During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a gangster named Si Ma Yun in the capital. Because idleness could not solve the problem of food and clothing, he studied the five elements of gossip and the art of hiding armor in a strange door, and set up a stall in the street to tell his fortune. Because he was good at reading words and emotions, and he was born with the ability to say and deceive, there was an endless stream of fortune-tellers coming to him. Within a few years, he was rich and became a big man in the capital. After he developed, he no longer had to go out to set up a stall, but built a residence in the capital, specializing in fortune-telling at home.

Although Si Ma Yun has developed, he has not started a family in his thirties. In order to marry a wife and have children as soon as possible to carry on the family, he had to look for a matchmaker everywhere to say goodbye.

That afternoon, Si Ma Yun was sitting at home drinking tea when suddenly an old man in common clothes came to the door. The old man held a pair of poles and kept coughing as he walked. When he entered the main room, the old man put down his poles and said to Si Ma Yun, "I am six out of fifty this year. Because I am busy all day long, I have developed a disease due to accumulated labor and have tuberculosis. The doctor said that this disease is difficult to treat, I want to know if I can survive?" When Si Ma Yun heard this, a fool who delivered money to the door came to the door, and quickly pulled the old man to sit down and said, "Please report your birthday, and I will help you get a hexagram immediately." The old man did not dare to neglect, picked up the brush on the table, and wrote down the date of birth on the paper.

Si Ma Yun glanced at him casually, pretended to pinch his fingers, and immediately exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Oh my god! You are too old this year, and now you have this disease, and you will die without a doubt." The old man was startled and hurriedly came up and asked, "Sir, do you have a way to save me?" Si Ma Yun closed his eyes and thought for a while, and said, "Of course there is, but you have to take 50 taels of silver to resolve it for me, otherwise there will be no help." The old man was very afraid, so he quickly took out a bulging oil cloth bag from his arms, handed it over and said, "There is exactly 50 taels of silver here, please accept it." Seeing the old man so neatly, Si Ma Yun thought that he had some money, so he regretted it and felt that he should ask for more. After accepting the silver, Si Ma Yun said, "I will buy paper money and incense candles to ask the gods to overcome the calamity for you, so you can go back for the time being. If your body gets better in five days, if it doesn't get better, it will be that the silver will spend less and you can't get through the joints. Then bring some silver to me." The old man listened to Si Ma Yun's words and said with some doubts: "I thought that Mr. can help me through the calamity now, but I can't, so just return the silver to me." Si Ma Yun was worried that the cooked duck would fly, so he quickly explained, "The old man is too anxious. There is a time for everything, so you can't rush it for a while, otherwise, no one can save you." The old man thought so, and left with a half-belief.

Si Ma Yun weighed the silver, scolded "fool" at back of the old man, and then hid the silver in the treasure box in the room. Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the old man in the cloth came again. As soon as he entered the door, he took out a large bag of silver and said, "Sir, please save me, I can't stand coughing anymore." After saying that, he opened his mouth and coughed incessantly, only his face was red and his saliva splattered. Si Ma Yun hurriedly went forward to take the silver, patted the old man's shoulder and said with a wide-eyed smile, "Don't worry, wealth can be used, and with this silver, I will definitely help you through the disaster." The old man nodded, full of trust in Si Ma Yun.

In the blink of an eye, a few more days passed. On this day, Si Ma Yun was sitting at home taking a nap. He was in a daze and just fell asleep when his ears suddenly hurt from being pinched. He opened his eyes and saw that it was the old man in common clothes. The old man said aggressively, "Quickly return the silver to me, you liar!" Si Ma Yun felt strange and opened his eyes wide and said, "You got sick and sent me silver to help you overcome the calamity, how can you say that I lied to you!" The old man said angrily, "My illness is already cured, I don't have tuberculosis, quickly return the silver to me!"

Si Ma Yun hurriedly asked, "Who said you don't have tuberculosis, how can you be good?"

The old man said, "I've been coughing for nine days, but I'm not coughing anymore today. I went to the doctor who treated me before, and he took my pulse again, saying that I just felt a cold, and I'll recover after coughing for a few days. It was just a misdiagnosis before."

When Si Ma Yun heard this, he rolled his eyes and lied: "You are wrong, you obviously have tuberculosis, and I did not help you resolve it, how could you possibly recover!"

The old man in the cloth knew that Sima Yun was quibbling, so he still asked him to return the money. Si Ma Yun did not want to entangle with the old man, so he directly called two servants, beat the old man severely, and drove him out of the door.

After this incident, Si Ma Yun continued to deceive others without feeling guilty at all.

One day, he had just seen a guest when an old lady over 50 years old suddenly walked out the door. As soon as the old lady sat down, before she could speak, she sighed and said, "The old lady is one in fifty this year, and the woman under her knees is twenty-eight years old, and she has not yet been betrothed. Two years ago, I asked a lot of matchmakers to pull the strings, but I was always helpless. In the end, I had no choice but to come to you to calculate and see when she could find her in-law." Saying that, she reported her birthday.

When Si Ma Yun heard that the old lady's daughter was looking for her husband's family, and he happened to be unmarried, wasn't that fate falling from the sky? He wanted to express his feelings to the old lady, but he was worried that the girl was not dignified enough, so he hurriedly asked the old lady about her daughter's appearance. The old lady mentioned her daughter and said proudly, "My daughter has the beauty of sinking fish and falling geese, and the appearance of the moon is shy. It's just that she thinks highly of herself, and ordinary people don't look down on it, so she hasn't been married yet."

Si Ma Yun nodded secretly, looked at the eight characters of the birthday, and deceived the old lady and said, "From the eight characters of your daughter, this is the fate of beauty. No matter which family you marry, you will definitely get rid of it, so no family will marry your daughter."

The old lady was very worried and said, "Really, then my daughter's life is really bitter!" As she said that, she covered her face and cried.

Si Ma Yun advised: "There is no way out, although your daughter's life is not good, there is a person who is not afraid and is willing to marry your daughter."

The old lady was refreshed, stopped crying, and asked, "Who is it?"

Si Ma Yun got up and bowed, "It's me."

The old lady looked Si Ma Yun up, down, left, right, and said in surprise, "Mr. is talented and has a lot of money. Aren't you afraid that my daughter will bring you bad luck?"

Si Ma Yun patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I have a little knowledge of the method of yin and yang and five elements, which can break the fate of Miss, so it is feasible for her to marry me."

The matriarch turned from sorrow to joy and said, "If that's the case, I'll take you to see my daughter to see what her opinion is." With that said, she got up and set off.

Si Ma Yun followed the old lady out of the city and saw three grass huts in front of a village far away, surrounded by a lot of cut wood, and a slender young woman sitting in front of the door embroidering. The old lady told Si Ma Yun that this was her daughter Chunhua. Si Ma Yun took a closer look and saw Chunhua with willow eyebrows and apricot eyes, looking dignified, sitting there with a graceful figure, like Chang'e in the Moon Palace. Si Ma Yun was very satisfied and quickly went forward to bow and said, "Hello Chunhua girl, Xiaosheng Si Ma Yun is very polite."

The woman looked up at Si Ma Yun. Seeing that he was a stranger, she immediately covered her face with long sleeves and turned back into the house. The old lady hurriedly chased after him and told Si Ma Yun's purpose.

Seeing that the woman did not speak, Si Ma Yun took out a hundred-tael silver ticket and said, "Miss, please rest assured. I will definitely treat you well. This is my retainer.

The old lady accepted the bill for her daughter and chose an auspicious day with Si Ma Yun on the eighth day of the new month. Si Ma Yun had done everything and was about to leave when he suddenly thought that he had not seen Chunhua's father, so he asked the old lady where his uncle had gone? The old lady replied: "My husband went out to do business in the early years and has not returned yet. He wrote a letter to his family a month ago, saying he could only return when the year was approaching."

Si Ma Yun listened and turned around to go back to Zhang Luo's marriage.

Soon, the auspicious day arrived. Si Ma Yun entertained his relatives and friends and brought Chunhua home with a palanquin. After marriage, Chunhua quit her servants and servants, did her own laundry and cooking, and took care of Si Ma Yun's daily life and food. Si Ma Yun couldn't help but be very satisfied when he saw that his wife was frugal and took care of the house in an orderly manner. Soon, he handed over the Treasure box where he stored his money and all the keys in the house to her for safekeeping.

One day, Si Ma Yun got up from bed and suddenly found a letter on his desk. Chunhua came over and said, "This letter is from an old man. He invited you to the East Lake Restaurant for a chat."

Si Ma Yun didn't know who the other party was, so he opened the letter and saw that there were 60 taels of silver in it. He didn't know why the other party gave him the silver. In order to know who the other party was, he put on a long shirt and went out.

After a while, Si Ma Yun came to the East Lake Restaurant and saw an old man in a short shirt standing at the door waiting for someone. He stepped forward to take a look and found that the other party was actually the old man in a commoner who had been looking for him to calculate his fate. Thinking about what happened last time, Si Ma Yun was worried that the old man would pester him, so he quickly turned around and wanted to leave. However, the old man strode forward, grabbed his clothes, and punched him in the chest. Si Ma Yun staggered, and before he fell to the ground, the old man in a commoner's abdomen kicked again, causing him to bend down in pain.

The old man in cloth clothes still wanted to make a move, and Si Ma Yun quickly hooked his legs and tripped the old man in cloth clothes to the ground. The old man in the cloth clothes probably couldn't beat him, and before he kicked him, he immediately got up and ran.

Si Ma Yun chased after him for a long time, only tired and breathless, and the old man in commoner clothes ran into an alley, turned seven or eight, and disappeared. Si Ma Yun couldn't catch up with the old man in common clothes, so he had to go back angrily.

When he got back to the door, he saw that the door and window were wide open, and there was no one in the room. Si Ma Yun was puzzled and hurried into the inner hall to find his wife, but there was no one in Chunhua. Si Ma Yun ran out of the door and asked the neighbor about Chunhua. The neighbor replied that he saw Chunhua carrying a cloth bag and hired a carriage out of the door just now. Si Ma Yun couldn't scream, so he quickly ran back to the room to check the Treasure box under the bed, but saw that the lid of the box was wide open, and all the gold and silver inside were gone.

Si Ma Yun was shocked, guessing that Chunhua had taken her money back to her parents' house, she quickly went out and called for a carriage to chase after her.

When he arrived at the village outside the city, Si Ma Yun got out of the carriage and ran to the three thatched huts to take a look, only to see the doors and windows closed, and there was no one around. Si Ma Yun pushed open the door and went in, and saw a letter on the table in front of the hall. He opened it and saw it written: "Mr. Si Ma Yun, do you still remember the old man in the cloth who was deceived by you for a hundred taels of silver? It was my father. It was pitiful for him to go up the mountain every day to cut wood and sell money. He finally accumulated a little money. He wanted to use it to prevent old age, but you deceived him with all your lies and beat him up all over. In order to export evil energy for his father, Chunhua asked his mother to come to you to tell my fortune for me. I heard you were not married at thirty. I expected you to be moved when you heard my appearance. Who knows, you really fell for the trick to marry me. Then I drove away the servants and took care of the housework for you with all my heart, in order to gain your trust. After getting the key to the box, I asked my father to lead you out with a letter, and then opened the Treasure box with the key. I wanted to get my father's share back, but thinking you would have to punish you for cheating everywhere, I took all the gold and silver in your Treasure box. Don't chase after the letter, for I have distributed gold and silver along the way. You lied to so many people at the beginning, I will atone for you. "

After reading the letter, Si Ma Yun realized that the old commoner was selling firewood when he combined with the scene of Chunhua's house full of wood. Thinking that all his years of accumulation had been taken away by Chunhua, he couldn't help but hate it, and at the same time, he was very regretful that he shouldn't have deceived the old commoner, otherwise, there would be no evil consequences today.