A certain scoundrel from Zichuan County, reckless in his youth, set out one day for amusement beyond the village limits. From a distance, he spied a young married woman approaching on horseback. The scoundrel turned to his companions and declared, "I know just the way to make the fair lady smile."

The others were skeptical, so the scoundrel immediately made a wager with his friends, stipulating that the loser would treat everyone.

Not long after, the married woman drew near. The scoundrel cleared his throat and announced loudly, "I have lost the will to live; I shall hang myself right here."

As he spoke, he unbuckled the belt from his waist, looped it over a sorghum stalk extending from a nearby wall, fashioned a slipknot, and thrust his head into the loop. The woman, seeing this, indeed allowed a smile to cross her face, and the others couldn't help but chuckle, thinking, "That sorghum stalk is far too thin and brittle; how could it possibly support a hanging?"

Moments later, the woman rode further away. The companions then noticed the scoundrel standing utterly rigid, motionless for a long time. They walked over to look closer and saw that his tongue was lolling out, his eyes bulging, his breath long since extinguished—he had clearly been dead for quite a while.