Joke allusions

Passing on jokes from generation to generation, reflecting history, telling history with jokes, like literature and art, combining history with jokes, cross talk and so on is a theory that is easy to accept and understand. But a joke is a joke after all. Whether it is good or not depends on whether it can make people happy. So I still have to read books and read stories one by one. Only those that make people happy count.

In the Qing Dynasty, the son of a wealthy businessman bought an official. One day, he went out on business in a sedan chair for four people and had a rest on the way. When he left after dinner, he suddenly kept cursing: Son of a bitch, there were four people at dinner, but how come there were only two when carrying the sedan chair? The accompanying officer rushed over: Go back to your master, there are two more behind the sedan chair. The son of the rich businessman said, oh, it's a good thing I'm a scholar. I understood as soon as you said it.

A man went to the theatre for the first time in his life. Before going, a friend told him where the theater is, where to sell tickets, how to buy tickets and so on. The man bought a ticket as his friend said, but he didn't know where to go, so he asked the conductor: Where to go to the theatre? The conductor pointed out to him: go in through that door and give the ticket to the person at the door after you go in. The man walked over. About a minute later, I came back and bought another ticket. After a while, I bought another one. When he came to buy tickets for the fourth time, the conductor couldn't help asking him, sir, why did you buy four tickets for the theater alone? The man said, I am surprised, too. Every time I go in, I give my ticket to the man at the door, but he always looks at me and tears up my ticket.

A county magistrate has arrived with his family. The wife of the county magistrate was born in a noble family, surnamed Wu. She was very proud and didn't know much about the world. Upon arrival, the county magistrate's wife met with other officials as soon as possible and asked each other their surnames. She asked one first, Answer Lu, surnamed Lu You. Ask another question and answer Qi. His last name is Qi Jiguang. The magistrate's wife changed her face and turned back to the inner room, leaving the guests at a loss. When the magistrate heard this, he rushed in to see his wife and asked what had happened. The lady cried, and I asked them what their surnames were. The first one said Lu, and the last one said Qi. This must be because I know my last name is Wu and deliberately mock me. Fortunately, I didn't ask again. If you ask again, it must be eight surnames and nine surnames.

After reading this joke, we can at least know from the side that at the time when the joke was circulated, Arabic numerals were not widely used, and people used what we now call capitalization to write numbers. This is probably a historic gain.