蛐蛐

During the emperor's cricket fights with his ministers, the "Black-Headed General" tribute from Huayin County repeatedly emerged victorious, delighting him greatly. He then ordered Huayin County to present another top-quality cricket. The county magistrate assigned this task to the scholar Tong Sheng, also known as Mingcheng. When Mingcheng protested that he had just submitted one, he was brutally beaten. The magistrate gave him three days to deliver, or face execution, leaving Mingcheng deeply distressed. Mingcheng luckily captured a premium cricket, the "Green-Headed King," and ecstatically brought it home. He entrusted it to his son, Xiaohua, instructing him to take good care of it, while he went to the market to buy meat for celebration. After repeated pleas from his friends, Xiaohua opened the lid of the cricket container. The "Green-Headed King" leaped out, and Xiaohua hurriedly tried to catch it, only to crush it to death by applying too much force. When Mingcheng returned home and learned what happened, he flew into a rage. The weeping Xiaohua, overwhelmed with grief, jumped into a well. Though eventually rescued, he lost his senses. At that moment, a "Little Plum Wing" cricket landed in the empty cricket container. Mingcheng tested it and found it remarkably successful in battles, so he hurriedly presented it to the magistrate. Little did he know that this "Little Plum Wing" was the transformed spirit of Xiaohua.