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"The Surprise at the First Moment" is a popular book with 40 short stories in total. It describes many fascinating stories in the form of a "parallel script" that is popular among the people. One is that a businessman rises from bad luck to wealth, and a scholar rises from poverty. Become famous after being cold; honest officials are like gods in solving cases, corrupt officials are like tigers in perverting the law; villains are committing adultery and soliciting lawsuits, and swindlers are cheating on each other; such as "The man in transit met the red in Dongting by chance, the Persian finger broke the dragon's shell", "Li Gongzuo cleverly interpreted the words in the dream, Xie Xiao'e cleverly captured the thief on the ship", etc. The second is works describing love and marriage, describing how young people pursue faithful love, and how feudal ethics create marriage tragedies, such as "Zhang Liuer cleverly creates a enchantment formation, Lu Huiniang decides to fight to the death", "Drinking with wine, Zhao Ni is obsessed with flowers, and the machine is hidden, and the scholar complains", "The light of the boudoir's heart is strong, and the flag and bell of victory are reported in the jail", etc. The language is simple and concise; the plot is twists and turns, confusing, yet reasonable; the characters' inner thoughts are described in detail, and the artistic image is lifelike. It has always been highly praised.

"Surprise at Two Moments" is a collection of novels written in the form of a storybook. Compiled by Ling Shuchu in the late Ming Dynasty. It was published as a book in 1632 (the fifth year of Chongzhen), and together with the author's previous book "The Surprise at the First Carving of Pai Ben", it is collectively known as "Er Pai". There are forty volumes, each with one chapter, forty chapters in total. Volume twenty-three of them, "The soul of the elder sister has fulfilled her long-cherished wish, and the illness of the aunt continues the relationship" is the same as volume twenty-three of "The Surprise at the First Carving of the Case". Volume forty has been lost, and the Zaju "Song Gongming Lantern Festival Zaju" was added to make up the number. The author claims that "the puppet show is based on one or two odd situations that have been heard in ancient and modern times and can be recorded." Most of the themes are taken from the predecessors. The ideological content of the book is relatively complex, but overall, it reflects the ideological concepts of the emerging citizen class to a certain extent, and the traditional morality it advocates also has undeniable healthy elements. It has a relatively important influence in the history of Chinese literature.

Most of the themes of "The Surprise at the Second Moment" are taken from "Taiping Guangji", "Qidong Wild Words", "Yi Jian Zhi", "Jian Deng Xin Hua", "Jian Deng Yu Hua" and other classics. After reprocessing and re-creation by the author Ling Shuchu, it has been integrated with Ling's own ideological personality and reflected Ling's own artistic conception and style. The stories in this book reflect the broader social life of the citizen class in the late Ming Dynasty, and all themes of human ethics and morality are more or less involved. At the same time, internal and external troubles arose in the late Ming Dynasty, and social conflicts became more complex and acute. This situation is more fully demonstrated in "The Surprise at the Second Moment" than in "The Surprise at the First Moment", such as the psychological tilt caused by the disparity between the rich and the poor, the social unrest caused by bureaucratic corruption, the resistance of young men and women aroused by the feudal marriage system, the challenge of the emerging business class to the order of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and the rebellion of human desires against natural principles and Taoism due to the expansion of lustful world trends, etc., Which outlines a bleak picture of the declining society in the late Ming Dynasty.