Zhang Wang was very popular in the village, did beautiful things, was warm, and could deal with anyone well. The villagers praised him, and he was proud of it. Seeing that the old village director was getting old and about to be elected, Zhang Wang felt that he was the perfect candidate for the village director.

One day, Zhang Wang went into the city to do business and saw an old man on the side of the road selling medicine, all of which were Chinese herbal medicines and the like. A strong wind blew the medicine over the old man's stall flying around, and the old man was in a hurry to pick it up. Zhang Wang hurried over to help, but finally he didn't blow it away. The old man was very grateful to Zhang Wang and asked him if he had any diseases, saying that he was an ancestral craft, and that he could not cure major diseases, but minor diseases were fine.

Zhang Wang thought it was funny and said casually, "There's nothing wrong with it, but I was shaken when the firecrackers were fired during the Chinese New Year, and my ears have been a little buzzing. The doctor said to recover slowly. What's the matter, can you cure it?"

The old man thought for a while and found a small box from a pile of herbs. He saw a pill in it. He handed it to Zhang Wang and said, "This is an ancestral product of my family, called Shunfeng ear. My own ears are good, and no one is willing to spend money to buy it, so I will give it to you. It is estimated that there is still some curative effect." Zhang Wang was generous, so he accepted it and stuffed it into his pocket.

After dinner at night, Zhang Wang lay down to sleep, his ears buzzing uncomfortably, and he suddenly remembered the pill. He thought to himself that the old man would never give him any poison, even if it didn't work, he wouldn't suffer any loss. So he got up and took the medicine. The medicine was quite bitter, but fortunately it was small, and he swallowed it in one bite. Unexpectedly, after a while, his ears really didn't buzz. Zhang Wangle was broken, and he thought that he would definitely give the old man the medicine money next time he went to town, and fell asleep after thinking about it.

After sleeping for a long time, Zhang Wang suddenly felt someone whispering in his ear, "Zhang Wang didn't do well." Zhang Wang was startled and thought to himself, who ran into the house? His wife went back to her mother's house and he slept alone. Could it be that he was a thief? He opened his eyes and looked around, but couldn't see anyone. In confusion, the voice next to his ear rang again, as if someone was whispering in his ear. Although the voice was small, it was very clear.

Zhang Wang was scared enough at first, but then curiosity overcame his fear, and he began to listen intently to what the voice said. Only to hear the voice say: "Our little flower is so beautiful, he is not willing to do anything about Zhang Wang, and the daughter-in-law he finally married is not much better. He returns to his mother's house twice in three days. Zhang Wang can't cook, and as soon as his daughter-in-law returns to his mother's house, he has to eat steamed buns and pickles. I think he brought it on himself. If he married our little flower, how could this happen?" At this time, another woman's voice came: "That's right, he has no eyeballs, and he brings it on himself!"

Hearing this, Zhang Wang understood. This was the voice of Lao Wang and his daughter-in-law next door. Originally, Lao Wang wanted to marry his daughter to him, but he married a high school classmate. Seeing that the couple were usually very polite to him, he didn't expect to say this about himself behind his back. Zhang Wang got angry and shouted, "Don't talk nonsense, my mother-in-law is not in good health, and my daughter-in-law often goes home to see what's wrong? Why do you say I deserve it?"

But after he shouted this sentence, there was no response from the other side. He still chatted as usual. After a few words, Lao Wang said, "Get up and cook, you have to go to the city to sell vegetables later."

Only then did Zhang Wang realize that it was still midnight, and the couple had to get up because they were going to the city to catch the morning market. Although they were neighbors, they couldn't hear their shouts across several walls. But strangely, how could he hear them?

Just as he was confused, he couldn't hear the voice from the next door. Zhang Wang thought it couldn't be that he hadn't woken up from a dream, so he turned around and went to sleep. After a while, there was another sound in his ear, this time Zhang Wang was prepared, not afraid, and listened intently. This time it was the voice of Lao Liu's family, which was in the east of the village, three miles away from Zhang Wang's family, but the voice was as clear as that of Lao Wang's family. I only heard Lao Liu's wife saying: "This Zhang Wangjing bragged that his brother is an official in the city, but he can find a car repair job for our second child. I thought he was very capable." Lao Liu didn't speak, he was always afraid of his wife, and it was always his wife who said it, and he listened.

When Zhang Wang heard that, he couldn't help but feel angry and wronged. His brother worked in a high-tech company in the city and was just a department manager. Old Liu's second son, Liu Xiaoer, didn't get into college, so what could he do in a high-tech company? Besides, Liu Xiaoer likes to play with cars, so Brother Zhang Wang still asked two talents to find him a job in an auto repair shop. Zhang Wang also invited his brother to drink and thank him for this, but he didn't expect that he was still dissatisfied!

This time, Zhang Wang couldn't sleep at all. The next day, he saw the old Wang couple selling vegetables next door and felt a little embarrassed, but the old Wang still greeted him warmly and chatted for a while before leaving. Later, Zhang Wang saw the old Liu couple again, and the couple couldn't stop thanking Zhang Wang for taking the trouble to find a job for their son in the city. Zhang Wang was so depressed, but he could only pretend that nothing had happened.

On that day, Zhang Wang's ears were not clear, and he could hear the whole village talking about him behind his back. He discovered a pattern, his tailwind ears are selective, others say other things he can't hear, as long as the word "Zhang Wang" is said, he can hear it immediately. Some people say good things about him, but very few. Generally speaking of a family, he is at most half good and half bad.

Zhang Wang was very depressed. He thought he was sure of being the village director, but now he was far from that optimism. He rode his bicycle into the city to relax, but he didn't expect the old man to still sell medicine there. Zhang Wang stopped the car and went forward to say hello. The old man saw him and asked happily, "Is that medicine good?" Zhang Wang angrily said, "It's good, but it's too good."

After listening to Zhang Wang's complaints, the old man couldn't help but laugh and said, "Have you ever heard of scolding the emperor behind his back?" Zhang Wang nodded, and the old man continued, "Some people think that this means that no one cares what is said behind his back, but in fact they misunderstand. The real meaning of these words is that even if you become the emperor, you will inevitably be scolded behind your back. I can see that you are a good person, but no one scolds you behind your back. Good people are not perfect, and there are always imperfections in their work, so there will be people talking behind your back. Because you can only hear other people talking about you, I thought, maybe everyone talking about other people's words behind their backs is far worse than you."

Zhang Wang was skeptical and said, "Is that really the case?"

The old man nodded and said, "Think about it, if you didn't hear these discussions at all, wouldn't you be very happy? Isn't everyone treating you very well? Now these situations have not changed, it's just that you are uncomfortable."

If Zhang Wang realized something, it seemed that having a tailwind ear might not be a good thing. The old man comforted him and said he was fine. This was probably a side effect of the pill, and it might disappear in two days.

Two days later, the village elected the village director, and Zhang Wang was elected with an absolute majority of votes. Zhang Wang was both surprised and happy. It seemed that the old man was right.

Strange to say, the effect of the medicine disappeared that night, and just before it disappeared, Zhang Wang heard Old Liu's wife say, "Xiao Er called and said that he had done well in the factory, and that he would learn his skills and go home to open a repair shop in the future. Who told him that if he didn't study hard, he would have to eat hard food. If it weren't for Zhang Wang, he wouldn't even be able to eat hard food."

After listening, Zhang Wang couldn't help but laugh, and then he heard the last sentence, which was said by the old Wang couple next door: "If Zhang Wang's daughter-in-law doesn't come back today, let's give him a bowl of chicken stewed mushrooms at home. How about eating pickles every day?"

That night, Zhang Wang slept very soundly.