Folk Story Jigong fights with crickets

One day, Jigong stood under a big willow tree next to the West Lake, shaking a broken cattail leaf fan and watching the scenery of the West Lake. It's the Double Ninth Festival, the golden breeze is refreshing, the lake is rippled, willow branches are blowing in the face, and the scenery of the lake and mountains is so pleasant.

Jizheng was delighted when he saw a man walking not far away and stopped not far from the willow tree. Because he lowered his head and didn't look here at all, he didn't notice Jigong under the willow tree. Jigong saw him clearly. I saw this man in his thirties, dressed as a craftsman, his eyes red from crying, staring blankly at the lake, looking like he was about to jump into the water and commit suicide.

Jigong saw this and thought, I don’t know why this young man is seeking death. I have to try to save him. As the saying goes: "Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda." He made up his mind. , and walked quickly towards the man. When the man saw someone coming, he hurriedly lifted up his clothes and covered his face, and was about to jump into the lake. Soon after he said it, Jigong rushed to the man and grabbed him.

"Ahem! Is there anything you can't get over that makes you want to commit suicide?"

"Don't pull me, let me die. I will suffer even if I live." The man said, Still struggling to jump into the lake.

"If you have any difficulties, tell me, maybe I can help you." Jigong persuaded while pulling.

The drowning man looked at the monk and saw that although he was in rags, his face was full of kindness, especially his eyes, which gave people a sense of hope and strength. The drowning man sighed and said, "Master, whether you can save me or not, I will tell you my sufferings. Even if I die, there will be a witness." Then he told Jigong everything.

It turned out that this man’s surname was Zhang, known as “Carpenter Zhang”, and he worked in the house of an official in Hangzhou City. The young master of this family, nicknamed "Flower Tai Sui", is a villain who idles around and bullies men and women. On this day, Huahua Taisui was playing with crickets outside the flower hall. After finishing his work, Carpenter Zhang stood behind the crowd and watched, casually saying "Okay". It happened that Huahua Taisui's beloved "Golden-Headed King" (cricket) suddenly appeared. Jumped, jumped into the flowers, and didn't find it for a long time. Huahua Taisui was furious and insisted that his treasure was scared away by Zhang Carpenter and demanded that he pay him a thousand taels of silver within three days.

Carpenter Zhang is a poor craftsman. His family has a sick old mother, a wife and children, and he is hungry. Where can he get this thousand taels of silver? Today is the deadline, so I have to hide it from my mother, wife and children, and come to this lake to seek death. When Jigong heard this, he laughed loudly: "I thought it was a big deal. Isn't it just a thousand taels of silver? I will pay it back for you!" With that, he picked up Carpenter Zhang and left.

While walking, suddenly a few "just" calls came from the grass on the roadside. Jigong cat squatted down, touched in the grass, and caught one casually. A cricket, blew air through his mouth, held it in his hand, looked left and right, as if appreciating a treasure, with a happy face on his face. Carpenter Zhang also went up to take a look, and saw that it was a thin and small cricket. He didn't know what tricks the monk was trying to play, so he followed Jigong helplessly and walked forward.

Jigong took Carpenter Zhang to the "Three Dou Tower" in the city. This is the most famous amusement park in Hangzhou. Because this is the place where "fighting cocks, fighting birds, and fighting crickets" are located, the building is called "Three Fighting Buildings". I saw a huge flow of people upstairs and downstairs, and it was very lively. This day is the Double Ninth Festival, which is the best time for the "Three Fights". They came to the cricket fight hall on the second floor and saw Huahua Taisui using his "Silver-headed King" and the opponent's "Iron-shelled Green" to compete for the "top prize". The fight was going on vigorously. I saw Tiekuiqing jumping three times and twice, biting the Silver-headed King's right leg, and pulling hard, bit off one of the Silver-headed King's legs.

Huahua Taisui stomped her feet in distress. I thought, if my golden-headed king is still there, the number one pick will definitely be ours. When he thought of this, he became very angry, so Huahua Taisui shouted to his family: "Have you sent the money to Carpenter Zhang? Today is the deadline. If you don't pay back the money, beat him to death!"

"Stop yelling, we are coming!" Jigong pulled Zhang Carpenter and squeezed in.

Huahua Taisui saw a crazy monk coming. Zhang Carpenter lowered his head and hid behind the monk, then opened his eyes wide and shouted loudly: "My name is Zhang Carpenter, what are you doing, you crazy monk?"

"How about I deliver the money for him?" Jigong replied casually. "You look like a bear. Even if you smash your bones, you can't squeeze out a tael of silver. How can you repay me a thousand taels of silver?"

"Don't worry, I have a little thing here. I caught it from the earth temple in Nanfeng. Is it worth a thousand taels of silver?" As he spoke, Jigong stretched out his left palm in front of Huahua Taisui. When Huahua Taisui saw it, there was a stupid cricket squatting in the monk's hand. He shouted angrily: "What a bald donkey, you dare to make fun of my Taisui master. You want to use this thing for a thousand taels of silver. Really." I’m so angry! Come on, beat this bald donkey for me!”

The family members swarmed up and were about to beat him. Jigong laughed loudly: "I have eyes but cannot see gold, fragrance and jade. My cricket is called 'Zhenshan King'. There are no 'gold head', 'silver head', and 'iron shell green'. They are no match for it. If you don't believe it, just look at it." "

As he said that, he poked the crickets with a broken cattail leaf fan, only to hear it scream twice, which frightened the crickets in the surrounding basins to jump around, and the one that broke The one-legged silver-headed king heard the cry, stretched out his one leg, and died. When Huahua Taisui saw this, he knew that this cricket was no ordinary creature. He immediately smiled and said, "Master, if you, this cricket, can defeat today's number one scholar, I don't want Zhang Carpenter's thousand taels of silver!"

"Okay, let's make a deal, say what you say, and write down the evidence, how about it?"

"Okay, but what if I can't fight?"

"If I can't fight, I will die for Zhang Carpenter."

"Okay, that's it!" Huahua Taisui hurriedly asked his family members to get paper and pen, and both parties wrote down the documents.

People put today’s number one scholar “Tiekui Qing” and Jigong’s “Zhenshan King” into the basin together. King Zhenshan stayed at the edge of the basin, motionless, only stirring his two whiskers back and forth. Seeing that the opponent was thin and small, Tiekeiqing thought he could be bullied, so he bared his teeth and claws and rushed towards Zhenshan King. The Zhenshan King didn't wait for Tiekeiqing to stand firm, and rushed forward to meet Tiekeqing. He took the opportunity to bite Tiekeqing's belly, kicked his legs, and flipped Tiekeqing onto his back. The Zhenshan King still held on, holding on. Tiekeiqing kicked around and slowly stopped moving.

There was a burst of applause in the arena. Jigong put away Zhenshan King, handed the receipt to Carpenter Zhang, and said to Huahua Taisui, "I'm sorry, I've cleared the one thousand taels of silver!" After that, he left. When Huahua Taisui saw that Jigong was about to leave, her eyes turned red. She quickly grabbed Jigong and said, "Master, sell me this cricket. I'm willing to pay you another thousand taels of silver!"

Jigong listened. Afterwards, he laughed loudly: "I'm a monk, what's the use of it? I'll give it to you if you see me fall in love!" Huahua Taisui thanked Jigong profusely and returned home with the cricket in his hands. After arriving home, the more he thought about it, the happier he became. He quickly ordered his family to make a golden cage to put the Zhenshan King in the cage to show his preciousness. When the cage was woven and put inside, the Zhenshan King kicked his feet and jumped out of the flower hall with a "swish" sound, then jumped into the flowers.

Huahua Taisui was so anxious that she clapped her hands and stamped her feet and hurriedly asked her family to catch it. When the family went to catch him, he had already disappeared.

While I was getting anxious, I suddenly heard the cry of Zhenshan King coming from the foot of the flower hall wall. Huahua Taisui hurriedly asked his family to pour water into the cracks in the wall. After filling more than a dozen buckets, Zhenshan King refused to come out. Huahua Taisui was so angry that he ordered his family to knock down the wall in the flower hall, but he still disappeared. Suddenly, he heard the Zhenshan King shouting under the cornerstone of the flower hall. Huahua Taisui became cruel and ordered his family to tear down the flower hall and turn over the bricks and tiles, but he still could not catch the Zhenshan King.

While he was getting angry, the cry of Zhenshan King came from under the Moon Viewing Pavilion again. Huahua Taisui quickly ordered his family to demolish the pavilion. The pavilion had just been demolished when another sound came from under the floor of the study room at the back. So the study was demolished and the bedrooms were demolished after demolishing the study... Wherever the crickets were chirping, they were demolished. After three days and three nights of tossing, there was still no sign of Zhenshan King. shadow.

Huahua Taisui, with his head drooped and his eyes red and swollen, was lying on the wicker chair and was about to fall asleep, when he suddenly heard a singing voice coming from outside the door:

It’s strange, strange, really strange, the crickets are gone. It makes people anxious;

Trouble finding bugs. Tear down walls and dig foundations.

No trace can be found after digging three feet into the ground. How can it go up to the sky?

He disappeared from heaven and earth, Tai Sui deceived others and was deceived!

After listening to the song, Huahua Tai Sui suddenly understood that this was Jigong punishing him, a scoundrel. He immediately felt that his whole body was cold and his hands were cold, and he rolled his eyes as he lay there...