During the Qianlong period, there was a young man named Zhou Tong who had been out panning for gold for five years. He had worked hard to accumulate a sum of money and wanted to take it home to marry and have children.

Who knew that when they passed Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province, they met Wang Er from the same village on the street. This Wang Er and Zhou Tong left their hometown together to go out and explore, but they didn't expect to see each other for several years. Wang Er is now the owner of a restaurant.

Wang Er was very happy to see Zhou Tong and took him to the store to catch up. Seeing Wang Er playing well, Zhou Tong was worried that he would be underestimated, so he wanted to find an opportunity to show off his silver.

When it was nearly noon, Wang Er asked Zhou Tong what he wanted to eat. Zhou Tong pretended to think about it, frowned and said, "What do you want to eat? In the past few years, I have been tired of eating delicacies from the mountains and seas. I really don't know what I want to eat!"

As soon as he looked up, he saw that there happened to be a bird shop next to the restaurant, and there were many thrush birds in the large and small bird cages. Zhou Tong couldn't help but feel moved in his heart and said, "This thrush call is so pleasant to the ear, presumably its tongue must be crisp and delicious, just fry a plate of thrush tongue for me to eat!"

Wang Eryi was taken aback when he heard that, and hurriedly persuaded, "Brother Zhou, I've never heard of anyone who wants to eat thrush tongues. Think about it, a thrush only has a little bit of tongue, and how many thrushes can be killed by frying a plate of thrush tongues! I advise you to quickly get rid of this idea!"

Zhou Tong smiled when he heard that. He patted the money in his bag and said with a smile, "What? Are you afraid that I can't afford the money?

Wang Er was easy to talk nonsense, but Zhou Tong just wouldn't listen, so he must fry a plate of thrush tongue to taste it. Seeing that Wang Er couldn't persuade him, he could only sigh and go to the back kitchen to order the chef to buy thrush and fry a plate of thrush tongue for Zhou Tong.

After a full two hours, the kitchen really brought a plate of fried thrush tongues. The thrush tongues were exquisite and small, crystal clear, and people couldn't bear to eat them. Zhou Tong ate it with relish, whispering while eating, and also greeting Wang Er: "Come and try it, this fried thrush tongue is crisp and delicious, it's really a rare delicacy in the world."

Wang Er waved his hand and smiled bitterly: "You should enjoy it slowly, as long as you think it is delicious, and it is not a waste of fifty taels of silver."

Zhou Tong was startled and blurted out, "What? Fifty taels?"

Wang Er said slowly: "Yes, this dish cut the tongues of more than 200 thrush, and it cost fifty taels just to buy thrush!""

Zhou Tongxin trembled, obediently! After years of hard work, he accumulated a hundred taels of silver, but he did not expect that half of a dish would be spent.

Although his heart was trembling with pain, Zhou Tong still had to slap his face and make him fat, shouting, "It's worth it! It's worth it! How many people in the world can have this blessing?"

Wang Er hurriedly said, "It's good to be worth it, it's good to be worth it."

After lunch, Wang Er warmly asked Zhou Tong to stay for a few more days. First, it was difficult to be generous, and second, Zhou Tong also wanted to visit Taiyuan City, so he agreed.

That day, Zhou Tong was strolling down the street when he was suddenly stopped by a wandering Taoist priest. The Taoist priest looked at him for a while and asked, "Patron, have you done anything harmful recently?"

Before he could get angry, the Taoist priest spoke again, "Poor Dao saw that there was a cloud of black gas in the middle of your Yin Hall. It must have said evil words that hurt the world recently. I dare to assert that in three days, I will be punished with five thunderbolts."

Seeing that the Taoist priest was so confident, Zhou Tong couldn't help but be shocked. He thought to himself that he had eaten a plate of fried thrush tongue recently, so he told the Taoist priest about eating thrush tongue.

The Taoist priest shook his head again and again, and said bitterly, "You have committed a crime! You have had evil thoughts all your life and cut off the tongues of more than 200 thrushes alive. Is such a crime not considered a crime? In this way, you are afraid that you will die in a foreign land!"

After the Taoist priest finished speaking, he sighed and left, leaving Zhou Tong to stay where he was, dumbfounded.

After Zhou Tong went back in despair, he lay on the bed and sighed non-stop, thinking that he was going to suffer the curse of God, and he didn't know how sad he was. At this time, he suddenly heard someone crying in the back of the courtyard, and the cry was so sad that it made people feel heartbroken. Zhou Tong was very strange, so he called Wang Er and asked him, "Why did the back of the courtyard cry so miserably, did someone die?"

Wang Er sighed and said, "There is a family behind the hospital, the head of the family is Li Meng. A few years ago, he left his wife, children and elderly mother to go out of town to look for gold. Who knows that there is no news for five years. In order to make a living, my wife wants to remarry her son today, and she can't worry about her elderly mother-in-law, so she cried so miserably."

After listening to this, Zhou Tong thought about how difficult it was to pan for gold in the past few years, and couldn't help but feel compassion. He also thought that he wouldn't be able to live for a few days anyway, and the money on his body would be wasted. It was better to do a good deed and help their family through this difficult time!

After carefully asking Wang Er, Zhou Tong came to the door of this house, knocked on the door and asked, "Is this Li Meng's house?"

After a while, an old man with white hair and a thin body came out to open the door. Seeing Zhou Tong's face, he asked, "Who are you?"

Zhou Tong said loudly, "Old man, I'm a coworker who was panning for gold with Li Meng. When I went home this time, he asked me to bring you some silver."

The old man couldn't believe his ears. He was stunned for a long time before he came to his senses and quickly let Zhou Tong into the house. Zhou Tong came in and saw a young woman hugging a child with a sad face.

Zhou Tong hurriedly took out the remaining fifty taels of silver on his body and said, "Li Meng asked me to bring back fifty taels of silver to maintain his household. He still has some things to deal with, so he will come back with you soon."

Hearing that her husband was still alive, the sadness on the woman's face was suddenly swept away. Zhou Tong also made up some of his and Li Meng's experience of panning for gold outside and told them. The family was overjoyed and convinced.

After Zhou Tong went back, he remembered that the Taoist priest said that he would not live for more than three days, so he wanted to hurry back to avoid death in a foreign land. The next morning, Zhou Tong ignored Wang Er's repeated attempts to keep him and insisted on leaving home.

After walking for a while, Zhou Tong came to a hillside, feeling tired and hungry, so he found a sunny place to sit and rest, but unexpectedly fell asleep.

Sleeping soundly, he suddenly heard someone calling softly. When he opened his eyes, he saw a man standing in front of him with a horse. The man asked, "Brother Zhou Tong?"

Zhou Tong stood up and nodded blankly. The man bowed and said, "I finally caught up with my benefactor!"

Zhou Tong hurried forward to help him, and after asking, he found that this person was Li Meng. It was such a coincidence that Li Meng had been away from home for five years, but after Zhou Tong left, he returned home. After learning what had happened, he quickly chased after him.

Just as Zhou Tong was about to speak, he heard a loud "boom" behind him. When he looked back, he was immediately shocked by a cold sweat. It turned out that a mountain rock suddenly rolled down from the mountain, and it happened to hit the place where Zhou Tong was sleeping just now, smashing a big hole in the ground.

Zhou Tong knew this in his heart. It seemed that what the Taoist priest had said was true. He was going to be punished by God." If Li Meng hadn't come to wake him up just now, he must have been killed by the boulder.

After Li Meng returned the money, he gave him his horse in order to let Zhou Tong go home earlier.

Zhou Tong rode home, but met Daoist Yunyou again on the way. The Daoist also recognized Zhou Tong, and after looking at him carefully, the Daoist looked puzzled and said, "Why, the black gas in your Inscription Hall is gone?"

Zhou Tong was a little surprised when he heard that, and hurriedly told him what had happened in the past two days.

After hearing this, the Taoist priest thought for a long time, shook his head and said, "According to what you said, your sins are not light. Even if you do good deeds and can escape a calamity, you should be smashed into a disability by a mountain stone. How can you be unscathed?"

Zhou Tong was very happy when he heard that he didn't have to die, and he didn't care what the Taoist priest said. He just wanted to go home quickly, bid farewell to the Taoist priest, and rush back quickly. On the way, he finally got home safely, Zhou Tong was finally relieved.

Seeing his son who had been away for five years return safely, Zhou Tong's parents couldn't stop crying. After talking about family affairs, his father took out a letter and said, "I have received the fifty taels of silver you asked someone to bring a few days ago, and the person who came left you a letter."

When Zhou Tong heard that, he was very surprised. He thought to himself, when did I ask someone to bring back the silver? He hurriedly opened the letter and saw that it read: "Brother Zhou Tong, it's not easy to earn money when you go out, so you really shouldn't waste it like this. The dish you ate was actually cut into the shape of a thrush tongue by the chef with purslane. Now give back fifty taels of silver, I hope you don't blame me!"

After reading the letter, Zhou Tong suddenly felt ashamed. Only then did he realize that Wang Er had made the "thrush tongue" with purslane, which relieved his sins and escaped because he had done a good deed.

Later, the story of the thrush tongue spread. Until now, in many restaurants in Shanxi, you can still see "fried thrush tongue" made of purslane!