A sudden disaster
During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a master of quail training in Beijing, named Wang Daan, who was known as the Quail King. Quail fighting is a very cruel thing. The defeated quails lose their fighting spirit and can no longer fight. They often fall to death on the spot and become delicacies. Wang Daan disagreed. He had his own theory: quails are playthings, and fighting is their nature. Fighting quails only stimulates their instincts. How can they be cruel?
Wang Daan is already an invincible opponent in the capital. However, he is a tactful person, and if his opponent is a prince or aristocrat, he will try to avoid three points, so he is at peace under the emperor's feet.
This time, when Big Belle from Prince Fu's Mansion was competing against quails, he simply went out of the capital to play around. Before going out, he told his two sons not to challenge him. That day, he calculated that time was almost up, so he returned home. As soon as he entered the courtyard gate, a group of people suddenly rushed out from inside, regardless of whether they were young or old, and beat them down with big sticks. Wang Daan howled hoarsely: "There is no law under the emperor's feet! Why are you beating people?"
Those people didn't ask any questions and just beat them hard. After a long while, they heard a voice with a male duck's voice: "Let's go here today and keep him alive. When Fujin wants to get angry, come back!" After saying that, those people waved their hands. Walk away.
Wang Da'an was beaten to the point of dying, and his home was smashed to pieces. His two sons looked no better than him. The old woman was so frightened that she fell to the ground without breathing. Only her granddaughter Yu'er, who was playing at a neighbor's house, survived.
His youngest son, Wang Shi, ignored his injuries and threw himself on the ground, kowtowed and cried, "Dad, I got into trouble!"
It turned out that he was tempted by the reward from Prince Fu's Mansion and couldn't help but secretly accept the challenge. Thanks to his good luck, he won three games in a row. Big Beile was ready to take his quail as soon as he saw it. However, Wang Shi thought that the price offered by Big Beile was too low and refused to let go. The servants of the palace came to grab it, and Wang Shi still had a little bit of trouble. He had no strength and ran out.
Big Belle has been pampered since he was a child, and he has never been so angry. In addition, he is tall and fat because he is a popular spicy drinker. Suddenly, phlegm came up, and he was so angry that he passed out and passed away in the early morning. On his deathbed, he left behind One last word: Win! His finger pointed firmly at his favorite quail.
After hearing the news, Wang Daan sighed secretly: The Wang family is over! Sure enough, before Big Belle could make his debut, the palace issued a letter of challenge, asking Wang Daan to accept the challenge in three months.
There is no way out
Three months later it will be the first day of the Lunar New Year, which is a good time for quail fighting. Theoretically, Wang Daan has a lot of good quails in his hands. If he takes any one out to challenge, he is sure to win, but he has never been confident in his heart. , I feel that things will not be so simple.
Wang Da'an asked many friends and asked for news. It turned out that Fu Jin of the palace was heartbroken about Da Beile's death, but Da Beile was furious. At that time, Wang Shi was not caught. Punishing him was unjust and unjust, but she I wanted to fulfill Big Belle's last wish, so I issued a challenge. An insider said that what Fujin repeatedly wrote in his study every day were a few big characters: The pain of losing a child lasts forever. Wang Da'an was shocked after hearing this. The most poisonous woman's heart is. She was so heartbroken by the loss of her son that she was afraid that she would cut her flesh with a blunt knife and slowly reorganize the Wang family.
Three months was not a short time, and Wang Daan was determined to take a long-term view. He carefully selected a few of his favorite babies and trained them with all his heart every day. On this day, he received an invitation from an old friend to organize a full-moon banquet for his son. Wang Daan saw that his family was still safe, so he went to the banquet. After not going out for a long time, he was in a good mood and got drunk. It was already the zenith of the moon when he returned home. As soon as he entered the alley, he saw fire shooting into the sky in the distance. He woke up from drinking and hurried back. Sure enough, there was a fire in his home. Fortunately, he was rescued in time and his family members were all fine. However, all the quails in the house turned into roasted quails and could no longer jump up.
Although Wang Daan was heartbroken, he still suppressed his anger. He waited for his family to make arrangements, then secretly came to the bedroom and opened the secret door. Fortunately, the secret room was not overdone. He had already taken precautions and hid the most powerful quails here.
But when he walked to the exquisite carved cage, he didn't hear the familiar commotion. Wang Daan couldn't help but feel nervous. He lifted the cover and looked inside. His heart almost stopped beating – the quails inside were all soft. Lying in the cage, they were all dead. Wang Daan sat blankly for a long time, and then he remembered that no one except his eldest son Wang Jian knew about the secret room. Could it be…
Wang Daan gritted his teeth and came to the front. His family members burst into tears. When they saw him coming, they all gathered around to ask for advice. Wang Daan looked at Wang Jian, but Wang Jian avoided looking at him. Wang Daan became more convinced of his guess, and he weakly waved to his eldest son. Wang Jian moved forward reluctantly, as if he had made up his mind, and knelt down in front of Wang Daan, kowtowed and said: "Dad, it was my fault. I killed your quail. The palace sent people to take it away. Yu'er, if I don't drug your quail, I will sell Yu'er to a brothel, and my son can't do anything about it. The second son caused trouble by himself and harmed the whole family. I…"
Wang Da'an was so angry that he kicked Wang Jian to the ground and said angrily: "The second brother is causing trouble and harming the whole family? He is your brother! You can also say this!"
Wang Jian said with tears: "Fu Jin said that if you lose, you will only lose face and nothing big will happen, so I…"
Wang Da'an turned around and took out a piece of paper from his arms, threw it in front of Wang Jian, and said, "I was afraid that you would be frightened, so I didn't tell the truth. See for yourself!" Wang Jian picked up the paper and took a look. It turned out to be The royal family's letter of war, with a pledge below as evidence, stated that if the royal family lost, they would no longer cause trouble to the Wang family. If Wang Da'an lost, all the Wang family members would become slaves in the royal family. Only then did Wang Jian realize that he had been deceived and become slaves in the royal family. Just letting others slaughter you!
3. Find a new way
Only then did Wang Daan understand Fujin's intentions. She not only wanted to destroy her own family, but also wanted the Wang family to destroy each other. The top priority now was to get the quails for the war, but Wang Daan realized after he went out for a day that the palace had blocked his way. His old friends who used to play quails with him disappeared behind closed doors, and now there is no way to catch quails this season. , he couldn't even touch a quail egg in the entire capital. He returned home dejectedly, only to find his granddaughter Yu'er waiting in the yard with tears in his eyes.
When he saw him coming back, Yu'er hurriedly stepped forward to help him sit down, then raised the cage in his hand and said, "Grandpa, I have another quail here." Wang Da'an just shook his head when he saw it. Quail used to be his favorite general. Quail's habits are very strange. A quail that loses a fight will no longer have the fighting spirit. Therefore, most of the losing quails are thrown to death and served as food for wine. This quail won dozens of games, and finally encountered a strong enemy and was completely defeated. Originally Wang Daan wanted to kill it, but Yu'er was reluctant to let it go and begged hard. Wang Daan loved his granddaughter so he agreed to make it a "cha", that is, Used for trapping quail. Such quails can no longer go to the battlefield.
Yu'er saw her grandfather waving his hands, then carefully took out two small eggs from his arms and placed them in his hands. Wang Da'an raised the egg and shined it at the light. The egg was red and light could not penetrate. He felt happy and asked Yu'er what was going on.
Yu'er said: "This is the quail egg that my uncle got back some time ago. I thought it was fun and took it with me to hatch it. Today is already the seventeenth day." The incubation period of quail is eighteen days. There is a characteristic that only male quails can fight. If one of the two eggs is male, you have a chance to bet. Wang Daan hurriedly put the two eggs in the basin.
The next day, two little quails came to the world. Wang Da'an stepped forward to take a closer look. They were one female and one male. The male one was the one with the black mouth and white beard, and he was the most aggressive quail. Wang Daan secretly said that God will not destroy my Wang family. From that day on, he kept the two quails with him day and night, feeding them saliva when they were thirsty, and carefully selected millet seeds when they were hungry. After two months, the quails had fully fledged and were really aggressive. .
Seeing that the day of the quail fight was approaching, everyone in the Wang family stared at the two quails as if they were eyeballs, just for fear of something unexpected happening.
Fortunately, everything went well, and this quail was up to par, and it was doing very well under Wang Daan's training. Wang Daan did not completely lose his heart. He believed that the palace would not easily challenge him, and he was afraid that there would be new ones by then. tricks.
Lost four first games
In the blink of an eye, it's the first day of the Lunar New Year. This day is the happiest day of the Wang family every year, but today no one is happy. They got up early and packed Wang Daan's clothes and utensils. They didn't know whether it would be bad or good to go to the palace.
As soon as Wang Daan walked to the door, he saw a carriage parked there, and someone from the palace had already been picked up. He stepped into the carriage and was about to sit down when he heard someone calling him grandpa from behind. Then he saw Yu'er jumping onto the carriage without any explanation, holding a quail cage in her hand, but it was her precious Cha'er.
Today's situation is special. Wang Da'an ignored Yu'er's death, your son kicked me , and just concentrated on communicating with his quail. Success or failure depends on it, so there is no chance of carelessness.
The palace was crowded with people. Today Fujin was determined to make Wang Daan look embarrassed. Everyone he could invite was invited. The platform in the middle was a place for them to fight quail.
Before the game started, Fujin stood up and said loudly: "Big Belle died tragically because of a quail fight. As a mother, there is nothing I can do. Today will be regarded as fulfilling his wish. If the palace wins this game, all the Wang family will become slaves in the palace." "If the Wang family wins, the palace will not pursue the case from now on. I will keep my word and you will all be witnesses."
Everyone hurriedly agreed. Wang Daan didn't say anything and walked up carrying the cage. In the middle of the stage is a beautifully woven rattan rectangular winnowing rail, covered with fine velvet cloth. Wang Daan took out the quail and sprinkled some millet seeds on the velvet cloth. Before the quail could reach his mouth, he put it back in his hand, and formed a circle with his index finger and thumb, so that only a small head of the quail was exposed to cultivate its fighting spirit. . When the quails are hungry, you can tease them with millet seeds to make them fight for food.
The people from the palace also brought out the quails for the challenge. Wang Daan took a look and felt something was wrong. The opponent's quails were bigger and fierce in appearance.
Soon the two quails were fighting together. Although Wang Daan's quails lacked actual combat experience, they did not suffer too much because of their many skills and deft attacks. Wang Daan's heart relaxed slightly. At this moment, a cry of surprise came from the crowd. Wang Da'an was distracted and looked back. The person who exclaimed was Yu'er. She looked over with tears in her eyes, and she didn't know when there was a blood stain on her face. It turns out that although the fight is about quails, this animal is with its owner every day, and has a spiritual connection. It also borrows the owner's power. If the owner is distracted, it will also be distracted. The palace understands this and sends someone to mix in the crowd to attack Yu'er. , and cut her face with a small razor blade.
During this moment of distraction, the two quails on the stage were also at the critical moment of life and death. Wangfu's quail suddenly jumped up and pecked its opponent twice, and Wang Daan's quail was defeated.
At this time, Wang Daan was already in disarray. He only brought one quail into the battle, and only three rounds were allowed. What could he use to win two rounds? At this time, he already understood that today was a fight with quails in name, but in fact, he was fighting against people. If he didn't stop being ruthless, he was afraid that more than a dozen members of the Wang family would end up like the defeated quails.
Five lives and deaths
At this time Fujin spoke: "Wang Da'an, do you have any quail left to fight?"
Wang Daan shook his head with a grimace and said, "I only brought this one quail here, how can there be any that can challenge it?"
Fujin sneered and said: "We agreed to win two out of three rounds. Now that you are not capable of fighting, just admit defeat."
Wang Da'an's head trembled. To admit defeat at this time would mean that the Wang family would become slaves in the palace. At that time, he was afraid that life would be worse than death. He would give it a last try! Thinking of this, he glanced at Yu'er, made up his mind and strode off the stage, picked up the quail cage in Yu'er's hand and returned to the stage.
Everyone on the stage fell silent. Wang Da'an took out the quail in the cage and stroked it gently with his hand. Those who knew the stuff understood and laughed loudly: "This is a defeated quail. It's useless. What's the use of it?"
Someone around Fujin had already reported the news, and Fujin said coldly: "You bring a chatter to fight, which is obviously an insult to the palace. If you admit defeat at this time, your whole family will be just a slave. If you lose with a chatter, it will be a life-and-death situation." , a decisive victory, if you lose, I will take your life, if you win, I will not hold you accountable again, what do you think?"
Everyone quieted down to see what Wang Daan decided.
Wang Da'an didn't say anything and strode forward to sign a letter with Fujin. After stroking the cha'er in his hand for a while, he signaled the palace to start a fight. The people in the palace didn't take him seriously and put down the quail in their hands. Wang Da'an also let go of his hand. Unexpectedly, the moment Cha'er was put into the winnowing fence, it seemed as if he was injected with infinite vitality. The feathers on his body suddenly spread out, his wings spread out, and he pounced on his opponent. Just when the two quails were about to exchange fire, Chaer suddenly jumped in the air, grabbed the Wangfu quail by the back of its neck, and flicked it hard. Wangfu Quail was suddenly restrained, lost its direction for a moment, and was thrown to the ground. His head tilted and he died!
The field was buzzing with excitement. The people who came here all liked to watch quail fights. They had seen many scenes, but this was the first time they saw Chaer fight and win. They couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
It was supposed to be a decisive victory in the game, but the people in the palace got jealous and immediately put in a strong quail. Unexpectedly, Chaer won with another blow. At this time, Cha'er was like crazy, fluttering its wings in the winnowing fence, as if looking for an opponent.
At this time, Wang Daan had already won twice, and he was said to have won, but the palace was not willing to be so cruel. Another quail was let in, and Chaer's old tricks repeated. However, because he was exhausted after two fights, he only had a few The next time he was bitten by the royal quail, he was bleeding and his feathers fell off. Chaer let out a mournful cry, and finally jumped on the Wangfu Quail with all his strength. No matter how hard his opponent tried to throw him, he refused to let go. In the end, both quails died tragically in the winnowing fence.
At this time, everyone on the court came to their senses and looked at Fujin blankly. Wang Daan then took a step forward and knelt in front of Fujin, and said with tears in his eyes: "My unfilial son Wang Shi was guilty of causing the tragic death of Da Beile. Today I come to the palace to fight. Fujin has said it first. If the Wang family wins, there will be no further investigation. Wang Daan I thanked Fujin here. Wang vowed not to fight quails from now on, to comfort Da Beile’s spirit in heaven.”
Fujin had nothing to say at this time, so he waved and let him go. Wang Da'an took Yu'er back home, gathered his family together, and then said: "The Wang family escaped today, but there is no guarantee that next time, our family will move south and we will no longer fight quails."
Yu'er waited for everyone to disperse, and then she pulled Wang Daan and asked, "Grandpa, why can Cha'er fight again?"
Wang Da comforted Cha'er's body and said with tears: "I inserted a steel needle into the back of its head. This is a unique skill passed down from ancestors. As long as the acupuncture point is found correctly, the quail will fight to the death when it is stimulated, and it will be invincible. . Although the victory is not strong, it can save the lives of everyone in my Wang family. It’s just that this move is too destructive and cannot be passed down to the world. People take pleasure in fighting quails, but don’t you know that fighting with others is even more unbearable. From then on, the Wang family Let’s make a living by farming!”