At the foot of the lush Lanke Mountain, there lived a scholar Zhu Maichen and his wife Cui. Zhu Maichen was an honest and kind man, and he studied poetry and books every day. However, he was unlucky and suffered repeated setbacks in the imperial examinations. His family was poor and had no way to make a living, so he had to cut firewood on Lanke Mountain to survive.

For many years, Mrs. Cui lived a poor life with her husband. Gradually, she became impatient and her temper became worse and worse. She looked down on her husband's poor appearance and harsh words from the bottom of her heart. Zhu Maichen was speechless and could only endure it silently.

One day, it was freezing cold and snowing heavily. Zhu Maichen was hungry, so he was forced by Cui to go to the mountain to chop firewood. He thought that if he cut more firewood and sold it to buy rice and noodles, his wife would be happy. Who knows that Mrs. Cui has other plans: she asks the matchmaker to find a new husband for her - Carpenter Zhang from a well-off family. As soon as Zhu Maichen entered the house, Mrs. Cui asked him to write a letter of divorce. Zhu Maichen painfully asked his wife to be patient for a while, and his life would get better when he passed the exam and got the official position. Ms. Cui firmly stated that even if Zhu Maichen became a high-ranking official in the future and she became a beggar, she would not beg him. Zhu Maichen saw that she completely ignored the love between husband and wife for many years, so he had to write a letter of divorce.

Soon after, Zhu Maichen passed the imperial examination and became a prefect. Mrs. Cui was panicked when she heard about it. She thought, how can a carpenter compare with a prefect? The prefect’s wife enjoys glory and wealth! She decided to find Zhu Maichen instead of her current husband. With disheveled hair and bare feet, Cui ran to Zhu Maichen and begged him to allow her to return to the Zhu family. Zhu Maichen, who was riding a tall horse, was thoughtful and asked someone to bring a basin of water and pour it in front of the horse. He told Mrs. Cui that if she could put the water on the ground back into the basin, he would promise her to come back. When Cui heard this, she knew that her fate was over. She was ashamed and insane.