On this day, there was explosive news from the small village: Widow Wang wanted to "marry a daughter." The so-called "match" means that no matter who marries her little daughter, she not only does not want a gift, but also uses the herb garden that is well-kept by her family as a dowry, but there is one thing: when the little daughter marries, the eldest daughter also follows.
As soon as these words came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the village. Everyone said that Widow Wang was old and confused, and her brain was wrong.
In fact, Widow Wang's brain was fine, but her body was seriously ill. Not long ago, she fell, and her feet hurt so much that she couldn't walk, so she had to go to the county hospital. In the end, the hair on her feet was fine, and it was enough to get injections to reduce the swelling, but something else was found - advanced gastric cancer. As soon as she got the news, Widow Wang couldn't care less about being sad, and only thought about how to settle her two daughters.
Among the two daughters, Widow Wang was most worried about her eldest daughter. Although she was born to the same mother, the two daughters were worlds apart: the eldest daughter, Shanhua, was a dwarf, only 1.3 meters old, and had chicken breasts and legs; the youngest daughter, Shuihua, was beautiful and moving. She was tall, with white and red skin, especially her big talking eyes, which were black and bright.
In the past few years, seeing that both daughters have grown up, but one is beautiful and the other is ugly, all the people who come to ask for marriage are always targeting Shuihua, and no one is willing to marry Shanhua. Now, Widow Wang knows that she has a terminal illness, and in a hurry, she came up with the idea of "matching the marriage", the purpose is to exchange the beauty of the younger daughter for the stability of the eldest daughter for the rest of her life.
But Widow Wang's approach was really inconsiderate. The villagers talked a lot, and her house exploded! The younger daughter Shuihua never expected her mother to make such a "damaging move" and treat Ugly Sister as a "dowry" for her. In this way, didn't she also become a "slow-selling product"? In order to get her mother to dispel this idea, she would wipe her neck one moment and hang herself another, causing the family to be restless!
On this day, Shuihua cried again at home, crying for father, saying that her own mother was biased and forced her daughter to a dead end... Widow Wang only felt that her eyes were dark and her throat was sweet. She stretched out her head, closed her eyes, and spit out a large mouthful of blood with a "wow" sound, and she fell to the ground and couldn't get up.
At the sight of the splash, she couldn't even care to cry. She hurriedly brought Widow Wang into the house, pinching her and patting her back, her head sweating in a hurry. At this critical juncture, a life-saving person came outside the door. Who? Liu Banxian! This Liu Banxian is both a witch and a local language. In addition to pretending to be a ghost, she also gave people a needle and some herbs, so everyone called her "Banxian". Liu Banxian's family is in the village ahead, and the reason why he came uninvited today is because he heard that Widow Wang has a terminal illness and came to see it. He didn't expect it to come in time, and it was time to save people.
She took out a few silver needles from the medicine box she carried with her and pricked them into Widow Wang's body. She closed her eyes and muttered for a while. After a while, she saw Widow Wang let out a sigh of relief and woke up. Seeing that her mother was fine, Shuihua got up and made tea for Liu Banxian.
Liu Banxian comforted Widow Wang and said, "Old sister! Why do you have to worry about your two daughters like this?" Hearing this, Widow Wang wiped away tears: "Shuihua hasn't married yet, and Shanhua hasn't landed yet, so I'm leaving like this. After you call Shanhua her... even if I die, I won't close my eyes!" At this point, she simply cried.
Liu Banxian said, "Why are you crying? You are so sad that there is no sun in June. I tell you, in our ten miles and eight townships, you are the best lucky person! Needless to say, the younger daughter is like a flower like a jade, but do you know? Your eldest daughter Shanhua is a'ten thousand gold 'body! Just wait for the happiness!"
"Alas! Don't make fun of me."
"No, no, I don't mean to make fun of her at all. Really, your eldest daughter is a treasure. Listen to me, maybe someone will offer a big betrothal gift to marry her, and in the future, you will enjoy her blessing!"
Widow Wang couldn't help but ask, "Why is this?"
"The secret cannot be revealed, I can't say it, you will understand in the future." Liu Banxian sold it off, didn't even drink tea, stood up and left.
Strange to say, three days later, the situation really changed. There were more matchmakers coming to visit again, and it could be said that there was an endless stream of people coming from afar to visit. But what was different from before was that they all aimed at Shanhua! There were those who were willing to marry Shanhua as their wife, saying that although Shanhua was ugly, she was "an ugly Wangfu woman"; there were also those who wanted to accept Shanhua as their daughter, saying that Shanhua was reliable. The conditions offered by these people were more attractive than ever.
Just as Widow Wang was puzzled, her younger brother, who had been doing herbal medicine business for many years, rushed back. Without bothering to worry about the car and horses, he dragged Widow Wang into the inner room and said out of breath, "Sister, I just came back from the northeast a few days ago, and before I entered the village, I heard someone say that our Shanhua is a cinnabar bone, and its bones are worth at least 100,000 yuan. It is a'Wujin Bodhisattva '!"
Hearing what her brother said, Widow Wang was first stunned, and then suddenly realized! No wonder her ugly daughter, whom everyone was afraid to avoid, became a "sweet pastry" overnight. Those who came to matchmakers were not interested in her people, but her "bones"!
There had always been a local legend about cinnabar bones, and when she was young, Widow Wang had also heard of it. Legend had it that cinnabar bones were black and could be made into a spirit medicine that could bring back the dead, but the people who owned cinnabar bones died miserably because of the "thousand gold never changes"...
Thinking of this, Widow Wang fought a cold war and suddenly understood: If the mountain flower is really cinnabar bone, it is more sad than being ugly and not being able to marry! But Widow Wang still didn't believe it: "Why do you say that our mountain flower is cinnabar bone? This thing has been spread blindly since ancient times, how did it grow on our mountain flower?" Widow Wang's younger brother was also anxious: "Do you think I believe it? I don't believe it either! But others believe it! These days are not... our water flowers are in danger!"
In this way, Widow Wang discussed with her brother for a whole night, and finally decided that her brother would take Shanhua away and take her to a distant place!
Early the next morning, Widow Wang's younger brother left. He went home to settle down and promised to pick up Shanhua in three days. Widow Wang, who only cared about Shanhua, did not notice that Shuihua was sitting on the stone steps outside the door. She heard all the conversation between her uncle and her mother the day before, and she finally understood the real reason why those people were competing for Shanhua these days. They were all here to "hunt for treasure."
At this point, she regretted not agreeing to her mother's request to "marry a daughter together." It was good now that her uncle was going to take Shanhua away in three days, and that cinnabar bone had nothing to do with her at all! She was extremely depressed, thinking that Shanhua would die of a sudden illness before her uncle came back, in that case...
Thinking of the word "death", Shuihua's heart couldn't help but jump wildly, and a layer of sweat oozed on her face: That's her own sister after all! But then she thought, it's redundant for an ugly monster like Shanhua to live in the world, it's better to die early and make some contributions to the family! Thinking of this, Shuihua did not care about sisterhood and decided to take risks.
The next step was how to implement the plan. This was not difficult for her. She had followed her father to collect herbs since she was a child, and naturally knew which herbs were poisonous.
She quietly ran out to dig up some poisonous tree roots, washed and roasted them dry before grinding them into powder. After that, she went to town to cut the meat, buy back the white noodles, and quietly made the meat buns mixed with poisoned powder. After steaming, she put the buns into a small basket, covered them with a handkerchief, and carried the basket up the mountain.
After walking for a few hours, the sun was already setting when Shuihua came to the herb garden on the mountain. She had planned to watch Shanhua swallow the buns with her own eyes before leaving, but when she got to the mountain, she saw that the door of the hut was closed, and maybe Shanhua had gone up the mountain to collect herbs again. She put the basket on the windowsill and slipped down the mountain as if to escape.
That night, Shuihua lay down early, but she couldn't sleep. A few night owl cries came from far outside the house, and she heard it like the wailing of Shanhua before she died. She was so scared that she got into the bed and didn't dare to breathe. After tossing until the rooster crowed three times, she finally fell asleep. After an unknown amount of time, she heard someone knock on the door: "Shuihua, open the door, open the door!" When Shuihua heard it, she was so scared that she almost lost her breath, because it was Shanhua who called the door!
My God! I didn't expect that the dead ghost Shanhua would come to collect the debts so soon! Shuihua hid under the quilt and trembled in fear. At this time, someone lifted the quilt over her body, and she screamed in horror. Looking closely, she saw Widow Wang and Shanhua standing side by side in front of the bed. Widow Wang asked with concern, "Shuihua, Shanhua knocked on the door for so long, didn't you hear it? Why are you sweating, are you sick?" Saying that, Widow Wang hurried to the kitchen to cook ginger soup.
Shanhua put the small basket in her hand in front of Shuihua and said, "Sister, thank you! But it's a pity that I ate such a big meat bun. It just so happens that today is your birthday, so let me celebrate your birthday!" Then, she happily took out a cloth bag from her arms and handed it to Shuihua, "Sister, look, what did I bring you?"
Shuihua took the cloth bag and opened it to see that it was a red grid skirt. Shanhua said next to her, "This is my birthday gift for you! I made it for you these days, do you like it or not?" Seeing Shuihua nodded, she happily went to the kitchen to find Widow Wang.
Shuihua sat on the bed, holding a gift in his hand, and his heart was in a mess. At that moment Shanhua's cry came from the kitchen, and Shanhua cried and said, "Mom, I'm not leaving. You are not in good health now, and I can't go anywhere! I want to guard you!"
Then came Widow Wang's voice: "I heard from my mother, since your father passed away, didn't our whole family rely on my uncle to take care of us? This time, my uncle asked you to go and help for two days! Why didn't you say no?"
I only heard Shanhua's cries slowly subsiding. After a while, Shuihua saw Shanhua through the window and walked out the door with her head lowered.
Watching her sister's back, Shuihua's heart churned again. Finally, she put down her skirt and decided to do nothing and kill Shanhua. That afternoon, she brought a rope, a knife and a basket, and unknowingly went up the mountain again. Seeing Shanhua, she pretended to be excited: "I heard from Liu Banxian that there is an herb called 'Snake Peony 'that can cure my mother's disease, but this herb is only available on Old Wolf Rock. In order to save my mother's life, I decided to take a risk!"
Shanhua shivered when she heard the words "Old Wolf Rock." She remembered clearly that her father had fallen to his death while picking herbs there, so she asked carefully, "Does Mom know about this?"
Splash said, "Of course I can't let Mom know, otherwise would she let me come?"
Shanhua said, "Sister, you are so brave! Do you think that 'nake peony 'can really cure our mother's disease?"
Shuihua said, "Can there be a fake? An old man in Zhangcun has the same disease as our mother, and he is almost dead. After taking this medicine, he can now work in the field!"
Shanhua was very excited, "That's great, I'll pack up and go with you."
The sisters crossed a mountain range, crossed a jungle, and finally arrived at their destination.
The old wolf rock was dozens of feet high, and at a glance it was cold below. Shuihua tied one end of the rope to the big tree, pretending to be going down. At this time, Shanhua stopped her and said, "Girl, I'm light and I know that kind of herb, so I'll go down!" After saying that, he quickly tied the rope to his waist.
Watching Shanhua walk towards the cliff step by step, Shuihua didn't know whether it was out of fear or guilt, so he blurted out and shouted, "Sister, be careful!"
Hearing Shuihua's shout, Shanhua suddenly stopped at the edge of the cliff. She asked in disbelief, "What did you call me just now?" Shuihua said, "Call your sister!" This was the first time Shuihua had called her sister in more than 20 years. Shanhua wanted to say: With this "sister", I am willing to be smashed to pieces. But she couldn't say it.
Shuihua took the machete and walked to the edge of the cliff step by step. She knew that her sister was "hanging by a thread" at this time, and she could achieve her goal without realizing it.
But for some reason, the knife was particularly heavy in her hand today, so heavy that her heart beat faster and her hands trembled, her palms were full of sweat, and she couldn't even breathe evenly. She clenched her teeth and swung the knife and slashed down on the rope, but unexpectedly, it was on the stone next to her, and only heard a "bang" sound, two crows on the tree were startled and screamed at her. Shuihua staggered in fright, leaned back, and fell off the cliff!
In an instant, Shanhua's panicked cries for help came from the mid-mountain cliff: "Come, help, my water has fallen! Help -"
Maybe it was because of the life of the splash, when she fell off the cliff, she was blocked by the wild vine hanging on the wall. Fortunately, an old man was also picking herbs that day. He heard Shanhua's call for help and quickly called nearby villagers to save the sisters in time.
His face had twenty-seven stitches! Her mouth was crooked, her eyes slanted, and half of her ears were missing. What was worse was that her right leg was also disabled, and it seemed that she would have to live on crutches for the rest of her life.
In the face of this sudden change, Widow Wang was in pain. She couldn't figure out why Shanhua and Shuihua went to Old Wolf Rock. She had asked the sisters, but Shanhua's words would only make her more confused, while Shuihua refused to say anything and would only cry.
Widow Wang's younger brother came and looked at her sister who had passed out crying, so anxious that she turned around to invite Liu Banxian. After a while, Liu Banxian came. She first came to the water bed, looked at it carefully, shook her head while looking, and finally said nothing.
When Widow Wang saw Liu Banxian like this, her heart was already cold. "Is this child's injury... really incurable?" Liu Banxian spread her hands and said: "To be honest, she went to Shanghai for treatment in Beijing Hospital for this injury, and her legs can be cured. The injury on her face, through plastic surgery, may be more beautiful than before! But, that will cost a lot of money! Don't talk about it without 108,000, but your family..." After saying that, she sighed and was ready to go home.
At that time Splash, who was lying in the back room, called her loudly, and Liu Banxian had to return to Splash Room. Splash asked, "Auntie, did you just say that my injury can be treated?" Liu Banxian was eager to leave, too lazy to say, "So what if it can be treated, it will cost a lot of money!" Splash interrupted, "You don't have to worry about money, my family has it!"
Shuihua said with such certainty and such a big tone, Liu Banxian was stunned, she couldn't help but sit down and ask, "Where did your family get the money?" Shuihua said, "Auntie, didn't you say that? My Shanhua is a cinnabar bone, is it a priceless treasure, worth hundreds of thousands? Just help... I will never forget your kindness!"
Liu Banxian never expected Shuihua to have this idea. She pulled her face down and stood up and said, "Miss Shuihua, this is no joke! When did I tell you this?" Shuihua cried and said, "Auntie! In the future, I will not let you suffer!"
Liu Banxian did not dare to stay in the water flower room any longer. She said, "Okay! Okay! Don't worry, don't worry! I'll go home and think of a way for you, think of a way." While turning around, she ran away like a flee.
Liu Banxian felt a little flustered in her heart, and she said embarrassedly, "Miss Shanhua, what's the matter with you? If it's okay, I..." At this time, Shanhua spoke: "Aunt, I heard everything you and Shuihua said just now. Tell me, am I really cinnabar bone?"
Liu Banxian was afraid, and she said incoherently, "Where did you start? What happened to you two sisters?" After saying that, she bypassed Shanhua and wanted to leave. She didn't want Shanhua to kneel down in front of her and say, "Auntie, please save my sister! Please help me and find an owner to sell me!" Liu Banxian suddenly pushed Shanhua's hand away and fled out of the village.
Shanhua knelt blankly in the middle of the road, suddenly jumped up, picked up a broken washbasin from the side of the road and knocked it "bang bang bang bang", and ran around the village. His move immediately attracted many people, some people said, "What's going on? Is there a fire?" Someone said, "Oh, the Shanhua of Widow Wang's house has gone crazy!" So more and more people followed the fun.
Shanhua ran all the way to the reservoir dam at the entrance of the village. She threw the washbasin aside and knelt down in front of the many villagers. His action confused everyone, and the noisy crowd suddenly quieted down.
Shanhua's face was very pale, and she said word by word: "Grandparents, uncles, uncles and aunts, everyone knows that my family is in trouble, and my sister will become ugly if she has no money to treat her. I know the pain of ugly people living in the world, and I don't want my sister to suffer like me... Today I just want to ask everyone to help me testify: I heard from Liu Banxian that I am a cinnabar bone, and this bone is worth hundreds of thousands. In order to save my sister and mother, I am willing to sacrifice my bones. I ask everyone to help me, and after I am fished out, ask Liu Banxian to help sell my bones... please!"
After saying this, before everyone could react, Shanhua jumped into the reservoir! She struggled a few times and sank.
Only then did people react! The dam was like a beehive on fire, and it was a mess. Some people shouted: "Death! Death!" Someone shouted, "Who knows water, go down and save people!" Others ran back and forth on the dam, not knowing what to say, and then a few young people jumped down.
But saving people was not easy. This was the largest and deepest reservoir in the area, and Shanhua jumped into the deepest place, and disappeared after a while. More than a dozen young people worked in the water for a long time, but found nothing. It was not until the old village chief got the news and organized more than a dozen people to go into the water to find Shanhua that Shanhua was fished out of the water, but it was too late. Shanhua had stopped breathing.
The old village chief wiped the water droplets from Shanhua's face with his rough hands, and then took off his clothes to cover Shanhua. He sighed and said, "I watched her grow up. This child couldn't bear to hurt an ant since she was a child, and she was so cruel that she would kill herself?"
When he asked this question, the villagers told him the situation just now. The old village chief was very surprised: "How could this happen? Cinnabar bones? Where did this come from? No, there must be a reason here, quickly find Liu Banxian for questioning!"
Just as he said this, someone pointed to the distance and said, "Look, is that Liu Banxian?"
That was indeed Liu Banxian, why was she still here? It turned out that Liu Banxian had always liked to watch the fun. Just then she heard the noise in the village not far away, so she stood there and watched from a distance.
Liu Banxian was "invited" to the corpse of Shanhua. When the old village chief told her about the situation, Liu Banxian's face changed in fright. She stamped her feet and said, "Oh my God! I'm just kidding! How can she take it seriously, isn't it harmful to me?" The old village chief was angry: "It's all playing with human life! What do you think? It's strange, how could you make such a joke? You can't just say it!"
Liu Banxian never dreamed that things would develop to this point. Now, she had no choice but to tell the truth. It turned out that Liu Banxian's son fell in love with Splash and became lovesick, but Widow Wang came up with a new trick of "matching the married girl", which made Liu Banxian's head hurt. Later, she accidentally heard someone mention the legend of cinnabar bone, and she immediately released the words, saying that Shanhua is cinnabar bone, the purpose is to deceive others to marry Shanhua, so that she can try to get Shuihua to be his daughter-in-law, but her son's lovesick debt. Now that people are being killed, this is really what Liu Banxian never expected!
After listening to Liu Banxian's explanation, the old village chief couldn't help but sigh and say, "You people, you really can do anything for your own desires! Do you still have others in your eyes? Do you still have morality in your eyes? Do you still have laws in your eyes? It's really unbearable!" The old village chief coughed and couldn't continue.
Liu Banxian began to cry, "I regret it so much, but, old village chief, listen to me..." The old village chief waved his hand and interrupted her: "There is no need to say anything, it has already been killed, you go to the Public Security Bureau and talk!" The two young people in the village immediately came over and scolded loudly: "Go!" Liu Banxian was so scared that she was half short, she lowered her head and shrunk her shoulders, and was escorted by the two young people one after the other to go where she should go.
The old village chief turned around and gently picked up Shanhua from the ground. Shanhua's face was so calm and serene, like a sleeping child. The old village chief suddenly burst into tears: "Good boy, you died unjustly! Let me send you home!" As he said this, the women around him cried, and then more and more people cried, and some men also shed tears. The old village chief walked towards Widow Wang's house with Shanhua in his arms, followed by a long queue...
At this time, under the repeated questioning of Widow Wang, Shuihua had already told the whole truth. Widow Wang was struck by lightning, and she would never have expected that her beautiful daughter had a heart of a snake and a scorpion, and she vomited a large mouthful of blood with a "wow". At this moment, only to hear the sound of people at the door, the old village chief came in with Shanhua in his arms.
Widow Wang was anxious: "Shanhua, what happened to Shanhua? Are you injured?" The old village chief held back his tears and said, "Sister-in-law, Shanhua is dead." Hearing this, Widow Wang's body swayed suddenly, and several women quickly came up to support her. The old village chief told her the whole thing, and Widow Wang fell to the ground without listening and never woke up.
Everyone was sad, and the splashing on the hospital bed was even more sad. She felt that Liu Banxian was hateful, and what she did was even more shameful. A deception and a dream, it was meaningless for her to live. So she swallowed the meat buns she made with her own hands and died.
Afterwards, the younger brother of Widow Wang buried the mother and daughter on the hillside behind the village. The mother was among them, and there were daughters on both sides. Strangely enough, every spring from now on, the grave of the ugly woman's mountain flower was always green grass and small flowers growing. But the grave of the beautiful woman's water flower was always bare, not an inch of grass was long, and there were cracks in some places. From a distance, it looked like a "lethargic head."