Xiucai An Dacheng, from Chongqing, Sichuan. His father was a juren who had passed away. His younger brother, Ercheng, was still young. Dacheng married a wife named Shanhu, who was polite, filial, and beautiful. However, Dacheng's mother, Mrs. Shen, was unreasonable and unkind, constantly mistreating Shanhu. Despite this, Shanhu never showed any resentment on her face. Every morning, Shanhu would clean herself up and serve her mother-in-law. One day, Dacheng fell ill, and his mother blamed Shanhu for seducing him with her beauty. Shanhu returned to her room, removed her adornments, and went to see her mother-in-law again. This only made her mother-in-law angrier, and she started crying and throwing a tantrum. Dacheng, who was always filial, couldn't bear to see it and ended up whipping his wife. This slightly relieved his mother's anger. From then on, Mrs. Shen despised her daughter-in-law even more. Although Shanhu served her even more attentively and carefully, Mrs. Shen never spoke a word to her. Dacheng knew that his mother was still angry at his wife, so he slept elsewhere to show that he had severed ties with her. After a long time, Mrs. Shen still couldn't let go of her anger and would constantly berate Shanhu. Dacheng said, 'What's the point of having a wife if she has to endure this?'. He then wrote a letter of divorce and sent an old woman to take Shanhu back to her parents' home.
Just as they left the village, Shanhu cried and said, 'As a woman, if I can't be a good wife and am sent back home, how can I face my parents? I might as well die!' She took out a pair of scissors from her sleeve and stabbed herself in the throat. The old woman who accompanied her hurriedly saved her, and blood gushed out, staining her clothes red. The old woman helped Shanhu to the house of Dacheng's aunt, Wang Shi. Wang Shi was a widow who lived alone and took Shanhu in. The old woman returned home, and Dacheng instructed her to keep this a secret, but he was always afraid that his mother would find out.
A few days later, Dacheng learned that Shanhu's injuries were gradually healing, so he went to Wang Shi's house and asked her not to keep Shanhu. Wang Shi invited him in, but Dacheng refused to enter and angrily told her to send Shanhu away. Soon, Wang Shi led Shanhu out and asked Dacheng, 'What fault does Shanhu have?' Dacheng blamed her for not serving her mother-in-law. Shanhu didn't say a word, just lowered her head and sobbed, her tears turning red and staining her white clothes. Dacheng felt heartbroken and left without finishing his words.
A few more days passed, and Mrs. Shen heard about the incident. She angrily went to Wang Shi's house and said many harsh words to her. Wang Shi stood her ground and scolded Mrs. Shen for her cruel and unreasonable behavior. She said, 'I voluntarily took in Chen's daughter, not your daughter-in-law. What right do you have to interfere in other people's affairs?' Mrs. Shen was furious but had no valid arguments. Seeing Wang Shi's imposing manner, she could only leave in shame and sorrow.
Shanhu felt uneasy about causing trouble for Wang Shi and wanted to go somewhere else. Dacheng had an aunt named Yu Lao Tai Po, who was Mrs. Shen's sister. She was in her sixties, her son had passed away, and she only had a grandson and a widowed daughter-in-law at home. She had treated Shanhu well before, so Shanhu bid farewell to Wang Shi and went to live with Yu Lao Tai Po. When Yu Lao Tai Po learned the reason, she immediately wanted to send Shanhu back to her husband's family. Shanhu insisted that she couldn't do that and told her not to tell anyone. From then on, Shanhu lived with Yu Lao Tai Po, just like a daughter-in-law.
Shanhu had two older brothers who sympathized with her after hearing about her suffering and wanted to bring her back home and find her a new husband. Shanhu made up her mind not to remarry and instead stayed with Yu Lao Tai Po, spinning and weaving to support herself.
Since Dacheng divorced Shanhu, his mother had repeatedly tried to arrange a marriage for him. However, her reputation for being fierce and unreasonable had spread far and wide, and no one wanted to marry their daughter into their family. After three or four years, Dacheng's younger brother, Ercheng, grew up, and he got married first. Ercheng's wife, Zang Gu, was arrogant, violent, and spoke harshly without any sense of propriety. She was even worse than her mother-in-law, Mrs. Shen. Sometimes, when Mrs. Shen was angry, Zang Gu would immediately start shouting back. Ercheng, who was weak-willed, didn't dare to defend his mother. As a result, Mrs. Shen's authority diminished, and she no longer dared to offend Zang Gu. Instead, she smiled and flattered her, but even so, she couldn't win Zang Gu's favor. Zang Gu treated Mrs. Shen like a servant, and Dacheng had no choice but to do the household chores himself, such as washing dishes and sweeping the floor. Mother and son often cried in private when no one was around.
After some time, Mrs. Shen fell ill and became too weak to get out of bed. Dacheng had to take care of her every day, even helping her with her bodily functions. Dacheng couldn't sleep day or night, and his eyes became red. When his younger brother, Ercheng, came to take his turn, Zang Gu immediately called him back. Dacheng then went to Yu Lao Tai Po, hoping she could come and accompany his mother. When he entered Yu Lao Tai Po's house, he cried and complained to her. Before he could finish his grievances, Shanhu lifted the curtain and came out. Dacheng felt ashamed and wanted to leave. Shanhu blocked the doorway with both hands. Dacheng panicked and rushed out from under Shanhu's arm and ran back home without telling his mother about the incident. Soon after, Yu Lao Tai Po came to Dacheng's house, and Mrs. Shen was happy and didn't want her to leave. From then on, someone from Yu Lao Tai Po's house came every day to bring them delicious food. Yu Lao Tai Po told the messenger to tell the widow not to send food anymore, but they continued to send it without interruption. Yu Lao Tai Po refused to eat it herself and saved it all for her sick sister. Yu Lao Tai Po's young grandson also brought gifts of food to comfort the patient, as instructed by his mother. Mrs. Shen sighed and said, 'She is indeed a virtuous and filial daughter-in-law! How did my sister cultivate her?' Yu Lao Tai Po said, 'When she was in your house, you didn't know what hard work was. Even when you were angry, Shanhu never complained. How can you say she is not as good as my daughter-in-law?' Mrs. Shen heard this and burst into tears, admitting that she regretted her actions. She asked, 'I wonder if Shanhu has remarried?' Yu Lao Tai Po replied, 'I don't know, I'll find out.'
A few days later, Mrs. Shen recovered from her illness. Yu Lao Tai Po was about to return home. Mrs. Shen cried and said, 'I'm afraid that if you leave, I will die!' Yu Lao Tai Po and Dacheng discussed it and decided to separate Ercheng from them. Ercheng informed Zang Gu of their decision, and she immediately called him back. Dacheng saw that Ercheng had returned the silver, and he was surprised. Zang Gu suspected that Dacheng had deceived Ercheng and asked him to go and see his brother. Ercheng saw that Dacheng had placed the silver on the table and was celebrating with his mother. He told his brother the truth. Dacheng was also shocked and sympathized with his brother, so he gave him all the silver on the table. Ercheng was overjoyed and used the silver to repay his debts, grateful for his brother's kindness. However, Zang Gu said, 'It's because of Dacheng's cunning that he would give back the silver that he had already received.' Ercheng half-believed what Zang Gu said. The next day, the creditor's servant came to Ercheng's house and said that the silver he had repaid the day before was all fake, and they were going to report it to the authorities. Ercheng and his wife were terrified, and Zang Gu said, 'What's going on? I knew your brother wouldn't be so kind. He must be trying to harm you!' Ercheng was afraid and went to beg the creditor, but the creditor was still furious. Ercheng gave him the land deed and let him sell it as he pleased, and only then did he get the original silver back. Upon careful inspection, Ercheng found that two silver ingots had been cut and wrapped in a layer of silver foil that was only as thick as a leek leaf, with copper in the middle.
Zang Gu then advised Ercheng to keep the two cut silver ingots and return the rest of the silver to Dacheng to see what he would do. She told Ercheng to say, 'Thanks to my brother's kindness, he has repeatedly let me have it. I only kept two ingots to show my brother's intentions. As for all the other property on my side, it is still equal to my brother's. I don't need more land since I have already given up on it. Whether to redeem it or not is up to my brother.' Dacheng didn't know her true intentions and kept insisting that Ercheng take it. Ercheng firmly refused, and only then did Dacheng accept the silver. Dacheng weighed the silver and found that it was more than five taels less than before. He asked Shanhu to pawn her jewelry to make up the difference and brought it to the creditor. The creditor suspected that it was the same fake silver as before, but when he cut the silver to verify it, it was all genuine silver without any mistakes. He accepted the silver and returned the land deed to Dacheng. After Ercheng returned the silver to Dacheng, he thought that his brother would surely cause trouble. But then he heard that the land deed had been redeemed, which surprised him greatly. Zang Gu suspected that when they were digging, Dacheng had hidden the real silver, so she angrily went to her brother-in-law's house and scolded him. Dacheng finally understood why Ercheng had returned the silver. Shanhu approached them with a smile and said, 'The land deed was originally here. Why get so angry?' She asked Dacheng to take out the land deed and handed it to Zang Gu.
Ercheng had a dream one night in which his father reproached him, saying, 'You are not filial to your mother and disrespectful to your elder brother. The deadline in the netherworld is approaching, and you don't even own a single inch of land. What use is it for you to occupy it?' He woke up and told Zang Gu about the dream, wanting to return the land to his brother. Zang Gu mocked him for being foolish. Soon after, Ercheng had two sons, but neither of them survived. In the end, they had to adopt their brother's son. The couple lived long lives and died peacefully. Dacheng and Shanhu had three sons, two of whom became successful scholars. People said that this was the result of their filial piety towards their parents and their love for their siblings.