During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the magistrate of Xiuning County in Anhui Province was named Tang Wugui, who was an insatiable corrupt official. He heard that the old carver Ye Zhiqiu of Yejia Village in this county had a giant inkstone, which was a rare and priceless treasure. The giant inkstone is not only exquisitely carved, but what is particularly magical is that people can bathe in the inkstone pool by pouring water into it, and it also feels like someone is bathing with them. He wanted to take a look. That morning, Tang Wugui took his master to Ye Zhiqiu's house. Yejia Village was not far from the county seat and they arrived in a short while.
When Ye Zhiqiu saw that the county magistrate was visiting, he hurriedly entertained him. Tang Wugui said: "Don't be busy. I heard that you have a precious inkstone at home. I came today to see it." Ye Zhiqiu felt half cold when he heard this. He thought that the people in Xiuning County secretly called Tang Wugui Tang Wu Gui, this Tang Wu Gui is bound to be up to no good. But he did not dare to offend the county magistrate, so he had to take Tang Wugui to the back garden to see the giant inkstone.
As soon as Tang Wugui saw the giant inkstone, his mouth opened wide. The giant inkstone is about 2 meters long, 60 centimeters wide, 40 centimeters thick and weighs about 700 kilograms. The front is covered with silver star ribbing, accompanied by carvings of dragons and phoenixes; the back is decorated with gold stars. The stone is flexible and smooth, the texture is gorgeous and extraordinary, and the carving is ingenious. It is really a rare national treasure! It took a long time before Tang Wugui came back to his senses and said: "I heard that you can take a bath by pouring water into your giant inkstone, and it feels like bathing with a beautiful woman. Is that true?" Ye Zhiqiu said: "That is people's misinformation. , but it is true that you can see beautiful women dancing when you pour water in. "Is it really that wonderful? Why not give it a try?" The county magistrate said, and Ye Zhiqiu had no choice but to pour a bucket of water in. After a while, he could actually see the beauty in the inkstone. See beautiful women dancing. Tang Wugui stood by the inkstone and clapped his hands and shouted: "Wonderful! Wonderful!" After Tang Wugui and his master left, Ye Zhiqiu had a premonition that the giant inkstone was difficult to save.
On the way home, the master had already seen what Tang Wugui was thinking, so he whispered something like this in his ear, and Tang Wugui suddenly smiled.
A month later, Niu Er from Yejia Village went to the county government to file a complaint. Magistrate Tang asked him who he was suing? He said he would sue Ye Zhiqiu of his village and also submitted an appeal. When Tang Zhixian saw that it was a case of property seizure, he immediately ordered the government officials to bring Ye Zhiqiu. After Ye Zhiqiu came to the court, Tang Zhixian handed him Niu Er's complaint. Ye Zhiqiu ignored it and was shocked. It turned out that Niu Er had accused him of occupying giant inkstones and running rampant in the countryside. Ye Zhiqiu quickly knelt down and shouted that he was wronged. Tang Zhixian said: "Now that there are witnesses here, how can we say that we are unjust?" Niu Er knelt on the ground and pretended to shout: "Sir, you must make decisions for the common people!" Ye Zhiqiu said hurriedly: "Sir, you don't know something. Niu Er is a gangster in the village. Don't listen to his words!" Tang Zhixian slapped Jingtangmu and said, "How dare you bite me when someone accuses you of taking possession of property?" Ye Zhiqiu began to die! I admitted it, but I couldn't stand the torture, so I had to give in. Tang Wugui said proudly: "That's right. If you had recruited him early, you would have avoided the pain of having to eat his flesh and blood." Finally, Ye Zhiqiu was sentenced to three years in prison, and the giant inkstone was returned to Niu Er. The next day after a thousand years of tortoise death , Niu Er asked someone to carry the giant inkstone to the county government office, and said to Tang Wugui: "My lord has avenged my injustice. I am willing to give this inkstone to Lord Qingtian." Tang Wugui pretended to be humble. . Then he rewarded Niu Er with ten taels of silver.
After Tang Wugui got the giant inkstone, he was so happy that he walked crazy. At this moment, the master offered advice again, and Tang Wugui nodded repeatedly. Not long after, Ye Zhiqiu suddenly fell ill and died in prison. Ye Zhiqiu has a daughter named Ye Yunxia, who is only 28 years old and is very charming in every way. Not long after her father died, she was snatched away as a concubine by Tang Wugui. That night, Tang Wugui came to the room and wanted to be intimate with her. She took out a pair of scissors and put it to her throat and said, "If you want me to obey you, you must agree to a condition." Tang Wugui had no choice but to say, "You can tell me what the condition is." Ye Yunxia said, "My father just died. Soon, I have to observe mourning for one year, and I can't sleep with you after one year." Tang Wugui was angry and resentful, but he had no choice but to agree for the time being.
A year later, Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and came to Huizhou City. After Tang Wugui heard the news, he had an idea: Why don't I give the magical giant inkstone to the emperor? What a rare opportunity this is! When the emperor is happy, won't he have the opportunity to be promoted? But he also knew that the small county magistrate was not qualified to see the emperor. What should he do? We can only ask the prefect to come forward. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He immediately prepared a large gift and sent it to the magistrate of Huizhou, asking the magistrate to present the giant inkstone to the emperor.
After the magical giant inkstone was presented to the emperor, Tang Wugui waited at the county government office every day for good news. On this day, he received a notice from the prefect, asking him to come to Huizhou City as soon as possible. The emperor wanted to summon him. He was so happy that he hurried to the capital of Huizhou wearing court clothes and sitting in an official sedan.
Emperor Qianlong was sitting in the lobby of the Huizhou government office. When he saw Tang Wugui kneeling under the hall, he asked, "Are you the magistrate of Xiuning?"
Tang Wugui said: "When I return to the emperor, I will be the official."
Qianlong asked again: "Did you give the giant inkstone as a gift?"
Tang Wugui said: "The lower officials should be filial to the emperor."
Qianlong said: "Okay, didn't you say that you can take a bath in the inkstone, and there is a wonderful feeling of bathing with a beautiful woman? Then please give it a try."
After Qianlong finished speaking, he saw four government officials carrying the giant inkstone to the lobby, and then filling the inkstone pond with water. Tang Wugui did not dare to disobey the holy order, so he had to take off his clothes and go into the inkstone.
Strangely enough, not only did he not feel the pleasure of bathing with the beautiful woman, but he also felt unbearably itchy all over his body. He had no choice but to grab desperately with his hands. Wherever his hands touched, pieces of skin fell off, and soon blood filled the inkstone. Tang Wugui couldn't crawl out even if he wanted to. A few minutes later, Tang Wugui's body was completely gone, leaving only a skeleton in the inkstone.
It turns out that Emperor Qianlong saw the giant inkstone sent by Tang Wugui and heard from the prefect about its miraculous properties, so he ordered his servants to pour water into it to see what was going on. But he didn't see the beautiful woman dancing, but he saw a bloody complaint in the clear water, which clearly described Tang Wugui's crimes of plotting to seize the giant inkstone, killing the old craftsman Ye Zhiqiu, and seizing Ye Yunxia as his concubine. The complaint was carved in the middle of the inkstone. It was so cleverly carved that no words could be read without pouring water into it. Once water was poured in, the handwriting emerged clearly. It took Ye Yunxia a year to carve it quietly at night. Qianlong originally wanted Tang Wugui to take a bath and then convict him of deceiving the emperor, but he did not expect that he turned into a skeleton. What's going on? It turned out that Ye Zhiqiu had a premonition that Tang Wugui was trying to seize the giant inkstone, so he went to Huangshan to collect an herb that could transform human skin and flesh, boiled it into juice and smeared it on the pattern of the inkstone. Today, Tang Wugui reaped the consequences. Qianlong admired Ye Yunxia's intelligence and beauty, so when he returned to Beijing, he took the talented Ye Yunxia with him.