During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, as soon as Leng Feng, the magistrate of Qingping County, Hebei Province, took office, he encountered an extremely difficult case: Zhang Jicai, a big family in the south of the city, was blinded by someone when he went home at night! Zhang Jicai's brother Zhang Jibao came to the county government to express his grievances and demanded that Leng Zhi County must arrest the murderer of his brother.

Leng Feng felt that the case was serious, although it was not a homicide, but it grabbed people's eyes and made the victim a waste for life, which shows how cruel the murderer's methods are!

That afternoon, Leng Feng came to Zhang Jicai's house with his attendant Leng Pingweifu.

This is a courtyard of blue bricks and green tiles, red pillars and red beams, and the inner and outer courtyards are connected.

In an upper room in the backyard, Leng Feng saw Zhang Jicai lying on the bed and the three ladies gathered around him.

Zhang Jicai's three wives were all born very beautiful: although the eldest lady is over forty years old, she still retains a beautiful demeanor; The second aunt is thirty years old, her face is pink, and her whole body exudes a kind of mature beauty of a woman; The third aunt is twenty-four or five years old, holding a two- or three-year-old boy in her arms.

Leng Feng browsed the three ladies through it, and then turned back to talk to Zhang Jicai. Zhang Jicai is about the same age as Leng Feng, with an eagle nose, a pointed beak, monkey cheeks, and his eyes wrapped in white cloth bandages, lying motionless on the bed. When Leng Feng asked him about some of the circumstances on the night of the accident, Zhang Jicai was hesitant and couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time.

Leng Feng saw that his words were slurred, as if there was something unspeakable, so he withdrew from the third room lady and asked alone. Only then did Zhang Jicai tell what happened that night.

Zhang Jicai turned out to be a suave son-in-law, he not only had a three-room wife at home, but also kept a prostitute named Xiaocui in Yihongyuan.

That night, Zhang Jicai and Xiaocui finished eating flower wine, went out of Yihong Courtyard, and were about to go home after entering South Street, when they saw four beams of golden light shooting towards him in the dark. Before he could react to what was going on, his eyes went dark, and his eyes suddenly seemed to have been shot by a sharp arrow, and he fell to the ground in pain and rolled and screamed. After the neighbors sent him home, they found that his eyes were bleeding and his eyeballs were gone.

Leng Feng asked him if he had any enemies, and Zhang Jicai told Leng Zhixian that he had never had a grudge against anyone in his life except for dealing with women in the incense powder pile. Leng Feng immediately called Zhang Jicai's third wife to interrogate one by one, and from the mouths of the three wives, Leng Feng did not know the relevant facts of the case.

But he knew very well about the situation of the ladies at home.

Leng Feng returned to the county office, and after carefully analyzing the case, he explained to Leng Ping like this, and Leng Ping took the order and left.

A few days later, Leng Ping returned to the government to report: Zhang Jicai's third aunt Tai Caiyun had made a short stop in front of a meat stall when she was shopping with her child, and the stall owner Wang Shoufu took the child in her arms, hugged her in her arms and kissed her a few times. Leng Feng listened to Leng Ping's narration, and he had a bottom in his heart.

In the early morning of the next day, the cold wind and Leng Ping came to a house outside the north gate. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a twenty-five or sixteen-year-old offspring and two helpers brewing a fat pig that had just been slaughtered in a large iron pot. When the latter saw someone coming in, he hurriedly put down his work and asked, "Are you—"

"The family is going to marry a daughter-in-law, let's order some meat." Leng Ping stepped forward to talk, and he recognized this later life as the butcher Wang Shoufu.

"Well said, well said." When Wang Shoufu saw a customer coming to the door, he immediately greeted him with a smile. Leng Feng took advantage of Leng Ping's discussion with Wang Shoufu about buying meat, and secretly observed around the courtyard. In front of an adobe house to the west, the cold wind peeked through the broken window and found a crossbar hanging from the house, on which perched two brown adult owls with chains hanging from their feet. Curious, he peeked in through the window to watch.

When the owl saw someone coming in, he immediately flapped his wings and threw himself into the cold wind, but he was caught by the anklet. When the cold wind quickly retreated and turned around, he saw a wooden frame lying in the corner of the house.

Leng Feng circled around the courtyard, Leng Ping negotiated the price of meat with Wang Shoufu, and decided to come to the door tomorrow morning to pick up meat.

Leng Feng and Leng Ping walked out of the courtyard, and Leng Ping saw that there was no one around, so he asked, "Master, do you see any doorways?"

Leng Feng said: "I'll see you tonight." ”

In the evening, the cold wind secretly summoned Zhang Jibao to the county government and asked him to put on Zhang Jicai's set of clothes that had been prepared in advance.

Zhang Jibao and Zhang Jicai's brothers are very similar in appearance and figure, and at first glance, Zhang Jibao is a living Zhang Jicai.

At night, Leng Feng led a group of officials to lead Zhang Jibao quietly to the north gate. Leng Feng and the officials hid behind a few big trees at the foot of the city, and Zhang Jibao followed Leng Zhixian's instructions, wearing a barbed wire cover on his eyes, and walked slowly and alone towards the courtyard of the butcher where Leng Feng had been during the day.

Just when Zhang Jibao was about to approach the gate of the courtyard, he saw four beams of golden light suddenly shining directly at Zhang Jibao's face in the courtyard. Zhang Jibao had already taken precautions, his eyes were quick, and he grabbed two black objects with light with both hands, and immediately grabbed an object in his hand.

The thing let out a scream and pecked at Zhang Jibao's hand. At the same time, another thing that heard his companion calling and flew away in fright flew back quickly and pounced on Zhang Jibao. Zhang Jibao's hand was in sharp pain, so he threw the object he was holding in his hand to the ground, and then freed his hand to deal with another object.

Leng Feng and others, who were hidden behind the trees, hurriedly lit torches and rushed to the rescue after hearing the sound of fighting. Another flying object attacking Zhang Jibao saw that a fire was coming, so he had to fly away.

When everyone came to Zhang Jibao's side, they saw that Zhang Jibao's hands were bleeding, and a brown owl on the ground was bleeding from his mouth and nose and was already dead.

Seeing this scene, Leng Feng hurriedly shouted to the officials and broke down the door and rushed into the butcher's courtyard.

The officials rushed to the main house to arrest people, and the cold wind came to the adobe house in the west of the courtyard. In the light of the torches, only two thin iron chains remained on the crossbars in the house.

The next morning, Leng Feng ordered the officials to escort the butcher Wang Shoufu to the lobby for interrogation. At first, Wang Shoufu denied in every way that he had raised an owl to deliberately hurt Zhang Jicai.

However, when Leng Feng threw the dead owl in front of him, Wang Shoufu had to admit that he had raised an owl, but he never intended to hurt Zhang Jicai, and it was an accident that Zhang Jicai was pecked blind by the eagle.

Seeing that Wang Shoufu refused to admit his guilt, Leng Feng took out the wooden frame in the adobe house west of Wang Shoufu's house and placed it in front of him.

When Wang Shoufu saw this, his face immediately turned like earth, and he trembled, knowing that Leng Zhixian had grasped all the facts of his crime, and in order to avoid suffering, he had no choice but to confess his crime of using an owl to mutilate Zhang Jicai.

It turned out that Wang Shoufu and Caiyun had a personal affair for a long time, but Wang Shoufu's family was poor, and he proposed to Caiyun's house several times, but Caiyun's parents rejected him.

Later, Caiyun was favored by Zhang Jicai, and Caiyun's parents forced Caiyun to marry Zhang Jicai, who was almost 20 years older than her, because they coveted the Zhang family's financial gifts, and became the third aunt. Wang Shoufu hated Zhang Jicai for taking away his sweetheart.

Although Caiyun married into the Zhang family, she still has a love for Wang Shoufu, she often borrowed the name of her mother's family to run out and fornicate with Wang Shoufu, and soon became pregnant and inconvenient to go out.

In order to be able to see Caiyun every day, Wang Shoufu found some capital to start the business of killing pigs, and went to South Street every day to set up a stall to sell meat, so that Caiyun could see him as soon as he went out.

Unexpectedly, after Caiyun became pregnant, Zhang Jicai was afraid that she would be tired, and she always had to be by her side every time she went to the street, so that Wang Shoufu and Caiyun didn't even have a chance to talk.

Wang Shoufu hated Zhang Jicai's eagle eyes that monitored the colorful clouds, so he raised two owls at home, made a human-shaped wooden frame, tied straw on it, and installed a skeleton, and then he put the scarecrow on clothes, dressed up as Zhang Jicai, and put a pair of pig eyes in the skull socket to feed the owl every day after killing the pig.

Over time, the owl got used to this unique way of eating, and the skull croaked as soon as there were no pig eyes in it.

One night, after Wang Shoufu found out that Zhang Jicai had gone to Yihong Courtyard, he picked an owl on his shoulder and waited on Zhang Jicai's way home.

When Zhang Jicai came out of Yihong Courtyard and went home, the two owls, who had long been familiar with Zhang Jicai's appearance, shot straight out of Wang Shoufu's shoulders like sharp arrows and pounced on Zhang Jicai's eyes...... After the incident, Wang Shoufu was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he destroyed the scarecrow, leaving only a wooden frame to throw in the corner.

Wang Shoufu thought that this matter was done seamlessly, but he didn't expect to be recognized by Leng Zhixian in the end.

Leng Feng listened to Wang Shoufu's explanation, nodded slightly, and then asked Wang Shoufu to draw a charge on the confession and prepare to be imprisoned.

However, Wang Shoufu knelt on the ground and didn't leave: "Big master, the villain has broken the law, and it is up to the big master to decide whether to kill or chop, but the villain must be a ghost even if he dies."

Dare to ask the master, Zhang Jicai's eyes were mutilated and I didn't know it, and I didn't even tell Caiyun, how did you tell that I hurt Zhang Jicai?"

Leng Feng smiled slightly and said, "Since you want to know the truth of the matter, this official might as well tell you about it-" Leng Feng then told Wang Shoufu how he solved the case.

It turned out that Leng Feng came out of Zhang Jicai's house that day, and after returning to the county office, he began to analyze the case alone. Zhang Jicai has no enemies outside, so his eyes are likely to be victimized by love. Looking at the women around Zhang Jicai, the third aunt is the most suspicious.

Zhang Jicai's first two wives have not given birth for more than ten years after marriage, and the third aunt Tai Caiyun gave birth to a son for Zhang Jicai less than a year after passing the door, which has to make people wonder whether this son is Zhang's own son.

With doubts, Leng Feng carefully looked at the boy in Caiyun's arms, and found that the boy's appearance did not look like Zhang Jicai, which strengthened Leng Feng's speculation: the child is by no means Zhang Jicai's biological child, and there must be the child's biological father behind Caiyun, so Caiyun will definitely have a tryst with this "father" at the right opportunity.

So Leng Feng arranged for Leng Ping to secretly monitor Caiyun, and found a scene of Wang Shoufu kissing the child in the vegetable market.

Ladies and gentlemen, who would love a child who is not related to him so much? Therefore, Leng Feng judged that Wang Shoufu was likely to be the biological father of the child. The next day, Leng Feng and Leng Ping disguised themselves as customers buying meat and went to Wang Shoufu's place to investigate, and found the pair of vicious owls in the adobe house.

Thinking of the four beams of golden light that Zhang Jicai said he saw when he was killed and the wooden frame in the corner of Wang Shoufu's house, Leng Feng immediately had a bottom in his heart. The owl has golden eyes at night and sees things very accurately, and Zhang Jicai is very likely to be injured by the owl.

That night, the cold wind made Zhang Jibao disguise himself as Zhang Jicai and go to the north gate to trap the owl, and the pair of birds really took the bait. The owl was captured, and his owner naturally surfaced.

After listening to Leng Zhixian's story, Wang Shoufu sighed, and then kowtowed and said: "The eldest man is like a god in judging the case, and the villain is convinced." ”

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was an old man in Renjiazhuang in the northwest of Nanyang Prefecture, the old couple believed in Buddhism, burned incense in the morning and evening, and accumulated virtue and good deeds throughout their lives.

Maybe it's a good person who has a good reward, the old couple got a son in their old age, they were very happy, named their son Ren Shan, and looked at his son to grow up in college, and he was a good person for all generations.

When Ren Shan was seventeen years old, the family suddenly suffered a catastrophe, and his father and mother were seriously ill at the same time.

Ren Shan only felt that the sky had fallen, and with the help of the neighbors, he hastily buried his father and mother.

Ren Shan, who was lonely and miserable, looked at his family from the root of the east wall to the west, so poor that he had nothing to do.

He thought, they all say that good people have good rewards, and my ancestors have accumulated virtue and done good deeds for generations, why did they end up like this? Could it be that the Buddha and the gods are asleep? Some people also say strange things: Looking at Ren Shan's accumulation of virtue, maybe this kid did something wrong in his previous life? Retribution is now! Hearing these strange words, Ren Shan was indignant in his heart, and suddenly remembered that his father had said when he was alive that there was a living Buddha in Penglai Immortal Island in the East China Sea, who knew everything in the world and heaven, why not go to Penglai Immortal Mountain to ask the living Buddha, what did I do to cause the family to suffer this great disaster? Just go, Ren Shan simply packed up and hit the road.

Ren Shan got up early and went to bed late along the way, wore stars and moons, and hurried to Penglai Immortal Island. On this day he came to a small roadside shop, and the shopkeeper saw that he was covered in dust and his shoes were tattered, and knew that he must be a guest from afar. Just ask the young man where he is going?

Ren Shan said truthfully. The shopkeeper sighed and said, "Alas, there are many things in the world that are really indescribable and unclear!" Then, the shopkeeper said to Ren Shan that his family also believes in Buddhism and does good, and there is only one daughter, who is twenty-eight years old, although she is smart and smart, but she can't speak! He begged Ren Shan to see the living Buddha and asked what was going on, and Ren Shan agreed. The next morning, the shopkeeper gave Ren Shan a pair of shoes and a bag of dry food, and personally sent him on his way.

Ren Shan walked and walked, and came to a land temple in front of Buba Village and no store in the back, so he had to live in the land temple. The land lord already knew about Ren Shan's visit to Penglai Immortal Island to seek the living Buddha, and he begged Ren Shan with a bitter face: "How many years have my old man been suffering in this place, but he has not waited for the opportunity to go to heaven, please ask the little brother what is the matter with the living Buddha?" Ren Shan readily agreed.

Ren Shan said goodbye to the land lord and continued to hurry, and a big river crossed in front of him. Ren Shan had no way to cross the river, and was anxious, when a big carp swam over and wanted to send him across the river. Ren Shan rode on the back of a carp and crossed the river smoothly.

Before parting, the big carp said to Ren Shan that he had been cultivating in the river for thousands of years, but he couldn't become an immortal or a dragon, and he wanted to trouble Ren Shan to ask the living Buddha, how can he become a dragon? Ren Shan couldn't help nodding in agreement.

Ren Shan said goodbye to the carp, climbed over 7749 mountains, crossed 9981 rivers, walked for 300 and 3 days, and finally came to Penglai Immortal Island. He didn't care about watching Penglai Wonderland, and climbed directly to the smoky Big Buddha Temple and saw the living Buddha.

The living Buddha opened a pair of discerning eyes slightly, and said to Ren Shan: "The donor has come from afar with great hardships, and the poor monk should respond to his requests, but the rules formed by this temple for many years only allow the donor to ask a maximum of three things, please forgive the donor!"

This time, Ren Shan was dumbfounded. He thought of the things entrusted by the shopkeeper, the land lord, and the big carp, plus his own affairs were just four, what could he do? He was embarrassed, he suddenly thought that his father and mother had accumulated blessings and good deeds all his life, was helpful, and often asked himself not to be selfish and save people in danger, so he bit his teeth and heart, and only asked the living Buddha about other people's three things, and then said goodbye to the living Buddha and hurried back.

Ren Shan came to the river, and the big carp swam over and asked, "Little brother, you have worked hard!" Tell me what it takes for me to become a dragon?" Ren Shan said: "The Living Buddha said that you can become a dragon by spitting out the bead in your mouth." The big carp was very happy, and while carrying Ren Shan across the river, he handed the bead in his mouth to Ren Shan and said, "This is a water-repellent pearl, so give it to the little brother!" Ren Shan was about to excuse himself, but the big carp "suddenly-" turned into a green dragon, shook his head and tail, and flew away.

Ren Shan walked to the front of the Land Temple, and the Land Lord greeted him and asked, "Young man, you have seen the Living Buddha, what is the Buddha's will?" Ren Shan said to him: "The Buddha asked you to hand over the two cylinders of gold and silver under your feet, and you can become a god in the sky!" The face of the land lord was so red that his neck was so red that he obediently handed over the gold and silver that he had been reluctant to spend for many years of bribery, and he must give it to Ren Shan as a reward.

Ren Shan refused to accept it, and the land lord said, this is all the hard-earned money of the villagers, so please let it be distributed to the villagers. As he spoke, he turned into a breeze and went to the sky.

At noon that day, Ren Shan rushed to the roadside inn, and the owner warmly entertained him. During the banquet, the shopkeeper asked angrily: "The guest officer has worked hard all the way, and he doesn't know what the old man entrusted, what did the Buddha say?" Ren Shan smiled and said, "The Buddha said, it's okay, your girl will open her mouth to speak when she sees her husband." ”

When the shopkeeper heard this, he was stunned: the sky is wide and the sea is vast, who should be the husband of his daughter? While he was talking, Ren Shan suddenly smelled the incense of the blue musk deer in the house, and saw the curtain of the door lifted, and the shopkeeper's daughter Nana walked out, what a fairy-like beauty! The beautiful woman first gave a deep salute to the guest, then opened her mouth violently to the shopkeeper, and suddenly spoke: "Daddy, Daddy!" My tongue is numb, I can speak, I can speak!" The shopkeeper was so happy that he shed old tears, and suddenly remembered what Ren Shan had relayed to the Living Buddha, so he must recruit Ren Shan as his son-in-law.

Ren Shan saw that the shopkeeper was sincere and the girl was beautiful, so he nodded with satisfaction. The shopkeeper hurriedly called out his wife and Ren Shan to meet his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Then the shopkeeper hurriedly found someone to choose an auspicious day for the zodiac, invited relatives and friends, and organized a happy event for his daughter and son-in-law.

After marriage, Ren Shan took out the gold and silver left by the land lord, and gave all the money to the poor villagers, and everyone praised Ren Shan for being an honest and kind kind-hearted person.

In the summer of that year, it rained heavily for six and thirty-six days, and the ditches were flat, and the crops were covered with a sea of crops, and the village was about to be submerged. Ren Shan was so anxious that he couldn't eat or sleep. On this day, he dimly dreamed that a white-bearded old man came to him, and when he looked at it, it turned out to be the land lord who had ascended to heaven! The old man told Ren Shan: The whole country is flooded, and the emperor has decreed that whoever can cure the flood will be named a member of the first class in the court.

He also told Ren Shan that this calamity should be avoided in this dynasty, and among the gods who travel clouds and rain, there is a great green dragon who has a friendship with you, and he is waiting to repay your kindness! As he spoke, the land lord attached himself to Ren Shan's ears and gave him an explanation like this.

Ren Shan didn't dare to slack off when he heard this, and hurried into Beijing, offering the big carp to the emperor to give him a water bead, and explained that he had a way to stop the rain and retreat. The emperor hurriedly issued an order and ordered Qin Tianjian to send someone to bring the orb with Ren Shan and go to control the water.

Ren Shan came to the wilderness with the people, and the sky was full of black clouds, lightning and thunder. Ren Shan braved the pouring rain, and according to the instructions of the land lord, he shouted three times to the sky: "Qinglong, Qinglong, don't forget the world!" Then he put the water-sheltering beads into the water, and it was strange to say that in an instant the thunder and lightning stopped, the clouds disappeared and the rain stopped, and a round of bright sun hung high in the clear sky, and the water quickly subsided.

The emperor was overjoyed and wanted to crown Ren Shan as the champion of the treasure, but Ren Shan repeatedly excused himself, saying that he did not want to be an official in the court. The emperor had no choice but to reward Ren Shan with countless gold and silver, but Ren Shan could refuse, so he had to beg the emperor to transfer the gold and silver to the people in the world.

The emperor was very impressed and asked in detail about the origin of the water beads, and Ren Shan told the emperor about his journey to Penglai to seek Buddha. It just so happened that the emperor also believed in Buddhism, and he was very impressed, and he personally wrote a couplet to give Ren Shan, and ceremoniously sent him back to his hometown. The Yushu couplet reads:

Mo Dao does good deeds without good results,

It should be known that respecting the Buddha has a Buddha fate.

After Ren Shan returned home, he framed and hung up the couplet of the emperor's imperial book, and pondered it all day long. He thought, the world is full of red dust, where is the Buddha?

The Buddha is in the human heart, and all living beings are Buddhas. If you want to respect the Buddha, you must first respect the people around you, and then respect all beings in the world! Since then, the younger couple has respected the old and loved the young, helped the poor and helped the poor, and did countless good deeds in their lives.

The couple lived a sweet and harmonious life, and when they lived to be 100 years old, the couple were still like peach blossoms, and they didn't see their old faces at all. Later, the two went into the mountains to collect medicine and did not return, and people said that the two of them became Buddhas and immortals.