A long time ago, in the twelfth lunar month of one year, a rich man surnamed Zhang went to the Buddhist hall in the side room to offer incense, and suddenly found that the cloth curtain under the offering table was shaking. The rich man Zhang felt a little puzzled and took a closer look. It turned out that behind the cloth curtain, there was a man wearing old shoes shivering. The rich man Zhang understood that there was a thief hiding inside. He calmed down and said to the bottom of the offering table: "Big brother, come out, it's very cold inside. Let's go to the upper room to drink two cups.
The thief who was hiding under the offering table had no choice but to come out. It turned out that the thief's surname was Li, and he was originally an honest farmer from a neighboring village. Because his wife was sick all year round, and there were a lot of children in the family, he lived a very poor life, and often ate the last meal and worried about the next meal. Seeing that the root of the big year was uncovered, the family could not open the pot again. Looking at the pitiful children, Lao Li gritted his teeth and had evil thoughts, and thought of stealing something from the rich man's house so that he could celebrate the New Year for his children and wife. While it was dark, he sneaked into the courtyard of Zhang's house, but he didn't dare to enter the main room. He turned around and entered the wing room, intending to get some steamed buns and fruit from the offering table. Unexpectedly, before he started, he was discovered by Zhang.
This scared Old Li enough, and he knelt down to the rich man Zhang trembling all over. Rich man Zhang hurriedly bent down and helped him up: Get up, get up, this cold day, you are wearing such thin clothes, let's go to the room to drink a few cups, warm up, and chat while eating.
Old Li had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow the rich man Zhang to the upper room. Rich man Zhang invited Old Li to the kang, let the family cook, and for a while, set up a table of good wine and food to entertain Old Li. After dinner, the rich man Zhang asked his family to prepare some rice noodles and meat dishes for him, and took out some silver for him to take home for the New Year. Old Li said goodbye with a lot of guilt and gratitude and went home.
In this way, the children and wife of Lao Li's family had a happy and happy New Year together. As soon as the New Year was over, Lao Li used the money given to him by the rich man Zhang as capital to start a small business of visiting villages and families. Because of his honesty, he was genuine, not cheating, not deceiving, and being a child, the business became more and more prosperous. In this way, the family's life was much better. He also had money for his wife ask a doctor to see a doctor and take medicine, and the disease got better day by day.
Old Li's life has been better, but his heart has always been thinking about the kindness of the rich man Zhang to him. He knows that if it were not for the magnanimity and kindness of the rich man Zhang, his old Li family would not have lived a good life. To show his gratitude, he often bought some fresh fruit to send to the rich man Zhang's family. But the rich man Zhang never accepted it, saying, "Old Li, I understand your intentions. It is not easy for you to get up early and get up late to make some money. I have nothing short. Just live a good life for yourself.
Old Li was also a kind and righteous person. Faced with the gentle refusal of the rich man Zhang, he had to use the time before he got up early to go to the market to secretly put the gifts at the door of the rich man Zhang and then leave quietly. It was often the family members of the rich man Zhang who woke up early to open the door and saw a pile of gifts such as seasonal fruits placed there. As soon as the rich man guessed, he knew that it was given by Old Li, so he simply accepted it, but when he turned around, he gave Old Li this and that again and again, and the friendship between the two became thicker and thicker.
A year passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month of the new year. Early in the morning, before dawn, Lao Li got up. Because today he not only had to go to the market to sell goods, but he also had something very important to do. A few days ago, he asked shopkeeper Liu, who was doing business outside customs, to buy a valuable century-old ginseng. He wanted to quietly put it outside the gate of the rich man Zhang this morning as a reward to his benefactor. Lao Li pushed the wheelbarrow and touched the dark to the door of the rich man Zhang. He took out the small bag wrapped in the old ginseng from his arms and was about to put it at the gate when he suddenly found that there was a person lying in front of the gate. Old Li was so startled that he rubbed his eyes and looked carefully: it was a beggar who had frozen to death outside. Old Li thought to himself: Who is so wicked to put a dead person on the door of the benefactor's house, isn't this obviously to trick people? Old Li didn't dare to think too much, so he quickly bent over and carried the dead body and ran, running for more than a mile in one breath. Old Li couldn't run anymore, so he threw the dead body away, then quickly turned back and put the bag containing the century-old ginseng at the gate, and then pushed the pickup truck to catch the big market.
On the first day of the second year of the New Year, Lao Li came to the house of the rich man Zhang to pay New Year's greetings. After a while of pleasantries, the rich man Zhang mentioned that there was a rich man surnamed Wang in the east of the village who had been thrown to death by someone outside the gate a few years ago. As a result, a lawsuit was filed for human life, and the elders were all arrested by the county yamen, and they didn't have a good year. The villagers all said it was retribution, because the father and son had bullied people too much and had too many grievances. Lao Li listened, smiled, and said nothing.
More than a month passed, and Old Li was preparing to build a new house at home and came to the door. He said, "Brother, you saved me from such a disaster, and you still hide it from me."
Old Li was still pretending to be stupid: "I didn't do anything!"
The rich man Zhang said, "Are you still not telling the truth? Early in the morning on the day of our village king's accident, I picked up a century-old ginseng bag outside the gate. Looking closely, there were two lines of footprints at the door, which went straight to the east of the village. There were also two lines of small car wheel reel marks left in front of the door. I thought, you must have come and gone. On the first day of the new year this year, you went to my house to pay New Year's greetings. I mentioned this to you, but you didn't say a word, and I muttered in my heart. Yesterday, I met Shopkeeper Sun who came back from outside the customs for the New Year. Hearing him tell me that you asked him to buy ginseng, I took out the ginseng tree I picked up and showed him. He recognized that this was the one you bought. Brother! You... "When Rich Master Zhang said this, he couldn't go on.
At this point, Old Li had no choice but to tell the truth. In the end, the rich man Zhang paid to help Old Li build a new house, and the two became true friends.