YAN

 There was a scholar in Shun Tian Fu whose family was poor. When a famine struck, he followed his father to Luoyang. He was born slow, and could not write a full-length essay until he was seventeen years old. But he had a good appearance, was good at telling elegant jokes, and wrote letters well. Those who saw him did not know that he did not have much learning in his stomach. Soon after, his parents died one after another, and he was alone, working as a tutor in the countryside near Luoyang. At that time, there was an orphan girl surnamed Yan in the village, who was the descendant of a famous scholar. She had been very clever since she was a child. When her father was alive, he used to teach her to read, and when he taught her once, he could memorize it and would not forget it. When she was about ten years old, she learned to recite poetry from her father. Her father said, "There is a female scholar in my family, it's just a pity she doesn't wear a hat." Her father especially loved her and hoped to choose a distinguished son-in-law for her. After her father's death, her mother insisted on her father's wishes and failed to find her an in-law for three years while her mother died. She was advised to marry a talented scholar, and she agreed, but had not yet found the right one. It so happened that a neighboring woman walked over the courtyard wall to talk to her. The woman wrapped embroidery thread in a piece of paper with writing on it. The girl opened it and saw that it was a letter sent by the scholar from Shun Tian to the neighboring scholar. The girl read it over and over again and liked it. The woman saw what she was thinking and said quietly to her, "This is a graceful young man of beauty, as lonely as you are and about the same age. If you are interested, I will order the one in my house to set you up." The girl was imploring and silent. The woman went home and told her husband. Her husband and Shun Tian scholar was a good friend, went to tell him, the scholar was very happy. He had a golden raven ring left by his mother, and entrusted this friend to give it to Yan as a bride price. The marriage was solemnized on a certain day, and the couple was as happy as fish in water.

 When Yan saw what her husband had written, she laughed and said, "Your writing and your looks seem to be two people; like this, when will you become famous?" She encouraged her husband to study every day, and was as stern as a teacher and friend. At dusk, Yan first lit a lamp and read on the table to set an example for her husband, and only stopped when she heard the drums beating. After more than a year of this, the scholar became quite proficient in the poetry for the examination; however, he failed in both examinations. He thought of this and felt doubly lonely and cried bitterly. Yan reprimanded him, saying: "You are not a man, failing this hat on your head! If I take off my hair bun and replace it with a hat, it would be as easy as picking a stick of grass to get a high rank!" The husband was in mourning, and when he heard his wife's words, he glared at her in anger, and said, "People in the boudoir, who do not go to the examination room themselves, think that it is as easy to seek fame and wealth as you do to fetch water in the kitchen and to boil gruel; and I am afraid that if the hat were on your head, it would be the same as the others!" Yan smiled and said, "Don't be angry. When the next trial period comes, please let me change into men's clothes and take the examination for you. If I also fail the examination like you, I will not dare to defy the world's scholars anymore." The scholar also smiled and said, "You just don't know the bitter flavor of yellow dock, you really should be invited to taste it. I'm only afraid of revealing the filling, calling the townspeople and neighbors to laugh." Yan said, "I'm not talking about jokes. You once said that your family has an old house in Shuntian old home, let me disguise myself as a man and go back with you, pretending to be your brother. When you came out, you were still in swaddling clothes, so who could tell if it was true or not?" The scholar agreed. Yan went into her bedchamber, came out in her square scarf and robe, and said, "Do you think I can be a man?" The scholar looked at him as a reserved and conceited young man. He was very happy and took leave of his neighbors one by one. His friends presented him with some coins, bought a thin donkey, and drove his wife back to her hometown.

 Scholar's cousin is still there, see two younger brothers as beautiful as the crown, very happy, morning and evening to take care of. And see them up early in the morning and late at night to study hard, but also love and respect. Cousin hired a small hair cut slave for them to use. They always sent the servant away after dark. In the countryside of the red and white wedding, the elder brother alone went out to socialize; the younger brother just put down the tent to read. After half a year, few people had seen the younger brother's face. When some guests asked to meet him, his brother always excused himself. People read the brother's article, surprised and wide-eyed. Some people pushed open the door of the room and insisted on meeting her, but she made a bow and avoided it. The guests saw the splendor of "him" and fell in love with him. The reputation of the girl was so great that the families of the world were eager to have him as their son-in-law. Cousins discussed this with their little brother, but she just laughed. If she was forced to do so, she said, "I vowed that I would make a good career, and if I didn't win the examination, I wouldn't talk about marriage."

 The two brothers took the examination together when the ambassador came to preside over the imperial examination. The elder brother failed again. The younger brother to the first place in the qualification of the examination to participate in the township examination, the fourth Shun Tianfu literati; the next year and won the jinshi; was appointed as county magistrate in Tongcheng County, Anhui Province, the term of office is very successful, and soon rose to Henan Province, the Imperial Palace, the family's property can be compared with the princes and feudal lords. So sick request for resignation to return to their hometown, the emperor approved. Guests crowded under the door, she always declined, refused to accept. In addition, from the time she was a scholar until she became a nobleman, she did not mention the matter of marrying a daughter-in-law, and people felt very strange. After returning to her hometown, she bought maids one after another. Some people suspected that she had fornicated with the maids; her cousin's sister-in-law observed that there was not a bit of meticulous behavior.

 Soon after, the Ming Dynasty fell and the world was in chaos. Only then did Yan say to her sister-in-law, "To tell you the truth: I am the wife of your brother-in-law. Just because my husband is a loser and can't make a name for himself, I gambled and came on my own. I am just afraid of publicizing it, so that the emperor called for questioning, leaving the world a laughingstock." Her sister-in-law did not believe her. She took off her boots to show her sister-in-law her small feet, and she was shocked; when she looked inside the boots, they were stuffed with cotton wool. She then asked her husband to take her title, and she herself remained shut up in a woman's boudoir. However, she had never had any children in her life, so she gave her husband money to buy concubines. She said to her husband, "People who are rich and famous buy concubines to serve them, but I have been in the government for ten years and I am still alone. Where did you get the good fortune to enjoy beauty?" The scholar said, "There are thirty male favorites, so please purchase your own." This remark was spread as a joke in the countryside. By this time, the scholar's parents, who had passed away, had been honored by the emperor many times. The country squires came to visit the scholar and treated him with respect with the same courtesy as they did to the Imperial Minister. He was ashamed to inherit his wife's official title, and settled for his status as a scholar, and it is said that he never rode in a car with a roped umbrella or a display of status in his life.