NING

 Prince Clothing is Shandong Juxian Luodian people. He grew up without a father, people are very intelligent, fourteen years old in the examination of Xiucai. His mother loved him the most, and usually did not let him go to the countryside to play. He was engaged to the Xiao family, his fiancée died before she passed away, so he was already seventeen years old and had not yet married.

 It was the Lantern Festival when his uncle's son, Wu Sheng, invited him to join him on a trip. Just outside the village, a man from his uncle's family called Wu Sheng away. Seeing that there were as many girls on the outskirts of the village as there were clouds, the prince took advantage of the pleasure to roam alone. There was a girl with a maid, holding a branch of plum blossom in her hand, very beautiful and smiling. The king looked at her with such a keen eye that he forgot that he should have some scruples. When the girl had gone a few paces, she turned to her maid and said, "This man's eyes are shining like a thief!" After saying this, she threw the flower on the ground and walked away jokingly. Prince service picked up the flower, lost his soul, sulking, and went home.

 When he got home, he hid the flower under his pillow and fell asleep without talking or eating. His mother was very worried and made sacrifices to exorcise the evil spirits, but his illness got worse and he soon lost weight. Doctors came to see him, taking medicines and dispersing, but he was still in a trance, as if he was obsessed by something. His mother lovingly asked him the reason for his illness, but he would not answer. It happened that Wu Sheng came, so the mother instructed Wu to ask him privately. Wu came to the bed, the prince suit at the sight of him burst into tears. Wu Sheng close to the edge of the bed to persuade some, slowly asked about the cause of the disease. The prince served to tell the truth, and begged Wu Sheng to think of a way. Wu Sheng laughed and said: "Your love is really obsessive! What is so difficult to realize this wish? I will definitely find it for you. If she is traveling on foot in the wild, she must not be a lady of the house. If she is not yet betrothed to a man, this will of course be accomplished; otherwise, with more money, I think I will be able to fulfill my wish. As long as you can recover, I'll take care of this." Only after hearing this did the prince's clothes reveal a smile.

 When Wu Sheng came out to tell the Queen Mother, he went to look for the girl's place, but he inquired everywhere, but had no clue. The mother was very much worried and could do nothing. But since Wu Sheng had gone, the prince's clothes were all of a sudden cheerful and he ate some food. A few days later, Wu Sheng came to visit again. He asked about the incident, and Wu Sheng lied to him, saying, "I have already visited and found out. I thought who is it, it turns out to be my aunt's daughter, that is, your aunt cousin, is not yet engaged. Despite the suspicion of the marriage of the inner relatives, but with the truth, there is no failure." The prince service is happy, asked: "Where do you live?" Wu Sheng lied: "In the southwest mountains, about thirty miles from here." Prince service and many times to ask, Wu Sheng patted his chest promised down, went away.

 The prince served from then on diet gradually increased, day by day to restore health. He took out the flower from under his pillow and looked at it, although it had dried up, the petals had not yet fallen off. He gazed at it and played with it again and again, as if he had seen the girl again. He blamed Wu Sheng for not coming, so he wrote a letter to ask him to come. Wu Sheng was evasive and refused to come. The prince was angry and hateful, very depressed. His mother was afraid that he would fall ill again, and she was anxious to find a match for him; but when she talked to him, he shook his head and refused to do so, and only looked forward to Wu Sheng every day. When he never heard from Wu Sheng, he became even more resentful. On second thought, 30 miles is not far, why rely on others? He put the plum blossom in his sleeve and gambled on going by himself without his family knowing.

 He walked alone, with no one to ask for directions, and just walked towards the southern mountains. Walked about more than thirty miles, only to see the mountains overlap, a piece of verdure, body and mind refreshing. The mountains are quiet, no pedestrians, only a goat's intestine path. Remote look at the bottom of the valley, clumps of flowers and trees in the vaguely have a small village. Prince service down the hill into the village, see not many houses, are thatched, but beautiful and elegant. There is a family facing north, in front of the door is a silk willow, peach blossom, apricot blossom inside the wall is particularly prosperous, which is mixed with long bamboo, wild birds chirping in the inside. He guessed that it is a garden, do not dare to rush in. Back to see the door opposite a smooth and clean stone, then sat on it to rest a little. A moment, I heard a woman dragging a long accent in the wall shouting "Xiaorong", the voice delicate fine trembling. He was listening intently, a girl came from east to west, holding an apricot flower, lowered her head and inserted it into her head. Looked up and saw the prince suit, no longer inserted, smiling flowers into the inside. The prince service a closer look, it is the Lantern Festival road met that girl. He was so happy that he wanted to go in, but he couldn't find a reason to do so; he wanted to call out to his aunt, but he was worried that he had never met her before, and he was afraid that he would make a mistake. There was no one to ask inside the gate. He was so restless and wandered about from morning until the sun was in the west, looking forward to it, even forgetting his hunger and thirst. A woman peeped out with half her face showing, as if surprised that he did not leave. Suddenly an old woman came out on her crutch, and looking at the prince's suit, said, "Where are you from, young man? I hear you have been here since morning, and have stayed till now. What do you intend to do? Aren't you hungry?" Prince Clothes hurriedly got up and saluted, and replied, "I came to visit my relatives." The old woman was deaf and could not hear. He said it again aloud. The old woman then asked, "What is your relative's surname?" Prince Clothes could not answer. The old woman laughed and said, "Strange! You don't even know your name, why are you visiting your relatives? I see you, young man, must be a nerd. Why don't you come with me, eat some light meals, and I have a short bed for you to sleep. When you go home in the morning and ask for your name, it's not too late to come back and visit again." Prince clothing stomach is hungry, want to eat, but also think can thus gradually close to the beauty, heart very happy.

 He followed the old woman inside, only to see the gate inside the white stone pavement, road on both sides of the red flowers brilliant, pieces scattered on the stone steps; turn the corner to the west, and open a door, here full of yard bean trellis trellis. The old woman invited the guests into the house, the house of pink and white walls are bright and clean, like a mirror; outside the window of the Begonia branches and leaves flowers, into the house; mat bed and table are all neat and clean. As soon as they sat down, someone looked in through the window. The old woman shouted, "Xiao Rong! Go and cook." A maid outside loudly agreed. They sat down to talk, and Prince Clothes told them all about his gentry. The old woman said, "Is your grandfather's family name Wu?" Prince Clothing said, "Yes." The old woman was surprised and said, "You are my nephew! Your mother is my sister. Over the years because of the family's poverty, and there is no man, so make each other do not communicate with each other, nephew grew up so big, still do not recognize." The prince served and said, "I came this time to see my aunt, and in my haste I forgot my family name." The old woman said, "My husband's family name is Qin, and I have never had a child; there is only one daughter, also born of the second house. Her real mother remarried and left her for me to raise. She's not really slow, but she lacks upbringing, laughs and plays, and doesn't know how to worry. Tell her to come and pay her respects later and get to know cousin."

 A while later, the maid prepared the meal, and the chickens and ducks on the table were fat and tender. The old woman greeted him and ate, and the maid came to clean up the dishes. The old woman said, "Call Miss Ning." The maid promised to go. After a long time, only laughter could be heard faintly from outside the door. The old woman shouted again, "Ying Ning, your cousin is here." The laughter outside the door went on and on. The maid pushed the girl into the house, and she was still covering her mouth, unable to hold back her laughter. The old woman glared angrily and said, "There's a guest here, giggling and laughing, what's it like?" Yingning stifled her laughter and stood as the prince's clothes saluted her. The old woman said, "This brother Wang is your aunt's son. It's ridiculous that a family still doesn't know each other." Prince Clothes asked, "How old is sister?" The old woman didn't hear him clearly and he said it again. Yingning laughed again, laughing so hard that she couldn't lift her head. The old woman said to Prince Clothing, "I said she lacks conditioning, as you can see. Already sixteen years old, silly and still like a child." Prince Clothing said, "One year younger than my nephew." The old woman said, "The nephew is already seventeen, was he not born in the year of gengwu, belonging to the horse?" Prince service nodded and said yes. The old woman asked: "nephew daughter-in-law is which?" Prince service replied: "Not yet." The old woman said: "Like nephew's talent, how come he has not married at the age of seventeen? Yingning also has no in-laws, it is a very good match, but it is a pity that he is an in-law, there are suspicions." Wang didn't say anything, his eyes were only on Yingning, he couldn't look at anything else. The maid whispered to Yingning, "Eyes shining, the thief look hasn't changed!" Yingning laughed again, and said to the maid, "See if the Bihua Peach Blossom has bloomed yet?" Hurriedly standing up, covering her mouth with her sleeve, she trotted out. Only when she reached the door did she let out a loud laugh. The old woman also stood up, told the maid to clean up the bedding, for the prince suit to place a place to stay. And said: "nephew to a trip is not easy, should stay for three or five days, later send you back. If you are too lonely and bored, there is a small garden behind the house where you can relax; there are also books to read."

 The next day, the prince suit came to the back of the house, and there was really a garden half an acre in size. The grass on the ground is like a carpet, and poplar flowers are scattered on the path. There are three grass houses, flowers and trees surrounded on all sides. Prince suit strolling through the flowers, heard the trees rustling, looked up, the original baby Ning in the above. She saw the king coming and laughed so hard she almost fell off. The prince's suit said, "Don't do that, fall down!" Yingning laughed as she came down, and couldn't help it. When she was almost there, she missed and fell off, and only then did her laughter stop, and Prince Suit went to help her. He secretly pinched her wrist. Yingning laughed again, leaning against the tree and could not take a step, it took a long time to stop laughing. The prince suit waited for her laughter to stop, so he took out the flower from his sleeve and showed it to her. Yingning took it and said, "It's all dried up, what's the point of keeping it?" Prince Clothes said, "It was dropped by my sister at the Lantern Festival, so I've kept it." Yingning said, "What does keeping it mean?" Prince Clothing said, "It's used to show that my love is unforgettable. Since I met you at the Lantern Festival, I have been sick with longing and thought I would not live; I did not expect to see your face again, and I hope that my sister will have pity on me." Yingning said, "This is a very small thing. What is there to begrudge between the closest relatives? When you leave, the flowers in this garden, ask the old servant to come and fold a big bundle, carry it on his back and send it to you." The prince served and said, "Is my sister foolish?" Yingning said, "How is it foolish?" Prince Clothes said, "I don't love the flower, I just love the person who holds that flower." Yingning said, "Is it still necessary to say that relatives love each other?" The prince served and said, "The love I speak of is not the love of relatives, but the love of husband and wife." Yingning said, "What difference does it make?" Prince Clothes said, "It is sharing the same bed at night." Yingning looked down and thought for a long time and said, "I'm not used to sleeping with strangers." Before the words were finished, the maid came quietly, and the prince suit slipped away in a panic.

 After a while, the two met again in the old woman's room. The old woman asked, "Where have you been?" Yingning replied that she had been talking in the garden. The old woman said, "It's been a long time since the meal was cooked, what's so long and wordy about it?" Yingning said, "Cousin wants to sleep with me." Before the words left her mouth, Prince Clothes was very embarrassed and was busy glaring at her, Yingning smiled and stopped her mouth. Fortunately, the old woman did not hear and was still rambling on, and Prince Clothes hurriedly covered it up with other words. Then he chided Yingning in a low voice. Yingning said, "Shouldn't you have said that just now?" Prince Clothes said, "It was said behind someone else's back." Yingning said, "How can one carry one's mother behind someone else's back? Besides, sleeping is a common thing, why hide it?" Prince Clothing hated that she was too stupid to be able to make her understand. Just after dinner, the Wang family came to him with two donkeys. Before this, Wang mother waited for him for a long time did not come home, became suspicious; the village almost searched all over, but there was no trace. So she went to ask Wu Sheng. Wu Sheng remembered what he had said before and taught him to look for him in the villages in the southwest mountains. He searched several villages before he found this place. When the prince came out of his house, he happened to come across it, so he went in and told the old woman, and asked to take Yingning home with him. The old woman said happily, "I have had this heart for more than a day. It's just that my crippled body doesn't have the means to travel long distances. Luckily, my nephew has brought my sister and knows my aunt, so it's great!" So he called out to Yingning. Yingning came smiling. The old woman said, "What's so joyful that you keep laughing all the time? To be able to stop laughing is a very good girl." Saying this, she glared at her angrily, then said to her, "Big brother wants to go with you, so go and dress up." He also entertained the Wang family over wine and dinner before sending them out, and said to Yingning, "Auntie's family is wealthy and can afford to keep an idle man. If you go there, don't come back, learn some poetry and etiquette, so you can serve your in-laws. I will trouble auntie to find a good husband for you." So the two set out on their journey. Walked to the depression, looked back, still vaguely see the old woman leaning on the door looking north.

 When he returned home, his mother saw the beauty and asked in amazement who it was. Prince Clothes replied that she was her aunt's daughter. The mother said, "What Wu Sheng told you the other day was a lie. I have no sister, where would I get a niece?" So he asked Yingning, who said, "I was not born of this mother. My father's name is Qin, and when he died, I was still a baby and couldn't remember a thing." The mother said, "It is true that I had a sister married to the Qin family; but she died long ago, so where would she still be alive?" So I asked the old woman about her face and mole marks, and they all matched. The mother again said doubtfully, "That's it. But she has been dead for many years, how can she still be alive?" In the midst of her doubts, Wu Sheng arrived and Yingning took refuge in the inner room. Wu Sheng asked for the reason, and after a long time of confusion, he suddenly said, "Is this girl's name Yingning?" The prince said yes. Wu Sheng exclaimed something strange. Asked him how he knew the name, Wu Sheng said, "After Qin's aunt died, her father lived alone and let the fox spirit charm him, and he died of yin deficiency. Fox spirit gave birth to a daughter named Yingning, then wrapped lying in bed, the family saw. After my aunt's death, the fox still came often. Later on, he begged Zhang Tianshi's incantation talisman to put on the wall, and the fox took his daughter away. Could it be her?" Everyone guessed and pondered with each other. Only to hear the inner room giggling and laughing, all the baby Ning's laughter. The mother said, "This girl is also too naive and foolish." Wu Sheng asked to meet her. The mother went into the inner room, and Yingning was still laughing soundly, without turning her head. Only when her mother urged her to go out did she try her best to hold back her laughter and face the wall for a while longer before stepping out. After making a bow, she turned around and ran back, laughing again. The women in the room were all amused by her.

 Wu Sheng asked to go and find out what was so strange, and in the meantime, to make a match. When he found the place where the village was located, there was not a single house, but only a scattering of mountain flowers. Wu Sheng recalled the place where his aunt was buried, and it was roughly in the vicinity; however, the grave mound had been obliterated and was unrecognizable, so he had to come back with a sigh of relief. The mother suspected that Yingning was a ghost. Into the room to tell her the words of Wu, she was not afraid; and pity her homeless, she is not sad, just a silly smile. No one could guess what was going on. The mother let her live with her youngest daughter. Every day at dawn Yingning came to greet her, and she was a very skillful needleworker. She just loves to laugh and can't help it, but she laughs beautifully and laughs wildly without losing her charm. Everyone loved her. The neighboring maidens-in-law all fought to befriend her.

 The mother chose an auspicious date for the wedding of the prince and Yingning, but was always worried that Yingning was a ghost. She secretly watched Yingning when the sun was at its zenith, and saw that there was nothing strange in her form or shadow. On the wedding day, Yingning was asked to dress up and perform the bridal rites; she laughed so much that she couldn't stand up straight, so she had to let it go. Prince Clothes think she is too stupid, worried about her leakage of the secret things between husband and wife; but Yingning mouth is very secret, not a word to mention to people. Whenever her mother was sad and angry, Yingning came and smiled, and her mother was in a better mood. The maids have a small fault, afraid of being whipped, always beg Yingning to chat with the mother; the wrong maid at this time to visit, can often be exempt from punishment. Infant Ning love flowers into a fetish, visit relatives and friends, looking for good flowers; secretly pawned gold hairpin to buy good seeds, a few months time, in front of the steps, fences, toilets, flowers everywhere.

 At the back of the yard there was a shed of wood-scented flowers, which had always been close to the west neighbor's house. Yingning often climbed up there and picked flowers to wear and enjoy. When her mother met her, she always scolded her. But she never changed. One day, the west neighbor's son saw her and stared desperately, fascinated. Instead of avoiding him, Yingning laughed and laughed. The man thought she was interested in him, and became even more enamored. Yingning pointed to the foot of the wall and smiled as she descended from the shed, which the man took as a hint for a rendezvous and was overjoyed. The man took this as a hint of where to meet, and was delighted. When he went there in the dark, Yingning was indeed there. He approached to make love to her, but unexpectedly, his heart pierced like a pain in the heart, screamed loudly, fell to the ground. Look closely, that is not baby Ning, but a dead wood lying down on the wall, he was engaged in the original rain compost out of the hole. His father heard the sound, rushed to ask, he just wept but refused to say. Wife came, only to tell the truth. Lighting a lamp to illuminate the hole, there was a big scorpion as big as a small crab, the old man split the wood and caught the scorpion and killed it. The old man chopped the wood, caught the scorpion and killed it. He carried his son home and died in the middle of the night. The old man went to sue the prince's suit and reported that Yingning was a demon spirit. The magistrate, who always admired Wang's talent and knew him as a loyal scholar, thought that the old man had made a false accusation and wanted to beat him with a plate. Prince Clothing pleaded for him before he was thrown out of the courthouse. His mother said to Yingning: "Being crazy like this, you should know that joy will bring sorrow. Luckily, the magistrate was so wise that he didn't get involved; if he had met with a muddle-headed official, he would have taken the woman to the public court for a confrontation, and then what face would my son have to see his relatives and neighbors?" Yingning looked serious and vowed not to laugh again. His mother said, "There's no such thing as a man who doesn't laugh; it just depends on the time." However, Yingning never laughed again, even when she was deliberately teased; but she never looked sad.

 One night, Yingning suddenly burst into tears at Prince Clothes. The prince was very surprised. Yingning choked up and said, "In the past, because I have not been with you for a long time, I was afraid that I would be surprised if I told you. But now I see that my mother-in-law and you love me very much, and you don't see me as a stranger, so I guess there's no harm in telling the truth, right? I was born of a fox. When my mother was leaving, she entrusted me to the ghost mother, and we have been living together for more than ten years. I don't have any brothers, and you are the only one I can rely on. My mother lives alone in a mountain valley, and no one took pity on her and buried her with my father, so she often complains in the grave. If you are not afraid of trouble and expense, let the dead remove this grievance, and perhaps let those who have raised their daughters know that they are also useful, and cannot bear to drown and throw them away." Wang Sheng agreed, but was worried about the grave being flooded with weeds. Yingning only said there was no need to worry. The couple chose a day and traveled with the coffin in a cart. Yingning pointed out where the grave was in the midst of the fog and trees, and they found the old woman's body, with her skin still intact. Yingning wept deeply and was very saddened. They took the coffin back, found Qin's grave, and buried them together. That night, Wang Zi Su dreamed that the old woman came to say thank you, and woke up to tell Ying Ning. Yingning said, "I saw her in the night, and she instructed me not to alarm you." Prince Clothing complained that she did not retain the old man. Yingning said, "She is a ghost. How can she live here for long when there are so many living people and so much yang energy?" Prince Clothes asked about Xiao Rong, and Yingning said, "She is also a fox, and is most resourceful. Fox Mother left her to take care of me, and she often gets things for me to eat, so I am very grateful to her and often miss her. When I asked the ghost mother last night, she said she had already married out." From then on, every year at the Cold Food Festival, the couple went to Qin's tomb, swept the tomb and paid their respects, every year without fail. The next year, Yingning gave birth to a son. The boy was not afraid of strangers in his arms, and smiled at the sight of people, and was also very much like his mother.