Han Feizi tells exiled Jin minister Zhonghang Wenzi avoided an old acquaintance, a county magistrate who once gifted him zithers and jade to curry favor. The official later seized Wenzi’s carriages to ingratiate his ruler, exposing sycophants’ self-serving betrayal.
Once upon a time in Zhaocheng County there was an old lady in her seventies who had only one son. One day, her son went into the mountains and was eaten by a tiger. The old lady was so grieved that she nearly committed suicide.
“The Willow Scholar” is a symbolic short story from Strange Tales from Liaozhai. Blending myth, fable, and social concern, it explores the relationship between humans, nature, and spirits through the resolution of a locust plague.