It has been passed down for two thousand years, and it is direct evidence of the popularity of this story.

There is a treasure in the Sichuan University Museum - the Han Dynasty stone coffin with a portrait "Lu Qiu Jie Fu". It was unearthed from the Eastern Han Dynasty cliff tomb in Xinjin, Chengdu, Sichuan. The stone coffin was carved from a whole piece of red sandstone, 218 cm long and 73 cm high. When the stone coffin was unearthed, the coffin cover had been lost, and the bottom plate and one side panel were also slightly damaged. On the left baffle of the stone coffin, there is a carving of a welcoming scene in front of the gate, and on the right baffle, there are carvings of a sacred tree and a Vermilion Bird standing opposite each other. The front is decorated with a combination of three images. On the far left is a group of two figures, one of whom leans forward and seems to ask something, and the other turns sideways and looks back, as if to answer something. According to research, this depicts the story of Qiu Hu teasing his wife in "Biographies of Women".

Han Dynasty stone coffin portrait "Lu Qiu Jiefu" Image source: Internet

"When we met under the mulberry tree, we talked about gold. I thought Qiuhu had a deep plan. If it weren't for the fact that we didn't know each other, I would just use gold to test your heart." The story of "Qiuhu Playing with His Wife" originated from Liu Xiang's "Biographies of Women" in the Western Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, there was "Qiuhu Bianwen", which is a widely circulated folk story. In the original text of "Biographies of Women", it is written: Qiuhu served in the west for five years and returned. He met his wife and didn't recognize her. He had lustful thoughts in his heart. His wife insisted on not having two lovers. When they returned, they knew each other. She was ashamed of her husband's lack of loyalty, so she went east to the river. It is probably about Qiuhu, a Guanglu doctor in the State of Lu, who went to the State of Chen to serve as an official five days after marrying his wife. Five years later, he returned home and saw a beautiful woman. He flirted with her, and the woman angrily scolded Qiuhu. Later, he returned home to visit his mother, and his mother called her daughter-in-law. And Qiu's mother's daughter-in-law, Qiuhu's wife, was the woman flirted with in the mulberry garden. Qiuhu was ashamed, and his wife was also ashamed and angry. She angrily scolded Qiuhu: "Now you are pleasing a woman on the roadside, taking off your clothes and giving her gold. This means you have forgotten your mother. Forgetting your mother is unfilial, and being lustful and promiscuous is dirty behavior, and dirty behavior is unrighteous. If a man is unfilial to his parents, he will be unfaithful to his lord. If he is unrighteous in his family, he will be irresponsible in his official duties. Filial piety and righteousness are both lost, and they will never be accomplished. I can't bear to see it. My son has remarried, and I will not marry either." Then she jumped into the water and died.

The Han Dynasty stone coffin on display at the Sichuan University Museum. Image source: Internet

In the Yuan Dynasty, the famous dramatist Shi Junbao further processed and transformed this story on this basis, successfully creating the artistic image of Luo Meiying, a hardworking, kind-hearted working woman with a steadfast moral integrity and a tenacious spirit of resistance. The name of the play in the name of "Qiu Hu Playing with His Wife" is called "Mulberry Garden Meeting" and "Horse Hoof Gold", which is one of the representative plays of the Ma School. If you appreciate it carefully, it is not difficult to find that it is surprisingly similar to the first part of "Wu Jia Slope" and "Fenhe Bay" (visiting the wife), so there is a line in Wu Jia Slope that says "Dong Bin once played with the peony, Mr. Zhuangzi played with his wife three times, Qiu Hu flirted with Luo Fu, and Xue Pinggui flirted with his wife today."

Stills from Peking Opera "Meeting in the Mulberry Garden" Image source: Internet

Whether it is the story of "Lu Qiu Jiefu" in "Jieyi Zhuan" or the stories of other women in "Muyi Zhuan", "Xianming Zhuan", "Renzhi Zhuan", "Zhenshun Zhuan", "Jieyi Zhuan", "Biantong Zhuan" and "Nie Pei Zhuan", they all show us the general talents and extraordinary deeds of about 100 women from ancient times to the Western Han Dynasty. It can be said that most of the stories in "Lienu Zhuan" are still to praise beauty and praise the noble character, intelligence and resistance spirit of ancient women. Moreover, some plots are vivid and touching, which are quite characteristic of female literature. "Lienu Zhuan" has a great influence on later generations. Some stories have been passed down to this day, such as the story of "Mencius's mother moved three times" from this book. Later, many Chinese historical books had special chapters to record the deeds of women in various dynasties. With the change of the view of women, the emphasis on recording and praising women's virtues in various dynasties was also different. Regardless of the author's subjective desire to compile this book, objectively, Liu Xiang collected the deeds of famous ancient women in "similar categories" to facilitate people's research and study. Human society is composed of both men and women, and the development and progress of society is also the result of the joint labor of men and women. In the ancient society for thousands of years, men were valued more than women, and women were suppressed at the bottom of society. "Biographies of Women" can slightly improve people's understanding of women. Since Liu Xiang compiled "Biographies of Women", "Book of Han" has "Biographies of Empresses Yuan", "Book of the Later Han" has "Biographies of Women", and many historical books have opened special columns to record women's activities, setting a precedent for attaching importance to the historical status of women. Therefore, "Biographies of Women" occupies a very important position in the history of women in ancient China.