平城冷生，少最鈍，年二十餘，未能通一經。忽有狐來，與之燕處。每聞其終夜語，即兄弟詰之，亦不肯洩。如是多日，忽得狂易病：每得題為文，則閉門枯坐；少時，譁然大笑。窺之，則手不停草，而一藝成矣。脫稿又文思精妙。是年入泮，明年食餼。每逢場作笑，響徹堂壁，由此「笑生」之名大譟。幸學使退休，不聞。後值某學使規矩嚴肅，終日危坐堂上。忽聞笑聲，怒執之，將以加責。執事官代白其顛。學使怒稍息，釋之而黜其名。從此佯狂詩酒。著有「顛草」四卷，超拔可誦。
平城冷生，少最钝，年二十余，未能通一经。忽有狐来，与之燕处。每闻其终夜语，即兄弟诘之，亦不肯泄。如是多日，忽得狂易病：每得题为文，则闭门枯坐；少时，哗然大笑。窥之，则手不停草，而一艺成矣。脱稿又文思精妙。是年入泮，明年食饩。每逢场作笑，响彻堂壁，由此「笑生」之名大噪。幸学使退休，不闻。后值某学使规矩严肃，终日危坐堂上。忽闻笑声，怒执之，将以加责。执事官代白其颠。学使怒稍息，释之而黜其名。从此佯狂诗酒。着有「颠草」四卷，超拔可诵。
A scholar of Pingcheng named Leng was the dullest of boys, and past twenty he still had not mastered a single Classic. Then a fox came and settled in with him. People often heard the two of them talking all night, but even when his brothers questioned him he would let nothing out. After many days of this, he was suddenly seized by a kind of madness. Whenever he was set a topic for an essay, he would shut his door and sit there, blank and motionless; after a little while he would burst into loud laughter. If you peeped in, his hand was moving across the page without a pause, and an essay was done. And the finished piece was finely and subtly thought. That year he entered the county school, and the year after he was given a stipend. At every examination he laughed, and the sound rang off the walls of the hall, so that the name “the Laughing Scholar” spread far and wide. Luckily the education commissioner had withdrawn to rest and did not hear it. Later came a commissioner who was strict about the rules and sat bolt upright in the hall all day. Suddenly he heard laughter. In a rage he had Leng seized and was about to have him beaten. The officials on duty explained for him that he was mad. The commissioner’s anger cooled a little; he let Leng go, but struck his name from the rolls. From then on Leng played the madman among poetry and wine. He wrote a book called Mad Drafts, in four volumes, of rare distinction and well worth reading aloud.