The story takes place in an old Chinese town, where a young man named Wu Sheng, due to the early death of his parents and lack of education, he became associated with some ruffians and developed a habit of petty theft. He often sneaked into the homes of wealthy people to commit theft, and his reputation was notorious.
One day, Wu Sheng learns that the owner of a wealthy family has just died, leaving only his elderly mother and young wife, and thinks this is a great opportunity. Taking advantage of the night, he climbed over the wall into the mansion and hid in the cabinet in the study, waiting for the opportunity. To his surprise, however, the old woman did not indulge in grief as he had imagined, but sat at her desk and read quietly.
Wu Sheng could only wait silently, and he didn't dare to come out. Soon, a young and handsome teenager walked in, looking personable, but his eyes revealed **. He spoke a few words with the old woman, who appeared very frightened and tried to flee, but was stopped by the teenager. The boy smiled hideously and threatened the old woman to obey him or he would be violent towards her.
This scene was seen by Wu Sheng, who was hiding in the cabinet, he couldn't bear this atrocity, forgot his identity, bravely jumped out, kicked down the boy, snatched the knife from his hand, and stabbed him in the palm. The young man screamed in pain, while Wu Sheng opened the door and shouted for help, catch the thief!
Nearby neighbors quickly arrived and sent both the boy and Wu Sheng to the official mansion. During the interrogation, the boy bit back, claiming that he was going to **, while Wu Sheng angrily retorted, pointing out that the thief was him. After investigation, the truth was revealed, it turned out that this young man was an evil young man, who had always coveted the beauty of the old woman, and this time he planned to take the opportunity to commit violence against her.
Both the evil young man and the old woman who colluded with him were duly punished, and Wu Sheng was released because of his courage and courage and the fact that he did not actually commit theft. This incident has slightly improved Wu Sheng's reputation, but he still continues to do petty theft. One day, he was caught stealing and fled into a ruined temple in a panic.
There he met a kind old man, who did not know his identity, and when he saw his hunger and coldness, he took a roasted sweet potato out of his pocket and handed it to him. Wu Sheng was grateful, and after eating the sweet potato, he fell asleep in a daze against the pillar.
When he woke up, he found that the old man was gone, but the dozens of taels of silver and the ledger in the old man's pocket were still there. Wu Sheng's heart was moved, but thinking of the old man's kindness to him, he felt ashamed again and decided to wait for the old man to come back. Soon the old man ran back in a panic and asked if his sack had been seen. Wu Sheng smiled and returned the cloth bag to him.
The old man didn't open the cloth bag, nor did he thank Wu Sheng, but just invited him to sit at home. When he arrived at the old man's house, the old man gave him a warm welcome, and asked the servant to bring hundreds of taels of silver to thank Wu Sheng for collecting gold. Wu Sheng resolutely refused, and the old man asked him what his profession was. Wu Sheng was embarrassed to admit that he was a thief.
When the old man heard this, he said thoughtfully, I heard that there was a righteous thief in a certain place who protected the woman's name, but are you it? Wu Sheng nodded, the old man was very pleased, saying that he had no children, and he was willing to accept him as a righteous son, which was better than being a thief. Wu Sheng readily agreed, and from then on, he changed his mind and helped the old man take care of his accounts, and he was conscientious and conscientious, and he did not dare to slack off in the slightest.
After the old man died, he left all his property to Wu Sheng, who became a well-known local businessman, and his story became a good story for people to sing.