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Story 101: The Legend of Meng Jiangnu
The Legend of Meng Jiangnu
Author: Anonymous
It is said that during the Qin Dynasty, a family named Meng planted a melon tree. The melon vines climbed along the wall to Jiang’s house and produced melons. The melon is ripe, one melon can score points across two houses! When he opened it, he saw a fair and fat little girl inside, so he named her Meng Jiangnu. Meng Jiangnu grew up, and everyone in the village within a radius of ten or eight miles knew that she was a good girl who was good at life, smart, and could play the piano, compose poems, and write articles. The old couple even regarded her as the apple of their eye.
At this time, Qin Shihuang began to grab people everywhere to build the Great Wall. There was a scholar named Fan Xiliang who was so frightened that he ran away from home. His mouth was dry from running, and he was just about to rest and find some water to drink when he suddenly heard the sound of people shouting and horses running around. It turns out people are being arrested here too! He didn’t have time to run, so he jumped over a nearby wall.
It turns out that this wall is the back garden of the Meng family. At this time, I happened to catch up with Meng Jiangnu and her maid out for a stroll in the garden. Meng Jiangnu suddenly saw someone hiding under the loofah stand. As soon as she and the maid shouted, Fan Xiliang hurriedly got out, bowed and begged, “Miss, miss, don’t shout, don’t shout, I’m on the run.” , please save my life!”
Meng Jiangnu took a look and said, “Fan Xiliang looked like a white-faced scholar and was quite handsome, so she and the maid went back to the reporter. The old man went to the back garden and asked Fan Xiliang where he lived in his hometown, what his last name was, and why he jumped over the wall and was admitted to the hospital. Xi Liang answered in detail. Seeing that he was honest and knowledgeable, they agreed to hide him at home temporarily.
Fan Xiliang hid in the Meng family for some days. The old couple saw that he was a talented and well-mannered man. Generous, he discussed recruiting him as his son-in-law. After discussing with his daughter, she agreed. Mentioned it to Fan Xiliang, Mr. Fan was also happy, and the marriage was decided.
In those days, the war was in chaos, people were being hunted for husbands every day, and no one would always give up on a promised marriage. The old couple discussed it with each other, chose an auspicious day, and invited relatives and friends.
After setting up two banquets and having fun for a whole day, they went to the church to get married. As the saying goes: “People are subject to misfortunes and fortunes, and the sky is unpredictable.” Less than three days after the couple got married, a group of government officials suddenly came in and took Mr. Fan away without any explanation!
This trip was obviously going to be a disaster, and Meng Jiangnu cried and looked forward to it all day long! But after waiting eagerly for a year, not only the people did not expect it, but the letter also did not come. Mengjiang was really worried, so she spent several nights making cold clothes for her husband, and wanted to go to the Great Wall to look for her husband in person. Her parents saw her stubborn look and couldn’t stop her, so they agreed. Meng Jiangnu packed her clothes, said goodbye to her two elders, and set out on her journey. Meng Jiangnu kept running due north, passing through mountains and waters.
Meng Jiangnu packed her bags, said goodbye to her two elders, and embarked on a journey to find her lost child. When you are hungry, gnaw on some cold cakes; when you are thirsty, drink some cold water; when you are tired, sit on the roadside and rest. One day, she asked a white-haired old uncle who was collecting firewood: “How far is it from the Great Wall?” The old uncle said: “Far, far away is Youzhou, and the Great Wall is still to the north of Youzhou.” Meng Jiangnu thought to herself: “Even if the Great Wall is far away in the horizon, I will still go to the horizon to find my husband!”
Meng Jiangnu walked when the phoenix blew or when it rained. One day, she walked to a deserted country with no village in front of her and no shop in her back. It was getting dark and there were no people around, so she ran to the temple. The ruined temple is quite large, with only half a person’s depth of grass and a grinning statue of the god. She was a solitary young woman with a great fortune.
But she didn’t care about that anymore, so she found a nook and fell asleep. At night, she dreamed that she was studying with her husband at the table. Suddenly she heard a banging on the door, and a group of arresting government officials broke in. She woke up with a start. It turned out that the phoenix was blowing and the doors and windows of the ruined temple were ringing. She sighed, looked at the daylight, picked up the package and hit the road again.
One day, she was exhausted from walking and felt cold all over. Just when she wanted to take a rest, Gudong fainted. When she woke up, she realized that she was lying on the hot bed in her hometown. The landlady rolled out the soup and made brown sugar and ginger water for her. She was extremely grateful and grateful. She sweated a little and felt a little lighter, so she struggled to get up and continue on her way.
The landlady pulled her with tears in her eyes and said: “Sister-in-law, I know you are eager to find a husband, but your body is as hot as coals. Can I bear to let you go! Sister-in-law, look at your feet again. It’s turned into blood pimples, but it’s still a foot!” When Meng Jiangnu looked at her feet, she saw that they were not turned into blood pimples. She stayed at the eldest mother’s house for another two days, but she left again before her illness recovered. The old lady cried and said, “What a wonderful wife this is!
God, please do a good job and reunite all the couples in the world!” Meng Jiangnu finally arrived at the place where the Great Wall was being built. She asked the migrant workers building the Great Wall: Do you know where Fan Xiliang is?
I asked someone and they said they didn’t know. When she asked another person, they shook their heads. She didn’t know how many people she had called; only then did she find out about the migrant workers in the neighboring village who were building the Great Wall. The migrant workers from the neighboring village enthusiastically led her to find the migrant workers who were building the Great Wall with Fan Xiliang.
Meng Jiangnv asked: “Brothers, did you build the Great Wall with Fan Xiliang?”
Everyone said: “Yes!”
“Where’s Fan Xiliang?” Everyone, look at me and I’ll look at you. No one said a word with tears in their eyes. When Nu Jiangnu saw this scene, she buzzed and her hair twitched. She widened her eyes and asked urgently: “Where is my husband Fan Xiliang?” Seeing that they couldn’t hide it, everyone said hesitantly: “Fan Xiliang died of exhaustion and hunger last month!”
“Where’s the body?”
“Everyone said: “There are too many dead people to bury, and the supervisors are filling up the Great Wall! ”
Before everyone had finished speaking, Meng Jiangnv clapped her hands on the Great Wall and burst into tears. She cried, cried. We just cried until thousands of migrant workers bowed their heads and shed tears. We just cried until the sun and moon were dim, the sky was dark and the earth was dark. We only cried until the autumn wind howled and the sea water rippled. As I was crying, there was a loud “crash” sound, and a large section of the Great Wall collapsed, exposing piles of human bones.
There are so many bones, which one is your husband? She suddenly remembered the story her mother told her when she was a child: the blood of relatives can seep into the bones of relatives. She bit her middle finger open and blood dripped from her body. She carefully identified the tattered buttons and recognized her husband’s bones. Men Jiangnu guarded her husband’s body and cried her heart out.
While weeping, Qin Shihuang led a large group of troops to inspect the border wall and passed by.
When Qin Shihuang heard that Meng Jiangnu had cried down the city wall, he immediately became furious and furious. He led the three armies to the foot of Jiaoshan Mountain to deal with Meng Jiangnu personally. But when he saw that Meng Jiangnu was young and beautiful, with delicate features and pretty eyes, as beautiful as flowers, he wanted to take possession of her. How could Meng Jiangnu be willing to obey!
Qin Shihuang sent several old women to persuade him, and he also sent Zhao Gao, the secretary of state, with Fengguan Xiapei to persuade him, but Gai Jiangnu refused even to his death. Finally, Qin Shihuang came forward in person. When Meng Jiangnu saw Qin Shihuang, she wished she could die in front of this unscrupulous tyrant.
But then she thought about it, her husband’s grievances were not avenged, and the people’s grievances were not fulfilled. How could he die in vain? She suppressed her anger and listened to Qin Shihuang’s nonsense.
When Qin Shihuang saw that she was silent, he thought she was willing, so he said more excitedly: “Just ask! As long as you obey me, I will give you whatever you want, including mountains of gold and silver!”
Meng Jiangnu said: “I don’t want gold and silver. If you want me to obey, I only need you to promise three things!”
Qin Shihuang said: “Stop talking about three items, even thirty items are up to you. You say, this is the first one!”
Meng Jiangnv said: “The first thing is to erect a monument for my husband, build a tomb, and put it in a sandalwood coffin.”
When Qin Shihuang heard about it: “Easy to say, easy to say, I agree with you on this one. Hurry up and say the second one!”
“For the second piece, I want you to wrap my husband in mourning, wave flags and hold a can, follow the hearse, and lead all the civil and military officials to the funeral in tears.”
When Qin Shihuang heard this, he wondered how this could be done! How can I, a majestic emperor, give a funeral to a commoner? “This one doesn’t work, think of the third one!”
Men Jiangnu said: “If the second one doesn’t work, there won’t be a third one!”
When Qin Shihuang saw this posture, he didn’t agree, because he couldn’t touch the fat in his mouth; if he agreed, he wouldn’t make the world laugh at him. Another thought: I don’t care whether it’s a joke or not. Besides, whoever dares to laugh at me will be killed. Thinking of this, he said: “Okay! I promise you the second one. Come on to the third one!”
Meng Jiangnu said: “The third thing is that I want to visit the sea for three days.”
Qin Shihuang said: “This is easy! Okay, these three things are up to you!”
Qin Shihuang immediately sent people to erect a monument for Fan Xiliang, build a tomb, purchase coffins, and prepare mourning clothes and white flags to attract souls. On the day of the funeral, Fan Xiliang’s hearse was in front, and Qin Shihuang followed closely behind. He was wrapped in linen and wearing filial piety, and he really became a filial son.
When the funeral was over, Meng Jiangnu said to Qin Shihuang: “Let’s go swimming in the sea, and we can get married after swimming.” Qin Shihuang was really happy. She was so beautiful that she didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, she heard a “plop” and Meng Jiangnu jumped into the sea!
Qin Shihuang became anxious when he saw it: “Jue, hurry up, go to the sea and salvage it for me as soon as possible.”
As soon as the salvage people got out of the sea, the sea roared and set off huge waves. The salvagers saw that the situation was not good and hurriedly boarded the boat. How did this big wave come by such a coincidence?
It turned out that both the Dragon King and the Dragon Girl sympathized with Meng Jiangnu, and as soon as they saw her jumping into the sea, they quickly took her to the Dragon Palace. Then, he ordered the shrimp soldiers and crab generals to set off a huge storm. Fortunately, Qin Shihuang escaped quickly, otherwise he would have been swept into the sea.
