What is the content of the 43 rd episode of Liaozhai?

The main content of Chapter 43 of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Hu Mao:

Ma Tianrong is a vulgar, poor and overreaching figure. He met the fox girl who was "romantic" and didn't cherish their love. Instead, he despised the fox woman's unnatural beauty and reached out to her for money. Fox girl's clever planning made him happily get two ingots of platinum, which turned into tin pieces that could be broken in one bite, and helped him marry an ugly girl with a hunchback and a big neck.

The fox in The Hairy Fox said to the whimsical Ma Tianrong, "We all change with people. Without the blessing of gold, how can you enjoy falling wild and sinking fish? My stupidity is not enough to serve the upper class, but compared with those hunchbacked people, this is a national color. " ("We fox spirits also change according to the object of communication. ?

You don't even enjoy a penny or two, even if you give a beauty away, how can you enjoy it? With my ugliness and stupidity, I certainly don't deserve to serve the upper class. But compared with the kind of woman who stoops and has big feet, I am also very beautiful. ")

From this ridiculous remark, we can realize that the encounter between foxes and fairies in serial studios and ordinary men is the result of these men's practice from generation to generation. The fox women in The Hairy Fox are not elegant, but it is her "fine hair" that tests the protagonist's character and makes them show their love for money and color.

Extended data

The Creative Background of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio

Pu Songling was born in a scholarly family. In his early years, he also wanted to use the imperial examination to be an official. Unfortunately, he tried again and again and could only make a living by teaching. He has been interested in folk ghost stories since childhood.

It is said that Pu Songling once opened a teahouse in front of his house in order to collect materials. People who come to drink tea can use a story instead of tea money. Pu Songling collected a large number of bizarre stories in this way, and after finishing and processing, they were included in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio.

According to the notes of the Qing Dynasty, "Three Borrowing Lu Bi Tan", Pu Songling spread a mat on the ground next to the avenue every morning and set up a yancha, waiting for passers-by to collect anecdotes. Every time I hear something, I whitewash it when I go home.

In the first year of Kangxi (1662), Pu Songling began to write stories about foxes and ghosts at the age of 22. In the spring of the eighteenth year of Kangxi, forty-year-old Pu Songling compiled the manuscript into a book Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio for the first time, with a preface in the south. Since then, it has been added frequently. It was not until around 239 and 46 years of Kangxi that there were several addenda in the book. The writing of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio lasted more than forty years, and Pu Songling devoted most of his energy.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio