At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a family surnamed Qian in Fuzhou City. The Qian family was considered a wealthy family three generations ago, but when it came to Qian Dayou, it was in decline. Not only was the family poor, but in times of famine, it was common to have no rice in the pot.
That year, Qian Dayou's six-year-old son had acne, and the family didn't even have money to buy medicine for mulberry leaves and pig tails. His wife wiped away tears while holding her sick son, complaining that the money was too rich. Qian Dayou was upset when he heard that, so he carried his head and went to the Qian family's old ancestral hall in anger. When the Qian family was prosperous, when the Qian family sacrificed the ancestral hall during festivals, he always buried some gold and silver money in the surrounding soil for good luck. Later generations inadvertently dug up the soil and dug up gold and silver corners. In earlier years, when the family couldn't open the pot, Qian Dayou came to dig the ground, and now the ancestral hall has been dug up by him.
This time he was covered in stinky sweat, and he didn't even get a copper. Qian Dayou was tired and stuffy, so he raised his head and kowtowed to the stone lion that was the guard next to him. When he kowtowed to the stone lion, he made a strange sound, as if the stone lion was hollow inside. Qian Dayou gave a shock and carefully smashed a corner. After careful inspection, he found that there was a white jade tiger the size of a pillow in the belly of the stone lion. The jade tiger was meticulously carved and lifelike, and it was worth a lot of money at first glance. After taking out the jade tiger, the ecstatic money stretched out for a long time, and there was nothing else in the stone lion's abdomen, only a few lines of small characters engraved on the stone wall in the abdomen, to the effect that the ancestors of the Qian family knew the truth of "wealth does not pass to three generations", so they hid this jade tiger. If the descendants are poor, they can exchange the jade tiger for money to get through the difficulties, but when the family business revives in the future, they must redeem the jade tiger.
Qian Dayou was surprised and delighted, and hurried to the pawn shop. When he walked out of the pawnshop, the jade tiger had turned into a few hundred taels of white silver. Back home, Qian Dayou knelt down in front of the ancestral tablet and swore to the sky: "Thanks to the blessing of my ancestors, I, Qian Dayou, can finally get through this difficult time. When my family business is revitalized in the future, I will definitely redeem the jade tiger."
With the capital, Qian Dayou started a tea business. The ancestors of the Qian family were in the tea business, and they were influenced by it when they were young, so Qian Dayou knew the tea ceremony. After a few years, Qian Dayou was released, and the first thing he did was beat gongs and drums to redeem the jade tiger from the pawnshop.
This year, the Taiping Army caused chaos in the world. One morning, as soon as the man opened the door, a group of officers and soldiers swarmed in all of a sudden. When they saw the money, they took the goods, and the whole box of high-quality tea leaves was moved to the carriage. Before leaving, the leader, General Zuo, looked at the toad and threw a sign to Qian Da: "The court has an order, let us borrow some food."
Qian Dayou read the list and was dumbfounded. It turned out that the Eight Banners soldiers of the Imperial Court could not defeat the Taiping Army, so they ordered the Green Camp Han Army to be formed in various places to suppress the rebellion and suppress the bandits. War requires soldiers, and soldiers must be paid grain and salaries, and grain and salaries require money. The imperial court had no money, so it wrote a list, asking the officers and soldiers who won the war to go to the rich merchants in the city to "borrow", saying that they "borrow", which is actually a blatant robbery. Qian Dayou's hard-earned family business and shops full of tea leaves were "borrowed" by a group of officers and soldiers, like wolves and tigers.
Looking at the wolves all over the place, Qian wanted to cry but not cry. The new ten carts of tea leaves in the shop already have customers, and the deposit has been accepted. Now that the money is gone, and the tea leaves are gone, how can I compensate them?
The next day, he took out the white jade tiger from the cellar in the backyard alone. Returning to the room, Qian Dayou rubbed the jade tiger with mixed feelings, and now he can only use the jade tiger again. But although the jade tiger is valuable, it is only seven or eight hundred taels of silver, and it costs two thousand taels for ten carts of tea leaves. It is not enough to take the jade tiger to the pawnshop twice!
When he was in a dilemma, his palm suddenly came into contact with the concave and convex feeling in the abdomen of the jade tiger, and he found a line of subtle handwriting engraved on the abdomen of the jade tiger by the light outside the house: If the jade tiger has limited ability and cannot help future generations get through this difficult time, there must be a way to save it with a hammer.
Qian Dayou was startled. This white jade is different from gold, silver, copper and iron. Will it not be smashed with a hammer? At that time, let alone seven or eight hundred taels of silver, even if it is given for free, no one will want it.
After hesitating again and again, Qian Dayou found a hammer, gritted his teeth, and closed his eyes, and the jade tiger clattered and shattered into a pile. Qian Dayou was about to regret it, but he found that there was a green thing shining in the broken jade, and he couldn't help but exclaiming. The jade tiger was also hollow, and there was a fist-sized jade bird hidden inside.
Although white jade was valuable, it was not as valuable as this high-quality green jade. With this jade bird, Qian Dayou finally compensated his customers for the deposit. Those old customers understood his difficulties, and their business was not greatly affected. Therefore, two years later, the Qian family was prosperous again. Qian Dayou redeemed the jade bird from the pawnshop again.
This summer, a young man surnamed Yang came to Qian Da's tea shop. Young Master Yang was generous, and every time he came to the tea shop, he would always buy a large number of high-quality tea leaves. He was also proficient in tea ceremony and had a good conversation with Qian Da.
One day, Young Master Yang came to visit again. Just as Qian Dayou was about to order the man to make tea, Young Master Yang took out a tea bag from his arms with a smile and mysteriously said, "Boss Qian, I always drink your tea every time I come here.
Young Master Yang opened the tea bag and saw that the tea leaves inside were black, like sun-dried worms. Young Master Yang first washed the tea bowl with clean water three times, then carefully picked up a piece of tea with a wooden clip, put it in the tea bowl, and then brewed it with boiling water. After the tea leaves rolled and floated in the boiling water, they gradually turned from black to yellow, and slowly stretched out.
"Great tea!" Qian Dayou took a deep breath and couldn't help but admire.
Young Master Yang smiled and told Qian Dayou that the tea was called Daughter Tea. Before leaving, Yang Gongzi gave Qian Dayou half a bag of his daughter's tea. Qian Dayou regarded the daughter's tea as a treasure and never took it out easily. He only took a few pieces of tea for guests during festivals.
On this day, Qian Dayou was talking to a few tea guests about tea and Taoism. People outside the door hissed, and Qian Dayou was confused. When he saw a chain put on his head, several yamen could not help but say it and took him to the lobby of the government office.
Qian Dayou shouted that he was wronged, and the prefect sneered and threw a bag of things on the ground: "Is this thing yours?" Qian Dayou saw that it was the tea given to his daughter by Young Master Yang, and nodded and said yes. The prefect said, "Then don't shout that you are wronged." He told Qian Dayou that this tea was not called daughter tea, but Taiping tea, which was the favorite tea of Yang Xiuqing, the east king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Young Master Yang was not a tea merchant, but Yang Xiuqing's youngest son.
After Qian Dayou was imprisoned, his son Qian Gui hurried up and down. Soon, the silver flowed into the pockets of the officials, teachers, and jailers, but the governor was a difficult bone to chew. He didn't care about silver, so the jade bird was sent in, and the governor also returned it as it was. Qian Dayou thought for a long time and asked Qian Gui to go home and take a closer look at the jade bird to see if there were any words or something on it. Qian Gui went back and looked for a long time, and finally found three words on the wings of the jade bird: Break it again.
Qian Gui was shocked, and Qian Dayou said, "Ancestor's words are right, just smash it."
After the jade bird was smashed, there was really something more valuable inside – a blood jade mantis. Blood jade is a treasure in jade, rare in the world and priceless.
The Prefect accepted the Blood Jade Mantis, and soon Qian Dayou's crime of fornication with a traitor was reduced to a small matter, and the trivial matter was reduced, and the sentence was finally light. After this lawsuit, Qian Dayou was discouraged by the world, so he sold the tea shop and moved his family to other places.
One winter ten years later, it was snowing heavily, and Qian Dayou was standing outside the door enjoying the snow. Two soldiers came from a distance, escorting a prisoner who was carrying shackles. The prisoner was shaggy and thinly dressed, shivering in the biting cold wind. Qian Dayou was moved with compassion, so he took some hot steamed buns and handed them to the prisoner, and gave him a cotton-padded coat to keep out the cold. The prisoner was full of gratitude, and while the guards were not paying attention, he quietly stuffed Qian Dayou with a paper bag. Qian Dayou went home and opened the paper bag, stunned, and inside it was the blood jade mantis that had been given to the prefect to save his life.
Qian Dayou suddenly remembered that the prisoner looked like the former prefect, right? Qian Dayou looked at the Blood Jade Mantis and suddenly burst out laughing. After laughing for a long time, he slowly fell to the ground.
After burying his father, Qian Gui guarded the Blood Jade Mantis and began to think. He carried the Blood Jade Mantis to the pawnshop, but after looking at it, the shopkeeper shook his head and said, This Blood Jade Mantis is indeed the most precious treasure in the world, but due to poor preservation, the Blood Jade has been contaminated with filth, so it has damaged the qi, and one of the front legs of the mantis has been bumped, so it has damaged the appearance.
Qian Gui was dumbfounded when he heard that. When he got home, his daughter-in-law saw his bitter gourd look and pointed at his forehead and said, "It's really a pig's head that doesn't understand. Have you forgotten how our father discovered this blood jade mantis in the first place?"
The words of the daughter-in-law woke up Qian Gui, maybe there are more valuable treasures in this blood jade mantis! Thinking of this, Qian Gui couldn't hold back any longer, so he quickly took a small hammer and smashed the blood jade mantis into pieces at once. After pulling in the broken jade, he really found a golden cicada carved with seven-colored agate the size of a finger. Qian Gui understood that agate is not uncommon, but this seven-colored agate is rare in the world. The little couple was like a treasure, carefully putting the golden cicada into a small box. Qian Gui went out to drink, and the daughter-in-law was busy cooking vegetables, ready to celebrate.
Qian Gui subconsciously went to touch the box where the golden cicada was placed, but found that it was empty. He shouted and jumped outside, only to see his eight-year-old son holding a hammer and looking at him with a smile.
Qian Gui was so angry that his whole body trembled, he grabbed his son's collar and shouted, "Little beast, what a good job you 've done!".
The son was so scared that he cried: "I see you smashed... Smashed a cicada from the praying mantis. I want to see what else can be smashed from the cicada."
Qian Gui's nose was crooked with anger: "What did you smash?"
The son stared timidly at the innocent little eyes and said, "There is nothing inside but broken stones."
"You, you, you..." Qian Gui looked at the seven-colored golden agate cicada that was broken into pieces and screamed like a wolf, "My baby, the treasure left by my ancestors!"