslide, and Liu Ze was buried inside.
Zhang Yiaxe hurriedly said: "Then what are you waiting for?" Hurry up and notify everyone to go over and save people. After the villagers dug Liu Ze out, Liu Ze was already out of breath. Zhang Yiaxe cried sadly: "There has never been a mudslide before, what happened today?" "An old gentleman passing by, sheltering from the rain in the village at noon, also came to the scene.
He looked around for a moment and said, "It's all the result of your over-cutting of trees. You see that the trees on this mountain are almost cut down by you, and now they are bare. The reason why mudslides have not occurred in the past is because the soil is protected by the rain because of the protection of trees. Now the trees have been cut down by you, and the dirt has become loose and loose without the trees to stop it, and the rain has come down at once. ”
When everyone heard this, they finally came to their senses. The old gentleman continued: "You can cut wood to earn money, but you can't keep cutting on a mountain for the sake of speed and convenience, you must know how to give trees time to recuperate, it is best to cut down a tree and plant a tree, only by protecting the environment, will such a disaster not happen." ”
After that, Zhang Yiaxe and others listened to the old man's advice, and nothing like this happened again. Zhang Yiaxe returned home, and saw Aunt Ma and several women in the village, holding gifts to thank Shi Xiaoyue, saying that thanks to Shi Xiaoyue's kindness, the mother snake repaid her dream, and also saved their husband and son. They also said that they would learn from Shi Xiaoyue in the future, learn from her kindness, and her helpful character.