Once upon a time, there were two brothers surnamed Chen who lost both of their parents when they were young and relied on each other for survival. My older brother makes tofu and asks my younger brother to sell it every day. After a few years, my older brother got married, but my sister-in-law had very bad intentions. My younger brother sells tofu to have food to eat, and if he sells tofu, he has food to eat. One day, with strong winds and heavy rain, my younger brother picked up a load of tofu and dozed off on the pavilion.
A tailor went to his employer to make clothes. When he arrived at the pavilion and saw Chen Lao’er dozing off, he woke him up and said, “Chen Lao’er, the rain has stopped, go sell tofu quickly.” Chen Lao’er said, “Tofu can’t be sold today.” The tailor said, “Then won’t you go back to eat?” Chen Lao’er said, “Tofu can only be eaten when you go back. My sister-in-law doesn’t know how evil it is.” The tailor said, “If you can’t trust such a sister-in-law, don’t sell tofu. Why don’t you learn tailoring from me?” Chen Lao’er said, “If you’re willing to accept me, of course I’m willing to go
Chen Lao’er went to the owner’s house and learned how to make a tailor from a tailor master. It takes six months to complete. On this day, the son of the boss of the employer was going to get married, but the boss’s cub looked really ugly. How could he marry someone else’s daughter? At night, the owner of the shop said to his wife, “I have an idea.” His wife asked, “What idea. The next day, the owner told the tailor about this idea. The tailor said to his apprentice, “Chen Lao Er, I want to borrow something from you. Are you willing?” Chen Lao Er said, “As long as I have it, I’m willing.” The master immediately called Chen Lao Er into the room and explained his meaning. Chen Lao’er was indeed unwilling in his heart. But the master spoke up and had a solution, so he had to agree.
The next day, Chen Laoer put on his father-in-law’s clothes and went to the woman’s house. As soon as it arrived, the weather changed, with rain and snow falling incessantly. The father-in-law said, “Good son-in-law! Today was supposed to be the day of wedding candles, and the weather is not good. You can stay in my house and go back
At night, Chen Lao’er was extremely anxious and thought to himself, ‘I’m just meeting face-to-face. It’s not easy to pay the bill when we go back to the same room. What should we do?’? I had to pretend to read a book, but I couldn’t read, so I flipped through it haphazardly. The young lady saw her husband reading late and said, “Your Highness, it’s late at night. Come rest quickly and take care of your health.” Chen Lao’er said, “You go to sleep first, I’ll take a look.” On the first day, Chen Lao’er sat until dawn and didn’t go to the young lady’s bed.
The next day, it was still snowing. What should I do? At night, Chen Lao’er reads again. The young lady thought to herself, there are people there who read all night yesterday and read again today. I shouted a few more times but didn’t come. The young lady got angry and came to pull him to bed. Chen Lao Er waved his hand, and the young lady pulled down a gold ring from his hand. Seeing her name on it, she was even more puzzled.
Originally, six months ago one day, an old man came to the pavilion with a handbag to rest. As soon as the heavy rain stopped, the old man hurriedly left and forgot his bundle in the pavilion. Chen Lao’er picked up this bundle while selling tofu and passing by the pavilion. He was selling tofu while waiting for someone to come and collect the package, but the tofu was sold out and no one came to collect it yet. After waiting for a long time, the old man came back and found his bundle. He was very grateful to Chen Lao’er and said, “Chen Lao’er, I can’t thank you enough. Let’s divide the things in this bundle equally to show my feelings.” Chen Lao’er quickly said, “No, no,” after a long struggle. One wanted to give and the other didn’t. The old man came up with a solution and said, “If you don’t want the things, I’ll give you a ring as a souvenir. This is to compensate my daughter for her marriage. Her name is printed on it. If you don’t accept them anymore, I will be angry.” Chen Lao’er saw the old man’s sincerity and only accepted this ring.
Today, when the young lady received this ring and saw her own name, she came to ask her father, “I don’t know why this husband read all night yesterday and all night today. I told him to go to bed, but he refused. I pulled off a ring with my name on it. What’s going on? I don’t even know when you gave it to him.” The father said, “I don’t have it!” The daughter showed the ring to her father, and he remembered what happened six months ago when he saw it. The daughter said, “Oh my, this prime minister is not the one you’re right with. He’s Chen Lao’er, who sells tofu. No wonder I always feel familiar with him but dare not reveal it. Chen Lao’er has a good conscience, but there must be something interesting inside this time.” She went to the new house to ask Chen Lao’er. Chen Lao’er said, “To be honest with you, ever since I got this gold ring that day, I have been learning how to make a tailor for half a year. Your in laws invited me to come and make a face, how dare I go to bed
When the old man and his daughter heard this, they liked Chen Lao’er even more. The old man said, “Let’s make things clear. If it’s none of your business, you can sleep with the young lady.” Chen Lao’er was very happy after hearing this and slept with the young lady that night, becoming husband and wife.
After a few days, the weather cleared up. The old man thought, how should this matter be resolved? Finally, come up with a good solution and send the maid over.
From then on, Chen Lao’er neither sold tofu nor worked as a tailor. With the company of his wife, he studied poetry and books diligently every day for several years. He went to the capital to take the imperial examination and won the first place in the imperial examination.
Since Chen Lao’er left home, the eldest brother has been searching for a long time without finding him, and his sister-in-law also regrets his poor work. On that day, when I saw Ba carrying the sedan chair and bringing the second child over, I was shocked. My brother and sister-in-law were both happy and ashamed, and kept apologizing to the second child. The second son said, “Sister in law, stop talking. I should thank you. If it weren’t for Sister in law’s bad treatment of me, how could I have left this family? How could I have become a top scholar? I would still be selling tofu for the rest of my life.” This made everyone burst into laughter.
