Chinese folktale: Mo Hong! A man is wilting

The old street was considered a "cursed place". Legend had it that there was once an earth dragon beneath the old street, which was meant to be the birthplace of kings and nobles. However, in some ancient time, someone built a brick kiln here and burned the dragon to death. With the dragon's death, the old street became a cursed place.

Cursed places had cursed events. For instance, during the New Year, if a household accidentally posted the couplets wrongly, which was normally not a big deal, unexpectedly, the patriarch of the household would die the next day. Similarly, if a household's kerosene lamp couldn't be blown out at night, the head of the household would pass away the next day.

With so many cursed events, people thought of ways to "ward off evil". There were many methods to ward off evil, and even the local doctor in the old street would often attach things like a piece of fire paper or a rock from Mount Tai to the prescription as a way to ward off evil. Another method to ward off evil was called "mohong". If someone inadvertently said something unlucky, they would immediately have to touch something red. Red could ward off evil, which was the meaning of "mohong".

One day, on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, there happened to be a temple fair. A young boy named Liuzi went to the fair with his older brother. The streets were crowded with people, and Liuzi was overjoyed. At this moment, a voice called out from a distance, someone was selling rice cakes. Liuzi told his older brother, "I want Nianba."

Nianba, was the nickname for rice cakes. Liuzi didn't realize that as soon as he said this, it caused trouble. He didn't get to eat the Nianba, but was instead kicked hard by his older brother who shouted, "Touch red quickly!"

Did saying this also require mohong? It turned out that Nianba sounded similar to "Nianba", which in the local dialect meant impotent.

Liuzi was only ten years old and didn't understand this. However, seeing his older brother so anxious, Liuzi knew it couldn't be good, so he quickly looked for something red to touch. But Liuzi was small and getting squashed in the crowd. Looking around, all he could see were legs. Where could he find something red to touch? In his panic, Liuzi saw a pair of red embroidered shoes through the gaps between people's legs. Without hesitation, he crawled towards them. After crawling for what seemed like ages, he finally reached the shoes. Liuzi stretched out his hand to touch them, but just as he was about to, a foot suddenly kicked him, sending him tumbling onto his back...

This time, it was a servant from the local oil merchant Haiye's household who kicked him. The servant was like a bodyguard, and the girl wearing the embroidered shoes was Haiye's granddaughter, Xiaoqin, who was eight years old. Haiye was from Lingshi in Shanxi, and in Lingshi, it was taboo for women's feet to be touched.

"Oh no!" Liuzi cried out in pain, feeling wronged. He couldn't understand why he couldn't just touch the girl's shoes, and he hadn't even touched them yet. Why did she kick him? The servant had kicked Liuzi when there were many people around, and it was crowded. It was done quickly and with his foot, so Xiaoqin didn't see it. She heard Liuzi crying and felt sorry for him, so she turned to look. By this time, the servant was leading Xiaoqin back home, but Xiaoqin struggled free and walked over to Liuzi. She handed him her sugar gourd and smiled at him, wanting to say something, but was persuaded away by the servant.

From that day on, the image of the two butterflies deeply imprinted itself in Liuzi's heart. Liuzi visited Haiye's mansion every day, walking back and forth in front of it, hoping to catch a glimpse of Xiaoqin and her red embroidered shoes with the golden flower.

Two years later, Haiye's family offended a gang of bandits from Shandong. One day, the bandits entered the city and wiped out Haiye's entire family. Coincidentally, Xiaoqin and her mother had gone to her maternal grandmother's home that day, narrowly escaping death. However, there was no news of Xiaoqin after that.

It was too late to save her, but Liuzi used all his connections and spent a great deal of money to secretly meet Xiaoqin in prison. At that time, Xiaoqin was covered in injuries, propped up against the corner of the wall, and on the brink of death.

Liuzi walked forward and squatted in front of Xiaoqin, softly calling out, 'Hey, wake up—' At this moment, Xiaoqin's consciousness was already fuzzy. She opened her eyes and saw a strange man who was dark-complexioned and burly squatting next to her. She couldn't help but be startled and involuntarily shrank back.

At this time, Liuzi's eyes were already moist. He wiped his eyes and choked back tears as he said, 'Don't be afraid, look what I've brought you—' As he spoke, he unwrapped a piece of red silk...

'Sugar gourd—' Xiaoqin was surprised. She couldn't understand why this strange man in front of her would bring her a sugar gourd. In addition to the sugar gourd, there was also a pair of red embroidered shoes. Liuzi wanted Xiaoqin to put on the red embroidered shoes so that he could touch red.

When Xiaoqin understood what was going on, she smiled bitterly and sighed deeply.

No one could say for sure whether Liuzi touched red or not in the prison cell. Some said he did, while others said he didn't. It was difficult to distinguish truth from fiction in folklores. But one thing was certain: Xiaoqin did wear the red embroidered shoes because the people of the city saw it—two days later, when Xiaoqin was escorted to the execution ground, the female hero wore a pair of bright red embroidered shoes on her feet. The shoes were embroidered with a pair of playing mandarin ducks, which were lifelike, just like the shoes a bride would wear on her wedding day. Xiaoqin smiled and faced death bravely.

The story didn't end there. Soon, there was an anti-Japanese team near the county town that appeared and disappeared mysteriously. The leader of the team was expert in marksmanship, and when they cooperated with the Eighth Route Army to attack the county town, the bullets hit the machine gun nest of the Japanese fort. This person was none other than Liuzi.

Liuzi often said that he would never forget a word Xiaoqin said to him in prison: 'The real spirit of a man lies in his soul, not his body!'"

When Liuzi passed away, he was eighty-five years old and died a natural death.Lived very happily in old age.