episode 1
blank paper man
My grandfather¡¯s name is Gao Qingsheng. The ancestors of the Hu family were famous big landowners from all over the country. During the most glorious period, they bought more than 40 houses connected by three alleys in the city. During this period, there were also some officials and businessmen. , an assistant who donated grain platforms and troughs to the Qing Dynasty.
There is a folk proverb: "You can only be rich for three generations." This is very reasonable. Even if the family has gold and silver, it cannot withstand the squandering of the descendants of the prodigal family.
During the Republic of China, my grandfather's generation began to experience family decline. First, the family was divided. Gao Qingsheng also received a lot of property, which was enough to live a life of food and clothing without worries. However, he refused to learn well. Of course, this was also related to It was related to the social environment at that time. First he was addicted to gambling, and later he smoked fushou drugs (big cigarettes), which destroyed all the wealth of Wan Guan's family.
When Gao Qingsheng was young, he was addicted to eating, drinking, prostitution, gambling and smoking. In the end, he was so poor that he didn't even have a fortune. If a person is addicted to smoking, he will feel unbearable, but if you don¡¯t have money, who will let you smoke? In the old days, when you were rich, the bosses and waiters in the opium dens would treat you like a tall man or a short man, and they would greet you attentively and thoughtfully. But once you are penniless, they will treat you like a beggar. , Even with coaxing and driving, they couldn't be driven away.
When people are poor and crazy, concepts such as integrity and morality are no longer important. Gao Qingsheng thought of a way to go to his uncle to swindle some money. Gao Qingsheng's uncle knew that he was a prodigal and a heavy smoker, and usually refused to give him a penny, but this time Gao Qingsheng lied to his uncle that he wanted to marry a wife and asked his uncle to collect some money.
When the uncle heard this, he was moved to tears. This unscrupulous nephew finally did something serious. If he married a virtuous daughter-in-law and took good care of him and accepted his heart, maybe he could learn from it in the future.
So I got him 20 yuan and told him to marry a wife and live a good life. Don't get contaminated by those blessings. In a few days, when I have free time, I will go to Gao Qingsheng's house to see his nephew and daughter-in-law in person.
Gao Qingsheng had the most evil ideas. In order to deal with his uncle, he went home and found a craftsman in the village who could make paper figures and horses, the kind that would be burned to the dead. This paper-making master is very skilled in craftsmanship. As long as you can name something, he can make it perfectly.
As required, he made Gao Qingsheng a paper woman framed with white paper, and painted the eyebrows, nose, clothes and hair with watercolors. From a distance, hey, it really looks like a living person.
Gao Qingsheng brought the paper man to his home, placed it on the kang in the back room, and covered it with a quilt. He was thinking very well. When his uncle came a few days later, he said that his wife was sick and could not lie down in bed. When you meet a visitor, just let him take a look from a distance. Thinking of the happy place, I couldn't help but hum a ditty and went to the city to smoke.
Within a few days, his uncle came to visit his nephew and daughter-in-law. He bought some calico snacks and the like to see his nephew and daughter-in-law. Gao Qingsheng excused himself according to the pre-planned excuse, saying that his daughter-in-law was unwell and could not see guests, so he asked his uncle to explain to them. He opened the door curtain and took a look before lowering the door curtain.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
My uncle doesn't want to do it anymore. Oh, is this how you deal with your own uncle? No, I have to meet my new wife today. If she is sick, I will pay for her to be treated by a doctor.
Gao Qingsheng kept trying to prevent him from seeing him. The more he stopped, the more problematic he seemed. His uncle became more suspicious and started arguing. At this time, the curtain of the back room opened, and a fair-looking woman came out, with a big face, a big butt and small feet. Gao Qingsheng's heart skipped a beat, oh, isn't this the paper figurine I asked someone to make? How is it alive?
The woman bowed to her uncle and said she had been in poor health recently. She had not come out to greet him just now. Please forgive me for being rude. Now she suddenly feels better again. She will stay with uncle at home for a light meal today. After saying this, she turned around and went in to cook. .
Gao Qingsheng's uncle was overjoyed when he saw it. This nephew's wife was so virtuous and had a good-looking husband. My dead sister Quan Xia Youzhi must be happy to see his son marry such a good wife. When his uncle was happy, he gave Gao Qingsheng another ten yuan.
Gao Qingsheng stayed on the spot, feeling flustered. He didn't know whether to be grateful or afraid. Time passed quickly, and it was night in a blink of an eye. The white paper man made a table of meals. His uncle was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. But Gao Qingsheng But he had no intention of eating or drinking. When he looked at the woman sitting opposite him, he felt as sick as if he had eaten a fly. Her face was very white, with no blood at all, and the rosiness on her face was all rouge.
The uncle's eyesight was dim and he didn't think there was anything wrong with the woman. After seven or eight glasses of old wine, he became lonely and drunk. Gao Qingsheng borrowed a donkey cart to take him home.
On the way back, the more I thought about it, the more scared I became, so I simply didn¡¯t go home. I went to spend the night in Hualiu Alley in the city, where I used up all the ten oceans my uncle had just given me, including smoking and prostitution.
In the end, he was kicked out because he had no money to pay the bill. He had nowhere to go and had no choice but to go home. When I got home, I saw the lights in the house were dark, and the white paper man was lying motionless on his bed, covered with a quilt. It was as if everything before had never happened.
When Gao Qingsheng thought about what to do if he kept her and turned her into a living person at night, why not burn it clean with fire? He dragged the paper man into the yard, took out the fire folding box, and wanted to burn the paper man. At this time, the paper man suddenly spoke: "You have no conscience, I helped you with good intentions, but you want to burn me!"
Gao Qingsheng was startled. In the middle of the night, he only heard the blank woman continue to say: "I feel sorry for you. Although you eat, drink and gamble, you are not a bad person. I want to marry you, are you willing?" "
Gao Qingsheng shook his head desperately and asked the paper man, are you a demon or a ghost? The white paper man said that of course I am a ghost, and I am only temporarily attached to this paper man, but you poor guy, don¡¯t dislike me. I was very rich when I was alive, and the gold and silver jewelry I was buried with was enough for you to smoke for ten lifetimes, wouldn¡¯t you? Is it said that a rich man is a hundred times better than a poor man?
Gao Qingsheng gets a little excited when he mentions Qian, because he has been so poor recently that even his clothes have been pawned, but he doesn't want to have the life to get the money but no life to spend it. He once heard the old people talk about the seduction of female ghosts. Men's affairs, over and over again, suck out the man's yang energy. Those men who are haunted by ghosts are left with only a skeleton wrapped in dry skin. So he said to the paper man: "Even if you are really good to me, I can't marry you. After all, we are humans and ghosts, and Yin and Yang are separated. Doing so is against the laws of heaven."
The man on white paper said that since you are so hard-hearted, I won¡¯t force you, but sooner or later there will be a day when you regret it. Remember, if you are really too poor to survive, you can come to me in the deserted grave in Sanlipu. In the middle of that graveyard is a solitary grave without a tombstone. The coffin is where my body is. There are gold, silver and jewels in the coffin. As long as you dare to come, you can use those properties for whatever you want.
After saying that, the white paper man became motionless. Gao Qingsheng bravely lit a fire and burned the white paper man to ashes.
Later, there were several times when I was so poor that I had no choice but to go to Shisanlipu to dig graves, but in the end I resisted and made my living by borrowing here and there. Two years later, he was at the end of his rope and finally went to that cemetery, but that is a story for another day, so we won¡¯t mention it for now.