Xu Wenchang is a well-known witty character in folk tales. He is known as “there is Avanti in the north and Xu Wenchang in the south”. Xu Wenchang, whose real name is Xu Wei, was a great talent in the Ming Dynasty and had unique achievements in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and drama. The common people love his intelligence, and there are still many legends about him…
sell cloth case
Xu Wenchang had ten bolts of white cloth, and asked his assistants to carry them to the county town to sell them. There was a river to be crossed on the way, and the man carried the cloth into the boat, and happened to be sitting with a blind man, so the two struck up a conversation. The blind man asked: “What are you doing in the county?” “Selling cloth.” The blind man asked the quantity and color of the cloth. The blind man stroked the cloth again, fiddling with it layer by layer, but the man didn’t care.
After a while, the boat docked, and the man was about to carry the cloth. Unexpectedly, the blind man held it down and said, “This is my cloth.” The man was shocked: “Why are you lying? This is obviously my cloth!” “You are lying, This is my cloth!” The two were at loggerheads.
All the people on the boat gathered around, and a spectator said: “If the cloth belongs to the blind man, he must know the quantity and color of the cloth.” The blind man immediately said: “This is ten white cloth…” Everyone accused Dude, the dude had a hard time arguing, so the two went to the county government to file a lawsuit. Before going to the county government office, the clerk asked someone to tell Xu Wenchang what happened.
In the hall of the county government office, the blind man said to the magistrate: “I know how many layers each piece of cloth is rolled in.” Xu Wenchang said to the county magistrate: “This is my cloth. There is one thing I didn’t explain to the clerk. There are two small blue flowers on the back of my cloth. Everyone in the cloth industry knows.” Look, “Master, please take a look.”
The blind man panicked when he heard this, and thought to himself: Why didn’t you grasp the situation? Quickly said: “Master, you didn’t ask just now, and I forgot to mention that there are two blue flowers on the back of my cloth.”
The magistrate of the county patted the gavel, and shouted: “You are so bold, how dare you lie to someone with white cloth, how can there be any blue flowers on this cloth! You are blind, let me spare you twenty big boards, and throw you out!” The blind man Immediately blushing, dejectedly left. Xu Wenchang asked the buddy to carry the cloth out.
outsmart the bet
Friends Zhang San and Li Si visited Xu Wenchang. Li Si is serious, but Zhang San likes to be funny. He quietly pulled Xu Wenchang aside and said, “Brother Wen, if you can make Li Si croak three times today, I will treat you to dinner.” Xu Wenchang laughed. : “What’s so difficult about it?”
So Xu Wenchang took the two friends to a watermelon field. He pointed to the melon field and said to Li Si: “Brother Li, look at how well this piece of gourds grows.” It’s a melon, how do you say it’s a gourd?”
Xu Wenchang shook his head and said: “It’s a gourd.” Li Sidao: “It’s a melon.” Xu Wenchang said loudly: “Gourd!” Li Si replied: “Gourd!” Xu Wenchang said repeatedly: “Gourd, gourd, gourd!” He said, “Melon, melon, melon!”
Write the name of the store
There was a new snack shop in Shaoxing City, and Xu Wenchang frequented it, so the owner begged him to write a signboard. Xu Wenchang agreed with one stroke, and asked the shopkeeper not to change it. Not long after the signboard was put up, the dim sum shop was full of people. After gaining a reputation, the shopkeeper began to cut corners, and the business gradually slumped. One day, a customer said to the shopkeeper: “Look, the signboard written by Xu Wenchang for you, the ‘heart’ of the dim sum is a bit lacking, no wonder the business is not good.”
So the owner found Xu Wenchang and asked him to add a little bit. Xu Wenchang smiled and said: “It’s not difficult to add, don’t regret it!” The owner even said that he would not regret it, so Xu Wenchang used black paint to fill in the middle of the word “heart”. However, the business of the dim sum shop not only did not improve, but instead Even more depressed. The shopkeeper couldn’t figure out the secret, so he came to ask Xu Wenchang for advice. Xu Wenchang said: “If there is no ‘heart’, if it is eye-catching, the store will gain popularity, and if it is missing a little, it will make people feel empty, and more people will come to eat dim sum. Add a little, and it will become a solid stomach. Who wants to eat? As long as you stop cutting corners and change the black dot on the ‘heart’ to red, business will be booming.”
The shopkeeper suddenly realized that he did as he did, and it really worked.
Saving the girl cleverly
There was a greedy member who robbed a civilian girl and wanted to marry her by force. The female mother was crying in the street. Xu Wenchang happened to bump into this incident, and after hearing the old lady’s cry, he said, “It doesn’t matter, I will try to save your daughter.”
So Xu Wenchang bribed the girl who was not a member of the staff, and after a few instructions, the girl nodded and agreed. The next day, Xu Wenchang broke into Yuan Wai’s house brazenly, yelling that Yuan Wai robbed his wife. Seeing that this person is not easy to mess with, the talented Xu Wenchang Chigui Xiaotong pk Xiaoxiao crucian carp , so he explained with a smile, saying that he did not rob his wife. Xu Wenchang ignored him, dragged the staff outside, and went to the county government to comment.
When we arrived at the Yamen, the county magistrate asked Xu Wenchang: “What are the characteristics of your wife?” Xu Wenchang said: “There is a big black circle on my wife’s buttock . Burned.” Immediately, the county magistrate sent the girl, and ordered someone to lead her to the inner room, and ask his wife to verify it. After a while, my wife came to report, and it was exactly what Xu Wenchang said. Xu Wenchang’s throat rang: “What is your intention to snatch my wife away in broad daylight?” When the county magistrate issued an order, the member was immediately hit with 50 boards. Xu Wenchang led the daughter out and handed it over to her mother. The mother and daughter are very grateful.
So, how did Xu Wenchang know that there are black circles on the buttocks of Minnv? It turned out that Xu Wenchang bribed the girl from Yuanwai’s mansion and asked her to sprinkle a layer of pot bottom ash on the toilet used by civilian women. When Minnv urinated, the ash from the bottom of the pot was printed on her buttocks.
Origin of font size
Xu Wenchang’s real name is Xu Wei, and “Wenchang” is his character, which has an interesting origin.
Xu Wei didn’t want to be an official, but his two elder brothers forced him to take the exam. In the examination room, he read the questions and wrote them down quickly. Although the article was short, it was very incisive. With a lot of time left to do nothing, he drew portraits of ancestors in the blank space of the paper, then he drew altars and offerings, and finally he himself was worshiping ancestors in Juren’s costume. After finishing the painting, he wrote the words “just so” on the side. The examiner read the paper and admired his short essay, but when he saw the painting later, he shook his head repeatedly and commented on the paper: “The essay is too short and thick-skinned, and it ranks behind Sun Shan.” Of course he failed the exam.
Three years later, the family asked Xu Wei to take the exam again, and happened to meet the same examiner from last time. Xu Wei was very angry, so he made a big fuss on the paper, listing various disadvantages of the imperial examination. His writing became more and more popular, and the articles became longer and longer. He couldn’t fit in the test paper, so he wrote on the table, on the stool, and finally even the foot of the stool. When it was time to hand in the test papers, Xu Wei carried the test papers together with the desk and stool to the examiner.
The examiner couldn’t help being taken aback: “What are you going to do?” Xu Wei smiled and said, “Don’t you like long articles? I’ll write a long article for you to read!”
This anecdote spread quickly, and since then, Xu Wei has been called “Xu Wenchang”.
interest geometry
Xu Wenchang’s neighbors were anxiously waiting for money, so they came to Xu Wenchang for a loan, but Xu Wenchang was also in short supply, so he had to accompany his neighbors to borrow money from usury lenders. The usurer said: “I will lend you ten taels of silver as the principal, due next year, and the interest will be four taels of silver. With Mr. Xu as the guarantee, there is no need to issue paperwork.”
Xu Wenchang said with a smile: “The interest rate of four taels is a bit too high. I think I can give three taels of interest!”
A year later, according to Xu Wenchang’s instructions, the neighbor gathered together ten taels of silver, and brought a bottle of good wine, accompanied by Xu Wenchang, to the loan shark. Seeing that the loan shark only had ten taels of silver, he asked about the interest rate. Xu Wenchang said: “Last year it was clearly stated that the good interest rate was ‘three taels of wine’. How could you rely on it?”
show talent
One day, when Xu Wenchang was drinking in a hotel, several scholars who didn’t know him sat at the next table and said that Xu Wenchang was only a crooked talent and had no real talent or learning. After hearing this, Xu Wenchang walked over and said, “So, you guys are really talented? How about we come to Sai Shi?”
When the scholars saw that he was dressed poorly, they said: “The game is the game. Even if Xu Wenchang comes in person, we don’t care, let alone you?”
The clerk in the store knew Xu Wenchang, but he didn’t order any clothes. He just came up to join in the fun with a flagon and said, “How about using this flagon as the topic?” Everyone agreed. Xu Wenchang asked those scholars to do it first. They shook their heads and hummed for a long time, but they didn’t come up with a decent poem. Finally it was Xu Wenchang’s turn, and he recited a poem: “The mouth is sharp and the back is high, so that you can avoid hunger and cold and be proud. How can a small amount accommodate a big vessel, and two or three inches of water will create waves!”
The drinkers nearby said together: “That’s right! That’s what the jug is like.” But the young man said: “Not necessarily, as far as I see, Xu Wenchang’s chanting is more like these scholars!”
Only then did the scholars realize that Xu Wenchang was in front of them, so they slipped out in embarrassment amidst laughter.