聊斋志异故事:婴宁拈梅

This is an episode from the novel Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio. His father died while Wang Zifu was very young. His mother gave her whole heart to bringing Zifu up. ASfter he was grown， the mother decided which girl was to marry her son. But before the marriaqge took place， the chosen girl died.
　　On the day of the Lantern Festival， Zifu's cousin， Wu Sheng， invited him for an excursion. Wu had to return home early to attend to something else. Zifu stayed and whiled away the time alone. Suddenly， Zifu spotted in the crowd a girl with bright eyes. The girl was carrying a twig of plum blossoms and was walking delicsately slowly. Zifu could not help but glue his sight on the girl. When the girl saw what was happening， she left her twig of blossoms on the ground and walked away smiling.
　　Zifu picked up the flower and returned home. He put the flower under his pillow. He missed the girl so much so that he would not eat or drink. Zifu soon became so weak that he was not able to support himself. When Wu Sheng learned of this he came to ask about the reason. Zifu told the truth to his cousin. To comfort Zifu， Wu Sheng lied， saying that the girl was one of Zifu's cousins living in the mountains some 15kilometers to the southwest. He promised that they would go and look for her after Zifu got well. After hearing Wu's words， Zifu felt so happy that he soon fully recovered. Since he was lying， Wu Sheng was reluctant to see Zifu again and made himself scarce.
　　Wu Sheng made excuses every time Zifu asked him to help him go look for the plum blossom girl. Zifu could description of Wu Feng. In the mountains， he found a called Ying Ning. Zifu stay ed in Ying Ning's home for a few days before taking her home to marry her. After marriage， Zifu and Ying Ning olved each other very much and they lived a happy life. One day Ying Ning told Zifu that she had been the daughter of a foximmortal. she was brother up to be a human by a ghost mother. Zifu was not at all put off by this news.
　　《聊斋志异》中的故事。王子服从小失父亲，母亲非常疼爱他。子服长大后，母亲为他订下一位漂亮的姑娘，还没娶过门，姑娘就死了。元宵节那天，子服表兄吴生约子服郊游，后因吴生家中有事，留下子服一人游玩，在游人中，子服忽见一女子秋波盈盈，手拈一枝梅花，冉冉而来，子服目不转睛地盯着这女子，少女发现后扔下梅花，笑着走了，子服拾花回家放在枕下，因思念这位美丽的少女，不吃不喝，身体瘦弱难以支撑。吴生知后问其原因，子服实话实说。吴生撒谎说：这女子是你的姨妹，住在西南山中三十里处，等你病好咱们一起去找。子服听后高兴，病很快就好了。吴生因是撒谎，便不愿来见子服。一日，子服等不及吴生，自己按吴生所指来到那个地方，见一柴门，正是郊游时所遇少女婴宁家。子服住了几天，便带婴宁回家成亲。婚后夫妻恩爱，日子过得幸福美满，一天婴宁对子服说，自己原是狐仙的女儿，托鬼母抚养成人。子服知道她的身世后，并不介意。