平原喬生，有女黑醜：壑一鼻，跛一足。年二十五六，無問名者。邑有穆生，四十餘，妻死，貧不能續，因聘焉。三年，生一子。未幾，穆生卒，家益索，大困，則乞憐其母。母頗不耐之。女亦憤不復返，惟以紡織自給。有孟生喪偶，遺一子烏頭，裁周歲，以乳哺乏人，急於求配，然媒數言，輒不當意。忽見女，大悅之，陰使人風示女。女辭焉，曰：「飢凍若此，從官人得溫飽，夫寧不願？然殘醜不如人，所可自信者，德耳；又事二夫，官人何取焉！」孟益賢之，向慕尤殷，使媒者函金加幣，而說其母。母悅，自詣女所，固要之；女志終不奪。母慚，願以少女字孟；家人皆喜，而孟殊不願。居無何，孟暴疾卒，女往臨哭盡哀。孟故無戚黨，死後，村中無賴，悉憑陵之，家具攜取一空。方謀瓜分其田產。家人亦各草竊以去，惟一嫗抱兒哭帷中。女問得故，大不平。聞林生與孟善，乃踵門而告曰：「夫婦、朋友，人之大倫也。妾以奇醜，為世不齒，獨孟生能知我；前雖固拒之，然固已心許之矣。今身死子幼，自當有以報知己。然存孤易，禦侮難，若無兄弟父母，遂坐視其子死家滅而不一救，則五倫中可以無朋友矣。妾無所多須於君，但以片紙告邑宰；撫孤，則妾不敢辭。」林曰：「諾！」女別而歸。林將如其所教；無賴輩怒，咸欲以白刃相仇。林大懼，閉戶不敢復行。女聽之數日寂無音；及問之，則孟氏田產已盡矣。女忿甚，銳身自詣官。官詰女屬孟何人。女曰：「公宰一邑，所憑者理耳。如其言妄，即至戚無所逃罪；如非妄，即道路之人可聽也。」官怒其言戇，訶逐而出。女冤憤無以自伸，哭訴於搢紳之門。某先生聞而義之，代剖於宰。宰按之，果真，窮治諸無賴，盡返所取。或議留女居孟第，撫其孤；女不肯。扃其戶，使媼抱烏頭，從與俱歸，另舍之。凡烏頭日用所需，輒同嫗啟戶出粟，為之營辨；己錙銖無所沾染，抱子食貧，一如曩日。積數年，烏頭漸長，為延師教讀；己子則使學操作。嫗勸使並讀。女曰：「烏頭之費，其所自有；我耗人之財以教己子，此心何以自明？」又數年，為烏頭積粟數百石，乃聘於名族，治其第宅，析令歸。烏頭泣要同居，女乃從之；然紡績如故。烏頭夫婦奪其具。女曰：「我母子坐食，心何安矣？」遂早暮為之紀理，使其子巡行阡陌，若為傭然。烏頭夫妻有小過，輒斥譴不少貸；稍不悛，則怫然欲去。夫妻跪道悔詞，始止。未幾，烏頭入泮，又辭欲歸。烏頭不可，捐聘幣，為穆子完婚。女乃析子令歸。烏頭留之不得，陰使人於近村為市恆產百畝而後遺之。後女疾求歸。烏頭不聽。病益篤，囑曰：「必以我歸葬！」烏頭諾。既卒，陰以金啗穆子，俾合葬於孟。及期，棺重，三十人不能舉。穆子忽仆，七竅血出，自言曰：「不肖兒，何得遂賣汝母！」烏頭懼，拜祝之，始愈。乃復停數日，修治穆墓已，始合厝之。
平原有個喬生，女兒皮膚黝黑，相貌醜陋，鼻子一側塌陷，一隻腳瘸了。到了二十五六歲，還沒有人來求親。同縣有個穆生，四十多歲，妻子去世了，家裡窮，無力續娶，就向喬家求親，娶了她。三年後，她生了一個兒子。不久，穆生去世，家境越發衰敗。她實在窮困，就去求母親接濟，母親卻很不耐煩。她也氣憤，從此不再回孃家，只靠紡織養活自己。有個孟生，妻子去世，留下一個才滿週歲的兒子，名叫烏頭。因為沒有人給孩子餵奶，孟生急著續娶，可媒人幾次說的親事，都不合他的心意。一天，他偶然見到喬家女子，很喜歡她，就暗中託人向她透露求婚的意思。她拒絕了，說：「我受著這樣的飢寒，跟著官人就能吃飽穿暖，難道我不願意嗎？可是我身有殘疾，容貌醜陋，比不上別人，能讓我對自己有信心的，只有品德。要是再嫁，侍奉第二個丈夫，官人還能看中我什麼呢！」孟生越發覺得她賢德，對她的仰慕更加深切，便讓媒人帶著銀錢，又添上禮物，去說服她母親。母親很高興，親自來到女兒住處，執意要她答應，女兒卻始終不肯改變心意。母親覺得慚愧，願意把小女兒許給孟生。全家都很高興，孟生卻十分不願意。沒過多久，孟生突然得了急病，去世了。喬家女子前去弔唁，哭得十分悲痛。孟生原本就沒有親族，死後，村裡的無賴紛紛欺凌他家，把傢俱物品搬得一乾二淨，又打算瓜分他的田產。僕人也各自偷了些東西逃走，只剩一個老婦人抱著孩子，在帷帳裡哭泣。喬家女子問明緣故，十分憤慨。聽說林生與孟生交好，她便登門對他說：「夫妻、朋友，都是人倫中的重要關係。我因為相貌特別醜陋，被世人看不起，只有孟生能夠理解我。先前雖然堅決拒絕了他，心裡卻已經願意以自身報答他了。如今他去世了，孩子還小，我自然應當做些事情，報答這位知己。可是養活孤兒容易，抵擋欺凌卻難。若因為孤兒沒有兄弟父母可依靠，朋友就眼看著這孩子死去、家業毀滅，連一次也不肯救助，那麼五倫之中，也就可以沒有朋友這一倫了。我對您沒有太多要求，只求您寫一張狀紙，向縣令說明。至於撫養孤兒，我不敢推辭。」林生說：「好！」她告辭回去了。林生正要照她說的去做，那些無賴卻發起怒來，都揚言要拿刀找他報仇。林生十分害怕，關起門，不敢再去辦這件事。喬家女子等了幾天，始終沒有訊息。再去打聽時，孟家的田產已經全被侵佔了。她憤怒極了，挺身親自到縣衙告狀。縣令追問她是孟生的什麼人。她說：「您治理一縣，憑的應當是道理。如果我說的是假話，即使是至親，也逃不了罪責；如果不是假話，即使只是路上的陌生人，也可以聽取他的陳述。」縣令嫌她說話魯莽直率，發怒呵斥，把她趕了出去。她滿心冤屈和憤恨，無處申訴，便到士紳門前哭訴。有位先生聽了，認為她做得有義氣，就替她向縣令說明事情的原委。縣令調查後，發現果然屬實，便嚴懲那些無賴，讓他們把搶走的財物全部歸還。有人提議讓她住在孟家，撫養孤兒，她不肯。她鎖上孟家的門，讓老婦人抱著烏頭，跟自己一起回去，另外安排了住處。凡是烏頭日常所需，她都與老婦人一起打開孟家的門，取出糧食，替他置辦。她自己絲毫不取用孟家的財物，帶著自己的兒子過窮日子，和從前一樣。過了幾年，烏頭漸漸長大，她替他請來老師，教他讀書；自己的兒子，卻讓他學習幹活謀生。老婦人勸她讓兩個孩子一起讀書。她說：「烏頭讀書的費用，用的是他自己的錢財。我若花別人的錢來教自己的兒子，怎麼能證明自己問心無愧呢？」又過了幾年，她替烏頭積存了幾百石糧食，便替他向有名望的人家求親，整修好他的住宅，讓他另立門戶，回自己家去住。烏頭哭著求她一起住，她才答應，但仍像從前一樣紡線織布。烏頭夫婦把她紡織的工具拿走了。她說：「我和兒子坐著白吃，心裡怎麼能安穩呢？」於是，她每天早晚替他們料理家務，讓自己的兒子到田間巡視，就像受僱幹活一樣。烏頭夫婦有一點小過錯，她就責備訓斥，絲毫不寬容；稍有不肯改正的意思，她便生氣，要搬走。夫婦倆跪下認錯，她才留下。不久，烏頭考取了秀才，她又提出要回自己家去。烏頭不肯，拿出聘禮，替穆家的兒子辦妥了婚事。她便讓兒子另立門戶，回自己家去住。烏頭挽留不住他，便暗中託人在附近村子替他買了一百畝田地，隨後送給他。後來，她生了病，要求回家，烏頭不答應。病情越來越重，她囑咐說：「一定要把我送回去安葬！」烏頭答應了。她去世後，烏頭卻暗中用錢收買穆家的兒子，讓他同意把母親與孟生合葬。到了下葬的日子，棺材沉重得三十個人也抬不起來。穆家的兒子忽然倒地，七竅流血，開口說道：「不孝的兒子，怎麼竟能把你母親賣了！」烏頭害怕了，跪拜祈求，穆家的兒子才恢復過來。於是又停放了幾天，修整好穆生的墳墓，才把她與穆生合葬。
平原乔生，有女黑丑：壑一鼻，跛一足。年二十五六，无问名者。邑有穆生，四十余，妻死，贫不能续，因聘焉。三年，生一子。未几，穆生卒，家益索，大困，则乞怜其母。母颇不耐之。女亦愤不复返，惟以纺织自给。有孟生丧偶，遗一子乌头，裁周岁，以乳哺乏人，急于求配，然媒数言，辄不当意。忽见女，大悦之，阴使人风示女。女辞焉，曰：「饥冻若此，从官人得温饱，夫宁不愿？然残丑不如人，所可自信者，德耳；又事二夫，官人何取焉！」孟益贤之，向慕尤殷，使媒者函金加币，而说其母。母悦，自诣女所，固要之；女志终不夺。母惭，愿以少女字孟；家人皆喜，而孟殊不愿。居无何，孟暴疾卒，女往临哭尽哀。孟故无戚党，死后，村中无赖，悉凭陵之，家具携取一空。方谋瓜分其田产。家人亦各草窃以去，惟一妪抱儿哭帷中。女问得故，大不平。闻林生与孟善，乃踵门而告曰：「夫妇、朋友，人之大伦也。妾以奇丑，为世不齿，独孟生能知我；前虽固拒之，然固已心许之矣。今身死子幼，自当有以报知己。然存孤易，御侮难，若无兄弟父母，遂坐视其子死家灭而不一救，则五伦中可以无朋友矣。妾无所多须于君，但以片纸告邑宰；抚孤，则妾不敢辞。」林曰：「诺！」女别而归。林将如其所教；无赖辈怒，咸欲以白刃相仇。林大惧，闭户不敢复行。女听之数日寂无音；及问之，则孟氏田产已尽矣。女忿甚，锐身自诣官。官诘女属孟何人。女曰：「公宰一邑，所凭者理耳。如其言妄，即至戚无所逃罪；如非妄，即道路之人可听也。」官怒其言戆，诃逐而出。女冤愤无以自伸，哭诉于搢绅之门。某先生闻而义之，代剖于宰。宰按之，果真，穷治诸无赖，尽返所取。或议留女居孟第，抚其孤；女不肯。扃其户，使媪抱乌头，从与俱归，另舍之。凡乌头日用所需，辄同妪启户出粟，为之营辨；己锱铢无所沾染，抱子食贫，一如曩日。积数年，乌头渐长，为延师教读；己子则使学操作。妪劝使并读。女曰：「乌头之费，其所自有；我耗人之财以教己子，此心何以自明？」又数年，为乌头积粟数百石，乃聘于名族，治其第宅，析令归。乌头泣要同居，女乃从之；然纺绩如故。乌头夫妇夺其具。女曰：「我母子坐食，心何安矣？」遂早暮为之纪理，使其子巡行阡陌，若为佣然。乌头夫妻有小过，辄斥谴不少贷；稍不悛，则怫然欲去。夫妻跪道悔词，始止。未几，乌头入泮，又辞欲归。乌头不可，捐聘币，为穆子完婚。女乃析子令归。乌头留之不得，阴使人于近村为市恒产百亩而后遗之。后女疾求归。乌头不听。病益笃，嘱曰：「必以我归葬！」乌头诺。既卒，阴以金啗穆子，俾合葬于孟。及期，棺重，三十人不能举。穆子忽仆，七窍血出，自言曰：「不肖儿，何得遂卖汝母！」乌头惧，拜祝之，始愈。乃复停数日，修治穆墓已，始合厝之。
平原有个乔生，女儿皮肤黝黑，相貌丑陋，鼻子一侧塌陷，一只脚瘸了。到了二十五六岁，还没有人来求亲。同县有个穆生，四十多岁，妻子去世了，家里穷，无力续娶，就向乔家求亲，娶了她。三年后，她生了一个儿子。不久，穆生去世，家境越发衰败。她实在穷困，就去求母亲接济，母亲却很不耐烦。她也气愤，从此不再回娘家，只靠纺织养活自己。有个孟生，妻子去世，留下一个才满周岁的儿子，名叫乌头。因为没有人给孩子喂奶，孟生急着续娶，可媒人几次说的亲事，都不合他的心意。一天，他偶然见到乔家女子，很喜欢她，就暗中托人向她透露求婚的意思。她拒绝了，说：“我受着这样的饥寒，跟着官人就能吃饱穿暖，难道我不愿意吗？可是我身有残疾，容貌丑陋，比不上别人，能让我对自己有信心的，只有品德。要是再嫁，侍奉第二个丈夫，官人还能看中我什么呢！”孟生越发觉得她贤德，对她的仰慕更加深切，便让媒人带着银钱，又添上礼物，去说服她母亲。母亲很高兴，亲自来到女儿住处，执意要她答应，女儿却始终不肯改变心意。母亲觉得惭愧，愿意把小女儿许给孟生。全家都很高兴，孟生却十分不愿意。没过多久，孟生突然得了急病，去世了。乔家女子前去吊唁，哭得十分悲痛。孟生原本就没有亲族，死后，村里的无赖纷纷欺凌他家，把家具物品搬得一干二净，又打算瓜分他的田产。仆人也各自偷了些东西逃走，只剩一个老妇人抱着孩子，在帷帐里哭泣。乔家女子问明缘故，十分愤慨。听说林生与孟生交好，她便登门对他说：“夫妻、朋友，都是人伦中的重要关系。我因为相貌特别丑陋，被世人看不起，只有孟生能够理解我。先前虽然坚决拒绝了他，心里却已经愿意以自身报答他了。如今他去世了，孩子还小，我自然应当做些事情，报答这位知己。可是养活孤儿容易，抵挡欺凌却难。若因为孤儿没有兄弟父母可依靠，朋友就眼看着这孩子死去、家业毁灭，连一次也不肯救助，那么五伦之中，也就可以没有朋友这一伦了。我对您没有太多要求，只求您写一张状纸，向县令说明。至于抚养孤儿，我不敢推辞。”林生说：“好！”她告辞回去了。林生正要照她说的去做，那些无赖却发起怒来，都扬言要拿刀找他报仇。林生十分害怕，关起门，不敢再去办这件事。乔家女子等了几天，始终没有消息。再去打听时，孟家的田产已经全被侵占了。她愤怒极了，挺身亲自到县衙告状。县令追问她是孟生的什么人。她说：“您治理一县，凭的应当是道理。如果我说的是假话，即使是至亲，也逃不了罪责；如果不是假话，即使只是路上的陌生人，也可以听取他的陈述。”县令嫌她说话鲁莽直率，发怒呵斥，把她赶了出去。她满心冤屈和愤恨，无处申诉，便到士绅门前哭诉。有位先生听了，认为她做得有义气，就替她向县令说明事情的原委。县令调查后，发现果然属实，便严惩那些无赖，让他们把抢走的财物全部归还。有人提议让她住在孟家，抚养孤儿，她不肯。她锁上孟家的门，让老妇人抱着乌头，跟自己一起回去，另外安排了住处。凡是乌头日常所需，她都与老妇人一起打开孟家的门，取出粮食，替他置办。她自己丝毫不取用孟家的财物，带着自己的儿子过穷日子，和从前一样。过了几年，乌头渐渐长大，她替他请来老师，教他读书；自己的儿子，却让他学习干活谋生。老妇人劝她让两个孩子一起读书。她说：“乌头读书的费用，用的是他自己的钱财。我若花别人的钱来教自己的儿子，怎么能证明自己问心无愧呢？”又过了几年，她替乌头积存了几百石粮食，便替他向有名望的人家求亲，整修好他的住宅，让他另立门户，回自己家去住。乌头哭着求她一起住，她才答应，但仍像从前一样纺线织布。乌头夫妇把她纺织的工具拿走了。她说：“我和儿子坐着白吃，心里怎么能安稳呢？”于是，她每天早晚替他们料理家务，让自己的儿子到田间巡视，就像受雇干活一样。乌头夫妇有一点小过错，她就责备训斥，丝毫不宽容；稍有不肯改正的意思，她便生气，要搬走。夫妇俩跪下认错，她才留下。不久，乌头考取了秀才，她又提出要回自己家去。乌头不肯，拿出聘礼，替穆家的儿子办妥了婚事。她便让儿子另立门户，回自己家去住。乌头挽留不住他，便暗中托人在附近村子替他买了一百亩田地，随后送给他。后来，她生了病，要求回家，乌头不答应。病情越来越重，她嘱咐说：“一定要把我送回去安葬！”乌头答应了。她去世后，乌头却暗中用钱收买穆家的儿子，让他同意把母亲与孟生合葬。到了下葬的日子，棺材沉重得三十个人也抬不起来。穆家的儿子忽然倒地，七窍流血，开口说道：“不孝的儿子，怎么竟能把你母亲卖了！”乌头害怕了，跪拜祈求，穆家的儿子才恢复过来。于是又停放了几天，修整好穆生的坟墓，才把她与穆生合葬。
A scholar named Qiao of Pingyuan had a daughter who was dark and ugly: her nose was caved in on one side, and she was lame in one leg. At twenty-five or six, no one had yet asked for her hand. In the same county lived a scholar named Mu, past forty, whose wife had died. He was too poor to find another, and so he asked for her. In three years she bore him a son. Before long Mu died. The household grew poorer still, and in her hardship she went to beg help from her mother. Her mother had little patience with her. In anger she never went back, and kept herself by spinning and weaving. A scholar named Meng had lost his wife, who left him a son, Wutou, barely a year old. With no one to nurse the child, Meng was eager to remarry, but every match the go-betweens proposed failed to please him. Then he happened to see her and was much taken with her. He quietly sent someone to sound her out. She declined. “Hungry and cold as I am, how could I not want to follow the gentleman and be warm and fed? But I am crippled and ugly, not the equal of other women. All I can trust in is my virtue. If I serve a second husband, what would the gentleman want me for?” Meng thought her all the more worthy and longed for her more eagerly still. He sent the go-between with money, and gifts on top of it, to persuade her mother. Her mother was delighted. She went to her daughter in person and pressed her hard, but the daughter would not be moved. Ashamed, the mother offered her younger daughter to Meng instead. The family were all for it, but Meng would not hear of it. Not long after, Meng fell suddenly ill and died. She went to mourn him and wept with all her heart. Meng had no kinsmen. After his death the village ruffians all bullied the household and carried off everything in it, and were planning to carve up his land among them. The servants, too, each stole what they could and left. Only an old nurse remained, weeping behind the curtains with the child in her arms. She asked, learned what had happened, and was outraged. Hearing that a scholar named Lin had been Meng’s friend, she went to his door and said, “Husband and wife, friend and friend: these are among the great bonds of human life. I am so ugly that the world will have nothing to do with me; only Mr. Meng understood me. I refused him firmly before, but in my heart I had already accepted him as the one who truly knew me. Now he is dead and his son is small, and I must do something to repay the one who understood me. But keeping an orphan alive is easy; keeping off those who prey on him is hard. If, because the boy has no brothers or parents, his father’s friends sit by and watch the son die and the house fall without lifting a hand to save them, then friendship may as well be struck from the Five Bonds. I don’t ask much of you, sir: only a note to the county magistrate. As for raising the orphan, that I would not dare refuse.” “I will,” said Lin. She took her leave and went home. Lin was about to do as she had told him, but the ruffians were furious and all threatened to settle with him by the knife. Lin was terrified. He shut his door and did not dare go ahead. She waited several days and heard nothing. When she asked, the Meng family’s land was already all gone. Furious, she went boldly to the magistrate herself. The magistrate demanded to know what she was to the Mengs. She said, “Your Honour governs a county, and what you go by is the right of the matter. If what I say is false, even the closest kin could not escape punishment. If it is not false, even a passer-by in the road deserves a hearing.” The magistrate, angered by her bluntness, shouted at her and had her thrown out. Wronged and indignant, with no way to set things right, she went weeping to the gates of the gentry. A certain gentleman heard her story, thought her in the right, and laid the case before the magistrate for her. The magistrate looked into it and found it true. He punished the ruffians to the full and made them return everything they had taken. Someone suggested she stay on in the Meng house to raise the orphan; she would not. She locked the doors and had the old nurse carry Wutou and come home with her, where she lodged them in rooms of their own. Whatever Wutou needed day to day, she would go with the nurse, unlock the house, and take out grain to provide it. She herself touched not a penny of it, but lived poor with her own child just as before. Some years passed. As Wutou grew, she hired a tutor to teach him to read; her own son she set to learning manual work. The nurse urged her to let him study too. She said, “Wutou’s expenses come out of what is his own. If I spent another’s money to educate my own son, how could I ever show my heart was clean?” Some years more, and she had stored up several hundred measures of grain for Wutou. Then she arranged a match for him with a family of good name, put his house in order, and sent him to set up his own household. Wutou wept and begged her to live with them, and she gave in; but she went on spinning as before. Wutou and his wife took her spinning things away. She said, “If my son and I sit here eating and doing nothing, how can my heart be easy?” So from morning to night she managed the household for them, and sent her son out to walk the fields and oversee them, as though they were hired hands. If Wutou and his wife committed the smallest fault, she scolded them without the least leniency; if they did not mend at once, she would angrily make to leave. Only when the two of them knelt and said they were sorry would she stay. Before long Wutou entered the county school, and again she asked to go home. Wutou would not allow it. He paid the betrothal gifts himself and saw Mu’s son married. Then she set her son up in his own household and sent him home. Wutou could not keep him, but secretly had someone buy a hundred mu of land in a nearby village and then gave it to him. Later she fell ill and asked to go home. Wutou would not hear of it. As her illness grew worse, she charged him: “You must take me home to be buried!” Wutou promised. When she died, he secretly bribed Mu’s son to let her be buried with Meng. On the day, the coffin was so heavy that thirty men could not lift it. Mu’s son suddenly fell down, blood streaming from all seven openings of his head, and cried out in his mother’s voice: “Unworthy son! How could you sell your own mother like this!” Wutou was frightened and bowed down and prayed, and only then did the son recover. So they waited several more days, and when Mu’s grave had been put in repair, they laid her in it beside him.