After the Liji Rebellion, Jie Zitui followed Chong'er and went through many hardships. He loyally assisted Chong'er in returning home. However, Jie Zitui was indifferent to fame and retired to the countryside. There is a famous saying that "it is up to oneself to judge what is right and wrong, to judge whether it is good or bad, to judge others, and to count the gains and losses."
After the "Liji Rebellion", Prince Chong'er of the Jin Dynasty took refuge in Di in order to avoid the disaster, accompanied by five wise men, one of whom was Jie Zitui. Since then, Jie Zitui has been fleeing with Chong'er for 19 years, going through many twists and turns and experiencing hardships and dangers. Chong'er was finally able to return to Jin and became Duke Wen of Jin, one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. Jie Zitui also did his best.
According to "Han Shi Wai Zhuan", when Chong'er fled into the Wei Kingdom, Touxu stole all Chong'er's supplies and fled into the mountains. Chong'er had no food and was hungry, so Jie Zitui cut off the meat from his own thigh to feed Chong'er. When Chong'er was in trouble, Jie Zitui was so heartless and loyal, which also achieved his reputation of loyalty and was known in history as "cutting off one's stock to serve the emperor".
According to "Historical Records", when Chong'er received the help of Qin Mugong and was able to return to his country, the criminals who had followed Chong'er for 19 years together with Jie Zitui were worried that they had offended Chong'er before and had offended Chong'er. Please resign. Jie Zitui believed that the king of Jin returned to the throne after going through many hardships and dangers, and it was because of heaven's help. The offender was a minister, and he wanted to be king with his merits, so he cheated. Jie Zitui, who had long wanted to retire, felt ashamed to be associated with him, so he took this opportunity to retreat to the countryside.
After Duke Wen of Jin came to the throne, he rewarded his ministers one by one according to their merits, but he only missed the reward for Jie Zitui. A poem hangs at the entrance of the palace: The dragon wants to ascend to the sky, and the five snakes assist him. The dragon has ascended into the clouds, and the four snakes have entered their respective nests. One snake is complaining alone and is nowhere to be seen.
After seeing this, Duke Wen of Jin sent someone to summon Jie Zitui. He learned that Jie Zitui had taken his mother to hide in Mianshan, so he granted the land of Mianshan to Jie Zitui and renamed it "Jieshan".
According to some historical records and some folklore, after learning that Jie Zitui lived in seclusion in Mianshan, Jin Wengong felt very regretful and went to Mianshan to search for him personally, but Jie Zitui always avoided coming out. So Jin Wengong ordered the mountain to be burned in an attempt to force Jiezi to push out of the mountain. Unexpectedly, Jiezi could not push down the mountain, and eventually died hugging a willow tree. Jin Wengong was so sad that he took a piece of burnt willow back to the palace and made a pair of wooden clogs. , looking at it every day and sighing: "What a pity, step." Since then, "step" has become a respectful term for superiors or peers from subordinates, and it is said to have originated from this.
It is said that in order to mourn Jie Zitui, Duke Wen ordered March 5, the day when Jie Zitui was burned, to be a fire ban day. Fireworks were prohibited and only cold food was eaten. From then on, a famous festival in ancient China, the "Cold Food Festival" was formed. ". Although the real origin of the Cold Food Festival does not come from this, the commemoration of Jie Zitui as the origin of the Cold Food Festival is more popular. Even later, the Cold Food Festival was gradually replaced by the Qingming Festival. Many people also regarded the commemoration of the Jie Zitui as the Qingming Festival. origin.
Because Jie Zitui’s loyalty and indifference to fame and fortune have always been noble qualities highly praised by ancient Chinese society, Jie Zitui has received a lot of praise in all dynasties. Many ancestral halls and temples were built by the people to comfort Jie Zitui's spirit in heaven. In the first year of Tianxi of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty decreed that Jie Zitui be granted the title of Marquis Jie Hui.