Chapter 10 9. The Story of Privet Soup

Everyone said that Jihe married a leopard daughter-in-law from the land. The rumors reached the city, which alarmed the newly established New Oshima Council.This council was formed by the merger of the New Literati Self-Government Association and the Oshima Governor's Office, so that outsiders and locals could jointly manage Oshima.But the actual adjudicator is still a member of the Literati Self-Government Association. The meeting was held for "the successor's daughter-in-law is a leopard". As a result of the discussion, a person was sent to Jihe's house to have a look.

Who should be sent? All the members of the Self-Government Association chose Zhang Meng, the son of Zhang Dawen.The local officials disagreed, saying that Zhang Meng's father had an enmity with Jihe in the early years, and it would be inappropriate to send Zhang Meng there because of personal opinions.But people from the self-government association said that because of this, Zhang Meng was the right candidate.If the step-wife is really a leopard, who is the right person to send? Who is willing to take that risk? But it is even more inappropriate to send the locals. The locals are all a family, and they will not tell the truth.Besides, Zhang Meng was able to turn his hatred into courage and fearlessness because of his father's feud with his step-family. Otherwise, who would want to feed the leopard for no reason? It must be Zhang Meng.Zhang Meng had no choice but to obey.

How can Zhang Meng really want to do this job? He is the eldest son of Zhang Dawen, he is almost middle-aged, and there is a wife in his family who was ordered by his father back then.Regardless of his wife's ugly appearance but her family background, she gave birth to two sons for him anyway.Zhang Meng was depressed all his life. When his father was alive, he raised a group of wives and concubines, which disturbed him since he was a child. As a result, his father killed his concubines and died of poisoning, which completely ruined Zhang Meng's taste for women.Except for the ugly wife, he has no idea of ​​marrying a concubine, and only likes to drink and sleep.This time everyone used his father's eccentricity to let him explore, and he really didn't like it.I thought to myself, Jihe and I have no grievances or enmities, and we each go our own way; but if you don't go, you can't be a filial son.I had no choice but to ride a horse and take a gift box and drink while going on the road.

Out of the city, forty miles away is the step-family.Because of the mountain, the scent of flowers and fog surrounded the second house.Zhang Meng called the door, and a maid came out and asked who it was. Zhang Meng said it was from the self-government association.The maid went in, then came out and opened the door. Zhang Meng tied the horse, and went in with the maid, and saw a dark green in the courtyard blocking the house.Through the green, into the vestibule, through the vestibule, another piece of exotic flowers and plants, there are strange birds contending.Zhang Mengjiu woke up halfway, looked intently, the main room was behind the exotic flowers and plants, went up the steps, and entered the main courtyard, only to see a young man with delicate features sitting on a rattan chair and taking a nap.A bird chirped outside the door, the man opened his eyes, saw the visitor, and quickly got up to give up his seat.The two exchanged names, and Zhang Meng knew that this was the successor of his father's enemy.

Zhang Meng didn't know how to speak.Unable to say, "I was sent by the government to investigate your daughter-in-law", I said: "Since the festival between my father and my husband, my husband left his hometown and crossed the sea, and my father also passed away. Now my husband has returned, married a wife and had children. , only for the reconciliation of Zhang Ji’s two families, and also to pay respects to Mrs. Madam and Young Master.” Jihe looked at the visitor, feeling puzzled, but he didn't bother to find out, so he asked the maid to invite his wife.Lianying led her son Jicheng into the house. When Zhang Meng saw him, he felt that Renzi had never been so clear-headed in his life, nor had he had so much imagination.I exclaimed in my heart: "This woman wears a silver hairpin on her head, a silver ring on her neck, a silver gray jacket, a black leopard leather waistcoat, a silver gray skirt, and a pair of silver gray satin shoes. When she opened her eyes, her pupils were as sharp as a leopard's." Surprised, squinting his eyes, his eyebrows are like clouds rising. When he smiles, he is passionate and charming, and when he is angry, his silver teeth are thirsty for blood. When he is in a trance, he looks like a silver-gray female with black lines on his back. The leopard was rushing towards him; when he looked closely, he saw a stunning woman standing in front of him, making people shudder and restless. This kind of woman is rare in the world, even if she dies under her claws, it is worth it. How can this kid get such a good fortune? The old man married a group of people, and the sum of them is even worse than this one. Thinking about my generation, it is even more shabby. Thinking about this step-brother, he is really annoying. He will come to be a spy today, and he will go back Play him a book and condemn him to licentiousness." During the time he took a sip of tea, Zhang Meng's brain worked hard for a round, and he almost didn't become a genius.Immediately, he went back to the old way, bowed to Lian Ying stupidly, handed him the gift box, then took Ji Cheng's hand and asked him how old he was.Then he congratulated Jihe on his family portrait and got up to say goodbye, leaving Jihe confused.After getting on the horse, Zhang Meng felt hot and cold all over his body, and his head was dizzy.He repeated to himself: "You are not human, you are not human, you are a female leopard." But when he got home, he couldn't say anything, and he didn't think about eating or drinking. I dreamed of leopards again, and woke up sweating and lost a lot of energy.

The next day, Zhang Meng's report to the council had only one sentence: "A woman is a mother leopard." Everyone was puzzled. Did he mean that all women are mothers or only the step-wife? If you ask Zhang Meng again, he has nothing to say but drinks.Everyone said that he must have been frightened by the leopard, which shows that the step-daughter-in-law is really a leopard.People from the self-government association advocated that Lianying be arrested and displayed to the public, but the local officials said that there was no evidence, and they could not justify the woman as a leopard for no reason.People from the self-government association said that they wanted to try to make her show her original shape, and someone suggested to invite monks from land to chant sutras.

The head of Da Dao Island is also surnamed Ji. Hearing this, he was very worried for his family members.He hurriedly sent someone to pass the news to Jihe, and even suggested that, before the monk arrived, let Lianying make a confession with John. I heard that the god that John communicated with is the one that the ancestors were looking for, that god. It will surely protect Lianying from being ruled by monks. Jihe has seen miracles since he was born, but he "closes" his eyes when things happen.He didn't want to think too much about it, so he just asked someone to invite John.Since John came to the Big Island, he has learned slang and Chinese, and he can talk nonsense with the locals.He often heard about Jihe from people. He only regretted that he had no chance to make friends with Jihe. Now he was invited into the house by Jihe. It was like stepping into a legend. True or false; and Jihe passed John’s simple church when he was a child, and he only regarded him as a monster on the island. Now he heard from the people on the island that what the ancestors were looking for was the skinny man crucified, and he also re- Looking at the John sent by the thin man, it seems that John came out of a legend, and the truth is unbelievable.They just met at Jihe's house in such a trance, one felt that he had stepped into the mythology, the other felt that the mythology was approaching him, neither of them had anything to say, they just exchanged greetings, John said "Excuse me, sir", and Jihe said "Excuse me Christ was burdened", after finishing speaking, he bowed and avoided.

Sitting on the rattan chair and listening to the strange bird calls outside the door, John waited for the female leopard to come out, and waited and waited, but he couldn't see the leopard, but he was drowsy from the fragrance of the flowers, and he closed his eyes slightly and took a nap , Opening his eyes again, he saw a woman sitting quietly opposite him.John hurriedly gathered his attention, got up and said hello, the woman also returned the salute, the two exchanged names, John looked at the woman, was looking at the pair of gray eyes, shivered all over his body, his ears felt hot, and heard the woman say: " Since I saw the God everyone is talking about today, I think I should give my real name? My name is Hisama."

John asked, "Isn't my wife's name Lianying?" Lianying said, "That's the Chinese name my husband gave me after I came to the island. I was born as Hisama, and now I call myself Hisama. Lianying started to talk about the women's village, and she simply talked about the dialect in the mountains without asking John if he could understand it.The more John didn't understand, the more ecstatic he became, and he wished he could follow her to the Mountain of Women.I thought that Da Dao was primitive enough to meet the ideal of martyrdom, but compared with the women's village, Da Dao seemed mediocre and vulgar.John immediately felt that he was listening to the goddess, and if she hadn't been married, he would have knelt at the feet of the goddess.As he listened to her, he couldn't help but want to kiss her hand and ask God for forgiveness.

The maid passing by the main room went under the window and peeked into the room, only to see John crossing himself.Lianying spoke loudly that no one could understand, her eyes were shining silver.The maid was terrified and ran out of the courtyard. When she saw anyone, she said, "It's not good, it's not good. If you continue to repent, the lady will turn into a leopard and eat that Jesus!" The neighbors were uneasy, and they all came to gather outside Ji's house to watch. After a while, I saw Jihe escorting John out. John's limbs were intact, and he didn't look like he had been eaten by a leopard.Everyone turned their heads and blamed the maid for making more mischief, saying that the story about Lian Ying being a leopard was probably made up by the maid.

But the next day someone said they saw Lian Ying go into the mountain late at night; on the third day someone said they heard the sound of wild animals panting in the garden behind her step-family; Go, chop bricks and break tiles; some people said that seeing her sitting on a field stalk staring at the sun does not move, which shows that she does not have human eyes.The more the story spread, the more evil it became. It was said that John had a high fever since he met Lianying, and he was talking nonsense in foreign language, repeating: "Hisama".Everyone discussed: the leopard does not distinguish between God and Han people, and his step-wife ate the brains of John and Zhang Meng, so Zhang Meng became a drunkard, and John called God "Hisama".Maybe God is also a leopard. The island was in chaos for a while, and some young people organized a "Team of Heavenly Path" to go back to their ancestors to find their roots. They said that the ancestors looked for the gods at first, but now even Lianying had a fever after seeing the gods, which shows that Lianying is the goddess.The teenagers were coming to pay respects to Lianying, even Jihe quickly closed the door to see no visitors this time. The "Team of Heaven's Way" made such a fuss, which made the members of the self-government association even more anxious. They were anxious to move monks to chant scriptures, so that Lian Ying could show her true self to the public.When the monk was about to arrive, Taoist priest Sachet went to the successor's house first, and said that the time had come for the monk to fight the monk.The sachet Taoist took out a handful of herbs, boiled them into water, and asked Lianying to drink them. After Lianying drank them, she fell asleep immediately.The monk sat outside Ji's house, lit a fire and recited sutras for three days. Lianying also fell asleep for three days. On the fourth day, the monk fell asleep himself. He slept until the fifth morning. When he woke up, everyone gathered around him. Only then did he realize that the person who invited him had only paid three days' reward, but he himself had been reading for five days, and he didn't see any leopards coming out of the reading.Busy took the guy up and went back to the mainland. After the monk left, everyone said that Taoist Taoist Sachet has profound Taoism.After Lianying woke up, her gray eyes were soft and dark, no longer shining silver.From then on, she became slower and more feminine.Lian Jihe also said: "The savage anger of my beloved wife has disappeared, but she is more beautiful than Shih Tzu." The Taoist priest proudly said that the herbal medicine is called "privet decoction", which is designed to kill women's yin and strong qi, and it is too old. Your secret recipe, few people in the world know how to use it.He said to Jihe: "If you want to protect your wife, you have to let her take this decoction regularly. Yin and Yang are born at the time of Ziwu, and if you take a dose of decoction at each time of Ziwu, it will kill the newborn spirit immediately. This medicine It can destroy her tiger and leopard heart, soften her fangs and sharp claws, dispel the fierce light in her eyes, draw out her dantian's strength, and create a lady and beauty to keep your husband and wife harmonious and your family safe." Jihe thought to himself: "Our husband and wife have always been in harmony, but mediocrity is causing chaos. People's hearts are not as good as ghosts." But he didn't say it, "he" opened his mouth, and nodded to the Taoist priest. From then on, Lianying took "privet soup" twice a day, and gradually became addicted. If she refused to take it, she became dizzy and fell asleep continuously after taking it.But Jihe had no choice but to hope that his son Jicheng would have the power of ghosts and gods in the future, so he tried his best to teach the ability of writing poems and essays. When Jicheng was sixteen years old, Jihe asked his son what he wanted to do, and Jicheng blinked his big gray eyes. Said: "Open a small shop."