JIAFENGZHI

Jia Fengzhi was from Pingliang, Gansu Province. His talent and reputation were second to none in the local area, but he always failed in the imperial examinations many times. One day, he met a scholar on the road. The scholar called himself Lang. He had a cool demeanor and was very insightful in his words. Jia Fengzhi then invited him to his home, took out his exercises and asked him to correct them. After Lang Xiucai finished reading, he didn't praise it very much and said: "Your article is more than enough to get the first place in the quiz, but when you enter the examination room, you can't even get the last place." Jia Fengfei asked: "What should we do?" The scholar said: "In the world, it is difficult to stand up and lean on tiptoes, but it is easy to bend down. Do I need to say this truth?" So he pointed out one or two articles by one or two people. As a standard for composition, most of these people and articles were looked down upon by Jia Fengji and considered not worth mentioning. After hearing this, Jia Fengzhi smiled and said: "The articles written by scholars are valuable because they are immortal and can be passed down to the world. Even if they become rich and rich and eat delicacies from mountains and seas, people in the world will not think it is too much. If it is like what you said. Pursuing fame, even if you are on the throne of prime minister, is still despicable." Lang Xiucai said: "You are wrong. No matter how beautiful the article is, it cannot be spread if the author's status is low. If you want to hold on to the book until you grow old, then forget it; otherwise, The officials who grade the papers all relied on this kind of thing to climb up. I'm afraid they can't change their eyes and intestines just because they are reviewing your article." Jia Fengzhi remained silent. Lang Xiucai stood up, said with a smile: "Young people are so energetic!" and left.

In the autumn of this year, Jia Fengzhi took part in the provincial examination and failed again. He felt depressed and frustrated. Thinking of Lang Xiucai's words, he read a few articles that he had pointed out to him last time. He had not finished reading any of them. , and fell asleep. He just felt flustered, confused, and didn't know what to do. Three more years later, when the date of the provincial examination was approaching, Lang Xiucai suddenly arrived. They were both happy to see each other. Lang Xiucai then took out the seven topics he had drawn up and asked Jia Fengfei to write an essay. One day later, he wanted to read the article written by Jia Fengphei. He thought it was not good and asked him to rewrite it. After writing it, Lang Xiucai pointed out many flaws. Jia Fengzhi jokingly collected some long, messy, empty, and almost incomprehensible sentences from the failed examination papers, concatenated them into articles, and showed them to Lang Xiucai when he came. Lang Xiucai said happily: "Okay!" He asked Jia Fengzhi to memorize it and repeatedly told him not to forget it. Jia Fengzhi smiled and said: "To tell you the truth: these words were not spoken sincerely, and I forgot them in the blink of an eye. Even if I was beaten, I couldn't remember them again." Lang Xiucai sat at the desk and insisted that Jia Fengzhi recite them himself. He asked him to bare his back and drew a talisman on his back with a pen. Then he said goodbye to him and said, "These alone are enough. You can put all the books on the shelf." Jia Fengxi looked at the talisman and said, Wash it can't be washed off, it has penetrated deeply into the skin.

When we arrived at the examination room, the seven questions were all the same as those prepared by Lang Xiucai, and no one was missed. When Jia Fengzhi recalled the articles he had written, he could not remember them at all. Only the articles he pieced together as a joke were clearly remembered in his heart. But when he picked up the pen, he always felt that it was shameful to write such things. He wanted to make a slight change, but after thinking hard over and over again, he couldn't change a single word. The sun had already set, so I had no choice but to record the whole text and leave the examination room. Lang Xiucai had been waiting outside the court for a long time. When he met, he asked, "Why did you come out so late?" He told the truth and asked Lang Xiucai to wipe off the talisman. When he took off his clothes, he saw that the talisman had disappeared. When Jia Fengzhi thought about the articles he wrote in the examination room, it was as if he had forgotten everything. He was very surprised by this. So he asked Lang Xiucai: "Why don't you seek fame for yourself?" Lang Xiucai smiled and said: "I don't have such thoughts, so I don't need to read this kind of article." He then asked Jia Fengfei to come to him the next day. Apartment, Jia Fengzhi agreed. After Lang Xiucai left, Jia Fengzhi took the manuscript of the article and read it by himself. It was not his original intention at all. He felt unhappy and felt like he had lost something. He stopped visiting Lang Xiucai and returned to his hometown dejectedly.

Soon, the results were released, and Jia Fengwei actually won the first place in the examination. He read the old manuscript again, breaking into a cold sweat while reading. After reading it, several layers of clothes were soaked through. He said to himself: "As soon as this article comes out, how can I meet the scholars in the world!" While he was ashamed, Lang Xiucai suddenly came and said: "You are pursuing high school, and now you are in high school, why are you still depressed?" Feng Zhi said: "I just thought that using gold pots and jade bowls to hold dog shit, I really have no shame in going out to meet my colleagues. I plan to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, and be isolated from the world forever." Lang Xiucai said: "This is also very noble, I'm afraid you It can't be done. If you can really do it, I can introduce you to someone, and you can live forever. Even the eternal reputation is not enough to miss, let alone the unexpected wealth!" Jia Fengzhi was very happy and asked to stay. Lang Xiucai spent the night with him and said, "Let me think about it." At dawn, he said to Lang Xiucai, "I am determined!" He followed Lang Xiucai and drifted away without telling his wife and children.

They gradually entered the deep mountains and came to a cave, which had a different world. There was an old man sitting in the hall. Lang Xiucai asked Jia Fengji to come forward to pay homage and call him master. The old man asked: "Why did you come so early?" Lang Xiucai reported: "This man has firmly decided to enter Taoism and practice. I hope the master will accept him." The old man said to Jia Fengyi: "Since you are here, you need to Just put your body aside." Jia Fengzhi agreed repeatedly. Lang Xiucai sent him to a courtyard, arranged a place to stay, and sent him some cakes before leaving.

Jia Fengzhi looked at the house, which was very elegant and clean; but the door had no door leaf, the window had no lattice, and there was only a coffee table and a bed in the house. He took off his shoes and went to bed. The moonlight was already shining brightly. He felt a little hungry, so he took some cakes to eat. They tasted good and filled him up easily. He thought that Lang Xiucai would come again, but after sitting there for a long time, there was no sound at all. He just felt that the house was full of fragrance, his internal organs were clear and ethereal, and he could count the veins on his body. Suddenly he heard a harsh noise outside the house, like a cat scratching an itch. He looked out the window and saw that it was a tiger squatting under the eaves. At first glance, he was shocked; then he remembered the Master's words and immediately concentrated his mind on sitting upright. The tiger seemed to know that there was someone in the room, and soon entered the room, approached the bed, sniffed all over his thighs and soles, snorting. After a while, I heard something croaking and flapping in the yard, like a chicken being tied up, and the tiger ran out.

After sitting for a while, a beauty came in. The scent of orchids and musk brains hit her nostrils. She quietly climbed onto the bed, leaned close to Jia Fengji's ear and whispered: "I'm here." As she spoke, the rouge on her lips emitted the fragrance. . Jia Fengzhi closed his eyes and remained motionless. The beauty whispered again: "Are you asleep?" The voice was very similar to his wife's, and Jia Fengji's heart moved slightly. Then he thought: "This is all Master's illusion to test me." So he still closed his eyes. The beauty smiled and said: "The mouse is stirring!" Earlier, the couple lived in the same house with the maid, and they wanted to be intimate for fear that the maid would hear them. They secretly agreed on a secret phrase, saying: "The mouse is stirring" and then they fell in love with each other. When Jia Fengzhi suddenly heard this, he felt an impulse in his heart. He opened his eyes and took a closer look, and found that it was indeed his wife. He asked: "How can you come?" His wife replied: "Lang Xiucai was afraid that you would be lonely and wanted to go home, so he sent an old woman to bring me here." Since Jia Fengxi went out without telling her,

His wife clung to him with obvious resentment. Jia Fengzhi comforted her for a long time before she became happy, so the two of them played and had fun. Afterwards, it was almost dawn, and I heard the old man's scolding voice gradually approaching the yard. Jia Fengzhi's wife hurriedly got up. Seeing that there was no place to hide, she climbed over the low wall and escaped. After a while, Lang Xiucai followed the old man in. The old man beat Lang Xiucai with a cane in front of Jia Fengzhi, and then told him to drive away the guests. Lang Xiucai took Jia Fengzhi out from the low wall and said, "I have too high expectations for you, and I can't help but be eager for success. I don't want your relationship to be broken, causing me to be punished. You can leave now, and we will meet again in the future." The day we meet." He pointed out the way home to Jia Fengji and said goodbye.

Jia Fengzhi looked down and saw that his village was right in front of him. He expected that his wife was weak and slow and would be stranded halfway. He hurriedly walked for more than a mile and arrived at the door of his house. He saw that the walls of the house were in tatters. It was no longer the scene of the past. He was surprised that no one in the village, old or young, knew anyone. Suddenly I remembered the situation when Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao returned to their hometown from Tiantai Mountain, which was very similar to the current scene. He didn't dare to go in and sat down to rest at the opposite door. After a long time, an old man came out with a cane. Jia Fengzhi bowed to him and asked: "Where is Jia Fengzhi's home?" The old man pointed to the house and said: "This is it. Do you want to ask about that weird thing? I know everything. It is said that Jia Fengzhi heard this When he left, his son was only seven or eight years old. Later, when the child was fourteen or fifteen years old, his mother suddenly fell into a deep sleep. When the son was still alive, he would change her clothes when it was cold or hot; He died, his two grandsons were very poor, the house was destroyed, and only wooden frames were used to cover it with grass to keep out the wind and rain. Last month, my wife suddenly woke up, and she had been sleeping for more than a hundred years. People near and far heard that People come to visit us for this strange thing, but it has gradually become less and less in recent days." Jia Fengzhi suddenly realized, and said, "I don't know something, Jia Fengzhi is me!" The old man was startled and ran to tell Jia Fengzhi. Report home.

By this time his eldest grandson was dead, and his second grandson Jia Xiang was over fifty years old. Jia Xiang suspected that Jia Fengfei was fake because he was very young. After a while, Jia Fengji's wife came out and recognized him. The wife couldn't hold back her tears and invited him to come into the house with her. However, she had no choice but to stay in her grandson's house temporarily because she didn't have a house. Men and women of all sizes ran in, and they were surrounded by people, including his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, most of whom were dull and vulgar. The eldest grandson's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wu, bought wine and cooked simple meals; she also asked her youngest son, Jia Gao, and his wife to live in the same house with her, freeing up the house for the grandparents. When Jia Fengzhi entered the house, he saw smoke, dust and dirt everywhere, filled with the smell of children's urine and various unpleasant odors. After a few days, he felt annoyed and lamented, and he couldn't stand it anymore. The two grandsons' families took turns serving food, and the food was poorly cooked. Because Jia Fengzhi had just returned, the villagers invited him to drink every day; but his wife often did not have a full meal. Mrs. Wu was originally the daughter of a scholar. She knew the rules of being a junior, and she was always respectful and filial to Jia Fengji and his wife. The supply of Jia Xiang's family gradually decreased, and sometimes he had to scold them before giving them something. In a rage, Jia Fengzhi left with his wife and set up a teaching camp in East Village. He often said to his wife: "I regret coming back very much, but it is irreversible. I have no choice but to return to my old career of imperial examination. If there is no sense of shame in my heart, wealth is not difficult to get." More than a year later, Wu still often sent gifts Things came, and Jia Xiang and his son continued to have contact with them. This year, he passed the examination as a scholar. The county magistrate valued his literary talent and gave him a lot of money. From then on, his family became more prosperous. Jia Xiang gradually came closer. Jia Fengzhi called him in, counted the money and goods he had spent on him in the past, took out the money to repay him, scolded him, and drove him out. So I bought a new house and brought Mrs. Wu to live with me. The Wu family had two sons. The eldest son stayed in his hometown to take care of the family business; the second son Jia Gao was very smart, and Jia Fengfei asked him to study with his students.

After Jia Fengzhi returned from the mountains, his mind became clearer. Soon, he won one victory after another and passed the Jinshi examination. A few years later, he used the title of censor to supervise the two Zhejiang provinces, and became famous. The singing, dancing, drumming, and pavilions in his house were very prosperous. He was upright and serious, and did not avoid powerful people. The high officials in the court always wanted to frame him. He repeatedly submitted memorials to request retirement, but failed to receive the emperor's approval. Soon disaster happened. Earlier, Jia Xiang's six sons were all scoundrels. Although Jia Fengzhi had cut off contact with them and did not regard them as his descendants, they all relied on his momentum to dominate and occupy fields and houses. People back home hate them. A man married a new wife, and Jia Xiang's second son rushed to be his mistress. The man was cunning and treacherous, so the villagers pooled their money to help him fight the lawsuit, so the news spread to the capital. So the bureaucrats in power filed memorials one after another to attack Jia Fengji. Jia Fengzhi was unable to defend himself and was detained for more than a year. Jia Xiang and his second son both died of illness in prison. Jia Fengzhi was ordered to surrender to Liaoyang. At that time, Jia Gao had been admitted as a scholar for a long time. He was a kind and kind man and had a good reputation. Jia Fengzhi's wife gave birth to a son. When he was sixteen years old, he entrusted his son to Jia Gao. The couple took a male servant and a maid on the road. Jia Fengzhi said: "After more than ten years of wealth, there is no longer a dream. Now I know that the places of prosperity are all hell realms. I regret that I have committed more sins than Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao." After walking for a few days , came to the seaside, and saw a big ship coming from a distance, with loud drums and music, and the guards were like gods. The big ship sailed in front of me, and a man came out of the cabin. He smiled and asked Jia Yushi to come to the ship and take a rest. When Jia Fengzhi saw it, he was surprised and happy, and jumped over. The escorting officer did not dare to stop him. The lady hurriedly wanted to follow, but the boat was already far away, so she angrily jumped into the sea. She drifted a few steps away, and saw someone on the big boat hanging a rope into the water to guide her to the boat. The officer ordered the boatman to start the boat and chased him while shouting. He only heard the thunderous sound of drums on the big boat, echoing with the roar of the waves, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The servant knew the man on the boat and said he was Lang Xiucai.