青州東香山之前，有周順亭者，事母至孝。母股生巨疽，痛不可忍，晝夜嚬呻。周撫肌進藥，至忘寢食。數月不痊，周憂煎無以為計。夢父告曰：「母疾賴汝孝。然此創非人膏塗之不能愈，徒勞焦惻也。」醒而異之。乃起，以利刃割脅肉；肉脫落，覺不甚苦。急以布纏腰際，血亦不注。於是烹肉持膏，敷母患處，痛截然頓止。母喜，問：「何藥而靈效如此？」周詭對之。母創尋愈。周每掩護割處，即妻子亦不知也。既痊，有巨痕如掌。妻詰之，始得其情。
青州东香山之前，有周顺亭者，事母至孝。母股生巨疽，痛不可忍，昼夜嚬呻。周抚肌进药，至忘寝食。数月不痊，周忧煎无以为计。梦父告曰：「母疾赖汝孝。然此创非人膏涂之不能愈，徒劳焦恻也。」醒而异之。乃起，以利刃割胁肉；肉脱落，觉不甚苦。急以布缠腰际，血亦不注。于是烹肉持膏，敷母患处，痛截然顿止。母喜，问：「何药而灵效如此？」周诡对之。母创寻愈。周每掩护割处，即妻子亦不知也。既痊，有巨痕如掌。妻诘之，始得其情。
In front of Mount Xiang, east of Qingzhou, there lived a man named Zhou Shunting, who served his mother with the utmost filial devotion. A huge abscess grew on his mother’s thigh. The pain was more than she could bear, and day and night she frowned and groaned. Zhou rubbed her skin and gave her medicines, until he forgot to sleep or eat. Months went by and she did not get better, and Zhou, sick with worry, did not know what to do. He dreamed that his father told him, “Your mother’s illness depends on your filial piety. But this sore will never heal unless it is anointed with human fat. Fretting and grieving will do no good.” When he woke he thought it strange. He got up and, with a sharp knife, cut flesh from his side. The flesh came away, and he felt little pain. He quickly bound his waist with cloth, and the blood did not even flow. Then he cooked the flesh, took the fat, and spread it on his mother’s sore, and the pain stopped at once. His mother was delighted. “What medicine is this, that works such wonders?” she asked. Zhou made up an answer. Soon her sore healed. Zhou always kept the place where he had cut himself covered, so that not even his wife knew. When it healed it left a great scar the size of a palm. His wife questioned him about it, and only then learned the truth.