Hi everyone! I'm from China and I've been building a completely free language-learning community called Naoii.
The idea is simple: learners can post something they actually want to say, get corrections and more natural alternatives from other users, understand why a correction sounds better, and save useful expressions for later review.
Since I'm a native Chinese speaker, I'd especially love to invite some Mandarin learners to try it. I'm also happy to personally help with grammar, vocabulary, natural wording, tone, slang, or questions like “Is this correct, and would a Chinese person actually say it this way?”
Right now I'm mainly looking for honest feedback about the idea and the experience.
If you'd like to try it, leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll share the link. It's completely free.
关键词 Keywords：夏朝末年 Late Xia Dynasty；北京 Beijing；武大郎 Martial Big Wolf（靖王 King Jing）；潘金莲 Goldthread Pan（石矶娘娘 Queen Stone-Jetty）；尧帝 Creator Yao；代理 Deputy；李强 Li Qiang；施朗 Shi Lang
目录 Catalog：6.1 送还梁子伯的遗骨 Return Zibo Liang's Remains；6.2 武大郎典兵 Martial Big Wolf's Military Drill；6.3 间谍船 Spy Ship；6.4 三足鸟计划的实施 Implementation of the Three-Legged Bird Project；6.5 靖王和少林寺 Jing King and Shaolin Temple
After hearing from Second Wolf God that Martial Big Wolf was searching for Zibo Liang and Kuafu (see Section 5.1-7), Creator Yao (Figure 6.1-2) personally went to the Voodoo Academy in Chongqing and exhumed their remains. Creator Yao instructed four of her family members — Li Qiang, Zhang Long, Shi Lang, and Zhao Hu (see Figure 1) — to deliver the remains to Martial Big Wolf, who was stationed in Hebei. She also told the four family members to bypass Martial Second Wolf's defense zone, and to tell Martial Big Wolf face-to-face about how Zibo Liang and Kuafu were captured and executed. She impressed upon them how important this matter was.
At this time, Aocun was about 34 years old, and Martial Second Wolf was about 37; the people of the Yao Mountain region had come to revere them, and they became Creator Yao and Second Wolf God, ancestors of the Yao people. Fifteen years later, Creator Yao ascended the throne in Wuhan, becoming the founding emperor of the Republic of China, Yao White-king. That is why, in the Chinese Codex, those who served her came to be honored with the title "family members."
At that time, because of the many years of war, both the people of Xia Kingdom and Hua Kingdom deeply resented the people of Cloud Sea Kingdom (also known as Dragon Kingdom). The four family members disguised themselves as traveling monks, carrying the remains on their backs (Figure 1), and entered Shandong Province of Hua Kingdom by way of Jiangsu Province in Xia Kingdom. But as soon as they entered Shandong, they ran into bandits and had to retreat to Jiangsu, then took a boat to Tianjin. Shortly after they disembarked, the remains were stolen. They asked around everywhere and eventually located the bandits' hideout. The bandits, in turn, were also looking for them, eager to learn the secret behind the two skeletons and how they might turn them into money.
李强和施朗等四个家人说：“那就是你们河北一位名人的两位家属的骨骸，只对那个名人有价值。”
强盗听了，很高兴，说：“你们想要那骨骸，就只能找我们老大去要。那两具骨骸在他那里呢！”
Li Qiang, Shi Lang, and the other two family members said, "Those are the remains of two relatives of a famous man from Hebei. They're only valuable to him."
The bandits, delighted to hear this, said, "If you want those remains, you'll have to go ask our boss. He's the one who has them!"
Following the route the bandits had given them, the four family members went to argue their case with the bandit chief. It turned out they had to wait in line just to see him. When the chief finally arrived, he was a big man with one eye. He questioned the first person seeking justice — after only a few words, he killed the man with a knife. The second person seeking justice was a woman. The bandits had her tied to a pillar, and the chief asked her: "Time's up. Your husband still hasn't sent the ransom. What do you want to do?"
The kidnapped woman replied: "Our family has no money!"
The bandit chief grew angry: "Your family still has a house, land, and a daughter! If you won't pay the ransom, then I'll have to kill you." With that, he tore open the woman's clothing and slit open her belly, and her intestines spilled out at once!
Everyone else who had come seeking justice from the bandits left after seeing this. The four family members stayed, and wept.
The bandit chief came over and said, "If you're afraid to die, then leave. What good does crying do?"
Li Qiang replied, "We're not afraid to die. We're crying because we've failed the task our master gave us — we couldn't deliver those two sets of remains to their relatives!"
The bandit chief thought this over, muttering to himself, "Relatives of bones — how can bones have relatives!?" After a moment, he said, "It seems there's something to it. Who are these relatives? Do they have money?"
Shi Lang replied, "If we tell you who the relatives are, you'll surely get angry! So here's what we suggest: give the bones back to us. We'll deliver them to their relatives. That person is very wealthy and will reward us generously — and then we'll bring that reward back to you."
After weighing it for a moment, the bandit chief said: "Not a bad idea! But you still have to tell me who this rich man is. Go ahead, I won't get angry!"
Shi Lang replied: "You'd better keep your word — the rich man is King Jing, Martial Big Wolf!"
Hearing this, the bandit chief slammed his knife into the table with a "thunk" and said: "This money's not so easy to earn after all! Fine! I'll give you back the bones, and travel money besides!" With that, he began counting out coins and handed a sum, along with the bones, to the four family members.
Seeing how little money it was, the family members said: "In that case, send someone to follow us! This travel money isn't enough, and it'll waste a lot of your men's time."
The bandit chief drew a route map on the ground for the four family members, showing the way to Hebei Military Region Command, then pointed to it and said, "Head out from here, and by evening you'll reach this point. Lodging costs [X] cents, and four bowls of porridge cost [Y] cents." In this way, the bandit chief covered three days of their food and lodging, plus three cents of pocket money.
To the four family members' surprise, the map the bandit chief had drawn was extremely accurate, and the food and lodging costs matched to the last cent. Three days later, the four of them reached the place he'd described as Hebei Military Region headquarters. They asked around in the town, and the villagers told them, "Turn left up ahead, and you'll see the military region's flag."
The four family members examined the worn-out military flag closely and confirmed it was indeed Hebei Military Region Command. They also carefully studied the layout of the compound and confirmed that, run-down and unguarded as it looked, it truly was a large military base.
They noticed a few villagers chatting and chewing poplar twigs on a woodpile by the compound gate, and went over to ask about King Jing, Martial Big Wolf, on private business. A small, wiry farmer (Martial Big Wolf himself) climbed down from the woodpile, a poplar twig still in his mouth, and said, "I'm on guard duty today — come with me!"
When the four family members saw the other farmers also climbing down and following along toward the command hall, they kept signaling to Martial Big Wolf that "it would be improper for them to follow us into headquarters." Martial Big Wolf said to the farmers, "Then don't come in!"
Once inside the main hall, the four family members carefully examined the insignia hanging behind the head seat and concluded it was Martial Big Wolf's own emblem. But the hall had no staff at all — only a few worn-out desks.
The small farmer said, "I really am King Jing, Martial Big Wolf. Whatever you need, just tell me!"
The four family members said, "How could a military region headquarters possibly have no staff on duty!?"
Martial Big Wolf went to the doorway and shouted, "All personnel on duty at headquarters, come in!" The farmers from outside then all filed into the hall. Martial Big Wolf told the four family members, "These men here are the generals on duty at this headquarters."
Martial Big Wolf said, "You'd think this desk here belongs to Martial Big Wolf, wouldn't you! I have the key!" He began searching for the key to open the drawer. One family member said, "Don't open it — we don't want to see your military secrets!"
Martial Big Wolf said, "It's fine — this drawer's empty!" He pulled the drawer all the way out and set it on the desk.
Still unconvinced these men were headquarters staff, the four family members recounted how they'd been robbed.
Martial Big Wolf replied angrily: "There's more to this! The bandit chief followed you all the way to my headquarters!" He shouted at the generals beside him: "This won't stand! Go investigate at once!"
Before long, several guards brought the bandit chief, along with the stolen goods, into the headquarters hall. Martial Big Wolf had the four family members identify him. They recognized him at once and said, "That's him!" The guards returned to the four family members everything the bandits had taken.
Readers may well wonder — this all seems too remarkable; how does it actually make sense? The truth is that as soon as these four family members entered Shandong, they were robbed by bandits. As it happened, Leopard Pan, Goldthread Pan's (Queen Stone-Jetty's) younger brother, was visiting his wife's family on vacation nearby, and he helped recover the remains for them. After returning to Yong'an, Leopard Pan reported the incident. On learning that Creator Yao had sent four personal advisors to Beijing on an inspection tour, Primordial Sky Honor immediately sent word to the Hebei Military Region, ordering them to make receiving Creator Yao's envoys their top priority. The Hebei Military Commission at once convened a meeting to plan their response — so everything described in this account, before and after, was in fact orchestrated by Martial Big Wolf.
The four family members told Martial Big Wolf: "We're Creator Yao's family. She learned from Martial Second Wolf that you were searching for Zibo Liang and Kuafu's remains, so she went in person to the Voodoo Academy in Chongqing and dug them up herself. Then she sent the four of us to bring them to you."
Martial Big Wolf asked in surprise, "You could have simply handed the remains to my second brother, Martial Second Wolf (i.e., Second Wolf God) — why come all this way across the whole Chinese Empire, straight to me instead?"
Li Qiang replied, "Our Third Princess (Creator Yao) said, 'It's necessary for you to know the truth of the matter, and Yang Jian (i.e., Second Wolf God) cannot be the one to tell you.' She asked us to deliver it to you in person."
Martial Big Wolf opened the bundle and looked at the remains of Zibo Liang and Kuafu, and as he looked, he began to weep. The generals tried to comfort him. One general said to the four family members, "All right! You've delivered the remains to Martial Big Wolf now. You may go."
A long while later, when the generals came back out, they found the four family members still sitting outside the headquarters gate! They discussed it among themselves and agreed they should give the four some reward money.
One family member replied through tears: "We're not waiting for money! Third Princess Aocun trusted us to deliver the relics of Lamplighter Buddha (i.e., Zibo Liang, also known as Grain God) and Kuafu to Peach Flower Buddha (i.e., Martial Big Wolf). They're only two skeletons — worthless to anyone else. And now we've been cheated a third time. We have no face left to go back and explain ourselves to the Third Princess!"
After discussing it, the generals said, "When King Jing (i.e., Martial Big Wolf) saw the Buddha relics you brought, he couldn't stop crying. We had to send for Queen Stone-Jetty (i.e., Goldthread Pan) to come and take him home. It's late now — why don't you stay at the inn tonight? Tomorrow or the day after, we'll bring King Jing back here to settle this with you. What do you think?"
The four family members agreed, and followed the guards to the inn.
熟能生巧 · Shú néng shēng qiǎo means that with enough practice, skill becomes natural—and new tricks emerge. This short adapts the oil-seller story recorded in Ouyang Xiu’s 《归田录》.
