During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a fisherman named Zhang Shuhua on the banks of the Huai River. His parents died early and lived in poverty. He was over 30 years old and had not yet married a wife. Now that there were fewer and fewer fish in the river, his life was even more insecure.

On this day, when the neighbor's daughter got married, the neighbors all went to his house to drink wedding wine, and Zhang Shuhua was also invited. A few fishermen sat together drinking, and unknowingly they drank too much, and when they drank too much, they began to brag. At that time, a friend said to Zhang Shuhua: "I heard that you are an expert fisherman. If you can go to the bottom of the Huai River to find a stone, I will give you one or two taels of silver!"

As we all know, the middle of the Huai River is the deepest place in the water. If a person can hold their breath and go down to half of the river, it is not bad. If they go down to the deepest part of the river without any protection, no one in the village can do it.

Zhang Shuhua slapped the table and stood up. Relying on the strength of the wine, he said, "I'll go, but I don't need the money. If I can do it, just buy me another drink!"

Everyone saw that there was a good show, and they followed Zhang Shuhua out of the door one after another. They came to the middle of the Huai River with a small boat. Zhang Shuhua took off his shirt, took a deep breath, and jumped down with a "puff" in front of everyone.

After he woke up, he regretted it, because he felt that he couldn't breathe when he was halfway down. But if he went up like this, he would inevitably be made fun of by others. In order to fight for his breath, he could only bite the bullet and continue downstream.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Shuhua felt his feet fall to the ground. The surroundings were pitch black and he could not see anything. He bent down and touched the stones at the bottom of the river as he walked.

Just after taking two steps, he suddenly felt a bright light flashing in the corner of his eye. He saw a ball of golden light gradually emerging from the bottom of the river, and there were also shadows flashing in it. Zhang Shuhua was taken aback.

Zhang Shuhua walked forward and tore and quickly cleaned up the aquatic plants. Due to the lack of oxygen, his mind became dizzy. Just before he lost consciousness, he only felt that the golden rain was carrying him on his back and swimming towards the surface.

At that moment, the people on the boat also began to worry. After such a long time, Zhang Shuhua still didn't come out. It seemed that it was already doomed.

Just as everyone was anxious, a golden light suddenly emerged from the river, which seemed so dazzling in the dark night. Everyone looked closely and saw a big golden fish carrying Zhang Shuhua out of the water. He threw Zhang Shuhua onto the boat, jumped into the water in the blink of an eye, and disappeared…

People carried Zhang Shuhua to his dilapidated house. Seeing that he was gradually breathing, everyone was relieved to leave.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Shuhua was woken up by urine. Just as he was about to get up, he felt that he was holding something in his right hand. He opened his palm and saw that it was a large piece of golden fish scales.

Just as he was surprised, he was suddenly patted on his back. He turned around and saw a young and beautiful woman standing by his bed.

Zhang Shuhua asked in surprise, "Whose girl are you? Why are you in my shabby house in the middle of the night?"

The woman smiled slightly, then said politely: "Young Master, you are my benefactor, and I am here to repay you!"

Zhang Shuhua asked doubtfully, "Savior?"

The woman continued: "To be honest, I am a thousand-year-old fish essence in the Huai River. When I came out to forage, I was accidentally entangled in aquatic plants. That aquatic plant is not an ordinary aquatic plant, only a living person can tear it off. When I was entangled by it and my life was hanging by a thread, it was Young Master who saved me and I escaped!"

Zhang Shuhua then understood that this girl was the big goldfish he had just saved! It was the first time he had faced such a beautiful girl. He blushed and said, "It's no trouble to raise your hand."

He raised the big fish scale in his hand again and said, "This thing is yours, right? I should have accidentally grabbed it, and now it's back to you!"

The woman waved her hand and said, "Young Master, you don't have to return it, this fish scale is enough for you to marry a good wife!" After saying that, she blew at the fish scale.

Zhang Shuhua was surprised to see that the fish scales in his hands became bigger and bigger, more and more, and finally covered the entire bed. After a while, these fish scales turned into golden ingots!

After doing all this, the woman saluted Zhang Shuhua again, said "thank you," and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Shuhua was so shocked that he opened his mouth wide. He didn't believe it was true and sat in the gold ingot until dawn.

After dawn, he found that these gold ingots were still there, and he believed that he was not dreaming.

Not long after, Zhang Shuhua built a beautiful big house and married a beautiful wife, and the villagers were very envious of him. With money, Zhang Shuhua often helped some poor people and often did some good deeds, because he knew that those who did good deeds would be rewarded, and being kind to others would never go wrong.