Chapter 20: Tigers eat people
Lu Xihua looked at the white fox squatting in the hall with interest. The aggrieved little eyes are still the same, the top of the head is clear, there is still no abnormality, and there is no trace of his own handwriting and green ink on his body, it is obvious that the white fox who caused trouble last night was not the one he was familiar with.
"And tell me the truth, what is the matter with the fox head hanging high at the entrance of the palace. Lu Xihua asked as he turned to the white fox.
Where did the white fox dare to hide it in front of Lu Xihua, he could only tell what happened after leaving the Hundred Medicine Hall.
Early this morning, someone knocked on the door to look for Zeng Xiaoyi, but unfortunately Zeng Xiaoyi didn't return last night, and the white fox had already changed into Zeng Xiaoyi's appearance to open the door. I saw that the people outside the door were all neighbors around the neighborhood, and when they saw Xiao Yi open the door, they all smiled, and only said that Xiao Yi took good care of his body, and turned around and left.
The white fox was suspicious, and hurriedly pulled a familiar neighbor to ask, only to know that the prefect caught a fox demon last night, and the fox demon had been beheaded in the court, which was the culprit of the Sun family before. It's just that the fox demon said that he was Zeng Xiaoyi who sold wine at the street before he died, so the neighbors came to see it early in the morning, and now they see that Zeng Xiaoyi is still in the house, how can they not know that they were deceived by the fox demon, and they dispersed after comforting Zeng Xiaoyi.
The white fox was shocked, he didn't know anything else, but Zeng Xiaoyi didn't return overnight, was he really killed as a fox demon? The white fox was frightened, every evening, Zeng Xiaoyi had to come to the Baiyao Hall to deliver wine, and now that the person had been killed, the white fox had to come to deliver the wine by himself, and by the way, he asked Master Lu how to deal with himself. As soon as he arrived at the Hundred Medicine Hall, Ma Yichun saw the flaw, beckoned the annoying Niu Er to catch him, and grabbed him in front of Master Lu for questioning.
After listening to what the white fox said, Lu Xihua naturally understood in his heart, it was all the truth, and he couldn't help nodding and said, "Okay, you get up." From now on, you are Zeng Xiaoyi, no longer a white fox. ”
"Master! That's it, it's over, it killed Zeng Xiaoyi!" Niu Erben was eager to try on the side, ready to wait for the old man to finish asking, he would catch this demon and send it to the government to be punished, but the old man said lightly, it seemed that he was going to let go of the fox demon, where could he bear it, and hurriedly asked. Seeing that Niu Er didn't let go of himself, the white fox couldn't help but shrink his body with a scared look.
Seeing Niu Er jumping out and shouting grievances, Lu Xihua raised his eyebrows, and asked, "Tell me, where did he hurt Zeng Xiaoyi?"
"He gave Zeng Xiaoyi fur as a magic robe, and Zeng Xiaoyi went astray!" Niu Erzhen was full of words, and his face was full of a sense of justice.
Lu Xihua didn't answer, turned his head to Ma Yichun and asked, "Yichun, tell me your opinion." ”
Ma Yichun thought for a moment and said, "I think the white fox is fine." It gave Niu Er fur to make clothes to repay his kindness, and then Niu Er also reminded him more, which can be regarded as doing his duty. Niu Er didn't listen to it, did his own thing, and finally fell into the evil way, losing his life in vain, which can be regarded as self-inflicted. ”
"Senior brother, what do you think so?!" Niu Er was proud, but he knew that his senior brother was completely different from his own ideas, and he didn't believe it.
Lu Xihua nodded, "Humans, demons, ghosts, and demons are all part of the world, and there is no difference between them. Demons are people, and people who do demons are demons. I, Lu Xihua, don't look at what you are, just what you do. Of course, a thing has a cause and effect, and it may seem evil at the time, but it is good in the long run, and it cannot be taken lightly. Speaking of this, Lu Xihua remembered that he was a fledgling at the beginning of the year, in the mountains and villages, killing all the people in a fit of anger, right and wrong, where would there be public opinion, he only did things with his own heart, and his fist was the truth, if he didn't have supernatural powers, he was afraid that he would also be a deserted village.
Of course, in front of the servants, I still have to talk about the big truth, this time Zeng Xiaoyi relied on the magic clothes, acted recklessly, and was finally killed, it was his own fault, the white fox in order to repay the favor, sacrificed fur as a magic robe, naturally not guilty.
Niu Er was naturally deflated when he heard the master's words, but the white fox smiled, and he could pretend to be Zeng Xiaoyi openly in the future, "Thank you, master! ”
Lu Xihua said with a smile, "The money still has to be paid, how much it should be, and Baiyaotang is not bad for this money." You yourself should be more careful in the future, if you love to drink, you will make wine well, don't use spells like Zeng Xiaoyi to violate the criminal law of the world, and finally lose your own life. ”
In the end, this incident disappeared into time, Zeng Xiaoyi of the Jiekou Distillery got up early every day to sell wine, and everyone praised the good taste of his wine; Baiyaotang took in the sick every day, sold medicine at a low price, and cured the disease; under the rule of the Kochi Prefecture, the government decrees were well understood, and all kinds of waste were prosperous, and there was a peaceful atmosphere in the city.
But she said that there was an old woman outside the city, who was over 70 years old, and that her husband used to be a butcher, but had died a few years ago, and that the old woman and the old man had only one son, and now he was in his twenties, and had not yet married a wife. One day, the son said goodbye to his mother and went up the mountain to chop firewood, and was eaten by a tiger. His widowed mother waited for the child at home for a long time and did not return, so she went to the mountains to look for it, and in a bamboo forest, she saw a tiger jumping out, and she was shocked, and went to the depths of the bamboo forest, only to see a pile of bones falling to the ground, and the clothes on her body were her own child. The old woman was in pain, and suddenly remembered that she heard that the Kochi Mansion in the city was upright and made decisions for the people, so she rushed to the city with a few steps of crutches and beat the drum and shouted grievances.
Originally, the old woman was more than seventy years old, and she came from outside the city, and she was already physically and mentally exhausted, and the servants at the gate of the government did not dare to stop her, so they could only beat the drum on her behalf.
The old woman explained that the hungry tiger ate her son, and begged the master of Qingtian to make the decision for him, his family has only one son, and her husband has long since passed away, so now she is left alone in the family, and she can't live, and she only hopes that the eldest master will give him justice.
Gao Hong listened to it in his ears, it was difficult in his heart, it was a heavenly cycle for hungry tigers to eat people, how to deal with it by himself, and suddenly remembered the matter of leaving words in the Hundred Medicine Hall, and he had a plan in his heart.
Gao Hong immediately comforted the old woman to sit in the hall, immediately took a pen and wrote a talisman, handed it to Zhao Xian, and asked him to go up the mountain with the talisman, and arrested him within half a month, without mistake, and then left the hall. So for a while, the matter of the Kochi Mansion detaining the tiger was spread in the city, and Lu Xihua also knew about it, and secretly called himself surprised, just waiting to see how things develop in the future.
But said that the poor Zhao Xian, took the errand of catching the tiger, and he was not bored in his heart, the old man has always been smart, why is he so confused this time, he actually asked himself to catch the tiger, where is this tiger so easy to catch, but unfortunately it is difficult to disobey, Zhao Xian said goodbye to his wife and son who were crying at home, and went out of the city with the paperwork and went to the mountains.
Along the way, there were many people who greeted him, and many people followed Zhao Xian from a distance, wanting to see how he caught the tiger. Zhao Xian entered the mountain, there was no way, all the way to the woodcutter and the herb picker to ask the traces of the man-eating tiger, but unfortunately there was no news one by one. The days passed, but the trace of the tiger was still not found, and the crowd following Zhao Xian had long since dispersed. One night, Zhao Xian slept in the mountain temple, unable to sleep at night, seeing that the things explained by the adults were not done, he was afraid that he would be punished when he went back this time, and he was anxious.
Zhao Xian got up immediately and bowed in the mountain temple, "Grandpa the mountain god, please bless me to find that man-eating tiger, so that I can go back to the errand as soon as possible!" After speaking, he kowtowed to the mountain god in the temple a few times, and put the cooking cake and water he brought with him on the mountain god's case.
Suddenly, a gust of mountain wind blew into the mountain temple, blowing open the corner of the wrapped cloth that Zhao Xian had placed on the ground, revealing the talisman inside, Zhao Xian suddenly realized, since I ask the mountain god to bless myself, why don't I directly inform the mountain god grandfather of the official document. This official is good at talking!
Immediately decided, Zhao Xian took out the official document rune in the package, and as for the mountain god case, he kowtowed below, "Grandpa Mountain God, this is the official document of Gao Honggao, the prefect of my state, there is a tiger in Guishan who ate a young man who chopped wood on the mountain before. There was only one widow in his family, who was more than 70 years old, and he was in pain, so he sued the man-eating tiger to the court. After hearing about it, Lord Gao wrote an official document, and the villain Zhao Xian was on an errand in the official office, and was ordered by Lord Gao to come to deliver the official document and ask the grandfather of the mountain god to show it. The villain Zhao Xian kowtowed to the mountain god's grandfather. ”
Zhao Xian told the reason for the matter, kowtowed and retreated, and the tall talisman turned on the desk without wind.
It didn't take long for a strong wind to hear, and a tiger rushed out from behind the temple and came to the mountain god case, scaring Zhao Xian before the bonfire, and secretly looked at the tiger on the side of the case by the light of the fire. I saw a tiger body has more than two feet, a tail shaped like an iron whip, every time it shakes, there is a whirring sound, black markings covered on the yellow fur, extremely beautiful, eyes like copper bells, between the forehead there is a big king character!
I saw that the tiger gently picked up the talisman that Zhao Xian had offered on the desk, and came to Zhao Xian in one step, bowing his head and saying nothing.
Zhao Xian shuddered and took out the talisman from the tiger's mouth, and asked, "You, are you the tiger who ate the old woman's son and went up the mountain to chop wood?"
The tiger closed his eyes and nodded, seeing that the tiger could listen to people's words, Zhao Xian's courage also increased, and he was deeply amused, "Are you willing to be tied up obediently and confess to the court with me?" The tiger still nodded. Zhao Xian was overjoyed, tied the tiger around the neck with the rope he carried, tied the other end around his waist, and slept in peace, just waiting for the tiger to be escorted back to the city early tomorrow morning to accept punishment.
Early the next morning, Zhao Xian woke up, and saw that the tiger next to him was still there, without the slightest escape, and was very happy, this errand was successfully completed, and he kowtowed in front of the desk of the mountain temple at the moment, and after thanking the mountain god's grandfather, he led the tiger down the mountain.