1. Bring the dead back to life
Wang Bingxu, a wealthy man by the Luan River in northern Saibei, and his dumb shepherd, both suffered from “big belly disease”. Diagnosed by “Zhao Lengzui”, the doctor in the “Zhicaotang” in the county, it was said that the two of them only had three to five months to live, and at most they would not survive half a year.
The rich man Wang Bingxu, his family took advantage of a hundred hectares of fertile land, and he had herds of mules and horses, enjoying inexhaustible glory and wealth. Unexpectedly, in his prime of life, he contracted this fatal disease. His family knew that he would die soon, so they served chicken, duck, fish, ginseng and bird’s nest all day long. I wish I could spend the rest of my life eating all the food for him in the remaining three to five months. But after the dumb shepherd got sick, his boss was afraid that he would infect others, so he was sent to live in the sheepfold. Eating some leftovers every day, I kept my life waiting for death.
Three months later, Wang Bingxu, the rich man, was too sick to drink and was dying of illness, gradually revealing his next life. To people’s surprise, the dumb shepherd’s illness gradually improved inadvertently, and later he was able to go up the mountain to herd sheep. This thing makes people feel puzzled, unbelievable.
At that time, “big belly disease” was a terminal illness that had no cure. No one has ever heard of anyone who has this disease can be cured. People couldn’t help guessing, wondering if “Zhao Lengzui” from “Zhicaotang” misdiagnosed him? Or is it that the dumb shepherd’s life should not be terminated, and he has to meet the immortals to guide him. What kind of panacea did he take to bring the dead back to life? The family of the rich man Wang Bingxu went to the “Zhicaotang” in the county seat, and received “Zhao Lengzui” to ask him carefully.
“Zhicaotang” is a long-established herbal medicine shop in the county. The owner of the medicine shop and the doctor “Zhao Lengzui” are from a family of traditional Chinese medicine. Relying on his ancestral medical skills to gain a foothold in the world, he is well-known within a hundred miles. When taking the pulse and seeing a doctor, he is never ambiguous. He always says one thing and two things. Hence the nickname “Zhao Lengzui”.
“Zhao Lengzui” has practiced medicine for half his life, and has never misdiagnosed him. The mute shepherd’s recovery from death puzzled him a lot. People who practice medicine have never believed in fairy tales, witchcraft, panacea and other nonsense. In order to solve this mystery, “Zhao Lengzui” condescended to drive into the sheepfold, carefully observed and understood the diet and daily life of the dumb shepherd, and tried to find some spiders from it. traces of ants. I saw the dumb shepherd go up to the mountains to herd sheep during the day, and sleep with the flock in the sheepfold at night, eating pickles and gruel leftovers every day. “Zhao Lengzui” pinched his nose and catted in the sheep pen for three days, but found nothing. Just when he was about to give up his observation and was about to leave the sheepfold, he accidentally saw the dumb shepherd lying down in the wooden trough drinking water for the sheep. This discovery made “Zhao Lengzui” startled. My heart said, Could it be that the mystery came out of this sheep-drinking trough?
“Zhao Lengzui” lay beside the sheep drinking trough, picking it with his hands for a while, smelling it with his nose for a while, and even sticking out his tongue to lick the side of the sheep drinking trough… It took a long time to study like this After eating, I finally figured out that this is a sheep drinking trough hewn out of old oak wood. “Zhao Lengzui” thought to himself, could it be that this old oak wood has the effect of curing “big belly disease”? However, he was born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine. He has been familiar with medical books and pharmacopoeias such as “Huangdi Neijing” and “Compendium of Materia Medica” since he was a child. Looking at the amniotic water in the wooden trough, it is nothing more than the well water from the well that the rich man Wang Bingxu’s family drank. If there is something mysterious in this water, then Wang Bingxu and the dumb shepherd drink the same well water, and it should be effective at the same time. right. Finally, he plunged his head into the sheep drinking trough, took a sip of the amniotic fluid, held it in his mouth, and savored it carefully. I feel that drinking amniotic fluid is mixed with a strong fishy smell and a faint smell of grass. This couldn’t help but cheer him up, and he said to himself, no wonder the dumb shepherd’s “big belly disease” can be cured without treatment, so that’s what happened.
After that, “Zhao Lengzui” secretly took the water from the sheep trough for drinking sheep, and lied that it was a decoction prepared by himself, and asked the rich man Wang Bingxu to take it on time every day. A month later, a miracle happened. Wang Bingxu, who was already terminally ill, unexpectedly came back to life and slowly recovered.
Wang Bingxu watched as he stepped into the gate of hell, not wanting to be dragged back by “Zhao Lengzui”, which made him tearful. He decided to set aside a portion of the land and give it to “Zhao Lengzui” in return for saving his life. But “Zhao Lengzui” politely declined, and proposed that Wang Bingxu’s pen of sheep and the dumb shepherd should be paid for his medical treatment. Wang Bingxu agreed immediately, and gave him a mountain for him to raise sheep.
2. Miracles fail
“Zhicaotang” sits in the hall doctor “Zhao Lengzui”, who can cure “big belly disease” and bring people back to life, spread all over the banks of the Luan River. All of a sudden, patients with “big belly disease” within a hundred miles came to “Zhicaotang” to seek medical advice and medicine, in order to bring the dead back to life.
Besides, “Zhao Lengzui”, the sitting doctor, hired someone to build a sheepfold at the foot of the mountain that the rich man Wang Bingxu gave him, and built a shack, and let the dumb shepherd carry the old oak wood drinking trough on his back. , and drove the flocks to set up camp. After that, every three days, “Zhao Lengzui” would personally ride in a carriage, bring chicken, duck and fish, and come to the mountains to reward the mute shepherd.
In fact, “Zhao Lengzui” rewarded the dumb shepherd just to deceive people, his real intention was to come for the sheep drinking water in the sheep trough.
The dumb shepherd who suffered from “big belly disease” was cured, and the rich man Wang Bingxu was brought back to life. “Zhao Lengzui”, the doctor in “Zhicaotang”, confirmed that the amniotic fluid in the sheep trough was to treat “big belly disease”. panacea.
As the saying goes: Goats eat all kinds of herbs, and all kinds of herbs cure all diseases. Goats recognize the nature of grass, and when they get sick, they look for medicinal herbs that can cure diseases. “Zhicaotang” sits in the hall doctor “Zhao Lengzui”. After tasting the amniotic fluid in the sheep trough in the sheep pen that day, he got the inspiration from the faint grassy taste of the drinking amniotic fluid, and concluded that it must be some of these goats. “Big belly disease”, I have eaten herbs that can cure this disease. And when the sheep returned to the pen to drink water, they inadvertently rinsed the remaining medicinal herb juice into the amniotic fluid. And this sheep-drinking trough chiseled out of old oak wood is dense, hard and durable. Slowly absorb and store the amniotic fluid containing herbal juice into the fine wood. The dumb shepherd and rich man Wang Bingxu drank this kind of amniotic fluid containing medicinal herb juice, which cured his “big belly disease” and narrowly escaped death. In the eyes of “Zhao Lengzui”, this old oak wood drinking trough is a cash cow and a cornucopia. Every time he came to the mountains in the name of rewarding the dumb shepherd, he would fill a bucket of amniotic fluid from the sheep trough.
“Zhao Lengzui” lied about drinking amniotic fluid as a decoction exclusively prepared by “Zhicaotang”, and sold it to patients with “big belly disease” for one silver coin and one wine glass. No wonder it is said that two robbers are not worth one medicine seller. If this ingot of silver is turned into silver water, it will not only hold a wine glass. But because of this “decoction” exclusively prepared by “Zhicaotang”, it can cure terminally ill “big belly disease” and bring people back to life. People are willing to be slaughtered, what is more precious than life. Of course, most of the people who can buy a glass of “soup” with a piece of silver are rich landlords and officials who take advantage of the money. For the poor people, it can only be regarded as a rare thing, and they can only talk about it in the fields or in the streets and alleys.
With the cure of “big belly disease” one after another, “Zhicaotang” became more and more famous, and “Zhao Lengzui” was praised by people as “Hua Tuo is alive” and “Bian Que is reborn”. Even the prefectural government and county government sent plaques to the door, praising “Zhao Lengzui” the magic doctor’s immortal skills, and his wonderful hand rejuvenation. But just when “Zhao Lengzui” was being flattered and dazed, the amniotic fluid in the sheep drinking trough gradually failed.
“Zhicaotang” was closed for three days in the name of stocktaking. “Zhao Lengzui” ran into the mountain in a panic, and the cat studied the sheepfold for three days, and finally found out the root cause of the failure of drinking amniotic fluid from the dumb shepherd.
Looking back and thinking about it, it should have been passed on to the goats when the dumb shepherd got the “big belly disease” and was thrown into the sheepfold to eat and live with the sheep. The sick goats went to forage for medicinal herbs to heal themselves. When the goats circled to drink water, they inadvertently rinsed the residual juice of herbs into the sheep drinking trough. The dumb shepherd drank the amniotic fluid containing the residual juice of medicinal herbs, and inadvertently cured the incurable incurable disease of “big belly disease”. But now, the dumb shepherd has long since recovered, and those infected goats must have also recovered from their diseases, and no longer forage for herbs. And his “Zhao Lengzui” used it as a “soup medicine”, selling amniotic fluid for one ingot and one wine glass, but the herbal juice that was originally sucked and stored in the old oak wood drinking trough was soaked out bit by bit. But after a long time, the medicinal herb juice in the old oak drinking trough was soaked, and the amniotic fluid naturally lost its medicinal properties.
3. Scheming
Drinking the amniotic fluid in the sheep trough failed and lost its medicinal properties. Not only cut off “Zhicaotang”‘s source of income, but what worries “Zhao Lengzui” is that his reputation will plummet as a result. In order to reverse this situation, “Zhao Lengzui” came up with a rather vicious trick.
“Zhao Lengzui” secretly re-fried the food eaten by the “big belly disease” patient, and handed it over to the coachman to drive the carriage into the mountain every day, specially for the mute shepherd to eat. He wants to make the dumb shepherd and the flock suffer from the “big belly disease” again, force the goats to look for herbs again, and make the medicine regenerate by drinking amniotic fluid.
“Zhao Lengzui” has an only daughter named Chen Xiang. He lost his mother at an early age and was brought up by a nanny. Good-natured and innocent. Seeing that the coachman went into the mountain to deliver food to the dumb shepherd every day, he begged his father to agree, and followed him into the mountain to play.
The first few times he entered the mountain, Chen Xiang was retched by the fishy smell in the sheep pen and wanted to vomit. But after a few times, she got used to it. Slowly, she actually fell in love with this group of frisky goats and the honest and honest dumb shepherd. Especially one day, she boiled a big pot of water and let the mute shepherd wash his head and face, and saw that he was actually a handsome Wuhan son with thick eyebrows, big eyes, straight nose and square mouth. Looking at it made Chen Xiang blush and heartbeat.
Chen Xiang goes to the mountains every day and plays with the flock of sheep, very happy. Unexpectedly, one day, in the mountains, he met the county magistrate’s son “Little Overlord”, which caused a lot of trouble.
The son of the county magistrate, “Little Overlord”, is a loafer. All day long, he is sensual and has fun. On this day, the “Little Overlord” led a dog and an eagle, and went into the mountains to hunt and play. It happened that Chen Xiang was taking a food box to the hillside to deliver food to the mute shepherd. “Little Overlord” stopped Chen Xiang and said teasingly: “Yo, it’s the little beauty Chen Xiang from ‘Zhicaotang’, I thought I met a fox fairy. Look, I know I’m hungry from hunting, so I specially brought me food It’s…”
Seeing that Chen Xiang is the son of the county magistrate, he already knew his notoriety. He wanted to go around and avoid him. But the “little overlord” was entangled hard and refused to let it go. He snatched the food box first, and devoured the food inside. Afterwards, he began to tease Chen Xiang with his hands and feet.
Chen Xiang dodged again and again, trying to find a way to escape. But “Xiao Bawang” looked at the beautiful and delicious Chen Xiang, and his heart was already itchy. Like an eagle catching a chick, after a while of chasing and intercepting it, it threw Chen Xiang down on the hillside.
Chen Xiang struggled desperately and shouted for help to the coachman who was standing next to the sheep pen at the foot of the mountain. But there are two mountain bays between here and the sheepfold, so the coachman can’t hear it at all. Seeing this scene, the “little overlord” became even more unscrupulous, pounced on Chen Xiang like a hungry wolf, and ruthlessly tore at Chen Xiang’s dress.
Just at this time, the dumb shepherd who was grazing sheep on the mountain ridge discovered that “Little Overlord” was bullying Chen Xiang. Then he quickly used a long-handled throwing fork to pick up a stone and threw it at the “Little Overlord”, which happened to hit the “Little Overlord” on the back. “Little Overlord” jumped up in pain, but before he knew what was going on, the second stone hit him again, causing him to bend down again with an “oops”. Before the “Little Overlord” straightened up, he felt like a drum was beating on his back, one after another, stones were hitting him one after another. The “Little Overlord” was hit so hard that he howled ghostly, hugged his head like a mouse, and ran away rolling and crawling.
This long-handled throwing fork is a special tool for dumb shepherds to herd sheep. Whenever naughty and disobedient sheep run away from the flock, he will use a throwing fork to pick up small stones or dirt and throw them over, and the smashed sheep will return to the flock strangely. Over time, the dumb shepherd has developed the ability to walk through Yang with a hundred steps. Seeing “Little Overlord” bullying Chen Xiang today, in a hurry, he just used this unique skill. Chen Xiang was able to escape from this catastrophe, and she was very grateful to the mute shepherd. Since then, his love for the mute shepherd has grown day by day.
Chen Xiang goes to the mountain every day, his heart is like honey, and he never forgets to return. But “Zhao Lengzui” is worried and anxious all day long. He stretched his neck like a white stork, hoping that the mute shepherd and his flock would catch disease. But after more than a year, “Zhao Lengzui” failed to get the panacea to cure “big belly disease” from the old oak wood drinking sheep trough. But just at this time, the county magistrate’s son “Little Overlord” actually got terminally ill “big belly disease”.
The county magistrate sent a housekeeper to the “Zhicaotang” to invite “Zhao Lengzui” to the mansion to treat the young master. However, due to the failure of the amniotic fluid in the sheep trough, “Zhao Lengzui” was helpless against this “big belly disease”.
The magistrate of the county saw that the son was getting worse day by day, and gradually became terminally ill. Then he asked the young master if he had any wishes. I don’t want this “little overlord” to die, and he is still playing tricks. He actually proposed to marry Chen Xiang, the daughter of “Zhao Lengzui” from “Zhicaotang”.
Originally, because “Zhao Lengzui” could not cure the young master’s illness, the county magistrate had long been prejudiced and had accumulated grievances. Xin said that a few days ago more than one “big belly disease” was cured in “Zhicaotang”. But when it’s my son’s turn to get this disease, you “Zhao Lengzui” can’t cure it. It happened that the young master made this wish, and awakened the dreamer with one word. As a result, the magistrate of the county thought of a trick. The loss is a bit of a loss, but this move might save his son’s life.
“Zhao Lengzui” would naturally not agree to let Chen Xiang marry the “Little Overlord” who was about to enter the grave. But the magistrate of the county relied on his own power to cover the sky with one hand. How could “Zhao Lengzui” say nothing. He first asked the master to collude with several people secretly, and took “Zhao Lengzui” to court and thrown into prison on the grounds that “Zhicaotang” sold fake medicines to make money. Then go to the “Zhi Cao Tang” to threaten and lure Chen Xiang. Chen Xiang is a filial daughter, in order to save her father from prison, she had to agree to marry the “little bully”. When “Zhao Lengzui” was released from the prison, his beloved daughter Chen Xiang had married “Little Overlord”. Seeing that the uncooked rice was ripe, “Zhao Lengzui” was so angry that he fell seriously ill.
Although the “Little Overlord” got his wish and married Chen Xiang into the mansion, he was already skinny, with a belly as big as a drum, lying on the bed, unable to even move. So this so-called marriage is just a formality. Chen Xiang came into the mansion and was treated like a servant girl. Feed, drink and drink water for the “little bully” all day long. Within two months, he was infected and got “big belly disease”.
Seeing that Chen Xiang suffered from “big belly disease”, the magistrate could not help but feel complacent secretly, thinking that the plan had come to fruition. He immediately sent the housekeeper to “Zhicaotang” to report the news of Chen Xiang’s illness to “Zhao Lengzui”. The county magistrate thought to himself, you “Zhao Lengzui” can’t just see your daughter get sick and refuse to help, can you? But your daughter is in my house, if you want to save her, I don’t think you dare to leave my young master alone.
However, the magistrate of the county pretended to be clever and wasted all his efforts. Because the amniotic fluid in the sheep drinking trough failed and lost the medicinal power, “Zhao Lengzui” was still helpless to his daughter Chen Xiang.
Not long after, the “Little Overlord” ran out of fuel and died. In a rage, the county magistrate reopened the old case and took “Zhao Lengzui” into prison for a felony. The “Zhicaotang” was also confiscated, and all property of “Zhao Lengzui” was confiscated. At the same time, the county magistrate thought that Chen Xiang, who had a “big belly disease”, was a burden, so he kicked her out and threw her on the street.
4. The Miracle Reappears
Chen Xiang, who is seriously ill, lives on the street and is homeless. Thanks to meeting the coachman of the former “Zhicaotang”, he sent her to the mountain and placed her in the shack of the dumb shepherd, so she finally got settled.
The dumb shepherd served Chen Xiang like a princess, and the goats rushed into the house to greet her with baa-baa at the edge of the kang. When the dumb shepherd drove his flock up the mountain to graze the sheep, he left the two newborn lambs in the shed to keep her company.
Although the god of death is approaching step by step, Chen Xiang is accompanied by the sheep and cared by the mute shepherd, she feels that her life is very happy. But then, something happened that made her heartbroken. The two little lambs who kept her company were infected with “big belly disease” by her. For this, she felt very guilty, and hurriedly asked the dumb shepherd to carry the lamb back to the ewe. Her heart was affected by the two sick lambs, and she was restless all day long. Chen Xiang was worried even in her sleep, lest the two lovely little lives would die because of her. Unexpectedly, three months later, the two little lambs suffering from “big belly disease” recovered from the disease without knowing it, and happily followed the flock up the mountain to graze. Only then did Chen Xiang get relief, and he got rid of a heart disease.
A year later, the county magistrate changed his post, and “Zhao Lengzui” was released from prison. “Zhicao Tang” has long been sold off by the government and changed hands. He heard people say that his daughter Chen Xiang, who suffered from “big belly disease”, was kicked out by the county magistrate, and was sent to the mute shepherd in the mountains by the coachman. According to the illness and the time, the daughter Chen Xiang is probably already dead. But when he entered the mountain, he found that Chen Xiang was miraculously still alive. And the “big belly disease” has been cured, and he can go down to the kang to wash clothes, cook, and do housework.
When father and daughter met, and reunited after the catastrophe, Chen Xiang was very moved. But “Zhao Lengzui” stared straight at his daughter, and only asked her when her illness started to improve, and whether she drank the amniotic fluid from the old oak trough. This made Chen Xiang feel very puzzled. From her father’s eyes, what she saw was not the surprise of her daughter’s new life, but the greedy gaze of a wolf.
But at this time, “Zhao Lengzui” accidentally slipped his words in a hurry. He also exposed the fact that he let the dumb shepherd eat the leftovers of the “big belly sick” person in an attempt to make the dumb shepherd and the flock infected again. Chen Xiang couldn’t help being taken aback, and fought several cold wars.
At the beginning, when Chen Xiang saw his father asking the coachman to deliver meals to the dumb shepherd every day, he thought it was because his father had a kind heart, took pity on the poor and the orphans, and specially improved the life of the dumb shepherd. I didn’t expect my father’s intentions to be so sinister. She realized that her father’s repeated questioning of whether she drank the amniotic fluid from the sheep trough was definitely not out of concern for her daughter’s condition, but greed and another conspiracy. Therefore, no matter how “Zhao Lengzui” questioned, Chen Xiang just shook his head blankly, without saying a word. Seeing that he couldn’t get anything out of his daughter’s mouth for the time being, he hurried back to the county seat.
On the way back, he kept thinking. At the beginning, he asked the coachman to send the food eaten by the patient with “big belly disease” to the mountain every day for the dumb shepherd to eat, but the dumb shepherd and the goat never relapsed. Therefore also just can’t make the drinking amniotic fluid in the drinking sheep trough regenerate medicinal power. But after her daughter fell ill and lived in the mountains, a miracle happened unexpectedly. This made “Zhao Lengzui” very excited, but he couldn’t figure out the mystery of it.
In fact, if this matter were placed today, it would be easy to explain. The dumb shepherd and the sheep he herded had been cured of the “big belly disease” and were resistant to the disease, so they would not easily contract the disease again. But the two newborn lambs were infected when they were with Chen Xiang because of their low immunity. The ewes can tell from the lamb’s smell that the lamb has “big belly disease”, so they will try their best to find medicinal herbs, and then feed the medicine to the lamb through milk to make it recover. At this stage, when the ewes drink water, they will inadvertently rinse the remaining medicinal herb juice into the sheep drinking trough. As a result, the amniotic fluid in the sheep trough gradually regained its medicinal power. Chen Xiang cured the “big belly disease” by drinking the amniotic fluid that restored the medicinal power, and thus a miracle occurred, and he was able to escape from death. But Chen Xiang didn’t want to tell her father this secret, she was afraid that her father would bring harm and disaster to the innocent goats in order to satisfy her own greed. But “Zhao Lengzui” finally guessed that the amniotic fluid must have restored the potency of the medicine, allowing her daughter to escape from the hands of death and gain a new life.
end
Before dawn the next day, “Zhao Lengzui” hired a carriage and returned to the mountain with a wooden barrel. He wanted to transport the amniotic fluid that had recovered its potency back to the county seat, and sell it as an exclusive “soup” again, so that “Zhicaotang” could make a comeback. But when “Zhao Lengzui” came to the mountain and saw it, he was dumbfounded. It turned out that the dumb shepherd and his daughter Chen Xiang had already driven the sheep out of the stronghold during this night.
Later, a “goat fairy girl” appeared in the mountains, who specially delivered medicine and cured diseases to the poor. Once a family has a patient, a crock pot of decoction will appear on the wall at the door or on the window sill at night. When the patient drank this pot of decoction, it was like taking a magic elixir, and the medicine would cure the disease. It is said that someone has seen it before, and the person who delivered the medicine was a girl in snow-white sheepskin. Some people say that this is a goat that has become a fairy after many years of cultivation, and came to the world to give fairy medicine to help poor people who are sick and cannot afford medicine. Therefore, people called this girl who specially delivered medicine and cured diseases to the poor people “Sheep Fairy”. During the holidays, people still offer offerings and burn incense at the door of their homes to thank the “sheep fairy” who saved people by administering medicine.