WENRUCHUN

 Wen Ruchun came from a family in Shaanxi that had been officials for generations. Since he was a child, he was especially fond of playing the zither, and even when he traveled, he always kept the zither with him. Once when he traveled to Shanxi, he passed by an ancient temple. He tied his horse outside the temple gate and wanted to rest his feet inside. Into the temple, he saw a monk dressed in coarse cloth robe sitting cross-legged on the corridor, a bamboo stick leaning against the wall, there is a flower cloth pocket next to the monk, which is loaded with a piano. Wen Ruchun touched the good, can not help but go forward to ask: "Do you also like to play the zither?" Taoist priest said: "like. But just can't play well, would like to learn from someone who is good at playing the zither." So from the cloth bag out of the piano to Wen Ruchun, Wen Ruchun took over a closer look, the body of the piano lacquer pattern is very exquisite, he hooked his hand to pluck the strings, the strings sound bright, exciting, extraordinary. Wen Ruchun was so happy that he played a short piece of music by hand. The Taoist priest smiled faintly and did not seem to be very complimentary. Wen Ruchun then exerted all his strength and played another song. The Taoist priest smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad either! But not good enough to be my teacher." Wen Ruchun, because the Taoist priest spoke in a loud tone, asked him in turn to play. The Taoist priest took the zither and put it on his lap, and when he strummed the strings, Wen Ruchun felt a warm spring breeze on his face; after the Taoist priest played for a while, he saw a thousand birds flying in, and the trees in the yard were full of them. Wen Ruchun was very surprised, so he worshiped the Taoist priest as a teacher and asked him to teach him the skill of the zither. The Taoist priest played it several times, and Wen Ruchun listened intently with his ear to the side and gained a slight understanding of the rhythm of the piece. The Taoist priest asked Wen Ruchun to try to play it, and corrected him where it was out of rhythm. Then he said, "Your present zither skill is without rival in the earthly world." From then on, Wen Ruchun practiced meticulously and repeatedly, and finally developed a great skill.

 Later, on the way back to Shaanxi, there are still dozens of miles away from home, the sky is already dark, and encountered a downpour of rain, not even a place to stay. By chance there was a small village by the side of the road, Wen Ruchun quickly walked over. He did not care to carefully select, saw a door, and hurriedly ran in. Into the house to see, quiet no one. After a while, a girl came out from inside, aged about seventeen or eighteen, looking like a heavenly fairy. She looked up and saw that it was a raw guest who had come, so she walked back in surprise. Wen Ruchun did not have a wife at that time, and after seeing this beautiful girl, he developed a deep affection for her. After a while, an old lady came out from inside and asked the guest about the purpose of her visit. Wen Ruchun introduced his name and asked to stay overnight. The old lady said, "It's all right to borrow a room, but there are no beds; if you don't mind the aggravation, just lay some grass on the ground and make do with a night's sleep." Finished, the old lady turned back to the house, a moment, she took the candle came out, and put the grass on the ground, very attentive to the guests. Wen Ruchun asked her what her surname was, the old lady replied, "Surname Zhao." And asked: "Who was that girl just now?" The old lady said: "Her name is Huaniang, is my niece." Wen Ruchun said, "How about I don't think of myself and want to climb up the ladder of a high family and get married?" The old lady frowned and said with difficulty, "I dare not follow orders on this matter." Asking her what the reason was, the old lady just said that it was not easy to answer. Wen Ruchun was greatly disappointed, but had to give up. After the old lady left, Wen Ruchun saw the grass on the ground is wet and rotten, can not lie down to rest, so sit upright and play the qin, so as to kill this long night. When the rain stopped, Wen Ruchun went home in the night.

 Wen Ruchun's hometown, there is a retired home of the Ministry of the official Mr. Ge, very much like to interact with the literati. Once, Wen Ruchun accidentally went to visit, Mr. Ge invited to play the piano. Inside the curtain, there seemed to be women listening. Suddenly a gust of wind blew up the curtain, appeared a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, really beautiful. Originally, Mr. Ge has a daughter, nicknamed Liang Gong, very good at filling in the lyrics and compositions, her beauty is even more famous. Wen Ruchun could not help but move the heart, go home to his mother, said, and asked the matchmaker to Ge family to propose marriage. Mr. Ge was hesitant to agree because of the decline of the Wen family. But Liang Gong since listening to Wen Ruchun play the piano, heart secretly adore, often hope to hear the beautiful sound of the piano again; and Wen Ruchun because the marriage did not work, discouraged, and never boarded the door of the Ge family.

 One day, Liang Gong picked up an old poem paper in the garden, on which was written a poem "Cherishing the Remaining Spring", which reads: "Because of the hatred, I am obsessed with it, and turn my thoughts into thoughts, and I am turned upside down by it day by day. Begonia with drunkenness, willow hurt spring, the same general embrace. The old and the new sorrows are like grass. Since the parting, only in the Naihe sky, will be the dawn of time. Today, I'm knitting the spring mountains, looking through the autumn water, and saying that I've abandoned it! The coverlet is jealous of the dream, the jade leakage frightens the soul, to sleep how can sleep well? It is said that the night is like a year, and I see a year as less than a year; after the third night, it is already three years, and there is no one who is not old!" Liang Gong recited it over and over again, and loved the words in her heart. She took the lyric back to her room, took out her gorgeous letterhead, copied it end to end, and put it on the table. After a while, when she wanted to take it out to read it again, it was already gone, thinking that it had probably been blown away by the wind. It so happened that old Mr. Ge passed by the door of Liang Gong's room and picked up the lyric, thinking that it was Liang Gong's, and revolting against the debauchery of its content, he burned it, but he could not bear to blame his daughter, and only wanted to marry her off quickly.

 Shandong Linyi County, Liu Buzhengzhi's son happened to matchmaking marriage proposal, Mr. Ge heart think it can be, but still want to personally see Mr. Liu himself. Mr. Liu came in gorgeous clothes, and he was very good-looking. The old man was very happy, and the hospitality was very warm and generous. After Duke Liu took his leave, a woman's embroidered shoe was left under his seat. When Mr. Ge saw it, he was so disgusted with Duke Liu's frivolous behavior that he called the matchmaker and told him about it. Duke Liu tried his best to defend himself, saying that the shoe was not left behind by him; but Mr. Ge did not listen to him at all, and in the end he refused the marriage.

 Before that, the Ge family had a kind of green chrysanthemum, and old Mr. Ge never could spare the seed of the flower to be passed on to others, and Liang Gong planted a few pots in his room. Wen Ruchun also had chrysanthemums planted in his yard, and suddenly one or two of them became green chrysanthemums, and when his friends heard about them, they all came to his door to admire them; and Wen Ruchun treasured them very much. The next morning, Wen Ruchun ran to the yard to see the green chrysanthemums, in the chrysanthemum beds picked up a piece of letter paper, on which is written a "Chui Yu Chun" words, he repeatedly read a few times, but do not know where it came from. And because the word "spring" is his own name, the heart is even more confused, and then took to the desk, carefully commented on, commented on a number of frivolous and obscene words. Mr. Ge heard that the chrysanthemums of the Wen family turned green, feel very strange, personally to the Wen family to see the truth, he came to the study, see the table has a word, take over to read. Wen Ruchun, because of the light and obscene comments on it, quickly snatched it up and rubbed it into a ball. Mr. Ge only had time to read two lines, found that he was in the door of his daughter's room picked up the words, could not help but be very suspicious, so even Wen Ruchun's green chrysanthemum varieties, but also suspected of being a gift of Liang Gong. When he got home, he told his wife about it, and asked her to go to Lianggong to ask him about it. Liang Gong was wronged for no reason, and cried for his life; and no one saw the incident with their own eyes, so they couldn't get any evidence.

 Mrs. afraid of things more and more publicized out, advocating that it is better to simply marry your daughter to Wen Ruchun. Mr. Ge also agreed, and asked someone to tell this meaning to Wen Ruchun. Wen Ruchun was overjoyed. On the same day to invite guests to hold a green chrysanthemum feast, burning incense and playing the piano, until late at night to disperse. Wen Ruchun sleep, the boy suddenly heard the piano automatically issued a ringing sound, at first thought it was someone else's servant in the joke; later went to see, found that there is no one, which went to tell Wen Ruchun. Wen Ruchun personally went to see, and it was true. Listen to the sound of the zither, the tone is hard and astringent, as if imitating himself without learning. He lit up the lamp and burst in, but saw nothing. After Wen Ruchun took the piano away, there was no movement throughout the night. He guessed that it must be some fox spirit who was willing to worship himself as a teacher, so he played a song for it every night, and then set the zither there for it to play, just like a teacher teaching a student, while he himself hid outside every night to eavesdrop. After six or seven nights, the sound of the zither actually has a tune, can be appreciated.

 After Wen Ruchun married Liang Gong, the couple talked about the previous words "cherish the rest of the spring", which know the reason why the two were able to combine, but never knew where the words came from. Liang Gong heard the piano will automatically play the strange things, went to listen personally, came back to her husband, said: "This is not a fox spirit play, listen to the tone of sadness, like a ghost played." Wen Ruchun still do not quite believe. Liang Gong said that her home has an ancient mirror, can see the original shape of the elves and ghosts. The next day, she sent someone to fetch the ancient mirror, wait until the sound of the piano, holding the ancient mirror suddenly walked into; light a lamp, there is really a woman, panicked, hiding in the corner, can no longer be invisible. Wen Ruchun took a closer look, and it turned out to be the eunuch lady of the Zhao family that he had seen before when he was sheltering from the rain. He was very surprised and asked her again and again. Huan Niang said with tears in her eyes, "I can't say that I'm not beneficent for being a matchmaker for you, why are you so bitter?" Wen Ruchun asked Liang Gong to remove the ancient mirror, and at the same time asked Huan Niang not to hide; Huan Niang agreed. Liang Gong then put the ancient mirror in a bag. Huan Niang sat down far away and said, "I was originally the daughter of a Tai Shou, and have been dead for a hundred years. Since I was a child, I have loved playing the zither; I know the zither well, but I have not been taught the zither by a famous master, so I still feel very sorry in the grave. When you came to my house that time, I was able to hear the beautiful sound of your zither, and I really admired you; I only hated that I had become a ghost and couldn't serve you, so I secretly arranged this beautiful marriage for you, so as to repay you for your love for me. The woman's embroidered shoes under Mr. Liu's seat and the slang song "Shui Yu Chun" were all my work. To repay teacher in this way cannot be said not to have done my best!" Wen Ruchun and his wife thanked her together. Huaniang said, "I have been able to comprehend most of your skills; it is only those subtleties that I have not yet fully grasped. Please play it for me again." Wen Ruchun played it again as she requested, and explained to her in detail the methods and techniques of playing. Huaniang was very happy and said, "I have grasped it all." So she stood up and was about to take her leave.

 Liang Gong was already fond of playing the zither, and hearing that Huaniang said she was good at it, he expressed his wish to hear her play. Huaniang did not refuse, so she played a piece of music. Listening to the tune and the music score, it was really not something that could be found on earth. Liang Gong beat his hands in appreciation, and then asked Huaniang to teach him. Huaniang took up her pen and wrote eighteen pieces of music for Lianggong, and then stood up again to take her leave. Wen Ruchun and his wife tried hard to keep her. Huaniang said miserably, "You and your wife have such a good relationship, so you are naturally soulmates; I am a thinly-endowed person, how can I have such good fortune? If there is really fate, let's meet again in the next life." So he handed a scroll to Wen Ruchun and said, "This is my little portrait. If you still remember me as a matchmaker, hang it in your bedroom, and when you are happy, burn a stick of incense and play a tune to it; then it will be as if I had received it in person." Having said this, the eunuch lady walked out of the door and disappeared without a trace.