Once upon a time there lived a little boy whose name was Chen Ping. He came of a poor family, so poor, in fact, that his father and mother could not support him and he was sent to work for a landlord named Skinflint Wang.
Chen Ping was an honest and hard-working lad. From morn-ing to night he busied himself fetching water, cutting firewonbd or milling rice. But Skinflint Wang was never satisfied.He kept beating and scolding the boy, accusing him of being lazy or slow, or finding some other fault.
One cold day, Chen Ping set out in the teeth of a biter winnd to collect wood on the mountain top. He carried his axe inhis belt and a pole across his shoulder. While crossing a single-plank bridge, his axe slipped out and fell with a splash into the river.
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