The story of a thousand pieces of gold
Wang Xizhi had a little daughter who was married to a scholar in Shuyang City through the help of a local official. When she got married, her daughter asked her father to give her something as a dowry, and Wang Xizhi agreed. On the day of the wedding, Wang ordered his family to bring the big box they had prepared and lock it up. He said to his daughter: "This box is full of gold, but it cannot be opened and taken out now. I am old and can only take it out after my death." Use it.”
After the younger daughter got married, she never opened the box according to her father’s instructions. Soon, Wang Xizhi passed away. The younger daughter opened the box as her father asked and took a look. It was all calligraphy written by her father in his later years, including both real cursive and official seal scripts. The younger daughter poured all the written words on the ground and searched left and right, but she didn't even find a tael of gold. She hated her father for lying to her, and in a rage, she lit a fire and burned all the words written by her father. At this moment, her husband came back from outside and saw fireworks in the room. He ran in and saw his wife burning a pile of calligraphy. He quickly put out the fire and grabbed an unburned piece of paper. Only the word "dian" was left, and the rest were reduced to ashes. Her husband usually loved reading and calligraphy. He knew that his father-in-law's calligraphy was unparalleled in the world and was more valuable than gold. He often heard some literati praising his father-in-law's calligraphy in Shuyang City. However, when he saw his wife burning all the calligraphy, he regretted it too late. I had no choice but to lock the only word "dian" in the box.
Not long ago, the emperor wanted to build the "Jinluan Palace", but the emperor did not like the three words "Jinluan Palace" written by Wang Xizhi. He only wanted to use the characters written by Wang Xizhi. He ordered civil servants to go to various places to collect Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. After a lot of effort, I finally collected the word "Jinluan", but there is still one word "dian" missing. The emperor was so eager to ask for words that he posted imperial lists all over the country. If any family had the word "dian" written by Wang Xizhi, the emperor was willing to pay one thousand taels of gold to buy it. The news soon reached the ears of Wang Xizhi's youngest daughter in Shuyang City. She immediately opened the box with her husband and sent a treasured "dian" character to the palace. The scripture official verified that it was written by Wang Xizhi himself, and it was the same as "Jinluan". "The two words fit together perfectly. Wang Xizhi's youngest daughter received one thousand taels of gold with just one word written by her father. It can be said that a word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.