Ten months later, in the bustling capital of the Lower Realm's Eastern Land, the wife of Pei Weiguo, the emperor's most virtuous minister, gave birth to a son, named Pei Shi'en.
Needless to say, Pei Shi'en has been very smart since he was a child. The good thing is that he pities all kinds of creatures, has a kind attitude, and is usually compassionate and willing to give up. It snowed for several days that winter, and the world was filled with jade and silver. The beauty is beautiful, but the birds outside are suffering because they are cold, hungry and have nowhere to rest.
When the window of Pei Wei's state room just opened, two birds flew in. His wife was about to shout and drive her away, but Xiao Shi En looked at her and shook her hand towards her mother, saying, "Mom, don't drive these two birds away. They are very pitiful. They only come into the window to keep warm when the weather is too cold. We must treat them kindly." .
Pei Shi'en quietly went back to the inner room, grabbed a handful of millet, and sprinkled it on the window sill, which was regarded as feeding the two birds. When the mother saw it, she praised her and said, "Show me your kindness, my son. You really have a Bodhisattva heart. Yes, yes."
Unexpectedly, more than ten years later, Pei Shi'en was in his weakest years, in his prime, and became the number one scholar. He was quickly appointed by the imperial court. He acted as a public servant and was highly valued by the emperor. When he was thirty years old, he was promoted to governor. , known as the Governor.
Once, Pei Shi'en was on patrol in the south of the Yangtze River. He set up his sedan chair and prepared horses for several days. When passing through Xinghua Village, it was raining and the road was slippery, making it difficult to walk. The accompanying officials asked the governor to rest in the post house.
Pei Shien passed through many places on patrol in the past few days and was quite tired. After staying at the Xinghua Village Posthouse, he fell asleep. He gradually fell into a dream, not thinking it was a dream, but he still vaguely heard the cry of a child. Pei Shi'en looked around and saw a boy crawling up from the ditch under a stone arch bridge. There was a mole on the tip of his nose. He was dripping wet and kept crying. Pei Shien gently touched his official robe and was about to approach the boy. The boy suddenly disappeared, and the cry also disappeared.
For two nights in a row, I had the same dream. On the third day, the weather cleared up, and the officials wanted to prepare a sedan for Pei Shi'en to go on the road. Unexpectedly, Pei Shi'en told everyone about his dream of a boy climbing up from the ditch under the arch bridge. He also said that there must be some injustice involved. I plan to settle this unjust case before leaving.
At that moment, Pei Shi'en led the accompanying officials around Xinghua Village on foot, and found that there was indeed a stone arch bridge at the west end of the village, which was exactly the same as what he had seen in his dream, except that he did not see the boy with a mole on the tip of his nose.
Pei Shien and his accompanying officials visited the people in the village and asked about a woman wearing a headscarf. She turned away, sobbed, and said nothing. A white-haired old man came close to them and whispered, "Looking at the official uniforms you are wearing, you are not ordinary people. Why can't you tell that you are doing such a simple thing?"
That woman is my cousin's daughter-in-law. Half a month ago, her son Wu Yun drowned in the ditch under the stone arch bridge. The person who died was an only son. Can you not be sad when you mention her son? It was like poking a painful spot in her heart. How could she still be in the mood to talk?
Pei Shien said, I'm just asking. Because it's been raining these days, I was resting in your Xinghua Village Inn. For three consecutive nights, I dreamed of a boy with a mole on the tip of his nose crawling through the ditch under the stone arch bridge. Get up and howl.
The white-haired old man said, what's that? Dreaming! Pei Shien stroked the green beard on his chin. To be honest, I think there must be a reason for this. Why did I dream about Wu Yun?
The white-haired old man frowned and asked, "What's the reason?" The child Wu Yun was too naughty. He didn't play in the house, but he wanted to play on the stone arch bridge. He accidentally fell from the edge of the bridge into the ditch several meters deep. Not to mention that the child would drown, even if the adult fell. All will drown.
An accompanying official looked at Pei Shi'en and said, "Sir, since this is the situation and it's not a case, why bother with it?" let's go!
Suddenly he heard the lowing cry of a calf at the east end of the village. Pei Shi'en looked up and saw a cow grazing on the grass. She raised her head and looked at a calf jumping towards it from there.
Pei Shien looked back at several officials and said, "Let's do this!" I won’t leave today even if the weather is fine. I will stay one night in the Xinghua Village Post House. If I don’t have this dream tonight, I will get up in my sedan chair and hit the road tomorrow morning. If I still have the same dream, it means there must be some grievance. I must Find out this grievance before leaving.
The white-haired old man smiled and said, what's the grievance? Just like what I said, people have been dead for a long time. Pei Shien said, Uncle Wu, some things are not as simple as you think. Then he waved his hands to several accompanying officials and said to go back to the post house.
The white-haired old man immediately rushed to his cousin's house and told what Pei Shi'en had said in his own tone. The cousin was quite surprised, and then said to himself, could it be that he was killed by someone and then thrown under the arch bridge? The sister-in-law standing on the side said, our family has no enmity with anyone, who would kill our son?
The white-haired old man looked at his cousin and said, Wu Youfu, please recall, have you offended anyone recently? Wu Youfu moved his eyes a few times and said, Brother Yougui, I haven't offended anyone recently. Wu Yougui asked again, have you ever offended anyone before? Wu Youfu said he couldn't remember. Wu Yougui asked his sister-in-law again, Fenxiang, have you offended anyone recently or before? Fenxiang shook her head and actually loosened the floral scarf wrapped around her head. She raised her hand to tie it tightly.
At this moment, she suddenly remembered that there was a vegetarian mother in her family, known as Zhai Mom, who had some magical powers. After a person dies, his or her living relatives often communicate with the deceased through the practice of Zhai Ma and learn about some unknown situations.
In fact, the so-called practice of Zhai Ma is to hold a floral towel, shake it in the air, recite incantations, in order to attract the spirit to possess it, and tell or be asked some things that living people in the world do not understand.
Afterwards, Zhai Ma wrapped the floral towel around her head. Now Fenxiang is imitating Zhai Ma, and also wraps a floral towel on her head, hoping to have some magical powers. But no matter how long she wore this kind of headdress, or even if it became a habit, she still had no magical powers.
So, Fenxiang said to her husband, Youfu, I have an idea. Come with me to your parents' home, ask Zhai Ma to summon her son's soul to possess her, and tell her the reason for his death. In the end, someone else secretly killed him. , or he accidentally fell into the ditch under the arch bridge and drowned.
If it was someone else who secretly killed him, it would be an unjust case; if not, we would just let it go and no matter what the governor's dream was, we wouldn't care if the city was full of rumors.
Wu Youfu said, let’s go now! Wu Yougui also said, you should go quickly. If Governor Pei leaves tomorrow, even if you ask Zhai Ma about the cause of the child's death and feel grievances, it will be troublesome to appeal to the local government. It is better to take advantage of Governor Pei before he leaves Xinghua Village. , strike while the iron is hot and ask him to accept the case and catch the murderer of the child, so as to comfort the souls of the deceased.
The couple thought Wu Yougui was right. They left Xinghua Village to find Zhai Ma that day and hurried back at night.
Since Pei Shi'en stayed in the Xinghua Village Posthouse all night without having the same terrifying dream, early in the morning, he got on the official sedan and was about to leave with his entourage.
Suddenly, a couple blocked the official sedan and shouted loudly, "Master Governor, my son died unjustly!" Please stay and make decisions for the common people...
