CRICKET

 Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty, the palace popular cricket game, the annual collection of crickets from the private sector. This thing was not a specialty of the western region, a Huayin county magistrate wanted to flatter his superiors, get a dedication to try to let it fight a little bit, but also quite good fight, the court then ordered Huayin County to pay tribute to the crickets all year round. The county magistrate ordered the Li Zheng to collect the crickets. The idlers in the marketplace, when they get good crickets, they keep them in cages and raise the price as goods that can be hoarded to make money. The magistrates were cunning and treacherous, using this as a way to apportion the expenses according to the population, and every time the higher-ups ordered a cricket to be paid in tribute, they would always make a few families lose all their money.

 There was a scholar named Cheng Ming in the county, who had never been able to pass the Xiu Cai examination. He was honest and not very good at talking, so he was reported by a cunning magistrate to serve as a lizheng, and he could not get rid of it even if he tried his best. In less than a year, his meager family fortune was lost. And then happened to collect crickets, he did not dare to head of the distribution, and he had no money to advance, worried to death. His wife said, "What's the use of dying? Why don't you go and look for them yourself, and maybe you'll catch one that you can count on?" Sung-myung thought it made sense, so he went out early and came home late to look for one. He carried a bamboo tube and copper wire cage, under the broken wall, in the bushes, exploring rocks and digging holes, all the methods used, but there has been no result, even if you catch two or three, but they are small and weak, out of specification. The county magistrate set a time limit to recover, miss the deadline to be blamed. Within ten days, Cheng Ming received hundreds of boards, two legs were beaten pus and blood, even go out to catch crickets can not. He tossed and turned in bed, only wanting to die.

 At that time, a hunchbacked witch came to the village who could invoke the gods for divination. Sung Ming's wife took the money and went to the divination. She saw red women and white-haired women crowded in front of the witch's door. When Sung's wife entered the house, she saw a curtain hanging in the inner room and an incense burner outside the curtain. The people who asked for divination lit incense on the incense burner and knelt down to kowtow. Witch from the side to the air for their prayers, mouth open and close, I do not know what words to read, people are standing respectfully waiting. After a while, a piece of paper was thrown out from the curtain, and on it were written the things that were in people's hearts, without any discrepancy. Cheng's wife put the money on the table, and also burned incense and bowed to the same as the people in front of her. After a meal, the curtain moved and a piece of paper was thrown out. When she picked it up, she saw that it was not words but a drawing: in the middle of the drawing was a hall, like a temple; behind it, under the hill, there were strange stones lying around, with thorns, and a green hemp-headed cricket lying there; next to it was a toad that looked like it was about to jump. She tossed and turned and could not understand it. But the sight of the cricket secretly suited her wishes. She folded it up and hid it, and went home to show it to Cheng Ming. Cheng Ming heart back and forth thinking: could it be teaching me where to catch crickets? Look closely at the scenery, and the village east of the Great Buddha Temple is very similar. So he braced himself, leaned on his crutches, took the painting, and went to the back of the Big Buddha Temple. There is an ancient tomb rises, along the edge of the grave, see many stones arranged like fish scales, really and the painting of the same. He walked slowly through the grass, with his ears turned sideways, as carefully as he searched for the seeds of the grass at the tip of a needle; but even though he searched until he was distracted and his ears were ringing, he could not see the shadow of the cricket. He still kept looking everywhere, and suddenly a toad jumped away at once. Cheng Ming was even more shocked, and was busy chasing after it. The toad went into the grass. Cheng Ming followed him, pushed aside the grass to look for it, and saw a cricket lying under the root of a thorn; he hurriedly pounced on it with his hand, but the cricket burrowed into a rocky hole. He took the grass to pluck it, but the cricket would not come out; he poured water into it from a bamboo tube, and it came out. The cricket was very robust and handsome. Cheng Ming went after it and caught it. At a closer look, it had a big head, a long tail, a green neck, and golden wings. Cheng Ming was so happy that he put it in a cage and brought it home. The whole family celebrated, as if they had won a valuable piece of jade. Cheng Ming put the cricket in a pot, feed it crab meat, chestnut kernels, love and cherish, waiting for the deadline to arrive, will be sent to the government to deliver.

 Narumi had a nine-year-old son who, seeing that his father was not at home, secretly uncovered the basin. The cricket suddenly jumped out of the pot, jumped very quickly, the child did not catch at once. By the time he pounced again and caught it in his hand, the cricket had broken its legs and belly, and soon died. The child was terrified, crying to tell his mother. Mother heard, scared face like ashes, cursed: "sin root! The time to die has come! When your father comes back, he will settle the score with you!" The child cried and went out. Soon, Cheng Ming came home, listening to his wife, like a basin of ice and snow poured head-on. He angrily looked for his son, who was nowhere to be found; he later found the child's body in a well. Cheng Ming then turned from anger to grief, crying out to heaven and dying. Couple to the corner of the wall, not cooking, not say anything, silent relative, desperate to the extreme.

 It was almost dark, Cheng Ming intended to bury the child with a straw mat, close to a touch, there is still a weak breath. He surprised the child placed in a short bed, the child woke up in the middle of the night. Couple heart a little relief. But the cricket cage is empty, Cheng Ming look at the sad sighs, but also do not care to think about the child's death, from dusk to dawn, can not close their eyes.

 The sun came out, Cheng Ming was still lying upright in bed and fretting. Suddenly he heard a cricket chirping from outside the door, he was surprised and hurriedly got up to inspect it, the cricket seemed to be alive. He went happily to catch it. The cricket chirped and jumped away, jumping very fast. Cheng Ming covered it with the palm of his hand and felt that it was empty; only when he raised his hand did it jump far away again. He hurried up. Turned the corner, it went nowhere. Cheng Ming walked a few times back and forth, looking around, see a cricket lying on the wall. On closer inspection, the body was short, black and red, obviously not the original one. Because of its small size, Narumi thought it was useless, but he still looked around, looking for the one he had just chased. The small cricket on the wall suddenly jumped down on his clothes. When Cheng Ming looked at it, the cricket looked like an earth dog, with plum blossom wings, a square head and long legs, and seemed to be quite good. He happily put it into the cage. Ready to send to the county court, but the heart is uneasy, afraid of not the boss's heart, want to let it first fight a fight, see how it is.

 There was a young man in the village who liked to be nosy, tamed a cricket, named it "Crab Shell Green", and fought every day with crickets raised by other young people, and won every battle. He wanted to make a fortune with it and asked for a high price, but no one bought it. He went straight to Cheng Ming's door, saw the crickets he kept, covered his mouth to keep from laughing, then took out his own crickets and put them into the cage next to him. Cheng Ming look, the cricket is big, long and strong, the heart added a few shame, do not dare to compete with him. The young man repeatedly reluctant. On second thought, Cheng Ming thought that it was useless to keep a substandard cricket anyway, so he might as well go out and get a laugh. So put the two crickets together into the bucket. The little cricket was lying on its back, as if it were a chicken. The young man laughed again. Try to use the pig bristles to flick its antennae, it still does not move. The young man laughed again. Many times to provoke it, the little cricket rage, straight to the other side, so the two crickets leaping fight, shaking spirit, difficult to distinguish, from time to time issued a chirping sound. After a while, the little cricket suddenly leaped up, opened his tail, raised his tentacles, and bit his opponent's neck. The young man, alarmed, separated them and broke off the fight. The little cricket raised its wings and chirped triumphantly, as if reporting success to its master. Narumi was overjoyed.

 Everyone was playing together when a rooster suddenly came running and went straight up to peck the little cricket. Cheng Ming was so frightened that he stood up and shouted. Fortunately, a peck did not hit, the little cricket jumped out one or two feet away; rooster ferociously forward, chased up, the little cricket has been in the claws of the rooster. Cheng Ming in a hurry do not know how to rescue, stomping his feet, bloodless face. But in the blink of an eye to see the rooster stretching his neck and is twisting and fluttering; Cheng Ming went up to take a closer look, it turned out that the small crickets fell on the chicken crown, desperately tinkled not to let go. Cheng Ming more surprise, catch down into the cage.

 The next day, Sung-myung presented the cricket to the magistrate. When the magistrate saw how small it was, he got angry and rebuked Sung-myung. Sung-myung told the magistrate of the cricket's marvelous abilities. The magistrate did not believe him. He tried to fight with other crickets, and all of them lost; he also tried with a rooster, and it was really the same as what Sung-myung said. The magistrate then rewarded Cheng Ming and presented the cricket to the governor. The governor was so happy that he paid tribute to the emperor with a golden cage, and wrote an article describing its skills in detail. After the small cricket into the palace, under the sky tribute crickets, what "butterfly", "praying mantis", "oil tart", "green silk amount of "... all the exotic varieties, all than, no fight over it. Every time the little cricket hears the sound of the piano, it dances to the beat. People feel even more magical. The emperor was so happy that he gave the governor a famous horse and brocade. The governor did not forget the origin of the little cricket, and before long, the magistrate reported to the court that his performance was "excellent and outstanding". The magistrate was so pleased that he exempted Sung Ming from his chores. He also instructed the official in charge of education to make him a scholar.

 After a year or so, the son of fame recovered mentally. He said that he had become a cricket, light and agile, good at fighting, and had only now awakened. The governor also gave Cheng Ming a great reward. Within a few years, Cheng Ming had a hundred hectares of land, countless pavilions, hundreds of cows and sheep. When he went out, the clothes he wore and the steeds he rode were better than those of the big families.