During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a martial artist named Chu Erhuzi in the North Township of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. This person was tall, but his martial arts skills were ordinary. With a burly figure and beard on his face, he became an escort for darts. Once, Chu Erhuzi was a wealthy merchant who escorted 20,000 taels of silver from the capital to Suzhou. When Chu Erhuzi passed through Shandong, because it was getting late, he planned to stay at an inn by the roadside for a night's rest and set off the next morning.
Who knew that owner of the inn said to Chu Erhu Zi, "The guest officer is very sorry, the rooms in my inn are full, you should find a place to stay elsewhere." At that time, it was already dark, and where to find an inn, Chu Erhu Zi repeatedly begged the owner to let him stay for one night. Seeing Chu Erhu's request, it was not easy for the owner to refuse, so he pointed to a small house and said to Chu Erhu Zi, "Since you really can't find a place to sleep, I will make it convenient for you. There is also a small room over there, you can stay in it for one night."
Chu Erhuzi hurriedly thanked the shop owner and said, "Thank you, thank you!" The shop owner said, "You don't need to thank me, I have to make it clear to you that there is already one person living in the wing, and there is only one bed in the room. You have to live with him. If you don't want to, you can leave now." Chu Erhuzi smiled and said, "They are all old men walking in the rivers and lakes, how can they be so poor and particular, it's good to have a place to sleep." Saying that, Chu Erhuzi paid the owner for the house, then packed up and moved into the small wing.
After entering, Chu Erhu saw a thin, dry old man sitting on the bed, hugging his knees, so he started chatting with the old man. After talking, Chu Erhu learned that the old man was a small vendor of dates. After a while, the owner came over with a candle, then brought two more dinners for the old man and Chu Erhu to eat, and then closed the door and went out.
The old man and Chu Erhu Zi were left in the room, and as they ate dinner, they gossiped and chatted happily. It was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the weather was extremely cold, so Chu Erhu had already put on a leather jacket. However, after entering the wing, he found that although there was no stove, the room was getting warmer and warmer. Chu Erhu thought that the room was so warm because there was no wind, and it was not too strange.
After the two ate dinner, they blew out the candles and slept with their clothes on. At the third watch, Chu Erhuzi woke up from the heat. He was so hot that he was sweating all over, so he touched the wall with his hands and found that the wall was very hot, so he couldn't help but be surprised. At that time, the moonlight was bright. Chu Erhuzi raised his eyes to look at the old man, and found that the old man had already sat up and was staring at him.
The old man smiled and said to Chu Erhu, "You have the guts to carry 20,000 silver bodyguards alone, and you dare to sleep in this remote place, and you sleep so deeply. Do you know that I have just observed that the four walls of this small wing are made of fine iron, and there are only three wooden rafters on the roof. The door has been locked by the owner from the outside, and the window lattice is also made of fine iron, which can only be transmitted to light and cannot be passed through. Now the owner wants to burn the two of us to death, and if we can break out, we will have a chance of survival, otherwise we will die tragically in this room."
Chu Erhu was shocked and didn't know what to do for a while. The old man comforted Chu Erhu and said, "You don't need to worry, I also brought 3,000 taels of silver and hid it in the pillow. I have already thought of a way out, but you have to tell me what you are capable of, and I need your help." Chu Erhu said, "I... I don't have any ability, please save me."
The old man looked at Chu Erhu and smiled helplessly, let Chu Erhu take off the lake silk belt around her waist, and then twisted it with his hand, and the belt was instantly twisted into a rope. The old man said to Chu Erhu, "That's it." After saying this, the old man jumped down, broke the wooden rafter of the roof with his head, climbed out of the broken hole, and stood on the roof. Then the old man stretched out the belt, let Chu Erhu grab the belt and jump up, and at the same time, the old man pulled Chu Erhu to the roof with a force.
The two had just jumped off the roof when the shop owner saw that the two were not dead, so he brought a few people with knives, guns and sticks and was about to commit murder. The old man was highly skilled in martial arts and grabbed a knife at will, fought with the shop owner and others, and soon beat the shop owner and several others away.
Seeing that the shop owner had run away, the old man hurriedly asked Chu Erhuzi to pack up and leave this place right and wrong. When he arrived at a safe place, the old man gave Chu Erhuzi a hand and said, "It's safe here, little brother, let's say goodbye!" After saying this, he disappeared into the vast darkness.
Chu Erhuzi was still in shock, and at this time, he was so afraid that he trembled all over, and even forgot to say thank you. After he shipped silver to Suzhou, he felt that the rivers and lakes were sinister, and his martial arts skills were low and not suitable for this line of work, so he washed his hands and changed his career to become an orthopedic doctor, and lived the rest of his life safely.